No Chance for Second Lucky Draw

A lucky vaccinated person won a flat here, but no second draw

Remember lucky draws? Those prizes that were meant to entice people to get vaccinated?

Sino Group and its philanthropic arm the Ng Teng Fong Charitable Foundation Limited, as well as Chinese Estates Holdings already gave away a HK$10 million flat in Kwun Tong earlier as well as cash prizes.

They promised to give away another flat if a total of 5 million people got at least one jab by the end of November, but today being November 30, that did not happen.

Today's notice says less than 5M have one jab

As of today, the total is 4,756,146. Where are the other 243,854 people who have not gotten vaccinated?! Why are they denying people like me the chance to win a flat?!

Joking aside I don't expect to win a flat, but I had hoped people would be selfless and get the jab not only for their own safety but also for the safety of others.

But I was wrong -- people in Hong Kong really are selfish and are willing to drag the rest of us with them into having zero benefits of being vaccinated.

Nevertheless, Executive Council member Bernard Chan has hinted that the elderly will need to get the jab eventually.

He said the city cannot allow the vaccination rate among elderly people to remain at 20 percent, as currently just under 19 percent of people over the age of 80 have had one dose.

Chan warned if the inoculation rate does not go up, Hong Kong will never be able to open its borders to the world.

"If in the future, we have more premises that adopt 'vaccine bubbles' that require people to get jabbed to enter, I believe at the end of the day elderly people will get the shots," he said.

Chan says HK cannot be isolated much longer

"They simply lack the motivation now. If we wait for them they may never get vaccinated. If they don't, Hong Kong's 7.4 million people will be isolated."

Excuse me? We have been isolated for almost two years. 

And now with the Omicron variant, it is even more imperative that the elderly get jabbed.

The government seems to have no problem cracking down on people who allegedly violate the national security law, but when it comes to getting the elderly vaccinated, it's a wait-and-see approach that is going no where...

An Upcoming Election Not Many Know About

Hong Kong will have an election soon, did you know?

Hong Kong will have its first election for the Legislative Council since the electoral system was overhauled on December 12, but ask people if they know who's on the ballot and they'd probably reply that they didn't.

The changes to the electoral system include adding 20 more seats to the legislature's previous 70, but the number of directly elected lawmakers has decreased from 35 to 20. 

Pro-democracy parties criticised the move as a way to silence dissent and make it harder for them to run; in the end they decided there was no point in running, which will further change the political landscape.

Number of directly-elected seats down to 20

There is no more intense campaigning or rallies, only the odd leaflet handed out and no one cares to grab one either.

A survey on November 24 by the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute found of the 838 people questioned, 60 percent did not know any of the candidates running in their geographic constituency, while 40 percent knew at least one.

In addition, 52 percent of them plan to vote, which is a sharp drop from 2018 when 80 percent said they would definitely cast their ballot.

Perhaps this is why the Hong Kong government has decided to set up polling stations at three border check points, Heung Yuen Wai, Lo Wu, and Lok Ma Chau Spur Line so that Hongkongers living in China could cast their votes -- quarantine free. The numbers of people living in these areas could add another 111,000 votes... for which side?

In the meantime the authorities are cracking down on anyone who is directing people on how to vote on December 19. Today arrest warrants were issued for former lawmaker Ted Hui Chi-fung who is now in Australia, and former district councillor Yau Man-chun now in the UK, for urging voters to either cast blank ballots or boycott the election.

An arrest warrant was issued for Ted Hui

Hui and Yau posted on their social media pages between October 30 and November 29, with the former calling for the public to cast blank votes, while the latter told people not to vote, according to the Independent Commission Against Corruption.

In his post, Hui hoped there would be more blank ballots than those filled out as a sign of resistance to tyranny, while Yau called for an outright boycott of the election.

The ICAC presented its investigation to the Department of Justice and it said there was enough evidence to prosecute the two men, and hence the arrest warrants. Hui faces four charges, Yau, eight.

The anti-corruption agency urged the public not to engage in making illegal appeals or repost unlawful content to uphold a fair and clean election.

