Macau's 491 Infection-Free Streak Ends

Over 680,000 Macanese residents must be tested for the virus

Up until now, Macau was seen as being the model city in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, recording 491 days of having no local infections.

But it was announced last night that a Macanese family tested positive for the highly infections Delta variant after the 12-year-old daughter had caught it last month after going to Xi'an via Zhuhai for a school dancing trip.

She reportedly showed symptoms in Xi'an but didn't report them to health authorities until coming back to Macau on July 25.

Macau had only allowed mainland visitors in

That led to the Macanese Chief Executive Ho Iat-seng to order all 680,000 residents of the former Portuguese enclave to get tested within three days. This resulted in massive long lines and residents were frustrated and tired waiting for hours. Ho apologized for the chaos and confusion.

The incident also affects Hong Kong, as one of the girl's classmates came from here and now the Tsim Sha Tsui hotel she stayed at after coming back from Monday is undergoing mandatory testing.

This is a complete reversal from how Macau viewed Hong Kong -- even just a handful of imported infections in the latter was not enough for the small casino city to even consider opening up a travel bubble between the two cities.

Macau treated Hong Kong like the black sheep and only allowed mainland visitors to come in, and gamble.

Then recently Macau suggested perhaps Chinese health experts could come and assess the situation to decide whether the border could open up between Macau and Hong Kong.

Now Hong Kong is wary of mainland returnees

But now both China and Macau are desperately trying to contain the virus as quickly as possible.

Hong Kong had allowed up to 6,000 people daily to come back from the mainland without quarantine, but this policy has now changed, and only those coming back from Guangdong don't have to quarantine, while everyone else must do 14 days' home quarantine regardless of vaccination.

Previously China had said it will not re-open borders with Hong Kong until there are zero cases, but it seems Hong Kong has been doing relatively well all along, though vaccinations rates are now 34 percent of the population fully vaccinated, 45 percent with at least one dose.

Hopefully the incident in Macau will get more people there and Hong Kong to get vaccinated, but it seems to be a never-ending struggle to do something relatively easy and free of charge...

 

Not Everyone Understands Quarantine

At the airport people are given quarantine bracelets and stay home for 14 days

Yesterday reporters grilled Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor about people who had come back to Hong Kong and were supposed to be under home quarantine but were seen out and about. What should the public do? They asked.

She explained that people were given about two hours' grace to get straight home on whatever way, as it might be public transport. But after, that they should not leave their homes.

This 13-year-old ate dinner with her uncle (right)

However, last night eagle-eyed Hongkongers immediately saw people completely contravening the quarantine order, taking videos and pictures of them.

One was a 13-year-old girl who was out having dinner with her uncle, her bracelet clearly showing on her wrist and she made no attempt to hide it. Nor did she put on a mask after eating.

The man filming them claimed they should stay where they are as he had called the police, but they kept walking away. At first they tried to get a taxi, but the man filming warned the taxi driver the girl had a quarantine bracelet on and not to take them.

Eventually the police found the pair.

This woman went shopping with her quarantine bracelet

Then there was a woman, again showing her bracelet and grocery shopping with a haul of food. She was also criticized.

Anyone who violates the quarantine order can be prosecuted and face up to HK$25,000 in fines or six months in jail.

There were other cases of people cutting the bracelet and going out and bragging about what they had done on social media... only to be caught later.

Some people really can't take things seriously, like a contagious virus that could be deadly when spread to people with compromised immune systems.

Carrie Lam teared up, asking people to respect quarantine

Lam even teared up during the press conference yesterday when she said: "To anyone who intends to breach the quarantine orders, anyone who still wants to go out and meet up with friends, can you not be restrained for some more time so Hong Kong can win this battle?"

Her pleas fell on deaf ears for some people.

Meanwhile McDonald's issued an announcement today that starting from tomorrow until April 7, all outlets will not allow customers to dine in all their Hong Kong outlets from 6pm, though they are allowed to order takeaway or have their meals delivered to them.

Perhaps people tend to linger more in the evenings than during the day?

While this move is completely understandable given the tense health situation we are in, this also means Hong Kong's many homeless people will have no where to go at night.

