hong kong

I have HK friends who cannot sit at the same table for dinner because of differing opinions on the way the protests have descended to. Even back in Malaysia, I have close friends who keep posting how the rioters should be handled, locked up and punished.

I don’t think that the majority understand fully why the protests are ongoing; why it has descended into rioting and mayhem … and many people in HK are still in support.

Anyone who is outside of HK would find it easy to question and condemn the silliness, naivety, and futility of the rioters’ efforts.

This is by no means an apologetics diatribe to justify the protesters and (maybe even) the rioters. Rather, it is an attempt to understand the thinking and makeup of most Hongkongers.

First, let’s look at why a lot of foreign people dislike the protesters/rioters:
– a complete disregard for rule of law
– the HK police force has been too ‘lenient’ and the “rules of engagement” too humanist as to limit the powers of the police to counter the protesters
– doesn’t HK belong to China anyway?
– in less than 30 years HK will go back to China whether you like it or not
– to go against Beijing is almost a truly futile effort in the end
– doesn’t HK people know how dependent their economy and business future is on China?
– there’s nothing much that HK is good at other than shipping, logistics, property (domestic) and as a financial center.

To try and blame foreign sources for funding and influencing the rioters and protesters is exactly why the local people in government and Beijing to a lesser extent fail to appreciate the depth of the discontent among the majority of HK people. Let’s put that aside and try to understand the whys’.

https://andropausesuccor.com/

ANGST Section 1 – Historical & Political Apathy

– most of the older people in HK now FLED China, now let that sink in a bit. FLED, past tense of FLEE. The younger folks who were born in HK only knew of their colonial master, as a dominion of the British empire
– hence we can appreciate the political apathy for much of the past 100 years, there wasn’t a call for universal suffrage because it was a British colony and to my knowledge, there was never a substantive call or formation of a movement to declare that the population wishes to form a separate country or government
– when the Brits agreed to sign back HK to China in the 1997 agreement
– on June 9, 1898, the British under Queen Victoria brokered a 99-year lease agreement for the use of Hong Kong after China lost a series of wars fought over the British trade in tea and opium
– in 1984, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang negotiated the underlying plan for the lease to end, such that Hong Kong would remain a semi-autonomous region for a 50-year period after the lease ended
– the lease ended on July 1, 1997, and since then tensions between the democratically-minded Hong Kong population and the PRC have continued, although Hong Kong remains functionally separate from the Chinese mainland
– the perceived increased of Beijing influence over the past 15 years have left many HKers shaking their heads
– most HK people did not feel the need to ask for universal suffrage under the British because the latter allowed HK to flourish under the laissez-faire economic system, backed by ICAC for corruption eradication, the independence of the judiciary and legal system, and the relative independence of the police force … all hallmarks of good governance of a capitalistic economy

ANGST Section 2 – Culture/Displacement

– way too many Chinese from the mainland has been invading HK in various means: shopping, buying up properties and stocks to start with
– thousand of kids from southern China take the long train ride to go to schools in HK, causing a strain on resources and places for HK kids
– the mass buying of baby powder and a plethora of other stuff to trade back in China
– the huge surge in the number of Chinese women from the mainland to have their babies in HK, straining resources and places further
– these are more than just tourists’ troubling behaviour; it is considered intolerable to the extent that HK’s culture is being eroded, their rights and privileges are also being eroded, their home is no longer the home they were used to, HK is more dependent on Mandarin in a way that is unsettling for most, and most ironically most HK people no longer can afford to live in HK while many of the rich mainland Chinese can and do so with aplomb.

ANGST Section 3 – Affordability Gap

– unless you already paid-up on your unit in HK, you are basically the majority of them striving to carve out 60-70% of their monthly pay for the mortgage or to save enough for a down payment
– even you daily existence is paying homage and duties to the landlords via higher rents, higher food prices, higher everything really because rents, space, and buildings are all owned by the elite few and cost more than an arm and a leg
– the cosy relationship between the ruling elite and property barons has led to a stifled release of land for public housing over the past 30 years; is it a wonder that more than 70% of HK land has been gazetted as reserves (for environmental protection, or other altruistic reasons) … I am all for being green but not when the majority of your citizens are suffering indirectly due to these political moves
– despite years of schooling and using loads of funds for education, many of the youths find the future bleak – rising costs and property affordability gap and lack of freedom, all were a recipe for an uprising … mixed that in with undisguised contempt for the influx of mainland Chinese into many things in HK, you have a fire morphing into a fireball
– Hong Kong has also set world records in home prices and has a glaring income gap. In 2016, it had a Gini coefficient – a measure of inequality – of 0.539, which Oxfam said was the highest in 45 years.

