The Hong Kong government replaces two senior officials. One of them – the tourism, pandas and mega-events minister Kevin Yeung – recently complained bitterly when an RTHK reporter asked him a pointed question, prompting the station to remind its reporters to adopt more positive angles in future. He is replaced by civil servant Rosanna Law. The other is transport minister Lam Sai-hung. (More on their failings here.) CE John Lee damns the outgoing pair with some faint praise…
“I really think that they have contributed their best [and have given] their best efforts for Hong Kong. So I thank them sincerely and I hope that they will have a good life, happy life after their departure,” Lee said.
“But I want to do more in these two and a half years. I want to get the people who will fit my criteria in building more results and ensuring the community understand and appreciate government policies. And I think I’ve got the best choices,” the CE added.
And to think Lee was lauding Kev for his noble work on monkey deaths just a few weeks ago.
Given the pay scale for these jobs (some HK$360,000 a month), you might expect Ms Law to show some initiative and argue against getting obsessed over panda bears and tourist numbers. But no…
…Law said top of her agenda would be to prepare for the introduction of the pandas to the public at Ocean Park, ensuring the smooth implementation of the multi-entry visa scheme for Shenzhen residents and preparing for next year’s National Games.
Joel Chan points out…
As of today, Hong Kong will need to average at least 189,000 daily visitors to reach the Tourism Board’s goal of 46 million visitors for 2024
Why do they set a target? (What do you call 200 tourists suspended in the air on the Wheel of Death? A start. Maybe not.)
Cathay Pacific removes an episode of cartoon Family Guy because of a visual reference to Tank Man…
A complaint was raised against the flagship carrier on social media, in light of the city’s national security laws: “We emphasise that the content of the programme does not represent Cathay Pacific’s standpoint,” a spokesperson told HKFP on Thursday, “and have immediately arranged to have the programme removed as soon as possible.”
…“We have promptly informed the service provider of the seriousness of the incident, and have instructed them to thoroughly investigate the cause and strengthen oversight to ensure that similar incidents do not occur in the future.”
The absurdity is the point: any company that can’t afford to displease the powers that be must publicly humiliate itself as an act of contrition. (Republican congressmen kowtowing to Trump to survive the next primary election will know the feeling.) In Cathay’s case, there’s a lot riding on it. The company has a major brand name, aircraft, skilled staff, slots and route licences, which Mainland carriers would be happy to get their hands on.
Chart of the day, via David Webb: an all-time high of 40% of prisoners in Hong Kong are on remand – 3,790 people presumed guilty before trial.
Some weekend reading…
A review of The Troublemaker: How Jimmy Lai Became a Billionaire, Hong Kong’s Greatest Dissident, and China’s Most Feared Critic by Mark L. Clifford…
Lai is a man who thoroughly confounds the CCP with its reductionist and distorted view of a corruptible human nature. He sticks to transcendent principles and cannot be bought off or intimidated. For Beijing, nothing evokes more terror than the embodiment of its lies exposed by such men. Lai may remain imprisoned but his moral courage is forever a part of Hong Kong’s history.
ASPI Strategist on China’s replacement of Mongolian with ‘Northern frontier’ culture…
Chinese authorities have launched a campaign to change the term that people use to refer to Mongolian culture and to the cultural and historical heritage of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (IMAR) in a move aimed at eroding Mongolian identity and sense of homeland.
The Chinese Communist Party’s new official term, bei jiang wenhua, meaning ‘northern frontier culture’, eliminates reference to Mongolians, one of China’s 56 officially recognised ethnic groups. Since July 2023, Inner Mongolia state media articles, official websites, party statements, party-organised children’s activities, and official social media posts have widely promoted the phrase. The party’s regional propaganda office has also founded an academic journal dedicated to ‘northern frontier culture’, and Inner Mongolia’s premier state-run academic institute has opened a ‘northern frontier’ research centre.
The adoption of the term appears to be part of the CCP’s growing campaign to weaken Mongolian ethnic identity and instead push a Han-centric national identity through the elimination of Mongolian language education and other measures.
…In October 2023, Zheng Chengyan, vice director of the Inner Mongolia Museum, wrote in an essay posted to the Inner Mongolia culture and tourism department website that ‘northern frontier culture as a regional culture has been jointly created by all ethnic groups in the northern frontier region since ancient times and is an important part of Chinese culture’.
One small problem: an actual independent Republic of Mongolia, with cultural identity intact, exists right next door
Chinese academic Wang Wen of the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University recommends lowering barriers to foreign information and contacts as a way to boost China’s confidence…
However, after spending a few more days attending such forums or engaging in these exchanges abroad, a different feeling gradually emerges: a growing sense of comfort and enrichment. Cutting-edge information, hot topics, fierce discussions and brainstorming sessions abound, all without excessive formalities, empty phrases or rigid expressions. Reflecting on the relaxed pace of those “laid-back” foreign cities—like Paris, Berlin and Istanbul, which I recently visited—one notices a refreshing feeling of ease and naturalness all around: a cup of coffee, a daily newspaper, a group of friends, a broad smile and an unhurried afternoon.