Homeless won't be able to stay overnight in McDonald's now

These "McRefugees" usually come into these places to not only use the washroom, but also shelter from the cold or heat, and have a cheap meal. Staff are usually sympathetic and let them stay. But this new rule will force the McRefugees to find another place to stay for the night.

Meanwhile after more than two-month lockdown, Wuhan, the epicenter of the virus, is finally breathing some fresh air, with residents slowly allowed to go outdoors in the neighbourhood.

However, not all is well in China... if anything the weeks of being stuck at home to keep safe from the coronavirus has resulted in a spike in... divorces.

State media Global Times reports that since March 1 when the divorce appointment system reopened in Xi'an in Shaanxi province, the marriage registration office began receiving a slew of appointments. There were 14 of them on March 4 and 5, reaching the maximum daily limit.

Divorce rates spiked in Xi'an... why is that?

"As a result of the epidemic, many couples have been bound with each other at home for over a month, which evoked the underlying conflicts, and in addition, the office was closed for a month, so the office has seen an acutely increasing number of divorce appointments," said an official surnamed Wang.

"Usually the office sees a wave of divorce appointments after Spring Festival and after the college entrance examinations."

But by the same token, another official in Xi'an in another district office handling divorces reports that several of the divorce requests are impulse decisions, and some couples decide to remarry when their divorce certificate is being printed...

Frankfurt's Insightful Sights

Cathedral of St Bartholomew was spared during the war

Today we had a private guide and driver to show us around Frankfurt and a bit beyond. Originally from Frankfurt, he gave us some interesting details about some landmarks in the city.

The original 15th century stained glass

One of our first stops was to Romer, in the old city square. It's a medieval building that dates back over 600 years from the Romer family that made its money as merchants. It later sold the building to the city in 1405 and was later known called the Kaisersaal, or "Emperor's Hall".

Today is the old city hall where people can have a civil wedding, and if the football team, Eintracht Frankfurt wins a major match, the players can be seen on the balcony.

What's interesting is that across from the Romer is a spring water fountain, one of 160 of them in the city, though many are not in use anymore. On top of the fountain is Lady Justice, but on closer examination, she is not blindfolded -- that's because she is looking straight at the King and hinting that she is watching him and he had better make a fair judgment.

A short distance away is Cathedral of St Bartholomew (Dom St Bartholomaus) that was built from the 14th to 15th centuries. Our guide asked us to think of the many artisans who worked on the cathedral over 100 years. Designs changed according to styles of the time, and also how much money could be rustled up by the parishioners.

This popular sausage shop has been around since 1954

During World War II, the allied forces specifically used fire bombs on Frankfurt because it is a living city -- that meant the bombs would burn down buildings, while some facades managed to continue standing.

They did not bomb churches -- our guide explains this is because the war was not about religion, but also because they used them as landmarks to know their positioning. So the church was not damaged per se, but the fires were so hot that they melted the designs on the stained glass.

Sausages with mustard and bread. So good!

However -- all was not completely lost. One panel happened to be taken down for restoration and subsequently kept in a safe place -- and we are now very privileged to see the stained glass from the 15th century. The other stained glass panels looks very modern and the colours are muted pastels.

The tower of the cathedral is also 100 metres high and for a few euros you can climb up to the top to have a good view of the city.

After the war, people in Frankfurt didn't have much if anything left. Some had bunkers that may have stored some food, but other than that no one had much to eat. They would meet at this marketplace called Kleinmarkethalle and exchange food or give away some food so that everyone had a bit of something to eat and it was also a morale booster that the community would rebuild the city again.

The carousel in Wilhelmsbad State Park

We visited that marketplace, which is quite small and indoors, and today houses stalls selling fresh vegetables, fruit, meats and pastries, as well as cooked foods. One of the stalls is called Schreiber that has been there since 1954 and hasn't changed since then.

It sells thick sausages that are boiled and served with a blob of mustard and a portion of bread for 2.30 euros each. We got there just in time before the line started, which our guide says goes all the way out the door everyday.

The wooden horses are beautifully made

Because it was rainy and chilly today, having a bite of the hot sausage hit the spot, and it wasn't salty, and very meaty. The owner, Ilse Schreiber, prepares the sausages using a family recipe from her grandfather-in-law who started the business on Metzgermeile or "butcher's mile".

