An engineer by day, Thomas spends most of his time inspecting building projects on construction sites. At night, he unwinds by performing in bars and restaurants across Hong Kong.

The 35-year-old has always had a passion for singing – in particular, he loves performing songs by Hins Cheung, his favourite Cantopop artist.

“When I have a gig, one-third or even half of my songs are Hins’ songs,” Thomas told HKFP. “I love how he expresses himself through singing. He’s very creative, and he’s humorous too.”

Last year, he even signed up for Hins Academy music seminars, personally taught by Cheung. They were not cheap, Thomas said, costing around HK$800 or $900 per seminar.

Cheung, 45, whose music career in Hong Kong has spanned more than two decades, was born and raised in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou. He moved to Hong Kong in 2002 to pursue music.

His hits, from old-time favourites like “Tremor” to newer songs like “Imaginary Fairground,” are karaoke staples. He has also won multiple high-profile awards, and his concert tickets sell out notoriously quickly.

Last month, Cheung made headlines after he apologised for his past criticism of the government. His comments were published in a full-page interview with state-backed newspaper Wen Wei Po, in which he said he had been “impulsive” and “ignorant” in his younger years.

The out-of-the-blue repentance contrasted with the pro-democracy stance that Cheung had been associated with. While he – like most public figures in the city’s post-security law environment – has not commented on politics in recent years, his fans remember his support for social movements dating back to the anti-national education protests in 2012.

Cheung also said in the interview that he would serve as a mentor for a Security Bureau programme targeting young people arrested for their involvement in the 2019 protests and unrest. He would lead them on trips to mainland China so they could learn more about the country, he said.

Thomas – who requested to use a pseudonym due to the sensitivity of the topic – said the recent news did not change his perception of Cheung, as he did not think the statements were made of his own free will.

“This is a 180-degree difference” from what Cheung used to be, Thomas said in Cantonese. “I think there must be reasons behind the scenes.”

His reaction echoed many comments left on Cheung’s social media posts, some of which said the Wen Wei Po interview felt “bizarre” and suggested that something “had happened.”

Political pressure

A political scientist at a university in Hong Kong, who declined to be named, said he believed there was some merit in fans’ theories. Cheung’s dramatic turn showed the increasing political pressure that artists had to cave in to in order to succeed in their field, he said.

He speculated that the government wanted a popular public figure to step forward and “admit their mistakes” to encourage others to rethink their political views. Cheung was a “suitable candidate,” the academic said.

He opined that while Cheung was believed to have a pro-democracy stance, he was not as anti-establishment as other singers who have engaged in political activism.

In fact, while the Cantopop star has expressed support for the city’s social movements, he has also made posts on Weibo celebrating China’s National Day.

“He has the brand of being anti-government in some sense, but he’s not that extreme,” the scholar said. “He’s the ideal type for the government to work with.”

The apology and collaboration with the government are also beneficial for Cheung from a business perspective, the academic added. 

In the past, artists worried that anti-establishment political statements could limit their opportunities across the border. Mainland China has been known to bar singers perceived as pro-democracy, making it difficult for them to hold concerts there.

But now that fear could be felt right at home, too, the academic said. In recent years, singers who are outspoken about their pro-democracy stance have faced difficulties securing concert venues in the city. 

Outside of Cheung’s fan circle, however, criticism is not hard to come by. Lester Shum, a pro-democracy activist who was released from jail in January after serving a four-and-a-half-year sentence for a landmark national security case, said on Threads that Cheung was doing it “for the money.”

He appeared to downplay concerns that Cheung was under any pressure.

“Don’t say he’d get arrested if he didn’t do this lmao,” Shum wrote in Chinese. “I think the chances of that happening are close to zero.” 

Another Threads user accused Cheung of “playing the victim” and trying to fish for sympathy.

‘For his music’

Comments like that do not faze long-time fan Brian, who said he has been listening to Cheung since his late primary school days.

The 29-year-old said he had been to Cheung’s concerts eight or nine times, a feat made possible by the fact that he could buy internal tickets through a friend’s relative who worked at Emperor Entertainment Group, Hong Kong’s talent management behemoth that manages the artist.

Tickets are too difficult to purchase during public sales, said Brian, who declined to disclose his full name.

“I have liked him for so many years for his music, not because of things he has said about politics in the past,” Brian told HKFP. “So I won’t stop liking him because of what he’s said about politics now.”

He told HKFP he himself is not a political person and that he does not support “either side.”

“But in Hong Kong, if you say you support the government, you will have more opportunities,” he said. “If [Cheung] still wants to develop in Hong Kong, to hold shows and appear in films, his stance must be supportive of the government.”

