Big Lychee, Various Sectors

Book Punch – the store previously punished for serving sake at a book-reading and holding Spanish classes – gets fined again for hosting a stand-up comedy event last year. Was it a ‘staged event’ even though the venue did not have a stage?

[Magistrate Andrew Mok] said he did not think “stage performance,” as stated in the ordinance, applied only to performances with a stage.

Mok said that [store owner] Pong showed no remorse during the trial, and therefore, there was no reason to give a lighter penalty. But he noted that Pong’s attitude during the trial was “pragmatic,” and that his past convictions all had to do with promoting culture.

So if you ever hold a standup night – show remorse! (Is the magistrate showing a slight queasiness, imposing fines on a bookshop owner for ‘promoting culture’?)

(Great Moments in Hong Kong Law Enforcement continues with the arrest of a 12-year-old kid for mixing vinegar and baking soda, which the police deem to be manufacturing explosives.)

The Hong Kong government denies that it has anything to do with the case of its London Economic and Trade Office manager, who has been found guilty of breaking the UK National Security Act by assisting a foreign intelligence service. Fair enough – but which foreign power was he working for?

The (probably paywalled) NYT summarizes the proceedings so far at the Wang Fuk Court fire inquiry…

Testimony presented at hearings suggest that alarms had been deactivated, windows removed from evacuation staircases and water tanks drained. When trapped residents called for help, they found emergency hotlines were quickly overwhelmed. 

…Before the fire, residents had contacted the authorities to express concerns about the foam boards, which were meant to protect the windows during the work.

Emails and phone calls showed that a Fire Department employee said the agency was not responsible for regulating window coverings. The Housing Bureau investigated but failed to take action.

…WhatsApp messages revealed that a Housing Bureau employee tipped off the renovation consultant about an inspection the day before it was to be conducted. The consultant then notified the contractor, whose workers installed fire-safe netting — but only in the areas that were to be inspected. The rest of the netting later turned out to be substandard. 

…The hearings are taking place in a heightened political environment. In December, Hong Kong’s government condemned “anti-China” forces for criticizing the response to the tragedy. 

A lot of buck-passing and collusion. Imagine what this process would be like if we had independent lawmakers, civil society and Apple Daily. 

Bloomberg on Donald Trump’s forthcoming visit to Beijing…

US President Donald Trump says he will raise the case of imprisoned Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai when he meets President Xi Jinping in China next week. It might seem implausible that Beijing would consider releasing the pro-democracy businessman, an arch foe who feuded with the ruling Communist Party for decades, only three months after he was given a 20-year sentence on national security charges. The obstacles are formidable and shouldn’t be underestimated. But there are enough reasons to think that a deal isn’t out of the question. 

…Beijing has vilified Lai for years as a “running dog” and “pawn” of Western forces, but at this point it would surely be to the Chinese government’s advantage to release him. For one thing, it has won the battle over Hong Kong. The city’s people have been cowed and large-scale demonstrations akin to the 1 million-plus who flooded the streets in 2019 are now inconceivable. Releasing the businessman, along with other peaceful democracy activists who remain incarcerated such as trade unionist Lee Cheuk-yan, barrister Chow Hang-tung and former journalist and Legislative Council candidate Gwyneth Ho, would project magnanimity — and confidence. 

…China has already paid a price for the Hong Kong crackdown, in the form of loss of trust and reputation, removal of the city’s special economic treatment, its biggest population exodus on record and sanctions on central government and local officials. Calling a halt would remove the main irritant to better relations. Has the time not come to declare victory? 

From CSIS, a massive analysis of the Iran war’s impact on China.

Dr David Owens of Owens Trodd and Partners in Central (my physio/cupping place) writes on how athletes have managed to run a marathon – 26.2 miles – in under two hours. Brilliant geeky stuff…

This demands sustaining approximately 21 kilometers per hour while operating at the threshold of human cardiovascular and metabolic capacity. The physiological requirements—VO2 max around 80 ml/kg/min, and lactate threshold around 90% of VO2 max—appeared to represent the outer limits of human adaptation. 

Shoes have a surprising amount to do with it.

Former HK Police spokesman John Tse has become head of the Information Services Dept – the producer of the mouth-frothing ‘despicable’, ‘smear’, ‘slander’ press releases that so often brighten up our day. He was previously in the CE’s office, where according to HKFP he was…

…[formulating] public relations and media strategies. 

The government says Tse is the most talented and suitable PR whizz they could find. Which is possibly true. But, generally speaking, the personality type of a policeman does not usually overlap with that of a media/communication strategist. Cops tend to value obedience and rules, while eschewing abstract or creative thinking. For example: to most of us, 2019 was a massive society-wide protest movement against bad and unrepresentative government; to a cop, all those people were infringing paragraph x of the Public Highways (Willful Obstruction) Ordinance and had to be arrested, end of story. 

