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Listen to #Hashtag Hong Kong every Sunday morning at 8.15
Focussing on issues affecting civil society, we'll hear from representatives of NGOs, associations, statutory bodies, and non-profit groups.
(Sundays 8.15am - 8.25am)
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09/11/2025
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Willem Molesworth, advocate for the arts and Co-Founder of PHD Group
Usually when people think of galleries and gallerists, they tend to only see the glamor and the parties, Art Basel and big auction house events. But I wanted to take a moment to talk about a series of strange and magical events that have occurred over the past few years in the gallery I run with my wife, PHD Group. These moments are always humbling, and more than that, they remind me that our business can be a very spiritual one, deeply connected to Hong Kong and its history.
Let’s go back to December of last year, when I was faced with a problem. I had to travel back to the US to see my family, but those dates coincided with the last day of our exhibition at the time, for Hong Kong artist Christopher K. Ho. Usually, we make most of our sales on the first and last days of an exhibition. So naturally, I was feeling extremely nervous. It was my first time not being in the gallery for the end of an exhibition. I felt like I was taking a huge risk.
Ever since moving to Hong Kong nine years ago, I have found myself turning to spirituality whenever I come up against something difficult or stressful. So in that moment, all the way in the East Coast of the US, I turned to our gallery’s patron saint, who happens to be none other than the late popstar and actor Leslie Cheung — or — as my wife’s family calls him, "Uncle Leslie". The family had been very close with Leslie when he was alive, which was of course, years ago now. I never met him, but I’ve always wished I could connect with him in another way. When my wife Ysabelle and I opened PHD Group, I felt our genuine cultural engagement with the city was worthy of his support, so I began to make little prayers to Uncle Leslie for his help. I’ve only ever done it occasionally, but he’s always come through, and that December was no exception.
As I went to sleep that night, I prayed to Uncle Leslie for help. “Please, Uncle Leslie, help our Associate Neil make his first sale. He needs this, the gallery needs this, please!” When I woke up in the morning I checked my phone. I saw a flurry of messages from my team. We had made a sale; but not just any sale. A well-known local celebrity had made a last-minute appointment to visit our gallery, walked in, and bought something. The celebrity happened to be one of Leslie Cheung’s former colleagues and had worked on several films with him. I was delirious with happiness. Had my prayers worked?
Another spiritual incident occurred only a few months after we first opened the gallery, in 2022. Inside the gallery, we have a room which we call The Study, where we display my wife’s late grandfather’s collection of rare coins, stones, and erotica. The gallery itself used to be my wife’s grandfather’s clubhouse, and we had found all these items in boxes when we were renovating the space. Who knows how long they had been tucked away for – maybe years – before being displayed again in our gallery.
One night, I received a very unusual call from our alarm company notifying me of movement inside the gallery. I had been fast asleep and was annoyed at being woken up, but more concerned about the potential of being robbed. I asked them if they could see anything on the security cameras, and after a pause, they said, “no.” But they kept telling me that their system was picking up on movement inside the gallery. I checked the time. It was 3am. My wife, waking up, also reminded me: today was Qing Ming, the traditional holiday where one honors ancestors.
I laughed and told the security company not to worry about it. I had a feeling that my wife’s grandfather was visiting us to look at his treasured objects again, now finally unearthed from their boxes. Ever since that day, my wife and I have taken special care of that room and we feel as if her grandfather’s spirit is watching over us, taking care of us and encouraging us to keep going.
The last occurrence I’d like to talk about happened very recently, just a few weeks ago. Every night after dinner my wife and I walk our dog in the neighborhood. That night was no exception, and we began our usual route, enjoying the cooler night air in the urban cityscape. Suddenly, in front of us we saw a white blur crash into a tree. It was a wild bird: a small egret. We watched as, ten feet in front of us, the bird became tangled in the branches, tried to release itself, and ended up falling out of the tree and hitting the ground.
My wife and I looked at each other, wondering whether to help this small egret, which seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. But just then, the bird miraculously stood up, shook itself off, and hopped a few times. I said to my wife: “Let it be” The bird took another step forward, and leapt into flight again, gliding off into the distance between the towering glass skyscrapers.
I couldn’t help but feel like this was a sign. More than three years into our business, after a series of ups and downs, we find ourselves facing our most difficult moment yet – every decision we make feels like it's make or break, and setback after setback has taken the wind out of our sails. It feels like we're crashing through that tree. But seeing that bird fall, wobble, and then fly again that night seemed to be a message of encouragement, telling me that even after falling you can stand up and take flight again.
Stories like these seemed like superstition and make believe when I first moved here more than 9 years ago. But now, I find they define me. They help me understand my place and my journey. What I give to the city and what the city gives to me. I hope we can all open ourselves up to the city like this and find that we live among history, spirits, and other creatures who always show us the way forward.
On that note, I’d like to say a few words about the state of the city’s art scene. Institutions in Hong Kong like M+ and AsiaArtArchive have found a way to channel the city's energy into meaningful manifestations and projects that have global reach. However much of the city's scene is still struggling with understanding its place, position, and purpose. They could benefit from a shift in perspective and an opening up to possibilities. The scene in Hong Kong is still very much in development, and our institutions are still finding their way forward. But just like that egret, I know we'll all shake it off and find our way forward.
The song I chose today is Finite=Alright, a song by David Byrne first released in 1997. I find it to be a very grounding song, and funny enough it makes me think about Taoism. Hope you enjoy.
