Ethan Lam

For better or for worse, Hong Kong waits for no one. The city moves fast, adopting trend after trend, changing its appearance so often that it’s sometimes hard to remember what it looked like yesterday. Leave for even a month, and you’ll come back to find that gentrification and corporate globalisation have only further encroached on the precious little space available here. But underneath it all, there’s still an intense passion and love for the classic culture and trades of old Hong Kong – call it nostalgia if you will, but after all, these are the people, places, and practices that helped make the city what it is today. As such, the city is full of organizations and people who have made cultural preservation their personal business – one such group is @streetsignhk, who document and preserve the signboards that you’ll find all around the city. They’ve hosted several exhibitions since they started in 2017, including one in London! We sat down at a neighbourhood cafe in Kowloon City to talk to the brains behind the project. By Ethan Lam How did your group come about? Ken: Our group came together towards the end of 2017, but it all started back in 2015. We were colleagues at an architectural firm at the time. We passed by a pawn shop one day and saw its sign was being removed. It was already cut in half and lying on the ground. We hadn’t thought much about it at the time but we knew it had a lot of cultural value, so we asked the workers if we could keep it. That

There are plenty of interesting buildings and places around the city. Some are beautiful and infinitely Instagrammable, while others are historical relics of a rapidly fading Hong Kong of yore. But it’s mostly the same usual suspects who repeatedly receive the most attention – the Monster Building, IFC, Tai Kwun, you know the lot. And don’t even get us started with Choi Hung estate. Bucking the trend, here are some rarely discussed buildings and spots that are aesthetically interesting, of historical note, or even just plain weird.   RECOMMENDED: Get to know the hidden side of the city; here’s a list of the most secluded islands to explore in Hong Kong. 

It’s not just cheesy rom-coms, gritty crime thrillers, and martial arts flicks that the local film industry is famous for. In this modern age, the comedies of Hong Kong’s past are often overlooked, but the fact is that the city has always created great comedies. The 2000s arguably produced some of the funniest ones – here are some humorous highlights from Hong Kong’s extensive film catalogue.  RECOMMENDED: For more local productions, see our pick of the best 100 Hong Kong movies.

Thanks to mega-popular groups like Mirror and Collar, Cantopop has been on the rise in Hong Kong. But aside from the pop genre, subcultures within Cantonese music have also been growing in popularity. If your go-to music playlist needs some updating, here are some of Hong Kong’s hottest underground artists that you should check out.  RECOMMENDED: If you want to know more artists outside of Hong Kong, check out these songs that were featured in K-dramas!