Passengers Behaving Badly -- Again

The emergency door exits were yanked open for some fresh air...

More and more Chinese mainlanders are traveling and it's a booming industry in the country even though there aren't enough pilots to fly them.

However these passengers are quickly gaining a bad rep for their manners on airplanes.

The latest?

Opening up the emergency door exits because the flight was delayed due to snow.

First there was a three-hour delay due to rain from Dhaka, Bangladesh to Kunming. Then passengers got angry when the ongoing flight to Beijing was delayed more than two hours, from 8.45pm to 11pm.

A previous incident where another person opened the door

Some passengers initially refused to re-board the plane, demanding compensation, but finally they were coxed onto the plane by 1.40am. However it took more than an hour to clear snow from the plane, so when the aircraft finally began taxing at 3.17am -- more than seven hours behind schedule, some passengers pulled open three emergency door exits, forcing the pilots to stop the plane and return to the gate.

A person on Weibo reported -- and then the post was later deleted -- that the pilot exchanged angry words with the passengers. The post said the air conditioning was turned off at 3am and some passengers complained it was hard to breathe, and asked to get off the plane for fresh air, but the air crew refused.

The Weibo post then reported that the pilot shouted: "Are you going to die soon? If not, just wait."

Then the plane began moving, catching some passengers off guard, causing them to fall over.

The incident has sparked debate in China, with some blaming the pilot for not handling the situation well, while others believe passengers should not be pulling open emergency doors.

There's another incident of an apparently illiterate farmer who was caught smoking in the washroom of the plane and was fined HK$2,000 and had to give up his travel documents.

How about some kind of explanation of why it's crucial to clear snow off a plane before it takes off?

Some women were caught in a brawl over a crying baby

Another well-known incident from last month was when four passengers made a scene, scalding the flight attendant with hot water from instant noodles and threatening to bomb the plane due to a row over seating arrangements.

Then there was the passenger flying from Hangzhou to Chengdu who yanked open the emergency door just before take off to "get some fresh air".

Oh and don't forget about a cat fight on a flight from Chongqing to Hong Kong about a bawling baby...

How is China going to teach its 1.3 billion people about airline etiquette and safety? It seems like the motherland assumes its children know how to behave on planes without even giving them instructions...

Or perhaps it's because the Chinese are tired of being treated badly by their superiors that now as passengers, they feel entitled to their idea of just treatment?

China, you've got a long way to go, baby

Picture of the Day: Sunset in K-Town

Looking at the sunset from Victoria Road

These last few days I've been fighting a cold thanks to sitting next to a mainland girl on the plane who was about four years old and coughing at my face at times... I was regretting not bringing a mask with me and now am paying for it.

However I do wonder how effective a mask is in blocking viruses from a coughing, phlegmy kid sitting next to you who is not instructed by her mother to cover her mouth...

A small crowd of people with cameras waiting for sunset

In any event I tried to rest today, but after a prolonged nap it was 5pm and I felt like going out for a stroll. I headed up Victoria Road in Kennedy Town, thinking I would go find the scenic spot I'd discovered back in April.

It turns out I didn't walk up Victoria Road far enough, but instead found another place where young couples like to go for cheap dates.

I followed a group of them down the stairs with the bright green railing to a hut where a man lived -- he was running his washing machine -- but nearby was a dock and many people were standing around.

One more picture of the sun setting by the water

I'd just come around 5.20pm when the sun was starting to set and it was either young couples or amateur photographers there ready to wait for the giant fiery orb the sink into the ocean.

Today was a bit hazy, but that's when you get the brilliant colours of the sunset... thanks to air pollution!

Jackie Chan's Son In Jail

Jaycee Chan in a Beijing court today and pleaded guilty to drug charges

The saga of entertainer Jackie Chan's son Jaycee is over for now, with the conviction of the 32-year-old today for a drug offense that will see him jailed for six months and fined 2,000 yuan ($322).

He has already served five months in jail, so the younger Chan will be out on February 13, days before Chinese New Year.

In a Beijing court, Chan pleaded guilty for "sheltering others to use drugs", a charge that could result in up to three years in prison. The court agreed with the prosecutors' recommendation that Chan be given a lighter sentence because he volunteered information about his drug use to the police, and that he behaved well in detention.

He and his father Jackie Chan in happier times...

Wait a minute -- the prosecution recommended a lighter sentence?!

When police busted his apartment in Beijing on August 14, the authorities found more than 100 grams of marijuana. Taiwanese actor Ko Chen-tung was detained at the time, and gave a tearful confession on CCTV and was given 14 days' administrative detention, while Chinese actress Li Xiaonan was also busted, but not charged. All three tested positive for weed.

