No Retreat for Bar’s Landlady
From Club 64 to Club 71, Grace Ma Lai-wah has run two bars named after significant political incidents that have witnessed more than a quarter of a century of Hong Kong history. Despite all the struggles and changes in the city and her life, Ma has always managed to find a way to survive.
Walking alongside the Needy
Today, lecturer Li Chun-hong teaches humanities to university students, but things could have turned out very differently. Li spent some of his childhood years shoplifting, fighting and hanging out with triads. Education turned his life around and now Li hopes he can help other young lives.
From Sweetheart to Survivor
She had a dazzling career spanning Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan and Korea as a teenage sweetheart. She gave it up to become a wife and mother. She survived divorce to bring up two children and embark on a new career as a clay artist. Varsity meets Gloria Yip Wan-yee.
Fermi Wong stands against racism, for Hong Kong
Earlier this year, Hong Kong's best known campaigner for the rights of ethnic minorities, Fermi Wong, stepped down from Unison, the organisation she co-founded and ran for 16 years, and threw herself into the Umbrella Movement. Here, she tells Varsity about her childhood in Fujian, her first days in Hong Kong and her hopes for the city she loves.
The Storyteller’s Tale
He weaves life into stories and stories into life. Varsity talks to Yuen Che-hung, better known as storyteller Uncle Hung, who takes us on a journey from his firebrand days as a teenage rebel in San Po Kong to what he sees as the utopian world of occupied Admiralty.
Dancing on a Tightrope
Lyricist Chan Wing-him broke Lin Xi and Wyman Wong Wai-man's dominance of the local music industry by bagging the prize for Best Lyricist at the Ultimate Song Chart Awards this year. Here he tells Varsity about his journey from boy rebel to chart-topper.
The Pastor of Civic Square
He pitched a tent to protest alongside staff of HKTV, he is suing the government over the closure of Civic Square, he can be seen on the frontline at many of Hong Kong's social movements. American veteran and pastor Bob Kraft tells Varsity he is always protesting because fighting injustice is the right thing to do.
Stay Angry, Stay Witty
Illustrator Andy Leung Ka-chun, or "Angryangry" as he calls himself, draws on local development and conservation, and conflicts between mainland China and Hong Kong for his works. But as he explains to Varsity, his illustrations are not just a way to vent his anger towards social injustice, he also wants to arouse people's identification with their city.
Why So Serious?
Patrick Dunn has been an accountant, a disc jockey, a TV presenter and a part-time soldier. He's also a qualified pilot and certified diver. It sounds like a classic profile for a striver. But here, the Buzz Lightyear lookalike explains his laid-back attitude to life makes him the opposite of a determined over-achiever.
A New Mum’s Fresh Start
In a little over 30 years, Katherine Lam Suet-ying's life has taken her from the rooftop huts of Sham Shui Po to the Chinese restaurants of Florida, an American university education and a high-flying job as a banker in Hong Kong. But, inspired by new motherhood and a poverty-busting Nobel laureate, Lam has quit banking to become a social entrepreneur. She tells Varsity about her journey.