ANGST Section 4 – Trust Deficit With Beijing

– remember that the bulk of HKers were made up people who chose to flee to HK, now you want them to go back to be governed by the motherland
– while Beijing does a lot of things well, it has a very different way of doing things when it comes to dissent, political opinions that differ from the “official stance” … and that translates itself to overbearing laws for “control” purposes and to stifle and the lines of control from the courts to the police to the army act as one machinery for the good of the party (I mean, how to trust a state prosecution process that has a 99% conviction rate??!!)
– the Legco was set up as a mouthpiece for Beijing, even though some seats were available for election by the masses, the entire setup was such that there was no way to overthrow or even pass legislation without Beijing’s approval
– the extradition bill was just the straw that broke the camel’s back, hence even when the bill was finally withdrawn and killed off, it was too late to stop the protests.

ANGST Section 5 – Trust Deficit With Local Government

– In many ways, the distrust with local government is greater than with Beijing although both are similar in the eyes of most HKers
– By being appointed, and by inference cosying up to the richest in HK and Beijing, the entire Legco has to go

https://andropausesuccor.com/

– for those who say the protesters could have gone about their protests in the proper way… that is exactly the point of protests breaking out into riots, there is no way for any “voices” to be heard or to lead to substantive changes in the current political ecosystem.

A WAY OUT? – HK is important to Beijing but not as important as say 20 years ago. There is no way for Beijing to grant independence, even the protesters know that. But why force a group of people to be back into your system when they clearly don’t want your ways.

If I was Beijing, I would extend the 50 year agreement of two systems to 100 years. Next, I would revamp Legco to allow for absolute universal suffrage. To have 100% seats being elected by the people. Much like a federal government and a state government structure. Absolute no question on wanting independence will be tolerated.

Boy, I am so happy to be able to talk about Zhang Zhiyi in my blog on Asian business. Can you imagine that? Many years ago, Zhang had a wonderful 12 months thanks to Memoirs of A Geisha, but suffered enormous criticism over her role, which involved being involved with a Japanese man… in a movie role.

I am not even going to go into how low-brow and uneducated an opinion it is to be offended by that MOVIE ROLE. You’d think things would die down…, NO… Zhang appeared magnificently in the Oscars that year (presenting the Oscar to Crash), and even presented and she spoke surprisingly well in English.

Was that good enough for the media? Apparently not. The media in China, HK and Taiwan have plenty to say about Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi and most of it is downright vicious.

Hollywood was enthralled with Zhang’s beauty in Memoirs Of A Geisha, but it was her turn in House of Flying Daggers that captivated my attention. After her role as a presenter in the Oscars, this was what the HK papers had to say, and her gown was magnificent by the way. ‘Zhang Ziyi’s Armani evening gown made her look so flat-chested it was scary’ HK’s Sing Tao Daily said in a headline.

She has said previously the venom has to do with Hong Kongers’ deeply entrenched bias against mainland Chinese, who are viewed as bumpkins and gold diggers. ‘They think, ‘How can you be an international movie star? You are only from China.’ For them, China is like the countryside,’ Zhang said in an interview with The Sunday Times of London in 2004.
Such evidence is found in a 2004 article in HK’s Next magazine, a popular weekly known for its hard-charging paparazzi. It printed a photo allegedly showing Zhang squatting down to check out the bottom shelf in a store. A caption read: ‘Miss Zhang displays the special trait of our motherland’s compatriots: spreading her legs wide and squatting down.’ People can often be seen squatting in China in crowded places – such as railroad stations – where the ground is too dirty for sitting and there is limited public seating.

