Gruesome Way to Teach National Education

This year marks the 84th anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre

Some young children have been traumatised after watching explicitly violent videos about the Nanking Massacre, that happened 84 years ago.

PLK HKTA Yuen Yuen Primary School in Tuen Mun last Thursday showed footage of brutal killings to pupils, some who were as young as seven, or in Primary Two, as part of activities to commemorate the massacre that began on December 13, 1937 in the city now known as Nanjing.

The video included scenes of rampaging Japanese soldiers burying Chinese civilians alive and shooting them in the head, as well as fields littered with dead bodies, including those of babies.

Primary Two pupils were traumatised from footage

On Monday a Primary Two student told the media outside the school that some of his classmates cried, and some refused to watch the video, which contained "scenes of execution and babies".

Asked what the teacher did after the students cried, the boy said, "The teacher continued to watch the video. Some students did not watch, holding their books."

Presumably in a bid to hide their eyes from watching the gut-wrenching footage that is horrific for anyone at any age to watch.

The school wrote to parents on Saturday after they reportedly complained about the screening, saying it was "distressed and worried" to learn some children felt uneasy after the class. It also vowed to pay more attention to children's feelings and offer counselling to them.

The commemoration was part of the school's drive to follow a bureau call for educators to develop in students "a sense of national identity and a sense of commitment towards the nation".

But perhaps after that horrific experience they will be too terrified and paralysed to do anything for the nation...

Lam says China's history must be taught

While Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor stressed the importance of learning about China's past, she put the onus on teachers to decide on lessons that were age appropriate, as she noted past complaints of officials trying to "control everything".

"It's not for education officials to dictate or... provide very detailed guidelines on what to show, when to show and so on," she said on Tuesday.

Lam hoped the public would recognise that learning Chinese history was "absolutely important for school education".

"If we don't understand history, it's hard to understand the significance and uniqueness of 'one country, two systems'," she said, referring to the governing principle for Hong Kong.

Yes, history is very important, and at the moment the government is trying to control the narrative of the city's history especially two years ago... except millions of people know another version...

A Banging Percussion Orchestra

The Li Biao Percussion Group was established in 2005

In an orchestra setting, the percussionists are always in the back. They have big drums and other instruments like xylophones, triangles, a gong, and the occasional bird call.

It's pretty cool they can play a lot of different things, but usually they don't get much "air time" during a concert, which is why my friend YTSL and I chose to listen to a concert only featuring percussion, part of the Hong Kong Arts Festival.

Called From Baroque to Tango, the Li Biao Percussion Group is made of Li, who is originally from Nanjing, and five other musicians four from Germany one from Denmark. They don't seem to come together often, as they all have teaching jobs -- the Dane is based in Rio de Janeiro -- so having them perform together was a treat. Two of them also composed pieces we heard.



Li's specialty seems to be the marimba, as he played that the most, while the other musicians would alternate between marimbas, drums and other intriguing instruments making unique sounds. We heard pieces like Antonio Vivaldi's Concerto in D Major, RV93 with marimbas and drums, and even Johannes Sebastian Bach's Italian Concerto, BWV 971. It's different hearing classical music played with the marimba in particular, but Bach seems to match the instrument, with the accompaniment of a harpsichord.

Interesting set up of the instruments! Including a harpsichord

Then there were other pieces like Japanese composer Minoru Miki, who wrote Marimba Spiritual specifically for marimba virtuoso Keiko Abe. It starts off with Li playing a marimba solo and then gradually builds to include drums and ends with an energetic finish.

One arresting piece minus Li was Steve Reich's Music for Pieces of Wood. Five musicians have tuned claves, or short, thick wooden dowels and two of them are constantly playing throughout the 10-minute piece. Meanwhile others chime in and shift their speed.

Reich likes to describe it as "imagine listening to a kaleidoscope. A pattern is established, then shifts as with the click of the kaleidoscope". We were mesmerized by the synchronized beats and how well they played together.

Li had his own solo in Crossover for Snare Drum Solo by Wolfgang Reifeneder, playing four different kinds of music, military, Viennese waltz, pastoral and then "spirited", where Li even got down on his knees and hit his chair legs and anything else around him. It was fun.



The last piece was American composer Russell Peck's Lift-Off! Before they played the piece, Li warned it involved nine drums so it would be very, very loud. It required a lot of stamina to play the drums that long and together in time, rolling like waves, one set of drums very loud, then the next set, then then next, and then back again. It was thrilling to watch and hear!

