Lam Tells Youth to Go to Hainan

Lam (left) in Boao for the annual forum for Asia

 

Hong Kong's dear leader is in Hainan Island or "the Hawaii of China" for the Boao Forum for Asia. It was cancelled last year because of the coronavirus pandemic, but back on this year.

Lam suggested a solution for young Hongkongers looking for an alternative place to developing their careers in the Greater Bay Area -- move to Hainan.

Lam says HKers should enjoy the coconut trees

She said people could not only "enjoy the shadow of coconut trees", but they could also feast on Hainanese chicken rice -- a dish that has its roots in Wenchang, Hainan, but is more popularly associated with Singapore and Malaysia.

Lam said Hainan island's leaders have noted Beijing's plans to entice young Hongkongers to other parts of the Greater Bay Area, and they are also taking the initiative to give opportunities to them.

"My colleagues and I were very moved," she wrote on her Facebook.

She wrote that she hoped young people of Hong Kong would move to Hainan to pursue work or internships, and added the island has a friendly local population and is rich in agricultural products.

However, not everyone was impressed by Lam's suggestion.

The Singaporean version of Hainan chicken rice

While some thought the Chief Executive's idea was a good one, pointing out Hainan is a beautiful place and Hongkongers would love it there, others posted sarcastic remarks, accusing her of failing to "fact check" her promotion of Singaporean cuisine.

"Just because the name of the dish has the word 'Hainan' in it doesn't mean it is a Hainan specialty. It's the same with pineapple buns having no pineapples in them, or Swiss Chicken Wings having nothing to do with Switzerland," one wrote.

However that person is incorrect -- Hainan chicken rice is well known in Hainan, though it is a different version from the Singaporean and Malaysian one; it is originally from Wenchang in the northeast of Hainan, and it refers to the breed of the chicken which is quite lean and so the meat is tougher than what most would expect. There are also aren't condiments like chilli sauce or soy sauce, but is rather eaten bland with some chicken stock (and no chicken oil) flavoured in the chicken or the rice.

Meanwhile others had biting remarks like this one: "As an international city, we've got all sorts of different cuisines and we can get any food we want here. Hongkongers should stay in Hong Kong."

The original Wenchang version of the dish

Perhaps Lam could have a rethink another way of enticing young people to the Greater Bay Area? Hainan is basically a tourist mecca and not an economic powerhouse like say Guangzhou or Shanghai... unless her intention is for Hongkongers laze around coconut trees and eat Hainan chicken all day?

Mysterious Circumstances, Mysterious Death

HNA group chairman Wang Jian died while visiting France

Just what happened to HNA group chairman Wang Jian?

It's shocking to hear the 57-year-old was posing on a wall in the small village of Bonnieux in Provence, France, when he fell 15 metres and then died from his injuries.

He was apparently trying to pose for a photograph when he fell from the wall that overlooked a cliff. He tumbled 10 to 15 metres to the rocks below.

Wang and Chen Feng set up the regional airline, HNA

Definitely not a good way to go.

It's an unfortunate time for Wang to pass away when his company, HNA is feeling the pressure from the Chinese government to shed its acquisitions that have been bought on ever increasing debt.

When Wang started HNA with co-founder Chen Feng, the company was a small regional airline based in Hainan province. From there it somehow managed to leverage its assets to become a conglomerate with assets worth and staggering US$230 billion.

Wang was apparently the mastermind behind all these deals, including a 25 percent stake in Hilton Hotels, Deutsche Bank, and four plots of land in Kai Tak it bought at record prices. It had planned to use some of the land to build housing for its staff.

The company also bought a luxury home on the Peak now worth around HK$550 million and is hoping to use it as collateral to pay off some of its debts. Who wants to underwrite that deal?

HNA bought four plots of land at Kai Tak at record prices

HNA even attempted to buy the hedge fund business set up by Anthony Scaramucci, a former White House communications director, but the deal was thwarted by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, an intergovernmental panel that reviews overseas acquisitions of American companies.

