The Rugby World Cup 2023 kicked off tonight with hosts France beating New Zealand 27-13. At the Place de la Concorde fans from across the globe gathered to watch the game at the Rugby Village.
The action started a little earlier than planned with French police discovering and then blowing up a suspect package close to the rugby village. Which had expanded across the roads to accommodate the expected 40,000 fans.
As kick-off approached a noisy and expectant throng proudly sang their national anthems only to fall almost deathly quiet as New Zealand scored a quick opening try…
Test your power on the scrum machine.
Fans proudly sing La Marseillaise
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India by the Bay returns for its eighth edition from the 7-15 October.
The Festival offers HongKongers an insight into Indian culture and history through a diverse and eclectic programme including music, dance, film, food, theatre, yoga, literature and art.
India by the Bay 2023
Date: 7-15 October, 2023
Venue: Asia Society Hong Kong Center
Tickets: tbc
The Rugby World Cup 2023 begins in Paris today, but you’d be hard pressed to know it. The tournament appears invisible in a city preparing for the 2024 Olympics.
Walking down the iconic Champs-Élysées – which has a fair incline that is not apparent when watching the Tour de France cyclists race along it at 50mph – the Rugby World Cup doesn’t appear to exist. bc approached several people and asked if they knew the World Cup was starting today, sadly none did.
Why are the banners on the Champs-Élysées lampposts promoting Paris’s IT week not the World Cup?
The only obvious indication of the tournament’s presence in the city is the doubling of hotel and hostel prices and bars and restaurants increasing their prices for game day.
There is a Rugby Village at the Place de la Concorde but it doesn’t open until this afternoon (and only on select days afterwards) so there really is nowhere for visiting or local or new fans to gather and meet up.
A big part of rugby is the social camaraderie between fans, yet the tournament organisers seem to have done nothing to build awareness and interest in the game among new fans . It feels like a missed opportunity, especially as the recent women’s football World Cup showed how a country can be transformed by a tournament.
Shi Fu Miz Festival 2023
Date: 27-29 October, 2023
Venue: Sai Yuen Camping & Adventure Park
Tickets: $1,280, $1,080, $980, $780, $580 from Shi Fu Miz
Surely influenced by the Hello Hong Kong marketing campaign, Super Typhoon Saola saw the HK Observatory raise the T10 storm signal for just the 16th time in over 100 years as Saola’s wind speeds topped 220km/h (135 mph).
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Happy Birthday to us!
Twenty-nine years ago on the 1st September 1994, bc magazine debuted on the streets of Hong Kong.
A lot of people – staff, friends, advertisers and readers have been involved over the years, thank you for your continued support and strength especially now. Stay safe.
Carpe Diem!
Hong Kong will ban imports of aquatic products from 10 areas of Japan from Thursday 24 August, after Tokyo said it would start releasing wastewater from the tsunami-stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant.
Environment Minister Tse Chin-wan said the administration is taking a relatively conservative approach with the imports ban, limiting it to what he called high-risk coastal prefectures, as well as neighbouring areas.
The 10 prefectures involved are Fukushima, Tokyo, Chiba, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Gunma, Miyagi, Niigata, Nagano and Saitama.
The ban covers all live, chilled, frozen and dried sea products, sea salt and seaweed.
The End is Beautiful Fest 2024
Irrevocable, Bird, The Priceless Boat, Megumi Acorda
Date: 7pm, 8 December, 2024
Venue: The Wanch
Tickets: $500, $400 (advance)