…Yet one can’t quite shake the feeling that Chinese scholars still tend to present their analyses as framed within official discourse, displaying not only a lack of basic adaptation of political ideas to academia, but also underscoring the intellectual poverty of Chinese academic theory in recent years. In contrast, international academia is continually introducing fresh concepts and insights. It’s hard to imagine how American scholars would maintain their dominant position in global discourse if they simply regurgitated White House policy or repeated their president’s remarks at international forums.
…Even more concerning is the increasingly severe blockage of information flows between China and the rest of the world. In the 2023 statistics on the global internet language share, Chinese ranked only 13th, below English, Spanish, German, Japanese, French, Russian, Portuguese, Italian, Dutch, Turkish, Polish and Persian. Moreover, historical data shows a decline in the global share of Chinese-language webpages in recent years, dropping from 4.3% in 2013 to just 1.2% currently. In fact, between 2021 and 2022, the Chinese language lagged behind even Vietnamese in this regard.
…After drinking deeply from the waters of foreign discourse, a majority of Chinese citizens has developed basic immunity against the infiltration of Western ideologies. They are now able to confront the storms of international public opinion with “cultural confidence” [文化自信]. They are now more and more capable of filtering out those absurd, tedious and occasionally malicious talking points, and are far more willing to retaliate of their own accord against propaganda attacks by foreign anti-China forces.
This is an ad-free place, but I want to push an excellent service provider. If you want your knives sharpened: Blade N Beans, 1003 Harvest Building, 29-35 Wing Kut Street, Central…
Now I have to get back to watching Olivia Squizzle. She will also name your children.
Ah, that will be the Inner Mongolia that is the other side of the Great Wall of China which was built to keep out the Mongol hordes.
Please don’t tell me that China has accidentally exceeded it’s historical boundaries, otherwise they will be claiming millions of years of ownership of Xinjiang, Tibet and the beaches of Borneo next!
This is from a book about Socrates (the Classical Greek philosopher) by Paul Johnson. Socrates is considering his feelings about Athens, where he has been sentenced to death for actions that – as the prosecutor might have said – endangered national security. Other names could perhaps be substituted.
“- – – – – – had been born, had been brought up and had lived all his life under – – – – – – law. He had chosen to do so, over and over again. He regarded – – – – – – as the best place on earth to live . . . He loved its people, with all their faults, its streets and their trades, its public places. Its government was always imperfect, often grievously remiss, and sometimes monstrous. But it was his city … Everyone . . . had to accept the rule of law of the place where they lived. . . . Far better to submit to injustice, in the hope and confident expectation that, in time, men and women would come to see it so, and cherish his memory for his fortitude in accepting it.”
Hong Kong: Asia’s Knife-sharpening Hub.
Re Ms Law:
$360,000 a month seems like an absolute bargain for this sort of top-notch PR savvy, focused expertise in tourism development:
“Well, no one knows everything. I have been an administrative officer and what is unique for this job is that every few years I change to a new field, I take up a new post. But as always, we do our best in getting our hands on a job as quickly as possible,” [Law] said.
“I remember about 16 months ago, I was deployed to the Housing Bureau. Although I did not have any experience in housing, I became the director of housing and I just learned what I had to do as quickly as possible. And I’m sure that my colleagues will continue to give me the best support they can.”
In places with no imagination, dynamism or money left in the budget, they would be forced to promote some sort of rank amateur: a no-nothing, faceless bureaucrat with zero experience or expertise to try to restore tourism, because they lack that huge $360,000 incentive to attract the top outside talent available.
It’s amusing to compare the new department heads’ “official” photos – taken maybe 20 years ago? – with how they look now. The HKFP story shows both. It’s also amusing that a 35-year civil service veteran can be touted as “new blood” in an administration sorely in need of fresh ideas.
How many people who had never heard of Family Guy or had seen the Tiananmen reference quickly search it out and watch it? The public apology simply drew attention and eyeballs to a humorous cartoon. I sense insecurity.
Scene here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKabezsft_s
Thanks for that reminder, HK-Cynic. Though a lowbrow fan of Family Guy for years, I couldn’t recall the TAMS scene and now know why: it was SO fast and one of those blink-and-you’ll-miss-it type of gags.
Surprised no one got their panties bunched up over SO many other Family Guy-Chinese/Asian scenes (but I guess they weren’t “cleared” for airing on Cathay frights)….
https://youtu.be/INsOnYLZ4bM
To give Hapless his due, he went out giving the middle finger
“The sky and ocean is vast. I am stepping into another stage of life,”
Probably already packing his budgie smugglers and heading back to Bondi. The civil service pension will cover a luxe oceanview condo, ice box full of tinnys and abundant barbies. And no more crack of dawn flag raisers and hours spent enduring tedious regurgitations.