After each piece, the musicians would point at Li with their marimba or drum sticks, while Li would point back at them, as if to say, "You're da man!" It was quite amusing.

Nevertheless, that was my last concert from the Hong Kong Arts Festival and glad it ended with a bang!

From Baroque to Tango, The Li Biao Percussion Group
Concert Hall, Hong Kong Cultural Centre

Rudolf Alexander Bauer, Seven Seas

Antonio Vivaldi (arr. Li Biao), Concerto in D Major, RV93
Allegro
Larghetto
Allegro

Steve Reich, Music for Pieces of Wood

George Hamilton Green, Ragtime Suite

Minoru Miki, Marimba Spiritual

Johann Sebastian Bach (arr. Li Biao), Italian Concerto, BWV 971
Allegro
Andante
Presto

Wolfgang Reifeneder, Crossover for Snare Drum Solo
Military, traditional
Highly Viennese
Pastoral
Spirited, hilarious

Philipp Jungk, Taklamakan

Astor Piazzolla (arr. Li Biao), Escualo, La Muerte del Angel, Libertango

Russell Peck, Lift-Off!

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.

#MeToo 20 Years Later

Gao Yan was a top student at Peking University before she committed suicide

The fledgling #MeToo movement in China got a big boost recently when a literature professor at Nanjing University was suspended for allegedly sexually harassing and raping a student 20 years ago.

At the time 21-year-old Gao Yan, who was a start student, told her friends that professor Shen Yang, who was teaching at Peking University had forced her to have sex. He also apparently spread rumours that Gao was mentally ill.

Shen, 62, has denied the accusations.

Professor Shen Yang allegedly sexually harassed Gao

Her classmates have been pressing for justice ever since she died. During Qing Ming last week when Chinese families sweep graves to remember their relatives and ancestors, one of Gao's friends, Li Youyou posted an essay online, chastising Shen for not apologizing.

"Twenty years have passed. Your constant lies and crimes should be put to an end," she wrote.

In an interview with The Beijing News on Friday, Shen described the accusations as "malicious defamation".

The essay spread quickly online and some Chinese media wrote stories about it, which may have led to to him being fired.

Even Gao's parents complained to the university in 1998 about the alleged sexual assault, and while the tertiary institution did conduct an investigation that found Shen did have sex with Gao, it only issued him a demerit and did not terminate his employment contract.

Shen is the second prominent professor to be sacked due to allegations of sexual misconduct after Chen Xiaowu of Beihang University.

The movement is slowly growing in China (with other names)

Universities in China need to address the power imbalance between students and professors, but also the same patriarchal hierarchy in companies too.

Nevertheless, getting more people to talk about #MeToo or #MiTu or #woyeshi (the Chinese version) is important. And as some say, eventually truth prevails.

Picture of the Day: Nanjing Massacre at 80

People gathered at the Cenotaph in Central... are they allowed there?

This morning I took our company shuttle bus to work and on the way we passed by the Cenotaph in Central.

I was shocked to see a bunch of people standing there and holding large Chinese flags.

Then I remembered it was the 80th anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre, but why were these people standing there?

The Cenotaph is a war memorial that commemorates the dead in the two world wars who served in Hong Kong in the Royal Navy, British Army and the Royal Air Force.

What does it have to do with Nanjing?

If they want to commemorate the Nanjing Massacre they need to find their own cenotaph!

Remembering Prince Mikasa

Prince Mikasa was married to Princess Yuriko for over 70 years

Prince Mikasa, the uncle of Japanese Emperor Akihito, passed away on Friday morning. He was 100 years old.

Reading his obituary in the paper, I read with interest how he was the only member of the imperial family with military experience, and because of that strongly advocated peace after World War II.

After he graduated from the Military Academy in 1936, the prince served in the cavalry regiment. He graduated from the Military Staff College in 1941 and was posted to then Nanking (now Nanjing), as an Imperial Japanese Army officer under a pseudonym in 1943.

The prince was posted in Nanking under a pseudonym

That city was the site of the infamous Nanking massacre by Japanese troops in late 1937 and early 1938. When the war ended he was 29 years old and a major.

Even before the war ended the prince began criticizing Japan's military leadership. In a book published in 1984, he recalled being shocked at atrocities committed by the Japanese military while he was serving in China for a year.

"Even today I constantly feel the sting of conscience over my failure to fully grasp the criminality of war," he wrote.

In a 1994 interview with Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun, the prince recalled, "I was strongly shocked when an officer told me that the best way to train new soldiers is to use a living prisoner of war as the target of bayonet practice."

