Shock, Horror -- HK Kids Fighting for Future

Just some of the children who were arrested last weekend

The Hong Kong government released a slew of statistics related to the anti-government protests that are stretching into its 18th week.

The special tactical squad arresting protesters in the streets

Since June, 2,379 protesters have been arrested, one-third of them, or 750 are under the age of 18, 104 of them under 16.

Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung Kin-chung says, "These numbers are shocking and heartbreaking."

Part of the reason for the high numbers of young people is that they simply can't get away fast enough when the special tactical squad, otherwise known as raptors, catch them. Last weekend there were photographs circulating of young children around 10 to 12 years old who were arrested, one of them literally shaking in fear.

"I appeal to parents, teachers, and friends from various sectors in society to ask young people not to join any illegal or violent acts and stay away from police cordon lines, to avoid putting themselves in dangerous situations during police dispersal or arrest operations, or even getting injured or arrested, destroying their future," Cheung said.

Hong Kong's next generation... what do they want?

He and his boss, Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor still don't get it -- these kids don't see a bright future in Hong Kong, which is why they are out on the streets.

It is "shocking and heartbreaking", but who created this situation in the first place? It's a series of administrations that since 1997 have not earnestly provided for young people in terms of understanding their hopes and fears and trying to alleviate them with policies, grants, subsidies and so on.

All parents want a good education for their children, get into university, and then the next hurdle is get a good job that has potential for promotion and by extension pay rises.

This is not what is happening in Hong Kong -- it is the elites who govern the city and it is their children who benefit from the system, leaving the rest of the kids behind.

Some 42km of railings were dismantled around the city

And so the need for universal suffrage is so important in Hong Kong -- to be able to vote for leaders who are serving the interests of local residents and not desperately trying to please Beijing. The need for accountability is so great now. It is obvious after 22 years that the current system does not work at all.

But does Beijing want to admit that? That is the problem. China does not understand Hong Kong at all, nor does it want to; it expects the former British colony to kowtow and bend to Beijing's will.

However we are not that kind of people, in particular the next generation are not. That is not who they are nor that is not what they want Hong Kong to be. They want Hong Kong to be Hong Kong, to have the rights and freedoms that were promised to them.

Some 2,600 square metres of bricks have been dug up

It sounds simple, but that's not what President Xi Jinping wants.

So we're at an impasse, one that should have been resolved five years ago, but continues to fester today.

In the meanwhile, the government also released other interesting facts: protesters dismantled 42 kilometres (or the distance of a marathon) worth of roadside railings -- many of which are redundant really and made the city more accessible now; dug up 2,600 square metres (28,000 square feet) of brick-paved sidewalks, and smashed around one-fifth of the city's traffic lights.

When it comes to the MTR, violent protesters destroyed 2,400 ticketing machines and turnstiles, and smashed 900 CCTV cameras as 83 out of 94 stations.

By the way tonight was the first night the MTR closed at 10pm (last night was 9pm). I went out for dinner, but it was too late to catch the last train and resorted to sharing an Uber ride with a colleague (HK$124). Going out is expensive these days...

About one-fifth of the traffic lights were smashed in the city

Is the worst over? We shall see this weekend. In the meantime more upcoming events were cancelled. The annual Wine & Dine Festival, Cyclothon, the New World Harbour Race, Marco Polo German Bierfest, and now Symphony Under the Stars.

We might as well going into hibernation at this point and wake up in the spring...

Chinese and Polish Docs Looking for Hope

Photo of Tereska, a Polish Jew in an orphanage taken in 1948

The inaugural Hong Kong International Documentary Festival is on and I caught my colleague's short film called Gone With the Policy.

In 2017 the Beijing government wanted to keep the capital city's population under control and shave a  million or two people off the census. The easiest people to remove? Migrant workers and their children.

A migrant school in Beijing is slated for demolition ("chai")

It was heartbreaking to watch the scene of a migrant school in Chang Ping district, in the outskirts of Beijing being knocked down and the pile of rubble was still left there months later.

The principal of the school was keen to find another space and set up another school, having taught for 10 years. But by the time he secured the space and moved the desks and other furniture there, many families had left -- some even overnight -- which resulted in only four students signing up.

Unfortunately the principal had to admit defeat, while his subordinate, the vice principal wistfully remembers how the original school they had grew and how can the government deny these students an education? He hints at economic prejudices against them.