"The commission will continue to take resolute enforcement actions to combat conduct manipulating and sabotaging the election to ensure that it will be held in a fair and just manner."

Yau is in the UK

In response to the warrant, Yau wrote on his Facebook page: "As for the coffee invitation from the ICAC, my response for now is: noted."

Earlier this month, the ICAC arrested three people for allegedly urging others to cast blank ballots in the Legco election, shortly after security chief Chris Tang Ping-keung warned that such calls might be illegal.

Two men and a woman aged between 29 and 65 were arrested for reposting an online post that encouraged voters to cast blank votes. The trio were later released on bail pending a further investigation.

And just to make sure the elections go smoothly, on December 19 there will be 10,000 police officers all over the streets of Hong Kong... 

Children in Poverty are Stressed and Tired

A sister looks after her younger sibling in a cramped flat

It is heartbreaking to read a report that in some impoverished families in Hong Kong, children help supplement their parents' income by collecting cardboard and other paper, or cannot go out and play because they need to look after younger siblings and do housework.

One 15-year old spends an hour a day finding discarded cardboard in Sham Shui Po so that he can earn HK$25 (US$3.20) a week for 5kg.

He also prepares lunch for his 10-year-old sister and tutors her, as his mother, a 39-year-old divorced cleaner is too busy working.

Impoverished families usually have single parents

"When I think of how hard my mother works, I think it's all right to help out a bit," said the secondary three student. 

"There are people who ask, 'Why are you gathering cardboard at such a young age?' I think it's OK to help my mother when she earns so little."

According to the Hong Kong government's Poverty Situation Report, there were 274,900 children under the age of 18 living in poverty.

The city's poverty rate is 23.6 percent, or 1.65 million people, a 12-year high.

An individual whose income is lHK$4,400 or less per month or a family of three with a total income of HK$16,000 or less is considered poor by the government.

A survey by the Society for Community Organisation (SoCO) between June 2020 and September this year found 80 percent of 201 poor children between the ages of three and 17 had to do housework or look after their family members.

Children are usually too tired to do homework

Nearly one-third spent more than eight hours a week helping at home, and nearly a fifth more than 16 hours a week. Their parents were either at work, ill, or had to return to the mainland to renew their visas.

Fifty-seven percent of children took care of family members, including bathing or feeding them, and nearly one in 10 sold waste paper and cardboard to help their families make ends meet.

As a result of doing so much housework and looking after family members, the children felt exhausted, helpless or stressed, and had attention issues and muscle aches. They also didn't have enough rest, or lacked time or energy to play and meet with friends.

"We sometimes see these children quitting school because they have to make money for their families, or they are absent from our [extracurricular] classes because they have to cook for their younger siblings or take care of sick family members," said SoCO deputy director Sze Lai-shan.

Does the government not care for these children? Why squabble over the definition of poverty and help them instead?

Some children collect cardboard for extra money

They deserve to at least have time to do their homework, and play with friends as a bit of stress relief. 

With hardly any pan-democrats like Fernando Cheung Chiu-hung and Leung Kwok-hung in the Legislative Council to shed attention on grassroots social issues like these, it's not surprising the government isn't interesting... though almost 275,000 children who are poor cannot be swept under the carpet either.

Hong Kong cannot afford to have children suffering from the yawning wealth gap when the city is so rich. 

HK Protest Documentary Wins Golden Horse

A still from Chow's Revolution of Our Times documentary

Tonight the Golden Horse Awards, the Chinese-speaking world's equivalent of the Oscars was held tonight and the Hong Kong documentary on the 2019 protests was named Best Documentary.

When the film Revolution of Our Times was announced as the winner, it prompted a long round of applause and shouts of support for Hong Kong from the audience in Taipei.

Director Kiwi Chow sent a pre-recorded message from Hong Kong. He expressed thanks for the award, dedicated the film to Hong Kong people, saying he hoped it would bring them some comfort.

