Category Archives: Hong Kong

Hong Kong real estate now more expensive for the dead than the living

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A tiny nook for an urn can cost up to £180,000. With 200,000 sets of ashes waiting for a resting place, the city is running out of options

“Per square foot, it has become more expensive to house the dead than the living,” says Kwok Hoi Pong, chairman of the Hong Kong Funeral Business Association. “A niche for an urn in a private columbarium in the best position can cost up to HK$1.8m. This is the phenomenon in Hong Kong.”

A ground burial plot can cost anywhere between HK$3m (£300,000) and HK$5m, but in the city’s congested cemeteries, vacancies rarely become available. Land is so scarce that 90% of the 48,000 people a year who die in Hong Kong are cremated. But increasingly finding the space even to store ashes is becoming nigh on impossible.

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Backpacker charged after woman finds hidden camera in Bondi hostel bathroom

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Hong Kong man, 36, allegedly hid camera inside a deodorant stick which his French roommate spotted after she finished showering

A tourist from Hong Kong is behind bars after allegedly hiding a camera inside a deodorant stick in the bathroom of a hostel at Sydney’s famous Bondi Beach.

The man’s roommate – a woman on holiday from France – had just finished showering when she spotted the camera and a toiletry bag on the sink of their shared ensuite on Monday night.

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‘Now I own my life’: Saudi sisters who fled family granted asylum

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Pair, given asylum in undisclosed country, faced recriminations in kingdom

Two Saudi sisters who say they were beaten and treated like slaves by their brothers and father have been granted asylum in an undisclosed country.

The women, aged 18 and 20, ran away from their family last September while on holiday in Sri Lanka and have been stranded in Hong Kong since an abandoned attempt to reach Australia, where they hoped to secure asylum.

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Hong Kong to build one of world’s largest artificial islands

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Government says it needs extra land around main island of Lantau for housing

Hong Kong plans to build one of the world’s largest artificial islands, city officials have announced.

The government’s HK$624bn (£60bn) proposal to reclaim 1,000ha of land around the territory’s largest island, Lantau, has been touted as a solution to the pressing housing shortage in the city, which is notorious as one of the least affordable markets on the planet.

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How public transport actually turns a profit in Hong Kong

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The Hong Kong MTR’s ‘rail plus property’ model keep fares cheap and makes the company completely self-sustaining. Could loss-making metro systems in other cities learn lessons?

“Once we build the railway, the value of land rises and we capture the increase in value,” says Jacob Kam, managing director and soon-to-be chief executive, of Hong Kong’s Mass Transit Railway (MTR) Corporation.

Related: Hong Kong faces commuter chaos after rare train collision

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‘A race against time’: urban explorers record vanishing Hong Kong

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From Bruce Lee’s mansion to Bauhaus-style Central Market, HK Urbex are documenting the fast-changing city’s fading heritage

“We just had to hop the fence. It was kind of easy,” says Ghost, co-founder of HK Urbex, as he explains how the urban explorer group gained access to the former mansion of late martial arts superstar Bruce Lee.

Wearing masks to protect their identities, the group circled the abandoned home in Hong Kong’s upscale Kowloon Tong neighbourhood three times to make sure the coast was clear. As one member stood out front to keep watch, another leapt over the back fence. Twenty minutes later they were out again – another successful urban mission accomplished.

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Saudi sisters trapped in Hong Kong fear for their lives: ‘We would be executed’ – video

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Two sisters who fled Saudi Arabia and have been in hiding in Hong Kong for nearly six months say they did so to escape beatings at the hands of their brothers and father. The pair say they have renounced their Muslim faith, and that Saudi diplomats intercepted them at the airport in Hong Kong and prevented them from boarding a connecting flight to Australia

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Saudi sisters trapped in Hong Kong fear death penalty if deported

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Pair say they have fled family abuse and will either be killed or made to marry if forcibly returned

Two Saudi sisters trapped in Hong Kong say chronic physical abuse by male family members prompted them to flee the kingdom, where they fear they will be forcibly returned.

