Cookie policy

What cookies are

A cookie is a small text file that a website asks your browser to save. When you come back to the site, your browser sends it back, which is how a site can remember a choice you made or recognise that two visits came from the same person.

Some cookies are set by the site you are reading. Others are set by a third party whose tool the page uses, such as a measurement service. Cookies are not programs and cannot read other files on your device.

We treat similar technologies, such as browser local storage, in the same way as cookies on this page.

How this site uses cookies

This site is built to need as few cookies as possible. It is a static website, which means every page is prepared in advance rather than built for you on a server. There is no login, no shopping basket and no account to keep.

That leaves two reasons for a cookie here: to keep the site working, and to remember your answer to the cookie banner. Measurement cookies are set only if you agree to them.

The four categories we use

Every cookie or similar file on this site falls into one of four categories.

• Strictly necessary. These keep the site working and remember your cookie choice. They load before you decide, because the site cannot run without them.
• Measurement. These count visits, show which pages are read, and record how pages are used so we can find and fix the parts that confuse people. They load only after you agree.
• Advertising and marketing. These would measure or target advertising if we ever run any. This site sets none today. If we add them, they load only after you agree, and we list them below before they go live.
• Functional and external content. These are set by content we embed from elsewhere, such as a video or a map. We load that content only after you choose to, so a page you merely scroll past sets nothing.

We do not use cookies to follow you across other websites, and we never sell cookie data.

What we set, and when

The table below sets out each category: what it is for, who sets it, how long it lasts, and whether it loads before you agree.

Where a tool records how a page is used, anything you type into a form, along with other sensitive content such as email addresses, is masked before it is sent. That text never reaches us or the provider, so a recording shows what a visitor did, not what they wrote.

We keep this table current. Before we switch on any new tool that sets a cookie, we add its name, its provider and how long it lasts here first. This site runs no advertising cookies today.

Your choice, and how to change it

When you first visit, a banner asks whether you agree to measurement cookies. Accept and reject are given equal prominence: the reject option is on the first screen and is never hidden behind a second click. You can also decide category by category.

We remember your choice, so the banner does not return on every visit. You can change your mind whenever you like through the Cookie settings link in the footer of every page, which reopens the same choices.

Refusing measurement cookies does not block anything. Every page on this site works without them.

Controlling cookies in your browser

You can also view, block or delete cookies through your browser settings. Each browser is different, and most explain the steps in their own help pages.

Blocking all cookies may affect other websites as well as this one. If you delete cookies, this site will ask for your cookie choice again on your next visit.

Why there is a banner, and how we respect a refusal

Hong Kong has no single law that requires a cookie banner. We show one because the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data expects websites to be transparent about tracking, and because Google and Meta require a clear consent signal before their tools may be used.

When you refuse, the refusal is passed to the tool itself, so it does not run at all, rather than only being hidden from view. This uses a standard mechanism called Consent Mode, which carries your choice to the tools we use.

Changes to this policy

If we change how we use cookies, we update this page and the last updated date at the top of it. A short note of what changed appears at the bottom of the page.

If a change is significant, we will make it clear rather than bury it.