Joyceyland

Keep Soho and the Graham Street Market from becoming yet another overdeveloped block of highrises

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 07:15:23 GMT

Concerned Hong Kongers are asking the Town Planning Board to rezone the Graham Street Market and Soho, in order to retain it as a historic, low-rise area and to designate some streets to be used specifically for market activities.

If you feel strongly about this, you can email a letter to tpbpd@pland.gov.hk quoting application # Y/H3/3. Or you can use a ready-written comment form at
www.centralandwestern.org/Y.H3.3/index.html
The deadline is Fri 29 Aug. Chinese is below.

爭取保育嘉咸街市集及蘇豪區
–規劃「香港歷史城區」
請支持這項規劃申請!

公眾諮詢期至
2008年8月29日

中西區關注組建議將中環最具歷史價值的舊街區
–蘇豪及嘉咸街市集–劃為「特別設計區」,透過有效及有利可持續發展的規劃措施,去保護這個深具歷史文化價值的地區的活力及整體特色。有關的12A規劃申請已被城規會接納考慮,現諮詢公眾意見至2008年8月29日 (申請編號Y/H3/3)。
這是首次有團體向城規會申請以「特別設計區」的框架去保護一個歷史文化區的環境及風貌。

此項申請覆蓋範圍約
4.7平方公里,涵蓋嘉咸街市集及蘇豪區,申請旨在:
o 保護「歷史城區」內原有的街道結構及景觀。
o 訂定高度限制(12層或以下)及維持較小型的低矮樓宇,以保持現有宜人的樓宇密度及設計特色。
o 將部份嘉咸街、卑利街、結志街、士他花利街、吉士笠街及士丹利街劃為「市集街」,保留綠色小販排檔、大排檔、街市店舖,確保現有市集能繼續運作。
o 確保更新過程能維護此區的歷史風貌,並維繫周邊古蹟,包括中區警署、荷李活道警察宿舍、文武廟、孫中山史蹟徑等的整體連貫性。
o 鼓勵私人業主翻新及復修物業,讓舊城區有機地更新,並由政府改善交通、市集設施及衛生環境。
o 降低發展密度將有助減輕該區交通擠塞,改善空氣及採光質素。
關注組發言人羅雅寧及
John Batten:「我們要求當局確認中上環歴史城區的重要性,並以全面的規劃方案使整區(由中區警署建築群至中央書院遺址、嘉咸街市集至蘇豪)得到適當的保育。」
羅氏補充,這區正面對錯誤規劃及過度發展的威脅,若當局不即時設立「特別設計區」給予保護,香港將失去一個最美及最具本土特色的歴史城區,和一個最古老又最具活力的露天市集。

關注組呼籲公眾支持是項規劃申請,於
2008年8月29日前向城規會遞交意見書,註明申請編號Y/H3/3,城規會電郵: tpbpd@pland.gov.hk。有關是項規劃申請的詳情,可瀏覽中西區關注組網址
www.centralandwestern.org。

Media job offer

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 14:36:13 GMT

Global News Enterprises, a new Boston-based venture, is building a team of journalists. A web-based organization that will provide daily international news coverage, Global News is hiring 70 correspondents and five regional editors in 50 countries. They are accepting applications immediately and plan to have the team in place in 2009 when the site is expected to launch.

They seek correspondents and editors who speak the native language and know the history, politics, economics and culture of the country. Multimedia or web experience, plus experience with U.S. media, are bonuses. Coverage will focus on so-called “second world” countries like China, India, Indonesia, Brazil, Nigeria, Poland and others.

They say their monthly stipend is "is modest, but is comparable to rates paid to freelancers by traditional American newspapers and magazines." Plus, those on the opening team get stock. So it sounds like they are looking for "super-stringers"/ start-up co-founder-type people, but I'm just guessing here.

Cvs can be sent to correspondent@globalnewsenterprises.com. Plus, they're doing a talk at the Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents Club Sept 17.

No happy ending to gymnasts scandal

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 20:42:04 GMT

NOW TV, a Hong Kong channel run by Richard Li (Li Ka-shing's son), added to the growing number of reports on whether China's gymnasts are underaged. They showed Chinese-language screen grabs of documents, with the birthdate "1994" circled.
NOW goes against the idea that this issue is borne of Western jealousy and a desire to see China fall. (The last thing the Li family wants is for China to fall!) And NOW, being Chinese-language, is more domestically relevant. I interviewed the NOW news editor a while back. She said their business news was allowed across the border, but their "news news" was not. Whether blocking NOW has any impact, I don't know. It's too bad they don't put out a news website.
The IOC -- which has so far buffed questions about conflicting documents -- finally asked for an investigation on Friday. The Chinese handed over more ID cards showing the girls to be 16, which is the minimum age allowed. On the IOC's orders, the International Gymnastics Federation was looking into He Kexin, Yang Yilin, Jiang Yuyuan, Li Shanshan and Deng Linlin. But I'm not expecting they will look very hard, despite the fact that there has been clashing information from many sources, many of them state-linked media in China.
But even if the IGF look now -- after weeks of speculation -- it would only be a cat-and-mouse game of keeping potentially embarrassing documents hidden. I can't imagine the IOC or IGF are savvy enough to dig up local records. I doubt local officials or family members are going to help a bunch of foreigners find evidence to make China look bad.
****
I was curious how the Chinese-language media would cover this. Let me preface by saying that, despite promises to myself that I should watch Mandarin TV to improve my Putonghua, I never do. I am no TV expert.
Phoenix did quite a long report on the gymnasts, showing shots of the press conference where He Kexin -- without her performance make-up -- looked pale, shifty-eyed and sad. Her coach spoke briefly, but she did not. Phoenix then interviewed one of the male Chinese gymnasts. You can probably guess his views.
Phoenix is a Hong Kong-based Mandarin-language broadcaster co-founded by a former PLA colonel. It aims to be the "Chinese CNN" and is viewed by Chinese-speaking audiences all over the world. It's seen as being not as free as Western or traditional Hong Kong media, but freer than Mainland media.
I saw nothing on the gymnastics scandal on CCTV, the official state broadcaster. Then again, I couldn't bear to watch it that long.
****
The BBC, CNN, The New York Times and IHT all, at some point, had the gymnast story up prominently on their homepages, though the story has moved inside now. (The Internet has made "news cycles" much shorter).
The Times of London, which is producing its own reporting out of Beijing and not using just wires, is making a good effort to track censorship of this issue online.
The South China Morning Post site disappointingly ran an AP wire, and then mentioned the issue on a Podcast that also included bits about Hong Kong movies and Gary Glitter. Why are none of their reporters in Beijing digging deeper into this? Most have a linguistic edge of their foreign counterparts. Let's see if they produce anything tomorrow.
****
Some members of the blogosphere -- that big bubble of wrath -- blamed American gold medal envy. The obnoxious Bela Karolyi has not helped.
However, evidence that these girls were born in 1994, not 1992, was cropping up in July, before the Games. It was reported in major media like The New York Times, and discussed on Olympics blogs like FanHouse.
The China Media Project has quotes from China Daily, Xinhua and People's Daily, including a scanned image of that newspaper's page, showing He born in 1994.
The Huffington Post has screen grabs from China Daily (both pre- and post- tampering, showing her at 14 and 16 respectively), plus a Chengdu official gymnastics body. This link was reportedly disconnected, then "refound." I just checked, and He Kexin (#10) is still listed as being born in 1994.
The latest information has come from a blogger called Stryde Hax. He found Excel spread sheets listing her as first 14, then 16, on the website of the General Administration of Sport in China. He says he is neither a sports fan nor anti-Chinese, but interesting in finding fraud online.
*****
I have no idea if these gymnasts are under-aged. There are two possibilities:
A) China sent underaged girls to the Olympics and faked documents to make them look older.
B) Local officials and the media took older gymnasts and made them seem younger, to impress the public ("Amazing gymnast is only 13!") or maybe so they could win in local competitions against younger girls.
Both possibilities come to a bad end. Both show high-level dishonesty, a lack of foresight (don't tell me nobody was planning ahead for 8/8/08!), an under-estimation of investigative journalists (including bloggers), manipulation of information conveyed in the media, and just awful public relations.
****
There have been the usual cries of "Why us? Why us? Why pick on us?" But the IOC investigates everyone. Athletes from Spain, Vietnam and North Korea have been kicked out for doping. The annoying Swedish wrestler was stripped of his medal for misbehaving at the ceremony. Even the hero Usain Bolt was cautioned not to act too arrogantly. It's not just China that the IOC tries to keep in line.
Few know that the IOC tested swimmer Michael Phelps for drugs 7 times in 12 days in Beijing, between Aug 4 and Aug 15, including twice on the same day -- which is a bit ridiculous. The U.S. Team did not make a big deal of this, which is why it is little reported.
Unlike the Chinese, the U.S. coaches were not sulky and defensive in face of questions. They did not make excuses. They did not call Phelps' multiple tests a "false accusation." They allowed repeated testing quietly and uncomplainingly. No U.S. coach came out with a ridiculous statement like "drug testing makes Michael Phelps's mom feel bad," which is one line the Chinese have used.
If Phelps was found to be guilty, the U.S. would fess up and the U.S. media would report on it. (NB: He's tested negative on all drug tests so far.)
****
I feel worst for He Kexin.
Generally, when a Western athlete is guilty of doping, it's his or her own fault. They decide to do something wrong, and deserve to be stripped of medals, as the Canadian Ben Johnson was, causing the entire country to want to crawl under a pile of maple leaves.
But I can't imagine it would be He Kexin's fault if documents were wrong or faked. I think elite athletes this young (at 14 or 16, she would still be a teenager) are shut off from the real world, and even more so in China. She's been under scrutiny from scary foreign journalists, and looks lost and miserable. When asked about her age, at one point she said, "it's none of your business."
If the IOC don't investigated well and resolve this issue, there will be the feeling that China got away with something as the Olympics host. But if the IOC do find proof of faking, they will have no choice but strip medals, and my heart will break for the girl who has trained so hard and performed so well, only to be publicly shamed because of something her superiors did wrong. I can't see a happy ending.
*****
People asked why lip-sync girl, the digital footprints and non-ethnic ethnic children -- all from the Opening Ceremony -- were such a big deal. They weren't, taken individually. But together -- along with gymnast Yang Yun's statement that she was under the legal age when she won two bronzes in Sydney -- they set a tone that made people even more suspicious when the serious issue of falsifying documents came up.