Chan admitted he made his home available for drug use to Ko three times, and Li once between 2012 and last year.

"I broke the law and I should be punished," Chan said in the court. "When I'm back in the community, I won't repeat the offense because I have hurt too many people, including my family, friends, and teachers."

Teachers? Is this a school reprimand?

Taiwanese actor Ko Chen-tung gives a tearful confession

Nevertheless it's quite obvious Chan was just following the script and one has to wonder how much his father tried to intervene in the legal process or if he did at all.

Jaycee's drug bust and conviction is a big blow to Jackie Chan's reputation, because not only is he considered a clean superstar who spends a lot of time on the mainland, he was also named an anti-narcotics ambassador in China in 2009.

Jackie Chan and his wife Lin Fengjiao did not attend the hearing, probably to avoid further media coverage.

Thus ends the soap opera of Jaycee and his drug antics. His career is probably over now -- who wants to risk casting someone whose drug bust was broadcast on TV? Hardly upstanding citizen material.

However, daddy surely has made more than enough money to keep his son covered for a long time... no?

Here We Go Again Part II

China adviser on HK affairs Rao Geping says its time for national education

The touchy subject of national education has come up again post-Occupy and now with the second round of public consultation over political reform with regards to universal suffrage.

A Basic Law Committee member has suggested the Hong Kong government should try to introduce national education again into the school system with greater emphasis on Chinese culture rather than ideology.

Rao Geping, a mainland law professor who advises Beijing on Hong Kong affairs says the local government should do more to remove the legacy of its colonial past to ward off anti-mainland sentiment among young people.

"Hong Kong hasn't done ideally in educating its youth about how to adapt its status under 'one country, two systems'," he said at a two-day forum in Beijing hosted by the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macau Studies on the political implications of the city's education.

"Many young people haven't been able to get used to the fact that Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China. They grew up with a lack of national education, coupled with sentiments against the Communist Party of China, which has led to some of them being on the political front line.

"I think national education should be introduced again, but with an emphasis put on Chinese history and culture, but not ideology. We should have it in schools."

He added there were contradictions between the education system that Hong Kong inherited from colonial days and the one it should have as part of China -- so young people should be taught about "decolonization".

Fung Wai-wah thinks China should set a good example first

First of all, has Rao ever spent much time in Hong Kong? When we try to Google his name, he is apparently head of the Center for Hong Kong and Macao Studies, but the link does not work -- in fact every other link related to him opens to "problem loading page". Hmmmm.

Which makes one quickly understand he is speaking strictly as a mainlander and not as someone who understands Hong Kong by any capacity.

He blames the Hong Kong government for not doing more to make young people understand the city is a part of China, but they do. It was drilled into their heads when 1997 came along, and after the handover, well, just the sheer number of mainland tourists made them realize that learning Putonghua would be a crucial part of their education.

But for the government to try to remove Hong Kong's colonial past is like China denying the Cultural Revolution ever happened, let alone Tiananmen Square. Hong Kong is the way it is because of the British and will forever be a part of the city's history whether the Chinese like it or not.

If they wanted to whitewash Hong Kong's colonial history then they should have removed all the British names of streets and buildings and given them other ones. But that would be too confusing so let it be.

More importantly Rao seems to forget -- or perhaps he doesn't even know -- that Hong Kong was a refuge for people escaping from the mainland. They were fleeing from Communism and the horrors of people starving to death from the Great Leap Forward and the psychological terror of the Cultural Revolution... He should know since what we can find out about him is that he was born in 1948...

But Fung Wai-wah, president of the pan-democrat Professional Teachers' Union, said even if national education had been introduced, it would not have strengthened Hong Kong students' national identity.

"A school subject is only a very small part of students' lives," he said. "What really leaves a big impact is how mainlanders affect Hong Kong, how Beijing treats Hong Kong and what's been happening in the mainland."

He said Hong Kong people, especially young people, had negative views on those three issues, and that to alter those perceptions, Beijing would have to bring about change on all three fronts.

This is true -- everyday interaction with mainlanders and what news they read affects Hong Kong people's opinions of China. There are still a good number who have never crossed the border because of what they have read or seen about China in the media, or they had heard stories from their families or relatives about fleeing the mainland in the 1940s to the 1970s.

Perhaps Beijing should think about cleaning house -- not just the corruption, but also food security, people's manners, and the pollution -- to demonstrate it is a peaceful rising power, as former President Hu Jintao claimed.

Maybe then young Hong Kong people will have a better impression of China and then maybe will be more receptive to national education?