Ideally, a PR guru will tell his boss/client things they don’t want to hear. “You are unpopular because you are unelected and unresponsive to the people’s needs, and unless you fix that, no media strategy will help.” In reality, it is easier to deliver messages that make the higher-ups feel good, even though public opinion – the audience that is supposed to matter – remains unconvinced or even hostile.

That’s why it often makes sense to hire an outsider, and preferably one who leans subversive. The Iranian regime – far more authoritarian than Hong Kong’s – understood this when they engaged Explosive Media to churn out anti-Trump Lego videos. 

Tasteful photo of my back below my right waist. Felt some pain in the hip, and had visions of some terrible bone problem. An x-ray revealed nothing untoward. Physiotherapist diagnosed stiff muscle deep down in the maximus glutinous. He pulled and pummelled, and taught me some stretching exercises. He also insisted on “cupping”, which naturally set off my TCM/quack BS detector. But it seems this is a genuine science-based treatment. 

They put several small glass bulbs on you and use a device to suck the air out. Absolute agony. Feels like a giant rodent has sunk its teeth into your flesh. Then, after two very long minutes, phhht – and the air comes out. 

Anyway – stiffness largely gone now.

HKFP reports…

Hong Kong’s countryside has seen an influx of tourists with the start of the Labour Day Golden Week in mainland China, recording over 600,000 arrivals in the first two days of the five-day-long holiday. 

…High-traffic areas included High Island Reservoir East Dam, Sharp Island, Shui Hau on Lantau, and various Sai Kung East Country Park campsites, the AFCD wrote in a Facebook post.

Over 1,000 camping tents were spotted in the three campsites at Ham Tin Wan, Sai Wan, and Long Ke Wan in Sai Kung East Country Park on Friday evening, the AFCD said, adding that good order and hygiene were maintained at the sites.

More HKFP photos of the scene at Ham Tin Beach in Sai Kung here and here.

But don’t worry! Everything’s OK because camping doesn’t harm hotels…

Speaking to RTHK, the executive director of the Hong Kong Tourism Association Timothy Chui said the overall occupancy rate at local hotels reached more than 90 percent during the Labour Day Golden Week holiday.

As for campers, Chui said that some of them were not staying outdoors for their entire trip, instead, they booked hotel rooms for part of their stay and continued spending money in the city.

“Campers might sleep at the camping site for one night and opt for a hotel on the following night. Hong Kong offers this option, it allows tourists to switch between a short time period. They may go camping one day and then continue dining, shopping and having fun in the urban areas the next,” he said.

“This is exactly Hong Kong’s strength.” 

Spend one day on a horribly overcrowded beach, and the next day in a horribly overcrowded urban area. Hong Kong: land of horribly overcrowded contrasts.

Don’t they have beaches/trails in the Mainland? What happens when more visitors post selfies on Chinese social media and you have 10,000 tents on these beaches? (Where, as a commenter points out, camping is not actually permitted.) Is there a point where the bureaucrats realize the mindless pursuit of ever-higher tourist numbers is stupid? 

‘Commando-style’ tourism hits Hong Kong…

…an extreme “budget travel” spectacle has emerged, with large groups of tourists setting up their own tents for street camping in Hong Kong’s urban areas, even encroaching on core districts of the political and business elite. Netizens have spotted that the covered pedestrian bridge outside the Government Headquarters in Admiralty has turned into a “free campsite,” with multiple tents from mainland outdoor brands pitched along the walkway, creating a scene reminiscent of a “refugee camp” right at the gates of the government headquarters. 

…Beyond Admiralty, this “urban camping” trend has spread to residential neighborhoods; around Tseung Kwan O’s LOHAS Park Station, covered walkways have seen even more exaggerated campsite setups, with at least six to seven tents lined up in a row, monopolizing the passage and completely disregarding the original purpose of public facilities. 

I thought it was just me, but it seems quite a few people stayed at home for much of the long weekend simply to avoid the Mainland tourist crowds. This must have suppressed local consumer spending, while the Mainland visitors often bring their own food.

The Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong reports that press freedom in the city has hit a new low. (If you’re in Hong Kong, don’t be surprised if the link doesn’t work. The medium is the message!) Some details and a timeline from HKFP.

DW awards Jimmy Lai its annual Freedom of Speech Award. 

An angry government press statement ensues…

 The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government today (May 1) strongly condemned the attempts by an anti-China organisation and foreign media to sugarcoat the criminal acts of national security offender Lai Chee-ying and to slander, smear, as well as attack the HKSAR by releasing a so-called press freedom index and presenting a so-called “award”. Such despicable behaviours totally disregarded the rule of law and twisted the facts, which must be strongly condemned. 