On a lighter note -- Dave Barry on Beijing rock

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 14:15:16 GMT

I know all you regular readers are IHT subscribers, because if you were not, you would have told me by now, since I get some sort of "special prize" for roping more of you people in. So you've already probably seen this hilarious column. Full article is here:

"I was in the mood to have blood spurt from my ears, so I decided to take in the Beijing rock scene.
I went with some other Americans to a club called Star Live, which was presenting a rock show called Youth Party of China. When we arrived the party consisted of maybe 150 youth of China, many wearing Beijing rock 'n' roll-hipster attire, which features fedoras, shorts, long hair and ironic T-shirts. As you can imagine, our group, the Middle-Aged Tourist Party of America, blended smoothly into the scene, virtually unnoticed, like buffalo in a submarine.
There were four bands in the show: Guai Li, Scoff, Casino Demon and Candy Monster. When we arrived, Guai Li was onstage, performing in a cloud of smoke. I would describe their musical genre as deafening. Even the youth of China seemed reluctant to get too close to the speakers for fear that the sound waves would liquefy their eyeballs....
...most of the bands sing in English: They want to go international. The problem is, their English pronunciation is often not great, the result being that neither the Chinese-speaking audience nor the English-speaking audience can really understand the lyrics. (In other words, it's pretty much the same as our system.)
At one point, Guai Li was performing a song that sounded like this:
LEAD SINGER: Run! Run! Run! Run!
GUITARISTS: Run! Run! Run! Run!
LEAD SINGER: Run! Run! Run! Run!
GUITARISTS: Run! Run! Run! Run!
And so on. After a while I shouted to David, "Are they singing 'run'?"
"I have no idea," he shouted back.
Later on, another band - Scoff, I think - was performing a song, and one of the members of our party, sportswriter/author/international media conglomerate Mitch Albom, after listening intently for a while, said, "I believe this one is called '[Bad word that rhymes with "duck"] the Postcard."'
So we all listened, and sure enough, on every chorus, the lead singer appeared to be shouting, with great passion and loudness, "[Bad word] the postcard!" It was a catchy tune, and on the next chorus we Americans joined in, thrusting our fists into the air and shouting "[Bad word] the postcard!" We were crazy rockin' rebels, Beijing-style..."

Closer look at China's net nanny, and the futility of boycotts

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 13:43:11 GMT

Danwei keeps meticulous count of which international websites are blocked when in China. Today, it's saying that if you type "China" into google.com from a Mainland computer, you get no response. (Of course, this is just one blogger talking about one search).
If you scroll down Danwei's "censorship" link, you can put together a sort of chronology: YouTube blocked, The Guardian blocked, L.A. Times blocked, BBC partly unblocked, Wikipedia unblocked, Blogspot unblocked, Blogspot blocked, Blogspot unblocked again, Blogger blocked, etc.
Readers then write in reports from where they are: No YouTube here in Sichuan. Some Blogger access in Hunan. No luck with the BBC in Beijing.
It's tedious reading -- one commenter asked if it was really necessary for Danwei readers to do a roll-call of every province in China. And the answer is yes, if only because there seems to be an online community of people talking about the minutae of proxy servers, "Google mirrors" and other ways of bypassing "The Great Firewall of China." To me, it's a foreign language.
The latest news, from the Sydney Morning Herald, is that iTunes has been blocked because of an album about Tibet. Now CNN has picked up on the story..
Of course, iTunes is just the carrier; they are not responsible for every lyric on every song, no more than Carrefour supermarkets are responsible for actions taken by the Paris mayor. That hasn't stopped some netizens from saying they will boycott Apple products like the iPhone. You show them. Not having an iPhone will be really make a difference in Chinese-Tibetan relations.
****
One really wonders if angry Chinese will suffer from boycott fatigue.
There was a political correctness wave (tsunami) when I was at McGill in the 90s. For some political reason, the student body president was not drinking either Coke or Pepsi. I forget which, and he would, too. "Damn," he'd say in the cafe we'd all go to, staring at his can of soda. "Is Sprite owned by Coke or Pepsi? Can I drink this in good conscience?"
There are a few things I will not do -- like eat shark's fin -- but is it really impossible to avoid all products that have not been pristinely produced.
Canadian wild smoked salmon on my bagel? Depletes fish stocks. The Gap? Might use child labor. Abercrombie & Fitch? T-shirts designs offensive to Chinese-Americans. Anything made in China? Supports regime that jails journalists. Great. I might as well leave Hong Kong since everything here is made in China. Actually, I might have to leave Planet Earth.
The Chinese Carrefour and iPod boycotters are just as ridiculous as the Americans who decided to rename french fries as "freedom fries," to protest French comments on the Iraq war. But "freedom fries" were a one-off and a joke, devised by two idiot politicians in North Carolina. Whereas the censorship in China is wide-ranging, sanctioned and instituted by the government. That's way more scary. Idiocy that is huge and official and tied to the world's most populous state is more frightening than idiocy practiced on an individual level.
Bit of trivia from a foodie: French fries get their name from the the method of slicing into thin strips, which used to be called "frenched." I love the French spokeswoman's response to Americans on this case: "We are not focusing on the name you give to potatoes." You can practically hear her sniff.
*****
Mainland netizens probably find the first half this post rather obvious, but it's not. Here in Hong Kong (or in most parts of the world) people know about Chinese web censorship as a sort of vague concept. I was actually surprised to read about it blow-by-blow.
In Hong Kong, there are complaints about subtle problems -- like potential self-censorship from journalists working for media owned by bosses with Mainland business connections. But we still have front-page stories on everything from Tibetan riots and Tiananmen Square massacre memorials, to Taiwan's independence seekers -- regardless of what people may think about those issues. (Maybe China can start censoring issues that begin with the letter "t").
Even in a #9 typhoon, I can access all the above sites. Actually, I take for granted that I can. It wouldn't occur to me that I wouldn't be able to.
China-based bloggers sometimes write, "It's no problem. You can use a proxy. Or, if main news sites are blocked, you can go straight to the wires." I have to give it to bloggers who are smart and determined enough to go through this amount of effort. But this does not apply to the 99% of Chinese who don't have the technical expertise, language skill, media savvy, time and inclination. Like everyone, they have jobs to do and lives to run. They might glance at a paper, turn on the evening news, do a little surfing online. And they aren't getting the information -- good, bad and ugly -- the rest of the world are.