According to local media, Cheung appeared at a Security Bureau event at the Hong Kong Museum of History at the end of April, where he and other speakers gave talks to about 300 people. The event was aimed at young people who were arrested during the protests and unrest in 2019.

The singer shared the ups and downs of his career, including being scammed by a record company in mainland China when he was 17. In his talk, he did not mention national security.

Afterwards, participants were brought to the national security exhibition in the museum. Then, there was a lucky draw, with tickets to a star-studded concert featuring Emperor Entertainment Group’s singers among the prizes, an attendee told local media.

Thomas said he did not think that Cheung wanted to collaborate with the government on its event, but perhaps he had to as a favour to his music company, which is reportedly experiencing financial difficulties. Last year, Emperor Group actress Michelle Wai also gave a talk at a similar Security Bureau event targeting former 2019 protesters.

He also said it was “abnormal” that Cheung unfollowed many accounts on Instagram around the time the Wen Wei Po interview came out, including some of his closest artist friends like Terence Lam and Tyson Yoshi.

Thomas said he believed Cheung would not do that on his own.

He added that while Cheung had not spoken about politics in recent years, his music video for “Imaginary Fairground” – filmed in London in 2023 and depicting Hongkongers’ struggle to adapt to a new life in the UK – was interpreted by fans as a message of encouragement for those who had emigrated because of the city’s political developments.

Thomas’ friends who are also Cheung fans share his continued support for the artist, the hobbyist singer said, but some members of his own audience seem less forgiving.

Thomas had come across restaurant customers at his gigs who, upon hearing him perform Cheung’s songs, said they no longer listened to the Cantopop star.

“I think those are not his real fans,” Thomas said. “All they’ve seen are the news reports.”

The author of “Taiwan Travelogue”, Yang Shuang-zi, told AFP she hopes her International Booker Prize-winning novel can one day be read in China and facilitate dialogue about the “future Taiwanese people want”.

On Tuesday, Yang, 41, became the first Taiwanese author to win the prestigious award which celebrates works translated into English, alongside translator Lin King, 32.

The playful novel, set in 1930s Japan-controlled Taiwan, poses as a translation of a rediscovered Japanese travel memoir penned by fictional writer Aoyama Chizuko.

It traces ebullient Chizuko’s travels and gastronomic adventures across the colonial outpost, and the relationship she develops with her Taiwanese interpreter, the reticent Chizuru.

Although historical fiction, the novel probes themes of power imbalance and cultural erasure that the author says are relevant to present-day Taiwan, which is claimed by China as part of its territory.

“I’ve countless times felt anxious inside, asking myself whether literature is too slow,” Yang admitted when asked about Taiwan’s future.

“I often worry, often feel that maybe I should make political statements, or take some kind of action, engage in other forms of activism,” she told AFP in an interview Wednesday.

“But in reality, as a novelist, I’ve decided to put my faith in literature, to believe in the power of literature.”

First published in Mandarin in 2020, the book has won accolades in Taiwan, but has not been released in China.

“If this book can, in one way or another, make its way into China and be read by Chinese readers, I think we would have an opportunity for dialogue and communication,” said Yang.

That would “let more Chinese people understand what kind of future Taiwanese people want — which is not the same as what many in China imagine”.

‘Uphill battle’

“Taiwan Travelogue” is the first book published in any Chinese language to win the International Booker Prize.

“I hope it can serve as an example in the Chinese-speaking world, showing that in a free and democratic country like Taiwan — a country where I can come out openly as a queer person — we can do this together,” said Yang.

Unlike writing from former British colonies like Hong Kong, King says Taiwanese literature and its colonial past are lesser known in the Anglophone world.

“For Taiwan, it’s always been an uphill battle to be translated into English, and published, and recognised. So this is definitely very momentous for me personally,” said King.

The win has prompted an outpouring of emotion from Taiwanese readers on social media, who see it as an important moment for the self-ruling island usually in the news over tensions with China.

But Yang says the universal themes she discusses in the book — and her mouthwatering descriptions of Taiwanese delicacies — may have also touched readers.

“I’ve packed a lot of elements I personally love into this work — whether it’s travel, railways, food, or women’s friendships. Because I’m so fond of these things, I hope my enthusiasm can also infect my readers.”

For Yang, who dedicated this book featuring the larger-than-life women characters to her late sister, it is as much about preserving Taiwan’s past as it is about fighting for its future.

“Sometimes history briefly disappears; it becomes a blank. But as long as there are descendants willing to search, I believe history can be completed,” said Yang.

