Looking for Hong Kong’s hidden art-deco? Head up Kadoorie Avenue, just south of Kowloon Tong, and you’ll find the “Braga Circuit”. It’s an art-deco feast atop the 1930s Kadoorie Hill development, yet with a more communal feel than the walled-off and more secluded villas nearby. It’s narrow and mews-like, with garages and roof terraces yet still prestigious and highly sought after.
It’s named after the Macanese businessman José Pedro “Jack” Braga, a good friend of Elly Kadoorie. He was instrumental in planning Kadoorie Hill as Chairman of the Hongkong Engineering and Construction Co.
Discover the art-deco architectural treasures of Kadoorie Hill with my VoiceMap GPS walking tour of the area here….
Western commentators have often criticized the state of press freedom in China, arguing that individual speech still suffers from arbitrary restrictions and that its mass media remains under an authoritarian mode. Yet the history of press freedom in the Chinese context has received little examination. Unlike conventional historical accounts which narrate the institutional development of censorship and people’s resistance to arbitrary repression, Freedom of the Press in China: A Conceptual History, 1831-1949 is the first comprehensive study presenting the intellectual trajectory of press freedom. It sheds light on the transcultural transference and localization of the concept in modern Chinese history, spanning from its initial introduction in 1831 to the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. By examining intellectuals’ thoughts, common people’s attitudes, and official opinions, along with the social-cultural factors that were involved in negotiating Chinese interpretations and practices in history, this book uncovers the dynamic and changing meanings of press freedom in modern China.
Fancy a walk this weekend? In Hong Kong? Maybe try my Kowloon Art Deco and Hidden Heritage VoiceMap GPS walking tour?
One stop is St Teresa’s Church, close to Prince Edward Road West and to the Maryknoll Convent School. It’s an attractive Neo-Romanesque design with Neo-Byzantine influences designed by Adalbert Gresnigt, a Dutch Benedictine monk and artist.
Interestingly both Benito Mussolini and his son-in-law Count Ciano donated money to the church, built in 1932. Mussolini’s name is listed on a founding benefactors stone plaque inside (though later obscured). At the time Ciano was the Italian Consul in Shanghai and probably made the donation on the Italian fascist dictator’s behalf.
You can learn more about VoiceMap and download the tour here – https://voicemap.me/tour/hong-kong/kowloon-tong-art-deco-and-hidden-heritage-in-hong-kong
I write about Emma Pei Yin’s When Sleeping Women Wake, writing historical fiction in Asia and the pressures on first time novelists these days for the Mekong Review’s February-April 2026 edition…..you can read a snippet of the article below or subscribe here
The weekend’s coming…. Piet Mondrian, Irina Radetzsky, Norm Garbo, Walter Gropius, Lazlo Maholy-Nagy, Marcel Breuer – the international artists and architectural talent that gathered in Belsize Park in the 1930s was incredible. You’ll meet them all on my VoiceMap GPS walking tour “Historical Hampstead’s ‘Gentle Nest of Artists’: a Belsize Park Walk”.
But too often forgotten (though not by me!) are the group of émigré Chinese artists and intellectuals who lived there too. It was the playwright Hsiung Shih-I who first found lodgings in Belsize Park when he arrived in the summer of 1932 to study at University College London. He was accompanied by his wife Dymia, who later became the first Chinese woman in England to write her autobiography-“Flowering Exile.” He later became well known in England for his popular West End hit play “Lady Precious Stream” and is known in China for being the translator of J.M. Barrie, George Bernard Shaw, and several Thomas Hardy novels.
Shelley Wang Lixi and his wife Lu Jingqing, both poets, arrived shortly after. They stayed in some decidedly substandard lodgings before taking an attic room on Upper Park Road house with the Hsiungs.
