Entries from December 2006 ↓

Hong Kong Star Ferry along with its clocktower was dismantled eventually, despite the last-ditch efforts and protests of civil groups.

It was heart wrenching to see the clock tower perched atop the pier being torn down.

When I was a high school student, the Hong Kong City Hall, which is situated next to the pier, was the cultural hub and housed the largest public library then in Hong Kong. I passed by the pier a lot, as a result, on the way to the library or to see arts performance.

As time goes by, Cultural Centre at Tsim Sha Tsui becomes the cultural hub, along with the Arts Museum, Space Museum there. I used to take the star ferry from Central to arrive at the Cultural Centre and the Tsim Sha Tsui area.

The star ferry at Central was part of my fond memories of my growing up and living in Hong Kong in general.

Now the pier is gone. Many things surrounding its being torn down make me fume.

First of all, the star ferry company said that the clocktower at the ferry must be demolished because it could not find a company able to replace its parts. A big lie.

According to a report from South China Morning Post, Melvyn Lee, a director of Thwaites and Reed, the clock-making company that maintains London’s Big Ben, admits that he can help. The British company restores clocks all over the world - in Australia, the United States, India and former British colonies that have English clocks. And Mr Lee even promised to visit Hong Kong and help save the clock.

Second, shouldn’t those decision makers in the Hong Kong Office of Antiquities and Monuments be held accountable for the demolition of the pier? They are the ones being put in charge of protecting Hong Kong’s monuments. The irony is that these people only started to voice out their opinion when the demolition work was already underway. What is their brilliant opinion? The government should try to move part of demolished bricks and walls to another site to recover the clocktower.

If the policy-decision makers in the Office of Antiquities and Monuments can come up with this brilliant idea, what hope can I still hold out for the preservation of Hong Kong’s past and history? Their ideas echo those of the government who said that it will recruit a consultancy firm (yes, when there is problem, the Hong Kong government always has one way to deal with it - pay a huge sum of money to recruit a consultancy firm to conduct research) and see how the look of the old pier can be incorporated into the new pier. And may I mind you that the government said this when it was faced with mounting pressures to stop demolition, so you can regard this as kind of concession from the government.

I reckon that it is not difficult to come to grasps with the idea that when a monument or historic spot be demolished or removed, it is doomed, completely. The replica of it at somewhere else, or in a museum, is a sign of history, but not history itself, because it is no longer part of people’s life, their collective memory and history. The replica will attract tourists, but not the people living in this territory.

The idea is easy to grasp, but it seems that those decision makers fail to see it. 

The best way to rent an apartment for short-term in China is through internet. If you travel in China and want to stay in a city for a few days, you can seriously consider renting an apartment.First, you will have the benefit of living in a neighbourhood and hence observing the local life first-hand. Second, it is good value for money. The price you pay is cheaper than staying in a hotel but you can have all the comforts of living at home.

Take Hangzhou for instance. A clean, well-furnished apartment equipped with internet connection as shown in the photo above costs only 150 yuan per day.

Many major cities in China have a growing supply of such apartments, catering to the increasing demand in the domestic market. This has prompted the mushrooming of short-term rental websites, most of them in Chinese. So if you can read Chinese, this will be a great way for you to rent an apartment. There are some websites offering both Chinese and English versions, but the English version is much more brief.

This is a website I once used, which has a very comprehensive coverage of all the major cities in China. It has an English version, which has much less listing than the Chinese version, though.

Two days ago, I saw on the TV that hundreds of prostitutes were shamed in a public parade in the neigbouring city of Hong Kong, Shenzhen. They all looked downcast and very ashamed, with heads bent down to the chest. I later learnt that in such a parade, their names and dates of birth would be announced so that the purpose of ”shaming” them is well served.

This, in China, is called “a public meeting to combat and punish vice” and it is particularly popular in a city just before a high-ranking government office is due to visit. This time it was for the visit of China’s No.2 political figure Wu Bangguo to Shenzhen and Hong Kong.

The scene is reminiscent of the dark age during the Cultural Revolution where all those deemed enemies of the communist party were paraded and shamed publicly. China’s economy has progressed fast enough in the past two decades, and yet, in many aspects, the country remains the same, especially in terms of its political and social mentality.

China falls far short of a civilized country, much less a world power when it holds no respect for the rights of its people and when people themselves do not respect the rights of others. The parade of prostitutes has told it so clearly.