Hong Kong's Inept Leadership on Coronavirus

About half of people I saw today wore masks as a precaution in public areas

After last night's news of Hong Kong having two confirmed cases of patients testing positive with the coronavirus, this morning many people wore surgical masks in public. Some of my colleagues wore masks because they were coughing, or others wore the protective gear to prevent themselves from catching anything.

Not having been here in 2003, I was reticent about what to do -- was it that serious? But it seems like it is better to err on the side of caution these days. You never know if the person next to you isn't feeling well.

Why can the MTR be stopped and not the high speed rail?

However, the supply of masks has run out in many pharmacies in Hong Kong, making people panic even more.

But in a way they have a right to worry as the Hong Kong government seems to take a laissez-faire attitude towards the coronavirus that originated from an animal market in Wuhan, in Hubei province.

Even health experts are chastising the government for acting so slowly in trying to contain or prevent cases from coming into the city.

"There is so much more the Hong Kong government can do. They have done so little so far," said Dr. Arisina Ma Chung-yee, president of the Hong Kong Public Doctors' Association. "The checks at the border are insufficient."

Dr Ho Pak-leung says the government needs to do more

Previously there was no need for passengers traveling on the high speed rail to the West Kowloon terminus to fill out a health card which is outrageous. It turns out many of the suspected and confirmed cases were of passengers who took this mode of transport to Hong Kong. If they don't fill out health cards with contact details, how can the authorities track them down as soon as possible?

And with the first suspected case in Hong Kong, why did the authorities allow them to leave Hong Kong and go to Manila to possibly infect another country? It boggles the mind.

Ma also urged the government to consider giving away free masks in public facilities like libraries, to prevent the spread of germs.

Dr Ho Pak-leung from the University of Hong Kong said the government was now doing worse than in 2003, when the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) killed 299 people in the city. At the time everyone entering Hong Kong had to fill out a health form.

"Hong Kong needs to wake up. We all need to wake up. The situation right now is very severe," he said.

People want to travel home for Chinese New Year

Ho added the government should issue the black travel alert to Wuhan, meaning everyone should avoid going there; at present there is only a black alert for Syria.

He also said doctors had claimed many sick mainlanders were trying to come to Hong Kong to seek medical treatment, and this showed the need to step up border controls.

But perhaps the government is caught flat-footed because our fearless leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor is not here but in Davos trying to sell Hong Kong, when she should be delegating more power to her ministers to do everything possible to minimize the coronavirus from spreading in the city. But it seems our city is being run top-down, and since our chief executive isn't here, her ministers don't seem to know what to do.

Political scientist and commentator Simon Shen Xu Hui points out that the MTR can be shut down at anytime because of the protests, but nothing has been done to shut down the high speed rail to prevent the coronavirus from coming into Hong Kong.

A suspected case in Central startles people in the area

But perhaps even worse is mainlanders in China are unaware or not given enough information about the seriousness of the Wuhan coronavirus. For example on tonight's news on CCTV, President Xi Jinping's speech at a Spring Festival banquet was the top story, followed by New Year cultural activities around the country, a happy report on people at Beijing West train station traveling home, and a story on how the rehearsals are going for the CCTV Spring Festival Gala. The Wuhan coronavirus was the fifth news item.

No wonder people are trying to get into Hong Kong to find out what's really going on.

This outbreak is really bad timing -- with Chinese New Year days away, how do you prevent masses of people from congregating or traveling around?

After dinner I took a stroll along the waterfront and one woman was running with a mask on which seemed like overkill. How was she able to breathe? In any event, it looks like wearing masks in public will be de rigeur in the next few weeks at least...

London: British Museum Treasures

After a security check, visitors can enter The British Museum

 

In recent years there has been a lot of debate about whether the British should have been allowed to take so many treasures from places like Greece, Egypt, Syria, and China, and some countries even demanding their priceless artifacts back.

The Rosetta Stone is a must-see

While it is understandable as a point of national pride for countries to want these precious items returned, but in some cases, they would not be kept in as good conditions as they would in The British Museum.

It was started in 1753 by an Irish scientist and physician Sir Hans Sloane who had his own collection, and the museum was opened in 1759 in Montagu House, on the site of the current building. In the following 250 years, it has collected some 8 million objects during the era of the British Empire and is the first public museum in the world. And free!

We were here for a short period of time, so we tried to be as efficient as possible.

The first stop was the Rosetta Stone which is near the entrance. It's very hard to photograph because it's behind glass, but a very important piece that helped archeologists figure out ancient hieroglyphics. On the black stone are carved Demotic, the everyday script of literate Egyptians, and the bottom is Greek, the language used by the government.

