I am still trying to find someone who is mortally offended by the phrase ‘Chee-na’, as uttered by Sixtus Leung and Yau Wai-ching in their abortive Legislative Council oath-taking. I have elicited a few smirks, an embarrassed giggle and various eye-rolling shrugs and looks of perplexed bemusement – but no-one bursts into tears of grief or pain.
Officially, however – in Hong Kong’s United Front domain – everyone is wetting themselves in orchestrated hysterical anguish at this shocking affront to nation and race. Pro-Beijing lawmakers are under orders to take part in choreographed protest, government officials are dabbing their eyes in sorrow, the patriotic rent-a-mob lynches radicals in effigy, and media rabble endlessly recite the clichés and memes about Japanese militarism and insults to the motherland.
(So far as I can tell after brief Googling, the ‘Shi-na’ name for China has ancient roots, possibly in India, was not intended as derogatory, and gave rise to the Latin word ‘Sina’, thus ‘Sino-’, and ‘Sinic’. The early-mid-20th Century expansionist Japanese would have embraced it because China’s name for itself – ‘The Central Country’ – would have struck them as insufferably arrogant and ill-suited for continental inferiors.)
So mass-mouth-frothing is the order of the day for Hong Kong’s very own Basket of Deplorables…
…to which lawmaker Regina Ip is making a valuable contribution via her New People’s Party…
That photo is issued by Regina’s own people for publicity purposes – just in case you thought some malevolent PhotoShop fiend had done something nasty to them. They want the government to prosecute a pro-dem lawmaker for turning flags upside-down in Legco. This is a United Front witch-hunt compounded by Regina’s own lust for the job of Chief Executive, which adds up to something deeply distasteful. The Financial Times says the ‘vilification of pro-independence lawmakers echoes Communist Party tactics’. Of course, it is not an echo.
If I were a nicer person, I would be vaguely inclined to feel sorry for Legco’s President Andrew Leung.
The (never-contested) Functional Constituency representative is one of the textile scion-tycoons who quit the Liberal Party as insufficiently plutocratic. He obediently took the job of Legco President – these days picked by Beijing’s local Liaison Office – only to find himself fumbling into hostile territory when he tried implementing the Council’s practices on whether to allow second attempts at oath-taking.
Now he is re-assessing his wavering. If he joins the herd of United Front zombies and reverses his decision to allow a second oath-taking, his credibility as an impartial Speaker vanishes just days into the job. (By contrast, predecessors Rita Fan and, mostly, Tsang Yok-sing enjoyed at least modest reputations for even-handedly pissing off the pro-Beijing as well as pro-dem camps in the legislature.) If he sticks to his decision, the Red Guards will be demanding that he kneel on broken glass and confess his crimes against the people. (Meanwhile, we wait for the courts to do their thing, though it could be they have nothing to do with it.)
The Standard sees Chief Executive CY Leung as the big winner from this chaos – the whole pro-establishment camp having been lined up behind him on the issue. Why would Beijing want some namby-pamby like Carrie Lam or John Tsang as CE when the number-one priority is to root out and crucify a pair of splittist radicals?
The Standard teases readers with the thought that the Youngspiration duo are considered to be CY’s ‘best running mates’. The Liaison Office’s Big Orchestrated Cultural Revolution Oath-Taking Chee-na Indignation is, of course, pulling or pushing many Hongkongers into the more-or-less localist camp. And Carrie or John (or anyone) would – compared with CY – sap support for radicals. So it works both ways.
I note that the Hong Kong Branch of the All-China Women’s Federation (an Asian version of the Wimmin’s Institute?) have concluded that Ms YAU (a total babe who wouldn’t be caught dead in the WI) has “hurt the emotions of all Chinese people in the world”. I asked the missus, who is a Hong Konger, whether her emotions had been hurt. She replied “Sod off, I’m busy”, which I took as a “no”. Therefore, how did the HBK of the ACWF get to their global conclusion? And what about those two brave taikonauts in orbit around us – how come their emotions are not hurt? I think we should be told.
Interesting point regarding the taikonaut, Big Al. I knew what a taikonaut was but thought I’d better find a definition for taiko. I was alarmed to find out that it is a Japanese barrel-shaped drum, a very dodgy contraption in which to be orbiting the Earth, don’t you think? It might explain why they have a tad more on their minds than Baggio and Ms. Yau…
A laymen’s view. Precedent. As prospective Legislators have been allowed and indeed are still allowed to retake the oath, then CY’s judicial review shouldn’t have a snowball’s chance in Hell of succeeding. So is he really looking to ask the NPC Standing Cnuts (remembering that as this has nothing to do with Foreign Affairs or Defence they have no jurisdiction anyway) to “interpret” ? So because the young duo don’t really believe the words of the Oath of Office they should be barred from retaking said oath and thus not allowed to take their seats for which they were democratically elected ? So in a stroke we have; thought crime, the de facto separation of powers smashed to bits and a democratic mandate overturned.
Few of the United Front members are like, 689, card carrying true believers. Can they not see where this is going … ?
If you want to see true Deplorable, come to the dweeb Rurik Jutting trial. He’s on. the video screen now, rambling on abou his first murder. We saw her trussed up in the shower.
Pull the string, said Bela Lugosi.
Throw the switch, say I.
Years ago while visiting the Chinese graveyards in Pakistan along the then soon-to-be Karakoran highway, I tried to learn a few words of the local language around Gilgit and the Baltistan villages. That language was/is called Shina.
As for “taikonaut,” it is a bastardization — whether Western or local Cantonese I know not — of the Chinese characters 太空 (tai-kong) which means “outer space.” Some clever fellow dropped the “g” and added all but one letter of the suffix “naut.” It has nothing to do with a barrel-shaped drum.
They are playing chicken with the judicial system. I will bet that the presiding judge has been told that his cooperation is the only thing standing between us and another NPC interpretation. No pressure!
If I see one more photo of Vagina and her under bite, protruding lower lip, I’m going to officially declare the universe’s feelings have been hurt.
The man on the left in Vagina’s pic looks like an uncle in the park who likes to fiddle with little kids. The girl next to him seems to have water on the brain, poor lass.
Big crowds gathering in Admiralty
Andrew Leung out of his depth. Probably regretting giving up his British Passport
“I am still trying to find someone who is mortally offended by the phrase ‘Chee-na’, as uttered by Sixtus Leung and Yau Wai-ching”.
Well, my wife is offended, for one, though perhaps not mortally. In fact she regards their behaviour in general as giving the democratic side a bad name. I suspect she is not alone in this view – but many democracy sympathisers will keep it to themselves for fear of giving the pro-government side more ammunition.