• [099]  The Kiddie Porn Story (06/30/2006)  Earlier this week, a press interviewer noted, "When I read your post Kiddie Porn In Hong Kong, I thought: it will probably show up a few days later in the South China Morning Post."  Yes, this morning Donald Asprey wrote "Uproar at photos of teenage singer" in SCMP.  If you get the chance to read that article, it may strike you as being light on the original EasyFinder article with more space for outside commentators.  Perhaps the reporter had not even read the article itself.  Here is the last paragraph: "Next Media Group did not respond to a request for comment. The article has been removed from Easyfinder's website."  This is an error.  At the Easyfinder website, they only show the cover of the latest issue (#753 right now).  The Renee Lee article appeared in issue #752; a subscriber to the Next Media website can access older issues and that article is still there.  Yes, I am a subscriber and I just checked before I wrote this.
   
  One perverse effect of the hoopla was that by late last week, there were no copies of EasyFinder #752 to be found on sale anywhere in Hong Kong.  It was sold out everywhere.  You can still pay get a copy if you bid for it on the Internet but at higher than the original cover price (like HK$60 for the original HK$20).

• [098]  Hong Kong By The Numbers (06/30/2006)  The following are Ming Pao's survey results for intent to particpate in the July 1st morning parade or the afternoon march.
   
  Survey 1 (June 21-23, 1,200 persons, automated telephone dial survey)
  - 61.4% will not participate in either event
  - 15.6% undecided
  - 13.2% July 1st afternoon march
  -  7.4% July 1st morning parade
  -  2.4% participate in both events
   
  Survey 2 (June 27-29, 681 persons, automated telephone dial survey)
  - 57.6% will not participate in either event
  - 13.5% undecided
  - 15.7% July 1st afternoon march
  - 10.3% July 1st morning march
  -   2.9% participate in both events
   
  Among those intend to participate in the July 1st afternoon march, 57.5 said they do so for "equality, justice, democracry, universal suffrage"; 18.1% dissatisfied with current economic situation; 11.8% dissatisfied with HK SAR government; 6.3% because Anson Chan will be there.
   
  Among those who intend to participate in the July 1st morning parade, 47.8% said that they support "harmony, unity, development"; 26.7% celebrate the return of Hong Kong to China; 13.3% satisifed with HK SAR government.
   
  Among those who do not intend to particpate in either event, 42.9% have something else to do; 20.7% believe marches/parades disrupt social order; 10.5% satisfied with HK SAR government; 7.1% say economic situation has improved.
   
  As mentioned in Comment 200606#082, "intend to participate" is usually much higher than "actually participate."
   
• [097]  "I Denounce My Daughter!"  (06/29/2006)  In Comment 200606#054, titled "I Denounce My Daughter", a 19-year-old female university student publicly denounced her father for keeping a mistress.  Since then, the media blitz (see, for example, My Dad Is Worse Than Ximen Qing) has turned up a few more facts and we have a situation in which a significant portion of the public is in fact not sympathetic to her cause.  These translated Tianya Club comments are examples.

Her mother Yang Xili is a shrew with absolute control in the household.  Her father's peasant parents do not dare come to visit.  So when his uncle needed to see a doctor, he had to borrow a place for the uncle and the uncle's daughter.  He did not dare to mention it to his wife.  When the shrew found out, she thought that he was in rebellion and went to his office to scream and complain.  This time, the father has had it, asked for a divorce and persisted on that demand until the court acceded.  At the time, Wang Jing was only 15 years old and she only listened to her mother and started the protest movement.  In their view, under public opinion pressure, the father had only two options: apologize and ask to come home, or go to jail.  The mother was too naive in not knowing that it was her behavior that drove her husband out and, until that changes, he will never come back.

... Wang Zhihua explained that so-called 'mistress' Li Cuilian was a relative who is a peasant woman with two kids.  He has taken her to the office before.  After his wife began publicly accusing him of keeping this mistress, his office colleagues laughed and said, "Old Wang, you have really poor taste."  Later in the wife's home, the reporter saw a photograph of Li Culian.  This is a fat woman with a simple and honest smile, like a typical peasant woman.  The reporter cannot imagine how a man would keep such a peasant woman as mistress.  If Wang had really done it, then he must have been really living a miserable life before so that he was grateful for any kindness and care irregardless of the looks.

• [096]  The Case of Zhou Xiude (06/29/2006)  Zhou Xiude (周秀德) the former director of the Jiangsu Provincial Supply Cooperative who has been sentenced to life in prison for corruption.  In trying to research the case, I was struck by the styles of reporting.  The same story could be written in many ways.
   
