Recently in Hong Kong Category
The torch relay has been a disaster, no matter which way one looks at it. Historians will not connect the 2008 Olympic torch relay to such ideals as peace, harmony, or "one world, one dream". It will be remembered for protesters in London, Paris, and San Francisco - sometimes violent - and that image of Jin Jing clinging to the torch on the streets of Paris.
Much has been made of how the world is against China, to the point we've seen a psycho-analysis about western motives and comments on this blog about how westerners really don't understand China.
Amid this uproar, most western commentators (and regular people) have been quick to point out that nobody is against "China", just the government. As I've stated before, the government and the people are two very different entities. One can be a proud American and despise George W. Bush and the Republicans; likewise, one hopes that Chinese people can distinguish between criticism levelled at their government and criticism directed at the people. Although, admittedly, some protesters haven't been doing a good enough job of discerning between the two, especially when the line between them in China is blurred.
To further underscore the point that the criticism of China hosting the Olympics - and the torch relay - is not about being anti-China, we turn out attention to the media coverage of the torch relay in Hong Kong. Yes, Hong Kong, legally a part of Chinese territory (even though it sure doesn't feel like it when there). We toss to this article in the New York Times:
The day before, newspapers mingled images of official celebrations with coverage of protests. The English-language South China Morning Post and the Chinese-language Apple Daily and Ming Pao all ran photos of free-speech activists with gags over their mouths, and a three-story-high "pillar of shame," which depicts a jumble of naked corpses with desperate-looking faces. Ming Pao showed an inscription on the pillar's base reading: "The Tiananmen Massacre: The old cannot kill the young," a reference to the 1989 crackdown in Beijing, photos of which are still censored in the mainland press.
It continues...
Hong Kong's media, which have a tradition of using satire not always appreciated on the mainland, have been poking fun at Beijing's efforts to clean up its city and its residents. On April 19, TVB, a local television station that has programming in Cantonese, Mandarin and English, broadcast footage of a woman allowing her young child to relieve himself near the "Bird's Nest" Olympic stadium.
On April 23, The South China Morning Post followed up, calling a leaky roof at that same stadium an embarrassment. A few days later, it pointed out a shortage of toilets in an article headlined, "Beijing must shake off that know-it-all attitude."
The April cover of the Hong Kong-based Far Eastern Economic Review had a political cartoon of President Hu Jintao holding the torch with big earplugs blocking out noise from protesters. "Olympics Horribilis," the headline read.
On April 18, HK Magazine published an editorial "Torching the Torch," calling the relay "the perfect microcosm of modern China: a PR exercise surrounded by thugs with batons." The free weekly continued its taunt: "But what did China expect? A 21-gun salute and a welcome casserole?"
I have been a frequent visitor to Hong Kong, and one of my fears is that its press freedoms will slowly be suffocated until they become a lifeless corpse, like they are in mainland China. One needn't agree with Hong Kong's media coverage; the fact is that they have a right to print things that people may disagree with. Beijing deserves credit for keeping its promise of a hands-off approach.
Reviewing Hong Kong's torch relay coverage should also lay to rest the hollow conflict that has been created in the minds of China's restless fenqing: that it's the world vs. China, and the Chinese people need to rally together to protect their pride and fend off the hypocritical foreign barbarians. The fact that Chinese people on Chinese territory in the Chinese media also have problems with Beijing's policies speaks volumes. At the very least, one hopes this will make the patriotic Carrefour-boycotting masses wonder if they're getting the full story in the mainland press.
Oh, and Taiwan? The mainland government has been awfully silent about it lately, probably because the torch didn't, won't, and will never pass through that territory/region (take your politically correct pick) in 2008. And the fact that even Ma Ying-Jeou himself says he'd welcome the Dalai Lama to Taiwan, well....
At the end of the day, I totally understand the anger and frustration that is felt by young people in China. But when they are spoon-fed state-run propaganda and have little knowledge of the outside world, they develop a distorted sense of reality. It draws a feeling of pity more than frustration. The fact is that it's the Chinese government which was unprepared for these protests, which have led to the embarassment of China on the world stage. It is the Chinese government, and it's rigid policy in Tibet, which has resulted in worldwide anger. It is the Chinese government's reaction to unrest in Tibet, consisting of violent rhetoric, that has drawn the scorn of people worldwide. It is the Chinese government which has closed off Tibet to foreign reporters, but expects them to take its word without any verification or confirmation. It is the Chinese government which announces arrests in apparent planned terrorist attacks and then refuses to provide evidence of their claims.
