Just Came Across...

This little gem...

The Character of Hong Kong, 2010

This kind of work is right up my street.

Hong Kong born artist

Kristopher Ho

Kristophers Website

His work on Escapeintolife.com

Feeling Hungry?

You will be after this...
The most exciting thing for me when i visit a new country is trying new food and drink.
Hong Kong doesnt dissapoint
Because of its Poistion in asia and its deep trading history, combined with the prosperity of the british empire, Hong Kong has absorbed culinary influences from across the world.
cantonese, thai, chinese, indian, japanese, british, and mongolian food  are all readily available in restaurants in Hong Kong. You can also get some odd fusions of foods...

Hong Kong style french toast- 'toast slathered with peanut butter or kaya jam, soaked in egg batter, fried in butter and served with still more butter and lots of syrup' (sounds scottish to me)

 

 

Or maybe you fancy a nice bowl of snake soup?

Apparently it tastes like chicken

Which leads us nicely onto.....

Chicken feet. makes sense to me, why waste parts of an animal that can be eaten?

and finally STINKY TOFU

Tofu that has started to ferment, giving off ultimate stinkyness. apparently popular. I think this is way more gross than chicken feet, but i'd probably still give it a go.

 

 

 

 

But if all of this is just a tad too adventurous for you there some other delicious treats for the taste buds available

maybe a top ten foods to eat or restaurants could be a good thing to go into the guide for tourists...

Hong Kong attractions (some of them)

我隻氣墊船裝滿晒鱔!

I apologize for the lack of witty comments at the moment, ive just got in from work ....
Will add more tomorrow, where we will be looking at food :)

Hong Kong Basics

Here is Hong Kong, (circled crudely in red) as you can see its relatively small compared to the vast expanse of  China.
 However it's a very different place to most places in the People's Republic. The Chinese state has little say in how Hong Kong governs itself, it operates a different economic system and maintains a high level of interaction with western nations and culture (this is known as one country,two systems).

Because of it's history in the British Empire and its deep historical roots in China, Hong Kong has a unique history and culture that draws from both eastern and western life.



Anyway, some basics...

• They Drive on the left (China drives on the right,apparently when crossing the border you enter a big car park at customs and then exit on the other side of the road, i found this amusing).
• The official languages are Chinese and English. (but many speak Cantonese aswell)
• Currency is the Hong Kong Dollar HKD (9th most traded currency in the world)
• Population of around 7 million
• People living in Hong Kong are referred to as Hong Kongers.
• Chinese folk law is a big part of the religious and cultural aspect of Hong Kong (this is something i think i can really get into and will provide some great visuals)
• Because of its freedom from the communist state, many religions come together in Hong Kong including, Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Sikhism,Judaism, Hinduism and many branches of Christianity.
• Hong Kong international airport is built on a huge artificial island.
• Apparently Hong Kongers are celebrity mad (something i guess they've got from western culture) 
•  

Left:Chinese Flag

Right:Hong Kong emblem









Anyway thats all for now folks.
To keep you going until next time heres a quick Chinese lion i knocked together and photo shopped.

 回头见
huí tóu jiàn (see you later apparently)

China,Japan and Hong Kong

Throughout this project i'm going to have to look at Chinese culture as well as Hong Kong because of its inevitable link with China both in the past and now since the re-unification.
Ive also been looking into the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong between  1941-1945.
It was a grim time for the people of Hong Kong who faced starvation, execution and disease under the oppressive regime of Imperial Japan.

Scenes like this were common place,you could be executed for carrying Hong Kong dollars (which were made illegal)

The battle for Hong Kong was a particularly ferocious battle, perhaps it could be a setting for later in the project dealing with character designs or a graphic novel. Its something to keep in mind.

Hong Kong!

For the foreseeable future this blog will be dedicated to the exploration of Hong Kong and all things Hong Kongy
Its official name being the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China..
catchy huh?
 
 A neon city with over 7 million people, it's one of the most densely populated cities in the world, and growing...