To Kit
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Names | ||
|---|---|---|
| Pen name | Given name | |
| Trad. | 陶傑 | 曹捷 |
| Simp. | 陶杰 | 曹捷 |
| Pinyin | Táo Jié | Cáo Jié |
| Cantonese Romanization |
To Kit | Tso Chit |
| Jyutping | Tou4 Git6 | Cou4 Zit3 |
To Kit (born August 17, 1958) is the pseudonym of Chip Tsao, a Hong Kong-based columnist-broadcaster. As a broadcaster, he is famous for his wry sense of humour. His writings abound with metaphors, and his best works are notable for their poetical quality.
Tsao is married with two sons named Tsao Tai-Ching and Tsao Tai-Yee.
Contents |
[edit] Childhood
His home county is Guangxi. His father was the vice chief editor of Ta Kung Pao, a leftist newspaper in Hong Kong, whilst his mother was also an editor of the same paper. His maternal grandfather was a journalist of Pearl River Daily. He was fetched up in Wanchai, he read literary works when he was young. He started writing during his secondary school studies and got his works published on The New Evening Post.
[edit] School life
- Primary School: (unknown, but the school is, according to To Kit, a leftist institution)
- Secondary: Lingnan Secondary School
- Tertiary: the University of Warwick, Bachelor in English Literature. London School of Economics Diploma in International Relations.
[edit] Career
To Kit was, in fact, a reporter-turned-columnist. Before using his pen to earn his butter and bread, he had been working at BBC for eight years, and a journalist of Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) accredited in the UK. When he returned to Hong Kong, he worked as a columnist for the renowned Hong Kong newspaper Ming Pao (明報); the column is called 'The Golden Venture' (黃金冒險號) (a.k.a 金色冒險號 by the Chinese press), the name of a vessel that took Chinese illegal immigrants to the United States in 1993. He also writes a column for the Oriental Daily News (東方日報) and another for Ming Pao Monthly (明報月刊), an intellectual magazine.
Eventually he joined a team of broadcasters to host a weekly programme on RTHK called 'Free as Wind' (講東講西). The hosts of the programme would choose one topical issue, and discuss it critically. In Sept 2003, he switched to another radio station, the Commercial Radio Hong Kong to host a daily radio show similar to 'Free as Wind' called 'Summit' (or 'Bright Peak' by literal translation) (光明頂) (Bright Peak was the headquarters of Ming Cult, depicted in the novel The Heavenly Sword and the Dragon Saber by Jinyong(a.k.a Louis Cha)), at which point he also switched his newspaper affiliation to Apple Daily.
[edit] Political viewpoints
To Kit did not hide his apparent disgust with the current Hong Kong administration, especially Tung Chee Hwa, the first Chief Executive of Hong Kong. In his newspaper column, he once openly called for Tung to step down.
To is unusual in that although he was raised in a leftist family, he praises the governance of the British colonial administration throughout his columns and maintains that it was superior to the current administration. An admirer of former American President Ronald Reagan, To is said to be one of the most conservative public figures in Hong Kong.
[edit] Works
His work, both on radio and in his columns, concentrates on the following subjects:
- Governance of Hong Kong and the difference between pre- and post-reunification of Hong Kong with mainland China
- The essence of classic Chinese and western civilization
- Difference between the Chinese and the Westerners (particular in terms of the politics and lifestyle)
- The 'peasant mentality' of the Chinese
- films
- Prominent women (he wrote a column on the achievements of some well-known Chinese women in Ming Pao Monthly between 1998 and 2003).