Students enjoying school, before it is torn down

Meanwhile a migrant worker in Beijing brings his two children, who were born in the city, back to his hometown. The older daughter seems shell shocked at the reality of having to make a new life in the countryside, where her grandmother doesn't understand what laundry detergent is, and wondering how she will continue her education, let alone get into university.

The vice principal points out many of the students' parents built the Bird's Nest for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, but they also built much of Beijing as well. And what do they get for their contribution? Being shoved out of the city.

While the documentary is a bit rough around the edges, it is an important piece of evidence that documents the plight of migrant workers, who otherwise don't have much  of a voice in Chinese society let alone history.

Two people try to track down Tereska in old photos

The other film presented was called Searching for Tereska, a Polish documentary that has some fictional scenes in it.

In 1948, a Magnum photographer David Seymour took a haunting picture of a young girl with a bow in her hair. She is standing by the blackboard with a mass of circles she has drawn and a disturbed look on her face.

Fast forward to today, and a young man wants to find out who this girl is and if she is still alive. He enlists the help of a woman who seems very resourceful and determined, very much like a reporter.

They are warned at first by a group of Jews that they may not find the person, but on their journey they will meet many people. The latter was for sure. Their first clue was that she wrote her name, Tereska at the top of the black board. That was it.

Through some sleuthing they identify the building and from there go to a Jewish Centre that deals with survivors, a woman there believes the girl in the picture is her friend and so the couple meet her, but she is the wrong Tereska.

The poster for Searching for Tereska

And then they tracked down what they think is the building but the nun won't let them inside. They also try to find who they think is Tereska but it leads to a tombstone. They leave a note there, hoping someone will contact them, and the grandson does.

However, when he brings out a picture of his grandmother in her younger years, she doesn't look like the girl in the picture.

Then they hit upon a school and find very old registration records and even get copies of the contact sheets of the photographs David Seymour took. They get in touch with various experts to identify the school Tereska was in or where the building was located.

Finally the woman who showed them the school registration records realizes that perhaps because of her disturbed mental state, Tereska did not graduate with her grade, but after, which leads to a massive clue to help track her down...

At first I didn't know what was going on in the story, but as it kept going on, you as a viewer become more invested in the story and wonder if they will ever find an ending to their search (which they do). It makes you realize how important records are and that when buildings are torn down, memories and information are lost forever. And not just buildings, but people too, when they pass away.

But Tereska isn't the only one who was lost. There are thousands of other people who may not have been accounted for. Will anyone find them?



 

MTR's Psuedo Curfew Hours

The violence has led the MTR to shorten its hours of service everyday

For the last few days, the MTR has closed its transport network at 8pm.

In text messages it says: "Due to vandalism, some damaged facilities are still under repair. Some stations will remain closed and service hours will end earlier tomorrow [insert date here]. Updated information will be provided tomorrow morning".

Kwun Tong station was badly hit by protesters on the weekend

So every morning we wake up to get a text message from the MTR saying: "The MTR train service is running normally today, however due to serious vandalism, some stations will not be opened for service, damaged facilities and station entrances/exits in other stations need time to repair." The seven stations that continue to be closed are: Mongkok, Kwun Tong, Tseung Kwan O, Hang Hau, Che Kung Temple, Sha Tin Wai, and Shek Mun.

Shutting down the MTR at 8pm is a strange one -- it's the end of the rush hour period, but for many people, they have just started eating dinner or are halfway through.

As a result many restaurants, particularly smaller ones have had to close early so that their staff can get home. Why not 9pm? Or did the restaurant sector not lobby the government hard enough to change the time to at least an hour later?

Closing a major public transport system at 8pm is basically a pseudo curfew. While it's true some stations are severely damaged, like the one in Kwun Tong where the customer service centre was completely burned down into a mass of charred metal, while an entrance to Mongkok station was totally burned down and the glass panels destroyed, the other 87 stations are functioning for the most part, no?

MTR turnstiles have been destroyed by protesters

And if the Hong Kong government wants the economy to recover as quickly as possible, why not let the MTR run just a tad longer?

When people can't go out, they aren't spending money and keeping the local economy going.

But no, this pseudo curfew is a way to prevent protesters from roaming around at night, making the rest of us err on the side of caution and stay home or close to home. It has created unnecessary stress and panic, with people lining up at ATMs and withdrawing loads of cash, as well as hitting supermarkets and stocking up on everything from rice to toilet paper.

Now there are reports that hundreds of restaurants have shuttered in Hong Kong amid the protests, laying off thousands of workers. Those dining establishments that are still open are not keeping freelance staff, while some full-time staff are forced to take unpaid leave.

