Henderson's blueprint presents lots of green spaces in Central
Developer Henderson Land Development is bullish on Hong Kong -- specifically Central district.
It had the winning bid of HK$50.8 billion (US$6.5 billion) for the New Central Harbourfront Commercial Site 3, beating out five other developers.
This plot of land was sold for HK$50.8 billion
Henderson will spend another HK$63 billion to develop the site which is the plot of land in front of the Hong Kong General Office and City Hall. The winning bid will feature three main buildings, the one closest to the waterfront will be multifunctional, while the other two will be office towers. Most of the land will have greenery in mind as well as public spaces.
The old Star Ferry clock will be reconstructed in around the same spot as a visual landmark and showcase the city's maritime heritage.
According to Knight Frank, the Central Site 3 ranks as the second most expensive land transaction worldwide of all time, after a 861,120 sq ft site in Seoul's Gangnam district was bought by a Hyundai Motor-led consortium in 2014 for 10.5 trillion won (US$10 billion).
Market observers said the record price for the prime plot will boost the city's commercial property market and reinforce Hong Kong's position as a world class global financial hub.
Plowing that much money into Central means a big vote of confidence for the district even though the Lam administration has plans to develop the area near the border with the mainland.
Three buildings will be on the site, two are offices
"Although there are other large-scale developments such as Northern Metropolis and Lantau Tomorrow Vision in the pipeline, it would take 15 to 20 years for these projects to be fully completed and at least another decade for other areas to mature," said Martin Wong, head of research and consultancy of Greater China at Knight Frank.
"Central will remain the financial centre for Hong Kong in the foreseeable future," he added.
As we said earlier, Lam's vision of people sleeping better will have to wait at least 15 years...
The gorgeous neo-gothic facade of the New Town Hall
We hired a car to take us from Frankfurt to Munich today, about 400km which took five hours with a lunch break in between. It was a pretty smooth ride overall. Yesterday we learned from our driver how every driver in Germany is well trained -- they all must enroll in professional driving schools for three months and the tests are pretty extensive.
Looking at the tower from inside the town hall complex
Once someone gets their license they have to drive carefully for the first two years -- if they get a speeding ticket, their license is revoked and they won't be able to drive for two years. Apparently the practical driving test is also difficult as the examiner will sometimes ask the driver trick questions to throw them off.
Our hotel is walking distance to Marienplatz, or Mary's Square, and we wandered there after an early dinner.
There's a lot of free entertainment, lots of musicians performing for any spare change you may have. One really good performer was a soprano accompanied by a guitarist.
The square has been around since 1158 with farmers selling their produce and merchants hawking their wares, but these days the area filled with international shopping brands like H&M, Vodafone, SportCheck, United Colours of Benetton, and discount clothing store TK Maxx. There are also mobile fruit stands that are also selling white asparagus which is in season.
The highlight of Marienplatz is the New City Hall or Neues Rathaus that is a stunning neo-gothic building made of brick and limestone that was built between 1867 and 1874.
The tower features a glockenspiel
Meanwhile the facade of the building features a glockenspiel in the tower balcony and everyday at 11am, 12pm and 5pm, mechanically powered figurines represent stories from Munich's history, along with the city's coat of arms, and then angel of peace.
We didn't get a chance to see the show, but maybe we can check it out in the next day or so, as well as take the lift up the 85-metre tall tower to see the views of Munich from above.
Vladimir Putin receives a warm welcome from his school teacher to her home
On New Year's Eve, 1999, then Russian President Boris Yeltsin made a surprise announcement on a television address. He said was resigning and that then Prime Minister Vladimir Putin would become acting president, and in three months there would be an election.
For filmmaker Vitaly Mansky, he was only too eager to document this moment, asking his wife and daughters what they thought of this change in power.
His wife dreaded the news, and his oldest daughter equated Putin with Mao Zedong. Then he accosted his youngest daughter in the bath, who held her breath under water, refusing to comment. Did he know a year later their opinions were spot on?
Filmmaker Vitaly Mansky who now lives in Latvia
Instead of running a typical campaign with television ads and rallies, Putin hired Mansky to make a television documentary, following him as he went about his business in office. He was shown on International Women's Day visiting a textile factory mostly manned by women but he didn't speak to a single female worker. He also visits his school teacher in her home and gives her a big bouquet of roses, and kissing her like he would his own mother.
