Tense Commemoration of Leslie Cheung

Leslie Cheung died 19 years ago today, fans still remember

Today is the 19th anniversary of singer and actor Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing's death. He was at the gym on the 24th floor of the Mandarin Oriental, asked for a glass of fresh orange juice,  a piece of paper and pen.

He wrote a note that turned out to be a suicide message, went out on the balcony and then jumped to his death on April 1, 2003.

When news first broke of Cheung's suicide, people thought it was an April Fool's joke.

Previous memorials with lots of flowers, fans

But it was the cruel reality that one of Hong Kong's beloved artists died after battling depression and could not fight it anymore.

That day flowers were placed around the outside of the hotel and since then, every April 1 fans have paid tribute to Leslie 哥哥 or "older brother Leslie" by bringing bouquets or having florists deliver giant flower displays there with loving messages, saying they miss the singer, and that they still love him, some from Japan even.

The floral displays were quite amazing and heartening to see, that he has so many devoted fans after all these years. The hotel quietly allowed fans to commemorate the singer on this one day each year.

Last year what happened and the year before? I guess the gatherings were small because of the pandemic, but still happened?

This year no memorial, but lots of tension

However today the loving and nostalgic atmosphere of previous memorials had been completely sucked out of the area.

I went to check it out around 5pm and there were none of the large floral displays -- they had been removed earlier. Instead there were several people clutching their small bouquets and taking pictures of themselves holding the flowers in front of the hotel as proof they had paid tribute to their idol.

Some took pictures of several bouquets on the ground, and as soon as that was done, they scooped up the flowers and left. 

It took me a minute or two to realise there were undercover police there shooing people away.

One older male fan wearing a yellow mask got into a tense argument with one of the undercover cops, who was dressed in black, and dared him to speak louder and ordered people to move along and not to gather.

Fans lingered with flowers then left

The man complied, but not before saying, "hak ging" or "black police" and walked away. "Why can't we gather there," he muttered.

Yes, why can't we?

Has Cheung suddenly become forbidden to remember, like June 4?

Or if it's because of pandemic reasons, how about being more polite about it, letting people have their moment to pay tribute and then leave?

Restricting people's freedoms further just creates more tensions and resentment, not to mention further hatred of the authorities...

Post script: It turns out in the end fans were able to place flowers at the hotel later in the evening. They sang a song at 6.43pm, the time of his death and to avoid further trouble, they dispersed quickly into the night.

Covid-19 Cause Spike in Elderly Suicides

Increased number of seniors contemplating suicide in fifth wave

Now into its third year, coronavirus pandemic has claimed more victims than just those who are infected with the virus -- elderly people who are have committed suicide or are contemplating it.

On Tuesday researchers at the University of Hong Kong said their suicide warning index recently surged to an unprecedented "crisis level", with elderly people more at risk of taking their own lives during this fifth wave of the pandemic.

The Suicide Early Warning System had a daily estimate of suicides at 1.69 on February 23, and as the number of Covid-19 infections rose to the tens of thousands, the estimate hit 4.05 on March 21. The average figure over the past year was 1.8.

Yip says elderly suicides is at "crisis level"

The March 21 figure is the highest since the warning system was created in 2020, though the daily estimate has since dropped.

Professor Paul Yip Siu-fai from HKU's Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention said social distancing measures have affected people's mental health and elderly people are particularly vulnerable.

He said eight people aged 65 and older committed suicide in the past seven days and it's estimated that 400 seniors will take their lives this year -- double the number last year.

"Social distancing [measures] have introduced not only physical distancing but also emotional disconnectedness. I think it's this emotional disconnectedness that leads to the sense of isolation, a sense of being abandoned by family members or by community. It has an adverse impact on our mental health," he told an online press conference.

"For the elderly people, if they live by themselves, I think the community can proactively engage with them," Yip added.

The group Suicide Prevention Services reported handling 220,000 calls in January and February, an average of nine a day from seniors.

