Defining Civic Education Two Ways

This 13-year-old was harassed and arrested by police, then released last night

 

Last night a 13-year-old student reporter surnamed Luk was arrested by police during a protest gathering in Harbour City.

Officers tried to intimidate the boy, saying he was short, and that he should go die. But he calmly held his ground before he was arrested and then released later. Seriously -- what can the police charge him with? He said he only wanted to be there to record what was going on, after admiring reporters on the front line.

Carrie Lam on the front page of Tao Kung Pao today

Even his mother supported him, and that what he was doing was a good learning experience. A lesson in civic education on the job.

Coincidentally today Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor had an interview published in the pro-establishment newspaper Tao Kung Pao in which she claimed some subjects like liberal studies could be "infiltrated" and later this year the government will announce how it will manage the teaching of these subjects.

Some believe these subjects have sharpened students' critical thinking skills, while others claim young people have become radicalized, which is why so many of them have taken part in the anti-government protests last year and this year.

Of the almost 8,000 arrested up until early April, almost 10 percent were minors, the youngest was 11 years old.

Lam warned these subjects like liberal studies needed to be regulated soon.

The pro-establishment political party, Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) also chimed in and said they would ask Beijing to help boost national education in the city during the "two sessions" later this month in the Chinese capital.

Tens of thousands protested against national education in 2012

They claimed some young people didn't have a clear understanding of the rule of law, or know enough about Chinese history.

The DAB also claimed that many of those arrested in the anti-government protests that broke out last June are students, so there is an urgency to revamp the liberal studies course.

Students should also be taught to have better morals and how to respect others, they said. And the DAB was a model of rectitude last week in the Legislative Council by not following the rule of law?

This sounds like the government is teaming up with the DAB to push for more say in what students are taught in school, but will the kids and their parents agree to it?

National education was shelved in 2012 after mass protests led by then student Joshua Wong Chi-fung and his group Scholarism.

Now eight years later the government is trying to revive this issue again, but will many people buy it?

People of all ages marched in last year's protests

In many of last year's protests there were people of all ages participating, many parents bringing their young children, even toddlers, while lots of teenagers and university students took part too. They braved the heat, humidity and the police to demonstrate for what they believed in.

If the government and pro-Beijing politicians think these children are wayward, they are wrong. If parents, just like the mother of the 13-year-old student reporter thinks what her son did last night was a good learning experience, then the chances are that national education will have a hard time being accepted in Hong Kong.

Protests Return, Police Attack

Protesters raise their hand representing the "five demands" in Tsim Sha Tsui

Mother's Day 2020 will be hard to forget in Hong Kong.

Now that the coronavirus pandemic has slowed down considerably here, the protests have returned as expected.

Hundreds of protesters gathering in shopping malls in Tsim Sha Tsui, Mongkok and Taikoo Shing demonstrates a lot of people are still very angry at the government.

A child pinned down by a police officer

At the same time the police are handling the situation like they always have -- with excessive force and shouting at people who just want to express themselves in a peaceful manner.

This afternoon before 2pm at the Star Ferry Pier in Tsim Sha Tsui, the police seemed itching for a fight, shoving people around and lots of screaming and shouting could be heard in video clips posted in Twitter.
Around this time protesters gathered in nearby Harbour City and began singing the anthem Glory to Hong Kong and shouted slogans with their hand raised to signify the five demands.

Police didn't storm into the shopping mall right away, but when they did, they tried to force people to leave on the regulation that groups could only be as big as eight people for social-distancing measures because of the coronavirus pandemic.

It seems the protesters went deep into the mall, as they went as far down as City Super, a high-end supermarket which is at the furthest end of Harbour City on Canton Road. There the police terrorized customers who were grocery shopping.

One scene in particular was shocking. Among the press corps covering the protest was a 13-year-old boy who was a volunteer student journalist for Student Depth Media.

The police singled him out and demanded to see his credentials and he calmly showed them his ID.

Police harass & threaten 13 yo journalist from Student Depth Media to "go back home & die!"

1700 |Tsim Sha Tsui Harbour City

Riot police also mocked his height by gesturing how short he is.