Zhang’s rapid rise and ongoing success may also have bred envy. Many Hong Kong publications made sure their knives were extra-sharp for the Oscars, where she presented the award for best editing. A headline in Apple Daily ripped into her English: ‘She still can’t change her English with a Beijing country accent. She didn’t pronounce the ‘r’ in the winning movie Crash properly.’

This one really irked me, when do you find an average HK person speaking English well?? So what if she’s got a Beijing accent, she’s from Beijing isn’t she? Nobody faults Antonio Banderas for speaking English with a Spanish accent!!! Or Gerard Depardieu for speaking English with the clipped French accent?? Does Apple Daily’s editor even understand what is good English and what is accent? I mean, seriously, Zhang’s intonation and pronunciation are so much better than Jackie Chan – do we see any HK papers savaging Jackie’s English??

Sing Tao Daily said she read her cue card with ‘quivering lips’ and her pronunciation of Crash sounded more like that for the toothpaste Crest. The Ming Pao Daily noted that she forgot to hug or shake hands with the award winner, though it conceded that her English was improving. Hong Kong writers also savaged her Giorgio Armani outfit, a black beaded bustier with a crystal-encrusted grey skirt. ‘Lacking in youthful vigor,’ read a photo caption in the Oriental Daily News. Apple Daily hissed: ‘Zhang Ziyi two decades behind the times.’
While HK press were savage and venomous, Taiwan’s press was another story. ‘Zhang Ziyi’s English rolls off her tongue,’ said Taiwan’s Liberty Times. Another Taiwanese newspaper, the Min Sheng Daily, said ‘Zhang Ziyi’s English is no longer poor’.

In China, there is still a strong undercurrent that they cannot accept that she has to “sleep” with a Japanese man, even though it was in a movie. Playing a Japanese woman already stirred open some wounds which have not healed properly for many years. China found it hard to “celebrate” with Zhang’s newfound international stardom but have toned down the viciousness of late.

Suffice to say, Zhiyi found all these nonsense trivial and even went and had a long-term relationship with a white American (as if to spite all of them). I admire Zhiyi for being able to rise above the crassness and live her own life well.

Business Lessons

1) Though most HKers would not like to admit it, deep down there is a feeling of resentment against how fast some of the Chinese from mainland have gotten rich. HKers feel that they have progressed much faster economically and up the developed country curve, and to make less money than them is an insult. This mentality prevails even when certain HK companies go to the mainland to expand – beware and be aware.

2) HKers not only begrudge the rich ones from mainland but also abhors how crudely they spend their money in HK especially – no class as they say. But most HKers also know they needed cash from China to fund the downtrodden economy in HK for the past few years. HKers can’t wait for the good times to roll again so that they can pass crass remarks and shoo the mainlanders back to where they belong.

3) When doing business in China, you are either with them or against them. If you have a fallout with the Chinese, well its not going to be a “agree to disagree” mantra. You cannot afford to have a fallout as some entrepreneurs have found out the hard way. Many would want to hedge their fortunes by parking funds elsewhere whenever possible. There is an undercurrent of uncertainty that you could find yourself on the wrong side of the turning tide of political sentiments too swiftly in China.

4) Taiwan politicians will fight like mad with politicians in China in the media, but business-wise, China has been quite open in welcoming Taiwanese investors. Much of the open war of words is to appease the masses of both sides for championing nationalistic interests. But business has been going to and fro, especially from Taiwan to China in a big way for a very long time.

Thus, you will usually find that anything China says will find the Taiwanese going the opposite way, mainly to spite the other party. You don’t like Zhang Zhiyi, I think she is adorable.

Hence when doing business with either Taiwan and China, you do not go extolling the virtues of Taiwan to China or China to Taiwan. Just do the business, even though they may actually agree with you opinions about the other country, its best not to say them out loud.

As the above are generalisations, they are bound to be exceptions. Generalisations applied harshly on everything will lead to prejudice and unjust discrimination. Generalisations are just tools for use to learn a bit more about something, not a divining rod.

Tag: hong kong

Understanding The HK Situation

Business Lessons In China, HK, Taiwan Based On The Zhang Zhiyi’s Experience