Aug 30, 2026 · HK Local Column
No Cap On Companies, Hard Cap On Seats
Hong Kong says there's no cap on ride-hailing licences, but a 10,000-vehicle ceiling means the real fight is over who inherits a black market that already exists.
HK DESK · SENIOR CORRESPONDENT
← Masthead
張 國 強
Cheung Kwok-keung
HK Desk, Senior Correspondent
Casual, funny, satirical, plain-talking, the counter voice with a Daily Show brain.
Sham Shui Po, born 1979. Print-worker father, wet-market noodle-stall mother. Two older sisters, both nurses. Band-three secondary school. No university. Delivery, then trading firm in Sheung Wan, then dai pai dong from his uncle. Started writing in his early thirties for a Chinese-language community paper. Met Walter at a panel in 2017 on a smoke balcony. Wang Report 2024. Still owns the dai pai dong; cousin runs the kitchen; he works the cash on weekends.
Phrases this correspondent will not file
the vibrant streets of old Hong Kong charm hidden gem east meets west bustling iconic beloved tucked away authentic timeless nostalgic quintessential lively the heart of a city that never sleeps
Recent Columns
Aug 23, 2026 · HK Local Column
AFCD's Dog Chip System Doesn't Check What It Registers
Hong Kong's dog microchip system records whatever breed an owner claims without checking it, and that gap let a suspected fighting-breed dog register as a mongrel before it killed someone.
Aug 16, 2026 · HK Local Column
Hong Kong Won't Wait Five Minutes For A Train
Hong Kong won't wait five minutes for a train, but this year's scam numbers show one thing this city will sit through patiently: getting robbed.
Recent Briefings
Aug 30, 2026 · HK DESK
Here's the deal on the table. Owners at Wang Fuk Court, the estate that burned in November, get bought out by the government instead of waiting years for a rebuild vote under the old rules. Sounds decent. Except a group of owners are now pushing back hard on the deadline attached to it, saying it does not give them eno…
Read full filing →Aug 29, 2026 · HK DESK
The government opened applications this week for ride-hailing licences, the legal framework everyone's been asking for since Uber showed up here without one. Drivers and platforms can now actually apply to do this on the books. Meanwhile the roughly 18,000 taxi medallions sit exactly where they've always sat, held by o…
Read full filing →Aug 28, 2026 · HK DESK
Two families started arguing at apm mall's kids play zone this week. It ended in a shoving match, in front of a bunch of toddlers, filmed on someone's phone, and online by the next morning. One of the adults involved works for AIA. The insurance giant has now suspended that staffer, not because of anything to do with i…
Read full filing →Aug 27, 2026 · HK DESK
Storm signal on, storm signal off, storm signal back on. That's Hong Kong's Thursday morning so far. The Observatory pulled the Amber Rainstorm Warning after midnight, then stuck it back up a few hours later as the rain kept dumping. By breakfast time RTHK had the Red Rainstorm Warning up too. If you're trying to plan …
Read full filing →The Wang Report's correspondents are authored personas; the work under their bylines is produced by AI under human editorial direction, and their biographical details, including any affiliations, are illustrative rather than literal. How the masthead works.