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2. Why are Cathay Pacific pilots so unhappy?
Cathay Pacific staff at Hong Kong International Airport. Photo: Edmond So
Hong Kong’s flag carrier Cathay Pacific Airways has lost more than half of its senior pilots since late 2019, with the Hong Kong Aircrew Officers Association saying the airline had 3,840 pilots in total in 2019 but only 2,417 last month. With their pay and benefits slashed, pilots “are very frustrated and morale is very low”, association chairman Paul Weatherilt said. A senior pilot’s wife told SCMP that her husband’s monthly income could fluctuate by 50 per cent under the new pay system, adding her husband suffered “a complete breakdown, like nervous exhaustion” last year.
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3. Insurgents, drugs — and tourists
Anita Yuen in 1998. Photo: SCMP
Hong Kong actress Anita Yuen Wing-yee was a little confused by her win at the 1990 Miss Hong Kong pageant, telling SCMP in 1994 that she “never thought of [her]self as beautiful”. Nevertheless, this pageant win led to a contract with broadcaster TVB and a successful acting career afterward. She often portrayed independent, forthright women in early 1990s films like He’s a Woman, She’s a Man and C’est La Vie, Mon Cheri. One incident during the filming of Jackie Chan’s Thunderbolt in which she reportedly left the set and flew home, even though Chan had requested she stay, led to a long-running feud that was only resolved two decades later.
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5. Divorce proceedings shed light on husband’s hidden US$14 million
A Chinese woman, identified by the pseudonym Yu Hong, was shocked when informed that her ex-husband, identified as Qin Lan, had concealed assets worth more than 100 million yuan (US$14 million) from her for two decades. The court found that Qin had gifted 18 commercial properties he owned to his daughter from a previous marriage to avoid handing over a share to Yu. In court, Qin argued that Yu had nothing to do with his wealth.
I built my wealth. She is just a housewife who didn’t work
Knowledge of her husband’s hidden assets spurred Yu to apply for a divorce six months after the court rejected her previous divorce application. Her second application was granted.
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6. US-China military encounter near Hong Kong, a day before January 6 Capitol riot, revealed
Morning commuters in Beijing, China. Photo: AFP
When 22-year-old Melody Yan quit her job at a Chinese electric vehicle company, she sent a 2,000-word email to the head of the company, criticising their operational inefficiencies, support — or lack thereof — and levying accusations that her supervisor sexually harassed her. “I had to let them know about their failures,” she said. Even though China’s unemployment rate among 16- to 24-year-olds hit a record high of 20.4 per cent last month — meaning one of every five young adults is jobless — a growing number of young Chinese workers are bent on shattering the silence surrounding toxic work cultures where working unpaid or excessive overtime has long been normalised.
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