…”Some media organisations and organisations that claim to represent journalists have conflated the criminal acts in the Lai Chee-Ying case with freedom of the press, and have even played up different cases to vilify the HKSAR, with the purpose of misleading the public and defaming the HKSAR’s human rights and rule of law. In fact, the Lai Chee-ying case has nothing to do with freedom of the press at all. Over the years, the defendants were using journalism as a guise to commit acts that brought harm to our country and Hong Kong. 

Plus one from the all-patriots LegCo…

​A spokesman for the Legislative Council (“LegCo”) today (May 1) strongly condemned the release of a so-called press freedom index by a foreign media organisation and presentation of a so-called award to the national security offender Lai Chee-ying to sugarcoat his criminal acts, and smear the press freedom and rule of law in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (“HKSAR”). LegCo strongly condemns and firmly opposes all untrue comments that defame the human rights and rule of law in the HKSAR. 

(Notice different uses of quote marks: the government press release uses them for “award” but not the first use of “HKSAR” in parenthesis; with LegCo it’s the other way round.)

From Sinocism – a translation of a Ministry of State Security WeChat post accusing foreign forces of spreading the ‘lie flat’ dropout culture among young Chinese people…

In recent years, foreign anti-China hostile forces have leveraged online platforms to deliberately amplify social anxieties, distort interpretations of development problems, and continuously play up negative concepts such as “effort is useless” and “those who strive lose out.” They attempt to manufacture negative emotions in order to elevate individual hardships into group antagonism, leading young people to be misled and swept along without realizing it, thereby dissolving the conviction to strive among Chinese youth and even shaking the value foundations of society. 

It gets weirder…

What makes this all the more ironic is that while inciting us to “lie flat,” they themselves are working off their feet. In recent years, the countries in question have rolled out a series of economic bills, revitalization projects, and talent programs, even poaching global talent at high salaries. Clearly, they have never accepted “lying flat” themselves; they only want our youth to lie flat, so that they can hand over our development dividends, our strategic opportunities, and the future of our nation on a platter. 

Youth unemployment in China hit 16.9% last month. (It’s probably higher: after the number went over 21% in 2023, Beijing stopped reporting figures and then came up with a new method of calculating the rate, which was lower.) Some 200 million Chinese work in the gig economy – such as food delivery. Recent reports also suggest rising homelessness among the young, and factory closures. In the background, a burst property bubble and a declining population. 

More on overcrowded beaches. HKFP reports…

To prevent environmental degradation due to excessive tourism, the AFCD will deploy 11 staff members to patrol Sharp Island – part of Hong Kong’s UNESCO Global Geopark – and conduct hourly drone inspections, local media reported on Tuesday.

Buoys will also be positioned at sea to mark coral reefs and prevent tourists from trampling the fragile ecosystems.

…The verbal advice by AFCD officers carries no legal weight and will be inadequate to tackle excessive snorkelling and other problematic activities, such as clam digging, the NGO said. 

Greenpeace obviously aren’t thinking of the commercial potential. Why not charge Mainland tourists to trample fragile ecosystems? Say HK$50 per clam, and HK$1,000 for stomping on coral?

More NatSec… Political commentator Wong Kwok-ngon, aged 72, has been in jail since December. He was arrested on suspicion of “doing an act that has a seditious intention with a seditious intention”. Also for allegedly divulging details of a national security investigation – which presumably means he told someone else that he was being investigated. He will be the first to be tried for it. The trial is set for October. 

Wong was taken in by national security police in December, on the same day he was set to appear at a press conference about the fatal Wang Fuk Court fire, which had occurred days before. 

And then there’s the law making it illegal to urge people not to vote…

The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), which oversees Hong Kong’s election legislation, said in a Monday statement that the two men, aged 38 and 63, were charged with alleged breaches of the Elections (Corrupt and Illegal Conduct) Ordinance. 

…Lam is accused of leaving a comment on a media outlet’s social media post to incite an invalid vote at the election. The post was a news report on security chief Chris Tang’s remarks that it is an offence to incite people not to vote or cast an invalid vote.

Wong shared a post by wanted overseas-based activist Alan Keung on social media, calling on people not to vote.

Reminder: it is perfectly legal in Hong Kong not to vote.

You get the right to control a beach in Hong Kong and make as much money from it as possible. What would you charge for? Use of the drinking water fountain? Restrooms and changing rooms? Showers? BBQ pits? (All pre-installed using taxpayers’ money.) Tacky hamburger concessions (“No outside food allowed”)? Check between bathers’ toes when they leave and charge them HK$5 for each grain of sand they are taking away (“environmental protection fee)?

Director of Leisure and Cultural Services Manda Chan on Monday said the government is open to expanding a proposed pilot scheme which would involve the private sector managing certain public beaches.