Mansky narrates the 107-minute film, explaining he did make the documentary that was shown on state television. But now looking at the footage again almost 20 years later, it seems to reveal more things that Mansky didn't see at first, which is why the film is called Putin's Witnesses.
Meanwhile the soundtrack is a haunting piano tune we hear over and over, a sense of foreboding that is very eerie.
Probably the most telling moment in Putin's Witnesses is on election day in 2000, when Mansky is at Putin's election headquarters. With narration, he introduces each person in the room and what role they played in Putin's campaign.
Many people in Putin's election team didn't stay long after
But then he adds this person or that person months later joined the opposition, or this person was later shot dead, or that person died at a young age... he includes Putin's wife and adds that years later he divorced her... it's all very shocking. No one stuck to him except for Dmitri Medvedev, who would later switch places with Putin so that he could become president again.
One of the first things Putin does in power as president is reinstate the melody of the Soviet national anthem that Yeltsin had scrapped, but now it had new lyrics, and a performance of the anthem is televised in an Easter television broadcast.
He also vetoed a motion in the lower house of parliament of removing the hammer and sickle on the "Victory Banner", the flag that Soviet troops raised over Berlin's Reichstag building on May 1, 1945 that came to symbolize the victory over Nazi Germany.
These small details show Putin's admiration or enthusiasm to return to Russia's Soviet past.
Another scene is a long conversation Mansky has with Putin in the back of a car. Putin tries to convince the filmmaker that after he finishes his term in office he will go back to living a normal life, away from the public eye and have the freedom to do whatever he wants.
The only time Putin wants Mansky to stop shooting video is after he does a length of the pool in the butterfly stroke, he gets out of the swimming pool and puts his hand over the camera lens.
Vitaly films Yeltsin at home watching election results
Mansky also follows Yeltsin at home on election night. His daughter is thrilled by the results because she has had a hand in getting Putin elected and calls for champagne to be opened. Yeltsin is pleased, but the smile turns into a frown when they wait for hours for Putin to call to thank him for giving him the opportunity to become the leader of Russia. Yeltsin would realize he was left in the dust.
After the screening of Putin's Witnesses, Mansky himself was at the screening at City Hall to big applause from the audience. He fielded questions from the audience, explaining that he and his family now lived in Latvia and that he was still able to go to Russia.
He says in 1999 no one really knew who Putin was (within a year his popularity rating went from zero to almost 50 percent), and Mansky used the opportunity to make the documentary about him to learn more about the incoming president. But in the film he admits he was not just a witness, but complicit in helping Putin become who he is.
Putin's Witnesses
Directed by Vitaly Mansky
107 minutes
The members getting a standing ovation from some audience members
Over the Christmas holidays my friend YTSL asked me to go see a Tango-themed music concert in January. I said sure, as I like Tango music. We went this evening to see Viva Tango! The music of Schifrin and Piazzolla at the City Hall Concert Hall and weren't disappointed.
It was put on by the Beare's Premiere Music Festival, formerly known as the Hong Kong International Chamber Music Festival, with Beare being a well known violin dealer based in London that specializes in antique stringed instruments.
The ensemble of musicians was diverse -- Cho-Liang Lin from Taiwan, who is also artistic director of the music festival, Argentine-born cellist Pablo Aslan who lives in New York, Alex Brown also from the US, Hector del Curto from Argentina and plays the bandoneon, kind of like an accordion, clarinetist David Shifrin from New York, and Satoshi Takeishi from Japan on percussion.
The ensemble played very well together
It was nice having Aslan introducing the music because he gave some context about why a piece was composed or what the composer was like and he would tell it in a funny way.
Another interesting tidbit is that the clarinetist Shifrin is the second cousin twice removed of Lalo Schifrin, who not only composes tango music as he's from Buenos Aires, Argentina, but he is also know for composing music scores, including Mission Impossible, Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon, Dirty Harry, and wrote many arrangements for the Three Tenors concerts.
So the clarinetist and the composer, their grandfathers were brothers. One went to the America, the other to South America.
