The Pulse：Private recreational clubs, discussion with Tanya Chan & Felix Chung & eSports

During this long Easter holiday some people will be getting out and about for a bit of fresh air. Others will be driving parents and teachers to distraction because they’re hunched over computer screens in combat with other online gamers. But don’t scoff. Professional computer gaming can pay better than entry level professional athletics. More on that in part two.
But first to the homes of some more traditional sports played in environments less egalitarian and accessible than home computer games. Hong Kong currently has 27 private recreational clubs operating on often large areas of government land. Many pay little or no rent. Meanwhile plenty of Hong Kong residents have nowhere decent to live, and there are increasing questions about why so much land is reserved for the recreation of so few. With us in the studio are legislators Tanya Chan of the Civic Party and Felix Chung of the Liberal Party to talk about this issue.
Parents, teachers, girlfriends and boyfriends of video gamers, take heart. What might seem to be an antisocial hobby can turn into a lucrative career.
Electronic sports or eSports take video games to a professional level. Most are team-based and can involve competing in leagues and tournaments. They include battlefield games, card games, strategy games, or sports simulations. Electronic games as a professional spectator sport have become a multi-billion dollar business that’s now projected to bring in more revenue than some traditional pastimes.
Well that’s it from us. We’ll leave you with images of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s surprise two-day visit to Beijing this week where he met Chinese President Xi Jinping. It’s been suggested that the trip to Beijing was a bit of a curveball ahead of Donald Trump’s planned but still unscheduled meeting with Kim.
We however are scheduled to be back next week. So, for now goodbye. And enjoy the break.