Official Chinese Banquets to go Shark-Free

The Chinese government joins Yao Ming in not eating shark fin

Xinhua New Agency's report Tuesday of an announcement that China would prohibit official banquets from serving shark's fin is an interesting development.

The article said the new measure would take three years to implement but there was no word on how this regulation would be enforced and if there would be penalties.

Nevertheless, animal rights groups are happy with the news.

"This is a very positive step forward," said Andy Cornish, director of conservation at WWF in Hong Kong. "It is the first time that the Chinese central government has expressed a decision to phase out shark fin from banquets funded by taxpayers' money."

He added this announcement would send a strong message to consumers in China, and could turn around people's penchant for the cartilage braised in chicken stock.

But will it?

While sales of the fins to China may drop, would it instead push mainlanders to go to Hong Kong and Macau instead to freely satisfy their craving eat the delicacy?

There is a growing trend of hotels in Hong Kong publicly announcing they have taken shark fine off the menu, but that doesn't necessarily mean a private request won't be fulfilled.

And now that China has come out in banning shark fin dishes at official banquets, will Hong Kong follow its master?

"The Hong Kong government has repeatedly dodged the question of implementing a banqueting ban on shark fin soup, saying that it sees no need for such guidelines," said Cornish. "We strongly hope that the new administration in Hong Kong government will shortly follow suit."

We shall see if Leung will take up the issue or not. For the most part he seems to be a guy who likes simple dishes as he's been photographed around town sampling food in local restaurants.

However, with his alleged Communist links, perhaps he may make a move -- in the right direction for once.

Fighting for Press Freedom

Apple Daily has an axe to grind -- that is aimed at Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying and the Hong Kong Police Force.

That's because one of its reporters, Rex Hon Yiu-ting, was hauled away by police to a stairwell and questioned for 15 minutes after he shouted a question at Chinese President Hu Jintao asking him to tell the truth about the June 4 crackdown.

At the time the police claimed reporters were not allowed to shout questions and said Hon had broken the rules.

But it seems the police have looked over the incident again and now say the police inspector's error of judgment resulted in Hon being detained.

This was the explanation police director of operations Paul Hung Hak-wai gave to Mak Tin-ying, chairwoman of the Hong Kong Journalists Association.

However she was skeptical of the reason.

"I doubt that the inspector, a mid-ranking officer in the uniformed services, would request his officers, without receiving any order, to take away a reporter just because he shouted the question too loudly," she said.

Mak added there were no instructions for officers to censor politically sensitive questions as they did not pose a security risk.

So why then, did this officer detain Hon for no good reason then?

Obviously the police were very jumpy that day and wanted to prevent any kind of awkward situations.

But now they've put themselves in hot water -- to save Hu from having to answer an embarrassing question.

Was it worth it in the end?

Meanwhile Apple Daily's chief editor Cheung Kim-hung has confirmed the paper will file a civil lawsuit for illegal detention against police chief Andy Tsang Wai-hung in the next few days.

While it is obvious the paper is challenging Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying to be accountable for his actions, Apple Daily also tested journalistic freedoms by posing the question about Tiananmen Square at Hu.

And if we can't ask sensitive questions on Hong Kong soil, then can we still justify calling ourselves "Asia's World City"?

Too Little, Too Late

Tsang seemed more interested in attainable goals than long-term plans

One more note about former Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen before we let him fade into the history books.

Critics say he didn't have much long-term planning as he was a career civil servant, more concerned about reaching attainable goals than trying to initiate projects that would benefit the city.

The other is his naive believe that poverty would be alleviated through the trickle-down effect. But he was completely wrong and only when he left office did he admit it.

"I used to believe that different social stratums could enjoy the fruits of economic development as a result of the trickle-down effect. However, there were discrepancies between the theory and reality," he said in his final question and answer period in Legco.

Social workers were frustrated by his simple thinking.

"I repeatedly told him over the years that the trickle-down effect does not work. It was too late for him to admit the problem," said Nelson Chow Wing-sun, a social work and social administration professor at the University of Hong Kong.

"His misjudgment is probably the main reason for the widening income inequality. Many Hong Kong people cannot earn more pay and a better position solely by relying on their own efforts. Public discontent is rampant... but he did not understand why."

Perhaps he didn't comprehend the situation because he was too busy hanging out with his tycoon friends on their yachts?