The first half of the concert was dedicated to Schirfrin's music starting with a classic tango style -- Tango del Atardecer, that set the tone for the evening. Perhaps it was just missing some dancers doing the tango on stage, but really the music was so engaging that it was fun to watch them play -- and play very well together.
The third piece, Tango Borealis was slow but had a wonderful soft, elegant finish. The pace picked up with Malambo de los Llanos. Apparently the Malambo is a dance and Hector the bandeoneon was asked to demonstrate a few steps for us which was fun to watch.
After the intermission we were then introduced to Astor Piazzolla's music that started with Michelangelo 70 that was not a tribute to the Renaissance artist, but to a bar that Piazzolla and his band played at.
Piazzolla was born in Argentina then moved to New York and was exposed to a variety of music that is what makes his so eclectic, but still very much in the style of tango.
We were particularly enamoured with the piece Oblivion that was so beautifully performed with a light touch at the end. Here's a sample of Piazzolla playing the piece himself on the bandoneon:
The audience was just as thrilled to hear the music as we were -- though it was not completely full -- and the ensemble were probably pleased to see Hong Kong enjoying the music too. It wasn't too hard to twist their arm to do an encore for us and cellist Aslan joked that we really came to the concert to hear the piece of music they were about to play -- Mission Impossible by Schifrin!
It was funny to hear a small six-piece band play the theme song on a violin, a clarinet, piano, bandoneon and a cello! But here's Schifrin himself performing it in 2011. By the way he received an honorary Oscar in November for his contribution to soundtracks over the decades.
What I enjoyed about the concert was that it was a fusion of tango, jazz, and a bit of classical all rolled up together that made for a memorable evening.
Viva Tango! The Music of Schifrin & Piazzolla
Concert Hall Hong Kong City Hall
Schifrin: Letters from Argentina
Tango del Atardecer
Pampas
Tango Borealis
Danza de los Montes
Tango a Borges
Malambo de los Llanos
Piazzolla: Selected Tangos
Michelangelo 70
Verano Porteno
Adios Nonino
La Muerte del Angel
Oblivion
Libertango
After four years, Raphael Severe returns to Hong Kong
Tonight's concert was supposed to be a good one at the City Hall Concert Hall.
The Hong Kong Sinfonietta led by Yip Wing-sie hosted 24-year-old Raphael Severe in a performance of Mozart's Clarinet Concerto in A, K622. The Frenchman can play a wide range of sounds on his instrument, earthy warbling ones to delicate soft notes. The first two movements were going well until about half way through the third movement --
Rrrrriiiiiiiing!
The orchestra and Severe continued, but
Rrrrrriiiiiing!
The Hong Kong Sinfonietta at City Hall Concert Hall
It was the elderly gentleman right behind me whose phone was not only annoying us nearby, but also the soloist, as we were only sitting a few rows from the stage.
One would expect the audience member with the offending smartphone to immediately try to silence the damned phone but he was completely oblivious to it...
Rrrriiiiing!
It rang several times and then finally stopped.
By this point Severe seemed to have been distracted by the phone and was just trying to focus enough to finish the concerto.
I lost my focus on the music too and it was annoying to say the least!
Nevertheless Severe is quite the prodigy, learning piano, violin and cello before focusing on the piano and clarinet at the age of eight.
He was admitted to the top clarinet class, having skipped eight classes... by 12 he won prizes in five international competitions, including First Prize and Jury's Special Prize at the Tokyo International Competition.
Two years later he was admitted to the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique de Paris, where he got his bachelor's degree at 16, and masters degree a year later, both with high honours.
Remembering the glorious dead from World War II here
Last weekend when I was out exploring Hong Kong with my cousin who was visiting, I took him to City Hall where I usually go to attend concerts. And I usually rush over there in the evenings and was completely unaware there was a small building near the entrance.
It sits on top of a pool of water and it turns out it is a memorial shrine to those who died between 1941 and 1945.
The description says: "Inside the 12-sided Shrine are placed a Roll of Honours and wreaths. On the wall were inscribed these words: 'These had seen movement and heard music; known slumber and waking; loved;gone proudly friended'."