Suicide Prevention Services worries about elderly

It said elderly people are worried about getting infected with Covid-19 and so they are scared of meeting relatives during the pandemic. Their sense of crisis also becomes even more heightened if they or a family member contracted the virus, which could then trigger suicide, the group warned.

There were news reports over a week ago about an elderly couple who killed themselves after finding out they tested positive for Covid-19 and didn't want to be a burden on their family.

Justin Leung, a program manager with the service, added most elderly people are not tech savvy either, making it difficult for them to find out the latest information about the pandemic.

"It's very complicated for the elderly. It's difficult for them to learn in a short period of time," he said. 

Yip called on the government to relax social-distancing measures and reopen leisure facilities as soon as possible to help people improve their mental well-being.

He also said the media should do its part by reporting on more positive stories to help reduce people's anxiety.

Many elderly are terrified to meet relatives

Everyone's anxiety levels have spiked during the pandemic, and even more so during this current fifth wave when the number of cases was over the 50,000 mark.

Thankfully they have dropped in the past week and hopefully in the next few weeks will be below 1,000.

It doesn't help when the government is more focused on fighting the virus than being concerned about its residents' well-being.

Hopefully the authorities will heed this study's warnings. While the 2003 SARS epidemic was relatively short lasting only a few months, it was a terrifying time for Hongkongers. Now 19 years later, people need to be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel to hang on and survive, mentally and physically.

More Children Self-Harm During Pandemic

Children find it hard to talk to parents, leads to more arguments

The coronavirus pandemic has caused family tensions at home to become even worse, with some children even self-harming themselves to deal with the pressure, according to a survey.

The Hong Kong Family Mediation Association and the Junior Chamber International Lion Rock polled about 300 parents and 300 primary school students between April and May.

Concerns of children self-harming in survey

They found nearly half of those polled said they had gotten into arguments at least once a day and almost six out of 10 children said they hurt themselves or others to deal with pressure.

Fish Leung, the executive director of the association, said she hadn't expected so many children to harm themselves, and it revealed they could not find a way to release their stress.

She pointed out that traditional stress relievers, like sports or talking it out with classmates were not available because of social-distancing measures imposed to curb the spread of Covid-19.

"Children's verbal language is not good enough -- that's why they don't know how to express themselves or mention their emotions," she said.

"If they tear their [hair] or hurt themselves, this pain will make them happier; happier than communicating with their parents. This is so sad."

She said since the pandemic started, parents and students have not actively been seeking help and schools have referred fewer cases to social workers, as school opening hours have been drastically cut back.

Kids need outlets to release stress and anxiety

Leung appealed to people to seek help at the earliest opportunity, as a buildup of pressure and stress could lead to suicidal thoughts.

It's absolutely tragic that children cannot communicate with their parents, nor know how to express themselves, and it is necessary their mothers and fathers empathize with them and acknowledge their struggles. Everyone has been under an unprecedented amount of stress for the past year and a half. 

Not only is Hong Kong dealing with a pandemic (and handling it very well), but what is happening to the city politically is shaking the city down to its core and affecting people's well being too.

 

Joan Cornella's My Life is Pointless

Cornella's art is laced with black humour

 

This year has been... a write-off to say the least. The inability to get together with friends and family, to travel, having to wear masks all the time, working from home, and dealing with social-distancing measures have all taken a toll on all of us.

Which is why we all need a laugh, and artist Joan Cornella has a sarcastic, and often black humour in his work.

This work sums up 2020 for me

The 39-year-old artist from Barcelona is holding his third solo exhibition called My Life is Pointless in Hong Kong, at Sotheby's no less in Pacific Place in Admiralty. 

To ensure social-distancing measures were in place, visitors had to book a time slot to visit the gallery -- and yet they were all filled up before the exhibition started, and there are even wait lists! With the help of a publicist involved in promoting the show, I got a Friday morning time slot -- and only five or six other people were there at the same time.

Before entering we had to fill out health declaration forms, including recording our temperature, and use hand sanitizer.

