The Calm Before the Storm

The last hours before the national security law is enacted

There is a sense of uneasiness in the air... the reality that the national security law is coming down on Tuesday and there isn't much we can do about it without the threat of being arrested hanging over our heads.

The heavy-handed nature of how secretively and quickly this law has come about, encompassing any possible scenario shows the Party's determination of not messing about anymore, let alone depending on pro-establishment elites to get the job done.

The fact that even Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and Justice Secretary Teresa Cheng Yeuk-wah don't even know the details of the legislation speaks volumes about the role of the Hong Kong government with regards to governing the city; they are just minions on a need-to-know basis.

Meanwhile the everyone else is hatching their plans. On the weekend my relatives bought a flat in Manchester, a place they have never visited before. They said there were a lot of people in the office in Jordan, snapping up whatever unit they could get their hands on.

Jimmy Lai says he is not fleeing Hong Kong

The flats, part of a new development, are being built and expected to be completed in early next year. While buying property doesn't secure citizenship, it is at least a place they can go to if they wish.

Some expatriate families are leaving, seeing the city in disarray and feeling that this is not a good place to raise children. It's understandable if you don't consider Hong Kong your home, but many of us do.

Apparently Chinese dissident Wang Dan has warned Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai Chee-ying and Demosisto's Joshua Wong Chi-fung that the the Communists would get them first. Lai and Wong have stated separately on Twitter they are not going anywhere.

Talk about martyrdom.

Previously at the gym some middle-aged members were gleeful about the incoming legislation, that it would finally stop the protests; today there was not a mention of it. Perhaps they now see the implications of implementing such a law on Hong Kong, that it also applies to them?

Some people are sadly counting down the days until "freedom" is gone, others are defiant and won't let the law defeat them.

It's such a strange time to be here now, with a lot of uncertainty, all of us literally in the same boat.

Xinjiang women subjected to birth control

Hong Kong will now be divided into pre-national security law (pre-NSL) and post-NSL.

Heightening the stress levels today is the publication of a story that proves further repression in Xinjiang. Families with many children are punished, while women are forced to take birth control pills,  have IUDs inserted, or if they are pregnant to have abortions, all against their will. Some women have ended up sterile.

Previously the Chinese policy was that Han Chinese could only have one child, whereas ethnic minorities could have more than one. Now the government has twisted it to punish Muslims in Xinjiang for having more than one child, saying it is unfair for Han Chinese to have less children.

As a result the population of Muslims in Xinjiang has plunged significantly in recent years, in a bid to "control" them and possibly dilute them with more Chinese in the region.

Is this what will happen to Hong Kong?

Tonight's stunning sunset colours

This evening, there was the most amazing sunset. The colours were reflected on the clouds and the sky had a soft pink glow like a Monet painting that gave way to the dark blue night.

I had never understood what the phrase "achingly beautiful" meant until watching that sunset.

Sunsets are simple pleasures, but mean so much more when things are about to change forever.