Then we had a short drive on the autobahn to Hanau, where we visited the Wilhelmsbad State Park that was originally the hunting grounds for Prince Wilhelm IX of Hessen-Kassel. To make his visit there more fun, a carousel was built for him in 1780 by Franz Ludwig Cancrin, who used his mining engineering skills in this project.

The carousel is built on top of a mound and is decorated with wooden horses and carriages. But underneath it is actually pushed around by donkeys and horses who walk around in circles. How ironic is that?

Palmengarten is very lush and green (and wet today!)

After lunch of pork knuckle, sausages, sauerkraut, potato dumplings, and apple cider (very sour!) we went to check out the Palmengarten or Botannical Garden. It's near Bockenheimer Warte subway station and best if you can go on a sunny day. Unfortunately for us, all day it would rain lightly then suddenly get heavier, then light again.

When we arrived here (admission 7 euros/$7.85), it rained lightly then got heavier and we would go into the various indoor gardens to try to stay as dry as possible. The garden was started by landscape gardener Heinrich Siesmayer in 1869 for Frankfurt residents.

The gardens house plants from then inaccessible, distant parts of the world, and includes a lot different species of palm trees, even cocoa trees, orchids, cacti, lotus, and even pitfalls, plants that have giant bucket-like receptacles that trap insects inside.

School children playing inside one of the pavilions

There wasn't too much organization in terms of the groupings of the plants, but it was a nice respite from the weather and warm too because of the tropical temperatures these plants usually live in.

However, when we finished, the rains still wouldn't let up and we found our way to a cafe on the grounds called Siesmayer Cafehaus where we had pastries and coffee. It turn out our server was from Xian, China and spoke to us in Mandarin. It turns out he has been in Germany for 30 years.

In any event, we tried some desserts -- I sampled the apple pie that wasn't too sweet, but a bit on the bland side. The lime yogurt cake was delicious and the Black Forest cake was heavy on the cream, but also not too rich.

Apple pie with cafe au lait for an afternoon treat

When we made our way back to the hotel, the sun started to peek out behind the clouds. Why now when the day is over?! It seems the rain is following us...!

Obsessed with "Xiangchun Freedom"

If you can afford to eat this vegetable, it's as expensive as a lobster

What can you eat to show your peers you've made it financially?

In China it was cherries, but now it's a vegetable called xiangchun 香椿, the young red leaves of the Chinese mahogany tree that are the in thing to munch on. The basil-tasting leaves have become so prized that in places like Beijing it costs 80 yuan to 100 yuan (US$12 to US$30) for a catty or 500 grams.

People have taken to social media to complain about the price of the vegetable that could cost as much as a lobster, 10 abalone or 39 crayfish.

Xiangchun leaves are from the Chinese mahogany tree

"You can buy this [vegetable] to show off your wealth," one person on Weibo commented.

Another said: "There's plenty of xiangchun trees at my grandmother's house. I feel like I've just found the path to riches."

The first spring leaves of the tree are traditionally used in Chinese cooking, especially in the north, where it is stirfried with eggs or tofu, or used as filling for dumplings.

Xiangchun per catty costs more than pork in Beijing, where it is priced at 8 yuan to 10 yuan. In places like Qingdao in Shandong province, Xiaogan in Hubei province and Xian in Shaanxi province, the vegetable costs 40 yuan per 500 grams.

However, if you can afford to buy and eat xiangchun, then you are considered to have "xiangchun freedom", similar to people who can afford to buy imported cherries to give as gifts. Before the Spring Festival this year, imported cherries were selling for 60 yuan per catty in Beijing.

Economist Yao Zhiyong is with the School of Management at Fudan University and says the wide use of the terms "xiangchun freedom" and "cherry freedom" showed a decline in real spending power.

Xiangchun are stirfried with egg or tofu, or in dumplings

"Many items have become more expensive, but people's salaries haven't gone up accordingly," Yao says. "In the meantime there are other expenses -- education, housing, healthcare -- that can't be ignored. That's why people are bemoaning their lack of 'cherry freedom' or 'xiangchun freedom'."