Young Hongkongers seem to love Cornella's biting observations about modern life that he captures with surreal, often disturbing images.

The last time his show was here, he had some Hong Kong-inspired elements, such as how people need to multitask to survive, and how people's living spaces are so tiny that he questions why people would pay mortgages for them.

A Hong Kong-related piece?

This time the images are more general, but still satirical. As the introduction explains, his characters all share a generic blank smile and a bright cheery colour palette akin to 1950s advertising or airline safety pamphlets. 

Cornella pokes fun at horrible topics, such as cannibalism, infanticide, murder, suicide and amputation. 

"In m comics, characters are like plastic and always have a big smile even though horrible things happen to them constantly. Everything is exaggerated, although certain behaviours can relate to real life," he says.

Perhaps one piece that sums up 2020 with a woman smiling and says: "Today is a good day to feel more boredom and pain!"

Another is a cut out of a man who is smiling and his T-shirt says "free hugs" but he himself has no arms.

You get the idea.

Perhaps the only Hong Kong-related piece is a man in a suit holding up a picketing sign that reads: "Stop demonstrating" when he himself is.

Point a CCTV camera at yourself

Cornella has also created pieces of a man holding a selfie stick with a gun attached to it, pointing at his smiling face. Another version has a CCTV camera attached to the selfie stick, in case he wanted to record his every move -- which many influencers do!

If you are keen on any of Cornella's work in this exhibition, they are available for immediate purchase... someone is desperate to make a sale. We didn't dare ask the prices, but wondered who buys his work when they define the moment right now. Do they stand the test of time?

The gallery is spacious, though we had to feel for the security guards who had to listen to strange music playing all day that sounded very unsettling.

Nevertheless, we just enjoyed seeing these crazy art pieces to give us a bit of levity in such an annus horribilis to the nth degree.

My Life is Pointless by Joan Cornella

Sotheby's Hong Kong Gallery

5/F, One Pacific Place

Admiralty

December 15, 2020-January 29, 2021

What is the Way Forward?

Protesters stormed into the Legislative Council on Monday evening

It has been reported that Beijing sent a task force down to Shenzhen on June 9 when 1 million people came out to protest on the streets. Chinese ministries, including the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, Ministry of Public Security and the United Front works Department, sent officials to Shenzhen to collect intelligence.

How they can observe Hong Kong from across the border is beyond me.

Why did Carrie Lam speak to the media at 4am?

Or do they depend on Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor to give them a report of what's going on, when she met with Vice-Premier Han Zheng, the state leader in charge of Hong Kong affairs before June 15, the day she suspended the extradition bill. Surely he should see what is going on with his own eyes?

"The bottom line for Beijing is to keep Hong Kong stable and to avoid bloodshed. The strategy is to avoid escalation of violent confrontation and remain calm but firm over the principle issues," a source said. The source also praised the Hong Kong police for the way they handled the protests and the clearing of the Legislative Council.

So does "remain calm but firm over the principle issues" mean no compromise whatsoever? Do these senior officials understand that the violence is going to escalate and that there is a greater risk of bloodshed?

While there hasn't been death by bloodshed, three people have committed suicide so far in relation to the extradition bill. How does Beijing feel about that?

Vice-Premier Han Zheng met Lam in Shenzhen before June 15

The source added: "As of Tuesday, they were still in Shenzhen assessing the situation, reviewing the strategy and discussing the way forward."

What is the way forward?

As usual very cryptic.

This evening I talked to a public relations professional with about 20 years' experience who said Lam holding a press conference at 4am was very bizarre. This person said the government has not received the best advice on how to handle the crisis either...
 One would have thought the economic fall out from passing the extradition bill would give Lam second thoughts. Several chambers of commerce and diplomats have warned the chief executive that companies would pull out of Hong Kong if the contentious bill was passed, but their concerns fell on deaf ears.