Chow speaking via a recorded message in HK

"I cried a lot when I produced this film; several times I comforted myself with this film, to express my anger, hatred, to face my fear and trauma," he said, his voice cracking with emotion.

The 152-minute documentary follows several protesters and documents their clashes with police in the 2019 anti-government protests. 

Revolution of Our Times was a last-minute addition to the Cannes Film Festival lineup in July, but it will never be shown in Hong Kong because of the national security law which prohibits any hint of secession, subversion, terrorism or collusion with foreign forces.

As a result those in the arts and culture fields are worried about work being misconstrued as contravening the national security law. Most recently the opening of M+ contemporary art museum resulted in photographs by dissident artist Ai Weiwei not being displayed even though they are part of a collection donated by well-known Swiss collector Uli Sigg.

This big win for the documentary comes days after the second anniversary of the District Council elections where 71 percent of registered voters turned the city's electoral map yellow except for one district. It was an unprecedented win for the pro-democrats, but the victory was short lived, again because of the national security law.

A poster of the documentary

Since then the city's institutions are being dismantled from the district councillors themselves to grassroots organisations and unions, as well as a pro-democracy newspaper, Apple Daily.

Chow's film is a reminder of what happened and to never forget.

Hong Kong Health Code Coming Soon

HK will soon launch its health code app for crossing the border

Hong Kong businesses are pushing the government to release the new Covid-19 tracing app so that users can go across the border to China as early as the end of December. However, potential users are concerned about what kind of information the authorities will retain.

Chief Secretary John Lee Ka-chiu revealed on Thursday that for residents to qualify for the scheme, they would have to use the Hong Kong Health Code app, which would log a user's name, infection status, and after they cross the border, their whereabouts on the mainland.

Lee says the app to only track movement in China

The Innovation and Technology Bureau will reveal more details next week about the app, which is in the final stages of testing.

It has been reported that quarantine-free travel will be limited to Guangdong province initially.

While the new app will not log users' whereabouts in Hong Kong, their movements will be tracked after they cross the border and the data links up with the mainland's health code app.

The new local software will also be tied to the government's existing risk-exposure notification Leave Home Safe app, which has raised privacy concerns among local residents despite repeated assurances from the authorities that it does not collect personal data or travel history.

While some Hong Kong residents are anxious to go to the mainland for business, they have reservations about the upcoming app.

Initially HK people can only go to Guangdong

"It will be reasonable if details related to Covid-19 are required, for example, which hotel I stay in China, which restaurant I go to and where I have been to," said Hilton Law Yiu-chung, CEO of a software developer.

"I hope they will not require information on my personal contacts, like my folks and friends."

Lawmaker Michael Tien Puk-sun said residents should not worry too much about the new app.

"Users can be rest assured that the Hong Kong Health Code app won't track down their whereabouts in Hong Kong because they will transit to the mainland's health code app upon arrival at the other side of the border."

But would the health code app immediately switch back to the Hong Kong one as soon as one returns to the city, or would it continue tracking people?

Tien says app may launch in early February

Unless someone used a burner phone it's hard to be reassured that it's so simple.

Tien added that he expected the scheme to launch after Chinese New Year at the start of February, given the lack of official consensus on several issues.

Or both sides could continue discussing well until after the Olympics is over before anything starts...

JPMorgan's Dimon Regrets Joking about CPC

Last week Dimon boasted JPMorgan would outlast the CPC 

There are jokes going around on social media about how the JPMorgan corporate communications department is now facing its biggest crisis management yet -- their CEO Jamie Dimon boasting that the investment bank will outlast the Chinese Communist Party.

He made the remarks on Tuesday this week at a Boston college series of CEO interviews.

"I made a joke the other day that the Communist Party is celebrating its 100th year -- so it JPMorgan. I'd make a bet that we last longer. 

Dimon visited Hong Kong quarantine free

"I can't say that in China. They are probably listening anyway," he added.

Can someone say oops to the infinitesimal degree?

Dimon said this while the Wall Street bank won regulatory approval in August to become the first full foreign owner of a securities brokerage in the country. 