Gah! New flat. A call for advice.

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 10:48:53 GMT

I'm in the process of setting up the utilities for our new flat, where we will be moving on Sept 1, regardless of whether the kitchen is finished at that point or not. We're just not waiting.
It's been a long time since I've had to set up phone / Internet / cable TV. Our current flat is a serviced apartment, so I don't have to worry about it. Our last flat was organized by Marc's company. And before that I lived in Wanchai, but that was so long ago that my senile old mind can not longer remember the details.
I went online and it looked like letting PCCW do everything mades the most sense, since they do land lines, cheap IDD (006), NOW TV and Netvigator broadband.
However, I have a vague feeling that I had problems with them before. When I moved out of Wanchai, I tried to cancel my subscription, and it was hell. They never answered the phone, they claimed never to get the emails and faxes I sent them, they pulled out all sort of "rules" about having to give two or three or four months notice, they said they would take legal action if I prematurely cut their HSBC autopay. And when I finally managed to cancel, I got endless aggressive sales calls demanding to know why I canceled, who I was going to, etc. Finally, I lied and said I had moved overseas.
I vowed, vowed, never to use this company again. Oh, yes, I felt very strongly. So strongly that I've now forgotten whether it was i-Cable or PCCW I swore to boycott.
As anyone else had this experience? Does anyone have advice for me?
What's the difference between NOW TV and NOW HD?
And why can't I get a normal land line? Why does it have to come with an e-personal assistant and land-line SMS?

Counterclockwise from top left: This kitchen was originally all walled in, now it will be open to the dining room. The toilet was the one I had wanted to recycle (it's an old photo). Look! One wall is painted! I guess I could call that progress. Click photos to enlarge.

Happy birthday to me! I'm eight years old

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 17:30:42 GMT

This is what I got for my birthday.
From my parents and brother: A laisee (or "hongbau," or red envelope with money), a notebook decorated with cartoon characters (paper notebook, not computer notebook), a bag of sparkly stickers shaped like cats. And two cards, also printed with cats. My mother promised me a real kitten later on. It's somehow comforting that the gift selection from my family hasn't changed since I was about eight years old.
Continuing the cutesy, girlie theme, my colleagues got me a cake shaped like a cartoon character. It's a bean with arms and legs and a smiley face. A coffee bean, the kind of bean that makes my caffeine-fueled life worth living.
The only reasonably adult gift was from my husband who, despite his faults, is a good French metrosexual. He got me a pair of silver Kate Spade medium-heeled sandals in exactly the right size.
It's customary for the birthday boy/girl to pay for a lunch or dinner. Instead, I treated everyone -- mom, dad, husband, brother and gf -- to the Olympics.
My gift for myself? I spent U.S. $112 for two years worth of New Yorkers. That works out to HK $19 per issue. On the newsstand at Dymocks or PageOne, it's HK $60-70 an issue. Plus, they are always selling out and I have to run all over the city looking for copies. That's a savings of $41-$51 per magazine. If there's anything Hong Kongers love more than gifts, it's snagging a good deal. Ha.
Click photo to enlarge. Drat. Stupid photo is sideways.

Aiyyaaa! Will anything shut Hong Kongers up? How about show jumping?

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 10:05:56 GMT

At work, this is called "using content over multiple platforms." It means is that posts written by lowly paid company bloggers like myself can be used over and over again.

Oh, I'm kidding. I'm thrilled that my humorous account of going to the Olympic show jumping and dressage with my family ran on both The New York Times and IHT websites. Now my mockery of the Chinglish / onomatopoeic improvisation that passes for our local dialect can go global. On multiple platforms!

I've also noticed that this is my second NYT story to have the word "hush" in the headline. (After "Oxford: The Cloistral Hush Revisited.") Noise pollution in this city must really be getting to me.

Story is below.

"At Equestrian Events in Hong Kong, an Uncharacteristic Hush"

HONG KONG — Riding the subway, shopping at the mall, living here in general, one would never guess that so many Hong Kongers could be so quiet. But the 18,000 who packed the Olympic show jumping qualifier on Friday night were so tense, they were unnaturally hushed.

At least, if things went smoothly.

If someone knocked over a fence, the crowd couldn’t resist making that sound that all Cantonese make when something goes wrong.

“Aiyyaaa.”

Shhhhh! the volunteers would mime, putting their fingers over their lips.

The Olympic equestrian events, all being staged in Hong Kong, end on Aug. 21.

The jump course was a campy mix of East meets West, much like Hong Kong itself. There was shrubbery clipped into Chinese dragons, bright red jumps shaped like the “double happiness” symbols used for Chinese weddings, decorative pandas looking much like Chinese garden gnomes. Most of the events were held at night to give the horses relief from the tropical heat, and the arena was illuminated with floodlights so bright “you could see them from Mars,” to steal a line from a local commentator.

The potted bamboo plants and Chinese-themed jumps spooked several of the mounts, but it was the big green fence near the end that threw most of them.

“Aiyyaaa,” the crowd sighed when they knocked it over.

“Shhhhh!”

All competitors were greeted warmly. Falls and refusals were met with polite, sympathetic applause.

When Patrick Lam of Hong Kong took his turn, there wasn’t a peep to be heard. Way up in the 36th row, spectators could hear his aptly named horse, Urban, snort.

Fans counted each jump under their breath, not quite believing it as Lam and Urban rode a perfect course, something only 13 of the 77 competitors that night achieved. When he finished, there were whistles, cheers and the loudest roar of the night. Lam was so visibly excited during his victory lap that his helmet fell off.

Hong Kong is not a place with much athletic hope or ambition, but this time, it was like the whole city had won at the races.

* * *

The next two Hong Kongers, in navy, didn’t do so well. The four Chinese competitors, in red, came in near the bottom. There was audible disappointment as Zhao Zhiwen and Zhang Bin of China rode around, knocking stuff over.

“Aiyyaaa, Aiyaaaa, Aiyaaaa,” the crowd went.

“Shhhhh!”

“Hong Kong is better than China,” whispered an elderly man.

“Shhhhh!” his wife hissed. They spoke neither Mandarin nor Hong Kong Cantonese, but had accents from the southern provinces. Like much of the crowd, which favored flip-flops and T-shirts on this sultry night, they were dressed like they were going to the wet market to buy cabbages.