The plaque also adds the shrine is open on the first Sunday of every month from 9.30am to 12.30pm.
What a nice remembrance for these victims of war, and that it is open for people to come and honour them.
The General Post Office was opened in 1976, but will be demolished soon
I have fond memories of the Central Post Office, when Queen's Pier used to be nearby to take the Star Ferry to Tsim Sha Tsui. When I first arrived in Hong Kong to work in the mid-1990s, I used to mail letters and large envelopes of newspaper clippings to my parents. The staff were so efficient and nice.
These days the place isn't as busy, people aren't queuing up to buy sheets of stamps, but mostly packages and the odd bulk mailing.
Notice the large marble slabs used as counter space
Last year there was a news story announcing the General Post Office in Central would be demolished to make way for A-grade office buildings. The post office would move its operations to an eight-storey building in Kowloon Bay, near the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal at a cost of HK$1.7 billion.
But there are hopes to protect some aspects of the building, though there haven't been any updates on this or when exactly the building will be knocked down.
I told my visiting architect cousin about this and so he wanted to check out the building. He was amazed by the beautiful marble slabs on the counters and wondered if they would be salvaged before the demolition.
We also saw a wooden arch that was probably saved from the previous General Post Office. It reads: "As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country". Below it is a black plaque that says the current building was opened on August 11, 1976 by Sir Murray Maclehose, then Governor of Hong Kong.
"As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country"
When we wandered in before 1pm on a Saturday, the counters were almost all empty, with staff chatting among each other. What will happen to all the people who have GPO boxes in Central?
It's a shame the building has to be torn down -- it's a major landmark in Central and is an important walkway to get to IFC and the ferry piers, or vice versa to City Hall and office buildings like Jardine House.
But with land prices being so high, the government seems to think it needs to make more money (how much more does it need?) by selling prime land.
If anyone needs an education about heritage, it's the government. It has no understanding or appreciation of the importance of preserving old buildings, and then it wonders why it has no more heritage to promote to tourists...
The Hong Kong Sinfonietta performed in the HK City Hall Concert Hall
Tonight YTSL and I attended a really good concert put on by the Hong Kong Sinfonietta called "Sounds Great! Classical Music in Movies", held at Hong Kong City Hall Concert Hall.
Originally a guest conductor called Jason Lai, a British-born Chinese was supposed to lead the orchestra, but a few weeks ago YTSL received an email saying resident conductor Yip Wing-sie would be heading the program.
Never mind -- we were keen on the music and enjoyed it very much.
The orchestra looked packed on the stage, squishing everyone and all the instruments in, as there were many percussion instruments and several keyboards including a grand piano!
The concert started with the tingling Also Sprach Zarathustra: Introduction by Richard Strauss, which film goers will recognize as the theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey.
This was followed by Wagner's Die Walkure: Ride of the Valkyries that was used in a scene in Apocalypse Now where the helicopters fly low and start shooting at the Vietnamese below in a village by the water. Yip says this piece of music was perfect for this scene, making it indelible in her mind.
Next on the program was Mozart's Clarinet Concerto in A, K622 (second movement), which was used in the film Out of Africa, a very romantic movie.
Tchaikovsky was next with two pieces, one was The Swan Lake, which Yip explained is always used in movies with ballets in them, followed by Romeo & Juliet Fantasy Overture, that has been used in soundtracks from Scrubs to South Park, Spongebob Square Pants and Looney Tunes cartoons.
After the intermission, we reassembled back into the concert hall to hear a rousing rendition of Mozart's Symphony No 25 in G minor, K183 (first movement). When I hear this piece I immediately think of the opening scene in Amadeus, where composer Antonio Salieri is found to have slit his throat. Yip says Mozart is the best composer in the world, which makes the film such a good one because it features his music in there.
Yip then talked about American composer Barber's Adagio for Strings. Originally it was supposed to be for a string quartet, but when it was used in the film Platoon, he adapted it for a string orchestra. Another haunting piece of music for Yip while watching the movie, but she said for those who hadn't, it was romantic piece.
It made me realize that as a conductor, she must listen to the music used in movies much more acutely than the rest of us! And how do composers feel about their music being used in films?
