Umbrella Movement's Last Stand

The numerous rows of paper umbrellas strung together at Causeway Bay

Some friends from Beijing arrived in Hong Kong the day Admiralty was cleared, so I made sure they had a chance to see the small occupation of Yee Wo Street in Causeway Bay before it is cleared out tomorrow morning.

A tent filled with hopeful messages

It is definitely a shadow of its former self in the beginning of the movement, but many of the elements are still there -- tents, paper umbrellas, slogans, people silk screening T-shirts, political discussions, handing out leaflets and the odd shouts of "We want true universal suffrage!" that got a smattering of applause.

My friends were thrilled to be able to have just a sample of what it was like because from their eyes as visitors, it seemed the polar opposite of the Hong Kong they are familiar with -- capitalist, corporate, shopping, shopping, shopping and more shopping.

It seems strange that Causeway Bay would be the last to go, but perhaps it was causing the least nuisance of the three sites. Nevertheless, the tram company will be relieved to finally be able to use the tracks, parts of which may have rusted, and people can get their lives back to some kind of normality.

I'm still processing the fact that Admiralty is now given way to traffic; yesterday we passed by the area in a taxi and saw workers scrubbing what used to be the Lennon Wall clean... the only traces of the movement left are some of the chalk drawings on the dividers, but rain will wash those out eventually.

A doll with a threatening message?

At dinner my friends and I discussed the impact of the movement... we agreed that it had set the foundation for more pro-democracy activities, but to what end? We couldn't figure that out. But one gave examples that people thought apartheid would continue in our lifetime, but in the end there was peaceful reconciliation, and people thought the Berlin wall would stand forever, but that was knocked down 25 years ago.

He was basically saying these things happen when we least expect it. The Umbrella Movement certainly exploded for us and we ran with it the best we could -- for 75 days.

And with the demise of Causeway Bay tomorrow, the movement will be snuffed out for now. But all is not lost. There is talk now of continuing protests through paying taxes and rents for public housing in amounts of HK$689 or $6.89...

How many people will actually do this will be interesting as it's not illegal according to Franklen Choi Kin-shing, a community college lecturer in social science.

These balloons say it all...

"The unrepresentative government has no right to collect taxes from the people," Choi said, but people should pay using tricks rather than default on the bill altogether.

"This would bring pressure on civil servants, but all sorts of non-cooperation movements inevitably do that," he said, adding the idea had been circulating among Occupy protesters in the past month.

So good bye for now, and see how the Umbrella Movement takes on another form.

Fact of the Day: Jack Ma's Uber Loaded

China's one-time English teacher is now Asia's richest man

Move over Li Ka-shing -- Alibaba's Jack Ma is now Asia's richest man.

Rather than be sore about the news, the Hong Kong tycoon was happy to see someone else take top spot, a place Li had occupied since 2012 according to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index.

"I am nothing but happy when young people from China do well," said the 86-year-old Li through a spokeswoman. A spokesman from Alibaba refused to comment on Ma's net worth.

According to the Bloomberg ranking, Ma has a fortune of $28.6 billion and his personal worth is $28.3 billion, after his company went public in September, and has surged 54 percent since.

Another interesting fact is that Alibaba's $259 billion market capitalization makes it larger than Amazon and eBay combined.

"The billionaires in China are growing their wealth faster because China's economy is still developing, with plenty of room for growth," said Francis Ying, an analyst with Yuanta Research.

That means Ma's wealth will be expanding much more in the coming future, so he may be Asia's richest man for a while...

Words from Behind Bars

2010 Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo smuggled a message out of jail

Chinese Nobel peace laureate Liu Xiaobo will be spending his fifth year in prison this year come December 25.

But he doesn't want others to worry about him, that he is relatively healthy and would rather people pay more attention to other Chinese activists in jail.

"The aura around me is enough already. I hope the world can pay more attention to other victims who are not well known, or not known at all," he said in a message that was apparently smuggled out of jail and somehow sent to dissident Liao Yiwu, who lives in exile in Germany.

Liao posted the message on Facebook on Thursday and did not elaborate on how he received the message from Liu, who is serving an 11-year jail sentence for inciting state subversion.

Liao would only say he received the message on Tuesday through channels in China and that it was the first time he heard from Liu in more than six years.

"My eyes are suddenly moist," Liao said on Facebook.

Liu's wife, Liu Xia can visit her husband in jail once a month, though their meetings are closely monitored. She has become more depressed and physically weak because she is so isolated even from her family, whom she can only have dinner with once a week.

The jailed activist's message adds he is doing well and has been reading and thinking.

"Through my studies, I have become even more convinced that I have no personal enemies," Liu said.

He may be languishing in jail, but he wants to tell the world he's surviving.

And hopefully those are the words Liu Xia needs to know to gather the strength to carry on.

A New Normal

A last look at Admiralty two nights ago...

Just after 9pm tonight, Harcourt Road which was occupied for 75 days was finally cleared for vehicles to go back on it.

I was out all day and didn't get a chance to catch the play-by-play of the removal of the barricades and arrests of over 200 people, including Cantopop star Denise Ho and several pan-Democrat politicians like Martin Lee Chu-ming and Audrey Eu Yuet-mee, Next Media chairman Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, as well as Federation of Students' Alex Chow Yong-kang.

Earlier this evening the area was quickly cleaned up...

So now I see these pictures of the area that used to be a place I, YTSL and some friends hung out almost every weekend is now back to being an overpass.

It's so strange to see it return to what it was before, but sadly in time we will get used to it. However we will always have fond memories of what it was like for over two months.

What's next is the logical question and everyone hopes that occupying the area for 75 days is not in vain. Some protesters were distraught last night, wondering if what they had been doing for 10 weeks was all for nothing.

Vehicles are back on the road again like nothing happened...

It's definitely not. It may seem like the protesters have given up, but really they have voiced their opinions to the Hong Kong government and Beijing.

It really is up to both to engage with Hong Kong people, particularly the young ones who have identified themselves so closely to this movement.

So the ball is still in their court and we await their reply.

If not -- We Will Be Back.