Tuition was hardly popular in Hong Kong about a decade ago.Today, you can see huge billboards promoting tuition courses in major shopping area like Mongkok and Causeway Bay.This issue is unique to Hong Kong. I travelled among many asian countries and I had never come across anything similar.

This phenomenon is caused by partial failure of the Hong Kong education system which is very dogmatic and inflexible. In short, learning in school is boring. Students are unable to pay attention in class as the teaching materials and methods are outdated.

On the other hand, commercial tuition centers break away from traditional teaching doctrine that win the favor of tens of thousands of Hong Kong Students. Students are motivated in learning by innovated teaching methods and therefore they have significant improvement in their academic results. With the words of mouth, their businesses get much better.Tuition center has begun to play an important role in Hong Kong education.

How does tuition center manage to overcome the biggest obstacle- lack of space, in doing business in Hong Kong? It will be a very difficult to find premises to house few hundred of students. Commercial tuition centers are scattered all over Hong Kong,they are satellite tuition centers. Lectures are recorded in advance and simply braodcast during tuition hours. How smart they are!!

Bonham Strand West Street, Aberdeen and Cheung Chau Island are interesting places that tourists not to be missed.
Bonham Strand West Street is situated in Sheung Wan. It is famous for its dried seafood. It mostly operates on wholesale basis but nevertheless,vendors do not ignore individuals, and they are more than happy to serve individuals and educate them on the dried seafood about their usage and ways of preparation.
The street sells mostly dried seafood and medicinal herbs. It also has a nickname known as the Ginseng Alley. It is because there are specialty shops there that only sell a single item, which range from dried abalone, sharks fin, sea cucumber, fish maw, and of course, ginseng.
Ginseng is one of the most precious herbs in the Chinese traditional medicine world and it is also expensive and difficult to select and prepare. There are many ways of preparation and usage and only the Chinese medicine practitioners can tell you exactly which kind of ginseng is suitable for which kind of patients and cure the illness they are suffering from.
As the whole street sells similar kinds of dried seafood and herbs, and mainly on wholesale basis, they tend not to welcome bargain. However, since prices are competitive,they will prefer to do your business rather than pushing you to another vendor, as the Chinese always believe that having a customer is better than none.

next article - Mass Transit Railway

photo credit: Graham Racher

Tuen Ng Festival is also known as dragon boat festival or rice dumpling festival. It usually falls within the first two weeks of June, and it is the fifth day of the fifth month in the lunar calendar.
During the Warring States period, a Confucian scholar committed suicide by jumping into the river as he was accused of treason.  As the local people were afraid of fish eating his body, they started throwing rice balls into the river to feed them. They also paddle out with their boats to chase the fishes away and to retrieve his body. To commemorate this aspiring scholar, people started the dragon boat race and eating wrapped dumplings on this day.
There are a few versions of dumplings and are differentiated by the different dialect groups of the Chinese. In Hong Kong, almost every woman will learn how to wrap rice dumplings. Its main ingredients are glutinous rice, marinated belly pork, chinese mushrooms, dried chestnuts, beans and salted duck egg yolk. It is also commonly sold in the local coffee houses known as the cha chan tang.

next article – Ching Ming Festival

photo credit: avlxyz

Mid Autumn Festival is celebrated for a few meaningful reasons. One of it is during the Yuan Dynasty in the 14th century, whereby the Mongolians are ruling the Central Plains, also known as China. To spread the information of the attack on a fateful night, Liu Bowen, the advisor of the Chinese rebel leader, Zhu Yuan Zhang, came up with an idea to coincide with this festival. He inserted slips of paper into the mooncake to  pass the message to the people to overthrow the Mongolian emperor. Later, Zhu established himself as the emperor of the new dynasty known as the Ming Dynasty, and hence Mid Autumn festival is widely celebrated with mooncakes till now.

There is one main traditional filling in mooncakes, and it is lotus paste. It is always coupled with some roughly ground nuts such as almonds or peanuts. Another popular flavour is lotus paste with preserved duck egg yolks! Though a weird taste, comprising sweet and a tinge of saltiness, it is considered one of the most original flavours. The egg yolk is a symbolism of a full moon.

However, as time goes by with innovation and creativity, we can find hundreds of varieties; ranging from the traditional lotus paste to red date paste and even durian, banana, strawberry, green tea, coffee, chocolate paste and so on…

next article -Tuen Ng Festival

photo credit: x-eyedblonde

This is the most important festival of the year for the Chinese. Most Chinese will try their best to have “Reunion Dinner” with their family on the eve of Chinese New Year. This tradition has been passed down through many generations. Family values, filial piety are some of the very important virtues in Chinese culture and especially in during the Confucian period. It is a time for celebration among all Chinese.

However, when it comes to traveling to Hong Kong during Chinese New Year… it is a definite NO NO !!

Since the majority of the population in Hong Kong are Chinese therefore almost everyone will be busy celebrating and visiting their relatives and friends. Most of the shops, restaurants will be CLOSED! It is not uncommon to see restaurants and eating houses closed for celebration for 10 days, especially as most of the staff now are from Mainland China, and they will return to their hometown to celebrate this festival.

next article – Mid Autumn Festival

next article – emergency

Preserved seafood is common among the Southern Chinese. In the olden days, fisherman sun dried or preserved their catches for rainy days. This tradition is passed down from generation to generation.

Almost anything that is caught from the sea can be preserved. The more exotic and expensive ones are shark’s fin, abalone, scallops and oysters.

Shark’s fin soup is one of the most famous Chinese delicacies since the Ming Dynasty. It is commonly served during wedding or birthday banquets. In recent years, the consumption of shark’s fin has sharply decreased. All thanks to animal-protection and environmentalist groups for their continuous efforts.

Preserved seafood are great gifts among the Asians. One of the biggest wholesale markets for preserved seafood is located in the western Hong Kong Island- Bonham Strand Street West, Sheung Wan.

View Larger Map

next article – Wet Market

This is not really a gourmet dish… it is just merely a bread dough stuffed with sweet lotus paste. Taste good when it is eaten with chinese tea.

next article – cosmetics paradise