Apparently this is not new -- it also happens to town planning projects on a community level too. Public consultations allow residents to give feedback of how they want their neighbourhood to be developed or improved upon, and apparently some have very good ideas, but these too are completely ignored and the government just executes its original plan, much to the chagrin of citizens who want to have a better living environment.

How is Hong Kong supposed to become a better city if it is ruled by an arrogant government that assumes it knows better than its residents? This paternalistic attitude really has to stop. The city was not built on arrogance, but on flexibility, negotiation, and hard work.

Or have Hong Kong officials forgotten their roots?

China's Second Lost Generation

There are at least 9 million left-behind children in China, as high as 61 million

Two years ago, the village of Cizhu in Hubei province was in the news for the most unfortunately reason -- four children aged between five and 13 years killed themselves by drinking pesticide after their mother abandoned the family and the father went away for work.

The surviving grandparents were too infirm to care for them and the children had dropped out of school because they couldn't afford it.

What has happened since then?

The village still has a lot of left-behind children; while the parents understand the psychological and emotional consequences of being separated from their children, they have no choice -- the money needs to be made somewhere.

Grandparents must look after the youngsters, a tiring job

According to official figures, last year there were over 9 million left-behind minors, defined as rural children with both parents working away from home, or where one parent is working and the other did not have guardianship of them.

In a wider definition where all children with at least one parents working away from home, the number is as high as a staggering 61 million.

A State Council guideline issued last year called for a system to be set up involving families, governments, schools and social groups to provide care to left-behind children.

It also promised to reduce the number of affected children by improving laws and regulations by 2020 -- only three years away.

Cizhu village is home to 260,000 left-behind children and eight year-old Ma Juan is one of them. She doesn't understand why her father is hardly there, but he has no choice as her mother abandoned the family when she was three months old.

Her father works on construction sites in Shandong province, 1,800 kilometres away and only comes back for Lunar New Year.

Can the government make children's lives better in three years?

Ma's aunt says at least her brother is making some money and saving several thousand yuan a year, bringing gifts for Ma and her older sister.

But for his youngest daughter it's not enough. The aunt said she once found the youngster crying and not even the promise of buying anything could stop her. Later she told her aunt she could not help missing her mother, even though she did not have any pictures of her or remembered what she looked like.

After the 2015 tragedy, Bijie government, which administers Cizhu village, asked parents to return for the sake of their children, and there was even an effort to document those whose parents were away.

But even if parents want to bring children with them to where they are working, they have to pay extra to house them (on their own accommodation is free), and it's an additional cost they would rather not take on, which is why families are separated.

And if they do bring the kids with them, it's hard to find schools to accept them because academically they are behind, and there is the additional cost of tuition.

It's a tough call for parents, but through observation, families where at least one parents came home, their children were more at ease and happy, even smiling more.

Can the government really tackle such a serious issue -- that it has neglected for decades -- within three years?

Chinese President Xi Jinping may be making poverty alleviation a big priority, but how is the government going to help families whose parents must go away for work because they can't earn a decent enough living where their families are?

If the government can solve this issue effectively within three years that would be a miracle. These children -- like eight-year-old Ma -- have been neglected too long -- they are basically a lost generation, the second one after the Cultural Revolution.

What hope does Ma have of a decent life ahead of her if she can't even get the family love and support she desperately needs?

Why Stress Out our Children?

Children in Hong Kong are stressed out as well as their parents

It's shocking to discover Hong Kong children are more stressed out than ever, particularly concerned about their academic performance, followed by trying to meet their parents' expectations.

The Hong Kong Paediatric Society and the Hong Kong Paediatric Foundation released a damning report today saying children are suffering a worrying decline in their mental health in the past decade that is pushing their parents to a breaking point.

"There was no designated section for children in the [chief executive] policy addresses, not to mention a comprehensive child health policy and the children's commission," foundation chairman Dr Chan Chok-wan said.

The emphasis on academics is the main reason for their stress

The report said the government failed to tackle the "root causes" of declining mental health among young people, and this resulted in a "vicious cycle" in which parents are pushed to the brink of emotional breakdowns.