The next day he quickly apologised in a statement: "I regret and should not have made that comment. I was trying to emphasise the strength and longevity of our company."

Uh huh.

And to further drive the message home, in another statement added: "It's never right to joke about or denigrate any group of people, whether it's a country, its leadership, or any part of a society and culture. Speaking in that way can take away from constructive and thoughtful dialogue in society, which is needed now more than ever."

On social media, the Twitterverse wondered how much Dimon would grovel for forgiveness from the Chinese, or that JPMorgan bankers could finally quit their jobs and set up that boutique hotel they'd always been dreaming about.

Hu says CPC far more successful than JPMorgan

As expected the Chinese were not impressed.

When asked about Dimon's comments in a news conference, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian replied: "Why the publicity stunt with some grandstanding remarks?"

Hu Xijin, chief editor of the Global Times tweeted: "You don't have to regret actually. The CPC has succeeded in its sphere far more than JPMorgan's. As a member of the CPC, I don't mind your company riding the wave of CPC's popularity."

Meanwhile Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor must have regretted approving Dimon's quarantine exemption last week when he visited the city for 32 hours via private jet. 

We wait with baited breath on what the fall out will be... 

Health Secretary says Technology to Protect HK from Fifth Wave

Chan says more needs to be done to prepare for fifth wave

It is quite surprising for Secretary for Health Sophia Chan Siu-mee to admit that Hong Kong is not ready for the possible fifth wave in the coronavirus pandemic, and that the answer is more technology, when it really should be injecting more vaccines in arms, especially those of the elderly.

She said made this assessment during the Asia Summit on Global Health today, as the government is jumping through the necessary hoops to be able to open the border with the mainland.

In fact Chief Secretary John Lee Ka-chiu is in Shenzhen now with an official delegation to have high-level talks with Chinese counterparts about a launch date and the circumstances under which the arrangement would be suspended.

Tracing app needs to be used more widely 

Meanwhile the government is stepping up enforcement of everyone in the city using the Leave Home Safe app, making it mandatory in all restaurants and leisure venues, such as cinemas and fitness centres from December 9, in addition to all government buildings including wet markets, concert venues and libraries. As if more people weren't running out to buy burner phones. 

The government hopes that by having more people using the technology, Beijing will be satisfied enough to reopen the border sooner. A colleague speculated China would say our Leave Home Safe app wasn't good enough and force Hong Kong to use its health code app instead...

During the summit Chan said to prepare for the upcoming fifth wave -- supposedly when mainlanders can come down to Hong Kong in droves -- the city needed to use technology to build a data dashboard to monitor Covid-19 cases to conduct sewage surveillance to track down suspected cases.

"Leveraging on all this technology is important. But is it enough? I don't think it is enough," Chan said.

Lee now in Shenzhen talking to Chinese officials

"There are many, many areas that we need to further digitalise, in terms of contract tracing, in terms of the databases we are putting together, the health code that we are developing if we are to resume cross-border travel with the mainland. All these things that we need to continue to push and work on."

It sounds like making busy work for people, which is a very mainland style of doing things, that is hardly efficient. Surely a database of sewage spots regarding positive cases have been recorded and mapped already by epidemiologists. So what more needs to be done? We are doing everything we can already.

However Chan admitted that while Hong Kong's overall vaccination rate is at 70 percent, fewer than one in five residents aged 80 or above have received at least one shot. About 45 percent of those in their seventies have received at least one jab. 

"There is still a big margin for us to [close] in order to keep our elderly safe in the community," Chan said.

Then how about a big drive to get vaccines in people's arms?! Seems pretty logical, no? Or is the government too scared to upset its biggest constituency, who are pro-Beijing and yet believe in all the conspiracy theories?

Higher elderly population needs to be vaccinated

If the vaccination rate for the elderly doesn't see a significant uptick, Hong Kong is going to continue to flounder and more expats are going to leave as well as foreign companies who have had enough. 

In the meantime it's important to mark today being the second anniversary of the 2019 District Council elections when an unprecedented 17 out of 18 districts voted for pro-democracy candidates after months of protests that started off peaceful and became more violent. 