One of the many friezes taken from The Parthenon

At the time Egypt was ruled by a Greek dynasty and the Rosetta Stone records an event regarding Ptolemy V Epiphanes, the boy king.

And since we had been to the Parthenon in Athens, where about half of the real marble friezes were in The British Museum thanks to Lord Elgin, we had to see them in person. The marble pieces are housed in a long corridor and to be honest the details of the marble figures and animals are clearer here than in the Acropolis Museum, where they were already weathered down before being housed inside.

The musculature of the soldiers and the horses is evident, showing strength and grace. The robes people wore are detailed to show drapery. However seeing them one after the other numbs the brain's ability to appreciate every single piece. It's also worth remembering that these friezes were placed on the outside perimeter of the Parthenon and not facing each other in this room. Nevertheless to be able to look at them so close up is amazing.

Men holding onto an ox; the drapery is very detailed

One more Greek piece we had to see was the sixth figure that formed the Erechtheum Caryatid. At the Parthenon we saw the replicas, then five of the real figures in the Acropolis Museum, and now the sixth one in The British Museum.

All the figurines are columns holding up the building next to the Parthenon. They each have long thick hair that is plaited and falls behind their backs, and they wear short tunics. They also had baskets on their heads as part of the column.

And like the other marble pieces that Lord Elgin stole/took, this figure in the museum is very detailed from the plaiting of the hair, to the drapery of her tunic, though it's a pity her arms are missing and her face a bit weathered. There seems to be more detail of her hair at the back, but nothing of her feet.

The sixth figure from the Caryatids in Athens

Regardless, it was a thrill to finally see all six figures -- in one trip!

We also saw two Haida totem poles housed in the foyer from British Columbia that date back to about 1850, while we visited the China section, focusing more on the Tang Dynasty known for its porcelain.

One impressive piece is that of a statue of Buddha's disciple called a luohan. This one is in excellent condition, one of 10 found in a cave in the Yixian region of northern Hebei province in 1912. The statue is glazed in the sancai or three-coloured palette.

Another was of a figure who was the assistant to the judge of hell. A clerk carries a slim scroll, recording the names of those who have done good deeds in their lifetimes. The robes of the assistant are detailed particularly in the various layers of "fabric" denoted by the various colours and the draping is magnificent.

What a treat.

The assistant to the judge of hell

The British Museum
Great Russell Street
London WC1B 3DG
britishmuseum.org

Review: Central Airport THF

Ibrahim Al Hussein (left) and Qutaiba Nafer (right) are refugees in Berlin

Thursday was World Refugee Day and I should have posted this review of a documentary I saw on the plane back to Hong Kong.

It's called Central Airport THF (Zentralflughafen THF in German) and it was released last year. When refugees first arrive in Berlin, they are processed and live at Tempelhof Airport, and the documentary follows an 18-year-old Syrian teen Ibrahim Al Hussein and aspiring doctor Qutaiba Nafer from Iraq.



The airport was originally commissioned by Adolf Hitler and opened in 1923 and it was supposed to be the world's biggest airport. But it wasn't quite big enough and closed in 2008. However since 2015 it is a temporary home to thousands of refugees who want to have a new life in Germany.

The film follows them through most of the year, with Ibrahim narrating most of the time. We follow him through his daily rituals, eating in the canteen that he says serves terrible food, learning German, running outside, and smoking. Lots of smoking.

The refugees live in cubicles with open ceilings in a hangar

Meanwhile Qutaiba volunteers his services as a translator to help medical staff process the refugees in terms of their healthcare needs. He is fluent in English and we see him helping not only translate but empathizing with the refugees, and even acting as a psychologist to two boys, asking them to draw out their memories of their homelands.

The pacing is slow -- but it's a deliberate move by filmmaker Karim Ainouz to show how life in the hangars can be, that the wait for refugees to be processed can take a long time especially when there isn't much for you to do.

Everyone lives in a small space with an open ceiling that has very basic beds and no "door", except for a sheet. A couple with children complains about this, but they are told the sheet is fireproof for their safety. They have no choice but to get used to this arrangement.

Ibrahim talks about whatever memories he has left of his home in northern Syria, his family. He wants to try to remember them as much as he can, and recalls his most terrifying night when he got onto a boat and didn't know if he would still be alive the next day.

They try to find ways to pass the time everyday

This contrasts with the predictable, safe, relatively clean and monotonous life he lives in the hangar, though he has a few friends (smokers) who he hangs out with. At Christmas, there's a party complete with several Santa Clauses and presents for the children, but Ibrahim scoffs the party is hardly festive and that it's for the kids, not for people his age.

