I suppose coming to office during the school closure period has taken a toll on me. Or, it’s about time to go on a journey again? Living on the boundary has been a way of life for some time now. It’s like being in an interstitial space without knowing which direction the next move will […]
Coming across with all the news reports about people’s protests against dictatorship in Egypt reminds me of South Korea’s own history of democratisation movements, which often ended in the bloodshed due to brutal suppression by the military, police or thugs. One major uprising that still haunts people’s memory in South Korea is the violent oppression […]
I still remember the pig that was being taken away from my grandmother’s house when it was sold to a butcher. This was when I was a very small child probably before schooling age. It was a big pig, at least in the eyes of a small child. Several adults had to wrestle with the […]
First Call for Papers RGS-IBG 2011 Conference: The Geographical Imagination 31st August – 2nd September 2011 (London) Gentrification in the Global South: Dilapidation, Obsolescence and Land Exploitation Organisers: Dr Hyun Bang Shin (Department of Geography and Environment, London School of Economics) h.b.shin@lse.ac.uk Dr Ernesto López-Morales (Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism, University of Chile) elopez@uchilefau.cl Sponsors: Urban […]
Yesterday I woke up with a pleasant surprise – the first snow this winter. It was the first one to have since moving to this neighbourhood, and the view from my flat towards the north was great. Trains were delayed but still running thankfully, but in the evening, no home-bound services. There were no trains […]
When I was told to come to the Hopewell Centre for a meeting this afternoon, it did not ring a bell to me that this was the tower that housed the famous revolving bar/restaurant on the 62nd floor. The name sounded familiar from the moment I read it, but I suppose I must have completely […]
To me, Hong Kong is like my first love. It’s a city where I used to live for some years when I was young. Although Hong Kong has changed substantially since then, it still retains areas that are associated with my childhood memory. For instance, whenever I approach Hong Kong University campus on Bonham Road, […]
Guangzhou is busy with the preparation for the Guangzhou Asian Games that will take place in November. Some people in Guangzhou say the timing is not good, as the opening of the Games is only a few days after the completion of the Shanghai Expo. In any case, lots of construction works and beautification […]
My official schedule in Guangzhou is over as of tonight. Just came back from giving a guest lecture on Olympic Games and Mega-event Politics to the students at the School of Urban Planning and Geography. When I gave talk on the same topic to some students at the School of Government a few days ago, […]