In the report that included surveys that asked 1,300 parents what they thought their kindergarten and primary school-aged children were stressed out about. Sixty percent of respondents said academic performance, followed by parental expectations at 50 percent. High self expectations was next at 38 percent, and socializing with friends was 26 percent.

About 70 percent of the parents admitted suffering from emotional problems as a result of childcare pressures, while almost two-thirds of parents had insomnia due to the same reasons.

Eighty-eight percent of the parents reported not getting enough support from the government.

Meanwhile the average number of child suicides is about 23 since 2010, though it increases after temporary government measures are stopped.

Leung Chai-yan has had her battle with mental illness too

Chan criticized Hong Kong's last three chief executives for "not being effective nor directional" on child welfare policies to improve the situation, and suggested Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying was the worst.

This is ironic considering his adult daughter Leung Chai-yan has been suffering from mental health issues; she was in a hospital in Sha Tin a few months ago, though there is no recent word on her status.

The foundation chairman also repeated calls for the government to have a dedicated children's commission to advocate for child welfare issues, but thinks the government would not do this because it would lead to stricter guidelines.

"There is also a perceived manpower constraint. But the children's commission would be the one which would deal with all these affairs. The money used would be much better utilized. That in the long run is the best way to handle this issue," Chan said.

There have been calls for a children's commission for many years now -- how much longer do we have to wait? It is quite obvious the education system is stressing out children and their parents rather than making learning fun and educational.

Hong Kong also doesn't have enough child psychologists to diagnose issues in children to give them timely therapy. And there is too much emphasis on academics than giving children more freedom and space to play and relax.

Are we at a breaking point now, or do we have to wait until there's a spike in child suicides before the government does anything?

Finally Counting Those Left Behind

Many left-behind children are raised by their grandparents

After more than 30 years of "opening up", when paramount leader Deng Xiaoping named Shenzhen a special economic zone where migrant workers left their families to work in factories, the Chinese government has finally decided to look into how many children they left behind since then.

The issue has resulted in children, some now adults, who don't have a proper education and have estranged relationships with their parents, as they only saw them once a year.

Researchers estimate there are more than 60 million of these left-behind children, but the government will try to find out the exact number so that each of the kids can get some kind of assistance, according to China Youth Daily.

The government ministries will also include migrant juveniles, those who followed their parents from the countryside to the city, which could be as many as 36 million.

Some children have to fend for themselves in rural areas

Ni Chunxia, deputy head of the Ministry of Civil Affairs' social affairs department, said there was no authoritative data on the issue, even though it has long been a major social problem.

A number of these children have led lives of juvenile delinquency, or have committed suicide. Last year a boy and three girls, aged between five and 13, who lived in poverty near Bijie, Guizhou, killed themselves by drinking pesticide.

In the same place in 2012, five left-behind boys living on the streets were found dead in a large garbage bin after having inhaled carbon monoxide while burning charcoal to keep warm.

Last month a directive from the State Council ordered local governments to build a database of these children. The authorities must have one file per child, and each updated on a regular basis.

Lawyer Li Ying, director of the Beijing Yuangzhong Gender Development Centre and an activist in helping left-behind children, said having the database was essential in providing better care and support.

Left-behind children don't get much of an education

"After many years of services, I really think that we can't replace parents after all," she said. "We saw many tragedies and learned that the absence of parents not only means  a lack of caring for their daily life, but also a lack of fundamental education, about telling them what's right and what's wrong.

"The authorities should focus more on luring the parents back home, such as creating jobs and improving their social insurance," Li said. "That way their children can enjoy normal family love."

It's shocking three decades later the government is finally taking some interest in this major group of people, and when it comes to security, one would have thought the government would want to pay more attention to them.

These migrant workers are the ones who sacrificed so much to help build the country economically to the world's second-largest economy, and yet the government only now thinks to focus more attention on their left-behind children.