He was arrested & taken into a police van pic.twitter.com/PDGxihcoMQ

— Hong Kong - Be Water (@BeWaterHKG) May 10, 2020

 

"How old are you?" they shouted at him.

"Thirteen years old."

"How old?" the police asked again. He repeated.

The boy's mother saying she supported her son in reporting

One officer told him to "drop dead", another accused him of being "a child labourer", mocked him about his height, and then they walked away, but not long after they arrested the kid!

What had he done wrong?

After interrogating him for a while they finally released him, his mother by his side.

She said her son was scared after the police threatened to fine her if they saw him again.

When the media asked the young teen what he had to say to his mom, he thought for a moment, choked up and said, "Happy Mother's Day... I"m sorry."

Apparently the boy respected what journalists were doing and wanted to do some reporting himself, which his mother supported, saying it was a good learning experience for him.

A police officer aims to shoot a pepper ball into the mall

Meanwhile at Moko Mall in Mongkok East, police fired two pepper balls in the shopping mall, causing everyone from adults to young children complain of itchy eyes.

Another child was pinned down on the floor of a restaurant by a police officer who put his knee on the child's neck. What had these people done wrong? Many of them were there celebrating Mother's Day with a bite to eat.

The police are obviously trying to intimidate people, protesters or not -- but it's not working. Their presence only makes people angrier and less willing to cooperate.

As for the 13-year-old, he was grace under pressure in dealing with aggressive cops. Does someone need an intern this summer?

Pleas for Rent Breaks Fall on Deaf Ears

One commuter suited up in hat, visor and mask on the MTR

In the last few days, it looks like there are more people are on the streets in Hong Kong, taking public transit, albeit with masks and the odd one wearing goggles and surgical gloves.

This evening I went to try a new restaurant in Sheung Wan and was shocked to see it completely packed with diners. It was as if the virus didn't even exist in this place.

Everyone wears masks while taking public transport

But for many other restaurants, they are hurting badly, thanks to eight months of anti-government protests and right after the coronavirus hit.

A restaurateur who owns a few places around town is looking glum. The other day we were in his newest restaurant that opened late last year and at lunchtime it's not packed, but it's a decent stream of business as well as takeout orders.

But it's not enough to cover the rent.

He says shopping mall landlords hardly budge at all when it comes to rent concessions. He heard some shop owners have banded together in the hopes that as a consortium they can have more leverage in dealing with the landlord, a massive conglomerate. Wonder how that is going.

Another entrepreneur with trending food brands in his portfolio, has decided not to renew leases with those shopping malls that have not offered any discounts on rent, and will boycott them. But will the landlord even care?

Many prefer to dine at home than eat out for dinner these days

One of the big landlords is Wharf Real Estate Investment Company (Wharf REIC), that owns Harbour City in Tsim Sha Tsui and Times Square in Causeway Bay, says the outlook for the city's economy was "pathetic" and "dire" in the near term.

"We feel Hong Kong is pathetic in the short term. It could take three months, six months or even nine months [for the COVID-19 outbreak to subside and the city's economy to bottom out], but we have no idea," Stephen Ng, the company's chairman and managing director said today during the annual results briefing.

"However in the long run, we believe Hong Kong is still a lovely place to do business. As long as we can walk through the current [crisis], it will be better."

Interesting he chose the word "lovely". I wouldn't describe Hong Kong as a "lovely place to do business", but Ng has said so.

Times Square shopping mall in Causeway Bay is empty

Maybe it's because he feels his company has the upper hand when dealing with their thousands of tenants who are all begging for some kind of rent concession?

But these tenants are literally going to go out of business or cut their losses short and close in the next few months if the coronavirus does not let up soon. Case in point: today I saw on Twitter that the University of Hong Kong will continue classes online until May 16! It is possible schools could be closed till May as well.

So... for the sake of keeping the Hong Kong economy somewhat alive, the city's big shot landlords should stop obsessing about their company's stock performance and consider giving their tenants a break in the rent. Isn't it better to have shop spaces occupied than vacant? An empty shopping mall is hardly appealing to customers...

