A "modern antique" hand-painted cabinet at Tate Dining Room
Tate Dining Room is a fine dining French-Chinese restaurant, where each dish has a story that are linked with an underlying theme.
Chef and owner Vicky Lau presents dishes with refined and delicate tastes, reminding you of classic French cooking techniques, but also flavours might be modern takes on classic Chinese.
The dining room is understated yet elegant, the tables thought out, complete with a pull-out drawer for utensils.
Earlier this week I was there for an assignment and examined a Chinese-style "modern antique" cabinet in front of the private dining room.
My eyes wandered around the hand-painted cabinet and noticed the woman in the pavilion was holding something strange... a smartphone!
She was taking pictures of herself in ancient times! Very cute.
Tate Dining Room
210 Hollywood Road
Sheung Wan
2555 2172
The Bookworm was a wonderful place to learn more about China in English
Today came sad news from Beijing -- The Bookworm is closing next Monday, November 11. For many expats in the Chinese capital go there to not only find books, but also meet people, have a drink, have lunch, hang out, and write their memoirs (I know at least one journalist did!).
For me it was a great place to listen to all kinds of speakers talk about China, and they were all pretty frank about the politics, the economy, social and environmental issues. But they were also very excited about what they were discovering.
Paleontologist Xu Xing talked about his field work
I remember paleontologist Xu Xing talking about discovering dinosaurs in Liaoning province and how there are so many dinosaurs yet to be unearthed and what they can tell us about prehistoric life in what is geographically China now.
One year I interviewed Howard Goldblatt, who through his winding career that started off in the US Army led to him studying Chinese in Taiwan and had a knack for learning the language so much so that he became a translator.
And listening to him talk about what it's like to translate a novel, and in particular Chinese -- you have to really understand what the author meant to say in the passage to be able to convey that in a similar writing style but in English.
He translated Wolf Totem, a semi-autobiographical novel by Jiang Rong, that talks about young people being sent down to remote Inner Mongolia and learning the ways of the nomadic people there and how wolves are critical to the ecosystem.
Academic Howard Goldblatt on the intricacies of translation
The Bookworm held the Literary Festival every year and there were always interesting authors coming through, or people who live in Beijing but I didn't know about. I always tried to catch as many of these as I could to get different perspectives on things.
Sadly the bookstore and unofficial community centre is closing down because it is an "illegal structure".
General manager David Cantaloupo explained The Bookworm was originally started on Sanlitun Beilu in 2002 and then moved to Courtyard 4 in Sanlitun, diagonally opposite Sanlitun Village.
"[When] they started to privatize state-run enterprises 20 years ago, regulations were looser then," he says. "[The bookshop was built] on a pump room. It doesn't have an address. It's [built on] a structure that was never [transformed] into things that they can rent out. [It is an illegal structure]. We've been paying rent here for a long time.
Many authors came to the Literary Festival every year
"[The government] are trying to clean up Beijing. City planners are trying to get things in order. Whether there's anything else behind it, it is unclear to us," Cantalupo said.
In a statement that was disseminated this afternoon, the bookstore thanked everyone for their support and hoped to keep The Bookworm going.
"While we attempt to reorganize and find a new location, we wish to say what an honor and a pleasure it has been to have played a small part in fostering cultural exchange, promoting literature and an appreciation of the arts during an incredibly exciting era in Beijing, and indeed for China as a whole."
I hope the owners do find a new location and keep The Bookworm going. It's doing a massive public service to bridge the gap between East and West, creating greater understanding of China, and at the same time making us expats feel like we're not alone in Beijing.
The legendary architect IM Pei has died at the age of 102
This morning I woke up to the sad news that architect IM Pei had died at the age of 102. Tributes have been pouring in for the Chinese-American who is famous for his buildings scattered around the world, including the Louvre Pyramid in Paris, the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, and of course in Hong Kong, the Bank of China headquarters.
The Bank of China Building in Hong Kong
I pass by that building every time I go to the gym behind the bank, climbing up the stairs along the mini waterfalls. When the bank was first built, superstitious Hongkongers worried the building looked like a knife, cutting up the city, or that it looked like the devil with its two antennae at the top.
Pei's family has a long history with the bank -- in fact it just celebrated its 100th anniversary last year, making it around the same age as him!