“That Chinese horse doesn’t even have the Olympic spirit.”

“Shhhhh!”

The dressage on the next night, Saturday, did not get the same response. The stands were not full, and they emptied as the night went on. Maybe it was because there were no Hong Kong or Chinese competitors. Maybe it was because dressage is rather obscure, with none of jumping’s dramatic thrills and spills. Maybe it’s because muzak hits, like Pachelbel’s Canon, were played on an endless loop, making it feel like we were all trapped inside a giant elevator.

Most people brought small FM radios and earphones so local commentators could tell us what was going on.

The commentary was that odd Hong Kong blend of English, Chinese and onomatopoeic improvisation.

“Meh-meh-meh” (rising tone) would be the phrase used to mock a rider who was rocking his or her torso back and forth too much. “Boom-boom-boom” (low tone) would be what others might call a big, loose canter. A rapid “tche-tche-tche-tche-tche” (medium tone) indicated awkward, jumpy, stiff movements.

“It’s a good thing these dressage competitors can’t understand Cantonese," one female commentator said. “They’d kill us.”

***

The running of the event was smooth and relaxed. Crowds arriving at University train station got on one of the many KMB double-decker buses waiting in a row, air conditioning blasting. It was a 10-minute ride there.

Decades ago, the Shatin Racecourse area was hinterland, known for its mountains and water (“shan shui”). Now it is dotted with skyscrapers, plus a token giant neon-lighted Chinese restaurant.

At the venue, there was a quick, basic security check that felt not dissimilar to going through Hong Kong International Airport. Staff members were friendly, unarmed and, aside from asking people to leave their water bottles behind, did not do much in terms of checking bags.

It took about half an hour from the train station to the seats.

There have been few disruptions, though the ones so far have been worthy of a city that loves its tabloid press. “Long Hair” Leung, the city’s token dissident lawmaker, reportedly snuck a protest banner into an earlier dressage event in his underwear. Then there was Christina Chan, a photogenic local university student and part-time model whom guards covered up in a sky-blue sheet.

There was a casual, carnival-like feel. Those non-equestrian fans who went simply to enjoy the Olympics had plenty to distract them: they lined up to be photographed with the torch, then lined up to be photographed with one of the Fuwa, then lined up to buy one of the Fuwa at the souvenir stand, then went to get food.

You know it’s a Chinese Olympics when the rice boxes with vegetables sell out and the hot dogs do not.

Official info at www.equestrian2008.org.

China's PR fumble - and some great athletics

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 18:51:17 GMT

I rarely watch TV, but once the Olympics come around, I'm glued to the screen -- skipping the gym, sitting in front of the tube eating bad-for-me things as soon as I get up. (How ironic, for someone who usually has no time for spectator sports. And how ironic that an athletic event will make me more out of shape).

I cab it to work, not wanting my commute to make me miss the last minute of, well, whatever obscure sport it is. The only thing I won't watch is boxing because I don't like watching people get hit.

In the newsroom, I keep half an eye on our two smallish TV screens. I swear, one of my like-minded American colleagues, who sits closer to the prized television, has done no work at all since that glorious moment of 8 p.m., 8/8/2008. I get home, usually before midnight, and catch the late segment, while poor Marc falls asleep on the couch. "How long does this last?" he cried during the show jumping. "Do we really have to watch the horses trot out for the medals ceremony, too?"

Some random Olympics-related comments.

* It was a real let-down that the Opening Ceremonies had fake bits. Especially since I had been genuinely impressed and thrilled.
I can't say I totally agree with Image Thief's "Why I Don't Care About the Opening Ceremony's Fradulent Footprints."

He wrote a longish post. Here's a summary: "...So what? I got news for you: Li Ning wasn't really flying either....The Olympic opening ceremony may have represented many things, but "veracity" was not among them. I thought it was a pretty good show.... I don't care. I like vulgar burlesque and arena-rock light shows. This was my kinda show!... Among all this surely one digital process shot can be forgiven.... It simply makes me someone who grew up watching Superbowl halftime shows, the Grammy Awards, and other lip-synch classics."
Yes, but obviously we could see Li Ning on the wire; it was open and part of the schtick. If they just said the giant's footprints were digital or whatever, that's be cool, too. The commentators, so desperate for something to talk about, could have discussed it for 30 seconds, then everyone would have forgotten it. Better than having the "truth" come seeping out in an embarrassing way later and generating lots of negative publicity.
Image Thief works in PR. So he should know what China's main PR problem is: Not looking like it's lying. China no longer has to prove that it's very big, very disciplined and has lots of willing minds and bodies to do its work. The world knows that. What the world worries about is that China lies -- whether it's over the safety of its products, the news it allows in its media, the truth behind problems like SARS, and even the age of its gymnasts. (This linked article, about possible faked Chinese documents, is from Aug. 3, before the U.S. defeat).

One thing China is slammed for internationally is looking like it has something to hide - for example, kicking all the journalists out of Tibet. The footstep is tiny, but it's indicative of China's bigger problem. It gives its critics another chance to say, "Meh. Typical. Liars."

* The little girl is sadder. If they had just recorded a generic voice -- even an adult singing in a high child's voice -- and had the cute girl lip-sync, it wouldn't be so bad. But casting one rather normal girl out as being unacceptable to be seen in public at the last minute is mean-spirited. (That's another Chinese image problem: That its government is cruel). Letting that seep out later and becoming a worldwide news story about the girl who was "too ugly" is just awful PR management. The idiotic official statements later ("It was for the national good") only added fuel to the fire, and I don't mean that in a positive "jia you" kind of way. Headlines have practically been: Giant Commie Nation Picks On Little Girl. I mean, she's not hideous. She's not deformed. She's a normal little girl.

One of the nice things about the Olympics is that it promotes women athletes almost equally to men (I'm setting aside Saudi Arabia here, which bars women from its team). It is rare in the professional arena (except maybe in tennis) for women idols to be admired for their strength and determination, not because they look like movie stars or models. Pulling out one girl for her looks feeds into one of the worst parts of modern China -- where even young female accountants save up all their cash to get plastic surgery, knowing that they will have to submit a photo with their resume when they try to get a job.

As for defensive posts saying that this or that was faked at the Oscars / pop concerts / Super Bowl half-time show -- these are all purely commercial events that don't involve ceremonies with people saying vows about honesty and fairness. The Olympics are commercial, too, but they are are more than that -- particularly these, on which the Chinese seem to have pinned all of their hope and pride.

God knows, once we start using Hollywood, American pop stars the NFL as our moral compass, we really are doomed.

* In Hong Kong, I switch between ATV and Pearl. I see little difference, except that they sometimes cover different sports. But there's a big difference in the language of the commentary, as the Cantonese is usually idiotic.
The Cantonese voice-over on the equestrian is like, "They put things on the horse's feet. With nails. But it doesn't hurt them."
Meanwhile, the Anglo-white-guy voice on the English channel is going on about triple jumps, the tightness of the course and who did what at the European Games. I don't know what that all means, but it sounds intelligent.
The Chinese-language banter during the men's synchronized diving was excruciating. They had given one of the American divers a Chinese name with a syllable sounding like the word for tall, or "goh" in Cantonese. This led to some bad play on words on how "Goh" really was "goh" (at a whopping 5'10".)
Female commentator, sounding perplexed. "If you're taller, wouldn't you hit the water faster?"
Male commentator, trying to change the subject: "No."

