SCMP Hong Kong·Thursday, December 25, 2025

SCMP Hong Kong - Thursday, December 25, 2025

10 stories~15 min

Listen to this episode

Hear all 10 stories summarized and read aloud.

▶Play on Tera.fm

Stories Covered

Hong Kong to extend Lo Wu and Shenzhen Bay checkpoint hours for New Year’s Eve

Hong Kong authorities will extend the operating hours of Lo Wu and Shenzhen Bay checkpoints while stepping up public transport to manage cross-border passenger flow after the New Year countdown next week. Under special holiday arrangements, the Lo Wu checkpoint will remain open from New Year’s Eve until 2am the next day, while passenger and vehicle checkpoints at Shenzhen Bay will operate overnight, according to a government spokesman. “The government will closely monitor the situation and take.

Read original →

Hong Kong firefighter unions slam Ip Man producer Checkley Sin over blaze remarks

Six labour unions with Hong Kong’s Fire Services Department have denounced banker turned film producer Checkley Sin Kwok-lam for comments about its chief’s handling of the Tai Po fire. The unions banded together on Thursday to slam Sin’s comments about the department’s strategies for battling the city’s deadliest fire in decades. The blaze raged for about 43 hours, killing 161 people and displacing nearly 5,000 residents. Sin, a former banker who went on to produce the award-winning kung fu film

Read original →

Architect of Hong Kong’s Octopus card retires with dreams of ‘tap-free’ technology

Sammy Kam Chi-sum, the primary architect of Hong Kong’s contactless Octopus cards, is retiring after nearly 30 years with the company at the end of this month, before what he says is an inevitable transition to a technology that will not even require tapping for certain transactions. Octopus’s chief operations officer began his journey in 1995 when he joined the MTR Corporation’s marketing team to help launch what would become the world’s first contactless system that revolutionised public...

Read original →

‘I have more to give’: Hong Kong Christmas lighting designer still at it after 40 years

On a weekday night last week, passengers on an open-top double-decker bus jostled for a position to take selfies below a suspended lighting display at Mody Lane in Tsim Sha Tsui East, where Hong Kong residents have viewed the city’s dazzling Christmas lights for decades. With 175 illuminated stars spread across 25 rows of dangling lights, the fixture is the work of veteran lighting designer Terence Wong Kim-shan, who has designed and installed Christmas lights for many of the city’s skyscrapers.

Read original →

Japan still popular with Hong Kong travellers over Christmas, Harbin gaining appeal

More Hongkongers are travelling over the Christmas holiday period compared with last year, with traditional destinations in Japan remaining popular despite geopolitical tensions and mainland Chinese locations such as Harbin and Yunnan gaining appeal. Some industry insiders said Japan remained popular among Hong Kong travellers despite recent news of earthquakes and a geopolitical row between Beijing and Tokyo, which earlier saw mainland visitors cancelling their trips in droves. Relations...

Read original →

Hong Kong taxi driver hospitalised after crashing into school building

A 61-year-old taxi driver has been hospitalised in Hong Kong after her vehicle crashed through the back door of a school building in Kwun Tong, requiring fire services to extract her from the car. Police said they were alerted at 10.33am on Thursday that a cabby was injured and trapped inside her vehicle after crashing into the building of Delia Memorial School (Hip Wo) in Kwun Tong. “The driver did not show signs of having consumed alcohol during her breath test,” a force spokesman said. Online

Read original →

Charity vows to give every Hong Kong fire-affected child a new toy

The deadly inferno that raged through a housing estate in Hong Kong last month has prompted youngsters at charity Kids4Kids to spring into action to help children affected by the blaze. Last month’s fire swept through seven of Wang Fuk Court’s eight blocks, raging for about 43 hours and claiming 161 lives. While the group was already planning a Christmas toy collection, it has stepped up the drive and aims to give a new toy to every child affected by the tragedy. Founded in 2008, the charity’s..

Read original →

Revellers pack into Hong Kong’s Central for Christmas photos, nightcap

Thousands of revellers packed into Central in Hong Kong at night to celebrate Christmas on Thursday, after many visited the city’s premier arts hub for picnicking and photo-taking. Locals and tourists alike were out in full force along Chater Road, many donning whimsical Christmas outfits and transforming the thoroughfare into a sea of festive cheer. The road turned pedestrian zone hosted a series of seasonal installations. Most striking was a colossal, spaceship-inspired Christmas light...

Read original →

Thousands stuck for hours at Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge on Christmas Day

Tens of thousands of people were stuck for hours at the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge early on Christmas Day, while the number of outbound trips by Hongkongers as of Thursday night saw an about 16 per cent rise from last year. Hong Kong police and the MTR Corporation also warned on Thursday morning that Shenzhen Bay, Lo Wu and Lok Ma Chau Spur Line control points were crowded and that travellers could expect longer waiting times to cross the border. Immigration Department figures showed Hong...

Read original →

‘Holding on to hope’: Hong Kong fire survivors make New Year wish for a home

Retired Hong Kong civil servant Ng Kook-yiu takes a shuttle bus every day from his transitional housing flat to the fire-ravaged Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po. “I long to see my home, where I spent four decades of my life. It breaks my heart to see it each time, but it is still my home,” the 76-year-old said. Ng lived alone in the housing estate before the city’s deadliest blaze in decades engulfed seven of its eight buildings on November 26, killing at least 161 people. Like other residents who were

Read original →