After the war he devoted himself to the study of ancient Asian history and taught at such universities as Tokyo Woman's Christian University and the Tokyo University of the Arts where he was paid US$6.40 a month.

The prince advocated peace after the war

He was the first in the Imperial family to get a driver's license and advocated birth control, even though he himself had five children. "It is not easy to practice what you preach," he conceded after the fourth child was born.

Together with Princess Yuriko, 93, whom Prince Mikasa married in 1941, he had three sons and two daughters, but the three princes died in 2002, 2012 and 2014.

When he turned 100 last December, The Japan Times reported the prince issued a statement thanking Yuriko for her support during their over 70 years of marriage, saying, "Nothing will change just because I turn 100 years old."

10 Chinese Cities to Watch

Of all the Chinese cities, Chengdu is considered to have a booming economy

It's interesting to discover Chengdu is considered to have the most successful economy in China, according to a US-based think tank, considering such factors as job growth, foreign investment and high value-added industries.

Shanghai and Tianjin were second and third respectively, while the Chinese capital was 13th in the Milken Institute study.

Shanghai is in second place in the Milken Institute study

Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province was praised for its "human capital, central government support, established industries in high-end aerospace and aircraft design, and a more recently developed electronics manufacturing sector".

The study said mainland cities were developing in two ways: For Shanghai and Tianjin it is about urbanization, industrial clustering and infrastructure investment bolstering larger regional economies.

The other way, due to the slowdown in economic growth, was the focus on technology, private investment and consumption.

This is the first time the institute has ranked mainland cities, assessing 266 at the prefecture level and above, and divided them into two categories -- 34 first and second-tier cities, and the rest as third-tier cities.

Tianjin comes in third with lots of potential for growth

The study didn't just look at economic growth, but also job and wage growth, gross regional production, foreign direct investment and the strength of high value-added industries.

Chengdu may have done well in the study due to having several respected universities and has lower labour costs.

Interestingly Shenzhen just made number 10 on the list, and seven of the top 10 third-tier cities were in Jiangsu province, which has a strong transportation network of airports, highways and high-speed rail links.

The top 10 cities are:

1. Chengdu

2. Shanghai

3. Tianjin

4. Dalian

5. Nanjing

6. Hefei

7. Xiamen

8. Changchun

9. Chongqing

10. Shenzhen

There should be lots of information to be gleaned from this study and potential investors and entrepreneurs should take note.

The Truth About Air Pollution in China

Air pollution in Beijing is apparently not as bad as some other cities in China

A new study by Greenpeace and Peking University shows that air pollution kills more people than smoking in many cities in China.

The smog-inducing pollutants known as PM2.5 caused 257,000 premature deaths across the mainland's 31 cities and provincial capitals in 2013 according to the study, an average of about 90 in every 100,000 deaths.

But the averages were higher in 12 of the 31 cities, including Shijiazhuang, Nanjing, Tianjin and Chongqing, where at least 100 out of every 100,000 deaths were caused by PM2.5.

These two averages were higher than the official mortality rate for smoking, which was about 70 per 100,000 deaths in 2012, according to Greenpeace.

This is only the tip of the iceberg, as there are some cities, like those in Hebei province that are even more polluted, but were not included in the survey.

Although many complain about Beijing's smog, the Chinese capital actually measured 79 of every 100,000 premature deaths due to air pollution, lower than 21 other cities featured.

Peking University professor Pan Xiaochuan said the survey team tried to collect data from more than 100 cities, but many had data that was either incomplete or inconsistent.

This says a lot about not only collecting data properly, but also the individual municipalities' and provinces' concerns about public healthcare issues. PM 2.5 are tiny particulate matter smaller than 2.5 microns that can stay lodged in a person's lungs.

While 21 cities have introduced plans to tackle air pollution, setting themselves reduction targets to be met by 2017, Greenpeace says even if such goals were met, only 26,000 deaths could be avoided annually.

The environmental activist group says the entire country needs to make a concerted comprehensive and collected effort to reduce pollution.

There are no official statistics on premature deaths caused by air pollution. In 2013, the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention launched a study on the impact of smog on public health, but the results won't be ready until later this year.

Interestingly last year former health minister Chen Zhu and three other authors estimated in The Lancet medical journal that air pollution caused 350,000 to 500,000 premature deaths per year.

But an earlier study in the same journal said air pollution accounted for 1.2 million premature deaths in 2010 alone.

So what are the real numbers? Perhaps China is too scared to find out... or more importantly be blamed for these deaths...