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South China Morning Post
17-02-2025
- Health
- South China Morning Post
How this bartender is bringing traditional Chinese medicine to cocktails
Published: 6:15pm, 17 Feb 2025 New faces of heritage series: For four artists at the forefront of their craft, a deep sense of Hong Kong's past is fuelling their vision for the future. See our other feature on Kiri T Stop me if you've heard this one: a Chinese medicine doctor walks into a bar, where he spots an old acquaintance behind the counter, an investment banker-turned-bartender, and he says to the guy … Yeah, you probably haven't. But anyway, that night in 2019, at the Little Lab bar in Central, the doctor had already had a hot toddy at another spot nearby, and as his buddy was mixing him an old fashioned, he was reminded that such cocktails had doubled as health remedies for centuries. The hot toddy, featuring hot whisky, honey, lemon and spice, had been a popular recipe to treat colds in Britain for about three centuries. Bitters, like the ones being mixed for the old fashioned, on the other hand, were believed to cure upset stomachs and had been added to old fashioneds since the 1800s. A cocktail made with Magnolia Lab's product. Photo: Courtesy of Magnolia Labs As the two friends chatted, it dawned on them that cocktails and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) shared certain similarities: both were often crafted from botanicals and many liqueurs were once considered to have healing properties. European staples such as Campari and Jägermeister, to name but two, started out as herbal potions to be consumed as an aperitif and digestif. Similarly, Chinese herbal wines have been brewed for hundreds of years – but unlike their Western counterparts, these were not often consumed recreationally. In that dimly lit bar, after much deliberation – and a few choice libations – Chinese medicine practitioner James Ting and bartender Dennis Mak mused over the fact that Chinese doctors have always been looking for ways to innovate TCM, to integrate the ancient practice into a modern lifestyle. So the question became: why not try bringing such traditions into Hong Kong's cocktail scene? Their answer: Magnolia Lab , which, since 2020 has been concocting the 'oriental botanical liqueur', aiming to revive familiar flavours and herbal traditions, and infuse them into modern drinking culture. 'There is an old saying,' says Mak, 'that alcohol is the elder of a hundred medicines, meaning alcohol is always a very important element in Chinese medicine.'
South China Morning Post
16-02-2025
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
Hong Kong singer-songwriter Kiri T on her own brand of Cantopop
Published: 10:15am, 16 Feb 2025 New faces of heritage: for four artists at the forefront of their craft, a deep sense of Hong Kong's past is fuelling their vision for the future. Andy Lau Tak-wah . Faye Wong. Anita Mui Yim-fong . Leon Lai Ming. Even without knowing a single chorus, anyone who calls Hong Kong home is likely familiar with such performing greats of the 1980s and 90s. Cantopop is as deeply embedded in Hong Kong's identity as its dim sum, cha chaan teng and mahjong. For such a small city, Hong Kong's music is still able to traverse borders, making waves big enough to wash up on shores far away from home, in Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan and beyond. Maybe diversity is just in Cantopop 's DNA, a trait of our melting-pot city, where songs are sung in multiple languages and influences range from J-pop to R&B. Ask local artist Kiri T, and she'll tell you, 'Cantopop is a bit of everything, kind of like how Hong Kong people are. Even the way we speak, we don't speak in Cantonese completely.' Born Kiri Tse Hiu-ying, the 30-year-old is just getting started as a singer, but she's been working as a songwriter and producer since 2008. Wearing a baseball cap tugged low over her face, her hands balled into the sleeves of an oversized crew-neck jumper, she tells me the first demo she sold was a track titled '兩面' ('Two Sides') sung by Joey Yung Cho-yee , one of Hong Kong's most sought-after singers of the 2000s and 2010s. Tse was 14 years old at the time. 'It's so long ago. It's crazy,' she says. 'That song was the first time I heard a demo coming to life, and I just wanted it to happen many more times.' 'Cantopop is a bit of everything, kind of like how Hong Kong people are,' says Kiri T. Photo: Courtesy of Kiri T Since then, she's written songs and produced for the likes of Kary Ng Yu-fei, Kay Tse On-kay and Jace Chan Hoi-wing . Kiri Tse started her own record label, Kurious Grocery, in 2017 – shutting it down when she signed on to Warner Music in 2022 – released her debut album, Golden Kiri , in 2019, and her most recent, Chili T , was released in 2021. Right now she's looking forward to the release of her new single, which drops on February 20.
South China Morning Post
15-02-2025
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
This week in PostMag: Cantopop, neon art and other revived heritage
Published: 12:45pm, 15 Feb 2025 Let's jump into it. Maybe it's actually a sugar rush from all the tong yuen for the official end of Lunar New Year this week, but there's an energy in this week's issue that I find irresistible. Young people putting their own stamp on cultural heritage. Unlike history, which, though we might apply different lenses to it, are events firmly in the past, heritage is made up of traditions and traditions are shaped by humans – humans who are ever changing and ever evolving. We first discussed the idea for this issue in one of our editorial meetings months ago, excited by some of these humans – young talent not only preserving, but transforming Hong Kong's intangible cultural heritage. We have rising Cantopop star Kiri T sitting down with Vanessa Lee to talk about how the genre and the culture surrounding it are becoming more free. Mitche Choi, who grew up performing Cantonese opera, reveals to Kate Whitehead the big plans she has for her own troupe – technology, new scripts and more – to keep the art form relevant for modern audiences. Food and drink are natural conduits for evolving cultural traditions. Maggie Hiufu Wong profiles Dennis Mak, who co-founded spirits brand Magnolia Lab to bring Cantonese herbal liqueur, and its medicinal taste, into modern mixology. Finally, Gavin Yeung discovers the work of Jive Lau, a graphic-designer-turned-neon artist who is walking the line between art and commerce in the iconic, but fast-disappearing Hong Kong tradition. Curious to see for yourself? Lau's work is currently featured in an exhibition hosted by non-profit foundation Crafts on Peel in Central, where Peta Tomlinson also finds a new crop of artisans reimagining the possibilities of rattan.
