Editor’s Comment

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Back in the cheap seats

Ironically for this issue’s Up Front section - my regular blurb as an editor - if I may, I’ll take you back to July of the year 2000 where unexpectedly I did indeed find myself sitting in the flash seats, weirdly and totally inappropriately having been upgraded on a flight from

London to Hong Kong. It was my first time there, and, fresh out of university and cocky as hell, I had bought a single ticket to try my luck in the former British colony. Dressed scruffily and unshaven, I was taken aback when told to turn left on entering the plane where a glass of champagne awaited. I had never been to Hong Kong, barely been on a long-haul flight - the next 24 hours, including the check in at a squalid Chung King

Mansions residence and that first incredible view over to Central - all proved to be unforgettable and lifechanging in so many ways.

The following eight-plus years proved to be among the most fun and memorable of my life, which is why putting this magazine together proves so sad to me. I still refer to Hong Kong as a second home.

We can’t simply pretend that life on the ground in this great Cantonese metropolis is all fine and dandy - it is not, far from it. Its vitality has been sucked from it, and as 2022 morphs into 2023, arguably Hong Kong faces its greatest challenge in modern history if, as the the

“We can’t simply pretend that life on the ground in this great Cantonese metropolis is all fine and dandy ”

authorities maintain, it wishes to remain on the international stage as a major financial and maritime hub.

Hong Kong has a fantastic history of being able to reinvent itself, to remain relevant in the global economy. I’d argue this capability has never faced such a stern test as today where airplane single tickets are being bought in the reverse direction I took at the start of the millennium.

Nevertheless, there’s a steely determination within this city - as the following pages attest - and I hope it can bounce back.

Sam Chambers Editor Splash