The writer and reporter Xiao Qian traveled around Britain, noting his impressions for Shanghai newspaper readers-pantomimes, pubs, wartime experiences, London’s infamous “Pea Souper” fogs – all from Belsize Park. And of course the “Silent Traveller”, artist, calligrapher and writer Chiang Yee.
Do take the tour to discover this fascinating slice of north London history, the British and international artists, writers, architects and critics who lived there and how they intermingled and overlapped between the wars.
Click here to see details and download the whole tour from VoiceMap….
“Join us for an orchid spectacular inspired by China, as we celebrate 30 years of our much-loved Orchid Festival.
The 2026 festival takes inspiration from China’s remarkable biodiversity, heritage and design traditions, filling our Princess of Wales glasshouse with a dazzling array of orchids and large-scale floral installations.
Wander among dragons, lanterns and intricate plant sculptures that bring to life the beauty and wildlife of one of the world’s most biodiverse countries and experience a burst of colour and warmth in the winter months.
Orchids will also provide an opportunity to celebrate the reach of Kew’s science and highlight the importance of plant conservation and global collaboration.
Don’t miss Orchids After Hours – a series of evenings in the glasshouse after dark.”
Those of you who have read Andrew Lownie’s biography of (former Prince) Andrew, Entitled (William Collins), will know that there is a lengthy section on Andrew’s repeated lobbying in China for F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone supporting his bid to sell Shanghai a GP (which he indeed eventually did). It’s an interesting and somewhat sordid tale (in which i’m quoted a few times) recalling Andrew’s frequent and often last minute visits to Shanghai funded by the UK tax payer as a “Trade Envoy”(*). However, apparently these 5-star visits only ever seemed to relate to Ecclestone’s business interests.
Now there’s a few updates following the release of more Epstein Files….
1) The former Trade Secretary (and incidentally very pro-China) Vince Cable has said Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s time as a trade envoy should be investigated for possible corruption.
2) It appears the now disgraced Peter Mandelson, through his firm Global Counsel, also previously supported efforts by Prince Andrew to target Chinese business deals for Ecclestone’s F1 and the proposed Shanghai Grand Prix.
3) Mandelson has been a speaker at the Party School (perhaps as many as three times – he is somewhat opaque on this) and was, at the same time of Andrew’s efforts in China on behalf of Ecclestone, himself pursuing (with his business partner Benjamin Wegg-Prosser) a contract between Global Counsel and then state-backed China International Capital Corporation.
4) Even after all these shenanigans with Andrew, F1 and CICC Mandelson worked closely with the 48 Group (though his and other Labour Grandee connections – Blair, Jack Straw etc – appear to gave disappeared from their website as “fellows”).
5) In 2015, despite his highly chequered past in government, lobbying, and at the EU (all ending in ignominy), amazingly Mandelson was appointed President of the Great Britain China Centre (partly funded by the UK Foreign Office, and hence the taxpayer) who proudly announced him as “former First Secretary of State and former EU Trade Commissioner” even though he had been forced to resign from both these posts!!!
To sum up it is now clear that Epstein saw Mandelson and Global Counsel as his conduit to China and Andrew as a lobbying force in the PRC, all paid for by the Uk taxpayer.
*= On 12 October 2023 at Southwark Crown Court, Ecclestone pleaded guilty to fraud, after agreeing to pay nearly £653m in back tax and fines. He was sentenced to 17 months in prison, suspended for two years.
And a few final points:
Stripped of all titles and military rank the former Prince Andrew, Duke of York is now simply Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. Recently the Head of the Crown Prosecution Service said he was confident the police will examine any evidence of potential misconduct.
Mandelson was fired from his post as ambassador to the USA by PM Keir Starmer. He has resigned from the House of Lords. The Metropolitan Police are currently investigating him.
Finally, It’s also worth noting that in 2021, while still President of the Great Britain China Centre he was the only Labour peer to vote against an amendment criticising human rights abuses in Xinjiang. He ceased to be president of the Great Britain China Centre in 2023, two years later!!