  (Inner Mongolia Daily)  This is totally fact-based.  Section one: name, gender, year of birth, highest job position, party disciplinary measures, crime, punishment.  Section two: brief biography.  Section three: the prosecution's charges.  Section four: the facts presented and accepted in court.  Section five: the court's decision.  Section six: the relevant articles in the criminal law code.  Section seven: important dates in the case.
   
  (East Day)  This is a popular police detective story.  Here is an example -- Zhou was suspected for working with two business persons Hu and Wang.  There was a problem with contacting those two because Hu had fled at the instruction of Zhou and Wang was based in Hong Kong.  So the prosecutors flew to Hong Kong to interview Wang, who proved to be evasive.  However, Wang was too smart for herself as she sneaked out and flew to Shanghai for a meeting because she thought the prosecutors were still stuck in Hong Kong.  When her plane landed in Shanghai, the prosecutors were waiting for her at the gate!
   
  (Qilu Evening News via Sina.com)  This is a tale with sexual tease.  It turns out that Zhou Xiude's had an interesting office, which was one hundred squares meters in size and decorated as a bedroom.  Each floor in the office building was equipped with surveillance cameras, except there was none on Zhou's 21st floor upon his orders.  Zhou's daily routine consisted of showing up at the office at 8am, saying hello to the people and then going out immediately to take a taxi (and not his chauffeured official vehicle) to meet his mistress.  Here is the best bit: "After Zhou was arrested, the prosecutor found more than 40 diaries about his encounters with more than 100 women, including lots of unreadable descriptons of debauchery."  There are no more details, though.
   
  (Yangtse Evening News via Boxun)  Now we get the tabloid stuff.  During the 12 years between 1989 and 2001, Zhou kept 14 diaries most of which are about his adulterous affairs with more than 100 women.  While Hainan province official Li Qingpu was famous for collection public hair samples from 236 prostitutes locked in a steel cabinet, Zhou must be one of the few others who recorded the evidence.  He listed the persons, times, places and responses.  Zhou sometimes had more than one encounter per day, and even the slowest times were once every three or four days; the locations included his office and his home, suites in teahouses and coffee houses, or even outdoors in the park.  Zhou also compiled summaries, such as the year-end summary statistics of the number of people and occasions.
   
  Which is the best style?  That depends on the objective.  If the objective is to sell copies, then the answer should be obvious.

• [095]  The Chinese Internet Police (06/29/2006)  In Southern Metropolis Daily today, there is an article about the arrival of the Internet police Jingjing and Chacha to the Guangzhou-based websites.  The following graphic shows the icon that will appear on the website for netizens to click and report harmful information such as pornography and gambling.  Four websites (21CN, Southcn, Dayoo and YCWB) are supposed to have taken the lead already.
  
   
  Now I don't expect every web page will have an icon this big, so I decided to go to 21CN.com and see what it actually looks like.  I had to scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page to find it, and this is a screen capture.  It is difficult to discern what that graphic means unless you already know what it is.
  
   
  And here is the one at Dayoo:
  
   
  And here is one at YCWB, which has a really cluttered page.  I had to wait for a long time for all the graphic elements to download before reaching that last itme.
  
   
  I was unable to find the icon at Southcn (unless if was really that small!).
   
  When I click on the icon, it directs me to a government website which returns this message: "Failure of server APACHE bridge: No backend server available for connection: timed out after 10 seconds."  To put it charitably, this is work in progress.
   
  Here is the translation of the last paragraph of the SMD report: "Concerning this matter, some netizens say that while it is logical to stop pornography and gambling on the Internet, but having an icon representing law enforcement at forums and chat rooms will cause unnecessary caution among netizens and inhibit their willingness to speak up.  Zhongshan University professen Ren Jiantao believes that this is a reasonable step to ensure public security, but when citizens discuss public affairs and criticize others (including leaders), their speech should be protected.  Therefore, this step must not be inappropriately extended to become a restrictive measure."