Then who can resist throwing in Johann Strauss Jr's On the Beautiful Blue Danube, Op. 314, the music most synonymous with the waltz. The last piece of music was from John Williams, of course Star Wars. Yip explained the orchestra likes playing his works because he composes for all the members to play, in particular percussion, along with harp and piano. So it's not just the audience that likes his music!
Yip encouraged the audience to come back again -- they are performing the same program tomorrow and Sunday!
Three pay phones at City Hall Concert Hall... who uses them nowadays?
Does anyone use these anymore?
I spied not one but three payphones while waiting in line for the washroom at City Hall Concert Hall last weekend. A 2016 news report says there are about 3,000 left around town.
With everyone having on average two mobile phones, who uses these coin-operated phones anymore?
OK so maybe you need the phone and have the coins, but do you remember the phone number you need to call? I don't.
In any event Hong Kong still has a "reasonable number" of public payphones as required by the Telecommunications Ordinance, as public payphones are considered a "basic service" under the universal service obligation, which "should be made available to all persons in Hong Kong".
However, the Ordinance doesn't specify what the minimum amount is.
Is 3,000 too many or too few? It's anyone's guess...
Paris-based Habanera Saxophone Quartet has been around since 1993
YTSL suggested we get tickets for a concert we saw tonight, featuring the Habanera Saxophone Quartet from Paris. They along with the City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong performed at City Hall Concert Hall and it was packed with audience members ranging from children to seniors.
City Chamber Orchestra finished its season tonight
The concert was part of Le French May, originally a month to celebrate the culture of France for a month, but it has since stretched to two. This was the last event for Le French May, and the last concert of the season for the local orchestra.
To warm up the audience, the chamber orchestra led by guest conductor Vahan Mardirossian, performed Three Pieces for Chamber Orchestra by Astor Piazzolla. The orchestra was accompanied by pianist Julie Kuok, whose instrument was placed behind the players instead of in front.
We found the first movement slow, but things jazzed up with the second and third movements.
Next came Habanera, and together with the orchestra they performed Ferrer Ferran's Saxiland for Saxophone Quartet and Strings. It's not often you see four saxophonists playing together and with such a range, from soprano to tenor, alto and baritone saxophones!
The musicians were led by Armenian Vahan Mardirossian
During the intermission we bumped into YTSL's friend who once studied music composition and remarked the piece was either meant to punish the saxophone players or they were demanding something more difficult. Either way it was impressive.
After the 15-minute break we reconvened to hear Four Preludes for Saxophone Quartet, Strings and Percussion by Fazil Say. It was quite an abstract piece for the most part, with lots of drumming, even the bongos! But at times the saxophones made interesting sounds that were as if they were plucked like a string instrument. How did they do that?
The audience was thrilled by their performance, and they performed three encores. This is our favourite one -- Tango Virtuoso.
Have you ever seen a quartet of saxophones not only play well together but have a choreographed act too?!
Venezuelan pianist Gabriela Montero is a whiz at the ivories
Today I had the opportunity to interview an amazing pianist who is classically trained, but can also improvise, much like a jazz musician -- on the spot.
Gabriela Montero is a Venezuelan pianist who will be performing tomorrow night at City Hall Concert Hall, playing Schubert and Schumann in the first half, and then after the intermission, she will take suggestions from the audience of what to play -- as long as they hum it to her.
She explained that improvisation was something classical musicians did in the 16th and 17th centuries, when composers would write "cadenza", and expect the musician to add their own flourish.
But later on, musicians didn't know what to play, and eventually it was written out, which is why people like me have always thought that classical music was about playing the piece exactly as the composer had intended, down to every last note.
Here she is riffing off of Bach's Goldberg Variations:
As someone who learned classical music on the piano, I could never even dream of improvising -- I thought it was something only those who were well versed in music could do, but Montero is in an league of her own.
When she was a baby she was already playing a toy piano in her crib. By the age of five she gave her first public performance and at eight performed her first piano concerto.
She likes to connect with the audience with improvisation
I brought up the description of being a prodigy, but she doesn't like the word, saying it separates her from others. She also frankly admitted she quit piano twice, one time not touching the piano for two-and-a-half years because she didn't want music to dictate her life.
