Who Really Rules Hong Kong?

Li Gang, deputy head of the Beijing liaison office

Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying has declared three days of mourning starting tomorrow after the boat crash off Lamma Island on October 1 where so far 38 are confirmed dead, and a number of missing are still unaccounted for.

While Leung has promised to spare no effort in trying to help the victims, it was strange and unsettling to see Beijing stepping into the fray, once again putting into question where the boundaries are with "One Country, Two Systems".

In last night's China Central Television main newscast, it was said: "Comrades [President] Hu Jintao, [Premier] Wen Jiabao and [Vice-President] Xi Jinping... issue important instructions, ordering the Hong Kong government to spare no effort in searching for missing persons, treating the injured and comforting their relatives."

While senior mainland officials like to say this when incidents happen, in Hong Kong's case, isn't it obvious the city's search and rescue teams are going to do what they can to save the victims of the disaster? Do we need to be instructed on what to do in an emergency?

And then there was also footage of Li Gang, deputy head of the Beijing liaison office with Leung at Queen Mary Hospital. Li spoke for two minutes, giving his thoughts on how he felt about the accident and what Guangdong authorities could do to help.

"We are deeply sorry about the deceased citizens," he said.

Guangdong sent four big salvage ships that eventually were not used in the rescue efforts because the waters at the scene were too shallow for them to enter.

We'd like to point out here that Li has no authority in the administration of Hong Kong so why is he allowed to say anything or even instruct people and departments on what to do?

Wouldn't it be common sense not to send massive salvage ships into shallow waters? What a waste of time and energy. Obviously none of the captains of these salvage ships dared to counter orders or explain to higher-ups that they could not enter the area.

And why is Leung allowing Li to give the appearance that he is in control of the situation?

Leung should use this opportunity to step up and demonstrate his leadership abilities not only to us, but to Beijing as well. He was elected to stand up for the rights of Hong Kong people and here he seems to have cowered. Is this the kind of leader we want in times of crisis?

In the meantime locals are still in shock over reports from survivors of how there was no instruction from the crew on what to do immediately after the crash and when the boat started to sink. It was only through individual efforts did many people manage to stay alive.

Their previous belief that things like boats are safe, that everything is taken care of by capable staff is now thrown out the window and will be questioned.

Perhaps the good that will come out of this is that Hong Kong people will now actually pay attention to safety demonstrations and be more aware of their surroundings.

And we'll probably also see many more parents enrolling their children into swimming lessons. After all we're surrounded by water so shouldn't everyone know how to swim?

Collecting Art with Passion

Large Reclining Nude by Henri Matisse

I managed to catch the tail end of a fantastic exhibition held at the Vancouver Art Gallery called "Collecting Matisse and Modern Masters: The Cone Sisters of Baltimore". It featured only a small fraction of the some 3,000 paintings, sculptures, textiles and objects they amassed.

The Cone sisters, Claribel and Etta were from a German-Jewish immigrant family. The patriarch Herman Kahn changed his name to Cone almost immediately upon arrival  in the United States in 1845.

At first the father set up a wholesale grocery business that did modestly well, but it was their brothers Moses and Ceasar who got into the textile business, supplying cotton to Levis Strauss and the family prospered. Their fortunes continued to increase when the Cone Mills Corporation supplied the army with uniforms during World War II.

From left: Claribel Cone, Gertrude Stein and Etta Cone

Claribel studied medicine but was not a practicing doctor, rather one involved in research, while younger sister Etta was an accomplished pianist and preferred to look after her aging parents.

But Etta surprised everyone when her brother gave her $300 to spend on furnishing her home and instead spent it on paintings by Theodore Robinson. She and Claribel got to know Gertrude Stein and her brother Leo, and through them on a trip to Europe, the sisters met Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse and bought some of their early pieces.

Their relationship with Matisse flourished through correspondence that spanned over four decades. They bought pieces directly from the artist and their interest in collecting textiles influenced him to include colourful fabrics as backgrounds for his works. One famous work is Large Reclining Nude, where Matisse began experimenting with simplified forms and bold, flat planes of colour. He photographed the progression of the work for Etta, which compelled her to buy the painting in the end.

The sisters traveled often to Europe and would buy as much as they could carry back -- paintings, sculptures, textiles and books. They noted all their purchases down in ledgers which are useful for researchers today to learn more about their collection.

World War II prevented them from traveling and so they went on a shopping frenzy after the war was over. They went into a Parisian auction house and bought seven crates of paintings, including a vivid painting by Paul Gauguin called Woman of the Mango, featuring a Polynesian woman wearing a dress in a gorgeous deep purple holding a mango against a brilliant yellow background.

They also collected various textiles, mostly lace, but also embroidery and fabric from Japan and eastern Europe. The same goes for jewellery and other objets d'art.

Woman of the Mango by Gauguin

The two sisters lived in the Marlborough apartments in Baltimore and the exhibition showed a video reproduction of their home, the narrow corridors filled with art as well as each of the rooms. One time Matisse visited them and was so pleased to see that they lived and breathed art in their daily lives.