If there are over 60 million of them, imagine how many aren't properly educated, don't have the necessary social skills let alone life skills to become fully-functioning members of society?

Some NGOs have tried to help this group of people, but were previously thwarted by the government through accusing them of not having proper licenses to run schools for children of migrant workers or making it hard for people to donate to charities that want to help them.

Perhaps now the government see the disparity is too great to ignore?

Failing Our Next Generation

Hong Kong's education system seems to be about learning to pass exams

Since the beginning of the academic year, there have been 22 Hong Kong students who have committed suicide, including four in five days. One was an 11 year old. This compares to 23 suicides per year from 2010 to 2014.

The Hong Kong government is alarmed enough that Education Secretary Eddie Ng Hak-kim has announced a team of psychologists will work with schools to provide better counseling. However he did not clarify how many were in the team.

Currently almost every school has a social worker, but there are hardly enough psychologists to go around in the city, let alone for schools.

Eddie Ng pledged to find prevention against student suicides

Nevertheless, people were quick to blame the highly stressful school system, where the constant focus on grades since early age makes it difficult not only on the students, but the parents as well.

There is also the scheduling of children's days from morning to evening, seven days a week so that they have no downtime or even a few hours to play with friends. Does a three-year-old really need a CV as thick as a magazine?

Many believe the education system really needs to be completely revamped, with a focus more on actual learning than learning how to pass exams. Currently students seem to just go through the motions and don't find school fun at all.

When kids aren't interested in learning then how will the city be able to innovate at all? Curiosity is what inspires people to find out new ways of doing things, or new things, period.

But education chief Ng didn't mention anything about examining the pitfalls of the current education system and instead said it would set up a committee to look into the problem and recommend preventative solutions within six months.

What a pathetic bureaucratic response.

Children don't have enough time to play and decompress

How about reaching out to the shocked and bereaved parents, fellow students and teachers, asking them if they saw any signs of trouble, and find out what what support they need?

There are also concerns that parents aren't spending enough time with their children, as both mother and father work these days to pay the rent/mortgage/school fees/put food on the table, etc.

The other extreme of parents sheltering their children is not good either, as young people are less able to cope with setbacks and failure, as encountering these kinds of incidents can be good for character building.

Another factor is that children today are more antisocial and would rather text than talk face-to-face with friends and adults.

"This generation grew up with the internet. Although they are more connected, they also tend to look only at things they like. They might not understand complicated or different views on an issue. For anyone who sees things not fitting their taste, they could simply 'unfriend' them," says Dr Lee Sing, a professor of psychiatry at Chinese University.

This results in young people seriously lacking in interpersonal skills and the inability to cope with stress.

What needs to be done is to discuss the issue so that people -- not just young ones -- will be encouraged to speak up. With the fast-paced world we are living in, people do not have time to reflect on their lives or think about what they want to.

With 22 suicides already this academic year, it's time to stop and ask what is going on and figure out how we have failed the next generation.

Pictorial Past

Bound in happiness -- a year's worth of magazines

My great aunt passed away over a year ago and her daughter-in-law began cleaning out some cupboards that were filled with lots of old books kept from over the years.

Features of the famous Chinese opera performers of the day

Two interesting ones she found were The Happiness Pictorial (幸福) from 1956 and 1957. These were monthly magazines one could buy or subscribe to, and if you wished, you could buy a hardbound copy of a whole year's worth.

I guess my great aunt or great uncle liked these magazines so much that they bought the hardbound ones.

A double-page spread on toys, old and new

We flipped through them and it was a fascinating look at what life was like over 60 years ago. Each issue featured an array of different topics, such as dim sum today, or western baking, the latest fashions, space for local photographers to showcase their work, cartoons, and travel.

The pages were mostly covered in pictures with Chinese text with some English translation. So as someone who doesn't read much Chinese, this was a fascinating read into Hong Kong at the time.