His father, Tsuyee Pei, was one of China's leading bankers, according to the New York Times, and when Ieoh Ming Pei was an infant, the family moved to Hong Kong so that Pei senior could run the Hong Kong branch of the Bank of China.
A century later and two generations later, IM Pei's son, Li Chung Pei or Sandi, would lead the renovations of the old Bank of China just down the street from his father's shiny triangular building.
It's a wonderful anecdote that clearly illustrates the Pei's family roots in Hong Kong and its contribution to banking and architecture in the city.
The Suzhou Museum is symmetrical and calming
My other story is in 2008 I spent Chinese New Year in Shanghai on my own. One of my days there I caught the train to Suzhou for the day, wandering around when I stumbled on a building that didn't look like the typical mainland Chinese architectural style of big, boxy and lacking style.
I was immediately drawn to this building that was very symmetrical and discovered it was the Suzhou Museum -- designed by IM Pei.
But of course.
This realization made my visit to Suzhou exponentially better as I was immediately soothed by its simple lines, sitting on the edge of a man-made pond that had a calming effect.
Dramatic pyramid down below the Louvre
How did I not know this was here? The building itself was much more interesting than the exhibits inside.
Sadly the Bank of China building is the only IM Pei building in Hong Kong -- in October 2013 it was announced Sunning Plaza, a 31-storey office building in Causeway Bay, whose main feature was that there was a large open space around the buildings, thus creating an "urban oasis". People liked being able to sit outside and dine al fresco amid a quartet of palm trees.
But alas Pei's first project in Hong Kong was torn down by landlord Hysan Development that replaced it with -- what else -- a mixed retail and office building that is a non-descript office block -- literally. It opened late last year.
Nevertheless, in front of the cameras Pei was always smiling, looking dapper in his suits and wearing his trademark black frame round glasses. He knew how to charm potential clients and explain to existing clients why things had to be done his way. There were compromises too, but probably his biggest battle -- the Pyramid at the Louvre -- shows Pei's skills not only in design but also patience and persuasion.
I haven't seen this entire video of his lecture at MIT about the project, but he explains in great detail (with jokes aside), the challenges he went through and how he solved several issues.
Pei is not only a legend in architecture, but also for Chinese immigrants and ethnic Chinese the world over, an inspiration of being proud of his roots and being successful for his designs that changed the urban landscapes around the world.
Pei fought the controversy of having a pyramid at the Louvre
He may have left us but may his buildings continue to live on.
Fantastic prime rib dinner with Yorkshire pudding at Seasons in the Park
Many friends in Hong Kong asked me what I ate in Vancouver and some of it was Chinese cuisine, Japanese and Western.
Apart from having dim sum, we tried a northern Chinese restaurant that serves all kinds of lamb dishes. Called Hao's Lamb Restaurant in Richmond, it's relatively new and my relatives took us here for lunch.
Thinly sliced lamb in between a sesame seed bun
The owners are mainland Chinese and very friendly. The menu is quite extensive with such dishes as mutton tendon with cumin, mutton hotpot, and roasted lamb leg, there are some eyebrow-raising ones like "ovine [sheep] testicles with cumin", and "nourishing ovine testicles stew with ovine genital".
Hmmmm worth a try?
We had thinly sliced lamb that we put in a sesame seed bun with cucumbers that was delicious, boiled lamb dumplings, and a lamb-flavoured broth with hand-pulled noodles in it. We also had a napa cabbage that was chopped into four wedges and covered with tons of finely minced garlic and vermicelli and steamed.
So if you like lamb, this place is a must.
A favourite place we visit is Seasons in the Park that is at Queen Elizabeth Park and overlooks downtown Vancouver. We were lucky to get a window seat and marveled at all the twinkling lights.
Sunburnt Lemon tart at Seasons in the Park
On Sunday evenings the restaurant offers a three-course set roast beef dinner for CAD$42.50. Choose between a salad or a soup, the roast beef and then two desserts to decide from.
The slow roasted prime rib is excellent -- very tender and juicy medium rare, though the best bits are along the edge, along with Yorkshire pudding and vegetables. I barely finished mine, but somehow made room for the restaurant's signature sunburnt lemon pie.
