The June 4th Massacre

Zhao (1989) looking forlorn and tired from struggling with the powers that be, trying to persuade the student protesters to go home before the tanks come in.

Finally found a single copy of Prisoner of State, the secret memoirs of Zhao ZiYang, China's disgraced ex-Premier. Despite the central government's attempt to scrub him out of public memory, the recently published memoirs have established him as the most rational and progressive cadre,  purged because of his liberal views in support of peaceful measures.

Zhao even had the foresight to secretly record and smuggle the audio memoirs out of his home during house arrest, which saw him to the end of his days. This is an eye-opening and frankly depressing book on the politics and interactions within a government  highly closed off from the outside world. It is absolutely terrible that so many innocent people were killed and injured due basically to a handful of old men who were afraid of losing face. What's more, China was moving well in the direction of political reform and opening all its doors to the world. 

Drama!

The only thing drawing our attention away from our shrunken pockets these days is window-gazing at IFC and the Chinachem Scandal. The lengthy battle for Nina Wang's billions is now a full blown drama with a juicy episode published every day, keeping us engaging in fights of our own for whatever copy of the free Standard we can find.

First they say Tony Chan isn't really a geomancer by trade. For someone merely self-taught, loads of people have heeded his outrageous suggestions in hopes of elevating their lives and bank accounts. Disgraced politician Gilbert Leung was the first bold enough to admit that he'd followed Chan's advice to burn bills amounting to a whopping $700,000 in a desperate attempt to stay out of jail (which, by the way, did not work).

During his testimony, Leung challenged Chan's claim to being Wang's secret lover of 15 years, saying the two were no more than friends and met only for feng shui appraisals during the day. Said Leung: "Calling him by first name "Tony" does not equate to having an intimate relationship with him."

Chan's bank account shows several major deposits by Wang, which, many point out, would be unecessary had the late billionairess planned on leaving her entire fortune to him. Against Chan's favour is also a letter in which Wang had pledged to her father-in-law her responsibility for him and his family after she took over her husband's business. It just doesn't make sense.

Chan's lawyer announced that he would present a pair of Wang's signature pigtails as evidence of her affection for him.

What goes around comes around

"Little Sweet" as she is popularly known for her pigtails

Geomancer, Tony Chan Chun-Chuen, and the Chinachem Charitable Foundation both show no signs of loosening their grips on the estimated US$2.4 billion that Chinachem Group chairlady, Nina Wang Kung Yu-Sum, left after her death in 2007. The charity is accusing Tony, Nina's partner of 14 years, of forging the will that entitles him to the money.

Nina had been charged of will forgery of her own back in 2002, when she went against her father-in-law, Wang Din-Shin, for $128 million left by her husband and owner of pharmaceutical company The ChinaChem Group, Teddy Wang, who was assumed dead after his second abduction in 1990. Although she lost the fight, Nina went on to expand the company to encompass property development, and became the richest woman in Asia.

After trying the "mental incapacity", "under the influence", and "forged signature" angles, Chinachem Charitable Foundation's latest tactic is the claim that the 2006 will signing the estate to Tony was in fact meant to be burned during the Buddhist funeral rites, making it inauthentic under law.

Representatives of the court state that the task at hand will be to determine Nina's belief in such rituals.

Story of Renee and Lisa S

One is an old, unattractive and very obviously unloved pet, and the other, young, beautiful and a darling of HK paparazzi. They are Renee the "Tong Gau" and Lisa Selesner (Lisa S) the international model. "Tong Gau" is the Cantonese term for multi-bred, or mongrel dogs, that would be Renee; incidentally, Lisa S is also a multi-bred in human term, she is part French, Chinese, and Jewish-American.

The two met on one fine day in March at the Hong Kong Dog Rescue (HKDR), when HK celebrity Daniel Wu and his girlfriend Lisa S visited the kennel, looking for a possible companion for their bulldog Buddy. With 200 dogs vying for the humans' love and attention, Lisa S claimed that she felt a connection with old girl Renee, a resident of kennel no. B2 (above pic). She can't stop thinking about Renee, even dreaming about the old girl! With Renee already in her heart, the little "Tong Gau" officially became part of Lisa S' family a week later. Not a bad score Renee!

Renee was abandoned by her previous owner because she was deemed to be 'too old' - 11 years, has been with HKDR for about 10 months. Renee was looking at living out her twilight years at the kennel in a cramped and crowded condition, battling younger, stronger dogs for food and space. Even though she has acquired pretty good intimidating skills over the years, Renee will eventually be weak and slow - she will have no energy to get to the treats, she will be forced out of her favourite resting spot, and she would be lucky to be taken out for a walk more than once a day.

In branding mad HK where multi-bred humans are hot but multi-bred dogs are not, pet lovers usually take the pedigree types home. The chances of a mongrel being homed is always slim, time that by two for older dogs, so Lisa S has my applause for giving an old dog a second chance to life.

Attack!

Despite Chip Tsao's public apologies, Filipinos are being encouraged to boycott HK products and chose other travel destinations in retaliation for the offensive comments made in "The War at Home" piece published in HK Magazine on March 27th. With his usual satire, Tsao wrote that the Philippines was unworthy of claiming the Spratly Islands from China because "as a nation of servants, you don’t flex your muscles at your master, from whom you earn most of your bread and butter."