First of all the layouts weren't particularly effective, and pictures should have been edited down. The writing wasn't particularly informative or well written, but gave us a general gist of what was going on.

Contrast these pictures with today's harbour scenes

Each cover would feature starlets and my relatives explained to me that many in the 1950s and 1960s committed suicide because they were in relationships with men who treated them badly.

On the back cover there was always an ad for White Flower Oil or 白花油. Back then back page cover ads in colour were HK$1,000!

Artwork was also featured, like water colour paintings, wood block prints and paintings by artists like Pablo Picasso.

The content was so random that one had to wonder what was the point of this magazine, but perhaps during this period, it served a wide audience, who may have enjoyed different aspects of it. This was obviously before the days of specialization!

A beautiful wood block print within the book

Nevertheless, it's such an intriguing look at how people during that time saw lifestyle and what it meant to them.

Stateless Kids in the City

For nine years, Siu Yau-wai (right) has lived in Hong Kong illegally

Last month, a 15-year-old girl jumped to her death from her parents' flat in Repulse Bay. It was later discovered the daughter of a senior British executive and his Filipina partner, did not have a birth certificate. And as a result, she and her younger sister didn't have Hong Kong Identity Cards and weren't able to go to school.

This brought into question how many other children there are in the city like this and another case turned up this week.

In 2006, a grandmother brought her three-year-old grandson across the border from Shenzhen after his parents abandoned him. They decided he was a "bad omen" after his mother was diagnosed with breast cancer and the father lost an arm in an industrial accident.

They apparently left Siu Yau-wai in a "paper box" on the mainland shortly after he was born, and their whereabouts is unknown.

The 15-year-old girl's parents who didn't register her or sister

How the grandmother, Chow Siu-Shuen, found her grandson three years later has not been clarified, but nevertheless she took the boy back to Hong Kong using another child's ID card and two-way permit.

The boy, Yau-wai, now 12, has spent his childhood in a small public flat in Kwun Tong with his 67-year-old grandmother and grandfather, 80.

They lived in constant fear because he didn't have any papers, so they were terrified of letting anyone in their flat. If someone from the Housing Authority or census staff came, the boy would escape down the back stairwell to the park below, Chow said.

While she home schooled him, Yau-wai liked to read and would only go to the library at night "to avoid crowds", and could not borrow books because of his lack of status, nor could he see the doctor when he was ill. His grandmother would resort to home remedies or take him to see a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner, as ID cards are not necessary.

The boy said he had friends, but none knew he didn't go to school, and neither did their neighbours.

But after reading about the tragic circumstances around the 15-year-old girl's suicide, Chow decided it was in the best interests of Yau-wai to turn herself in and hand him over to the authorities.

Chow was arrested on suspicion of aiding and abetting others in breach of condition of stay, and was granted bail, while the boy was given an identification document allowing him to stay for four weeks, subject to renewal.

"We must now face the reality. We know there may be legal consequences," said the retired grandmother. "If I die one day and he does not have documentation... he will have no way to live."

Yau-wai was assessed and found to have primary three education level, about four years younger than him.

For now Chow and her grandson are free to walk the streets without fear, but what's next? Should he be allowed to stay in Hong Kong?

If he is granted permanent residency, there are fears that many other children who are in similar cases to Yau-wai or the teenager in Repulse Bay will start coming forward. How many really are there in the city?

It also seems not enough is done to enforce the Births and Deaths Registration Ordinance, that while staff may try to follow up on cases that haven't registered, they are not persistent enough and feel the onus is on the parents, who have a year to do the right thing.

However, the media has found there were 543 children from July 1997 to March this year who were registered after the children turned one, with 71 cases since 1997 that were not registered.

If you register a child 42 days after birth, the birth certificate is free, otherwise you have to pay HK$140. After one year it jumps to HK$680.

The story of Yau-wai seems strange, as how would his grandmother know where to find him three years later if he was abandoned in a cardboard box? A quick DNA test would verify their relationship.

But in the meantime, is Hong Kong going to see a flood of children coming out of the woodwork to claim residency?

