I will delay the return to more down to Earth matters by unexpectedly continuing the Moon over Hong Kong theme. Tonight in Sha Tin:
Enjoying the weather. More later . . .
Enjoying the weather. More later . . .
Shenzhen forged ahead, clearing out most of its old, labor-intensive factories and building high-tech giants like Huawei Technologies Co. and ZTE Corp. The city’s Nanshan district is a cradle for more than 8,000 technology firms, centered around the vast Shenzhen Hi-Tech Industrial Park, known as SHIP. Entrepreneurs have come from across the world, leading some to question why Guangdong needs to collaborate with Hong Kong on innovation.
“That ship has sailed,’’ said Felix Chung, chairman of Hong Kong’s pro-business Liberal Party. “The plan could have been good 10 years ago but have you seen Shenzhen lately? It has the ability to do so much on its own.”
Executives at the firm and its parent Guangzhou Automobile Group (601238.SS) say they may now change the Trumpchi brand - which was meant to sound like its Chinese name Chuanqi, which is a play on the word "legendary" and means passing good fortune - after it drew some ridicule at the Detroit auto show in January.I don't know if this blog is one of the "other websites", but I do thank GAC for providing such excellent material. The April Fool's post has received a notable amount of traffic during the past year.
"We saw people were laughing at this and took pictures looking only at this detail, and also put on Facebook or other websites," GAC Motor Design Director Zhang Fan told Reuters. "When we read all that feedback, we realized it might not be very positive promotion for the brand."
[Politicians of both parties] find it convenient to blame China [for "job declines caused mainly by technology"].4. No excerpt for the final link since the China Digital Times piece is itself a collection of excerpts with links: "Panama Severs Ties With Taiwan, Pledges Allegiance to China".
Why? Because interest groups dominate the Washington conversation and both parties are beholden to constituencies with an interest in the post-factual illusion. Democrats depend on unions that see protection of current jobs, not helping workers prepare for the future, as their task. They see every gain for workers in poor countries as a loss for U.S. workers. Preparing the workforce for a changing future could threaten union leaders’ power. . . .
Republicans reject reality for different reasons. If you acknowledge the inexorable disappearance of manufacturing jobs, and the fact (documented by MIT Professor David Autor) that, without government help, whole communities stagnate, then you must authorize the government to analyze the areas of loss and gain, and follow through by spending money to retrain workers and help them move. However, to avoid taxation, wealthy Republican constituents will denounce expanded government authority and expenditures as socialism.
In May 1942 one of the most unusual events of the internment years occurred. Although hardly an event of great importance, it is of great interest. For weeks there had been rumours in the Camp that a tiger was roaming around at night. As rumours were always prevalent, most internees refused to believe such a "preposterous" tale. Therefore, it came as great surprise when a male tiger weighing more than 200 pounds was killed just outside the Camp by a part of Japanese gendarmes, Chinese and Indian guards. The Hongkong News of 21 May 1942 reported that the tiger weighed about 240 pounds, was three feet high and six feet long with a nineteen-inch tail. Some of the Indian guards reported that they had also seen the tiger's mate and two cubs, but these were never found.No live tigers approached me in the area, though there were a few domestic cats. So I just had a salad by the beach.
One of the internees, who had been a butcher with the Dairy Farm Company in Hong Kong before the war, was taken out of the Camp to skin the tiger. After being stuffed, it was put on exhibition in the city and attracted many viewers. The meat was not wasted, either, as The Hongkong News reported on 27 June that "thanks to the generosity of a Nipponese officer, some officials of the Hong Kong Race Club were recently given the rare treat of having a feast of tiger meat. The meat, which was as tender and delicious as beef, was from the tiger shot at Stanley.
At least 30 employees of a Hong Kong billionaire who was whisked to China about two weeks ago have been stopped from leaving the mainland, with many more probably unable to travel, two people familiar with the matter said Monday.The case is reminiscent of the five staff of Causeway Bay Books who disappeared in 2015 and ended up in mainland China under similarly mysterious circumstances.
It has become increasingly apparent that Beijing’s dragnet extends far beyond the billionaire, Xiao Jianhua, and is now closing in on dozens, if not hundreds, of his employees in one of the most far-reaching crackdowns on a private Chinese conglomerate in the nearly four decades since the country began to embrace free markets.
