Comfort in rainy weather

Feature by Prisca Tang       “Rain, rain, go away. Come again another day”, is a nursery rhyme that children sing when it is pouring during their play time. The misconception of rain being an unideal weather has been rooted deeply in people’s minds since they were young. However, I believe rain is innocent because it represents grace, it is humans’ most sensory interaction with nature and it is the gentlest whisper from heaven.The Chinese idiom “雨露均霑”

March 28, 2022 | BY Prisca Tang

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Media in its physical form: ownership & sentimental value

The way we consume and purchase media has changed since the inception and availability of digital media. For virtually every show or movie in mind, there is a streaming service, while a digital selection of books is widely available after a Google search or in online stores. Digital media is ubiquitous, but there are aspects that make its physical counterpart irreplaceable and, in some cases, even better. This, I believe, is mostly seen in the aspects of ownership and sentimental

March 21, 2022 | BY Rui Pastorin

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Digital power is unstoppable

According to the Cambridge Dictionary, the adjective “digital” is defined as “recording or storing information as a series of the numbers 1 and 0, to show that a signal is present or absent.”Since the digital revolution that began after the Second World War, the foundation of our world today has been more and more digitalised, and usually it is represented in binary codes, rather than a physical world of steel and concrete.In terms of its etymology, the ubiquitous English word

March 21, 2022 | BY Victor Lam

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Is reality based on memory nothing but fiction?

In The Matrix: Resurrections, when Neo lost his capacity to discern reality from fiction, Morpheus asked him, “Are memories turned into fiction any less real? Is reality based on memory nothing but fiction?”. This scene got me pondering if our memories are even reality? The word “nostalgic” is often positively connotated, because when we recall those kinds of memories from the past, we tend to reconstruct them into benevolent scenes. However, during the constructive process of

March 14, 2022 | BY Prisca Tang

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Documenting memories

As life goes through its beginnings and ends, there are undoubtedly changes that we see all throughout. We may say ‘hello’ and say ‘good-bye’ to many or we may move on to different settings. In a world that continues to shift, the role of documentation, in my opinion, becomes increasingly important as it becomes a means to store memories that we want to hold onto. This can be in terms of documenting memories we create through moments, places and people.From my understanding,

March 14, 2022 | BY Rui Pastorin

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Against: ‘No pain, no gain’

A friend of mine was venting on her relationship problem one day, and she said that her parents disapprove of her boyfriend because “he will never earn as much money as her father” – a billionaire. Meanwhile she, herself, does not need to work to enjoy her family’s wealth that, according to her mother, others cannot accumulate in several lifetimes. This incident fully convinced me that there are gains that do not require one to experience any pain.If you had asked me this question a few

March 7, 2022 | BY Prisca Tang

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Do you agree, ‘no pain, no gain’?

For: Ula Cheang – university freshwomanI agree that “no pain, no gain” is a process that everyone has to go through in order to achieve their goals. I believe every achievement connects with the effort that needs to be taken. Moreover, if one is unwilling to put in any effort, the goal cannot be achieved at its finest. We often see people being successful and rich and think “I wish I were him/her”. However, we do not see their pain and the process before reaching their goals. For

March 7, 2022 | BY admin

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‘Love’ is not a synonym for ‘like’

“Love” and “like” are two words that describe something special that is shared between two people.Feelings that can be great when they are and hurt when they do. They strike in certain, inexplicable ways, yet only one strikes in such a way that could change your life. It is for this reason that love is not a synonym for like and is instead much deeper. Specifically, from my understanding, they vary in time and condition.To begin with, liking someone is superficial, an initial stage that

February 21, 2022 | BY Rui Pastorin

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‘Love’ and ‘like’ are synonyms

One of the biggest culture shocks I have ever experienced was the moment I found out that Western culture makes a huge fuss over saying “I love you”, but blurts out “like” often. They put so much weight on the word “love” that it was almost a fear of confessing one’s vulnerability. However, in the 12 years I have lived in Hong Kong, over 100 Chinese teenage romance novels I have read and numerous TVB dramas have taught me otherwise— “like” and “love” are synonyms.I am

February 21, 2022 | BY Prisca Tang

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A library’s purpose

What’s the difference between an internet café, a cinema, and a library? Each could be a place for phone use, gaming and movie viewing, but consider the phrase “just because you can doesn’t mean that you should” and think in the context of a library. Is it the place for a few online gaming sessions? Is a university library with a limited number of computers in study areas the right place to gather a few friends for a movie? These are a few scenarios I observed at some libraries

February 14, 2022 | BY Rui Pastorin

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Ode to imagination – power of words

Ican still vividly remember the day I fell in love with words. I was six and a difficult child because, for some reason, I would not stop crying at school. It was not until the day my mother took me to my school’s library and handed me a children’s book about David, from the Bible, killing a giant with a sling and a pebble, that I stopped crying. My mom told me, “Books can take you to another world. A world which is not here. A world where what you’re afraid of or worried about

February 14, 2022 | BY Prisca Tang

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A look at China’s democracy, rule of law at ‘two sessions’

Commentary        BEIJING – China’s “two sessions,” the annual sessions of the top legislature and top political advisory body, are a key event on the country’s political calendar.As major issues are being discussed, the event offers outsiders a good chance to see democracy and rule of law at work in the country’s political system.“One of the great misunderstandings is that China is not a democracy,” said Mario Cavolo, an Italian-American writer and

March 9, 2021 | BY admin

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Is China ramping up military spending?

Explainer        BEIJING – A draft budget report submitted to China’s top legislature has unveiled the country’s planned military spending for this year. In 2021, China’s defense budget will be around 1.35 trillion yuan (about US$200 billion), up 6.8 percent from last year.Is China’s military spending too hefty? Is the figure growing too fast? Is the so-called “Chinese military threat,” as hyped by some Western politicians and media outlets, well grounded?The

March 9, 2021 | BY admin

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