This book is “a call to readers all over the world: we can go and retrieve the histories that were once lost, our mothers’ voices, our grandmothers’ voices. We have to recover them ourselves.”

Central music venue The Aftermath has appealed for support as it seeks to settle accumulated back rent as part of a newly negotiated lease agreement with its landlord.

The community space opened seven years ago on Wyndham Street as a hub for independent artists, underground music, comedy, theatre and film screenings. But having weathered the city’s Covid-19 restrictions, it is now putting on a series of events to help tackle its rental deficit.

“Without the resources to relocate, this moment has become make-or-break for one of the city’s few remaining truly independent live music spaces,” a press release on Sunday said. “The Aftermath is calling on everyone who believes independent music venues matter – not just as businesses, but as cultural spaces where artists meet, scenes form, and communities are built.”

Founder Alicia Beale told HKFP on Tuesday that the venue offers an opportunity for the arts community to foster new talent: “I do believe we try hard to be an open and safe space that provides reasonable availability and pricing for local promoters to host international musicians that connect the HK music community other the broader world,” she said.

Small livehouses have long faced challenges in Hong Kong. Hidden Agenda, a popular indie spot, was raided by authorities in 2017 before rebranding as This Town Needs, which closed in 2020. The team has since staged events at venues like MacPherson Stadium and PORTAL.

The loss of the medium-sized Kowloon Bay venue due to a redevelopment plan was also a blow to independent gig organisers.

Beale said that remaining venues are finding ways to survive: “I think it is just a hard market. Many different venues have tried different business models – like Simpson Space is party room that holds live music shows as private parties, and Chez Trente works similarly. MOM Live House does flat rentals and has a full restaurant. The Wanch keeps trying to fine tune to find its magic recipe too for staying alive.”

On June 5, it will host a night of folk, rock and indie music featuring featuring Mr Koo, The Pineapple Jam, The Lockouts, and Levelling Out. Four other events – including a “battle of the bands” – are planned for June to help support the venue.

Hong Kong independent bookshop Book Punch and its owner have been fined HK$6,000 after holding a stand-up comedy show without an entertainment licence – the second time they have been penalised within a month.

Pong Yat-ming and his firm, Active Experiential Learning Company, which owns Book Punch, were fined HK$3,000 each on Monday afternoon after they were found guilty of breaching the Places of Public Entertainment Ordinance following a trial that morning.

The two defendants were accused of holding a stand-up comedy event at the Sham Shui Po bookstore on June 29 last year, local media reported.

According to a Facebook post that month, the event was a stand-up comedy performance featuring people who had completed a comedy course hosted by the bookstore.

That day, two undercover Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) officers attended the pay-as-you-wish event, each giving HK$100.

‘Stage performance’

During the trial, one of the FEHD officers who posed as a participant testified for the prosecution.

The officer, surnamed Hui, described around 40 chairs facing the same direction, towards the event host and performers.

Representing Pong and his firm, barrister Lawrence Lau asked whether the performance space was on the same level as the audience.

Hui confirmed that there was no stage, so the performers were not elevated.

Lau said he agreed that the event was a “performance,” but since there was no stage – doubted whether it was a “stage performance,” citing the wording used in the Places of Public Entertainment Ordinance.

The ordinance states that the laws apply to “a concert, opera, ballet, stage performance or other musical, dramatic or theatrical entertainment.”

Lau added that while the ordinance lists “comedy” as an example of a “stage performance,” along with other types of entertainment such as melodrama and dancing exhibitions, stand-up comedy should not be considered comedy.

Pong did not testify in the trial.

Past convictions

Delivering the verdict on Monday afternoon, Magistrate Andrew Mok said he disagreed with Lau’s narrow reading of the ordinance.

He said he did not think “stage performance,” as stated in the ordinance, applied only to performances with a stage.

Mok said that Pong showed no remorse during the trial, and therefore, there was no reason to give a lighter penalty. But he noted that Pong’s attitude during the trial was “pragmatic,” and that his past convictions all had to do with promoting culture.

On April 10, Pong and his firm were fined HK$32,000 after being found guilty of running an unregistered school. The case related to a Spanish interest class that was held at the bookstore.

In 2022, Pong was convicted of serving alcohol without a licence after he served sake to attendees at a sake-book-sharing event. The judge handed down a fine of HK$12,000.

Taiwanese author Yang Shuang-zi and translator Lin King won the International Booker Prize on Tuesday for “Taiwan Travelogue”, a playful postcolonial novel with a culinary bent.

