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Year in Review

From excellent Indian food that lets the chef’s personality shine through to the Shanghainese dishes at The Merchants (pictured), the Post picks its 10 best restaurant openings in Hong Kong in 2023. Photo: The Merchants

Food and Drinks

Ranked: the 10 best restaurant openings in Hong Kong in 2023

From excellent Indian food that lets the chef’s personality shine through, to an upscale food court, our 10 favourite restaurant openings of 2023 in Hong Kong.

4 Jan 2024 - 4:20PM

Global Impact

After war and economic turmoil dominated in 2023, what does 2024 have in store?

2 Jan 2024 - 4:32PMvideocam

Hong Kong healthcare and hospitals

Hong Kong’s post-Covid public health wins and battles in 2023

4 Jan 2024 - 3:26PMvideocam

China's economic recovery

What were the top 10 most-read China economy stories of 2023?

A story looking at Chinese investors scrambling to sell overseas properties amid shaky economic conditions took centre stage at the top of a list of our economy stories in 2023.

1 Jan 2024 - 12:00AMvideocam

Singapore

This Year in Asia: Singapore criminals, Taylor Swift’s snubs, Robert Kuok at 100

Singapore’s massive money laundering case; Taylor Swift’s snub of everywhere else in Southeast Asia – and Malaysian business tycoon Robert Kuok’s 100th birthday: here are This Week in Asia’s highlights of the year.

4 Jan 2024 - 2:34PMvideocam

Books and literature

Best books of 2023 – with a twist – from Elon Musk biography to Yellow Face

From an Elon Musk biography and Prince Harry’s Spare to Yellow Face and Hong Kong poetry, Post Magazine’s round-up of 2023’s best books takes as its theme the Cambridge Dictionary word of the year, hallucinate.

4 Jan 2024 - 2:36PM

Indonesia

Problems in paradise and digital despair: Indonesia’s top social media stories in 2023

Indonesia’s online space was rocked by blasphemy arrests, exploitation concerns, and inspiring stories of fearless and talented young people.

4 Jan 2024 - 2:37PM

Indonesians use their smartphones during their commute on Jakarta’s MRT. Photo: Shutterstock

China's border reopening

China in 2023: Year in Review

31 Dec 2023 - 9:00AM

Hong Kong politics

Hong Kong politics in 2023: major trials, HK$1 million bounties and a district poll

2023 opened and closed with high-profile national security trials, as well as big firsts for city leader John Lee and district council revamp at other points.

4 Jan 2024 - 2:39PMvideocam

HK and mainland border reopening

Murder, typhoons and an end to Covid: Hong Kong 2023

23 Jan 2024 - 3:39PM

07:40

Disease

Biohacking, CIA spy in China, Michelle Yeoh’s fashion: 2023’s top long reads

The life of Barney Cheng, fashion designer who’s dressed Michelle Yeoh among others, China’s release of a jailed CIA spy, a biohacker’s extreme regime – long reads in Post Magazine you loved in 2023.

29 Dec 2023 - 6:42PM

Freed CIA spy John Downey walks from mainland China into Hong Kong in 1973, a moment recalled by China scholar Jerome Cohen in one of our most popular long reads of 2023. See which other Post Magazine stories engaged readers most in 2023. Photo: ISD

Singapore

‘Girl math’, MH370 jokes: Singapore’s biggest social media stories of 2023

Singapore may be small, but its capacity for online drama is surprisingly huge. Read on for the year’s biggest social media stories to set tongues wagging in the city state.

4 Jan 2024 - 2:40PM

Food and Drinks

On The Menu | The best of 2023 in food: my favourite dishes and drinks of the year

The Post’s food and wine editor Charmaine Mok reveals her favourite dishes and drinks of 2023, from sushi in Hong Kong to street food noodles in Thailand and a very special cocktail in Japan.

4 Jan 2024 - 2:41PM

Smartphones

Top 5 smartphones of 2023, from iPhone 15 Pro Max to the best camera phone

We rank the five best smartphones released in 2023 – the Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max and Google’s Pixel 8 Pro, two important foldable phone entrants and the best camera phone bar none.

4 Jan 2024 - 2:42PM

Apple’s iPhone 15 Pro Max, with its improved zoom photography capability, was just one of the exciting smartphones of 2023. Photo: Ben Sin

Asia travel

Penang’s Airbnb ban, 7 wonders in 7 days: 2023’s most read travel stories

From Penang’s Airbnb ban to two Swiss towns with macabre art by Alien movie designer H R Giger to a dash to see seven wonders of the world in a week, the travel stories most read by Post readers in 2023.

28 Dec 2023 - 4:17PM

Jamie McDonald’s world-record-breaking journey to all Seven “New Wonders of the World” in seven days piqued Post readers’ interest in 2023. See what other travel stories were among our most read this year. Photo: Travelport

India

Asia’s weird year: Dalai Lama’s gaffe, a ‘puking’ bird and AirAsia’s topless CEO

What do the Dalai Lama, AirAsia’s CEO and an ex-Singaporean comedian have in common? They are on our list of Asia’s weirdest stories in 2023.

