哈囉 – here you’ll find posts related to Hong Kong. That includes the territory, the culture, business, creativity and history. I lived and travelled to Hong Kong a number of times, so sometimes the content can be quite random.
In addition, I have long loved Cantonese culture and cuisine, so these might make more appearances on this category. I am saddened by the decline in the film and music production sectors.
I tend to avoid discussing local politics, and the external influence of China’s interference in said politics beyond how it relates to business and consumer behaviour in its broadest context.
Often posts that appear in this category will appear in other categories as well. So if Apple Daily launched a new ad format that I thought was particularly notable that might appear in branding as well as Hong Kong.
If there are subjects that you think would fit with this category of the blog, feel free to let me know by leaving a comment in the ‘Get in touch’ section of this blog here.
Now that the awards have been announced I can share my PHNX 2025 favourites from the categories that I had a the good fortune to judge. It took me a little time to sit down and collect my thoughts. You can find the details of the Grand Prix winners here.
My PHNX 2025 favourites come from around the world. The categories are truly global in nature and you get work from a wide range of agency sizes. Partly because of my time in Hong Kong campaigns from Cathay Pacific and HSBC stood out for me when looking at PHNX 2025. This wasn’t out of a sense of mawkish nostalgia, but because I understand the cultural context and legislative issues lurking beneath the surface looking to sink a campaign for fear of ‘soft resistance’.
Cathay Pacific paraolympics
While Hong Kong has historically had a strong showing at the paraolympics , its para-olympians achievements hadn’t been seen in the past. Cathay Pacific used the new opportunities that generative AI tools allowed these moments to be recreated.
Cathay Pacific had the permission to do this advert because of its position in Hong Kong life. Cathay Pacific aka ‘CX’ is the nervous system that connects Hong Kong and Hong Kongers to the wider world. As importantly, CX also connects the Hong Kong diaspora to the home city. The airline’s loyalty card is the second most common card for Hong Kongers after the Hong Kong ID card.
HSBC – Hong Kong move forward
Hong Kong as a city has been through a lot:
The protests
The National Security Law and the social changes that came after it
COVID-19 lockdown
A battered economy
All of this piled on top of the co-opetition between the city and nearby cities from Guangzhou and Shenzhen to Macau and Singapore.
Move Forward tries to capture the Hong Kong commercial spirit, even as ‘Underneath the Lion Rock’ common identity dimmed and spread around the world.
HSBC took this concept further by using Tony Leung Chiu-wai ‘aka Little Tony’ as a brand spokesperson. Leung as a star is universally liked by Hong Kongers, from Marvel fans to Wong Kar-wai devotees like me. Leung embodies the ‘Lion Rock spirit’. He left school at 15 due to family hardship. Worked in everyman jobs like a salesman in an electrical goods store and built his career thanks the apprenticeship / talent development system that local TV station TVB ran at the time.
Midea white goods
In the 1980s and early 1990s this ad wouldn’t have been notable. It would have been considered a good advert, but not great. But it’s now 2025, Gym Shark clothing and Suri dental health adverts are soul-rotting. So the joy of seeing any craft and conceptual creativity in an advert makes this Midea spot notable.
https://youtu.be/ujpb1o-vlBU
If Diageo made white goods, this is what their campaigns would look like.
Limin’ with Gram
Of my PHNX 2025 favourites, Limin with Gram was my sole pick from the UK based on the categories that I was a jury member for. It warmed the strategist in me for the way cultural insights were applied to a health-related public service announcement style campaign.
One of my work colleagues is moving city, so I dug out my dusty notes on what I learned from the process of moving from London to Hong Kong and back again and thought I would share it for future travellers.
I benefited from going back and forth to Ireland, so resolved to make different mistakes to my parents loading our cars up to the gunnels.
I presume that you will be doing your own research that is destination-specific. There is usually a plethora of guides, subreddits, forums and websites. If you want to realise how far you are away from being one of the 1%, I can recommend the Hong Kong section of the Asiaxpat Forum as a way of finding out how the global elite live and the problems that they face.
One of the things that you first face in consideration about moving city is what to take with you. If you are filling a removal van, everything is going. if you are moving city, to the far side of the world. You start filtering things down very fast.
Pack enough clothes for two weeks of office work and weekends. I had a couple of North Face basecamp duffel bags for this. They are robust and I’ve owned my set since the mid-2000s. Since then they went to the US and around Asia for work several times.
Get plastic office moving crates and security tie-wraps for the rest of your stuff that will be going by sea. They are stackable and more resilient to water than the cardboard boxes moving companies would usually give you.
Label the crates clearly. Laminate the labels and attach them to the crates
Keep a list of each crates content, this will help you with any customs forms
Pack a collapsable porter’s trolley in one of the crates. Your back will thank you.
Take enough medicines for at least a month, it will take time to find a family doctor.
Bring stuff that has memories.
Only use a Kindle for leisure reading.
Don’t bring anything that you can buy in a local supermarket including:
Cleaning products
Toiletries
Kitchen cupboard staples
Household basics like plates, cutlery etc
Over the counter medicines like cold remedies and multi-vitamins
Make a list in advance of travelling of the things that you need to do when you arrive. You will miss things off on this list. But what the list does is provide a sense of security that you can then work through.
