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A dazzling array of lights and colour lit up the Hong Kong Cultural Centre piazza and foyer on Friday night as the city celebrated the Lantern Festival. This year’s theme was “Chinese Lanterns: An Enduring Heritage,” co-organised by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) and the Intangible Cultural Heritage Office (ICHO). It featured animal-shaped lanterns, including pandas, peacocks, and koi fish, that symbolise prosperity, strength, and good fortune. At 7 pm, a two-person youth group from the Boys’ and Girls’ Club Association of Hong Kong Mei Foo Children and Youth Integrated Services Centre performed classic songs including Jace Chan's “Born to Be Different”, “People Life, Ocean Wild” from Mayday at the installation for around half an hour. “I feel that this year’s Lantern Festival is a combination of traditional and modern cultures,” said Chloe Yang, 29, a primary school teacher from mainland China.“These lanterns present a modern twist on traditional paper-craft skills, and the animal theme is also very appealing to me,” she added “As a tourist, I am glad to see Hong Kong placing so much emphasis on Chinese culture and bringing it to different people with fun and lively animal symbols,” Yang said. Local paper-crafting Master, Mo Cheuk-kei, was invited by ICHO to make one of the lanterns with the theme of  “Glittering Fish – Lanterns with Abundant Blessings,” according to the programme details from LCSD. The lanterns designed were based on traditional New Year paintings in which two little lions play with fish on a pond while holding fortune sticks to pray for the New Year. “I come here to watch the wonderful lanterns every Lantern Festival, and this year's vivid animal lanterns that symbolize China were a big surprise,” said Lau Sui San, a 64-year-old retiree. “I am happy that Hong Kong has so many …

At a cozy Shenzhen bar, soft jazz music plays as colorful cocktails glimmer on a Sunday night. The audience was focused on a speaker discussing the dichotomy between materialism and idealism with a few slides projected behind him on a screen. Neighbor House, Shenzhen's first “academic bar," hosted its first event on Sept. 27, exploring the question “Is life a wilderness or a track?”. “The bar was packed that night,” said Yu Yang, 32, a bar partner of Neighbor House. “I wanted to open a bar with spiritual pursuits, like in the movie Midnight in Paris, to make social drinking more interesting and intellectual.” Academic bars blending intellectual discussions with socializing have become popular in China’s first-tier cities this year, mostly in Beijing and Shanghai, before recently finding their groove in Shenzhen. People recruited from social media gather at venues like Neighbor House for lectures and debates on various topics, all while enjoying drinks. On Xiaohongshu, a popular lifestyle social media platform in China, topics related to "academic bars" have gained more than four million views, with more than 6,000 related posts. “At least 30 people attended each event, which is beyond our expectations,” Yu said. “We had to turn up the speakers so that people gathered outside could also hear.”  “I want to get away from work and learn more things other than making money,” Xu Yihua, a 30-year-old participant, said. “I expect to have discussions with others and make more like-minded friends through this platform.” Xu Yihua, a human resource manager, participated in the academic salon held at the Neighbor House for the second time. She said she cherishes it because there are few opportunities to participate in such activities after graduating from university.  Academic bars originate from “Science in a Bar” in the UK. The SciBars are …