The prestigious award, which was handed out in a ceremony at London’s Tate Modern gallery, recognises works of fiction from around the world that have been translated into English.

“Taiwan Travelogue” is the first book translated from Mandarin Chinese to win the award, and Yang, born in 1984, is the first Taiwanese winner of the prize, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary.

Set in 1930s Japan-controlled Taiwan, the book poses as a translation of a rediscovered Japanese travel memoir penned by fictional writer Aoyama Chizuko.

It traces Chizuko’s travels and gastronomic adventures across the colonial outpost, and the intimate relationship she develops with her Taiwanese interpreter Chizuru.

“This is a book that surprises and isn’t perhaps what it seems like on the surface,” said chair of the judges Natasha Brown.

It “pulls off an incredible double feat: it succeeds as both a romance and an incisive postcolonial novel,” said Brown. “It’s a captivating, slyly sophisticated novel.”

The book beat out a story about a suburban witch by French novelist and playwright Marie NDiaye, as well as Brazilian Ana Paula Maia’s dystopian read about a brutal prison colony.

The other shortlisted works were “The Nights Are Quiet in Tehran” by German writer Shida Bazyar, “She Who Remains” by Bulgarian poet and writer Rene Karabash, and “The Director” by German-Austrian writer Daniel Kehlmann, the only male author on the list.

Organisers say the award gives the authors writing in languages other than English a significant boost in profile and sales.

Previous winners Han Kang, Annie Ernaux and Olga Tokarczuk have gone on to become Nobel laureates.

Also a writer of manga and video game scripts, this was Yang’s first book translated into English, by Taiwanese-American King.

They will share the £50,000 (U$67,000) prize money.

The book was first published in Mandarin in 2020 and won Taiwan’s highest literary honour, the Golden Tripod Award.

“The novel’s central themes of travel and food changed my life in two obvious ways: my savings went down; my weight went up,” Yang said.

The streets of Shau Kei Wan turned into a sea of colour last Sunday as local communities celebrated the Tam Kung Festival with a vibrant street procession in honour of the Taoist maritime deity.

Lion and dragon dance troupes, martial artists and acrobats paraded along Shau Kei Wan Main Street East, from the Factory Street Playground to the historic Tam Kung Temple near the waterfront.

With 2026 being the Year of the Horse, some performers also paid tribute to the zodiac animal.

Tourists and residents flocked to the narrow streets of the eastern neighbourhood to watch the lively performances and tried to touch the dragon for good luck.

The celebration of Tam Kung’s birthday culminated at the 101-year-old temple, with worshippers burning incense and paper offerings for the sea deity, believed to have the power to control the weather and heal the sick.

The birthday of Tam Kung falls on the eighth day of the fourth lunar month, coinciding with Buddha’s Birthday. The festival is a remnant of Shau Kei Wan’s history as a fishing village.

According to folklore, Tam Kung was born in today’s Huizhou county during the Yuan dynasty, and at the age of 12 attained Taoist enlightenment and discovered the secret of eternal youth.

The central government has greenlighted yachts from Hong Kong and Macau to enter nine mainland Chinese cities in the Greater Bay Area (GBA) without customs guarantees and with temporary ship registrations.

The State Council said on Friday that the pilot scheme came into effect the same day.

The nine cities are Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Huizhou, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Jiangmen, and Zhaoqing.

The State Council also said it had “temporarily adjusted” two maritime ordinances to relax restrictions for Hong Kong and Macau yachts travelling to the Greater Bay Area.

The Hong Kong government said on Saturday that it welcomed the new policy.

“Under the new policy, the exemption [from] the requirement for a guarantee will significantly reduce the financial burden” on yacht owners, it said in a statement.

It also praised the simplified registration scheme, which allows Hong Kong and Macau yachts to obtain temporary national ship registration from mainland China “without affecting their original ship registration.”

Owners of Hong Kong and Macau yachts previously had to pay hefty customs guarantees and undergo complex registration procedures before entering mainland ports.

According to the Saturday statement, the Hong Kong Marine Department will “continuously review and refine the facilitation measures for the northbound travel of yachts from Hong Kong and southbound travel for yachts from the Chinese Mainland to foster a healthy, sustainable and competitive environment for the development of the local yacht economy.”

Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee first proposed boosting the local yacht economy in his 2025 Policy Address in September.

The following month, the government announced new initiatives, including providing 600 additional yacht berths at the former Lamma Quarry, expanding the Aberdeen Typhoon Shelter and the Hung Hom Station waterfront projects, and a planned yacht bay at Airport City.