The two are the latest example of Saudi women trying to escape from the ultra-conservative kingdom who find themselves dodging officials and angry family.

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City of stairs: the interconnecting walkways of Hong Kong

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Hans Leo Maes captures the bridges and stairways that link up the hilly, population-dense city

Hong Kong is known for its flashing lights, neon signs and high-rise skylines. But the architect and photographer Hans Leo Maes documents an alternative side – the city’s interconnecting staircases and bridges.

“The extreme population density in Hong Kong means [structures] are stacked and linked by stairs, often external and very visible,” Maes says.

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Sweden investigates its Beijing ambassador over ‘strange’ meetings

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Daughter of Swedish bookseller jailed in China says Anna Lindstedt set up meetings in Stockholm

Sweden is investigating its ambassador to China after she was accused of orchestrating a bizarre series of meetings between the daughter of a Swedish bookseller jailed in China and businessmen who said they could help secure his release.

The story is detailed in a blogpost by Angela Gui, the daughter of Gui Minhai, a Chinese-born Swedish bookseller who has disappeared twice and is currently held in Chinese custody.

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Record numbers from China and Hong Kong applying to study in UK

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Chinese and Hongkonger university applicants now outnumber those from Wales

Record numbers of students from China and Hong Kong are applying for places at British universities, overtaking the number of applicants from Wales, according to official figures.

Data from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (Ucas) shows a spike in demand for undergraduate places from mainland China and a small rise in applications from the EU, despite fears over Brexit.

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Hong Kong: bill seeks to make insulting Chinese anthem a crime

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Those breaking the rule could be jailed for up to three years and fined under proposed legislation

Hong Kong is set to introduce a controversial bill on Wednesday that would make disrespecting the Chinese national anthem a crime punishable by up to three years in prison, raising fresh fears about freedom of expression in the city.

Chinese authorities have sought to instil greater patriotism in the former British colony at a time of heightened tension between democracy activists and forces loyal to Beijing, with some in Hong Kong advocating independence from China.

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Cathay Pacific sells $16,000 tickets at economy prices – again

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Hong Kong-based carrier says it will honour tickets after second error in a fortnight

Cathay Pacific has accidentally given passengers first-class airline tickets at economy prices – for the second time in a fortnight.

The Hong Kong-based carrier sold first-class tickets from Portugal to Hong Kong, which normally cost about £12,500, for only £1,175 because of an error on its website.

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Hong Kong doll maker toys with Trump

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In this photograph taken on February 3, 2017, a prototype figurine replica of US President Donald Trump, made by toymaker Dragon in Dream , is seen in Hong Kong toy shop Seven. AFP / Anthony WALLACE Hong Kong: A Hong Kong doll maker with a history of creating figurines of controversial world leaders has launched a replica of US President Donald Trump complete with replaceable heads and hands.

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Mother Teresa of Calcutta, a Nobel peace laureate known as the "saint of the gutters" during her lifetime, is proclaimed a saint of the Roman Catholic Church by Pope Francis. , expect by 1030/6.30 A.M., by Isla Binnie, 600 words) HONG KONG - Hong Kong votes in its first major election since pro-democracy protests in 2014 and one of its most contentious ever, with a push for independence among disaffected youth emerging as a major theme stoking tension with China's government.

U.S. downgrades Myanmar, raises Thailand in human trafficking report

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The United States has placed Myanmar, Uzbekistan, Sudan and Haiti on its list of worst human trafficking offenders, drawing guarded praise from some human rights groups following criticism that last year's State Department report was politicized. While more than two dozen countries were downgraded in the closely watched Trafficking in Persons report announced on Thursday, Thailand was removed from the bottom rung despite what the State Department described as "widespread forced labour" in the country's vital seafood industry.