And yet the government didn't heed the voters' wishes and instead dismantled everything they had hoped and believed in as the behest of Beijing.

It was the last time Hongkongers exercised true democracy, and the last time the city would be the way we remembered it.

Chickeeduck Owner Defiant Despite Closure Next Year

Chickeeduck owner Chow say stores will close end of 2022

It was only a matter of time before pro-democracy clothing store Chickeeduck would be forced to close and a few days ago the owner announced it would do so by the end of next year, citing "harassment by the evil force".

Businessman Herbert Chow Siu-lung, founder and CEO of Chickeeduck, said he and his shops had been targeted by smear campaigns and subjected to pressure from the authorities since he lent his high-profile support to the anti-government protesters in 2019.

The stores sell pro-democracy clothing

"The situation now is such that if you do not speak up in support of the government, you will be regarded as an enemy of the state," he said last Thursday, when he revealed he will close local Chickeeduck operations.

He said his suppliers on the mainland and overseas had received warnings not to do business with his company.

"If we cannot guarantee a stable supply of products, our business model cannot be sustained. And our decision is to exit the Hong Kong market in the second half of 2022," he said.

But he was quick to add he was not shutting down the Chickeeduck brand entirely.

"I am not leaving Hong Kong and I have no plan to emigrate overseas either. I may start other businesses in the future under the trademark of Chickeeduck," he added.

Chow said perhaps he would get into the early childhood business and set up a "Chickeeduck nursery", or expand the clothing business overseas.

A Chickeeduck store with graffiti artwork

He said his brand's exit from Hong Kong should not be seen as a failure of the "yellow economic circle", referring to the campaign for pro-democracy people to spend money in businesses that supported the 2019 anti-government protests.

"Hong Kong people's support for the yellow economic circle has been strong," he said. "You can see long queues outside some yellow restaurants. They have no problem with their business. Chickeeduck is an exceptional case because we cannot sustain ourselves if we cannot keep a steady supply of products from our suppliers."

A close friend of Occupy co-founder Benny Tai Yiu-ting, Chow said he has experienced difficulty in renting shop spaces and many landlords have declined to renew his leases. At its peak Chickeeduck had around 20 outlets across Hong Kong, but he says only five remain.

"Although Chickeeduck has experienced disturbance from the evil forces in the past 18 months, we have never given up on voicing out against injustice and will never consider backing off."

Chow is a good friend of Benny Tai (centre)

Chow was also defiant, saying he was not afraid of the national security law. "I do not think selling clothes is against national security."

Last year he displayed a protest statue in his store in D-Park shopping centre in Tsuen Wan, and the mall operator ordered Chow to remove it.

He did eventually, citing "political suppression", and added when his lease was up he would have to vacate the premises.

Chow made headlines again in May when national security police searched his Chickeeduck store in Tsuen Wan. Officers were responding to a complaint about an alleged breach of the national security law by displaying graffiti-style writing over the store's entrance reading, "Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times".

While the slogan was popular with protesters in 2019, a court ruled this year that the use of the term could incite others to commit secession, an offence under the security law.

Anger Grows at Govt's Culling of Seven Wild Boars

A hungry wild boar taking advantage of someone's picnic

The anger at how the Hong Kong government is dealing with the issue of wild boars encroaching into urban areas continues to simmer, with some 350 people in the veterinary sector signing a petition.

They are urging the authorities to stop the capture-and-kill strategy for wild boars and return to the original plan of neutering them so that they cannot reproduce.

Seven wild boars were killed last week

People who signed the petition included practicing vets, nurses and veterinary students.

One of the students who initiated the petition said overseas studies show contraception is the most effective way to reduce the wild boar population in the long term, so the government should not suspend the scheme after contraceptives were only used on about 300 wild pigs.

Another student said they learned about animal welfare and ethics in school, and believe they have a duty to speak up for wild animals in Hong Kong against the "unfair" strategy.

