The usually-obsequious Standard throws caution to the wind, denouncing visiting President-Chairman Xi Jinping’s wife Peng Liyuan’s choice of clothes. Quoting a fashion expert, the paper gives the stately and glamorous Peng an insulting 80 out of 100 for her drab costume, with its gruesomely oversized collar and too much grey (and those frightful shoes). How much better, the style guru declares, had she worn pink. At which precise moment, a charming shot of a past imperial visit pops up…
Hong Kong residents in 2017, with police swamping the streets, barriers lining footbridges and helicopters zipping overhead, will wonder at how relaxed things were in the old days – Queen Lizzie strolling in public with a couple of buddies, greedily eyeing the huge radishes. (That said, perhaps all is not as it seems: the observant among us will notice that someone had polished the wet-market pavement so fervently you could see your face in it.)
Today’s recommended non-cliché Handover 20th Anniversary feature is from the Business Post…
I declare the weekend open by getting a few things ready…
Her hairstyle, too, reminds me of Princess Anne’s a generation or two ago.
Has Peter Guy been got at? His conclusion — “Hong Kong is not part of China. It is China. That’s the outcome of the last 20 years and perhaps the way forward to solving the city’s most urgent problems.” — wouldn’t pass muster in an 11-plus exam.
When first I met you, you drank white wine and water, Hoch and Seltzer I suppose if you are a reader of John Betjeman.
Now I think you need the pure substance.
Hong Kong will never progress without class consciousness and class struggle. Those, things raised up Britain, Europe, a whole world.
Socialism scares the hell out of the neo-capitalist Chiense “communists”.
Bourgeois liberals are eaten before lunch. And no one much reads you. You’re just something on the side.
What an excellent picture / tape montage! Happy hangover to all 🙂
I’m spending the weekend hoping and praying someone will ceremonially present either Xi Jinping or Peng Liyuan with 2 cans of milk powder and a wheelie suitcase, in the true spirit of the ties between the two countries under the one system.
A Lovely Girl I Know
I’m thinking of a lovely girl I know
Born exactly twenty years ago.
Everyone admires and praises her,
But what about the cruel aunt who raises her?
— A harsh housemistress with a rigid way
Which every child she brings up must obey.
For years the girl kept trying to refuse,
But now she has to wear her older cousin’s shoes.
They do not fit, they hurt, and no-one knows
How much they squeeze, misshape, and bend her toes.
She hides them, but they’re in a dreadful state.
I wish, she says, I wish, I wish, my toes were straight!
@pd
Noticed that too. Great article then “HK is CHI…..N….AHHHH. Lah lah lah!” ?? Reminded me of the endings to examples of that other HK literary genre, the student letter to the SCMP. “In conclusion, some people might say Mrs Lam should stand up to Beijing, but others might say this would be dangerous. So we should discuss it more.” The logical explanation to Peter Guy’s sudden weirdness is that there is an encoded subtext, a bit like those Korean War POWs who blinked out “N KOREA IS A SHIT HOLE” using morse code. Already scanning my Dan Brown for help.
Breaking News…Breaking News…Breaking News…Breaking News….
Just in. The Pope is Catholic:
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/money-wealth/article/2100548/china-tourist-spending-concealing-flow-investment-overseas
@reductio
I read it that last bit as meaning that HK is also a corrupt kleptocracy run by an elite of unelected “officials” taking their cut — as per the old Russian joke: “Capitalism is the exploitation of one man by another; communism is the reverse.”
@LRE
Not heard that one. Shall be using it! Yes, in HK officials take their cut but in nice post-retirement jobs. Another stinking pile of ordure that needs addressing.
LRE : wholeheartedly endorse your gift idea.
Sadly out of HK at the moment. Does anyone know where they’ll be holding the culmination of the festivities, the curling-out-a-Bungle’s-finger-in-the-street ceremony ? Sai Ying Pun perhaps ? Right outside the liaison office ?
Have just noticed Hemlock on https://www.hongkongfp.com/2017/07/01/hk20-pay-price-chinas-increasing-prosperity-increasing-fear-leaders/