Japanese Sweet Treat

Pineapple and coconut soft serve ice cream at I Cremeria

After dinner today in Harbour City in Tsim Sha Tsui, we decided to have some dessert and found I Cremeria, a Japanese ice cream shop that serves soft serve ice cream with various combinations. The most famous one is pairing vanilla ice cream with Japanese melon -- but we didn't see anyone order that.

The ultra decadent ice cream cone topped with gold foil

Instead there were a few people who had vanilla ice cream wrapped in gold foil -- apparently it's a thing -- for HK$98, while most people ordered plain vanilla, or matcha flavour soft serve.

I tried the pineapple coconut flavour that came in a cone topped with a wedge of pineapple -- not canned! -- that had cinnamon sprinkled on top. It was an interesting flavour combination I never had before. And how does the pineapple stay perched on top of the ice cream? Through a tiny fork of course... I didn't find that out until I was eating into the pineapple and found something hard in the middle of it.

My cousin had a dessert combination that included matcha ice cream, mochi, red bean and some jelly cubes at the bottom. It was quite the decadent dessert, but not as much as the gold leaf one that we saw at least two people order.

Why one would want to eat a whole sheet of gold foil is beyond me, but hey if people are willing to pay for it...

Match ice cream with mochi, red bean and jelly!

I Cremeria
Shop OTG03A, G/F, Ocean Terminal, Harbour City
Tsim Sha Tsui
2386 6266

Dolce & Gabbana Strike Out

Chinese model in D&G dress struggles to eat pizza and pasta with chopsticks

The Italian fashion brand Dolce & Gabbana was supposed to hold its star-studded fashion show tonight in Shanghai, but it was cancelled following racist remarks by one of its co-founders, Stefano Gabbana.

He apparently had an online conversation with an Instagram user named "diet prada", where Gabbana described China as "a country of s***."

Stefano Gabbana's thoughts on China...

The texted conversation on Gabbana's Instagram account was in response to complaints about the fashion label's latest campaign "DG Loves China", where a Chinese model in a red D&G dress is seen struggling with chopsticks, trying to eat Italian foods like pizza, spaghetti and a cannoli, or cylindrical pastry filled with cream.

In the cannoli video, a male voice can be heard asking the model, "Is it too big for you?"

Others complain about how cliched the ad looked, with Chinese lanterns and couplets that were deemed "outdated and stereotypical".

As for Gabbana's outburst on social media, he claimed his account was hacked, and his legal office is working on the security breach.

Meanwhile reaction was swift in China -- when word got round about the spat, a number of celebrities who were invited to the show, including movie star Chen Kun and actress Dilireba, who was named D&G's brand ambassador in February said she would not attend, while fellow actress Zhang Ziyi said the brand was "inviting humiliation".

Indeed.

Domenico Dolce (left) and Stefano Gabbana (right)

Even a number of models who were booked for the show refused to turn up before the event was cancelled. Modeling agency Dongfang Binli said all of its 24 models had pulled out of the show and put a "Not Me" tag on their online profile photos in protest.

Supermodel Jin Dachuan said he would not take part in any show or any event staged by the brand in the future.

The brand has incensed Hongkongers in the past. In January 2012, at a Dolce & Gabbana's store in Harbour City on Canton Road, a security guard reportedly told locals that only mainlanders and foreigners were allowed to take pictures in the store. He apparently threatened to smash a local resident's camera if they continued to take photographs.

Remember these protests at Harbour City in 2012?

A series of protests at the store ensured until Dolce & Gabbana eventually apologized days later, though it wasn't enough to assuage people's anger.

The Italian design duo seems to love to court controversy, and some believe the latest ad campaign and subsequent online spat were deliberately done to stir up reaction -- but at the risk of being shunned?

It's a huge gamble, and perhaps this time the Chinese will protest the brand with their wallets and shop elsewhere.

Surely this is not a risk worth taking?

Having just visited Italy, it's obvious the government is taking tourism very seriously by having security personnel at major landmarks, while fashion brands are very keen on serving Chinese customers.

But it seems that Dolce & Gabbana really don't care about the consequences of fanning the flames of Chinese nationalist anger. 

Maybe the massive drop in sales will persuade them to keep their mouths shut?