"Only a small number of wild boars have hurt people. And why did they do so? It's because humans invaded their habitats. They have no other options than to come into the city to search for food," she said in a radio show.

"It's not the wild boars' fault that they appear in the city. We should not kill them, but should step up education so people will not feed or get too close to them," she added.

Many roam in the urban areas in search of food

Indeed. Many Hongkongers feel the seven wild boars that were killed last week were innocent victims and should not be first of all lured with food -- which is against the authorities' advice -- and then killing them.

How about stepping up education around not feeding the boars and really fining or punishing people for giving them food? If police can constantly stop people from gathering in more than groups of four, surely they can patrol well known areas where wild boars are found and catch people who are feeding them...

Where is Peng Shuai?

Tennis player Peng has not been heard from since November 2

A growing chorus of people are asking, "Where is Peng Shuai?"

However, no one has personally or publicly heard from the Chinese tennis player, who, according to videos issued by state media, apparently had dinner with people on Saturday, and showed up at a junior tennis tournament today.

She apparently appeared at a tennis event today

No one in the West believes these videos for a second, pointing out it is strange that Hu Xijin, the chief editor of The Global Times would some how obtain these videos without explaining how, and adding that she would show up in public soon enough.

She did, at this junior tennis tournament, but somehow the live feed to the event got cut off...

Meanwhile people around the world are asking on social media #whereispengshuai, including former World No 1 Chris Evert, who wrote on her Twitter: "Yes, these accusations are very disturbing. I've known Peng since she was 14; we should all be concerned; this is serious; where is she? Is she safe?"

Even the Women's Tennis Association chairman and CEO Steve Simon has taken a very strong stand against China, threatening to pull the WTA's events out of China, which means almost a dozen next year, including the WTA final.

WTA's Simon threatening to pull out of China

"There's too many times in our world today when you get into issues like this that we let business, politics, money dictate what's write and what's wrong," Simon said in an interview with CNN.

"And we're definitely willing to pull our business and deal with all the complications that come with it because... this is bigger than the business."

If the WTA really did pull out of China, that would be a major loss of face for Beijing, and Simon knows it.

What is also interesting to note is that Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympics Committee has been silent on this issue the whole time. And the Beijing Winter Olympics will be starting on February 4.

Everyday on Twitter people continue to ask where Peng is, while state media tries (but fails) to convince that she is "fine" and doesn't want to see anybody, that she is just "resting".

An unverified photo of Peng with her cat

Those were the same words used when the Hong Kong booksellers were missing in 2015.

In an explosive post Peng wrote on November 2 on her Weibo that was quickly deleted, she alleged that former vice premier Zhang Gaoli coerced her into having sex.

About three years ago, after Zhang had retired, the post alleges Peng was invited him to play tennis in Beijing.

Afterwards, she wrote, Zhang and his wife brought Peng to their home, where Peng claimed she was pressured into having sex with Zhang.

Senior official Zhang Gaoli

"That afternoon I did not agree at first and was crying all the time," Peng wrote. After dinner with Zhang and his wife, and following much persuading by Zhang, she relented, according to the post.

To be sure, the West will continue to put pressure on China to answer to their concerns and allow Peng to answer freely.

The longer she is not allowed to speak of her own accord, the more skeptical the world becomes.

Record Number Hongkongers Opt for Canada

Record number of people are seeking study permits to Canada

Although the steady exodus of Hongkongers to the UK continues, there are more people interested in heading to Canada -- including those in their 50s and 60s.

Education and immigration consultants are seeing a record number of people obtaining study permits. Official figures from Canada showed 4,915 Hongkongers were given study permits from January to September, up sharply from 1,975 from the first three quarters of last year.

Of the 4,915 permits, 1,670 were issued in August alone, a new monthly record since 2015, a three-fold increase from 520 in August last year.

More middle-aged people interested in studying

From 2015 to 2020, Canada issued about 200 study permits each month. The monthly figure jumped to an average of 630 from March to September this year.

The sharp increase happened after Canada announced new immigration pathways for Hongkongers in February this year in the wake of the national security law imposed on Hong Kong by Beijing last June.

