屏幕上的海外民運人士郭寶勝，反復地扭動著他的一只拳頭，他究竟在表達什麽？ 原來他在演示中紀委用來伺候嘴硬的官員的一種刑罰：審訊人員把男性官員的睪丸捏在手中， “捏捏捏捏捏捏，捏了就疼啊，全身非常痛苦欲裂，生不如死，快捏碎的時候，（官員）就交代了，”郭這樣說。

In the body of text below, I comment on a column written by SCMP chief editor Tammy Tam paragraph by paragraph. I have numbered each of her paragraphs for easy reference. I have also presented her copy in bold text, to distinguish it from mine.

在紀錄片裏，能看到難得一見的場景：一群經驗老到的裁縫在埋頭縫衣服，他們都是Christian Dior的巴黎高級定制工作室的員工，正忙著準備第二天要展示在T台的衣服，但他們百忙中還是接受了制片人的采訪。當他們談及自己工作，從他們的眼神和語氣，可以明顯感到他們對工作的熱愛。

何志平還要待在獄中的時間不長，但如果他繼續竭力向外維持他是真心相信“it is dangerous to be a Chinese these days” 等觀念的假象，他作為一個父親，就沒法從心靈的監獄釋放出來，因他知道女兒早晚會明白只有為中共做違法事的中國人才會受到美國政府的炮制，而她明白真相後就知道什麽是父母的禁區，什麽話題不能在他們面前提，但人與人之間有了禁區就等於有了隔膜！

二戰期間，在被納粹德國占領的法國，流行一種帶有精致鞋跟的木履。這種木履背後有個動人故事：德國攻破法國後就很快掏空了法國的各種物資，連全國的牛皮都被送往德國給德軍做靴子。那法國人自己要做鞋子用什麽做鞋底？只能用木頭啊！但有工藝傳承的法國人不甘心要穿難看的木履，所以他們在木履的跟部下功夫，設計出各種各樣的鞋跟，借此來維持民族尊嚴。連歌演雙棲的法國明星Maurice Chevalier也為國人打氣，趕快推出一首新作去歌頌人們穿木履時走路的聲音 。

In the body of text below, I comment on SCMP chief editor Tammy Tam's column paragraph by paragraph. I have numbered each of her paragraphs for easy reference. I have also italicized her copy, to distinguish it from mine. Link to the column under review (Title)Hong Kong cannot escape the US-China trade war unscathed The … Continue reading SCMP Chief Editor Tammy Tam Column Takedown (1) →

It was the first time the 32 year-old Princess Latifa got to sit in the front row of a car, so she naturally thought the occasion merited a selfie. Her backstory explains why she would find such a mundane matter a novel experience: her father is the ruler of Dubai, and normally, she is confined … Continue reading What Price Hollywood: the mind as ideological battleground in CCP-controlled Hong Kong →

Replicating hairstyles of 1930s hair icon Jean Harlow Brigitte Bardot was still an unknown when she had her one-and-only encounter with Marilyn Monroe - the latter was already world-famous when the two ran into each other in a dressing room in the early 1950s. Neither their disparity in stature nor the fact that no words … Continue reading The Godsend of a Good Hair Day in Hong Kong →

“Let me try and make her look like a ballerina,” Youtuber ballet coach Claudia Dean mused as she adjusted her sister’s shoulders, elbows, hands and neck - her sister had no dance training, and the point of the video was to show how ballet looked like when attempted by a layperson. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-38JCRMuAE Dean said she … Continue reading Dancing to my own tune: pursuing artistic freedom in an increasingly repressive Hong Kong →

Chen Mengjia 陈梦家 The directive that those present at the Beijing-based Tsinghua University campus should gather for a physical workout seemed innocuous enough - this was back in 1951, when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) had only reigned for two years and had yet to launch any nation-wide purge of intellectuals - but already, it … Continue reading Fear and Loathing in Hong Kong: writing when Big Brother is watching →