I also tried a place I'd never heard of before, Chewie's Biscuit Co on 4th Avenue and McDonald. It's a small shop that, as its name suggests, makes biscuit sandwiches with interesting combinations. The friendly waitress takes your order and money, and then you sit down and wait for your food to arrive.
She gave a few suggestions as a first timer to the eatery and so I decided try "Stoner", which features fried chicken breast, stone ground mustard, honey and bread and butter pickles.
"Stoner" biscuit sandwich
It's a vertically tall sandwich so I took the top off to eat it with a knife and fork. The fried chicken is good, smothered in sauce and I'm thankful the pickles are there to cut some of the grease. The sandwich looks deceivingly small but it isn't, though maybe my stomach is full from eating a few onion rings.
After finishing the sandwich I try the half biscuit on its own and it's fantastic -- light, fluffy, with a buttermilk taste. It's so good that my dining companion orders take out -- including an unadulterated biscuit.
Hao's Lamb Restaurant
8788 McKim Way
Richmond, BC
(604) 270 6632
Seasons in the Park
Queen Elizabeth Park at West 33rd Avenue
Vancouver, BC
(604) 874 8008
Chewie's Biscuit Co
2282 West 4th Avenue
Vancouver, BC
(604) 336 9996
Behold! The Chinese martini is gaining popularity in Vancouver
I'm really slow to catch onto this term -- Chinese martini.
I had never heard of it before but it's what people in the restaurant industry call hot water with lemon -- a drink that Chinese people typically order, and ironically isn't alcoholic.
Servers find it annoying to have a table with a number of Chinese martinis, because they don't make any money out of it and it's just as much work.
But Chinese people like to drink hot water because in Chinese medicine it's better for blood circulation and digestion, and keeps internal organs hydrated. When you drink cold water, your body wastes energy heating up the water below the body's temperature of 37 degrees Celsius.
I noticed visiting Vancouver this time around, servers at restaurants would ask if I wanted hot or cold water... and if hot, did I want a lemon in it too?
Marathoners powering through the course earlier this morning
This morning was my first time running 8K in the BMO Vancouver Marathon. It was the perfect day for it, though by the time we started running at 9.30am it was already quite warm.
Before my trip to Vancouver, I saw on social media an ad for the marathon and thought it would be fun to take part and roped my friend into joining me. Turns out it was a good plan, and over 17,000 other runners took part in the 8K, half and full marathons.
A group celebrating Beijing's upcoming Olympics also ran
My friend and I met up at Oakridge station to take the Canada Line downtown to Waterfront Station where we got dropped off her bag for check-in near the finish at West Pender and Bute, and then we boarded a school bus to get dropped off near the start in Stanley Park.
The shuttle service ended at 8.30am which meant we had an hour to kill before the race started. Near the starting line was a group of Chinese people, both Mandarin and Cantonese speaking who were part of a "Run to Beijing 2022" event on the grass. They all wore red T-shirts and there were some people who wore light blue sashes across one shoulder that read Xiamen Airlines Company. Some of them actually ran the race.
These people took pictures of not only themselves, but also the half marathoners who were running past. Why were they doing that? It wouldn't surprise me if they made the half marathoners look like they were supporting Beijing's preparations for the Winter Olympics, and the red shirts were all paid for by the Chinese government.
In any event we were reassured the Vancouver Marathon was definitely a Canadian one when all the runners assembled were asked to sing the national anthem. A few minutes later we were off!
A record of over 17,000 took park in the races this year
It was so nice to run through Stanley Park, luckily there was quite a lot of shade from the trees and it also helped having small bands playing loud music to keep us going. The first kilometre didn't seem to come fast enough, but the subsequent kilometres were actually relatively fast. There were several water stations and we took advantage of them as it was getting warm.
Admittedly I did stop three times throughout the race due to several inclines that wiped me out. But overall I was able to keep pace with my friend who cheered me on periodically and stopped to walk with me. A few people had signs along the way, including one guy whose sign read: "Smile if you're not wearing underwear". He noted a lot of us were smiling...
As we ran we saw the gorgeous scenery along the Seawall, there was nothing but blue skies above us and the mountains to our left with just a bit of snow left over. It couldn't get more beautiful than that.