You can still sort out your UK tax affairs from abroad, which makes moving city slightly easier to do.
Finance
If you don’t have one already get an American Express card before you even think about travelling. They make it really easy to get a credit card in your new country based on your previous countries Amex history.
In terms of banking, if I was going to do it all again I would have gone with Standard Chartered rather than HSBC as my bank when moving city from London to Hong Kong. But HSBC are better than nothing.
This post on gaming as politics was inspired by a Taiwanese adventure game played on mobile phones. The game in question is considered a national security risk by the Hong Kong government. (In China, it wouldn’t be able to be downloaded anyway).
Reversed Front: Bonfire – banned in Hong Kong
Chris Tang, the current secretary of security for the Hong Kong government said that having the game on your phone or playing it was a national security law offence. The game was an act of ‘soft resistance’ designed to corrupt Hong Kong’s youth.
According to a statement by the National Security Department (NSD) of the Hong Kong Police Force, Reversed Front: Bonfire is
…a game with the aim of promoting secessionist agendas such as “Taiwan independence” and “Hong Kong independence”, advocating armed revolution and the overthrow of the fundamental system of the People’s Republic of China established by the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China. It also has an intention to provoke hatred towards the Central Authorities and the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
Imagine an anti-communist version of Myst that’s more text driven, built by diesel punk anime and waifu fans and you have a good idea of what Reversed Front: Bonfire is.
The developers at ESC Taiwan do not hide their views. It is a great example of ‘gaming as politics’ with gameplay referencing key slogans of the 2019 Hong Kong protests.
The Hong Kong government is probably sensitive about dissent through gaming when protests went virtual on Nintendo’s Animal Crossing: New Horizons – when COVID restrictions made real-world protests impractical.
Gaming as politics beyond Hong Kong
Gaming as politics in Hong Kong is only the latest place where the medium as been used to press a political ideology.
As video game graphics have improved video game footage or machinima have been used to create footage that has been passed off as war footage. As it has got better, it has been easier to convince the casual observer on social media. Examples include HAMAS and Israel, Israel and Iran, Russia and Ukraine and Russia in Syria.
A Ukrainian research paper Video Games As Deep Media: challenges during the Russian-Ukraine war outlines how both sides have used video games as a propaganda channel. Ukrainians have skilfully used tools like customised gaming maps and conversations on online games to directly address Russians about the truth of the war. Gaming provided a space largely unmediated by the Russian government, at least at the beginning of the war.
On the flip side, Russia has pumped propaganda efforts into platforms like Minecraft and Roblox.
Political satire in games
Gaming as politics lent itself well to political satire. These are usually developed by independent software companies. For instance Bundesfighter II Turbo was based on caricatures of candidates in the 2017 German federal election. Hong Kong 1997 was a Japanese developed game based in a fantastical version of Hong Kong SAR – it also has the distinction of being considered one of the worst games ever.
Gaming as politics and as a political culture
Online radicalisation of gamers has become prevalent and the International Centre for Counter Terrorism provides advice for games design teams.
One issue that I have with the ICCT is that there is a lack of proportionality in what they talk about. I can understand that this is partly because even a small percentage of people can cause a lot of carnage. And like other emotive issues being absolutist tells a great story, which will help with everything from grants to getting meetings with politicians. One assertion they make is quite interesting:
…the relative opaqueness of video game spaces provides an attractive opportunity to meet online and outside the watchful eye of law enforcement. Moreover, the presence of many young people who may be vulnerable to extremist messaging efforts creates ideal circumstances for exposure to extremist viewpoints. However, we argue that particular aspects of gaming culture may also have a hand in the proliferation of extremist beliefs. In the study by Kowert, Martel, and Swann, “[identity] fusion with gaming culture is uniquely predictive of a host of socially pernicious outcomes, including racism, sexism, and endorsement of extreme behaviors.” Examples of how such tendencies surface from time to time are numerous.
Their view is supported by academics, Political Psychology published a research paper on how far right organisations use online gaming as a pipeline to grow their numbers.
The example provided by ICCT is the Gamergate scandal. I would argue that Gamergate is part of a longitudinal trend amongst a proportion of young men towards social conservatism including ongoing misognystic expressions of their beliefs. Do I approve of Gamergate – no, do I believe that the blame is purely around the medium of gaming – also no.
KZ manager
Gaming as politics is a concept that predates the internet. KZ manager was a series of games with an anti-semitic theme. It was first published in 1988 for the Commodore 64 alongside other home computer platforms at the time. it was distributed from player to player by disc or dial-up bulletin boards. By 1989 it was banned in Germany, but kept being maintained and republished up until 2000.
Nihilism and gaming as politics
Nihilistic terrorism has now become enmeshed in gaming as politics. Nihilism implies the act for its own sake, without any ideology challenges the political nature of terrorism as a concept. Alex in A Clockwork Orange fits this nihilistic definition to a tee. The medium for living out the nihilistic fantasies has changed over time. From books, to exploitation films, shockumentaries such as Faces of Death. Connecting with other ‘like-minded’ individuals was transformed in online spaces. Gaming was just another media form adopted by the nihilists. It is still only a very small number of them that put their fantasies into any form of action.
