EDITOR’S LETTER
HONG KONG STRONG
I
did my masters degree at the University of Hong Kong in 2014, just weeks before Occupy Central would bring the downtown core to a standstill, when hundreds of thousands of protestors, of all ages and backgrounds, set up camp for what would turn into a months-long stand-off for universal suffrage. The protest was in response to an earlier declaration from the NPCSC that any candidates for Chief Executive of the city must be someone who “loved the country [China]”. I learned a lot over the next several weeks and months; as a new journalism student in the city, it was a seriously invaluable experience. In just under seven years since that time, much has changed. As we close another issue at Liv and start work on the next, some of our fellow Hong Kong media friends haven’t been so lucky. There isn’t much to say when a media blackout starts to take effect, when public discourse is so swiftly silenced, when your peers are left at best, jobless, and at worst, incarcerated. And of course, that’s how censorship works: there’s nothing we can say. It’s a dispiriting time in Hong Kong, and will continue to feel that way in the future. There isn’t anything I can write to take the edge off that - lifestyle journalism can only fix so much. But I think back to a time in my life when Hong Kong could tolerate dissent, and actually thrived because of it. I know I did, standing in the presence of so much passion and civic engagement back in 2014. I was proud then to have seen it firsthand, and I’m proud of Hong Kong now, even if those times are well and truly behind us. And to have your pride is still something, at the very least. To learn more about the contents of our July issue, check out the table of contents on the previous page. Stand tall, Hong Kong.
MEET OUR CONTRIBUTORS
Zoe Belhomme rounds up familyfriendly summer staycays, plus cloth diaper care, on p.36.
Kate Springer tours a planet-friendly home renovation project on p.34.
Julia Marino explores the science of dreams, and what they mean for our health, on p.18.
Bell Chan dives deep into the world of reef-safe sunscreens on p.32.
CARLA THOMAS EDITOR
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