The last kilometre was pretty much all uphill and I wasn't mentally prepared for it! After a short break we powered up and finally finished -- receiving a medal in the process! Unlike Hong Kong's marathon, there was no traffic jam at the finish line and we were able to take pictures near there.
We also got loaded up on food -- we were given bags of chips, a banana, a choice of either vegetarian or turkey sandwich, bottle of water and energy bars. There was also a McCafe truck giving out free "specialty coffee" so we each got a cup of steaming hot brew. Everyone seemed in good spirits and wherever we went people congratulated us on our run.
I don't know if I'll be back in Vancouver this time next year, but if I am, will try to make an effort to run this event again. It was well organized and fun. Our only complaint was that those running 8K didn't get free transit passes -- only those doing the half and full marathons did. It seemed strange not to include us as we had to get downtown to get to the start...
The interior of Fang Restaurant with Chinese ceramics decorating the bar
After our visit to SFMOMA, we headed to a restaurant nearby for lunch called Fang. The lunch crowd had almost disappeared when we came in, and the owner and chef Peter Fang came over to our table.
Braised portobello mushroom topped with prawns and barley
"Ni men cong nali lai?" he asked politely in Mandarin, inquiring where we were from.
When we told him, his face dropped. What? From Canada?!
But he told us to close the menu and trust him to cook up some dishes for us. I was worried and asked how much it would cost.
Don't worry! The dishes are all on the menu! he said and went over to the counter of the open kitchen.
The waiter cuts up the fish in this delicious milky soup
The restaurant looks bright and funky, with wooden Chinese style cupboards, ceramics and bamboo stalks, spices stored in giant glass canisters usually found in Chinese medicine shops.
He seemed annoyed when we remarked the menu looked northern Chinese with potstickers and duck, but he insisted it was Cantonese...
The first dish came on a large platter -- a portobello mushroom that was sliced in quarters and braised in a soy sauce topped with chopped prawns and some pearl barley as a garnish.
Stir-fried pea shoots with edamame and tiny fried fish
Next came a milky looking soup with a fish that had been pan-fried. The waiter sliced up the fish using scissors at our table and inside the soup was dried tofu, julienne of turnip, vegetables and coriander. Fantastic soup, piping hot and the fish was hardly oily.
Fine pea shoots were next, stir-fried with edamame beans and topped with tiny fried salted fish. This was quite salty, but we didn't mind finishing it with rice. Finally the last dish was marinated boneless chicken chopped up and roasted. Admittedly the chicken didn't look appealing, but it was more about the taste infused with various spices as well as soy sauce.
Together with two bowls of rice, the total bill came to US$84.42 for four. We were impressed at the good value. Periodically Fang would come over to chat with us and talk about restaurants he knew in Vancouver. Turns out he came to San Francisco 40 years ago originally from Hong Kong, though he is Shanghainese.
Boneless roasted chicken marinated in spices and soy sauce
Pictures from Barack Obama's visit to Great Eastern
We flew to San Francisco this morning and were bleary eyed and tired when we finally arrived at the hotel.
When we wanted to have lunch at around 2.30pm, it turns out many restaurants and cafes are already closed. We had to find something open and in the end the deli across the street solved our hunger pangs with hot pastrami and meatloaf sandwiches.
After a two-hour nap to battle jet lag, we headed to Chinatown for dinner. The restaurant is called Great Eastern Restaurant and it looks like your typical Chinese dining establishment.
Overall the food was average, not particularly sophisticated with really large portions. We had a lettuce wrap, a dry roast chicken, roast duck with steamed pockets, dried tofu with mustard greens, and fish sliced to pieces that were pan-fried while the bones deep-fried.
The highlight was stir-fried crab in a thick sauce that had really fresh meat. The kids at our table weren't that keen in tackling the shellfish, leaving more for us.
After we emerged from the restaurant we noticed a laminated poster. Turns out then US President Barack Obama ate there in 2012 and took pictures with staff, everyone grinning from ear to ear.
Another poster had pictures of other celebrities like basketball player Yao Ming and the late astrophysicist Stephen Hawking!
So we were in pretty good company!
Great Eastern Restaurant
649 Jackson Street
San Francisco
(415) 986 2500
Some passengers got to try out the new subway in Urumqi yesterday
Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang will have its first metro system up and running by the end of the year and already the government has stated that Uyghurs need to produce their identification cards before they can buy tickets.