[edit] Publications
Major works of To:
| *黃金冒險號 (“The Golden Venture”) | October 1998 | ISBN 962-451-371-6 | |
| *再見蘇絲黃 (“Adieu, Suzie Wong”) | January 1999 | ISBN 962-451-527-1 | |
| *不給一口釘 (“Don't Give a Damn”) | February 1999 | ISBN 962-451-483-6 | |
| *馬戲班主走了之後 ((After the Circus Owner was Gone”) | February 1999 | ISBN 962-451-553-0 | |
| *日暮荒老的地平線上 (“On the Ageing Horizon”) | July 1999 | ISBN 962-451-597-2 | |
| *名人學語文 - 訪問系列 (“Celebrities Learn Languages – an Interview Series) | July 1999 | ISBN 962-85603-1-X | |
| *香港這杯雞尾酒 (“Hong Kong the cocktail”) | September 1999 | ISBN 962-451-573-5 | |
| *中國化的魚眼睛 (“The Chinese-ised Eyes of a Fish) | December 1999 | ISBN 962-451-583-2 | |
| *泰晤士河畔 (Alongside Thames) | January 2000 | ISBN 962-451-368-6 | |
| *因為它在那裡 (Because It's There) | January 2000 | ISBN 962-451-620-0 | |
| *權力的地圖 (“The Map of Power”) | April 2000 | ISBN 962-451-461-5 | |
| *颱風和島的約會 (“The Date of a Typhoon and an Isle”) | March 2001 | ISBN 962-451-674-X | |
| *偉大的十字街頭 (“The Great Crisscross Streets”) | June 2001 | ISBN 962-451-659-6 | |
| *流芳頌 (“Ode to the Famed”) | June 2001 | ISBN 962-973-544-X | |
| *名人學語文 - 訪談系列第二輯 (“Celebrities Learn Languages – an Interview Series II) | June 2001 | ISBN 962-85603-2-8 | |
| *那一頭是甚麼景色 (“What’s the View over There?”) | July 2001 | ISBN 962-451-699-5 | |
| *香港，你要活下去！ (“Hong Kong, Never Say Die!”) | October 2001 | ISBN 962-451-702-9 | |
| *香港，你要爭口氣 (“Hong Kong, Make a Good Show”) | April 2002 | ISBN 962-451-719-3 | |
| *天涯遠望的焦點 (“The Focus from Faraway”) | July 2002 | ISBN 962-451-722-3 | |
| *滿香園的一朵朵笑靨 (The Smiley Faces in an Odorous Garden”) | August 2002 | ISBN 962-451-719-3 | |
| *思考在命運之上 (“Fate for Thought”) | October 2002 | ISBN 962-451-736-3 | |
| *有光的地方 (“Somewhere There is Light”) | July 2003 | ISBN 962-451-760-6 | |
| *風流花相 (“Risqué Expressions”) | July 2003 | ISBN 962-451-759-2 | |
| *圖騰下的銀河 (“The Galaxy below the Totem”) | November 2003 | ISBN 962-451-800-9 | |
| *魚的哲學 (“Philosophy of Fish”) | January 2004 | ISBN 962-451-776-2 | |
| *男女關係 2 (“Love Affairs 2”) | co-written, April 2004 | ISBN 962-86993-3-4 | |
| *自戀紅燭 (“Self-intoxicated in a Red Candle”) | May 2004 | ISBN 962-451-805-X | |
| *石點頭 ─ 鍾逸傑回憶錄 (Feeling the Stones — the Memoir of Sir David Akers-Jones”) | June 2004 | ISBN 962-209-664-6 | |
| *無眠在世紀末 (“Sleepless in the End of a Century”) | July 2004 | ISBN 962-451-831-9 | |
| *她是他的一場宿命 (“She is his predestination”) | July 2004 | ISBN 962-451-819-X | |
| *男女關係 3 (“Love Affairs 3”) | co-written, July 2004 | ISBN 988-97754-5-X | |
| *大偶像 (“Great Idol”) | December 2004 | ISBN 988-98002-6-8 | |
| *迷宮三千祭 (3000 Worships to A Labyrinth) | December 2004 | ISBN 962-451-872-6 | |
| *霓虹花憶 (In Search of Neon-like Sweet Remembrance) | February 2005 | ISBN 9624518831 | |
| *那一夜星斗 (Stars of that Night) | May 2005 | ISBN 9624518459 | |
| *她把靈魂銘刻在水上 (She Inscribed her Soul on Water Surface) | June 2005 | ISBN 9628872036 | |
| *國度的零時 (Regime at Midnight) | July 2005 | ISBN 9624519188 | |
| *峰青夕陽紅 : 陶傑星期天評論集 (Summit in Green; Setting Sun, Red: Collection of To Kit's Sunday Critiques) | July 2005 | ISBN 9889860945 | |
| *青木瓜之戀 (Taste the Feel of Love by Green Papaya) | October 2005 | ISBN 9624519374 | |
| *天神的微笑 (The Grin of Deities) | April 2006 | ISBN 9624519536 | |
| *黑嶺魔宮 (Temple of Doom on the Dark Summit) | July 2006 | ISBN 9624519749 | |
| *MK愚樂圈 (Great Idol II: Stubiz (Portmanteau of 'Stupid Showbiz') in Mong Kok Style) | July 2006 | ISBN 9889877325 | |
| *歷史和地理間的沉思 (Meditation between History and Geography) | December 2006 | ISBN 9789882160101 | |
| *快樂鄉的一天 (One Day in Joyful Homeland) | May 2007 | ISBN 9789882160330 | |
| *莎士比亞的安魂曲 (Requiem by Shakespeare) | July 2007 | ISBN 9789882160378 | |
| *海豚男的終極夜空 (The Ultimate Night Sky of Dolphin Boys) | October 2007 | ISBN 9789882160590 | |
| *芳菲花田 (Fragrance-billowing Field of Flowers) | December 2007 | ISBN 9789882160705 |