More related Hong Kong stories here, and more on gaming here.
Apple development changes was at the forefront of Apple’s WWDC keynote for 2025. I think that the focus on Apple development changes were happening for a few reasons:
Apple got burned announcing sub-standard AI offerings last year.
The new translucent interface is divisive.
The multi-tasking iPad was interesting for power users, but most usage is as a communal device to consume content.
Apple has a number of small on-device models that do particular things well. Which is why Apple needs to get developers on-board to come up with compelling uses.
The Mac still has great hardware, passionate developers and a community passionate about great life-changing software. Apple development focus was coming home.
Hydrogen power and hydrogen fuel cells have been around for decades. Hydrogen power fuel cells as an invention were invented in the 19th century. The modern hydrogen fuel cell was refined before the second world war and have been used in NASA’s space programme since Project Apollo. The space programme’s use of hydrogen power inspired General Motors to create a hydrogen fuel cell powered van in 1966. By the late 1980s, BMW had developed a hydrogen-powered engine which it trialled in its 7-series vehicles a decade later.
By the mid-2010s there were four hydrogen power passenger cars using fuel cells: Honda Clarity, Toyota Mirai, Hyundai ix35 FCEV, and the Hyundai Nexo. BMW is collaborating with Toyota to launch another four models next year.
In addition in commercial vehicles and heavy plant Hyundai, Cummins and JCB have hydrogen power offerings. JCB and Cummins have focused on internal combustion engines, while Hyundai went with hydrogen fuel cells. The aviation industry has been looking to hydrogen power via jet turbines.
Hydrogen power offers greater energy density and lower weight than batteries. Unlike batteries or power lines, hydrogen can be transported over longer distances via tanker. So someplace like Ireland with wind and tidal power potential could become an energy exporter.
The key hydrogen power problem has been investment in infrastructure and an over-reliance on batteries. Batteries bring their own set of problems and a global strategic dependency on China.
Toyota is now warning that if there isn’t imminent international investment, that China will also dominate the supply chain, exports and energy generation in the hydrogen economy as well. It feels like me reaching a historic point of no return.
Skincare you can wear: China’s sunwear boom | Jing Daily – A jacket with a wide-brim hood and built-in face shield. Leggings infused with hyaluronic acid to hydrate while shielding skin from the sun. Face masks with chin-to-temple coverage. Ice-cooling gloves designed to drop skin temperature. In China, UV protection apparel isn’t just functional — it’s fashionable, dermatological, and high-tech. Once a niche category for hikers or extreme sports enthusiasts, China’s sunwear market has exploded into a $13 billion category blending climate adaptation, anti-aging culture, and the outdoor lifestyle wave. While other apparel segments slow, the sunwear sector is projected to reach nearly 95.8 billion RMB ($13.5 billion) by 2026 expanding at a CAGR of 9%, according to iResearch.
MACAU DAILY TIMES 澳門每日時報Beware of Li Kashing’s supersized value trap – But as the initial excitement starts to fade, investors are growing nervous, wary of a billionaire family that has a poor track record on shareholders’ returns. The Li clan takes pride in the myriad of businesses and markets it operates in. But what kind of value-add can a diversified conglomerate offer when globalization is out of favor and geopolitical risks are on the rise? CK’s de-rating has accelerated since Trump’s first term, with the stock trading at just 35% of its book value even after the recent share bump. The complex business dealings have made enterprise valuation an impossible task. In a sign of deep capital market skepticism, CK seems to have trouble monetizing its assets. Its health and beauty subsidiary A.S. Watson is still privately-held, a decade after postponing an ambitious $6 billion dual listing in Hong Kong and London. Softer consumer sentiment in China, once a growth market, has become a drag. Last summer, CK Infrastructure did a secondary listing in the UK, hoping to widen its investor base. – Rare direct criticism of CK Hutchison’s conglomerate discount.
Ghost in the Shell’s Creator Wants to Revisit the Anime, But There’s One Problem – Production I.G’s CEO Mitsuhisa Ishikawa—who produced both Ghost in the Shell films—spoke at the event. Ishikawa revealed a key obstacle preventing a third film: finances. He explained that Innocence had an enormous budget, estimated at around 2 billion yen (approximately $13 million), with profits reaching a similar figure. However, the film was planned with a ten-year financial recovery period, and even after 20 years, it has yet to break even.
‘Gucci’s 25% sales collapse should shock no one’ | Jing Daily – “Gucci is so boring now.” “They’ve lost all their confidence.” “It feels desperate — just influencers and celebrities.” Comparing Gucci’s bold, visionary eras under Tom Ford and Alessandro Michele and today’s safe, uninspired iteration reveals a stark contrast. That classroom moment reflected a broader truth: Gucci’s Q1 2025 is not a temporary dip. It’s the result of a deeper structural identity crisis — arguably one of the worst brand resets in recent luxury history.