Willem Molesworth,
Co-Founder, Property Holdings Development Group (PHD Group)
重溫
CATCHUP
09 - 11
2025
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Ricky Wong, Head of the Civil Engineering Office at the Civil Engineering and Development Department (CEDD)
Matthew,
How are you doing as a student in New York? When you arrived back in June, the United States was hit by a historic heatwave. I’ve heard that cities across the Midwest and the East Coast experienced days with temperatures soaring above 30 or even 40 degrees Celsius. Extreme weather is affecting places around the world, including Hong Kong. This year, we set a new record for the number of tropical cyclone warning signals issued, and in September, we faced the impact of Super Typhoon Ragasa. Fortunately, Hong Kong’s resilience has improved significantly over the years, allowing us to return to normal quickly after the typhoon. Most of us were able to go to school or work as usual the next day.
Extreme weather can be unpredictable. The international community generally agrees that investing in infrastructure to completely prevent flooding is neither the most effective nor the most cost-efficient approach. Therefore, we use a comprehensive and multipronged integrated strategy to enhance Hong Kong’s adaptation and resilience capabilities. Since Super Typhoon Mangkhut in 2018, my team and I have made tremendous efforts in various aspects, including enhancing design standards, taking forward coastal improvement works, implementing management measures, and stepping up public education to strengthen our ability to manage coastal risks.
The “Port Works Design Manual” is an important design standard for various coastal facilities in Hong Kong, such as piers, seawalls, and breakwaters. Based on years of data regarding super typhoons, storm surges and sea levels, as well as the “Sixth Assessment Report” published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), we’ve completed studies considering different climate change scenarios to update the design parameters in the manual. We are strengthening our coastal defenses by integrating the latest design standards and continuously improving our strategies based on lessons learnt from eachtyphoon. Currently, our design standards are on par with those of major cities both in the Mainland and overseas.
The greatest challenge of climate change is its uncertainty. That’s why we’ve incorporated a progressive adaptive approach into the “Port Works Design Manual”. Wherever feasible, we include design provisions that allow for future upgrades of our infrastructure as needed. This approach provides flexibility and adaptability based on the latest climate change assessments and actual circumstances, while avoiding premature development or implementation of large-scale projects that could lead to unnecessary construction, operation and maintenance expenses. For example, we can build larger foundations for new wave walls, allowing them to be raised in the future if necessary.
To further enhance the overall capability of society in combating climate change, we have adopted a long-term planning approach by incorporating guidelines for managing coastal flood risks into the “Port Works Design Manual”. This allows stakeholders to systematically consider and manage coastal risks during the planning and design stages, including risk mitigation measures.
In addition to enhancing our design standards, we have also completed several territory-wide studies to address coastal flood risks due to rising sea levels and storm surges. In the Coastal Hazards Study completed in 2021, we adopted a risk management approach to assess the likelihood and consequences of seawater inundation across all coastal areas. The study identified several low-lying or windy areas for improvement works and management measures, formulating medium- and long-term strategies for Hong Kong. We are actively implementing improvement works in these areas. Some ofthem have already been completed and proven effective during recent typhoons, while the remaining works are expected to be progressively completed by 2027. To further develop long-term integrated strategies for shoreline management, we completed the “Study on Shoreline Management Plan” in 2024, analyzing the impacts of storm surges, wave, and sea level rise on Hong Kong’s coastal areas for advanced preparation.
When formulating improvement measures, we consider various factors such as site constraints, cost-effectiveness, and the impacts on marine traffic, the environment, and society. Through the integrated strategies of Adaptation, Response and Management, we advocate a multi-layered protection design to mitigate coastal flood risks and reduce flooding impacts by adopting various measures in combination. The multi-layered protection design includes:
(i) Adaptation measures along the coastline as the first line of defence to reduce the coastal hazards, for example, constructing or raising wave walls;
(ii) Resilience measures in suitable locations behind the coastline to form the second line of defence, for example, setting up demountable flood barriers to create a buffer zone that reduces the seawater flowing into inland areas;
(iii) Contingency measures in front of important buildings as the third line of defence, for example, installing demountable flood boards or using sandbags.
Moreover, not all coastal areas can be fully protected by improvement works alone, it is equally important to formulate appropriate management measures. Before Super Typhoon Ragasa arrived, my colleagues from other departments and I held a press conference to release the latest flood risk assessments and outline the measures being taken. This allowed the public to access information early and raised awareness. The better prepared the public is, the lower the risk.
Public participation is crucial for strengthening our ability to cope with extreme weather. In recent years, we have made an effort to raise public awareness about coastal risks, improvement measures, emergency preparedness and safety, etc through videos, seminars, and open days. I remember when we used to cycle in Tai Po, often passing the Tai Po Kau Tide Gauge Station. Last year, it was turned from a little shed into a new landmark, designed to resemble an iceberg to raise public awareness about global warming. In addition to monitoring water level changes in Tolo Harbour, it also serves as a great place for people to relax. Next time, let’s ride our bikes there together and enjoy the dazzling night lights.
Everyone can contribute to building a more resilient society by taking concrete actions in their daily lives. Matthew, I hope that as you pursue your post-graduate studies in real estate and architecture abroad, you’ll continue to pay attention to global climate issues and let that concern motivate you to create better spaces.Our efforts today are not just about constructing more robust buildings; they are about fostering resilient communities and creating a more livable future.
Dad
Ricky WONG
2 November, 2025