• [094]  The Emergency Response Law (06/29/2006)  Wow! is what I say.  As an observer, I watch the Chinese Internet grow and I keep wondering at what point do people recognize the power that is in their hands by virtue of the fact that they are now more than a hundred million and organize accordingly to exercise that power.  I can see it in apparently mundane cases such as the Lady Cat Killer and I wonder when they will tackle a more substantive political issue.  The following links is a glimpse of the future and this is when some media responded vigorously but without figuring yet how to mobilize the masses (like 1,000 forum posts per hour):

• Suddenly Breaking Incidents in China  EastSouthWestNorth, June 26, 2006.
• Media clause of proposed emergency management law raises hackles at Southern Metropolis Daily  By David Bandurski and Brian Chan, June 26, 2006.
• Media clause of draft emergency management law already under contention  By David Bandurski and Brian Chan, June 27, 2006.
• Chinese media continue their attack on the media clause of the draft emergency management law  By David Bandurski, June 28, 2006.
• Draft bill: Breaking news stories to be illegal  Jeremy Goldkorn, Danwei
• An Audacious Assault on Press Freedom  Non-violent Resistance
• Follow-up on Emergency Response Law  Non-violent Resistance
• Emergency Response Law: Caijing Magazine Kicks Ass!!  Non-violent Resistance
• Chinese journalists say enough is enough  Rebecca MacKinnon, RConversation

• [093]  Taiwan By The Numbers (06/28/2006)  Here are some public opinion surveys after yesterday's presidential recall vote in parliament.
   
  (TVBS via Yahoo! News) (no description of methodology)

Chen Shui-bian: 16% satisfied; 70% dissatisfied
Ma Ying-jeou: 45% satisfied; 42% dissatisfied
James Soong: 35% satisfied; 51% dissatisfied

In particular, here is the trend for Ma Ying-jeou
- elected as KMT chairman: 65% satisfied; 20% dissatisfied
- visited United States: 58% satisfied; 14% dissatisfied
- recall vote process: 51% satisfied; 30% dissatisfied
- the day after the recall vote: 45% satisfied; 42% dissatisfied

What next? 45% push for no confidence vote in government; 41% let Chen finish his term.

(China Times) (727 adults interviewed by telephone on the evening of June 27)
- What next? 28% push for no confidence vote in government; 36% disagree; 36% undecided.
- Should KMT go back to moderate road?  69% yes; 10% no; 21% no opinion.
 
(United Daily) (836 persons interviewed on June 27)
1. Chen Shui-bian's performance as president: 19% satisfied; 66% dissatisfied; 14% no opinion
2. Ma Ying-jeou's performance as KMT chairman: 51% satisfied; 27% dissatisfied; 20% no opinion
3. James Soong's performance as PFP chairman: 29% satisfied; 48% dissatisfied; 21% no opinion
4. Democratic Progressive Party's performance: 18% satisfied; 68% dissatisfied; 13% no opinion
5. Do you accept the result of the recall vote? 52% yes; 32% no; 13% no opinion
6. Do you support the no confidence vote? 32% yes; 45% no; 21% no opinion.
7. If the no confidence vote results in new parliamentary elections, which party will you support? KMT 38%; DPP 11%; PFP 3%; TSU 1%; independent 1%; no opinion 42%.
8. Your outlook for the remaining 2 years of President Chen's term: optimistic 19%; pessimistic 63%; no opinion 16%.

(ETTV via Yahoo! News)  (no description of methodology)
- Chen Shui-bian's performance: 26.5% satisfied; 57.0% dissatisfied (note: prior numbers were 21.9%/68.7%)
- Ma Ying-jeou's performance: 46.2% satisfied; 40.1% dissatisfied (note: prior numbers were 55.5%/27.0%)
- James Soong's performance: 30.3% satisfied; 53.3% dissatisfied (note: prior numbers were 39.3%/37.3%) 
- Democratic Progressive Party's performance: 68% dissatisfied (note: prior number was 62%).
- No confidence vote?: 26.5% yes and 'more than half' no.

• [092]  George Clooney and Chang Hui-mei (06/28/2006)  (Apple Daily)  Hollywood superstar George Clooney seems like a humanitarian politician these days.  In the United States, he has been denouncing the racial cleaning in Darfur (Sudan) and he has been calling for the US government to intervene quickly to put a stop to this African tragedy that has been going on for three years.  Through aid organizations, Clooney and his father went to Sudan and Chad to visit the refugee camps in person in order to understand the situation.  Maybe Clooney is interested in publicity, maybe he wants to expiate his sins, or he may even be aiming for a Nobel Peace Prize.  But the fact is that Clooney is working to bring the Darfur situation to public attention.
   
  Last summer,  Taiwan's superstar singer Chang Hui-mei (張惠妹) also went to the Sudan refugee camps.  Just like Clooney, she saw what happened with the refugees.  When she got back to Taiwan, she got on stage and shed tears to ask the people to Taiwan to show their love to help the Sudan refugees.  But all the media treated A-Mei's Sudan trip as entertainment news and reported extensively on her personal medical emergency.  A-Mei joined Hunger 30, but not many people know the connection between Sudan and Hunger 30, and only very few people know where Sudan is and what is happening over there.
  