The Tourism Board remains unfazed, however, as tourists from the Philippines amount to only a few 100's of thousands. Even if the incensed Filipina domestic helpers were to quit their jobs, it's unlikely Hong Kong would be TOO affected - there is afterall a steady rise of Indonesian and Thai maid services, ready to fill in any gaps.

And who would such a move hurt the most? The then unemployed Filipinas and their dependents back home. Which is precisely the point Tsao was trying to make.

Calling the Philippines a "nation of servants" was certainly not tactful, but as a columnist, he is entitled to his own opinion, even a racist one! Is one person's view worth an attack on the whole of Hong Kong?

Falling (canto) stars

Late last month Jill Vidal and Kelvin Kwan, a pair of Cantopop lovebirds, were caught shoplifting in Tokyo and were arrested. To make matters stickier for their respective record label executives, a small amount of weed was found on Kwan, and now both are being detained in Japan for possession of an illegal drug.

They are expected to return to HK next week, but may face "freezing" (suspension of work) by their labels as punishment for their actions, in addition to plenty of public outcry that they are bad examples to HK's youth. Only a last year, both singers appeared as guests at an anti-drug function.

The Chinese people are notorious for covering things up (recall SARS?) and keeping up appearances at all cost. For the sake of health and safety, it is time to accept certain drugs as common among even the best of us, and, as a society, to stop judging things to be "bad" without knowing the first thing about them. Click here to read The Economist's detailed analysis on how and why drugs should be legalized.

Crazy airport lady receives apology

More than 5 million people worldwide have now watched the "Crazy Asian lady at airport" (that's Hong Kong's airport!), making it the most watched and commented Youtube clip this month.



The "Crazy Asian lady" has come to her senses, and initiated a four hour meeting with Cathay Pacific's executives claiming that all her friends and relatives have seen the clip, causing her much embarrassment (although she didn't seem too embarrassed to stop herself from acting irrationally upon missing her flight!). As a result, Cathay has given her a public apology and a free flight upgrade for her next trip.

The Cathay staff member responsible for filming the incident with a cell phone has been issued a warning, and all staff are reminded to respect the privacy of all passengers.

Among the comments:

"My goodness, how shameful and how embarrassing. Well this family has no "face" anymore.
Honestly, didn't she listen to the check-in counter attendant that she must be at the Gate early? Even the E-ticket says so. HKIA is notorious for taking ages to get to the Gate, including taking the MTR.
How shameful. A grown woman like that to chuck a tanty, it's disgraceful. This is rewarding people for bad behaviour, terrible. "

"I have written a complaint to Cathay Pacific. What the heck are they doing, if every person throw a tantrum then get an upgrade? If this was JFK or Australia that lady would get cufed and arrested."

The Scandal continues...

Accompanied by several bodyguards, Edison Chen was brought to court yesterday in British Columbia and admitted the identities of the celebrities who took part in his sex photos, as if seeing them from 433 different photos from every possible angle weren't evidence enough.

While Edison has stowed himself an ocean away from the Hong Kong paps, fondly called "gau zai dui" or "doggie teams", the "victims" are still around the area: Poor gillian (from the Emperor Group's extremely popular duo Twins) is still struggling to make a comeback... I read somewhere that Bobo Chan still has a chance to marry into her rich boyfriend's family... Cecilia Cheung is rumoured to have baby #2 on the way with singer/actor Nicholas Tse... and I have no idea whatever happened to Rachel Ngan (or what movie she's been in for that matter).

Apparently, in 2006 Edison took his Mac desktop to get fixed at elite multimedia , having believed the photos were safely deleted from the hard disk. Little did he know, the data can be retrieved from the trashbin, no passwords necessary. Thus started the photos' leakage, no, FLOOD into our mailboxes. There was a moment I felt like I was amongst pre-teens again, collecting AO rated YES! cards and trading them (my peers, not I!).

It's been more than a year since the scandal first erupted, it no longer deserves front page headlines! Move on, already! (Though I *am* interested to know where the law will stand on the issue in April when the alleged computer repair boy is due in court).

Ping Pong (and fake eggs) are uniquely Chinese

Those in Macau who've been laying off eggs due to recent suspicions of fake poultry eggs from China can now banish their fears. The Macau government submitted the suspiciously "bouncy" eggs to laboratory testing and concluded they do not contain any harmful compounds, or differ from normal eggs in nutrient levels.

Officials conducted a test where normal eggs were placed in subzero temperatures, then shaken for 3 hours, before being cooked, and found their consistency to be as bouncy as ping pong balls -- exactly like the allegedly fake eggs. This backed the theory that the eggs likely changed texture due to the sudden post mid-autumn drop in temperature, along with shaky conditions during transport from Hubei to Macau.

False alarm this time around maybe, but there have been enough fake food horror stories emerging from the Mainland to keep me loyal to Aussie dairy products only! I'd rather be overly paro than have kidney stones, or worse, babies with bloated heads!