These complaints are not attacks on the Chinese people, but are critiques of the Chinese people's current party in power. The Communist Party has done a lot of wonderful things for China - lifting 400 million people out of poverty comes to mind as one of the greatest achievements of any government in history. But this does not erase its atrocities, and the Chinese people must do a better job of holding their government to account.
OK...it's time to let this go people! I have, for basically the last couple of weeks, been hearing and reading way too much about Edison Chen's foray into the wild side. I'm no prude...but I'm not quite at the point in my life where I'm ready to break out the 8mm and bust out a Pam and Tommy Lee. But that said, I think the hype about this kid's sex life is getting to the extreme. Prime example is this weekend in Hong Kong. Fiona Sit Hoi-Kei, one of the women apparently in his videos (I say apparently, because A) I have no idea who the hell she is and B) even if I did, I wouldn't have been able to pick her out in the pictures anyway, unless I was intimate with her particular shaving practices, or lack thereof) was drilled in the head with a bottle at a charity event this weekend in Hong Kong. A charity event! I know that the Chinese people hold a different standard when it comes to sex, particularly in the public arena. Certian things in this culture remain a lot more taboo than they would in the West. But seriously, assaulting a young woman because she allowed herself to get her mojo flowin' in front of a camera??? I know we maintain different standards, but -- unless you're a terrorist or other form of extremest -- humanity holds a pretty good standard when it comes to unleashing physical violence. Hate this woman if you want, (which I think too is completely absurd) but don't fling objects at these people because they had sex. I would love to talk to the alleged assailant (described only in the SCMP as a 27 year old Mr. Lin) and find out if he has ever had non-missionary style sex. If so, according to the strictest of the strict Catholics, he's engaging in a moral sin, and should be punished. (And the hard-core Catholics know how to dole out a good lashing!)
Those who know me know that I'm no fan of anything star-esque. I find the narcissim of the people repugnant. But I find the whole idea of star worship by the average person even more disturbing. Anyone who has enough time on their hands to care, in depth, about the coming's and going's of the Lindsay Lohans, Brittany Spears or Edison Chens of the world is someone who really, really doesn't have a grasp on where their priorities should be. And quite frankly, I thought the people of Hong Kong were better than that!
The Edison Chen scandal is everywhere. It's been front-page news in Hong Kong for weeks now, and there is certainly no dearth of information on the internet. Zhongnanhai was going to stay out of the mess, but then we stumbled upon Imagethief's excellent post and figured we'd better plug it here, and also give our own two cents.
(If you aren't familiar with the scandal by now, where the hell have you been? You can read all the sordid and juicy details on the scandal's Wikipedia page - thanks Imagethief, who's clearly done his research!).
I had lunch at the ifc mall in Hong Kong last week with a woman who is heavily involved in the city's film industry. She was deeply upset by the scandal, and spoke with a rare emotion. After all, there weren't any pictures of her that were released, so what's the big deal?
What seemed to affect her was that she'd spent her whole life studying film, and is now a professor at two film schools in Hong Kong. She loves the medium, she loves the storytelling, and she loves the people she's worked with. What she doesn't love is what the industry has become, especially in Hong Kong, where trashy, tabloid magazines can match anything Britain or the US has to offer. And for the first time, she was considering doing something else.
We still don't know what the long-term implications of the photo scandal will be. In her view, it could ruin lives (and certainly, at the very least, reputations). So far, Bobo Chan (as of this posting) has not been found, and her wedding has been called off.
There's no doubt the implications of this scandal are much more serious than others in America because of China's culture. Pre-marital sex is still greatly frowned upon (ironically, Gillian Chung, a poster-girl for abtaining from sex before marriage, herself is caught up in the controversy), moreso than in the west. Whereas the Paris Hilton sex-tape controversy boosted her career, this is already hurting those involved: The credit card company Manhattan Titanium has already pulled its endorsement of Edison Chen, and he's also been cut from the new movie Jump. Other losses are expected.
Imagethief believes that taking pictures in the first place is a bad decision, and I wholeheartedly agree. That being said, people will always take sordid pictures of themselves; there's no stopping it. Edison Chen was simply careless with them, and now this scandal has the potential to leave lifetime scars on these girls and their careers. This is reprehensible, and Edison Chen should be Public Villain #1.