Canada has two routes for Hongkongers to emigrate. One is to complete post secondary education at designated Canadian institutions in the past three years to apply for permanent residence.

The second is for those who have worked in Canada for at least a year in the past three years, provided they attained recognised post secondary qualifications within the past five years.

As these offers are available until August 2026, people who start studying soon will have enough time to complete their studies and apply to remain there.

Canadian immigration faster than in the UK

This is a much shorter way for Hongkongers to gain foreign citizenship than compared to the emigration programs offered by the UK and Australia. However, Canada has said that the offer could be revoked at any time, which is why there is a rush to apply now.

Jeannie Tse, country manager in Hong Kong and Macau for EF Education First, said the number of inquiries about studying in Canada tripled as soon as the schemes were announced. She also noted fielding questions from people over 50, something she had never seen before.

Immigration consultant Chan Yuet-sum also observed more middle-aged Hongkongers inquiring about studying in Canada, including someone in their 60s.

"They can apply for permanent residence in Canada right after graduation and the processing time of around six to 10 months is shorter than Britain's BNO visa scheme," she said.

Many have opted for the UK with BNO passport

Another reason for the growing interest in Canada is that because of the coronavirus pandemic, Australia has closed its borders for two years and so students looking to study overseas are choosing Canada instead as it has opened its borders earlier.

The Real Vincent van Gogh

Vincent van Gogh died at the age of 37 in 1890

Last night my friend took me to see a play called Vincent at the Hong Kong Arts Centre.

We didn't know much about it except that it was written by actor Leonard Nimoy, famously known for playing Spock on Star Trek. Apparently Nimoy had a life-long fascination of the Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh. Not only did Nimoy write the play, he also performed it. 

He liked to paint scenes of everyday people

Vincent is based on more than 500 letters between van Gogh and his brother Theo, who were known to be very close. Theo owned an art gallery and was the one who financially kept his older brother afloat.

It turns out this is a one-man play was performed by Adam Harris, who I later found out during the intermission that he's a veterinarian by day! And this is not his first production! He previously performed Educating Rita, The Unknown Soldier, and Underneath the Lintel.

Harris is explosive from the start, with lots of energy to sustain the two-hour production. 

He plays Theo, who gathers us, his audience, as his friends to give his own personal memorial for Vincent who had recently succumbed to a gunshot wound in his chest. Theo says he was too distraught during the funeral to say anything but now seems prepared to speak, with several letters to help him paint a fuller picture of his brother.

There are some interesting details about van Gogh's life: He was hoping to become a minister and did preach in really poor parishes. Theo recounts that one time there was a terrible fire in a mine and one of the miners was left for dead but Vincent nursed him back to health.

A bandage around his head after cutting off his ear

And then he was socially awkward, falling in love with a cousin who was a widow, making the family mortified and terrified, as van Gogh could be emotional and stubborn.

He later fell for a "woman on the streets", who had two children and another on the way. Again his parents were hardly pleased and Theo had to financially look after all those mouths. Van Gogh finally left her.

Eventually he turned to painting but he was self-conscious and didn't want Theo to sell his pieces yet. He was emotionally fragile and doctors diagnosed him as being epileptic and was sent to recover in Arles, France.

That is where he became prolific in his paintings, and Theo reports Vincent would paint one or maybe even two canvases a day. We are then shown on a large screen a slide show of his works, some of which are famous, like The Starry Night, Sunflowers and Irises, and a few I have never seen before.

He then has an encounter with fellow artist Paul Gaugin, who Theo despises, because the meeting resulted in Vincent cutting his ear off and gifting it to a prostitute. His depression got worse and it is believed that contributed to him going into the fields to paint and shooting himself in the chest.

The Starry Night was shown during the play

Theo recalls in detail what they talked about before Vincent died, their childhood memories and asking for forgiveness for having his younger brother supporting him this whole time.

In the post script, Theo was so overcome by his brother's death that he too died less than a year later. Eventually Theo's remains were buried next to Vincent.