The Chinese have this cruel obsession of constantly comparing themselves to other people, either to psychologically feel like they have a leg up on their peers or to bemoan the reality that they are never going to win the rat race.

It's as if this competition is the only way they know how to relate to others which is unhealthy and scary. But the ironic thing is that people are willing to pay top dollar for a seasonal vegetable, and I'm all for a greener lifestyle!

Hu Junior Rising up Political Ranks

Hu Haifeng has been promoted to party boss in Xian, Shaanxi province

The Two Sessions are still going on in Beijing until Friday, and the other day there was an interesting announcement -- former president Hu Jintao's son, Hu Haifeng, will be promoted to become the new Communist Party chief in Xian, the capital of Shaanxi province.

The 46-year-old will be elevated to the rank of vice minister, a big jump from his current position of party boss of Lishui, a much smaller city in Zhejiang province. Hu will also become a member of Shaanxi province's standing committee.

While Xian is an important economic centre in China's northwest, it is dealing with the fallout from a political scandal where several officials are under investigation by the party's anti-corruption watchdog, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.

Hu Haifeng is former president Hu Jintao's son

The officials were accused of corruption and dereliction of duty after they ignored direct orders from President Xi Jinping to demolish illegal villas built in a nature reserve in the Qinling mountains.

Beijing-based political analyst Zhang Lifan says Hu's promotion is seen as a gesture by Xi to appease Hu Jintao's supporters, as the president faces greater challenges domestically and internationally.

"Xi is facing a difficult situation now," Zhang said, referring to the trade war with the United States and slowing economic growth.

However, Zhang warned Xian would be a difficult assignment for someone who was not politically experienced and Hu needed to prove he was up for the challenge.

"[Hu] Haifeng initially was not very happy about becoming an official. He planned to become a technician and academic," said an acquaintance of the younger Hu.

"But the [party's Organization Department] picked him because the central government needed to bring in brilliant young people born in the 1970s."

Hu graduated from Beijing Jiaotong University in computer science and didn't enter politics until 2013. He worked as a senior engineer at state-owned Tsinghua Holdings and later became the president of Nuctech, a security scanning equipment maker controlled by Tsinghua Holdings.

Some Nuctech scanners for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil

By the way, Nuctech has a near monopoly on security scanning equipment in China, pretty much a slam dunk in terms of revenues. For starters, every subway station entrance in the country has these scanning devices...

However, Hu's record isn't completely blemish free -- the company was embroiled in a corruption scandal in Namibia in 2009. Hu was president of Nuctech until the year before and then party boss of parent company Tsinghua Holdings in 2009.

At the time Namibian authorities said Hu was not a suspect, but they still wanted him to testify. News of the case was completely censored in China.

No one knows what happened in the end...

Hu's political career started in 2013 as deputy mayor of Jiaxing, a city in Zhejiang, just months after his father retired. He was later promoted to mayor of Jiaxing three years later and Lishui's party boss in July, making him the youngest prefectural-level party chief in the province.

In Lishui, Hu promoted environmental protection and eco-friendly industries, aligning himself with Xi's message that "green hills and clear waters are the true gold and silver mines".

Last April, Xi openly praised Hu's green development strategy and last month, Hu wrote an article in a party magazine in Zhejiang where he vowed to live up to the president's praise and achieve a healthy balance between economic growth and environmental protection.

Hu seems to be one to watch, even though he is reluctantly rising up the political ranks. When Xi throws you a bone, you gotta take it...

Silk Road: Lanzhou

Taken from our bus, there are many terraced hillsides in Gansu province

Our Silk Road tour started in Lanzhou, the capital city of Gansu province. It is home to 6.3 million people, of which 3.7 million people live in Lanzhou. That's probably because there are seven ethnic groups who live here, including Tibetans, Hui, Dongxiang, Mongolians and Kazak, as well as Han Chinese.

What you first notice about the province is that it's very mountainous. While Lanzhou is situated on the upper reaches of the Yellow River, not everyone has access to water, and so hardy crops are grown, such as corn, millet, and dates. When we rode along the highway we could see terraced fields on hilly areas -- they were in such remote locations, but if there are terraces, there are people.

