There is no shortage of political or semi-political blogs on Hong Kong and China by Westerners. Many of them sound like authorities and tell you in excruciating detail what the Chinese need to learn and how Hong Kong and China ought to be ran. But their views, however credible they might sound sometimes, don't change the fact that they are outsiders who are looking in. After reading a fair number of them, we suspect, and evidence supports that in almost all cases, they have little or no deeper than superficial social interactions with the natives (the insiders), and equal-level socializing between the two groups is minimal at best. Contrary to Hong Kong's public image overseas, HK is largely a segregated city.

        This blog, LIBERTINES PUB, in a way, is the opposite of those political blogs we mentioned above. Instead of looking in from outside, in a sense, LIBERTINES PUB, by three native bloggers, tells the outsiders and others what is going on inside from within. In their blog, the bloggers report and analyze the events happening locally and in China. And they comment on political and social issues that concern Hong Kong and the mainland -- unlike most expats, they speak the native language and are part of HK's social fabric.

        The bloggers write with gusto and enthusiasm; they write with the eyes and ears of a guide who has intimate knowledge of the terrain he covers. Undoubtedly, some readers would poke at the bloggers' grammar. At some places, their grammar is less than common-standard, but no worse than what you would find in some HK blogs by European or Scandinavian bloggers writing in their second language. And the bloggers' English is more accessible or understandable than the crusty 19th-century English which is commonly flaunted by some British expats in their blogs based here in Hong Kong.

        LIBERTINES PUB is laced with some foul language which may be offensive to some. The readers are forewarned. The writing of this blog is clear and expressive; the curse words in it do not enhance its basic appeal.

        Despite the profanity, Hong Kong Blogs Review recommends LIBERTINES PUB. If cussing is not an issue to you, read this blog, get the news and information from the insiders directly -- no intermediary is needed.