Remembering Li Wenliang, the 12 Hongkongers and Jimmy Lai

Tributes pour out for Li who warned about the coronavirus

 

Today is the one year anniversary of Wuhan ophthalmologist Li Wenliang sending a text message in a group chat with his former classmates about a mysterious virus that seemed to be life threatening.

At first he was silenced by the police, and then later he himself contracted the virus and died on February 7. 

Zhang sentenced to four years for her reports

One year later, citizen journalist and lawyer Zhang Zhan was sentenced to four years in prison for "picking quarrels and provoking trouble" when she shot videos of what she saw in Wuhan. She knew she was going into sensitive territory as police and security guards threatened to destroy her phone if she continued filming. Zhang did, revealing how much the government wanted to prevent the truth from coming out.

She is not the only person to give first-hand reports in Wuhan, but also Chen Mei, Cai Wei, Li Zehua, Chen Qiushi, and Fang Bin. They have either been arrested or detained, but we have yet to have any update on their situations.

And look where we are today, with over 82 million cases, almost 1.8 million deaths worldwide.

Meanwhile this morning in Shenzhen, the verdict came down on the 12 Hongkongers who tried to flee to Taiwan by speedboat but ended up being intercepted by the Guangdong coast guard.

The Chinese authorities claimed the trial was open, and yet none of the relatives of the 12 were in the courtroom, nor were diplomats allowed in either. 

Two under aged Hongkongers freed from China

First, two were underage and after pleading guilty, they were handed over to Hong Kong police this morning after spending four months in detention. The pair, Liu Tsz-man and Hoang Lam-phuc, refused to talk to the media about their experience.

Eight of the fugitives face seven months' in prison, but having served four months, it is expected they will be released in March.

However, Tang Kai-yin and Quinn Moon were convicted for organizing the crime of illegally crossing the border. Tang was sentenced to three years, and Quinn -- the only woman in the group -- faces two years in prison.

Reaction from their families and pro-democracy activists was that the sentences were too harsh, while mainland lawyers and pro-Beijing politicians felt the outcome was lenient.

A family-appointed mainland lawyer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the punishments handed to Tang and Quinn were "too heavy".

The families of the 12 have had no contact

"If their role only involved buying or driving the boat as a group, it shouldn't constitute organizing the crime," he said, in a reference to Tang's role.

Barrister Chow Hang-tung could not understand why the fugitives' offences were categorized as "serious" when they were first-time offenders.

"On the mainland, many illegal border crossing cases were not even treated as criminal cases," she said. "But for a closed-door trial, any sentences is too tough. Everyone knows this wasn't an open and fair trial. This sentences was extremely excessive -- it was meant to deter Hong Kong people from continuing with their [political] movement."

However, Tam Yiu-chung, Hong Kong's sole representative to the National People's Congress Standing Committee said the sentences were understandable.

"Some Hong Kong critics have tried to politicize this, and said mainland authorities will prosecute them on charges related to national security," he said. "But that did not happen... The only message from the court was that if you cross the border illegally, you will bear the consequences. Nothing else."

Judge says Lai is giving his personal opinion

Then in Hong Kong, a High Court judge said Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai Chee-ying has an "arguable" case against a charge of breaking the national security law, in his explanation of why he allowed the tycoon out on bail.

While the prosecution claimed Lai's commentaries proved his collusion with foreign forces by requesting foreign governments impose sanctions on the mainland and Hong Kong, Justice Alex Lee Wan-tang said these purported requests could be seen as mere personal opinion.

The judge added the fraud case against Lai lacked enough evidence to prove he and two co-defendants had intended to deceive the landlord about subleasing space to another firm.

Justice Lee also felt the restrictions on Lai's movements and actions were reasonable, and that he would not flee Hong Kong. 

 

Remembering Fu Ts'ong and Other News

Fou Ts'ong was a well known expert in playing Chopin

An update on what happened today before getting to my main post today: 

Student activist Tony Chung Hon-lam was sentenced to four months in jail for defiling the Chinese national flag;

Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai Chee-ying has resigned as chairman of parent company Next Digital to focus more on personal affairs;

The 12 Hong Kong activists who were detained at sea for allegedly trying to escape to Taiwan by speedboat will hear their fate on Wednesday morning;

Citizen journalist and lawyer Zhang Zhan was sentenced to four years in prison for "picking quarrels and provoking trouble" for her fearless reporting in Wuhan during the height of the pandemic. She refused to cooperate with the so-called "investigation" and went on a hunger strike, and the authorities tied her hands and forced a feeding tube down her  nose;

And Hong Kong recorded 53 new cases today, but still 14 of them have unknown sources which is worrying.

Fou made London his home since 1958

This afternoon came the sad news that renowned Chinese pianist Fou Ts'ong passed away of Covid-19 in London. He was 86 years old.

I feel so privileged to see him perform in Beijing in December 2007 and my account of the concert is here.

He was very passionate about Chopin, and is considered a master in interpreting the Polish composer. In this nine-minute video you can see his enthusiasm for Chopin, and he elucidates his reason for loving his music so much.

"And I always said it always takes a genius to understand genius. Ordinary people always try to pull the genius down to their level, they don't understand the composer. There are a lot of imitators but nobody is Chopin. He is unique," he says in the video.

Zhu Meifu, Fou Lei

However, one has to think of the life Fou has been through for him to be able to interpret Chopin so beautifully. Fou's life has been full of success and praise, but also tragedy and pain.

He was born in 1934 in Shanghai and studied piano at a young age under Western pianists before winning a scholarship to the Warsaw Conservatory after taking third prize in the 5th International Chopin Competition in 1955.

Fou was the son of Fou Lei, a well-known French translator of Honore de Balzac, Romain Rollard, Voltaire, and Andre Gide. 

While the younger Fou made London his base in 1958, his father was concerned about him being so far from home and began writing letters to him -- almost 200 of them -- which were later compiled into a book called Home Letters by Fu Lei and published in 1981. 

However in 1958 Fou Lei and his wife Zhu Meifu were labelled rightists in the Anti-Rightist movement, and by 1966 when the Cultural Revolution began in full swing, both parents committed suicide.

It wasn't until 1979 after the end of the Cultural Revolution could Fou Ts'ong return to China to mourn them, and a year later gave his first concert there in over 20 years.

Fou Lei's letters to his son

Fou's personal life is interesting. In 1960 he married Zamira Menuhin, the daughter of Yehudi Menuhin, and they had one son; they divorced in 1969. Later he married Hijong Hyun, a daughter of South Korea's ambassador to Morocco that later ended in divorce.

Then he married London-based, Chinese-born pianist Patsy Toh. Sadly she was hospitalized with the coronavirus as well and tragically could not be with Fou before he died.

Watching his videos now, I wish I had an opportunity to speak with him. Musicians and artists are so passionate about their craft, and they are so keen on sharing their love of it with others. 

Fou's energy talking about Chopin five years ago shows his admiration for the composer has hardly waned;  he was still trying to understand what Chopin wrote, after decades of playing those pieces over and over again.

He is so lucky to pursue his love of music to the utmost and make it his mission to disseminate what he knows to others.

Judging from the social media posts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram today, many are sad to hear of Fou's passing. We will all miss him dearly.