There used to be an American TV series in the late 1950s and early 1960s set in New York City – the Big Apple – called Naked City. Its stories were always introduced with the line, ‘There are eight million stories in the naked city’. The same could be said of Hong Kong – the Pearl of the Orient – which has also been described as ‘borrowed place, borrowed time’. It’s the stories of the people that give substance and authenticity to a city, whatever the size. They form the culture and rhythm of the beating heart. In this compilation of just a few stories, we can gain a glimpse into what drives Hong Kong’s pulse and culture.