Yes decades ago through sheer hard work, people could earn money, and then save enough to buy property which propelled them into the wealthy stratum.

But now it is virtually impossible to slave away at your job and make enough money to buy a flat. Nowadays you need double incomes and then some. The only way to do it now is to have access to capital.

If you think you can do what Li Ka-shing did half a century ago, forget it. His virtual monopoly on Hong Kong (thanks to the government) has made it impossible for anyone to be like him again.

So give up on trying to be the next Li, which is what a lot of other people have done.

Instead they are trying to focus on having a relatively balanced lifestyle and try to live well than slave away.

However with the bad pollution levels in Hong Kong, how can people live the way they want?

Blame it on Tsang.

Now with Leung Chun-ying in the hot seat, we're all watching to see what he's going to do and where his real allegiances lie.

Red is for Happiness and Anger

Hundreds of thousands walking out of Victoria Park

Hong Kong is a city of contrasts.

There are those who are extremely wealthy living in luxurious environments and then others who are barely scraping by and inhabiting the most deplorable living conditions.



Some even waved the colonial Hong Kong flags



And today marked even more of a contrast with Hong Kong marking the milestone of 15 years after its return to China.

The elites celebrated the moment with the swearing in of Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, where he shockingly gave a speech in Putonghua rather than Cantonese.

Was he just trying to be considerate to his boss Chinese President Hu Jintao who can't understand this southern Chinese dialect or is it a sign of things to come?

Then the 99 percent, a large number of Hong Kong people that was definitely in the hundreds of thousands, voiced their frustration, anger, disappointment and unhappiness in what has become an annual protest march since 2003.

This year there is a laundry list of grievances -- the mistrust of the mainland government is at an all time high, the frustrations of not yet having universal suffrage, questions around the credibility of Leung, the mysterious death of Tiananmen activist Li Wangyang, the widening income gap, and the flood of mainlanders to Hong Kong.



A disgruntled-looking Hello Kitty



Luckily the weather held up and thousands braved the 34-degree weather to gather at Victoria Park before marching to the government offices in Tamar.

We got there around 3pm and already the fields were filling up quickly. Some political faces whipped up the crowd with "F*** you Leung Chun-ying" or "Leung Chun-ying step down!" and selling T-shirts with a wolf face on it, as Leung was branded as the predator during the chief executive election. Another had an arrow turning left with a red line through it, alluding to his alleged Communist background.

There were also lots of Hello Kittys around.

That's because when Leung was recently questioned about the illegal structures in his home on the Peak, he claimed they were there earlier including some Hello Kitty wallpaper.

And so in the last few days there have been lots of Photoshopped pictures of Leung with an angry-looking Hello Kitty.

He has inadvertently made the cute feline character even more popular, with many protestors carrying Hello Kitty fans, umbrellas and stuffed toys.

The march started sometime after 3pm, but it took almost another hour before we started moving out of the park.



Some invoking Dr Sun Yat-sen as the father of democracy



The vast majority were young people in their 20s and 30s, families with young children and some seniors braved the heat. Each person had his or her own reason for coming, but we all marched together in solidarity. There was no pushing or shoving, everyone patiently waiting for those in front to move.

At first we crossed over King's Road and walked towards Causeway Bay; along the way there were many standing on overpasses watching us march. Perhaps some were related to the Chinese government taking pictures?

And then we got to a fork in the road and we took the Jardine's Bazaar path that organizers said would eventually meet up at Sogo department store.

However along this street we literally inched along which was very frustrating with the heat.

"Open the door! Open the road!" We shouted periodically. It seemd the police were trying to make it as difficult as they could for protestors to keep marching. Perhaps they hoped the longer protestors had to wait, they would give up.

I stayed with the procession until about 5:30pm and we had just arrived at Sogo. It took us an hour and a half to walk only part of Causeway Bay.

My friend YTSL later reported they had finished the march at 7pm! And that there were still many others who had only marched up to Sogo and it was already sun down.

Then in another contrast at 8pm there were the annual July 1 fireworks.



Inching along Jardine's Bazaar in Causeway Bay



From my flat I could see one small sliver between the tall buildings, the explosions looking like bits of lava spewing into the sky.

Needless to say there were lots of red fireworks, literally burning lots of money for 20 minutes.

Perhaps it was the Hong Kong and Chinese governments trying to scare away the evil spirits -- the protestors -- from spoiling the otherwise happy celebrations?