* Earlier, I asked if there would be booing. There doesn't seem to be, at least from what I can tell on TV and by news reports. There has been lots of cheering for everyone. Part of this is because of pre-trained cheering people. But I think most of it is whole-hearted. Of course, China gets the most noise, as any home country would. But the rest seems to be based on athletic performance, not on nationality or politics.
When the Russian men executed a brilliant dive with good height and one of those dramatic knife-like entries into the water, the crowd went mad. They didn't have to wait for the judges to tell them this was a good one, they were sophisticated enough to know -- which is more than I can say for some of Hong Kong TV's staff. Later, I thought I heard some boos (more like "woos"), but that's because someone had flopped -- the two men were out of sync, and they hit the water on a messy, splashy slant. I can't remember where they were from, but I don't think the crowd cared.
The crowd also seem to have that universal love of the underdog. Someone -- a French woman? -- was really struggling during the cycling. And the crowds were chanting "jia you! jia you!" By the way, I think the normal Western media translation of that phrase -- "add oil" -- makes the Chinese sound kinda dumb, as if the entire nation is trying to fry eggplant slices. How about "more fuel!" Makes more sense.

* As a multinational person, I'm always interested in whom I will naturally root for. I don't mean who I should root for based on passport, residence or ethnicity, but which flag ,anthem or athlete puts a lump in my throat. I'm sure part of my being very impressed by the Opening Ceremony stemmed from my being Chinese and being aware of Chinese culture. But I didn't feel like cheering when the China team came out, any more than I did for the U.S., even though I grew up in America. Both seemed so monstrously huge. But when Canada came out, I yelled out to Marc, "Hey! Canada!" Same for Hong Kong's little team. And, of course, your heart goes out to people from war-torn countries like Iraq, Afghanistan and, most recently, Georgia.

* Oddly, I was rather moved when Rebecca Adlington, 19, won Britain's first women's swimming medal in a millon years in the 400-meter freestyle. She beat the favorites, Federica Pellegrini of Italy and Laure Manaudou of France. Also Katie Hoff, the American who seemed to be so far ahead in that last lap. We all thought Hoff had it --- and so did she -- because she glided the end, meaning she didn't push right until her fingers touched the finish. This was something the commentator pointed out with a good deal of confidence in the replay. Adlington pushed harder at the end to "come out of nowhere."
I'm not British, though I am something of an Anglophone and happily lived in England for several months recently. Still, why did this touch me? Because Adlington was the underdog? Because she was so very overcome with emotion, crying, looking almost abashed? Because of what was perceived as Hoff's hubris? Because Hoff basically sulked at the medal ceremony, frowning until the second before she had to stand up on the podium, when there was suddenly this photo smile? Why huff over an Olympic silver?
To add to the sense of pathos, I then read that Adlington's parents couldn't even watch her win because they had been delayed by a ticketing scam.
Sigh.

Media jobs, addenda

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 13:10:19 GMT

* Spike rightfully points out that the first announcement of which Hong Kong restaurants get Michelin stars is not out yet. So.... maybe the editor looking for writers covering this topic has a different angle? Who knows? My guess -- Hong Kong's "best" restaurants will be offshoots of well-known Michelin-starred French restaurants, with one or two token posh, touristy Chinese ones thrown in for political correctness reasons. Not to imply that the French foodies are self-centered or anything.

* Holidays with Kids magazine, which I had never heard of until today, is looking for submissions. The publication's title makes the assignment self-explanatory. Contact is Helen Hayers, helen@hayestack.com. Deadline is Aug. 14. Those interested should cc: Fumie, so he knows where not to go on holiday.

* What, does nobody out there want to work for the IHT?

A wealth of media jobs

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 04:19:19 GMT

The IHT is looking to fill 3 positions on its financial news desk, based in Hong Kong.

They would be

* A senior position in what we (in our American jargon) call "backfielding". You'd be partly in charge of the financial news section that we do in partnership with Reuters. You'd man the wires, make story decisions, and work with correspondents and other editors overseas. Shift is about 1-10pm.

* Financial copy desk chief (or chief sub-editor in British jargon). Shift is 2-10pm.

* Someone in charge of a 4-page daily supplement we do in partnership with an Indian newspaper, the Financial Chronicle. This person should be able to do a bit of layout and a bit of financial copy editing. (Basically, you shorten and repackage the IHT's business section). Shift is 3/4pm-11/midnight.

Jobs are 5 days a week, with rotating days off. We'd be looking for someone with daily newsroom experience, as there'd be very little on-the-job training.

You get quite a bit of holiday, about 3 weeks regular vacation, plus about 3 weeks compensation for public holidays. It works out to about a month and a half per year.

****
Morning Calm, Korean Air's inflight magazine, is looking for a food and travel writer to do a 2,000-word piece on Hong Kong and Macau, with a particular focus on our Michelin-starred restaurants. Pay is pretty good, but it has to be done in a hurry. Copy deadline is Sept 1.
****
Please pass around. You can send a private message to me on this site (but PLEASE remember to include your email), or email your cv and cover letter to jlau@iht.com. I will forward to the right person.

American killed at Olympics

Sat, 09 Aug 2008 20:03:51 GMT

Oh God. If only I had made more ambitious Olympic wishes on Thursday. (No booing. No locusts. No American randomly killed at the Olymics).
Oh God. How very sad for the victims, their families and the whole U.S. Team, who must be nervous enough without something like this happening.
What I'm worried about is a backlash from Americans who already broadly think of China as this one giant, bully, Communist, xenophobic nation with no rights, without seeing its complexities or advances. I'm worried this will only further the black and white view that China is full of scary foreigners who hate Americans to death, literally. (We don't. Honest.)
Of course, the killer was just one random crazy person -- who also harmed a Chinese woman and then committed suicide. It sounds like he was an unemployed, divorced migrant worker from the provinces who had found himself lost of the edges of China's giant industrial machine. Maybe he was one of the many migrants asked to leave the area. Obviously, there was something deeply mentally wrong with him. I doubt the attack was meant to target someone related to the U.S. Team, as they were not wearing clothing marked as such.
I'm obviously not to blame. But a part of me -- I guess the inherent part that feels part of the Chinese people -- feels ashamed and sorry. Or perhaps we just feel wary of whether this spark will cause a bigger flame.
Back in the spring, I feared what people would say on the Chinese blogosphere about the West. Now I fear what I will find on America's.
Remember the Virginia Tech shootings? That was obviously the fault of one very screwed up young man, and possibly the fault of a system that allows someone with a track-record of mental illness to easily acquire firearms. But some of the blog posts at the time were clear that this was the fault of an unwelcome Asian immigrant, and some of the hateful, racist name-calling will not be repeated here.
It's late now, so I won't write much. Let me sleep on this and see what the reaction is tomorrow. I'm not a particularly religious person, but I pray for these people, and hope the rest of the Olympics will be peaceful.

Dave Barry at the Olympics

Sat, 09 Aug 2008 19:35:32 GMT

Well, one of my Olympics wishes came true, and I didn't even know I was wishing it. It was like the wishing gods read my mind. Dave Barry, one of my childhood favorite humorists, is back after a hiatus that seemed to have begun something in the Jurrasic era.

BEIJING: In ancient times, a Westerner had to journey for months, even years, to reach China. Today, thanks to modern air travel, it takes much longer. I estimate that the plane I was on flew around the entire earth three times before we got here.

But now that I've showered, I'm excited to be here for these historic Olympic Games, the first ever hosted by this proud and ancient culture, which has given the world so many important inventions, including gunpowder, paper, fireworks, Chinese checkers, gravel, celery, nitrogen, the pyramids, instant replay and The Twist. But despite its storied past, China is not a museum: It is a modern economic superpower that manufactures basically every product that comes in those plastic packages that you can't open without a machete. China is the world's most populous nation, with a population of more than 1.3 billion, making it home to one out of every four people on earth. Think about what that means. It means that if you belong to a family of four, one of you lives here. (To find out if it's you, check your driver's license.)

