Picture of the Day: Sky Views

The view of the sunset from the New Territories

The last few days on the bus home from work in the New Territories, I've been snapping pictures of the sky, as it's very clear and today in particular there were some fluffy white clouds.

This photo in particular is quite dramatic, somehow against the light, making the foreground of hills very dark and yet the sky a vivid blue with a burst of sunlight through the wavy, wispy clouds.

Does the photograph above look similar to Van Gogh's Starry Night?

It reminds me of an impressionist painting -- or even perhaps Van Gogh's Starry Night?

Secret Message

A screen shot of the message when read vertically

Despite the torrential rain on June 4, tens of thousands of people still stood in it to commemorate the victims of the Tiananmen crackdown. I have to admit I left after a while, but lots of people refused to leave Victoria Park.

It just demonstrates how Hong Kong people are determined to show to Beijing that they will stand up for causes they passionately believe in and this is one of the biggest ones.

An interesting brouhaha has emerged in the past day related to June 4 -- during a broadcast on Now Business Channel that night, one of the programs showed a multiple choice question on the screen with four answers listed below, one after the other that should have been read horizontally.

However, if they were read vertically, the words were 毋忘六四 or "never forget June 4".

As soon as producers realized what was going on, they immediately pulled the survey off the air and now the TV station says those who participated in the wordplay will be punished.

The reason for the harsh punishment is that Now TV is trying to get a free-to-air TV license.

But we beg to differ. In fact we think Apple Daily should hire these clever writers to plant more clever messages in the media. Not only will circulation rise even higher as readers try to find these secret missives, but also it'll be Hong Kong's version of soft power.

How about it, Jimmy Lai?

Finally, A Happy Ending

Dr Hu Zhicheng is back in the US

The insane ordeal of Hu Zhicheng is finally over after five years.

He was born in China and went to the United States where he became internationally known as an expert in the development of catalytic converters that are used to limit pollution in cars. With a doctorate in engineering, Hu holds almost 50 patents and has conducted research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and worked for multinational companies.

Then in 2004 Hu returned to China with his family and hoped his knowledge would help China in building cleaner automobiles. He started working for a company in Jiangsu as chief scientist and president. Then his wife, Li Hong, who also has a doctorate in engineering, set up a company supplying materials to Hu's employer.

But then troubles began when Hu angered a well connected businessman of a competing company, and accused Hu of stealing information and providing it to his wife's company. In 2008 Li took the children back to the US for a holiday, but Hu, sensing things would turn nasty, told them not to come back.

He was right. Before the US Thanksgiving holiday, Hu was arrested on commercial theft charges. He was jailed for 17 months while police investigated the case and eventually found no wrongdoing.

So after he was freed, Hu thought he could leave the country and be reunited with his family. But that was not to be. Every time he tried to cross the border, the authorities would not let him leave, because his competitor filed a lawsuit seeking financial compensation.

Being pragmatic, Hu started working for the same company that had employed him, but now in Shanghai. While he was allowed to travel within the country, he was not allowed to leave it.

But suddenly on Monday, Li received a call from a relative in China to say Hu was on a flight back to Los Angeles.

"We're grateful, we're very, very grateful for everybody's help and we're really happy to have him back home," Li said on behalf of herself and their two children.

Some believe Hu was released just before the upcoming summit between American President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping in California.

But Hu's ordeal should have never happened in the first place. However, it smells of someone being jealous of his knowledge and experience and wanting him to pay dearly for it; this someone also has very strong guanxi in order to not only arrest Hu on alleged trumped up charges and also prevent him from leaving the country.

He believes it started when the businessman tried to sell him inferior components and Hu refused to purchase them, but the well-connected executive refused to take no for an answer.

Hu only wanted to help his mother country become better, and yet his fellow Chinese did not see him as one of them.

In the meantime, many credit Hu's daughter Victoria for campaigning for her father's release. She was able to visit her father in 2010 and put up a petition on change.org that collected over 60,000 signatures and set up a Facebook page called "Help Victoria's Father Dr Zhicheng Hu Come Home."

With his arrival, on Facebook she posted: "After 5 years, my dad is finally home! Watching him walk around trying to find the chopsticks is the best feeling ever."

Her mother tried diplomatic means to get her husband home, but somehow their prayers were miraculously heard on Monday.

While the Chinese government claims to warmly invite overseas Chinese to come back and share their knowledge, we're assuming Hu will never return to the motherland again. His ordeal is a warning to any Chinese outside the mainland that coming back can be like being in no man's land.

Downpour Mars Candlelight Vigil

Candles lit minutes before the deluge of rain

I just came back from the Tiananmen candlelight vigil to mark the 24th anniversary completely soaked after a giant rainstorm hit us before the event started.

YTSL and I arrived early, around 6.15pm and while there were many people making their way to Victoria Park, the streets weren't blocked off by police yet.

Posters and slogans of what happened 24 years ago

It had rained in the morning so we hoped the weather would hold in the evening and it had cooled off a bit too.

The usual democratic parties were out in force, "Long Hair" Leung Kwok-hung was there, as well as Albert Ho Chun-yan, the Falun Gong were trying to raise money as well as others selling T-shirts, including one with a graphic of Li Wangyang, who died of mysterious causes just before June 4 last year.

We sat quite close to the stage on the right hand side, next to the giant map of Beijing and waited for the event to begin.

To keep the crowds interested, people on stage took turns singing songs that would be performed during the service and periodically notified people about how many football pitches were filled.

By around 7.25pm all the pitches were filled and people coming in had to go to the grassy area. Soon we were instructed to light our candles and in minutes the area was filled with glowing candles.

This year we were quite close to the stage

The crowd was getting revved up with the candles and the songs, but then the rain came.

It started with a few drops, along with what looked like giant wisps of cotton, and then it started to rain. People pulled out their umbrellas and so did we.

But it kept coming, pouring down in fact and people around us began to stand up and eventually we followed. There was thunder and lightning and the more it poured, the more we shouted, "Vindicate June 4!"

Either the sound system didn't work because of the heavy rain or the organizers didn't know what to do but there was nothing coming from the stage.

To fill the vacuum, a group of students behind us started singing a Cantonese song about keeping the spirit and hanging in there. But after that nothing happened. They sang again and again nothing from the stage.

By now the rain had subsided a bit, but the thunder and lightning were still quite menacing.

Many young people took part again in the vigil

YTSL didn't want to leave, but I was already pretty much soaked and eventually I persuaded her to go. Many others decided the same too and we found refuge in the nearby Din Tai Fung restaurant.

After a bite to eat, she went back to catch the last few minutes.

It will be interesting to hear what the organizers claim are the numbers this year with the horrible weather conditions. It's just too bad it was pouring down and it seemed like organizers didn't quite know what to say or do.

We still think it was a relatively healthy turnout, but probably not as many as the record 180,000 last year.

The Goddess of Democracy stands tall

Some people chose not to go because of the public spat between the organizers in the last few days, which is a pity because this event should not be political, but about remembering those who died 24 years ago.

As for the rain, was it orchestrated by Beijing? Or just a coincidence?

By coincidence, it was announced today that former Beijing mayor Chen Xitong, believed to be one of the masterminds behind the Tiananmen Square massacre had died on Sunday.

Former Party Secretary Zhao Ziyang blames Chen for the tragedy in his memoir, and former Premier Li Peng claimed in his diary Chen was director of the headquarters in charge of the crackdown. 

Chen denied any responsibility and claimed he was kept in the dark, adding the tragedy could have been avoided.

While China continues to suppress anything related to June 4, it cannot cover up everything because in the end the truth will prevail.

Vindicate June 4!