Culture & Leisure

At 5am, Tsang Hing-yi, a 65-year-old farmer starts his daily routine by exercising. After some aerobics, he heads to the Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups Organic Farm, where he has worked as an employee for the past 14 years. “Work is not just harvesting but fertilising, weeding and digging,” he said. “During summertime, I need to have at least five outfits ready to change into because the heat is intense.” Nestled in the mountains in Yuen Long, the farm provides fresh organic vegetables to local customers, and adapts to seasonal changes tailored to the time of year, yielding an annual harvest of 20 tons, according to its website. “People need agriculture and cannot survive without it. This is very practical because all food is grown on farms,” Tsang said. “I will definitely keep doing it with motivation.” The Rural Sustainability Programme, a collaborative project by the University of Hong Kong, addresses the importance of local farms, aims to diversify the food supply, reduces carbon emissions and focuses on rural conservation. Government data shows that in 2024, local farms produced an average of 42 tons of vegetables daily, contributing 1.8% of Hong Kong’s fresh vegetable supply. Hong Kong's agriculture relies heavily on intensive land use and production. Out of the total 1,104 square kilometres of land, only 7.3 square kilometres are dedicated to crop cultivation, according to the government. Despite the limited land available for farming, some people, including Tsang, still insist on doing it. Founded in 2010, HKFYG Organic Farm is the only organisation that is certified by the US Department of Agriculture and Hong Kong Organic Resource Centre Certification Limited.  According to the latter, 122 local farms have received accreditations from the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements, a worldwide organisation advocating organic agriculture that sets standards of …

Nineteen-year-old Kimmy Wu Ching-tung was listening to her love prophecy at the Tarot Centre in Mongkok. “The Tarot reader said I will meet my next boyfriend in March,” Wu laughed, “He will be 175cm tall, meticulous in character, and have a tattoo on his left shoulder.”  Wu is a barista at a coffee shop in Tai Wai, and this is the fourth year since she has started seeking tarot readings. “I usually seek metaphysical help for relationship issues or career paths,” said Wu.  Wu is not alone. On Instagram, there are 29.9 million posts under the hashtag “tarot”, nearly 121,000 posts in #hktarot, and over 5,000 posts offering Tarot interpretation services in Hong Kong. The most popular divination bloggers on Instagram have over 40 million followers. Mani Cheung, 47, is the founder of the Hong Kong Tarot Association. The number of divination courses provided within her association has doubled since 2022.  “Course services we offer are always full, with around 60 to 100 students a year,” she said, “and people from 20 to 50 years old love to participate in it.”   The principle of tarot card interpretation is the customer’s subconscious projection. Usually, the tarotist would ask the client to randomly choose one of the Tarot cards spread out on the table based on their subconscious mind, and then the tarotist would interpret the card according to the pattern on it. The more cards drawn, the more information will be interpreted. “Tarot reading involves frequency. The cards customers pick can already reflect a certain state of their mind, which is similar to subconscious projection,” said by Diva Chugani, a 40-year-old Indian Tarot reader in Hong Kong. She is also the owner of a tarot shop l in Tsim Sha Tsui.  Each card, the reader claims, can represent different meanings according …

Contrary to the definition, buskers in Hong Kong are not as free as their occupation, which requires them to apply for permission before performing in public. But with the delayed approval from the police, most of the buskers have chosen to bear the risks of charges and voicing for themselves.