This is in addition to other regulations that Uyghurs need to produce their ID when buying train tickets and long-distance bus rides (since last March).
If you are caught using someone else's ID card, you can be fined between 50 to 200 yuan (US$7.90-$31.70).
Uyghurs need to show ID to buy subway tickets
Maya Wang, a senior researcher for Human Rights Watch, says the requirement is "part of an ever tightening web of surveillance and control in Xinjiang".
The government claims violence is rooted from Islamic extremists and separatists, but Uyghur advocates say it's the government's repression of religious freedom and unfair ethnic policies in the region that have resulted in resentment and violence.
Han Chinese authorities have been increasing security and surveillance measures throughout the region since 2016, including thousands of newly installed street-corner police stations.
These days Urumqi residents often have to provide their ID or undergo facial scans at the city's numerous security check points.
"Think of how many checkpoints an Urumqi resident must go through every day," Wang says. "And you are already required to use your real name for intra-city travel."
Security continues to be very strict in Xinjiang
All this monitoring using the latest technology coupled with heavy policing has resulted in what critics describe as a "massive police state".
It's so extreme that in some stations, no liquid, not even water is allowed, according to one resident who wished to remain anonymous.
"I think everyone is already mentally prepared for how strict the subways will be," he said.
It really doesn't have to be this extreme, but the heightened security measures in that region just make tensions between Han Chinese and Uyghurs even worse. When will the mistrust end?
"When the weather gets better, let's go to Lijiang together - but don't tell your wife."
Chinese can be a colourful language and nasty descriptions can be so apt sometimes.
One example is 绿茶婊 (Lǜchá biǎo) or "green tea bitches", which means a young woman who looks pure, fresh-faced, sugar-sweet, cute, and innocent-looking but is actually the total opposite.
Why are the called green tea? Because it is considered the purest type of tea that is made from fresh, unprocessed tea leaves. And so a green tea bitch is the deceptive combination of a woman having a good-girl appearance, but in reality is a total bitch.
She gives off the aura of a pretty-looking woman, a sweet talker who has the looks men have the hots for -- long, straight hair, and some make up to enhance their facial features. It doesn't hurt to show some skin.
Usually green tea bitches will badmouth other women, and are able to sweet talk unsuspecting men into emptying their wallets for meals and shopping until they get their credit card bill.
Hong Kong people like to make up new Chinglish slang all the time
Tonight some Chinese friends were having a lively chat over dinner and it's not uncommon for me to not understand a few words they're saying. But one pointed out that I might not know what they were talking about and they all laughed.
Turns out there is a Chinglish slang that uses "able" like "Instagram-able", but it's mostly used in a negative sense.
Instead of saying yong m doh (not usable), they say m yong-able.
Or ding m sun (can't stand it anymore), they say m ding-able.
Catch my drift?
I can't think of any other examples, but it's pretty funny how they meld Chinese and English together. Another I heard the other day in the lift was "dead m deadline may-ah?" or "has the deadline passed yet?"
Is this a sign that Hong Kong people's Chinese and English is getting worse? If anything it's hilarious...
Late lunch feast of fish, chicken, tofu, vegetables and rice. All the food groups
These last few days in Guangzhou we've been eating a lot of take-out food. It's not the fast-food variety but somewhat nutritious and definitely Chinese.
My colleague loves ordering take-out whenever he's in Guangdong because it's much cheaper and more varieties than in Hong Kong.
On Wednesday night we finished our work late so we ordered take out as soon as we arrived back at the hotel.
I had fish and pork congee with some choi sum in soy sauce and that came to around 22 yuan. The congee was very good, lots of flavour and almost creamy in texture.
Late dinner of mixed vegetables with rice noodles in soup
The next day we had a late lunch and again ordered several dishes, including Hakka ones, like salt-baked chicken and braised tofu stuffed with minced pork. There was also delicious fish slices in a spicy preserved vegetable broth, braised pig trotters, wood ear fungus with chillis (very spicy!), string beans with eggplant, and soup and rice. For four people it was less than 300 yuan.
We also had a late dinner, and mine consisted of noodles with vegetables like mushrooms, tomato, cabbage and even a quail egg. The noodles were packaged separate from the broth to avoid over cooking them, and the soup didn't have MSG. Only 29 yuan.