  George Clooney and Chang Hui-mei both brought first-hand news about Sudan to their respective countries, but the responses have been opposite.  Is it because Clooney has broad vision while Chang Hui-mei has narrow vision?  Is it because the United States is internationalized while Taiwan is too isolated?  It does not have to be.  Taiwan is not the United States for it does not have the ability to conduct humanitarian intervention overseas.  But if the people of Taiwan can bring themselves out of their microcosm and attempt to understand the tragedy that has led to the deaths of several hundreds of thousands and the destitution of millions, then it should not be difficult for Taiwan to offer help to the Darfur refugees and make sure that A-Mei did not shed her sweat and tears in vain.

• [091]  Summer Recreation in Chengdu (06/28/2006)  (Wenxue City)  In the Hongku district of the Chinese city of Chengdu, they set up a swatch of beach umbrellas that stretch over 10 miles right by the river during the summer.  What are the people doing there?  They certainly do not look to be working on a suntan underneath the beach umbrellas.
  
  Click on this link to find out what people do underneath the umbrellas while soaking their feet in the cool water.

• [090]  Striking Fear (06/28/2006)  (Oriental Daily via Yahoo! News)  According to a study conducted by the Hong Kong University Li Ka-shing Medical School and three other organizations, 65% of men who suffered from erectile dysfunction had smoked for more than 50 years.  According to a urologist, 400,000 Hong Kong men suffered from erectile dysfunction and he urges men to quite cigarettes in order to retain normal erectile functioning.  The survey sample consists of 498 male adults with erectile dysfunction.

• [089]  Overseas Reactions to the Chen Shui-bian Recall Vote (06/28/2006) I don't mean the bare-facts Reuters report; I don't mean the People's Daily report; more generally, I don't mean anything that has to do with political partisanship.  Rather, I mean the reflections by 'grown-ups' about what it means for them.
   
  If the indicator is taken to be Lung Ying-tai's essay Today's Lesson: Character, then the essay is being cited broadly outside of Taiwan.  Here are three instances.  The point is less about whether these commentators are right or wrong.  Rather, the point is that they came away with a tremendous respect for what is happening there and they are busily trying to figure what the lessons are for themselves.
   
  At InMediaHK, the essay was posted in full with the commentator 'fred' adding this preamble: "Another typical powerful punch-packing essay from Lung Ying-tai.  Although this is ostensibly about Ah Bian in Taiwan, it is possible to have a different reading for the Hong Kong environment on the eve of July 1st."  'Fred' highlighted the following paragraphs which can obviously be readily transplanted to Hong Kong.

According to my understanding, the head of state has four core responsibilities.  First , no matter the hardship in which the country finds itself, he must have the ability to make the people feel proud of being citizens, so that the citizens will have a healthy sense of pride.  Second, no matter how powerful the opposition is, he must have the ability to bring together the sense of common identity of the people to identify with the country, society and especially with each other.  Third, he must have the ability to offer a long-range ideal for the country.  The people identify with this ideal and they are willing to work together towards this ideal.  Fourth, he does not have to be a saint but he must have a high degree of morality.  To the outside, he represents all the people.  To the inside, he symbolizes the consensus values of society.  When an elementary school students writes the standard "When I Grow Up, I Want To Be ...," he should be the ideal that children want to become. ...

The rights and wrongs of the matter are obvious to my eyes.  The leader is not just a corporate CEO who only talks about operational efficiency and legal liabilities.  For a leader of the nation, legal liability is the least and last thing; his first thing is to assume political responsibility and moral responsibility.  Both political responsibility and moral responsibility are not spelled out in articles of law. ...

If our families, schools, society and political parties have never treated character and upbringing as key contents in education and if our government never treated civilian quality as part of the grand educational plan of the nation, then even if there is a democratic system, the people in this system will be a group which is basically indifferent about character.  So why should we be astonished to find that we have elected an incompetent and ignorant president with no sense of shame. ...

Democracy is not populism; democracy is not laissez-faire; tolerance is not the abandonment of principles; as people grow up, it does not mean that they don't want model characters.  Through the recall vote, the people are testing how much they care about rights and wrongs, how much confidence they have in the progressive forces in society, whether they decide that the behavior is insufferable and how to keep struggling towards the worthwhile goals.

In China, Lung Ying-tai's essay was published at the TECN (天益) forum.  There were plenty of praises for the essay and its author.  The discussion of the issues is mild, since TECN forum's predecessor was the banned Yannan forum and there is no point in testing the boundaries so soon.  Here is one translated comment:

We must admit that Taiwan is ahead of mainland in terms of the development of democracy.  But we are learning here on the mainland too.  The one window of instruction (Phoenix TV) is obviously deliberately set not to be open all of the time, but we can absorb the lessons and avoid the diversions along the way.  The case of Taiwan democracy shows us a lot about how the rules of the game can be manipulated and that universal values can be used as covers that by those disgusting but experienced old-hands.

