Rather obviously emulating Beijing, Hong Kong relaxes most Covid restrictions – except the really pointless and annoying ones. In particular, mask-wearing outdoors. (Don’t the authorities realize that compulsory mask-wearing has become so ingrained in Hong Kong life that many couples now get married without ever having seen each other’s faces, and still haven’t even weeks after their wedding day?)
Thus the prospect of border-opening. Naturally, we are all salivating over the prospect of millions of Mainland visitors pouring in again. Hundreds of small local grocery, stationery, hardware and hairdressing businesses to be shut down and replaced by rows of identical stores selling paracetamol and milk powder to ‘tourists’.
Meanwhile, the government unveils HK Talent Engage to attract a different sort of entrepreneur. In an attempt to be hip and groovy, it has a section called ‘practicalities’ featuring ‘Got love for a fluffy friend?’…
…pet lovers tend to steer away from busy urban districts and instead opt for village houses, where there’s more space and your fur babies can live closer to nature.
Please explain this to my neighbourhood owners of four-legged poop-factories.
I remember urban mainland China “pet lovers” caging their oversized Huskies or Tibetan Mastiffs in cruel little metal prisons (probably surplus from the Vietnam war used for keeping American POWs in) that were kept on the balconies (not even inside) of high rise flats after they paraded their overpriced (and often overweight) “pets” around in the common area to do their pooping, unpicked up of course.
So please don’t tell me Han Chinese “pet lovers” are going to forego the city and move to Lantau just for their flavor-of-the-month trendy breed companion.
“Got love for a fluffy friend?”
Doesn’t it make one feel nostalgic for the days when the first thing they’d do with Fido would be to skin it and place it in the pot?
In fact, the season for dog-pot stew is approaching in the New Territories. The village boys will be on the lookout for the more meatier mutts.
Not one, not two, but eight schemes to choose from! A triumph of bureaucracy over clarity.
I noticed that the practicalities make no mention of the practical reasons these schemes are necessary in the first place. What a peculiar lacuna…
I wonder if what is happening with China is that China is trying to now look like it is the one driving decisions that affect Hong Kong, rather than to allow Hong Kong authorities to appear to be shifting China’s policies through influence.
I don’t know about you, but that “fur baby” spiel from “HK Talent Engage” came bloody close to making me lose my lunch.
Chinese pet keeping habits, eh? The horror! The horror!
I think I’ll have a lie down.
Regular folks walking around mask-free being regular folks will be the biggest symbolism of how much bullshit this whole COVID hygiene theatre has been.
Can’t ditch that symbolism; oh no. Too radical.
Related:
From the crew that devastated airline schedules at the drop of a hat:
The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government today said the restrictions the Japanese Government has placed on flights departing from Hong Kong are unreasonable and it has requested the restrictions be withdrawn.
Wanna go maskless while strolling on the waterfront, taking it all in? Just pop over to Mui Wo.