Hot Sunset Tip -- Secret Spot at Harbour City

Check out that view of Victoria Harbour on the rooftop at Ocean Terminal

I usually don't like to schlep to Harbour City, a shopping mall in Tsim Sha Tsui, but there has been a slew of restaurant openings there in the new extension designed by Sir Norman Foster. I've visited a few of them, but more seem to be springing up every week.

Invader's giant anchor nearby

My architect cousin who works in China likes to see any newly completed projects when he comes to Hong Kong and asked about this one so we checked it out.

Coming from the Star Ferry in Central the walk to the new area isn't too bad -- it's when you are coming from the MTR that it's a dreaded long walk, battling shoppers and going all the way to Ocean Terminal and then going all the way to the end of it to reach the extension.

Once you get there though, you have unparalleled views of Victoria Harbour. When we looked up at the ceiling we could see people's feet -- so there is a rooftop spot for people to hang out.

Go all the way to the top floor which is the parking lot and then turn around and you will see a terraced viewing area that's perfect for fireworks, but you probably have to sit there all day to keep this coveted spot.

Nevertheless, it's also the ideal place to watch the sunset -- provided you know there's going to be an amazing one coming. The seating here is comfortable and there are staircases on either side to go up or down.

Look! A space invader with a Hong Kong flag

The place could almost be a mini stage for a site-specific performance, or a small cocktail party. It could easily be closed off for a private event.

In addition if you look, you'll find French artist Invader's work -- two mosaic space invaders holding the Hong Kong flag. Also behind by the parking lot is a giant mosaic anchor, and off to the right another space invader on top of an anchor.

Perhaps Harbour City worked with the artist to add these playful details -- they're fun for social media.

Not everyone knows about this spot... yet...

And this viewing area must be one of the best secrets in town -- we even took pictures of the place with no one else there...

Flashing the Cash in Macau

Beautiful blue skies this afternoon with a view of Galaxy Macau

Usually when I'm in Macau for work, I'm rushing to where I want to get to, and then rushing back to the ferry terminal to get back to Hong Kong as soon as possible.

This time I had an hour to kill before dinner and wandered around Galaxy's shopping mall area. It's very glitzy, much like Elements in West Kowloon, with practically every top luxury brand you can think of having a store there.

Everywhere you look there are luxury brands in the mall

However, unlike Harbour City and IFC mall in Hong Kong, they are not crawling with lots of mainland shoppers. Some stores were completely empty and desperate for anyone to at least walk in, others might have one or two people.

There are two types of mainland consumers these days -- the sophisticated ones who already have the brand name bags and designer clothes who act nonchalant, while the country bumpkins like to flash the cash, but don't have much style.

The latter ones I saw at Burberry, a group of women ranging from 20s to 50s who sat around couches in one room of the store and chatted loudly as they waited for a saleswoman to bring a bag out from the supply room.

One even took her foot that was wearing a dirty nylon sock out of her shoe and rested it on the coffee table. Classy. They spoke in a dialect I couldn't understand but it sounded like they were shouting at each other, but probably having an inane conversation.

Burberry is one of the stores that had some customers

Meanwhile the sales staff wore earpieces and would constantly report on customers' whereabouts -- "the young woman with the black bag is coming up stairs" or "they are still sitting there" in Cantonese.

The gaggle of women got so frustrating for one salesgirl to deal with that she vented her stress by stomping on the store's internal staircase as she walked up the stairs.

Burberry items may be cheaper than Louis Vuitton, but still considered luxury at over HK$10,000 for a handbag.

There's no choice but to try your best to please the rich -- no matter who they are -- because they're the ones paying your salary.

Picture of the Day: Lai See Envelopes

Some of the more creative lai see envelopes this year celebrating the dog

This being the Year of the Dog has heralded many displays featuring cute canines and it also extended to lai see envelopes.

Designers have been given a lot of space to create some fun envelopes and these are the favourite ones I received this year.

Clockwise from the left is one from Harbour City, with a complicated way to open the envelope by releasing its folded paws to be able to get the money note inside. Why does the dog not have eyes? Seems weird, but cute nonetheless.