But those ambitious dreams are over now that HNA has had to shed these acquisitions as fast as it it has bought them in the first place.

Also questionable are some of the public listed companies under HNA. Seven of those companies have had their shares suspended for months, pending on what the parent group said was a restructuring.

Then HNA said the companies would resume trading on June 9, but since then the company has not announced any new changes to its business and the shares remain suspended.

There are still questions around who really owns HNA. Wang and Chen each own a 15 percent stake, there's another mysterious shareholder, Guan Jun, who has transferred his 30 percent stake of the company into a charitable trust that was set up in New York.

Guo Wengui has claimed HNA has bribed officials

Why would he donate his shares to a charity called Hainan Cihang Charity Foundation?

Fugitive billionaire Guo Wengui has been posting images and documents on Twitter and YouTube, alleging that HNA has bribed government officials and given relatives of at least one senior government official a major stake in the company -- possibly through Guan.

HNA had strongly denied the allegations and vowed to file a defamation suit against Guo, who once had close ties to China's top spy agency.

What's interesting is that the media went through great lengths to verify Wang's death, calling the gendarmeries in Provence, because with the way things go with HNA, you are never quite sure if they are true or not...

Red-Faced Tencent Artificial Intelligence

Tencent's translations of the Boao Forum were hardly impressive

At the Boao Forum for Asia last week in Hainan, Tencent was keen on showing off its AI or artificial intelligence translation system, but it looks like this technology won't replace humans anytime soon.

The simultaneous translation system spouted gibberish that was displayed live in a big screen at the event and in a WeChat mini program. These included garbled characters, repeated words and even broken Chinese. There were many screen shots of these posted on social media last week.

A screen shot shows the gibberish

Tencent quickly acknowledged the errors and promised to improve in the future.

"The AI interpreter had some errors and gave wrong answers to several questions during the forum," Tencent said in a statement. "Our simultaneous [translation] machine, an artificial intelligence (AI) product, has a drawback, but it is still learning and growing."

For example, it translated "Belt and Road Initiative" -- China's international infrastructure development plan that covers more than 68 countries -- as "a road and a waistband".

Cue the laughing emojis.

So while critics are laughing, human interpreters can breathe a bit easier, knowing their jobs are still in tact -- for now.

"I do not think the technology is mature enough... Maybe in the next two years," said Lim Huisin, who has served as a conference interpreter on the mainland for the past five years. "I am not too worried about being replaced by a machine."

Personally I'm glad to hear this AI translation system isn't up to scratch yet -- the top translators in China are excellent -- they really do translate things quite accurately and with good English! Try to beat that, AI!

Taking a Chance on Hainan

Tourists in Hainan will soon have horse racing to play along with surf and sand

The Chinese government is keen on developing Hainan into more than just "China's Hawaii" -- it's going to add horse racing and lotteries to the mix of entertainment that seems to be welcome news in the region.

The Hong Kong Jockey Club said in a statement that while "there has not been any discussion" so far with the Hainan authorities, but it would be pleased to exchange views on the promotion of equine sports there, if invited.

The Hong Kong Jockey Club welcomed the latest news

"The club is aware of the news reports that... the State Council... supports Hainan province developing equine sports," the club said.

Late on Saturday night the guidelines were released, a day after Xi Jinping announced plans to develop Hainan to have more economic freedom and greater market access.

While Beijing bans all kinds of gambling, it allows two types of lotteries, including one where punters predict the outcomes of international football [soccer] matches. It also allows horse racing but not betting. Sounds like an oxymoron, but that may change soon.

Since the 1990s there were attempts to get horse racing off the ground in China, with proposals in Guangzhou, Hangzhou and Nanjing. In 1992 a race course opened in Guangzhou, but was closed seven years later as an "unsatisfactory experiment".

Hainan's development will not impact Macau too much

Meanwhile analysts in Hong Kong believe this latest development will not impact Macau much, as the former Portuguese enclave has a fully developed industry that includes entertainment, conventions and exhibitions.

