Airing Dirty Laundry Without Masks

Police Chief Chris Tang (in black) with Eric Tsang, Alan Tam and Jackie Chan

Hong Kong opposition lawmakers are calling for the resignation of Police Commissioner Chris Tang Ping-keung after a video was leaked of him and other senior officers having a jovial time with a number of well known local celebrities like Alan Tam Wing-lun, Jackie Chan, and Eric Tsang Chi-wai.

The video was taken on Sunday February 16 after a friendly football match and Tang jokes he learned how to be a policeman from watching police movies.

Leaked - Commissioner of Police dining with group of #Hongkong artists inc. Jackie Chan, Alan Tam and Tsang Chi-Wai and soccer players. Some were known for triad links. pic.twitter.com/WbLRMTAAEy

— Galileo Cheng (@galileocheng) February 17, 2020

 

Later Tang chides Tam, saying, "I hate you very much Alan, because my wife loves you more than she loves me. Yet there's nothing I can do because I love you too."
 Many of the celebrities in the video, Chan, Tsang and Tam in particular, are known to be pro-establishment, as they have publicly supported the police at rallies while the anti-government protests were going on last year.

Tang jokes his wife loves Tam more than him

Also attending the banquet were police public relations chiefs Kwok Ka-chuen, Kelvin Kong Wing-cheung, and former spokesman John Tse Chung-chun. In addition, disgraced former police official Frankly Chu was also at the event. He was jailed for a baton attack on an unarmed man during the 2014 Occupy protests.

Guess jail time for a disgraced policeman doesn't mean anything to the top brass?

Opposition lawmakers pounced on the video, accusing police chief Tang of being unfit to lead the police force, and with the fear of the coronavirus in Hong Kong, he ignored government appeals to avoid large gatherings. On top of that he wasn't wearing a mask -- nor was anyone else in the room for that matter.

Democratic Party legislator James To Kun-sun criticized the police officials for defying a government appeal to limit social contact, and said Tang is a bad role model in preventing the coronavirus from spreading in the community.

Lawmaker James To calls for Tang's resignation

He noted that a number of people had been infected by the virus after a hot pot gathering, and if these police officials were infected, they could have passed it onto other government officials as they have been meeting frequently on how to deal with the crisis, thus possibly paralyzing the operations of the entire government.

In the video, Tang also says he learned from Jackie Chan and Alex Fong Chung-sun movies how to behave like a policeman.

Civic Party lawmaker Dennis Kwok Wing-hang who represents the legal sector, slammed Tang's "shoe-shining" remarks as inappropriate and that he's not fit to be the police chief. 

Frankly Chu (second left) was jailed for hitting an unarmed man

While a police spokesman says the dinner was private and did not involve public funds, for viewers of the video it's pretty damning evidence of how close the entertainment industry is with the police. And in light of the coronavirus crisis, to see so many people gathered and not concerned about possibly spreading the virus is just as shocking...

The Eclectic Life of David Tang

Sir David Tang, the Anglophile Hong Kong Chinese gentleman...

A few weeks ago my friend sent me a link from The Times newspaper saying that Hong Kong-born entrepreneur David Tang wanted to have one last dinner party with friends at The Dorchester because doctors didn't give him more than a month or two to live.

I found it hard to believe -- was he ill? I didn't know he had liver cancer. But he won't be able to see his friends one last time -- he died today at the age of 63.

My first and only encounter with him was in my early 20s and went to see him in his Shanghai Tang boutique that was on Pedder Street. At the time I had only started working about a year or so and so I didn't have much money to spend, let alone on clothes. At Ladies Market I bought what I thought was a cute white satin short skirt with frog buttons on it.

The dining room in China Club in the Bank of China building

When he saw me he immediately chastised me for wearing satin -- and he emphasized it in his posh British accent -- and pointed out that it wasn't silk.

Well excuuuuuse me! At the time I couldn't afford anything in his shop and honestly thought the neon pink Mandarin collar silk jackets were outrageous (even though they were all the rage with expats).

He's had an interesting life to say the least. He was the grandson of Tang Shiu-kin, a well known philanthropist, but David Tang didn't grow up with a silver spoon in his mouth. As he tells it, his grandfather didn't like his first concubine, which meant he didn't like Tang's father and him.

"All of us were cast out of the family home and left to fend for ourselves on a very modest income that my grandfather reluctantly provided," he explained in one of his Financial Times columns.