Next the red and gold envelope from auction house Christie's gets the award for best graphic design. Look closely and not only are there red dogs, but gold ones too!

We also can't resist the gorgeous face of this mutt from the SPCA that says 一狗万利.

Finally, a red and blue thick envelope from ba&sh, a fashion brand. Pull the gold tab and a and the red dogs turn into a red background with gold lettering that says "Happy Chinese New Year!"

Picture of the Day: Weather Woes

Lovely sunset; too bad about the rain, though it keeps temperatures cooler

This past week has had crazy weather. The morning will be blue skies, blazing hot sun, and then sometime in the afternoon dark clouds suddenly gather and there's heavy rain for a few minutes before stopping and then starting again about an hour later.

While the weather is pretty humid, it's not suffocating hot, though the rain gives a short welcome respite from the heat.

This photo is of the sunset this evening from Tsim Sha Tsui -- a gorgeous pink one, though raindrops were still hanging around from the rain a few hours earlier.

Sadly the Hong Kong Observatory forecasts thunderstorms this weekend...

Roses bring Overwhelming Response

Tamar Park is covered in white roses -- 25,000 of them -- until February 22

Yesterday was the start of Light Rose Garden, a public art installation at Tamar Park. It features 25,000 white roses (not real) that are lit up with LED lights and will be showing there every night from 6pm until February 22.

The white roses are lit with LED lights

Thinking today many couples would be busy indulging in their Valentine's Day dinner, I thought I'd take a look after my workout at the gym in Central.

However I was so wrong -- everyone else had the same idea as me and there was a massive crowd converging on the escalator at United Centre to get up to the overpass to Tamar Park.

There were so many people that the escalator going up was shut down, forcing people to walk up. But that was not the end of it -- we had to bypass Tamar Park and walk all the way to Citic Tower, down three flights of stairs to get to the ground floor, walk across the street to the Legislative Council and then encounter another backlog of people before entering the park.

It's pretty neat to see them if you squeeze past the crowds

While it was neat to see so many people "occupy" the area since the Umbrella Movement, the detour to get back to Tamar Park was insane, but I could see why. There must have been tens of thousands of people there and the maze we had to go through was an attempt at crowd control.

When I finally managed to get close to the edge where the roses were, people whipped out their smartphones above my head to get pictures.

Seeing so many people there of all ages, it made me wonder why they were so drawn to something like this, and not say, the other public art show going on now, Antony Gormley's Event Horizon, where his 31 life size bronze statues are placed on the roofs of public buildings in the city, save for one on Queen's Road Central at D'Aguilar Street.

There were tens of thousands of people there tonight

While Gormley's statues encourage viewers to examine the relationship between man and buildings, man and cities, as well as looking at new perspective, what is Light Rose Garden about?

Are Hong Kong people unable or unwilling to be reflective and understand how art enhances our lives? Or are they only interested in straight-forward ideas that are easy to grasp?

I really wondered about this while I was at Tamar Park, the hordes of people jostling around trying to take photographs.

While I thought the installation was pretty, the crowds were overwhelming, making it difficult to appreciate the beauty and expansiveness of it.

The view of nearby Central was a neat sight to behold

Or am I looking way too deeply into this Light Rose Garden, and it's like the massive Rubber Duck @ Harbour City by Florentijn Hofman, where we should just enjoy it for what it is?

Picture of the Day: Totoro Sighting

Look who's here to greet customers!

Last night before going to the Cassandra Wilson concert, YTSL and I had some time to kill and decided to check out the Donguri Republic store in LCX in Ocean Terminal.

Can we catch a ride on the cat bus?

She led the way -- as she'd been there before -- and was a kid in a candy store as soon as we arrived. Donguri Republic is the first store outside of Japan to offer merchandise related to characters created by Studio Ghibli.

Some favourite animated films include My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service, and Spirited Away.

A massive furry Totoro greeted customers -- though he was a rock hard shell underneath -- and further inside was the large Cat Bus in My Neighbor Totoro. People could go inside this bus for photos, and buy all kinds of stuff from bibs for babies to jigsaw puzzles, finger puppets, books, face towels and even Ponyo made of Baccarat crystal!