The Olympics are a HUGE deal for China. Everywhere you look in this teeming capital city, you see vague shapes in the distance that might be large impressive Olympic things if you could actually get a good look at them, which you can't because the air is swarming with toxic particles the size of M&Ms. The Chinese government has been trying to reduce air pollution by shutting down factories - thereby threatening the world's strategic supply of Guitar Hero - and ordering Beijing residents to cease teeming during the Olympics. But air quality is still a big issue, as evidenced by the controversial decision by the International Olympic Committee to allow marathon competitors to ride motorcycles.

Nevertheless, there will be no problems whatsoever during these Olympics, which will without question be the greatest Games ever held. Why do I say this? I say it because Chinese government authorities are closely monitoring us journalists and controlling our use of the Internet. They can cause trouble for us if we write something they don't like, or mention a topic they want us to avoid, such as

ERROR ERROR ERROR YOU ARE HAVING TECHNICAL INTERNET PROBLEM ERROR ERROR ERROR

So the Chinese government is a little scary. There are police and army officers stationed roughly every 14 feet throughout Beijing; I'm pretty sure there's one in my hotel closet.

On the other hand, the regular civilian Chinese people I've met are wonderful hosts, unfailingly friendly and helpful. You need a lot of help here, since most of the writing is in Chinese, which is basically a giant secret code designed to prevent you from having any idea what the hell is going on. For example, as I type these words, I'm drinking some kind of beverage, but I don't really know what it is, because the only words on the label that I recognize are "100 percent." I suspect that Chinese authorities are watching me on a hidden camera and going, "He's drinking it! Ha ha! Tomorrow we will give him transmission fluid."

Likewise, when I get into a taxi, I show the driver a slip of paper with Chinese writing on it, helpfully written by a hotel staff person. I think this writing says, "Please take me to [name of destination]." But it could just as easily say, "I wish to fondle a panda."

Fortunately my hotel has English-language TV. Last night I saw a public-service commercial that ended with this appeal: "Please, do not eat shark-fin soup." I pass this along in case you were considering it.

My hotel also has Western-style bathrooms. This is a luxury in China, which, while it was busy inventing gunpowder, fireworks, etc., apparently did not have time to get around to plumbing. You have to carry your own toilet paper, because many public bathrooms here don't have it. Ideally, you would also carry your own toilet, because many bathrooms don't really have that, either. What they have is basically a miniature bathtub in the floor. That's all I am going to say on this subject.

But I am getting nitpicky. Overall the Chinese have done an amazing job of preparing for the Olympics, and they've gone out of their way to make their foreign visitors feel welcome. I look forward to attending the Games, and even more to getting to know this fascinating country. So if you'll excuse me for now, I'm going to take a taxi to go see the Great Wall. Or, fondle a panda. Whatever this piece of paper says.

Happy Olympics! My wish? No booing. (Also, no locusts.)

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 14:48:32 GMT

We're all watching the Olympics opening ceremonies on TV in the office now, trying to ignore the articles we're supposed to be editing. And you've got to be impressed. Loved the countdown in human lights. Loved the thunderous mass drumming. Loved watching the Bird's Nest overtaken by crimsom explosions. Loved those eery firework "footprints" that made it look like an invisible giant was walking towards the stadium. (And I will refrain, from once, from making my Big Brother analogy).

The smaltzy song, the pig-tailed little girl, the marching PLA officers, "March of the Volunteers" and the Chinese flag are what they are.

But, dear God that's a large stadium-sized Chinese scroll. And the acrobatic dancers who painted calligraphy on it with their bodies were amazing.

Love the bewildered look on my colleagues faces at they try to make out the inscrutable mass chanting, period costume and Chinese operatic singing.

Yesterday, I wrote about criticism, and how both athletes (and nations) need it to improve. It's true. But I think you also have to take a break from criticism and step back right before your big moment, so you don't lose your nerve. So I will stop being my grumpy old self for once and enjoy this spectacle.

They aren't even over yet, and I think they're the best opening ceremony I've ever seen. Wish I were there.

Happy Olympics, and big panda-hug to everyone.

*****

Yesterday's post:

I've never seen such a swirl of fretting surrounding an Olympics: Will cyclists be falling off their bikes from the pollution? Will a typhoon blow over the horses in Hong Kong? Will Xinjiang terrorists sneak in? Will there be enough toilets and ATMs? Will China be able to handle the foreign journalists scrum? Will another Hong Konger allegedly knee a Mainland cop in the balls? Will world leaders show up? If they do, will they bring up human rights? Will the English signs make any sense? Will anyone be able to understand the taxi drivers? Will there be rain? Protesters? Locust swarms? Algae blooms ? Unattractive garbage men? Naked American women? Gah!

The photo we ran in today's IHT is of Yao Ming carrying the torch. It's a grand image, but the only way I can describe the look on his face is one of grim determination -- not one of ease or joy.

As endless people have said to me -- including my father, who is so proud of China during these Games -- "It will probably run smoothly. China will make sure of that. It just doesn't sound like it's all going to be much fun." (Though, to be fair to him, he might also have been commenting on the prospects of having to sit through dressage).

Of course, all host countries worry as their Games begin; but few have linked their national pride so closely to the wish that every detail work out. China has put its heart and soul on the line.

So I have a question to add to that long list: Are people going to boo?

In terms of rousing up nationalist fervor, and then dousing it when it gets too heated, China has been -- oh, God, if I say "playing with fire," will I be inviting Kaiser Kuo to mock me?

But I'm serious here. The rage directed at everyone from CNN's Jack Cafferty to the BBC, from French supermarkets to one unfortunate exchange student in America has been blamed on reckless young Chinese bloggers. However, the starting point for this anger -- in fact, the way most Chinese even heard about these things to begin with -- came from some state-controlled media. The Foreign Ministry was the first to sling insults at the Western press and governments this spring. It was only when anti-Carrefour protests or other forms of public demonstration got out of hand that the media suddenly started asking for calm and neutrality. I'm not a huge consumer of Mainland media, but this seemed to come from more reform-minded papers like China's Youth Daily and Southern Metropolis.

But it's dangerous to toy with people's emotions -- to rouse anger by convincing them that spiteful foreigners are out to shame them, and then turn around and say they must be nice to those same foreigners. What if the people who were boycotting Carrefour or rallying against "the Western media" go to a hotly contested match between China and a country with which it has either current or historical grievances -- America, Britain, France, Japan, etc? Will they understand the difference between loving your own country, and not demonstrably hating others?

It's perfectly natural to cheer your team, groan when you goalie lets the other guys score, or cry when your hero loses by a half-second. I just hope no overzelous Chinese fans go down the route they did during those 2004 soccer games against Japan. I hope there are no angry sore losers, or gloating sore winners.

Of course, it's the same problem as football hooliganism in Europe. I'm sure lots of perfectly nice Brits go to football matches (so I hear). It only takes a handful of violent drunkards to make an entire nation look bad. Same in Beijing. If nine Chinese are perfectly well behaved, and one idiot decides to loudly express his hatred for the French, for example, he will embody all the negative stereotypes of a bullying, xenophobic China. In a full stadium, if one in a hundred, even one in a thousand acts up, that's all that's needed to make China look bad. News media don't focus on the boring quiet people; by nature, troublemakers get all the attention.

Boy, that sounds paranoid, doesn't it? I'm beginning to think like the authorities.

But so far so good. We've been watching the wires like hawks today. Torch carried up to the Great Wall. A few protests, but nothing out of hand. China's women's soccer team gave the host nation an early boost of confidence, which is nice. So far, no major storms -- literal or figurative. I'm hoping for the best.

Yes, I really am.