Shanghai Tang when it was at Pedder Building in Central

When he went to England to join his parents and attend boarding school in 1965, Tang didn't know a word of English. And yet he soon began reading Shakespeare plays and appreciated classical music -- and even mastered the piano too.

He studied philosophy and logistics at King's College, and later studied law at Cambridge with a master's degree.

After teaching English literature and philosophy at Peking University from 1983-84, he practiced law at his grandfather's law firm as well as a smattering of others in Hong Kong.

Guess law wasn't his thing, but fashion and decor instead. In 1991 he and philanthropist Tsui Tsin-tong opened China Club in the Bank of China building. One always feels privileged to come here each time, an antique space choc full of Chinese paintings, sculptures and photographs, and tons of books on the bookshelves.

Then three years later he started Shanghai Tang which as I mentioned earlier became a big hit with its quirky Chinese designs that were fun and colourful, and he had qipao tailors working on site.

Refined (and expensive) homeware at Tang Tang Tang Tang

I also remember watching Anita Yuen and Eric Tsang filming He's a Woman, She's a Man in Shanghai Tang. They were literally working out the scene as they filmed it...

But I digress. Luxury group Richemont had a controlling stake in Shanghai Tang in 1998 and full ownership of it in 2008, and it was just sold again in June to an Italian entrepreneur.

And then in 2013 he opened Tang Tang Tang Tang -- a homeware boutique in The Pawn building on Johnston Road. But the prices were so expensive that it hardly attracted much business. I did buy a pair of silver salt and pepper shakers shaped like fortune cookies for my brother and sister-in-law though...

Tang reappeared again -- this time through interior design with Howard's Gourmet with its quintessential English look, and also China Tang, his restaurant collaborations with Peter Lam Kin-ngok.

Very English decor in Howard's Gourmet in Central

Last year Tang made a passionate speech at the Foreign Correspondents Club criticizing then Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying's policy address and how the administration seriously faulted in its handling of the Occupy protests in 2014.

Why did he only speak out then?

But perhaps we should thank him for at least speaking out for us.

Thank you for your business acumen, your creativity, your wit and your love of Hong Kong. 

Comic Lacks Political Chops

Tsang resigned from the Jiangmen provincial CPPCC today

When you're appointed to become a delegate of the Chinese People's Consultative Conference, it's not something to be taken lightly.

While card-carrying Communists who have proven their worth are usually invited into this elite group that gives suggestions to the Central government in the hopes that they will be made into policy, there are others who get conferred these titles by merit of their celebrity status.

Such is the case with Hong Kong comedian Eric Tsang Chi-wai, who was appointed a delegate of the Jiangmen provincial CPPCC in January 2011.

But mainland Chinese media have criticized him in the last few days for failing to show up at the annual political consultative conference in Jiangmen for the fifth consecutive year. He also didn't submit any consultation proposals, according to the Southern Metropolis News.

China Youth Daily also chimed in with an editorial, urging Tsang to step down.

"To some celebrities, a local political consultative conference title is just an additional feature to them and they might not [take] it seriously. Delegate Zeng has never fulfilled his duty... and served as a poor example," the commentary said. "Those who cannot fulfill the duties should either resign or be sacked," it added.

And so today Tsang followed the editorial and resigned. "I am very sorry," he said, according to Hong Kong media. "As a delegate on both the Guangzhou and Jiangmen political consultative conferences, I could only attend the one in Guangzhou because the dates of the two annual assemblies clashed.

"I have already telephoned Jiangmen Political Consultative Conference to announce my resignation."

Despite the embarrassment, Tsang must be breathing a sigh of relief with having one responsibility taken off his shoulders.

But why was he appointed to two CPPCCs and what made him a suitable candidate to be chosen to join in the first place?

This is a similar situation to former Olympic champion hurdler Liu Xiang who is a member of the national committee of the CPPCC. He attended the annual session at the last minute after public criticism of him not showing up for two years.

He had to cut short his medical treatment in the United States to fly back to Beijing two days before the session ended, and apologized for his absence.

Athletes and celebrities may be too busy to think about recommendations to the central government, let alone be qualified, unless they really are advocates in their respective communities.

Let's not forget Tsang resigned as chair of the Hong Kong Performing Artist Guild in October 2013 after he was criticized for not speaking up on behalf of fellow actors on the television license issue.

Politics is clearly not in Tsang's blood. Let him continue cracking jokes instead on the stage where he belongs.