On New Year's Eve, fireworks are set off, though for Ibrahim and probably many of the refugees, the sounds remind them of bombs and shooting...

What's also bizarre is that near the hangars for the refugees are large spaces for Berliners to ride Segways, bicycles or even do beekeeping. At night security men in a car spot several foxes in the area who aren't scared of humans.

Director Karim Ainouz wanted to humanize the refugee plight

Nevertheless, viewers take a liking to Ibrahim and want to root for him. He is a thoughtful teen, and anxious to get on with his life. It's hard to imagine what it's like to be by himself day after day, being far from his family and Syria, and trying to integrate into this new country, but Central Airport THF gives a good idea.

Central Airport THF (2018)
Directed by Karim Ainouz
1hr 40 mins

Germany's Humanitarian Dilemma

A timely reminder of Germany's constitution of opening its doors

I saw these banners posted in front of the Semperoper or opera house in Dresden:
Open our eyes.
Open our hearts.
Open our doors.
Human dignity is inviolable.

-- Article 1 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany

They immediately made me think of the Syrian, Iranian and Afghani refugees Germany took in since the summer of 2015, when thousands of them were stuck at Hungary's main train station. Today there are about 1.4 million of them in Germany, grateful to be safe from war and persecution.

Merkel visiting refugee children taking classes in school

However, Chancellor Angela Merkel's generous humanitarian action has cost her politically, with native Germans not happy with the massive influx of people who are not one of their own, even though these refugees must integrate and learn how to speak German to be able to thrive.

Our tour guide in Frankfurt blamed Merkel for the current economic situation. He said when he was a child, his father could easily provide for him, his sister and mother, afford a car and take a holiday once a year.

Today the 40-year-old said he and his wife both work -- they don't have children yet -- and they can't afford to buy another car.

Did he not understand that this situation is happening all over the world, not just in Germany? This is not because of the refugee influx. And they wouldn't be competing for his job -- they would be taking the jobs Germans wouldn't want to do.

His dislike of Merkel is misplaced.

I am grateful she has taken in these refugees, and that she has welcomed dissidents like artist Ai Weiwei and Liu Xia, the wife of Liu Xiaobo to Germany.

Liu Xia (centre) and Ai Weiwei (right) meet up in Berlin

It is because Merkel grew up in East Germany since she was an infant and had experienced communism first hand until the age of 35.

Following a series of election setbacks, last October, the Chancellor announced she will step down in 2021 when her term ends. Merkel will also not seek re-election as the head of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany.

Hopefully in the future, Merkel will be vindicated for taking in the refugees not only because of the humanitarian crisis, but also boosting Germany's population to keep the economy going. But for now though, you can feel unease between native Germans and their new neighbours.

Which is why these banners in Dresden are so apt for what is happening today, a reminder to open our eyes, hearts and doors.

Berlin: Museum Hopping

The Alte National Gallery, or Old National Gallery at Museum Island

Berlin has a place called Museum Island, where several museums are within steps of each other, making it convenient to do all your cultural must-dos in one place.

We also bought a Berlin Welcome Card for 79 euros for two days which offers free public transportation, and free admission to all the museums at Museum Island! Yesterday was Thursday and we were lucky to find out all the museums are open that day until 8pm.

The beautiful bust of Nefertiti

Also when you go in, you can get a sheet that lists all the exhibitions, and highlights the must-see. So if you want to whip through the museums you can do that just by seeing the best of each institution without having to go through all the rooms.

The Altes Museum or Old Museum houses old antiquities and we saw many classical Greek statues, a bust of Athena with her helmut perched on her head. It's very serene, yet powerful too. There is also a circular gallery that shows off many Greek statues in a dome-like room reminiscent of The Pantheon in Rome.

Meanwhile the Neues Museum or New Museum is best known for housing the bust of Nefertiti. No photographs are allowed in the room, and the beautiful sculpture is behind glass. The queen is shown to be very delicate, sphynx-like, elegant and petite. Her eyes are gorgeously lined, showing a serene but wise face.

In the same room is a black copy of the bust, but here the blind are welcome to touch her face, which is fascinating. They are so lucky to touch it, while the rest of us have to guess what it must feel like -- behind glass.

Claude Monet's View of Vetheuil-sur Seine

The Alte Nationalgalerie or Old National Gallery features lots of artwork, and we chose to focus on the rooms with art by the Impressionists. Much of the art by German artists in that period were particularly dark in colour compared to the French Impressionists, and many are exhibited here.

Claude Monet's View of Vetheuil-sur Seine (1880) is almost like a photograph, where it's midday, and the sun is coming from directly above. When you step back to admire the painting, from far away it almost looks like a photograph.