That might come as a surprise to those who send me messages or leave comments here (some have been deleted) who seem to think I am some "anti-China," "non-Chinese" person who backs the wicked Western media and tries to "impose" sneering, disrespectful, foreign ways on an unsuspecting Chinese public. One even sent a self-pitying cry of "don't you understand? why don't you leave us alone?", as if my blog post about, ahem, The Economist's cartoonist was equivalent to mass abuse of the Chinese.

If there's one message of the Games, it's this. China no longer wants the rest of the world to leave it alone. Hosting an Olympics -- particularly one as expensive and hyped one as this -- is a pretty loud, clear message that China wants to engage more with the rest of the world.

And China can't engage in only one direction -- by having foreign visitors but no foreign commentary, by having international business but no international values, by criticizing others but not allowing criticism. To use a sports analogy, you can't win them all. (You win some, you lose some? You can't have it both ways? No pain, no gain? Haha. Poor Kaiser. We've got another "leap forward" on our page 1 for tomorrow. Man must be tearing his hair out.)

As for criticism - no athlete likes being criticized, but no athlete gets better without it either. Same for nations. Of course, there will always be dummies who spout off insults. But I think most of the people who take the time to pay attention to China, visit it, investigate it, report on it and point out its weak points do it in hopes that it will make China better, not worse. It's not out of jealousy or a wish for China to fall. In fact, nobody wants the world's most populous nation to fall, since it might drag down the rest of us (especially Hong Kong!) We just hope it will be a stable nation rising, not a wounded, destructive one. Thus the constructive criticism, however misguided some of it may be.

Back to my first question: Will there be booing? I don't think so. And I hope it's not because people have been disciplined to stay quiet, and are sitting on their hands wishing they could boo. I hope it's because, through all the bluster and worry about all the possible pitfalls, the Chinese people actually enjoy themselves and their guests, and understand what it's all about. And, no. I don't mean the medals count.

Hong Kong kids, thwarted

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 18:01:00 GMT

Cantopopped writes a blog post, "Transitioned to Toilet Cleaning," about Hong Kong's ridiculous Form Six crush. (For Americans out there, Hong Kongers have to pass a test to get into the equivalent of their senior year of high school).

"So, 106,770 students sat the exams earlier this year. 55,260 of them achieved results that would enable them to move onto senior secondary school. Unfortunately, there are only 32,620 places available for students. Bad luck to the the 23,000 or so who are both willing and able to keep studying: their government won't facilitate their transition from HK's third-world services economy by providing them with the education they need to get a decent job. Instead, they'll be serving grand-day lar-tays in Starbucks until they transition to cleaning toilets in malls designed for HK's ever dwindling (though ever richer) supply of uber-wealthy."

Advice for foreign correspondents in Beijing -- humorous, and chilling

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 16:17:25 GMT

I've recently read two totally different guides for foreign journalists covering the Beijing Olympics -- one terrifying, one funny. Here are excerpts of both, with links to the full texts.
The latter is Kaiser Kuo's "Forbidden Clichés", which is on both the Danwei blog and on a branded blog from Ogilvy, the PR firm where Kuo works. It's nice to see some smart humor in the Mainland press, even if it in the marginalized English-language, Western-corporate sponsored press, and even if the humor is directly at a safe target of stupid gweilo journos. But what am I expecting? For Kuo to write a similarly biting satire of the Communist leadership? Then he wouldn't have been able to carry the Olympic torch through Hubei.
But I digress. It's very funny:

"Welcome to Beijing, friends from the foreign press!....
"...Topping the list of forbidden clichés is the phrase 'coming out party.' As apt as it may have been when first used with reference to the Games shortly after they were awarded to Beijing back in 2001, after appearing in 75.4% of stories about the 2008 Olympics in the seven intervening years, it now incites English-speaking expats to an ugly, violent rage. Use it at your own peril; you have been warned....
"...Please do not write 'Beijing is a city of stark contrasts' and refrain from using any variation thereof — 'a city of startling juxtapositions,' or (needless to say) 'a city of yin and yang.' Not that it isn’t a city of, um, rather pronounced differences; it’s just too damned lazy an observation to make. A special enjoinder to photographers: please resist the temptation to position yourself in a hutong with a decrepit but charming tile-roofed courtyard home in the foreground and a shiny, hyper-modern steel-and-glass skyscraper rising behind. No using Blade Runner comparisons for Beijing. You’ll want to save those for Shanghai, believe me....
"....No writing 'There is an ancient Chinese curse that says, 'May you live in interesting times.’ There isn’t such a curse.... In fact, just to be safe, avoid anything involving 'an ancient Chinese saying.' This will save you, anyhow, from having to Google for choice quotes from Sun Tzu or Confucius’s Analects....
"...Try your best to avoid phrases like 'China’s rising middle class,' 'the Little Emperors' and 'ideological (or moral) vacuum.' Find a descriptive for security personnel other than 'stone-faced.' And only use 'Great Leap Forward' if you’re covering events like the triple jump or pole-vaulting....
"...There will be plenty to write about your culinary adventures without resort to 'those exotic Chinese – they’ll eat anything' clichés. Yes, there are restaurants here that specialize in donkey meat and in pig faces, and even – gasp! – dog. Whoop-de-do...."
"...For you mousse-coiffed, Mr. Gravitas TV anchor types and you sotto voce public radio types: Please oh please stop saying 'Bay-zheeng.' The pronunciation of the city’s name couldn’t be easier. It’s just Bay-jing. 'Jing' as in 'jingle bells.' It’s really that easy. Jesus Christ...."
"... taking cheap shots at the Fuwa is just too unsportsmanlike. Besides, my four- and two-year-olds both like them a lot. Especially Jing Jing. That’s pronounced 'Jing Jing,' not 'Zheeng Zheeng'...."
"...While we’re on puns, some common ones to avoid include pander/panda and the always irksome Peking/peeking. And no using 'your average Zhou' or 'Zhou Sixpack.' There will be absolutely no punning on the interrogatives 'who' or 'when' and the family names of the Chinese president and premier, respectively. I know you’re thinking, 'Hu knows Wen I’ll get another chance like this?' and I feel for you, but just resist it, okay?"

*****

Well, that was entertaining. You're probably hoping I won't now ruin it by going on in my usual way about China's terrible human rights conditions, press censorship, horrible, horrible. But here it is:

Carroll Bogert, a former Newsweek correspondent, writes for the IHT:

"...I was an ardent admirer of a leading foreign newspaper correspondent. He opened the paper's bureau in Beijing, and wrote compellingly about the China that was just climbing out of the Cultural Revolution and daring to follow Deng Xiaoping's dicta for a freer economy. He didn't shrink from the dark stories of China's political repression, past and present....

"...The problem was, as I discovered when I arrived in China to work as a stringer for The Washington Post in 1985, some of the people that veteran journalist had profiled suffered retribution for talking with a foreign reporter. One of them had even gone to jail. And that made the name of my reporting hero, among the foreign correspondent community in Beijing, just plain mud....
"A wire service reporter I knew after Tiananmen made a similar mistake. He is an impressive journalist, who later went to work for a major international paper. But in the wake of the 1989 crackdown on democracy, he quoted a Chinese friend making highly critical comments about the government. The Chinese man was a smart, Western-educated young academic who had befriended many of us correspondents. Thankfully, he made it out of the country without arrest, but the incident could easily have ended less happily....
"Just as important as what you write in China is what you don't write: the sources you don't quote (even if they say it's "no problem"); the pictures you don't take; the homes and workplaces you don't barge into. Especially if you're not staying in China for long or you don't speak the language (excuses that neither of the correspondents above could claim), the government's repressive machinery may be invisible to you. You may not recognize your Public Security Bureau tail for what he is. And you'll have long ago left town when he comes back to visit that fascinating Internet entrepreneur whom you drank tea with for a couple of hours in Wuhan. You may never even know that your source had to pay a massive bribe to keep his business going after that, or to keep his kid in college. His wife won't call you when he gets dragged off to the police station for "questioning." They'll have learned their lesson - not to talk to reporters - but you won't be there to learn yours..."

