Category Archives: Blog

Simplified Chinese characters account for around 5% of the broadly accepted total number (roughly 50,000) of Chinese characters, but more like a third of the most commonly used 5,000 or so. Most readers can infer the meaning of a simplified … Continue reading →

China Daily reports increased competition and diversity in December’s LegCo election… Authorities had received a total of 161 nominations of aspirants vying for one of 90 seats in the upcoming legislature poll in Hong Kong on Dec 7, as the … Continue reading →

The LegCo election has no bearing on how Hong Kong is run. A chamber of pro-government ‘all-patriots’ won’t ask hard questions or debate alternative policy approaches, let alone try to stall unpopular measures. But the process and outcome of the … Continue reading →

A former HKU professor is given seven years for the manslaughter of his wife, after appealing an earlier sentence of life for murder. As several commentators have pointed out, this is barely more than the six years and nine months … Continue reading →

Felt sorry for the extremely old and frail campaign workers handing out election leaflets, so I now have promo materials for Judy Chan (of Regina Ip’s New People’s Party) and Jeremy Young (Liberal Party) running in HK Island West. And … Continue reading →

Not-for-profit news site HKFP reports on its own experience of an audit by the HK Inland Revenue Dept of independent media outlets… The tax office has closed a 20-month investigation into seven years’ worth of HKFP’s accounts, after the newspaper … Continue reading →

From HKFP – arrests are still taking place for involvement in the 2019 protests. Six are charged with weapons offenses, with two also alleged to have conspired to incite others to riot. One was recently acquitted of terrorism charges. Bloomberg … Continue reading →

HKFP reports… “Opposition forces” are smearing Beijing’s warnings about the upcoming “patriots only” Legislative Council elections, Chief Executive John Lee has said. Speaking at a regular press conference on Tuesday, the chief executive said “anti-China elements” and external forces had … Continue reading →

The Standard reports that ‘Smiling Queen of Fencing’ Olympic gold winner Vivian Kong will not run for LegCo. Someone (‘political figures’) apparently approached her to run in a geographical constituency as her ‘popularity and wholesome public image were seen as … Continue reading →

The trial of Albert Ho, Lee Cheuk-yan and Chow Hang-tung was due to begin on May 6 this year, was then postponed to November 11, and is now delayed again until January 22 next year. They are accused of ‘inciting … Continue reading →