Much has happened since I wrote the foreword for the last issue of LIFE+. 2022 ended peacefully, and 2023 started with what felt like a very short January, a month that provided only momentary respite from the preceding festive season celebratory lunches and dinners. Then suddenly Chinese New Year was upon us, and to everyone’s delight this most family of occasions coincided with a general relaxation of travel restrictions. And over the last weeks, smiling faces and emotional reunions have been taking place in homes, railway stations and airports throughout our city and across the border as well. Long periods of being apart dissolved in those first embraces, and life has resumed a familiar and reassuring pattern again. My work year started very pleasantly, as I was lucky enough to spend a day out of the office in early January visiting some of the seven villages which make up the Hing Chun Alliance. This is a collection of small communities deep in the green countryside of the northea