"Just because I'm good at it doesn't mean I like it," she said. It took her years to reconcile with her talent and also the fact that she was a single mother meant that she had to use her skills as a musician to support her family.
Now she seems very happy to be making music on her own terms, and using it has a platform to speak out about her home country that is falling apart due to the corrupt government, with people starving from not being able to get access to food.
In 2011 she wrote Ex Patria as an emotional musical picture of what is going on in Venezuela, and while she has performed it 10 times, including a recording, she hopes she doesn't have to play it again.
The following year Amnesty International made her an honorary consul, where she uses the position to talk about Venezuela, and she is now basically in self-imposed exile; if she were to return, she says she would be put in jail. She now lives in Barcelona with her husband and two daughters.
But back to the improvisation -- I hummed her Teresa Teng's famous song, The Moon Represents My Heart.
She played what I hummed perfectly on the piano, dabbled a bit with it and then began to play. And watching her riff off the phrase in various styles was amazing. We were just spellbound watching her play.
After she finished, she said that when she improvises, it has to be recorded because she cannot play it exactly the same again -- the music flows through her onto the keys and once it's over, that's it.
Montero seems at peace with her spellbinding talent, probably thanks to age and having tried to quit twice and then coming to terms with it, but also determined to use it the way she wants to.
She has a warm spirit and eager to share her music with everyone.
Thousands showed their support for John Tsang on Friday evening in Central
This is it -- the campaigns by the three candidates to become Hong Kong's next chief executive are over and the voting begins tomorrow.
There wasn't much mudslinging unless you call Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor's husband having to come out and deny he had a mistress digging up dirt a mini scandal.
On Friday her rival John Tsang Chun-wah had an open double-decker bus roam around Hong Kong spouting his campaign slogans and in the evening ended in a huge rally in Central by City Hall.
He gave a passionate speech that appealed to several thousand people who showed up.
Carrie Lam's last day on the campaign trail
"Most of you here don't have votes, but still I yearn for your support. Without your support, how would there be any meaning even if I win all Election Committee votes?"
Tsang definitely came across as the every man to the middle class -- oh wait -- his definition is that they drink coffee and watch French movies. And probably eat from food trucks.
But does anyone remember he was conspicuously absent during the Occupy protests? What does he have to say about that? Does he really represent us? Or is he filling the void that Lam can't be bothered to, or isn't capable of doing because she has no clue where to buy toilet paper?
Meanwhile there are reports that on paper Lam has secured 750 votes for tomorrow, but Tsang believes a good chunk of those votes could at the last minute switch to him, seeing as he has a greater popularity with the public than she does.
While public opinion does matter to a degree, Beijing has strongly hinted it wants Lam to become the city's next leader.
Is Tung Chee-hwa showing who his preferred candidate is?
From former chief executive Tung Chee-hwa giving her a bear hug early on, to senior Chinese officials having meetings with some of the Election Committee in Shenzhen that its preferred candidate was Lam, it's quite obvious she is expected to win tomorrow.
Then why even bother having this "small circle" election, when only less than 1,200 people get to vote?
If this is Beijing's idea of a "democracy", we want no part of it, which is why the pan-democrats voted down the electoral reform. While everyone would be able to vote, they would only be able to choose from approved candidates by Beijing.
It's kind of a no-win situation for Hong Kong -- Beijing will always insist it get things its way. There are no compromises.
Protests have been planned tomorrow if and when Lam wins... maybe that's enough to scare voters into putting their money on Tsang. While he has the popular vote, would he have Beijing's blessing?
Carrie Lam is still intent on having a Palace Museum replica in Hong Kong
After the intense public uproar about Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor announcing a HK$3.5 billion replica of the Palace Museum in Beijing in West Kowloon, the government will now have a six-week public consultation about it.
According to a paper jointly issued by Lam's office and the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority, the exercise will "collect public and stakeholders' views on the design and operation" of the Hong Kong Palace Museum, as well as the "focuses of its exhibition and educational programs."
An exhibition about the museum will be at City Gallery
So not exactly on why Hong Kong is getting the museum, but what will be happening in the space.
On Tuesday Lam will attend a special legislative meeting to explain the project. But surely she will get a lot of heat for how the deal came about with no public consultation and lawmakers had no idea it was going to happen.