Hong Kong legislator Yiu Si-wing from the tourism sector believes the city can benefit from tourists who get a resort atmosphere from Hainan, and then the international city experience from Hong Kong.

With the central government's blessing, horse racing will happen soon -- but can you bet on it? Hard to say.

A Few Singapore Eats

The most memorable dish of the trip -- black pepper crab at Jumbo

We can't end our Singapore series without talking about the food!

We went to a few good places around the city for some memorable dishes.

The wet and spicy chilli crab also at Jumbo

Our first stop was Jumbo for crab. We went to Dempsey for lunch and we were surprised it was not very busy, but even better for us to have decent service. After we ordered we were given bibs to wear which are fun and useful especially if you are wearing a suit, as some of the other tables were.

The most important item to order here was the black pepper crab, which the four of us somehow demolished quite quickly. The black pepper wasn't too overpowering and the crab was cooked just right with a bit of sweetness and a slightly peppery finish.

Seeing as we were doing well, we also ordered the chilli crab, that came in a thick wet sauce. This one I didn't appreciate as much, as the crustacean seemed to be drowning in the red, orange and white sauce with a spicy end note that made it hard to taste the actual crab meat.

A small (and spicy) bowl of laksa at 328 Katong Laksa

Nevertheless, we also enjoyed cereal prawns that were on the sweet side, razor clams steamed with garlic that were oh-so-good, and tofu topped with seaweed and braised with mixed mushrooms. We also ordered water spinach with salty egg and preserved egg.

We were so full afterwards we walked it off at the National Gallery of Singapore afterwards.

In the evening we went to 328 Katong Laksa for... laksa! That's all they serve really, small or large that was quite spicy the more you ate it, and we had steamed fish paste in bamboo leaves called otak that seemed quite dense.

The next day lunch was Hainan chicken rice. We ordered the lunch special and speculated it was only a quarter chicken; we asked for another order and got another half chicken! We also ordered deep-fried tofu, more otak, this time tasting much better, less fishy and more light, and potato shoots that were on the old side.

A small portion of Hainan chicken rice!

The chicken was delicious, tender, and had a chicken taste which was surprising since they were quite large birds.

While we ate, we also drank a lot of juices, like lime, calamansi and coconut. How refreshing!

Corruption Begets Salacious Tale

The party's over for Ding Qingping who was extradited back to China

A trickle of Chinese fugitives are being repatriated back to the motherland as part of Operation Skynet, part of Chinese President Xi Jinping's crackdown on corruption.

This tale you're about to read reeks of gobs of money, sex and blackmail.

Ding Qingping started out as a small contractor, but became a big player in the property sector after starting Zhonggang Group in 2003. The company developed real estate projects in several cities in Zhejiang, including Hangzhou, Ningbo, Yiwu and Jinhua.

In order to raise money for a project in Jinhua, Ding secured bank loans worth as much as 200 million yuan and took another 90 million yuan from individual borrowers, according to the Qianjiang Evening News.

However, Ding was not able to pay the high interest.

On September 28, 2008, he sent all his employees on a holiday in Hainan province, took the company's money and boarded a flight from Shanghai to Canada with his wife, leaving behind his huge debts and an unfinished high-rise in Zhejiang province.

In Canada he obtained residency through an immigration investment scheme. But then he ran out of money and then got vindictive.

He began contacting his mistresses -- note more than one -- back in China, asking to meet him in hotels in Hong Kong and elsewhere, where he secretly taped their sexual encounters and the blackmailed them for money, the report said.

In 2011, mainland police issued a red notice to Interpol requesting member countries to locate and arrest Ding.

He was finally caught in Spain in December, and then earlier this month, a Spanish court agreed to the Chinese authorities' extradition request and was just sent back to China recently.

Jackie Collins (left) would have loved this tale, right?

While it's game over for Ding, we have to admit extorting money from his several mistresses is surely creative. One wonders what his wife thought of his scheme.

In light of this incident, we mourn the passing of Jackie Collins, who made a name for herself writing titillating tales of sex, money and power.

Surely she would have found stories like this perfect for novel fodder... and they're apparently real!