An interesting side story is the close relationship between Gertrude and Etta; while they may not have had a sexual relationship, it greatly affected Etta and this was evidenced by her jealously of Gertrude's later companion, Alice Toklas.

After Claribel died in 1929, Etta was in grief and was determined to put together a catalogue of their collection and privately publish it. The project took many years to complete, some 400 pages. Once word got around to museums about the sisters' collection, they came calling, hoping to acquire the works.

However, the sisters had already determined that the entire collection would go to The Baltimore Museum of Art, which it did upon Etta's death in 1949. The estimated value of the over 3,000 pieces in the Cone collection today is worth an estimated $1 billion.

They could have been like other society women, but the Cone sisters were avant garde -- seeing the future through art and at the same time encouraging artists to explore and create.

Van Gogh's Landscape with Figures

And at the same time they put together an amazing collection of pieces over the decades, not to show off their wealth or boast their culturedness, but simply because they loved each work for what it was.

Collecting Matisse and Modern Masters: The Cone Sisters of Baltimore
Vancouver Art Gallery
May 26-September 30, 2012
www.vanartgallery.bc.ca

VAG warning -- If you are compelled to take notes of any of the exhibitions at the VAG, do not bring a pen. I was unable to write down information about the show in my notebook because I was not allowed to use a pen, though pencil is fine and texting is better. This is such a bizarre rule as I have used a pen to take notes in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, MOMA, the Louvre and Musee d'Orsay and was never told I was not allowed to use this writing instrument.








 

In Defense of Dad

In yesterday's posting I neglected to add that Bo Xilai's son Bo Guagua will never be able to return to China after his mother was convicted of murder and now his father already accused of many crimes.

The younger Bo has voiced his opinion, posting in a statement on Tumblr:

"Personally, it is hard for me to believe the allegations that were announced against my father, because they contradict everything I have come to know about him throughout my life. Although the policies my father enacted are open to debate, the father I know is upright in his beliefs and devoted to duty. He has always taught me to be my own person and to have concern for causes greater than ourselves. I have tried to follow his advice. At this point, I expect the legal process to follow its normal course, and I will await the result."

One can't but help analyze Bo Guagua's comments.

Bo Xilai may have been a good father, but an upstanding citizen? He had no qualms violently taking down triads instead of letting the rule of law take its course. And what about the possibly millions of dollars he and Gu Kailai funneled out of China? Isn't that illegal?

Sure he was probably a devoted dad, but he doesn't seem like a righteous leader.

Bo junior is either very naive or thinks he can muddy the waters over the accusations of his father in the hopes of swaying public opinion.

On the one hand people like President Hu Jintao and Vice President Xi Jinping are relieved Bo Xilai is out of the picture in the lineup for the Standing Committee, but there are others who are dismayed the Communist Party of China is moving further away from its communist ideals and not returning to the path that Mao Zedong had set up decades earlier.

So while trying to defend his father, Bo Guagua probably being in the United States doesn't do much good. He is too far away and too young to influence anyone in Beijing. It's a sad footnote to the whole debacle that will move forward to a trial before the start of the 18th National People's Congress.

Probably even more ironic is that Bo Xilai's trial will be so rushed that he won't even have the benefit of being tried by rule of law.

How the tables have turned.

Stargazing in Hollywood

Grauman's Chinese Theater opened in 1927

One of the last things we did in Los Angeles was head to Hollywood and check out the star scene... except we didn't meet any real celebrities.

We took a Starline Tour, but missed the one checking out movie stars' homes, like where Jennifer Aniston, Tom Cruise and Nicolas Cage live.

Bijan, where the wealthy like to shop on Rodeo Drive

Instead we hopped on a bus that started at the Chinese Theater and then passed by such places as the Guitar Center where rock musicians like Slash get their guitars, and the Laugh Factory where comedians like Jim Carrey did standup before becoming big.

We also went down Rodeo Drive where we passed by Bijan, the most expensive boutique on the strip. Parallel to Rodeo Drive is another less expensive shopping area, and it included Lululemon Athletica which was fun to see the Vancouver company having a presence in Hollywood.

More shopping was to be had at Farmers Market and The Grove, but we were more interested in seeing the sights, like the CBS studios where shows like The Price is Right are filmed.

And then we passed by The Four Seasons hotel, where many celebrities have film junkets in the suites on the top floors complete with balconies and Capitol Records building which is a circular building like vinyl records stacked up high.

Stars like to have press junkets at the Four Seasons hotel

The tour went by so quickly and so much information packed in that it was hard to remember all the details. After almost two hours we were back at the Chinese Theater again where posing with movie characters for pictures meant paying for them with tips. There was Darth Vader, a storm trooper, Captain Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Carribean, and an extremely tall woman who was painted into Neytiri, the main Na'vi characters in the smash hit Avatar.

But one of the best free photo ops was with the wax figure of Marilyn Monroe casting her hands in the walk of fame.

We saw tons of stars on the sidewalk, from film to music and TV. And of course the Chinese were all over Jackie Chan's star.

And across the street were some souvenir shops where you could buy mini Oscar statuettes to put on your mantlepiece.

A popular star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

Ah Hollywood. Making your dreams come true.