The WKCDA will present an exhibition at City Gallery, a building next to City Hall, to provide information about the project, while views of stakeholders from professionals and individuals in the art, cultural and architectural sectors will be consulted, and opinions from the public will be collected as well.
But what more can people say when it's already a done deal?
Does Hong Kong need a replica of the Forbidden City?
It's window dressing to placate critics, as it doesn't allow people to discuss the fundamental question of why Hong Kong needs a replica of the Forbidden City... or is it because the smog is so bad in Beijing now that they would rather keep whatever treasures they have left in Hong Kong?
The two buildings are joined together with a canopy
I spent about three days in Singapore this past week having been there about five years ago and the Lion City is quite impressive in its infrastructure and soft skills, though it is h not even close to the edginess of Hong Kong.
Nevertheless there were some new landmarks we checked out and old favourites.
Wu's dynamic painting of the Great Wall
First up was the National Gallery of Singapore, which opened a few months ago. Located walking distance from the Fullerton Hotel, the gallery is housed in two national monuments, the former Supreme Court and City Hall.
We went during a weekday and it was quite quiet, so staff were very helpful and friendly with any inquiries we had. We went through practically the entire thing, which is quite a lot to cover, but when it's hot outside, it's a nice respite.
One of the special exhibitions is the late artist Wu Guanzhong, who donated a number of works to the National Collection, similar to him gifting several pieces to Hong Kong. Here, the show, entitled "Wu Guanzhong: Beauty Beyond Form", shows his early works, small realism paintings in oil, then his move to ink painting that soon became more abstract in nature.
Another show is "Chua Ek Kay: After the Rain", where the Singaporean artist was born in Guangdong but settled in Singapore. He did some fantastic large ink paintings that are so evocative and contemporary. As he traveled extensively, he realized he needed to create new art forms to express what he saw in places like Australia.
Beautiful wood ceiling detail in the former Supreme Court
His work evolved from big brush ink works to intricate paintings that focused more on texture of dry versus wet to create effects that he wanted to convey.
I don't know many Singaporean artists, and so it was interesting to see a few, such as Georgette Chen who migrated there, capturing everyday life in the city. An interesting piece of trivia is that on the back of the 50 dollar bill is the work of artist Cheong Soo Pieng called Drying Salted Fish, and the original work can be seen in the gallery.
A special exhibition on until July 17 is "Reframing Modernism: Painting from Southeast Asia, Europe and Beyond". Co-organized by the National Gallery and the Centre Pompidou, it's an interesting exploration of 20th century art, seeing the similarities of what was going on with Pablo Picasso, Vassily Kandinsky as well as Vietnamese and Brazilian artists at the same time.
Our attempt to sketch works in the Modernism exhibition
One gallery staff member was very keen to get us to participate and gave us a work sheet and pencil to copy some of the works on the walls... Admittedly none of them were really inspiring, but we copied one or two (very badly) for fun.
The space in the Supreme Court was a bit odd to house works of art, and seemed more like it should be a museum dedicated to the judiciary than a gallery. That's because the chairs for judges and the dock for the accused were still in their original places, while art was added on the walls. Some of the rooms were quite small too, making it hard to put the works together in a logical fashion.
Xu Beihong's Put Down Your Whip
But one of the highlights of this landmark is the rooftop (of the City Hall), where you can get a panoramic view of the downtown area, Marina Bay Sands and the five-star hotels in the vicinity.
The gallery is smart to have a bar up there called Aura Sky Lounge, where visitors can take in the view and enjoy a drink and snack.
Thousands came out to protest Lee Bo and his associates' disappearance
How many days has it been since bookseller Lee Bo has disappeared and finally Secretary for Justice Rimsky Yuen Kwok-keung says something.
During a speech at City Hall before judges and lawyers to mark the start of the new legal year, Yuen said the public's concern about Lee and his four associates' disappearance was "understandable" and promised a thorough investigation.
"Except properly permitted under our laws, neither unauthorized criminal investigations nor unlawful arrests within the jurisdiction by anyone or any authority shall be tolerated," he said.