We also headed to Pergamonmuseum, named after its main acquisition, a  massive marble altar from the Hellenistic city of Pergamon, but alas it is currently closed. But we did see other amazing things here, like the gigantic recreation of Ishtar Gate of Babylon.

The awe-inspiring Ishtar Gate of Babylon

When the gates were excavated in 1899, they found the gate literally in ruins, broken pieces, and they shipped them back here in 500 crates where they were painstakingly fitted back together like a massive three-dimensional puzzle. The effect is stunning and gorgeous. The deep blue tiles are a wonderful contrast to the animals, such as lions and goats, and a mythical creature that are in yellow.

There was also an exhibition going on featuring cultural artifacts that were saved from Aleppo in Syria before the civil war broke out in 2011. Many are massive stone carvings, gorgeous artifacts that are so intricately detailed. How did they even take them out? Seeing all these things was a relief to know they were being kept safe and protected -- otherwise who would know the state of them now if they had remained in Syria?

Intricate stone carvings from Aleppo, Syria

Next to Museum Island is the Berliner Dom or Berlin Cathedral. Inside we paid 5 euros each for the privilege to go inside and marvel at the giant circular dome above the congregation that has a dove at the centre.

But visitors can also wander through a model section, perfect for architecture buffs, where you can almost look right into the churches and see the inside.

And if you have enough energy, you can climb up to the top of the Berliner Dom. At first there is no signage to explain how many steps it is until part way through when it warns there are 132 more steps to the top and that it is physically demanding!

The panoramic view of Berlin from the Berliner Dom

I take on the challenge and walk up the narrow staircase that climbs up to the top. Once you get there, you have to walk through a long corridor divided by doors until you can finally get outside and be rewarded with a 360 view of Berlin. It's fantastic and well worth the trek up if you can do it.

Review: Human Flow

Ai Weiwei follows the plight of refugees in 23 countries

Refugees are all over the world, but have you ever met one?

Leaving their home is their last resort -- it is not a decision they take lightly. Uprooting themselves, carrying their belongings and traveling to a place by foot or boat or train without knowing what the conditions will be like, how much it will cost -- if they will make it alive -- is very scary.

But this is what has happened to millions of people who fled Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan in 2015 to Europe and Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei was there to document it.

He was moved by these refugees and wanted to document their lives and their deplorable situation in Human Flow. For two hours and 20 minutes, he goes to 23 countries and greets, walks and talks to refugees to learn more about their plight.

They include the Rohingyas, Eritreans, Sudanese, Palestinians, Afghanis, Syrians, Iraqis, Kurds. We see them up close, staring into the camera looking frightened and at other times up from above, looking like ants.

They walk for days to get to the border to find it closed

Mixed in between are "talking heads", people from the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), political leaders, doctors, volunteers, even a Jordanian princess, explaining how they deal with refugees. Some try to show their compassion, others criticize governments for not doing enough.

I've seen footage of refugees in camps on the TV news, but this is watching them as they walk for hours, carrying all their items with them, or having to try to keep warm and relatively dry in a tent when it's pouring rain, or living in a giant hangar with subdivided compounds filled with bunk beds. Many struggle just to get clean water, let alone food and decent shelter.

You quickly empathize with them and wonder if you could survive such a terrible situation where no government wants to accept them and leaves them to fend for themselves in the middle of nowhere. The refugees feel they have come so far that they can't go back to where they came from.

Living conditions in makeshift tents are hardly clean

Interspersed between the different scenes are facts like the average time someone is a refugee is 26 years. Palestinians have been refugees for over 60 years. Again I would read about their struggle in news stories, but actually seeing their living environment really brings it home.

They can be in the middle of making bread in a factory and suddenly the electricity is shut off. The water is less clean and there is garbage everywhere. How do they endure this for so long?

Some of the images terrifyingly beautiful -- oil refineries in Afghanistan are set on fire as Islamic State retreats. A man with a mask calmly walks in his robes towards the raging fire with billowing black smoke. Or people in Kenya walking along the desert in a dust storm.

Periodically you see Ai in the shot, walking along or taking pictures or videos on his phone (some of it is used). Sometimes it seems odd to see him there, but at other times he offers comic relief, such as exchanging his Chinese passport for a Pakistani one with a refugee, or making chuar, or meat skewers over charcoal.

Refugees from climate change in Kenya cross the desert

But he wants viewers to see that he was there on the ground, unlike political leaders who don't seem to know or care about what is going on, and would rather close borders than receive these people who have suffered so much.

More people need to watch Human Flow to understand what refugees have gone through, and have a better appreciation for their own situations. Having to physically and mentally endure so much and be treated like less than human beings is shocking and sad.