We were in the store for some 15 minutes, when YTSL got all nostalgic listening to a particular song playing on the store's sound system and promptly bought the CD! These are the kinds of customers Donguri Republic are catering to!

Lots and lots of Totoros!

Donguri Republic LCX Harbour City

Shop 19, LCX Level 3, Ocean Terminal, Harbour City

Tsim Sha Tsui
2376 3363

Sweet French Treat

The decadent chocolate noisette tart in the shop

After the macaron craze in Hong Kong died down (finally) as lines at Laduree evaporated, there's a new French pastry shop that has fans, though not at the same intensity.

It's called Dalloyau and yes there really was a Mr Charles Dalloyau in France, whose breads took the notice of Louis XIV and in 1652 appointed him "Officier de Bouche", the highest gastronomic title at the time.

He and his brothers were allowed to attend the king's meals, invited to official ceremonies and could take part in culinary and gastronomic research.

More pastries on display

This all ended with the French Revolution in 1789 and descendant Jean-Baptiste Dalloyau saved the family name by starting "Dalloyau, house of gastronomy" in 1802.

The name became more associated with the art of good eating, offering to prepare meals for bourgeoisie families at home, much like aristocrats used to. Dalloyau settled at Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore, the current address of the Paris shop.

Since then the name has come to be associated with sophistication and quality.

A few months ago Dalloyau opened its first shop in Harbour City with an excellent fine dining restaurant called Epure attached to it. But the name Dalloyau is not only strange to pronounce for locals, but also in Cantonese sounds like "big fat ass"...

I arrived late this afternoon to pick up some pastries to take to my cousin's place for dinner and even though it was almost 6pm, people were still standing in line waiting to try the afternoon tea.

However staff were on hand to serve me at the take-away counter. I had to pre-order the pastries as the signature Opera cake is usually sold out -- layers of jonconde soaked in coffee syrup, with coffee butter cream and chocolate ganache. It's topped with a bit of gold foil for that rich touch.

Another decadent  one is the chocolate noisette tart, featuring hazelnut chocolate ganache, chocolate glaze and sesame tulle on top. The chocolate ganache isn't too sweet, but it's a dense flavour while the crust holds up well.

Our delectable selections this evening!

The same goes for the lemon tart, that had a fantastic lemon curd topped with lemon zest.

On the lighter side is the berry tart, baked almond cream and vanilla custard, decorated with strawberries, red currant and blueberries.

We also like the mango and passion fruit mousse cake, that was light and fluffy and also had mandarin and apricot compote.

Perhaps the only one that didn't hold well after being transported inside and outside was the Dalloyau, an almond meringue cake with praline cream inside and covered with crushed caramelized hazelnuts.

There's many others cakes we didn't get a chance to try which means we'll have to come back again... a big hint is to come after 7pm on weekdays, but you have to hope not everything has been sold out by then.

Dalloyau

Shop 403, 4/F, Ocean Centre, Harbour City

17 Canton Road

Tsim Sha Tsui
3185 8330

dalloyau.hk

Picture of the Day: A Scary Christmas

Harbour City shopping mall in Tsim Sha Tsui hit the jackpot this year when it brought the giant rubber duck to Hong Kong.

It easily won over fans compared to the inflated Stonehenge and excrement over at M+ in West Kowloon that is set to become the city's cultural hub.

Rubber duck paraphernalia is still sold in stores and a larger version of it went around Beijing.

However, Harbour City may have missed the boat this year in its Christmas decorations.

It banked on Disney characters set in globes, including Nemo, Alice in Wonderland, Pixie from Peter Pan and Stitch.

Perhaps the most popular one of the displays is Mike and Sulley from Monsters University to be the big winner, but it really was the minions in Despicable Me 2 that won the animation battle this year.

The hot item for Christmas at Toys "R" Us is the minion toy where you can poke their stomach and they jiggle their arms and make funny sounds. Can you imagine a child having more than one of them and constantly pushing their tummies? They would be entertained for hours...

Nevertheless, the minions were so popular in Despicable Me 2 that they may have their own movie, perhaps Harbour City will book them for next Christmas?