"Any suspected case of infringement deserves full and thorough investigation, and this is what the government is seeking to achieve," he added, saying concerns in the community were "understandable" and should be properly addressed.
Will Rimsky Yuen find the answers we are looking for?
Surely Yuen can pick up the phone and call Beijing to demand some answers? So far it's the media and public that are driving this story, not the government, which seems to have a passive reaction to what Hong Kong people think is a shocking erosion of rights in the city.
And as the Secretary for Justice, one would think Yuen should be just as concerned as us, and would be leading the charge, trying to find out answers for the rest of us?
Or perhaps he does know, but is not at liberty to say?
It's maddening how the Leung administration has a delayed response to every incident -- it's as if the senior officials are waiting for instructions from above before they decide on their own game plan.
One would think after the Occupy protests, lead in the water issue, housing, depressed salaries and so on, that the government would try to work harder to earn the public's trust.
Time is off the essence here. We need to know where Lee and his associates are. Now.
Cavalia showcases a combination of horses, acrobatics and aerialists
Last night I had the chance to watch the opening show of Cavalia in Hong Kong. It's created by Normand Latourelle, who was one of the co-founders of Cirque du Soleil. And while the acrobatic and dance elements are there, the addition of horses makes things more interesting and dramatic.
The show is located by Pier 10 in Central, where there are several white tents put up there, and that's where the entrance is, not across from City Hall, where we thought there was a short cut, but we were wrong.
Nevertheless, once we made our way inside, we realized we snagged excellent seats and on top of that sat next to the Canadian delegation that included the former Premier of Quebec Jean Charest and the Canadian Consul General to Hong Kong! Charest played a big role in bringing Cavalia to Hong Kong, and also helped bring it to Singapore last year.
Beautiful choreography with aerialists and horses
He explained that even though he has seen the show over 10 times, each time it's different, with slight variations with the acts. But also with horses, it's hard to know how they will perform that evening, with some equines choosing not to cooperate.
While the show is based around the male horses -- 40 of them in total -- there are acrobats from Morocco and Ghana, as well as aerialists, a lasso artist and a singer to keep the audience entertained.
Everyone was thrilled to see the horses running bareback around the "stage" -- they looked wild, but were tame, for the most part following the trainer's orders. We were later told that they would only listen to their trainer who may have taught them in either French or English.
Parts of the show involved only humans and some incorporated both. We loved the two aerialists who danced in the air while below two men rode bareback on two white horses in a circle going around and around. The moves were not intricate, but were beautifully presented.
Then there was lots of energy from the acrobats, who used a lot of speed, strength and agility to do numerous backflips and balances with several people together. They also had no problems warming up the crowd, getting people to clap in time with the music and encourage them as they did their stunts.
There was a poignant scene of a guy walking on a large ball, and then a black horse with a very long mane meets him. The horse sees he's eating an apple and wants some too. The interaction between them was very cute and emphasized the loving relationship between horse and man, a theme echoed through the show.
Horses spring straight ahead with rider in various poses
One daring stunt were two men and a woman, each having one foot on one horse -- in effect riding on two horses standing up at a relatively fast clip. Towards the end, the woman tried to handle two more horses running in front and jump over a bar, but twice the horses refused to keep going and she wasn't able to finish it.
Later on, some horses ran around according to their trainer's instructions, but a dappled gray one seemed to want to bully another horse, trying to bite the other's bottom. It was amusing for us, and the trainer took it in stride -- which they have to.
It also explains why there is a group of musicians above playing music, so that it can easily be adjusted in case an act finishes prematurely, or they need extra time to set the stunt up again.
This was the case when a man was standing on a horse as it ran around the ring and he attempted to do a flip, but both times he didn't land properly and fell off. As a result, there's a lot of tension for the audience, but that's what make Cavalia exciting too.
After the show some of us waited behind so that the horses could be showered and we could visit them in the stables. We were given antibacterial solution to clean our hands before entering. Many of the horses were busy eating hay and had their backsides to us! But a few were willing to poke their heads up to see who was around.
Unfortunately we were not allowed to pet them on the nose, and their stalls were designed so that they couldn't even poke their heads out, probably for safety reasons. Nevertheless, it was wonderful to be able to see these magnificent creatures up close.