28 Dec 2023 - 5:40PMvideocam

Food and Drinks

Chinese durian, Korea’s whisky fad: 2023’s most-read food and drink stories

From trying China’s first home-grown durian to looking at Korea’s whisky crazy and the tributes paid to MasterChef Australia’s late host, the food and drinks stories most read by Post readers in 2023.

27 Dec 2023 - 4:15PM

Singapore

Singapore’s turbulent yet tantalising 2023: political scandals to pop sensations

For Singaporeans who had grown accustomed to the city state’s rather sedate way of doing politics, 2023 will go down as one of the most turbulent years in decades.

4 Jan 2024 - 2:48PMvideocam

Chris Martin of Coldplay performs in California earlier this year. The British rock band broke the record in June for most tickets sold in Singapore in a single day. Photo: AP

Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

Ranking every Hong Kong film released in 2023, from worst to best

We rank the 37 Hong Kong films that were released locally in 2023, from greats like A Guilty Conscience – the city’s highest-grossing local film ever – and Lost Love to stinkers like Prison Flowers.

31 Dec 2023 - 9:49AM

Fashion

From Hermès Birkins to belly fat, 2023’s most-read fashion and beauty stories

From New Balance ‘dad shoes’ to Hermès Birkin handbags and Vogue models – both human and AI-generated – to showing your belly fat, the fashion and beauty stories most read by Post readers in 2023.

26 Dec 2023 - 11:15AM

From our archives

Hello Kitty murder, Jet Li’s manager shot: archive stories most read in 2023

Crime, crime and more crime: these were the stories from Post archives that most interested readers in 2023, from the grisly Hello Kitty murder case to the underworld assassination of Jet Li’s manager.

25 Dec 2023 - 4:15PM

The murder and dismemberment in Hong Kong of a woman kidnapped and tortured for weeks, and whose head was found stuffed in a Hello Kitty soft toy (above), was among the most read stories from the Post’s archives that we presented in 2023. Photo: SCMP

Wellness

Chris Hemsworth’s fasting, 10 diet secrets: 7 top wellness stories of 2023

We take a look back at the top health and wellness stories of 2023, from the 10 diet secrets of people living the longest and healthiest to how actor Chris Hemsworth fasted for a Disney+ series.

24 Dec 2023 - 4:15PM

Chris Hemsworth in a still from “Limitless”. Photo: Disney+

Women and gender

Violence and prejudice in 2023: a year of hurdles for Asia’s women, LGBT folk

Violence in the region has meant increased risks of women and girls becoming victims of abuse and sexual attacks.

4 Jan 2024 - 2:32PMvideocam

Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

Most read profiles of 2023: Hong Kong’s Audrey Hepburn to a 90s sex symbol

From Anita Yuen, known as the Audrey Hepburn of Hong Kong cinema, to 90s Hong Kong sex symbol Amy Yip, seven celebrity profiles that proved the most popular with Post readers in 2023.

24 Dec 2023 - 9:03AM

Art

7 most popular arts stories in 2023, from nude canvases to ‘gross’ sculptures

We look back at some of the arts stories that struck a chord with Post readers in 2023, including Patricia Piccinini’s human-beast sculptures and Lousy and Matsushimaon’s sexually charged works.

23 Dec 2023 - 11:26AM

“No Fear of Depths, 2019” by Australian artist Patricia Piccinini is displayed at Tai Kwun in Central, Hong Kong, in June 2023. A story covering the exhibition of “gross” sculptures was one of the Post’s most popular arts stories of 2023. Photo: Yik Yeung-man

Korean drama reviews

The 15 best K-dramas of 2023 ranked: Mask Girl, Moving and more

The year saw plenty of watchable K-dramas. Here are our picks for the best series of 2023, ranked from good to great – is your favourite on the list?

9 Jan 2024 - 3:41PMvideocam

Nana as Kim Mo-mi in a still from “Mask Girl”. Photo: Jun Hea-sun/Netflix

Asia travel

The world’s busiest flight routes in 2023 were mostly in and from Asia

A ranking of the world’s busiest flight routes in 2023 has Asia in the lead for domestic and international journeys. Three of the latter are to and from Singapore, and one to and from Hong Kong.

4 Jan 2024 - 2:31PM

Asian cinema

The 12 best Asian films of 2023: Concrete Utopia, Godzilla Minus One and more

Our 12 best Asian films from 2023 include a cyberpunk detective story, the 37th Godzilla feature film, a Korean disaster movie, a Tony Leung Chiu-wai-led spy thriller and basketball anime Slam Dunk.

21 Dec 2023 - 1:33PMvideocam

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Year in Review

Look back on the best of SCMP coverage of the news-making events of the year. Read round-ups of top stories and review the events and milestones that made the news during the year from US-China relations, to Hong Kong politics, to the coronavirus pandemic and lifestyle topics such as health and wellness and K-pop.

last updated:

9 September, 2024