Fantastic choices if you have the app and can read Chinese... and have mobile payment! Will be making sure my China assignments are with this foodie...
On the sixth floor is a shallow pond and the steak house Victor
This evening we checked out the new casino complex in downtown Vancouver called Parq Vancouver, right next to BC Place Stadium.
Inside there are two floors of casinos and walk around and they're practically all Asian gamblers -- it's like walking around any casino in Macau except the dealers speak English. It was a surreal experience.
The 25-foot replica of a Douglas fir cut up intricately
There aren't one, but two hotels, JW Marriott and Douglas, an Autograph Collection Hotel. We checked out the lobby of the latter which features a reception desk that is a 25-foot replica of a Douglas fir log that's been intricately sliced up and lit from within and encased in glass. Pretty cool, until I found out it's a replica.
To the right of the reception desk is D6, a nice space for a lounge to enjoy drinks, complete with a billiard table and modern fireplace.
On the left is an outdoor space that looks into some people's condos across the street -- and they don't seem to mind -- and on the other side an up close view of BC Place in its LED glory. Tonight the fog had set in, so at first we felt like there was a canopy roof over us!
Past the outdoor space that includes a kind of shallow pond with lights is Victor, a steakhouse that also serves seafood and sushi. I've been told the Tomahawk steak at CAD$150 feeds six people. The restaurant also has a not-too-fussy vibe with lots of wood, and booth seating with green leather.
The hotel also boasts a ginormous ballroom at 15,604 square feet that holds 1,000 guests -- finally a venue for mega weddings, serving either Western or Chinese cuisines.
The interior of 1886, the fine-dining Chinese restaurant
On the third floor is 1886, a fine-dining Chinese restaurant that goes head-to-head with Mott 32 Vancouver. The latter has a more elaborate interior design, whereas 1886 -- the date Chinatown was established in Vancouver -- is more restrained but elegant with high ceilings and circular booth seating for smaller groups.
The opposite side of the room has several private rooms that can open up into one long one. One room was particularly boisterous the evening we went with mainland Chinese diners imbibing lots of alcohol with their dinner.
We were told by the manager the restaurant has been open for three months and is clearly meant to cater the gambling crowd as it's only steps away from the tables.
While this might be considered clever and convenient, the restaurant's location misses out on a huge segment of potential diners -- families. Only adults 19 years old and over can enter the casino area, hence 1886 is an adults-only restaurant.
In some ways this is good for customers who want a relatively quiet meal, but in terms of revenues, it's missing out on families who want to dine on dim sum with their children, or have Sunday night meals together.
Nevertheless, the food is pretty good overall and will raise the standards of Chinese cuisine in the city.
Many times A-nu (left) is silent when her daughter asks her tough questions
On the plane back to Vancouver, I watched an intriguing Taiwanese documentary called Small Talk (日常對話) that was released last year. It made its international premiere at the 67th Berlin International Film Festival where it won a Teddy Award for Best Documentary Film. It has also recently been nominated as Taiwan's pick for the foreign-language film category in the Academy Awards.
A-nu is more at ease with her many girlfriends
It is a brutally honest film about filmmaker Huang Hui-chen and her relationship with her lesbian mother A-nu, who is a Taoist priestess at funerals. Huang says in the beginning that even though she has lived with her mother most of her life, she knows almost nothing about her, always not home and wants to know why. Is it because she doesn't love her two daughters? Is it because they were adopted?
Through a series of tough face-to-face interviews, as well as footage meeting her mother's siblings, talking to her mother's lovers past and present, and even old home movies of Huang growing up, we along with Huang find out more about A-nu.
We discover she knew from a young age that she was lesbian and Huang doesn't understand or at times is naive about what it's like to be gay, and we discover how she is very generous and loving towards her several girlfriends.
In one scene, A-nu plays with her granddaughter
When asked to comment about their sister's sexuality, her brothers and older sister either don't want to talk about it or don't seem to care. They seem embarrassed to talk about it, and would rather discuss her failed arranged marriage to a man.
Before when I used to watch Chinese movies, there would be a lot of silence between characters and I thought it was for dramatic effect, but this is what happens in reality. There are very long pauses when A-nu answers Huang's questions, or complete silence; you can tell she is thinking about something but says she won't answer the question and gets up to leave, with Huang left sitting in the chair disappointed not to get more information.