Many of these restaurants are mom-and-pop shops, while others were on the edge of closing because of high rents and the impact of the protests hastened their demise.

A shop in Wan Chai shutters its doors due to the protests

It's really sad seeing everyone in retail and hospitality suffering so much and it's not their fault at all.

However when you do patronize stores and shops, many staff are friendly in the hopes that you will come back again. It's kind of like the reset button after SARS was declared over in 2003.

And everyone could be helped a bit more if the MTR stayed open just a bit longer.

Even more strange is that we don't know when the MTR will close each day until the next morning. We're kind of held hostage in that we must adjust our lives around this very early closing, day by day.

The one good thing is that buses, trams and taxis are seeing more business after 8pm, while glass manufacturers and contractors are making a killing with repairing windows or fixing up a shop that was previously hit by protesters.

Does this mean we're going to start seeing early bird specials at restaurants, even bars. Or are delivery services seeing an uptick in business?

Hongkongers can adapt quickly, but for how long will they stand the MTR's shorter service hours?

London: British Museum Treasures

After a security check, visitors can enter The British Museum

 

In recent years there has been a lot of debate about whether the British should have been allowed to take so many treasures from places like Greece, Egypt, Syria, and China, and some countries even demanding their priceless artifacts back.

The Rosetta Stone is a must-see

While it is understandable as a point of national pride for countries to want these precious items returned, but in some cases, they would not be kept in as good conditions as they would in The British Museum.

It was started in 1753 by an Irish scientist and physician Sir Hans Sloane who had his own collection, and the museum was opened in 1759 in Montagu House, on the site of the current building. In the following 250 years, it has collected some 8 million objects during the era of the British Empire and is the first public museum in the world. And free!

We were here for a short period of time, so we tried to be as efficient as possible.

The first stop was the Rosetta Stone which is near the entrance. It's very hard to photograph because it's behind glass, but a very important piece that helped archeologists figure out ancient hieroglyphics. On the black stone are carved Demotic, the everyday script of literate Egyptians, and the bottom is Greek, the language used by the government.

One of the many friezes taken from The Parthenon

At the time Egypt was ruled by a Greek dynasty and the Rosetta Stone records an event regarding Ptolemy V Epiphanes, the boy king.

And since we had been to the Parthenon in Athens, where about half of the real marble friezes were in The British Museum thanks to Lord Elgin, we had to see them in person. The marble pieces are housed in a long corridor and to be honest the details of the marble figures and animals are clearer here than in the Acropolis Museum, where they were already weathered down before being housed inside.

The musculature of the soldiers and the horses is evident, showing strength and grace. The robes people wore are detailed to show drapery. However seeing them one after the other numbs the brain's ability to appreciate every single piece. It's also worth remembering that these friezes were placed on the outside perimeter of the Parthenon and not facing each other in this room. Nevertheless to be able to look at them so close up is amazing.

Men holding onto an ox; the drapery is very detailed

One more Greek piece we had to see was the sixth figure that formed the Erechtheum Caryatid. At the Parthenon we saw the replicas, then five of the real figures in the Acropolis Museum, and now the sixth one in The British Museum.

All the figurines are columns holding up the building next to the Parthenon. They each have long thick hair that is plaited and falls behind their backs, and they wear short tunics. They also had baskets on their heads as part of the column.

And like the other marble pieces that Lord Elgin stole/took, this figure in the museum is very detailed from the plaiting of the hair, to the drapery of her tunic, though it's a pity her arms are missing and her face a bit weathered. There seems to be more detail of her hair at the back, but nothing of her feet.

The sixth figure from the Caryatids in Athens

Regardless, it was a thrill to finally see all six figures -- in one trip!

We also saw two Haida totem poles housed in the foyer from British Columbia that date back to about 1850, while we visited the China section, focusing more on the Tang Dynasty known for its porcelain.

One impressive piece is that of a statue of Buddha's disciple called a luohan. This one is in excellent condition, one of 10 found in a cave in the Yixian region of northern Hebei province in 1912. The statue is glazed in the sancai or three-coloured palette.

Another was of a figure who was the assistant to the judge of hell. A clerk carries a slim scroll, recording the names of those who have done good deeds in their lifetimes. The robes of the assistant are detailed particularly in the various layers of "fabric" denoted by the various colours and the draping is magnificent.

What a treat.

The assistant to the judge of hell

The British Museum
Great Russell Street
London WC1B 3DG
britishmuseum.org