Her remarks came after the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) invited businesses’ expression of interest in operating three public beaches – Ma Wan Tung Wan Beach in Tsuen Wan, Butterfly Beach in Tuen Mun and Big Wave Bay Beach in Southern District on Hong Kong Island.

Speaking on an RTHK programme, Chan said the three beaches have unique features and business potential to host commercial activities. 

The idea seems to be to prevent overcrowding (otherwise known as Mainland-tourist overload). So there could also be a booking system, where you reserve a slot to visit the beach on an app (otherwise known as don’t bother, let’s do something else this Sunday.)

Despite possibly being expanded, it’s still only a proposed pilot scheme, so the whole visionary concept might go the way of waste-charging, bus seat belts and other initiatives imposed with patriots-only support rather than regard to public opinion. Or some property tycoon’s dimwit kid might bid HK$100 million to ‘monetize’ a 200-yard stretch of shore.

(Perhaps there is potential for private operators to monetize public spaces as non-nanny-state zones. The last time I went to a beach that charged admission, it was out in eastern Shenzhen. It seemed that, in return for payment, visitors could bring dogs, smoke, play music, let their kids pee-pee anywhere, etc. Maybe we could have sitting-out areas where, after paying admission, you can lie on a bench and kids can ride a tricycle. Brought to you by AnarchyParks Inc.)

This will do nothing to address over-tourism elsewhere in Hong Kong. In my own neighbourhood, I can think of half a dozen spots where Mainland tourists gather on the sidewalk in such numbers that anyone else passing by must walk in the street among traffic. If I were Emperor of the Universe, I would summon the Tourism Promotion bureaucrats and the Transport Department psychos to kneel before me and tell them to work out between themselves how to either reduce the number of people or increase the amount of space for pedestrians. You have one hour, or you lose your jobs.

An HKFP op-ed on the new national-security rules included in restaurant licences…

…one theory is that the government wishes to increase its options to suppress businesses that supported the wrong people in 2019.

Asked if this was the case, Ronnie Tong, a government adviser, replied last year that it was “hard to say”.

Another theory is that the unstated purpose is to reinforce the existing routine practice under which food outlets that have accepted bookings from organisations the government does not like tend to cancel them at the last minute.

Maybe it is just that the “public interest” is one of those elusive philosophical concepts like “soft resistance” which puzzle the public but are perfectly clear to recycled policemen and the people who write the front page of Ta Kung Pao.

It could also be used to suppress businesses that hire people with the not-to-be-liked opinions, or perhaps even just serve such individuals as customers.

Hoper’s Base restaurant in North Point (which I think is relocating to the UK in a few months) reports that it has had multiple Fire/Health/Immigration visits in one day.

From RSF – French journalist Antoine Vedeilhe’s story…

On 2 November 2025, he was detained for three hours upon arriving at the Hong Kong International Airport airport from France, during which he was questioned and subjected to a full-body search before being deported from the territory. In the journalist’s view, his detention was a reprisal for his work on a documentary examining Beijing’s grip on Hong Kong. It is one of many accounts of visas being weaponised in Hong Kong, which remain underreported due to pressure and sophisticated surveillance by the Chinese regime.  

Kevin Yam says…

This is a brazen attempt by Hong Kong authorities to bully international media into not speaking to those of us in exile. It’s not just an attempt to curtail press freedom, it’s also an act of transnational repression to silence the likes of @carmenkamanlau and me. 

If Beijing imposes anti-sanctions laws in Hong Kong, it could harm the city as an international corporate hub. It could also lead to perhaps the ultimate test of how the CCP values Hong Kong’s business model versus various iterations of national security: Mainland-style Internet restrictions. It is one respect in which Hong Kong is still a glaring anomaly. Bitter Winter on China’s recent actions against VPNs…

Many Chinese users use them to watch international entertainment services, but their true importance goes beyond that. Without these tools, it becomes impossible to read uncensored news, access foreign academic resources, or visit websites blocked by the Great Firewall, including “Bitter Winter.” 

Recently, a series of internal notices shared online and collected by “China Digital Times” has raised concerns that these ladders might soon be forcibly removed. One document from a regional content-delivery provider shares instructions from its upstream telecom partner requiring that all international connections be terminated for business clients. The wording is broad: every IP address under their control must block traffic to any location outside mainland China. The same notice directs customers to remove any signs of VPNs, proxies, or other tools used to bypass restrictions. Those who do not comply will face immediate disconnection, data loss, and no refunds. 

…For many, [use of such tools] is not a political statement but a basic necessity: they want to watch a foreign show, read an international newspaper, or access a blocked academic article. Yet the normality of this behavior is what troubles the authorities. A tool that makes it easy to bypass censorship is inherently a threat to a system that relies on that censorship.