However she is persistent and the climax of the film is quite intense. As viewers we don't quite know what happens in the end -- are things better or worse between mother and daughter?
Huang with her Teddy Award
Although the pace seems slow, Small Talk attracts viewers with its intriguing premise and we go on a journey with Huang to find out more about A-nu. Her lovers recounting how she seduced them are the light-hearted moments in the film and reveal a touching side of A-nu that Huang was completely unaware of, though they are equally balanced by the dark experiences both mother and daughter faced.
The film is executive produced by famed director Hou Hsiao-hsien, giving it not only professional weight, but also an endorsement to talk about LGBT stories. Will we see more from Taiwan? That would be light years ahead of Hong Kong...
Small Talk (2016)
Directed by Huang Hui-chen
88 Minutes
General Constantine Chiwenga may be behind the possible coup in Harare
There were news reports this afternoon Hong Kong time that the military had put Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and his family under house arrest, according to Major General S. B. Moyo, who made a statement on the state broadcaster ZBC.
While he and another uniformed officer confirmed Mugabe and his family are safe, and their security was guaranteed, Moyo said: "We are only targeting criminals around him who are committing crimes that are causing social and economic suffering in the country in order to bring them to justice."
No bloodshed, but tanks and soldiers are in the streets
He also warned that any provocation would be met with an appropriate response.
There is speculation that General Constantine Chiwenga who is leading what looks like a coup, is close to the former Vice President Emmerson Mnangawa, who was expelled from the government and governing ZANU-PF party last week.
These latest developments have a Zimbabwean friend of mine who has lived in Hong Kong for over 20 years very excited.
In my first newspaper job, he was one of the first photographers I worked with, a white Zimbabwean whose family had been there for generations. It was he who explained to me what Mugabe had done to his country since he took power in 1980.
Is this the beginning of the end of Robert Mugabe?
He was frustrated and upset when President mandated blacks take over farms owned by whites, causing racial backlash against whites, like his parents who had been there all their lives. They were told to go back to where they came from, but where? They were from Zimbabwe too.
His parents' farm was taken over, a place that his family had lived in for decades, which caused his father so much shock that he died of a heart attack soon after. His mother had to create a new life for herself in a small apartment with a tiny balcony for her to continue growing plants and flowers, a tiny fraction of what she was used to looking after.
Ever since my friend told me about Mugabe, I would read about any news on him and be shocked and horrified by what he was doing to the country, particularly the insane inflation that rendered their currency worthless by the day.
Several years ago I caught up with my friend who had been going to Mandarin class. I asked him what for and he said to be able to get a Chinese passport. He was so ashamed of carrying a Zimbabwean passport and was ready to renounce his citizenship of his native homeland if he could get a Chinese one. I don't know if he managed to get it or not.
So I can imagine he is anxiously watching the news of the so-called coup that the military claims is not a coup, while there are reports people in the streets are happy to have anyone else but Mugabe.
We shall see what happens, but it may be the light at the end of what has been a very long and dark tunnel.
Two musicians playing amazing instruments, a woman on tambourine
After we arrived in Kashgar, we quickly noticed things were much different here in the westernmost city in China and Xinjiang that borders Kazakhstan. All the Uyghurs look very different, some fair skinned, almost European, and others very dark and could be mistaken for being Mexican, much like how the Spanish can have various shades of skin colour.
Our first meal was at a Uyghur restaurant that looked traditional and probably for the benefit of tourists. In the middle was a bar (with no alcohol) and a dancing floor with a platform where three musicians sat playing instruments. Two dancers, a man and a woman performed folk dances for guests.
The woman would also dance with her partner for diners
It seemed like the Han Chinese sat on one side of the room, while the other featured Hui ethnic minority people, who are also Muslim, the women wearing simple headdresses and clapping along with the music.
We were given an array of dishes to eat, like a ratatouille with noodles, a large dumpling filled with lamb, and sweet rice seasoned with spices, and of course lamb kebabs. We were also presented with baked buns with minced meat inside.
The music was fantastic, mesmerizing to listen to -- a pity we were not given an introduction to the instruments! And it was interesting to watch how the dancers interpreted the music through their dance steps.