What typhoon? I'm going riding.

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 13:38:14 GMT

We're editing an article (presumably for tomorrow's paper) about whether this typhoon may affect the Olympics.

Meh, I say. I'm going riding tomorrow at the Lowu Saddle Club unless there's a #8 strong enough to blow me off my horse. After all, I rode through the English winter, through weather conditions I'd never even heard of. ("Freezing fog?").

***

As for the Games, any Hong Konger knows that a #1 on Monday will most likely not mean a serious storm on Saturday, which is when the Hong Kong events begin. The unpublished rough draft of the article also explains that Hong Kong and Beijing are far apart, using as an example that a storm hitting Cuba (that would be us) would not affect Philadelphia (that would be Beijing). Funny that we would be the Communist partner in this analogy.

I can't blame the reporter, a long-time Hong Kong resident who's excellent. It's editors in New York thinking of their American audiences. What this says about "further integration" between The New York Times and the IHT, and whether we will still target our more geographically astute international reader, I don't know.

****

But I have bigger problems: My jodhpurs are thick, high-tech, heat-insulating, padded things which cost me a million pounds from Hyde Park Stables in London. They are a work of tailorship designed to offset the effects of "freezing fog." Top them with my suede-lined half-chaps and I will die of heat exhaustion.

It's not like I can pop by the saddle shop in the Oxford Covered Market (ah, Oxford) for lighter-weight breeches. Even Hong Kong's athletic stores don't carry anything. I think I have a pair of Marks & Sparks cheap-o leggings, but they are in storage. The problem with leggings, when paired with short boots, is that they ride up my calves and then the stirrup thingies bruise my legs. What am I going to wear? Yoga pants?

****

I've written about how hard it was to go riding in Hong Kong ("I refuse to ride a mechanical horse.") The facilities run jointly by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department and the Hong Kong Jockey Club insist that you call EXACTLY one week before the booking you want -- so no calling this Tuesday for next Wednesday -- and only at 9 am. When I finally snagged a slot, they tried to make me ride a mechanical horse. I tried again in July and was told that the next available lesson was in September.

Then I called Lowu and got a lesson on the spot. Hurray for the private sector!

****

Speaking of horses and wardrobes, what am I supposed to wear to the dressage and show jumping next week? My wish is that I will someday get invited to something -- anything -- that would allow me to wear a hat. I wanted to wear one for my wedding, but then everyone kept going on about a veil and I caved in. (OK, it was a Harrod's veil).

I love hats, and they are sorely lacking in Hong Kong. The only ones I can find are in Seibu, by Cherry Chau, an accessories designer based in Paris. But these are ridiculous, HK $2,000 sequinned things Hong Kong girls wear for wedding photo shoots.

Susie Bubble, my favorite fashion blogger (a Hong Konger-Londoner who makes her living hanging out with creative people and then writing about it -- I don't even bother hiding my envy) has featured some quirky, affordable (non-sequinned) ones from TopShop. There's no such thing here, no cool markets, no vintage shops. I guess, if I had all the time in the world, I could scour the obscure little boutiques in Causeway Bay, but of course I won't.

Plus, the events are at 7:30pm, so anything that looked like a sunhat would be silly. So would my small black velvet hat with a bow from Aquascutum, which I've worn only once, when Marc took me to Le Manoir Aux Quat' Saisons . It's one of those hats you can only pull off for dinner at a Michelin-starred restaurant deep in the woods of the English countryside. But the Shatin Race Course? I think not.

I might as well resign myself to the fact that everyone will be horribly dressed anyway. Especially if it rains and the organizers hand out their promised "plastic ponchos." Umbrellas -- along with Tibet t-shirts -- have been banned.

****

Equestrian events are so obscure. My well-meaning parents keep asking me to explain it all to them. They can't find anything in the local press since, as they say, local journalists wouldn't understand it unless it involved betting on the racing.

Ed Lee of the Chinese Blood, Irish Heart blog did a bunch of introductory videos to dressage, show jumping and cross country. They are at olympics.scmp.com/videos, a link that (for now) allows you to avoid the SCMP's usual paywall. Scroll to the very end of the video list for the horsey ones.

Gah! New flat. Part Two.

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 17:13:59 GMT

I have to give it to the Hong Kong civil service: They are polite, efficient and responsible.

I realized this before, while helping a friend make some queries, first to the Internal Revenue Department, and then to Social Services and The Hospital Authority.

All emails, faxes and calls were returned personally, within one or two business days. (Try getting that response with any regularity from government departments in America, Canada or Britain). A small glitch: it might have been tougher if you only spoke English.

The big glitch is that, despite the staff's best intentions, there was nothing they could do because Hong Kong's actual safety net is just not that good. If you are any richer than those poor old ladies who push around garbage mountains to make a living, forget about aid or disability help.

The staff largely pointed me to the private sector -- i.e. charities, NGOs, etc. -- to take care of things. But this sort of aid is conditional, not guaranteed or legislated.

****

I had a similar experience this week when I emailed the Environmental Protection Department about how I could renovate my flat without just throwing all our waste away. I had already asked our contractor, who said putting things in the government landfill was the only answer.

The EPD were good. I got a call in two days and had a long, detailed conservation with their staff. I asked that all that information be emailed to me in English, so I could refer to it, and this was done by the end of the workday.

The problem, again, is that the government offers no services for its helpful staff to offer.

Ms. Ng and Ms Ip were effusive about conservation. But here were the only points they had:

* Try not to renovate too much. (Hong Kongers "flip" flats all the time and go, for example, from tile floor, to wood floor, to tile, to wood, every other year. It's very wasteful.) Oddly, the letter told me to write down how much waste I threw away so I could "appreciate" my damage to the environment.

* Try to talk to your contractor, moving company and building management company. Of course, this puts the onus on how much private companies care and, from my experience, they don't.

* While the government "promotes" recycling, it doesn't actually do this type of recycling. The government website on Waste Reduction has a list of private recycling companies and NGOs that can help, but of course the resources are scattered. It would take a pretty determined individual -- who had time to research and organize in advance, and money to pay for transport -- to actually recycle like this. For example, I would have to shop around for one place looking for a fridge, another that might want my toaster oven, another that collected tiles, then see how to get my stuff to these various spots. If I were, say, a hotel re-doing my ballroom and throwing out 200 tables and 1,000 chairs, this would be worth it. But for a small private renovation?

* Hong Kong is not even like Western nations that outsource or privitize their waste disposal / recycling, but which have certain rules or practices in place -- for example, road-side recycling, or centralized recycling centers.

* As for the paper boxes, Ms. Ng was actually somewhat embarrassed at first by her answer. Finally, she said our movers would probably automatically recycle it themselves. Why be embarrassed? This was the most efficient answer yet. It was because Ms. Ng didn't want me to think that someone else would make a little bit of money off my garbage. Deep inside, there is a disbelief that anyone would do anything other than for profit.

The sad thing is, by the time I went through all this, and hunted through the various charities, our contractor had largely gutted the place. Last I went, there was a pile of junk in the middle of the living room with a lone toilet on top. It would be thrown out the next day.
I may be environmentally aware, but not so much that I would delay the entire renovation to find a way to recycle a toilet bowl. Every month that we are not in our new flat, it's costing us about HK $15,000-20,000 in extra rent, storage fees and other costs. I'm sure many new homeowners are in the same boat, and the government makes it all but impossible to recycle in the easy, fast way that people need.

So here's to the EPD: Extremely helpful people, with not very helpful policies.