Was sagst du? 樣樣都德

Eight hours after a late phone call on Friday, I joined my friends on a trip across the border to Innsbruck, Austria. Innsbruck should be well known to ski enthusiasts, as a ski town and host city to the Winter Olympics. But for us non-skiers, the opportunity to get up close with the Alps is also a special experience. May proves to be a perfect time to visit the Alps. The snow hasn’t completely melted while the vegetation starts to grow again. This contrast is particularly colourful and startling under the blue sky and plentiful sunshine. We took the cable car up the Nordpark region of the Alps, and trekked the last section up to the peak at Hafelekarspitze. The layout of Innsbruck became immediately clear from the peak. It’s a city founded in a valley surrounded by the Alps and an extensive area of lush-green, with the river Inn snaking through the city. My friend and I took the chance to have lunch in the mountains before heading back downhill. After a whirlwind walk through the Alpi...

Hong Kong is now famous for a student magazine in a ‘world-class’ university … The student magazine of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) has always included a section on ‘erotica’, except in some of the most recent issues it’s stepped over the line into pornography which upsets some readers. Those readers decided to report their complaints with the Telecommunications and Entertainment Licensing Authority (TELA) which oversees the quality of programming and printed matters. The university decided to castigate the students, and instead of dealing with it internally, it also referred the matter to TELA even before the official judgement, it had ruled that the student magazine is unsuitable for circulation due to objectionable contents. The decision drew the ire of the staff and students, home and abroad, who saw the freedom of publication under threat. In face of the many complaints, TELA had no choice but to follow the protocol and forward the matter to the Obscene Articles Tri...

I woke up this morning to the sound of raindrops hitting the roof. This is a reminder of how Munich hasn’t received any rain in an unusually dry month since I come back from my holidays. And before this rain, everyday has been beautiful and warm, even with a hint of early summer in the air (remember we’re talking about Germany!) These days feel extra lovely with plenty of flowers blossoming everywhere. I should have been overjoyed, except I immediately related this unusually warm weather to the series of abnormal weather events around the world. Crazy weather seems to be happening more frequently and ferociously, and is, in all likelihood, a nasty consequence of global warming. I am actually rather concerned that our future weather will only become crazier. You don’t need to be reminded that global warming will run amok unless we reduce the production of the greenhouse gases, and we all have a role to play in curbing the emission. But as you know, it’s often easier said than done. I di...