Why did these people sell the bookshop but leave it empty? . . . Everyone knew that these people were rich. Yet they wouldn’t waste their money on nothing, would they? I am going to quote my own words — “when I was in Shaoguan, Shi told me that I had to continue working in the bookshop after I came back to Hong Kong. He would be in contact so I could report what was happening, through text or photographs. They wanted to understand what was going on in Hong Kong, especially those who were buying books about political theories.” Don’t you understand? The purpose of those people buying off the store was to have it serve as a convenient point of surveillance, from which they could spy upon Hongkongers.This past Sunday I revisited the bookstore's location. The blue and white Causeway Bay Books sign still hangs prominently over Lockhart Road.
Xiao Jianhua, one of China’s wealthiest and most politically connected financiers, whose disappearance last month sent a chill through Hong Kong and the political class in Beijing, does not appear to be fine.More details from the piece here.
In the early hours of Jan. 27, he was taken out of the Four Seasons Hotel in Hong Kong in a wheelchair, his head covered by a sheet or a blanket, according to people who have seen or been briefed on video footage captured by security cameras in the hotel.
Mr. Xiao, 45, who was not known to use a wheelchair, was accompanied by about half a dozen unidentified men who were also pushing a large suitcase on rollers. He is believed to have been transported by boat from Hong Kong, eluding border controls, and is now in police custody in mainland China, according to two people familiar with the investigation into his whereabouts.
View of the Lamma Power Station from Hung Shing Ye Beach on Lamma Island, Hong Kong |
Ah, Renegade Province “Election” Day! Time to get up, do some stretches, check the missile codes, make tea...
— The Relevant Organs (@relevantorgans) January 16, 2016
Apple Daily TW: "Tsai Ing-wen: the first female president in the Chinese-speaking world" #TaiwanElection #Taiwan2016 pic.twitter.com/O1KQ6b5EPP
— Kristie Lu Stout CNN (@klustout) January 16, 2016
Breaking: Sina Weibo (western media call it China's Twitter) censors just blocked Taiwan's first female president. pic.twitter.com/2wfggtVQ9Y
— Eddie Du (@Edourdoo) January 16, 2016
It ain't Taiwan without a night market. Even at Tsai's prez announcement. #TaiwanElection pic.twitter.com/vpFZUhW1wH
— Ellis Liang (@EllisLiang) January 16, 2016
Sunflower Movement got far less intl attention than Occupy, but has shaped Taiwan far, far more than HK protests effected situation here.
— James Griffiths (@jgriffiths) January 16, 2016
Banner outside DPP headquarters says step over the corpse of HK and stay away from China #TaiwanElection pic.twitter.com/tdrvosDPq4
— Varsity CUHK (@varsitycuhk) January 16, 2016
Xi Jinping looking a bit outnumbered on @guardian website this weekend pic.twitter.com/MH4gdSGkrN
— Tom Phillips (@tomphillipsin) January 16, 2016
The changing political geography. 2012 on left, 2016 on right pic.twitter.com/SS7Wm8rRDh
— Jonathan Sullivan (@jonlsullivan) January 16, 2016
"China should learn from us". Taiwanese voters elect first female president Tsai Ing-wen https://t.co/2PBJ4hZH8S pic.twitter.com/eDEnIoSEpY
— jonathanwatts (@jonathanwatts) January 16, 2016
Tsai: "Our message to the international community is that democracy as a value is deeply-ingrained in the Taiwanese people."
— Nathan VanderKlippe (@nvanderklippe) January 16, 2016
Sign held at Sunday's rally in Hong Kong for five missing booksellers |
A new book by a Chinese dissident planned for publication in Hong Kong and critical of China’s president Xi Jinping has been suspended due to pressure. . . .The chief editor for the publisher left little doubt the decision was a result of five Hong Kong booksellers disappearing under suspicious circumstances when he explained people "want to stay out of trouble so that they won’t be the next one".
Yu says that the book will be published in Taiwan in late February, calling Taiwan the “last lighthouse of publishing freedom for ethnic Chinese society”. On whether the Taiwanese version will be available in Hong Kong bookstores, Yu says he is “not optimistic”.
A ship of another classical style in Victoria Harbour here |