Two sheep taking a ride on the highway...

Historically and geographically Lanzhou was an important strategic point along the Silk Road leading to the west towards Xinjiang and Eastern Europe, and east towards Xian. And during the Sino-Japanese war, the Lanzhou corridor was crucial to the Communists in transporting Soviet supplies to Xian. It was so well protected that the Japanese were not able to take Lanzhou. 

In ancient times, the Great Wall was also extended to Yumen to protect Lanzhou, and we got to see this place a few days into our trip.

Today's modern Silk Road still considers Gansu province an important one -- geographically it is right in the middle of China, and so all transport links go through here.

However, not all the roads are paved smooth, nor efficient. Some highways were single-lane traffic, which mean waiting until the opposite lane was clear before passing trucks carrying cars, fuel, equipment, sheep and pigs.

As a result our tour guide would never give us a definitive number on how many hours we would be on the road because if there was a traffic jam, or single-lane traffic, it could slow us down immensely and he wanted to manage our expectations.

Periodically we would encounter toll areas where security officers would come on board to check us and our passports. One time one officer looked long and hard at us before he finally advised us all to wear our seat belts.

Facing north, the Qilian mountains in the distance

Nevertheless, it was pretty amazing to see so many trucks on the road, but perhaps it was the only way to get goods to remote areas that were not necessarily near the railroad system. It makes you appreciate North American and European highway systems so much more!

Hong Kongers are Not Happy

Bright lights, big city, but lots of unhappy people in Hong Kong

A survey done by market research company Ipsos has found Hong Kong people are far more unhappy than their mainland cousins.

Most of the Hong Kong people interviewed said they work too hard and are paid too little, and they are pessimistic about everything from air quality to relationships.

Less than one-quarter of the respondents felt their living standard had improved in recent years, which contrasts with 66 percent on average of mainlanders saying their lives were better.

Perhaps the only things Hong Kong people were pleased about was the medical system and food safety.

Chinese University political scientist Dr Ma Ngok said the results weren't surprising. "Hong Kong's happiness is lower than most places in the world," he said. "Life is hard and it is a very stressful city. A lot of people are unhappy with living standards and the air quality."

The other Chinese cities surveyed were Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenyang, Xian, Wuhan and Chengdu. A total of 2,400 people aged 20 and above took the online poll, that was conducted before the recent spate of serious air pollution in Shanghai.

One of the major factors was money, with only 22 percent in Hong Kong reporting they were happy with their income, while it was 42 percent in China.

Part of it is because on average Hong Kong people work 48 hours a week compared to 41.5 hours per week on the mainland.

Of those questioned in Hong Kong, the median monthly household income was HK$22,000 ($2,837) where the minimum monthly wage was HK$15,000, whereas in China it was 5,000 yuan ($822.50) in first-tier cities, 4,000 yuan in second-tier municipalities.

Here in Hong Kong there are definitely hordes of miserable people walking the streets. But that's because regardless of their pay, their bosses are working them to the bone.

One of my friends has a good paying job, but she's been so busy organizing events for her clients that she's had practically no sleep for the past few months. While she said she got seven hours' of sleep, she woke up every hour thinking about work.

In the other extreme there are restaurant wait staff making minimum wage who show no interest in placating customers, which means just getting your order within a reasonable amount of time without a smile is already considered good service.

Hong Kong bosses continue to squeeze more and more out of their employees because they themselves are getting more pressure from management or their clients who are demanding more for their buck.

The pressure and frustration trickles down to the point where people's physical and mental well being are adversely affected. One of my colleagues worked seven days' straight doing two people's work -- and ended up in hospital with the flu complete with lots of tension stored in her neck.

Meanwhile on the mainland salaries keep rising (though inflation does too), but when they compare to what they used to earn before, on the whole they are relatively pleased with their financially mobile status.

While for most young mainland Chinese the acquisition of a flat is still way beyond their reach, they can afford to go abroad, or buy luxury brand handbags or clothing.

Hong Kong people have always been at this stage and want more -- their own home -- which is understandable.

But the more they work, the more they feel they aren't getting anywhere and hence the pessimism...