Should be interesting and we'll only know once Yau-wai's situation is cleared up.

Publicity Stunt?

Leung Chai-yan is not shy about her conflicts with her parents

Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying's daughter was in the spotlight again -- this time all over the media in the past few weeks.

Leung Chai-yan, 23, looked much different from when her parents made an emergency trip to visit her in London last June when she hurt herself by apparently cutting her wrists.

She later admitted in an interview with East Week magazine that it was the first time she hurt herself and she was at "the lowest point" in her life and that she only wanted "to do something to attract my parents' attention".

In a pre-recorded seven-part television interview this evening on Cable TV's entertainment news program CEN, Leung was seen slumped in a chair as host Natalie Mitchell tried to interview her, as she seemed to be muttering in Chinese and English.

On a televised interview series called I Am Leung Chai Yan

Leung wore a black tank dress, her hair up and accessorized with lots of bracelets and rings. It almost seems surprising she didn't sport a tattoo or perhaps there's one (or more) we don't know about.

In the five-minute interview of the first installment of I Am Leung Chai Yan, she admitted having over 100 bad arguments with her parents, with whom she doesn't see eye-to-eye.

"They judge my friends. I would get very angry," Leung says. "[They] care much about the superficial factors, like who [my friends] do academically, their family backgrounds, how they do in exams, if they are going to enter Oxford or Cambridge [University]... what their parents do.

"I understand they want to protect me. But I apparently do not look at these things. I don't care what [subject] you have failed... so long as you are a good friend and a good person," she says.

What Leung describes are every other "tiger" parents who are anxious to make sure their kids are socializing with the right people and doing academically well in school.

But perhaps because Leung went overseas for her education since the age of 12, she has become much more westernized than her parents expected and may have felt they have lost control of her, as Leung describes her mother as "strict".

Leung with her parents in London after she harmed herself

In the latter interviews, the law student admits she suffered from depression, and was "pretty familiar with the insides of a London ambulance".

But despite the conflicts she has with her parents, Leung claims she is a "filial" child. "If I could have a heart-to-heart with my parents, I would say that I want to feel loved. Not just be loved, but feel loved. There's a difference," she said in an interview with HK magazine.

The barrage of publicity around Leung Chai-yan comes as almost half of Hong Kong people believe her father's policy address failed to boost the government's popularity, according to a Chinese University survey.

One has to wonder if her dad's PR machine put her up to this, or she went out on her own to bare all about her life in the Chief Executive's family.

Leung Chai-yan is definitely not like any other child in privileged circles in Hong Kong -- which is refreshing in a way, but probably horrifying for her parents to be exposed in this way.

Whether it will soften her father's image or make him more human will be interesting, but for now she has definitely set tongues wagging...

Finality of Death

Li Junjie (left) with two police officers on the roof

Tonight everyone was talking about the young man who jumped to his death this afternoon from Chater House in Central.

The police confirmed a 33-year-old man surnamed Li jumped from the roof of the building around 2.08pm. While the company has not officially confirmed the man's identity, several employees identify him as having worked at JP Morgan, where the investment bank has its main regional headquarters.

Several policemen were seen on the roof of Chater House trying to persuade the man to step away from the edge, but Li jumped before Hong Kong emergency crews arrived. He landed on the four-lane westbound carriageway outside the building and was taken to Ruttonjee Hospital but was declared dead at 2.31pm.

According to some JP Morgan employees, Li was a junior-level investment banker who played supporting roles in several projects.

There's lots of speculation as to why this young man committed suicide: some theories say that he had just received a bad work appraisal, or that he screwed up on some trades.

More information will come out in the next few days, but one wonders why people choose to end their lives this way.

I still think about my friend Ying who also jumped to her death in Beijing last June, trying to comprehend why she didn't seek help and instead chose to burden her family and friends with grief.

Or perhaps they were living with demons we can't even begin to understand and for them the only solution they can think of is death.