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PostMag Reporter

It was a year of great change, both at our magazine and around the world. No matter the topic, sometimes you have to go deep to get the real story.
Here are our favourite PostMag long reads of 2024:
How German museums are reassessing their imperial Chinese treasures, worried about looted Boxer war artefacts

From a newly constructed museum in Berlin, an unexpected sequence of events leads to questions of reparations to China, both from Berlin and elsewhere abroad.
Taiwan’s forgotten disco era and the singers who made it big with covers of Abba, New Order and David Bowie

Before digital media made discographies of musical histories accessible all at once, a curious pop-phenomenon was brewing in Taiwan.
How a Chinese family faced down racists and bullies to thrive in a US town more than 99% white

A California town with a history of being pretty much all white, is now majority Asian. Meet the Chinese immigrant family that punched through first, and who continue to thrive there.
How are typhoons tracked? Inside Hong Kong Observatory’s fight to predict extreme weather events

Every typhoon season, these unseen wizards of meteorology are in charge of keeping us safe, and they always, well mostly, get it right.
The OG war on drugs: when a 23-year-old Shanghai nurse was busted smuggling US$1 million of heroin into the US

Dive into a real-life noir tale of international intrigue, drug smuggling, and nefarious plots.


Style according to … Dior Maison and Baby Dior’s artistic director Cordelia de Castellane

Kirsten Dunst in Manolo Blahnik heels features in new Marie Antoinette book

Netflix K-drama The Scandal review: Son Ye-jin, Nana anchor Dangerous Liaisons adaptation

The tragic Qing dynasty politician whose legacy lives on in descendant’s new novel

Books and literature

Our favourite PostMag long reads of 2024, from Taiwan’s disco era to typhoon predictions

One of our recommended long reads this year is a piece that investigates how Taiwan came to embrace the Western music genre of disco, and its impact on Mandopop. Photo: CYP

The Wang Shu room in the Humboldt Forum, which is dedicated to the relationship between China and Europe and their shared history, in the Markk museum in Hamburg, Germany. It is one of several German institutes checking their collections for looted Chinese artefacts from the Boxer war. Photo: Alexander Schippel

As Taiwan’s younger generation dust off disco records from the 1970s and 80s, so, too, are scholars looking into how the island came to embrace a Western music genre at a time when even dancing in public was illegal. Photo: CYP

The Tus arrive in Vancouver, Canada, aboard a freighter from Taiwan en route to Oakland, California, in 1956. The family moved to San Leandro in 1960 despite the town’s history of racism – and thrived. Photo: The Tu family

Predicting typhoons is a matter of life or mass death, yet it is backed by imperfect science. So, how have the boffins at the Hong Kong Observatory been rising to the challenge? In June this year, Typhoon Maliksi arrived in Kennedy Town. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

A newspaper clipping in the Los Angeles Times reports the arrest of Maria Wendt in connection with 25kg of heroin seized in a US port in 1937. Photo: Handout

Why White Rabbit Gallery is Sydney’s haven of Chinese art

White Rabbit Gallery’s Judith Neilson. Photo: Courtesy of White Rabbit Gallery

The Shark-Deer Chronicle by Zhang Wenzhi. Photo: Jessica Maurer

The exterior of White Rabbit Gallery. Photo: Courtesy of White Rabbit Gallery

Lumen by David Williams. Photo: Courtesy of White Rabbit Gallery

Oko by Feng Chen. Photo: Jessica Maurer

Fallen Leaves by Liu Jianhua. Photo: Courtesy of White Rabbit Gallery

Tank Project by He Xiangyu. Photo: Jessica Maurer

Big Dog – Death Star by Liu Wei. Photo: Jessica Maurer

5 of the most infamous Hong Kong crimes, from a diamond heist and coffin robbers to a high-profile kidnap

Thieves once stole millions of dollars worth of diamonds from an office safe in Hong Kong, in 1971. Photo: Shutterstock

Vee Ming Shaw (left), with his father Run Run Shaw, being interviewed by reporters at Kai Tak Airport in Hong Kong. On February 6, 1964, Vee Meng Shaw was kidnapped in Singapore and held for nearly 12 days. Photo: Wah Kiu Yat Pao

The story of Hong Kong’s Portuguese community, as seen in a new exhibition

Hong Kong-based Portuguese celebrate their National Day with a folk dance at the Club de Recreio, in 1978. Photo: SCMP Archives

Signing and sealing of the Treaty of Nanking, 1846 (coloured engraving) by John Platt. Photo: Brown University Library

The Hong Kong Museum of History’s “Estórias Lusas – Stories of the Hong Kong Portuguese” exhibition includes contributions about key Portuguese sporting figures such as Arnaldo de Oliveira Sales, Tony Cruz and Leslie George Santos. Photo: ISD

The “Estórias Lusas – Stories of the Hong Kong Portuguese” exhibition at the Hong Kong Museum of History. The zone pictured is decorated like the lounge of a Hong Kong Portuguese home. Photo: ISD

La Salle College Hong Kong. Photo: Courtesy of Hong Kong Public Library

Arnaldo de Oliveira Sales in a 1994 photograph. Photo: SCMP Archives

How a teenager with no acting experience landed his debut role as a young murderer in Papa

Dylan So in a scene in Papa, in 2024. Photo: Golden Scene

Jo Koo and Dylan So in a scene from Papa. Photo: Golden Scene

The makeover of a village house on Hong Kong’s idyllic Lamma Island

Interior designer Debi Yeung-Salansy was commissioned to renovate a village house on Lamma Island in Hong Kong. Photo: Eugene Chan

Tenants Allan Byrne and Natalie Hui love their home on Lamma so much, they no longer feel the need to travel. Photo: Eugene Chan

The house is divided into three 700 sq ft flats. Photo: Eugene Chan

The bathrooms are airy and full of natural light. Photo: Eugene Chan

Debi Yeung-Salansy designed a compact but comprehensive kitchen that she would enjoy using herself. The red handles on the cupboards, bought through Taobao, are a custom-made colour. Photo: Eugene Chan

The flat’s living and dining area features reclaimed wood to bring a sense of Bali to the airy space. Photo: Eugene Chan

The bedroom includes pops of colour and custom furnishings. Photo: Eugene Chan

The stairway leading to the rooftop has a lot of storage space. Photo: Eugene Chan

The home’s kitchen corridor features custom Chinese lattice doors and bespoke artwork. Photo: Eugene Chan

PostMag

Culture

A Shanghai nurse’s drug smuggling saga, to a thriving Chinese family in a US town, and more


A Shanghai nurse’s drug smuggling saga, to a thriving Chinese family in a US town, and more.


Our favourite PostMag long reads of 2024, from Taiwan’s disco era to typhoon predictions

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}A Shanghai nurse’s drug smuggling saga, to a thriving Chinese family in a US town, and more

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}How German museums are reassessing their imperial Chinese treasures, worried about looted Boxer war artefacts

A Shanghai nurse’s drug smuggling saga, to a thriving Chinese family in a US town, and more

How German museums are reassessing their imperial Chinese treasures, worried about looted Boxer war artefacts