A bowl of noodles with a kind of ratatouille
After dinner, I wanted to share some moon cakes from Hong Kong with the rest of the tour members -- 30-year-old mandarin peels with red bean paste -- but I needed a knife to cut them.
We asked one of the waitresses in Mandarin and she violently shook her head and waved her hand. Then we thought she didn't understand Mandarin and drew a picture... not the best drawing, but when we showed it to her she again shook her head.
Finally we managed to flag down our Uyghur tour guide to ask for a knife and he said we were not allowed to have one in the restaurant. In the end we had to settle for a spoon which I used to cut the moon cakes into quarters. It wasn't the best solution, but it was the only one.
Sweetened and spiced rice with lamb kebabs and a dumpling
We later found out that Uyghurs are not allowed to carry knives anywhere and they are only allowed in the kitchen, not for guests to use. It's just another of the Chinese government's strict measures to try to control this "restive region" following some attacks in the last eight to nine years, some of which involved knives.
The longer we stayed here, the more we realized how oppressive life was like for Uyghurs -- on a daily basis.
Remember that Guo Pei dress Rihanna wore to the Met gala?
On my flight back from Beijing to Hong Kong, I watched the documentary The First Monday in May, which follows how the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour put together the 2015 exhibition and gala, China: Through the Looking Glass.
It's a huge undertaking, combining Chinese-inspired fashion with museum pieces from the Asian Art collection, pairing outfits inspired by or look similar to actual works of art in the museum's archives. But it's not just about ancient China, it's also about Communist China, and contemporary China, featuring today's designers.
Andrew Bolton is the Costume Institute curator at the Met, his dream job since he was young. He strongly believes that fashion is an art form, something some of his colleagues in other departments don't necessarily accept, but the massive gala is a big fundraiser for the museum, something they can't ignore or look down on.
However, many heads of other departments take the opportunity, as the exhibits shape up, to express their concerns that they don't want the clothes to overshadow the museum pieces.
One exhibit showing the inspiration from Ming vases
It's a telling insight into the politics at the Met, and watching how Bolton navigates through it all.
Meanwhile clothes are already arriving at the museum for the costume department to carefully document and decide how they will arrange them in the exhibits. Different designers are interviewed, and Jean-Paul Gaultier admits he has never been to China, but in a way doesn't want to go, because he wants to have a fantasy in his mind of what China is to him.
John Galliano's fantastical dresses are also featured, Coco Chanel's vintage pieces of gold and black sequinned jackets remind you of sleek lacquered cabinets, and Vivienne Tam's homage to Imperial China and her pop-art tribute to Mao Zedong.
It's disappointing Tam wasn't interviewed in the documentary, as she would have given an interesting perspective about how her clothes shape her identity as a Hong Kong designer.
Vivienne Tam's fun Mao dress
While Wintour argues that art moves people, fashion can as well, though Gaultier says he never imagined his clothes would be in a museum.
The petite woman is a powerhouse, fierce, decisive and meticulous. Wintour is in charge of the invitation list and features all kinds of people from philanthropists, to actors, singers, artists, businessmen and politicians. Imagine having to figure out where everyone sits! Her assistant tries to keep her cool the whole time, but there's a huge snag when Rihanna and her entourage are going to cost much more than they budgeted for...
And then there are many mini crises along the way in setting up the exhibition, making deadlines even tighter and working around the clock...
There are also concerns the exhibition is a gweilo perspective of China, and the only Chinese person working directly on the project is film director Wong Kar-wai, who doesn't seem impressed by how things are panning out. He is rightly concerned that the exhibition isn't authentic enough, and also how everyone seems to want to have a hand in things.
Wong Kar-wai is concerned how the show will turn out
To an extent Wong must be familiar with these kinds of situations, or perhaps as a revered director, he is used to having everything his way?
The exhibition generated a lot of interest, and a lot of coverage of the gala, thanks to Rihanna showing up in a yellow gown by Guo Pei that many immediately pronounced it looked like an omelette or scrambled eggs, and criticized Sarah Jessica Parker's hideous headdress that looked comical.
It's a documentary that keeps your interest throughout and if anyone is interested in event planning, fashion, museum curation and art, then The First Monday in May is for you. It's a riveting eye-opener...
