English Synopsis: Torrey’s Story (Hong Kong: Restoration House, 2020) draws on Ryan’s real-life experiences raising five (!!!) children through fostering and adoption. Ryan is a Hong Kong social worker, a senior consultant for local charity Mother’s Choice, and co-founded Adoptive Families of Hong Kong (AFHK). Raised by Christian missionaries in Taiwan, where she used to work at a local orphanage growing up, Ryan has lived in Hong Kong for 33 years. She describes Chinese as her first language.  Her book deals with one of her sons, Torrey’s, special needs: “Torrey is just like you and me ..read more

Fool Me Twice: Confessions of a Perpetual Internet Dating Neophyte (Hasmark Services Publishing, 2018) is a confessional memoir from Jules Hannaford, an Australian expat who’s lived in Hong Kong for 20 years. She’s a bit of a Renaissance woman: a single mother, teacher, host to the show Hong Kong Confidential (ranked by Tatler as one of the top five local podcasts)... and her own adaptation of Fool Me Twice as a true-crime pod-series went viral in 2019. The series received 200,000 downloads in 8 months, whilst scoring her - and her daughter, Zara - a nomination for the internet’s highest acco ..read more

Dr. Jeffrey Wasserstrom, Chancellor's Professor of History at UC Irvine, discusses his new book, Vigil: Hong Kong on the Brink (New York: Columbia Global Reports, 2020). Wasserstrom frames Hong Kong's 2019/2020 protests, and the new National Security Law, in a wider historical narrative: from its colonial "founding" under the Treaty of Nanking (29 August 1842) to the 1997 Handover. The latter was itself prefaced by tense negotiations between Margaret Thatcher and Deng Xiaoping in the drafting of the Basic Law.  Temperate and moderate, Wasserstrom makes parallels to the controversial "T"s ..read more

'Gweilo' is a Cantonese racial epithet for a Westerner. It translates as 'white devil' or 'white ghost' - so, a pretty fitting title for a dying English expat recounting his Hong Kong childhood. The memoir 'Gweilo' is one of the region's most iconic books.  In our pilot episode, we hear about its stage adaptation, 'Gweilo, an original musical drama created by Micah Sandt and Hoi-fai Wu, presented by Pants Theatre Production, based on Martin Booth’s memoir.' We also hear from the book's editor Marianne Velmanns, who... okay, she just me sent an email. And she didn't remember *that* much (o ..read more

English Synopsis: Torrey’s Story (Hong Kong: Restoration House, 2020) draws on Ryan’s real-life experiences raising five (!!!) children through fostering and adoption. Ryan is a Hong Kong social worker, a senior consultant for local charity Mother’s Choice, and co-founded Adoptive Families of Hong Kong (AFHK). Raised by Christian missionaries in Taiwan, where she used to work at a local orphanage growing up, Ryan has lived in Hong Kong for 33 years. She describes Chinese as her first language.  Her book deals with one of her sons, Torrey’s, special needs: “Torrey is just like you and me ..read more

Fool Me Twice: Confessions of a Perpetual Internet Dating Neophyte (Hasmark Services Publishing, 2018) is a confessional memoir from Jules Hannaford, an Australian expat who’s lived in Hong Kong for 20 years. She’s a bit of a Renaissance woman: a single mother, teacher, host to the show Hong Kong Confidential (ranked by Tatler as one of the top five local podcasts)... and her own adaptation of Fool Me Twice as a true-crime pod-series went viral in 2019. The series received 200,000 downloads in 8 months, whilst scoring her - and her daughter, Zara - a nomination for the internet’s highest acco ..read more

Dr. Jeffrey Wasserstrom, Chancellor's Professor of History at UC Irvine, discusses his new book, Vigil: Hong Kong on the Brink (New York: Columbia Global Reports, 2020). Wasserstrom frames Hong Kong's 2019/2020 protests, and the new National Security Law, in a wider historical narrative: from its colonial "founding" under the Treaty of Nanking (29 August 1842) to the 1997 Handover. The latter was itself prefaced by tense negotiations between Margaret Thatcher and Deng Xiaoping in the drafting of the Basic Law.  Temperate and moderate, Wasserstrom makes parallels to the controversial "T"s ..read more

'Gweilo' is a Cantonese racial epithet for a Westerner. It translates as 'white devil' or 'white ghost' - so, a pretty fitting title for a dying English expat recounting his Hong Kong childhood. The memoir 'Gweilo' is one of the region's most iconic books.  In our pilot episode, we hear about its stage adaptation, 'Gweilo, an original musical drama created by Micah Sandt and Hoi-fai Wu, presented by Pants Theatre Production, based on Martin Booth’s memoir.' We also hear from the book's editor Marianne Velmanns, who... okay, she just me sent an email. And she didn't remember *that* much (o ..read more