Imagethief takes a look at the potential fallout for Edison and his starlets. While a portion of his post is below, I recommend visiting his site to see it in its entirety:
The sad fact is that it's going to be much easier on Edison than on Gillian, Cecilia, Bobo (oddly named for a girl, even in Hong Kong) and the other women. That's because the universal double standard will unfortunately apply. Dudes who bed strings of starlets are swinging studs who will be admired by other men everywhere. Even if, inexplicably for straight guys, they have pink laptop computers. (Although it does occur to me now that I read this back that the entire episode has an air of "prove you are straight" overcompensation about it.) Edison needs only issue a public apology to the fans and affected girls and retire from the limelight for an appropriate spell of restorative contemplation before re-emerging a better man and, purely by accident you understand, using the momentum of the scandal to plug his latest project.
Unfortunately girls who allow themselves to be photographed in flagrante by their boyfriends and who are then unlucky enough to have those pictures sucked into the vortex of the Internet face a tougher path. Their public images will most likely not be enhanced, at least not in the circles that count for a mainstream career. Unless they're Paris Hilton, who, in Imagethief's book, is the exception that proves the rule. Remember, unless that camera was disguised as a riding crop or a tube of Astroglide, these weren't sneak pix.
Apologies all around then, and perhaps a confession that the pictures were taken at "a difficult time" (it's going to be funny how many of these girls were dating Edison at "a difficult time"). This can be followed by a spell in rehab, which is the modern equivalent of slinking away to join a convent without the shaven head or any of the other obnoxious religious rituals and the added bonus that it is temporary. After that we'll see how it goes. Gillian probably survives. As for Bobo, well, it's anyone's guess.
Despite Edison's carelessness, ironically it will be him who likely will suffer the least. Sadly, such is life.
Recommended Reading:
- Shanghaiist: Edison Chen, Bobo Chan, Gillian Chung and Cecilia Cheung embroiled in Hong Kong's biggest sex photo scandal ever
- EastSouthWestNorth: Sexy Photos Gate
- Wikipedia: Edison Chen's Sex Photos Scandal
If you get a chance on this Saturday afternoon, please head to China Matters to read this post on the on-going saga surrounding China's decision to deny the U.S.S. Kitty Hawk port in Hong Kong during the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday.
China Matters argues that China has taken the first step to exert its authority over Asian waters, and George W. Bush has done nothing but meekly go along with this new reality:
The Chinese clearly wanted to make a point with the Kitty Hawk--and make it publicly.
And to have the Bush administration flinch--and trout out a lame, concocted excuse that the Chinese briskly and completely rebutted--makes it looks like the truth about what's going on in the west Pacific is something that the PRC is ready to deal with, but the U.S. is unwilling to confront.
This is a must-read for anybody following the Kitty Hawk story.
Previously on Zhongnanhai:
Elsewhere:
- China Rises: Ruffled feathers over the Kitty Hawk
China flexed its muscle this week, and reminded everyone who really controls Hong Kong, when it denied the USS Kitty Hawk from stopping there for the Thanksgiving Holiday.
The top U.S. military commander in the Pacific said he's "perplexed and concerned" by China's last-minute decision to deny a U.S. aircraft carrier entry to Hong Kong for a previously scheduled port visit.
The USS Kitty Hawk and its escort ships were due to dock there for a four-day visit Wednesday until they were refused access. Hundreds of family members had flown to Hong Kong to spend Thanksgiving with their sailors.
"It's hard to put any kind of positive spin on this," Adm. Timothy Keating told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Thursday while flying back to the U.S. after visiting troops in Iraq. "I'm perplexed and concerned."
The Kitty Hawk makes regular appearances in Hong Kong, and this was a last minute decision made by the Chinese government. One can only guess as to the reason, but perhaps George W. Bush's decision to award the Dalai Lama with the US Congressional Gold Medal had something to do with it.
Which reminds me that for all of China's bluster, it is taking shots at some foreign countries for their steadfastness in meeting with His Holiness. Year of Germany celebrations were to take place early next year in several cities in China, and all the events have been cancelled in connection with Angela Merkel's decision to meet the Dalai.
As a senior person in my company said: "20 years ago, China needed foreign investment. Now we don't, and we don't need to put up with foreign countries who make the Chinese people unhappy." She went on to say that trade with Germany could be easily replaced by trade with a country that adheres to China's values.
Is this attitude a sign of things to come?