Harris as Theo is quite intense, with bursts of emotion that are explosive and thoughtful. He also sometimes plays Vincent, with darker lighting to illustrate this. He also reads Vincent's letters in his voice.

When Harris walked off stage to signal the intermission, we the audience had no idea what was happening until a female voice said there would be a 10-minute intermission!

My friend's friends who also went all said it was an intense play!

He was diagnosed as epileptic and depressed

Apparently Harris likes to do these one-man plays, perhaps making it easier for him to control the situation and not having to depend too much on others.

At the very end a woman came up on stage and sang Starry Starry Night which was a nice (and less emotional) finish.

Learned a lot more about van Gogh and glad to see this performance!

Vincent by Leonard Nimoy

Hong Kong Arts Centre McAulay Studio

November 18-20, 2021

Gov't Defends Culling Wild Boars

The wild boars were lured down with bread by the authorities

Animal rights groups are up in arms after the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department captured and killed seven wild boars in Wong Chuk Hang.

In plain sight of the media, the AFCD lured the wild pigs with bread -- which the government has repeatedly told the public not to feed them -- and then tranquilized them with dart guns.

Seven wild boars were culled 

It seems the AFCD is now taking drastic action after a wild boar knocked down an auxiliary policeman before biting him in the leg and then the animal plunged 10 stories to its death in a residential car park in Tin Hau last Wednesday.

There had been numerous complaints from the public for the authorities to do something about the wild boars, capture them and take them to remote areas, instead of ignoring the problem and worse having ignorant people feeding the animals as if they were pets. The number of sightings involving wild boars rose from 225 in 2011 to 1,002 last year.

When criticized for using food to lure the wild boars down, Simon Chan Kin-fung, the department's assistant director for conservation said on a radio show: "Even if we did not use food to attract them down from the hill yesterday, they would still come [to urban areas]."

Perhaps what made the optics even worse was that several of the boars had young ones with them when they were "compassionately" put down.

Police officer bit in leg by boar

"Some other parts of the world have been using the hunting method. We are using a very humane way to put down the wild boars, with dart guns and medicine injection. We will continue to use food to capture the wild boars in the city area," Chan said.

Last week the department announced that wild boars in urban areas would be "regularly captured for humane dispatch with a view to reducing their number and nuisance"... in other words cull them.

The previous strategy was to capture them, neuter them so they would not be able to breed and then relocate them to a remote area. 

About 20 staff were involved in capturing and euthanising the seven animals, which weighed between 50k to 170kg.

Chan said the department only targeted wild pigs that were frequently found in urban areas, not the ones in rural places.

However, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals condemned the AFCD for its actions, accusing officials of ignoring suggestions on how to manage the problem.

"The SPCA reiterates that a non-lethal approach to wildlife management is always preferred, and is against the idea of hunting boars, as this has proved to be problematic on several fronts," it said.

The boars had young ones with them last night

Roni Wong Ho-yin, a Hong Kong Wild Boar Concern Group committee member who witnessed the operation, described the use of food to capture the animals as "despicable and bloody".

He said the bait could attract animals that humans were not regularly feeding.

"The department has been educating people not to feed the wild boars," he said. "But they are doing something self-contradictory. This could change the behaviour of some wild boars which are not used to being fed by humans."

Others felt the public must be educated not to feed the animals because it gives them an unnatural food source that encourages them to reproduce. 

So if they are, then it seems they are reproducing at a much faster rate than the AFCD can neuter them, or the authorities are not capturing enough of them to really make an impact on the population numbers.

An artistic impression of the wild boar cull...

In any event, while there was a lot of outrage online, one artist took to his blank page and created a riff off of artist Wang Xingwei's riff off of the Tiananmen Square massacre picture of people riding bicycles and taking two penguins that were shot in the chest.

Instead a Hong Kong artist showed boars riding a bicycle with a wooden board behind, carrying another wounded boar, one in the foreground wearing a yellow helmet and tears dripping from its eye.

Even wild pigs have feelings too...