Heard around Hong Kong this month
The city collectively skipped a heartbeat on March 10, when the government decided it was time to deploy an “emergency alert”, which only informed Hongkongers that Queen Elizabeth Hospital would be used for Covid-19 patients. The warning, accompanied by a siren-like sound on some people’s phones, caused scores of residents to take to social media to admonish the authorities for using such an extreme and widespread alert system for a message that hardly warranted the urgency. Brands saw the funny side and decided to use the perceived melodrama of the alert for promotional effect, with Dominique Ansel’s restaurant Dang Wen Li, Olivia Cotes-james’ menstrual care brand Lüuna Naturals and even Ikea creating spoof posts to entertain followers. HONG KONG’S MUSEUM
of visual culture M+ will have a new chairman after April 1. Bernard Chan, an Asia’s Most Influential honouree, will take over from current chairman Victor Lo, who will step down after a six-year tenure. Four additional board members, including Sequoia Capital managing partner Neil Shen and Altaya group managing director Paulo Pong, will join Chan as he embarks on his goal to bring more sponsorship to the museum.
INFLUENTIAL FIGURES FROM
across the Hong Kong community have been sharing their pandemic stories with Tatler in a new series called Truth Be Told. The collection of online features comprise honest, first-person accounts of the ups and downs of running a business in the shadow of Covid-19. Crystal Pang, CEO of delivery platform Pickupp, was open about the challenges of maintaining the morale of her company’s 50,000-strong workforce; Black Sheep Restaurants founder Syed Asim Hussain spoke of insomnia and inertia as the hospitality industry battled shifting regulations; and New World Development CEO Adrian Cheng revealed how seeing the city’s community spirit inspired him to launch a new donation platform with Lalamove to amplify charitable giving. All subjects agreed on one thing: their passion for and dedication to Hong Kong past, present and future is unwavering. As Hussain told us, “There is something magical about this place because it keeps getting back up.” Head to tatlerasia.com to read more.
ACTOR SHAWN YUE
set a new world record with the pre-sale of his latest NFT drop, Zombieclub Token, in March. Within three hours, it reached the top of the charts at NFT marketplace Opensea, earning nearly HK$34 million and becoming the fastest to reach number one. Yue took to social media to celebrate the achievement. “Thank you to each and every one of the Zombies who supported us. This is your accomplishment, I love you all. This is just the beginning for us … We are ready to charge out of Asia,” he said. Last year, the Love in the Buff actor raised more than HK$121.6 million by auctioning off 14 NFTS online. Just one of the items, a Cryptopunk NFT, fetched a whopping HK$33.85 million. With his foray into NFTS, Yue joins a host of other Hong Kong entertainment heavyweights who are seizing the zeitgeist and pivoting to digital art, including Nicholas Tse, Edison Chen and Wong Kar-wai.