More extensive coverage is offered at Asia Times Online (via ChineseNewsNet).  Here is a translated excerpt:

Ever since the cancellation of martial law in 1987 and the cancellation of press restrictions the next year, the people of Taiwan no longer have to be afraid of the white terror in the system or worry about the presence of the secret police spies next to them.  But whether it was because of Baiyang's "Ugly Chinese" collective mentality or the habits from the days of the shadows, the people of Taiwan may pay lip service to the democratic notion that "the leader is the people's servant" but they don't really appreciate the meaning thoroughly.  Conversely, the leadership never really appeared to accept this notion and truly work to serve the people.

With this confusion or adoration of power and with the alienation from the legislative and political party system of the previous generations, the basic concept was that "politics is about administering" according to the theoretical precepts in textbooks.  Politics in Taiwan was all about money, violence, special interests, family monopolies and local sectarianism.  In recent years, it was also about the rupture between local and outside groups.  In this political game controlled by the politicians, the people is never the "master" except on election day.  Most of the time, the people are just the tools for the politicians or political groups to grab personal benefits.

It is therefore delightful to see that during the presidential recall process, the will of the people of Taiwan manifested itself in various ways.  There were no mass mobilization before politicians, political parties or even the government.  During this period, the audience to political commentary programs soared; as soon as a radio station opens its lines for citizen call-in, all the lines are jammed immediately; at offices, restaurants, gymnasiums, markets and department stores, one can hear people discussing the political situation.

The difference with the past is that the masses do not necessarily go along with the political parties in marching on the streets, and they do not follow the political parties around.  Most people watched television, reflected, discussed and interacted with each other.  They have internalized the concept that "if the president does not perform well, I can oust him from his job."  Even though in the middle-class Taiwan society, the people have different values and attitudes with respect to the cost of recalling a president, this process of internalization is sufficient to make any future president understand the true meaning and importance of "humility" and "keeping the wishes of the people at heart."

• [088]  Will The Boat Sink The Water?  (06/27/2006)  June 26, 2006 is the official date on which Chen Guidi and Wu Chuntao's book Will The Boat Sink The Water? becomes available.  The original Chinese titles is 《中國農民調查》; for a lot more information about the book and its authors, please see The Chinese Peasant Study.  This unusual title is based upon the ancient Chinese saying: “水能載舟，亦能覆舟” (translated: Water holds up the boat, water can also sink the boat."  The Tang Emperor used this phrase to mark the relationship between the ruler (=the boat) and the people (=the water), for the people can support the ruler and they can also overthrow him.  The book title here turns everything upside down -- Will the ruler destroy its people?
   
  
   
  (ChineseNewsNet)  The original book was published in China in January 2005 and sold more than 100,000 copies after three printings in the first month.  On February 25, 2004, the General Administration of Press and Publication asked the Chinese media to not report and recommend the book and make it fade away (不報道、不推崇、內部淡化處理).  In March, the publisher took the book down from its website upon orders.  Thereafter, the official edition vanished from the market.  Meanwhile, it was estimated that several millions of pirated copies had been sold.  According to Wikipedia, the Internet ban on the book was quietly removed in December 2004, and it is widely available for free downloading.
   
  Related Link:  No such thing as The Chinese People  Richard Spencer, Telegraph Blog, April 18, 2006.

• [087]  National Anthem On Television (06/27/2006)  A recent Internet post at Strong Nation, CCTV, Tianya Club and other forum has forced CCTV petitioned CCTV1 to restore the evening broadcasts of the Chinese national anthem.  The post suggested that CCTV stopped the broadcasts because there was enough patriotic education already.  It is a testimony of the strength of the Internet that CCTV felt that it was necessary to issue a response.
   
  (Sina.com)  CCTV stated that no country in the broadcasts its national anthem during dinner time.  Therefore, on September 1, 2004, CCTV followed international customs and shifted the national anthem broadcast from the original 7:05pm to 5:55am.  
   
  Hmm ... let me see: How much does a 30-second commercial cost on CCTV?  Could that be the true reason?
   
  Meanwhile, in Hong Kong, there was this SCMP story on October 7, 2004, shortly after CCTV took the national anthem off prime time.  This was a true example of One County, Two Systems as Hong  Kong went in the opposite direction of China.

The government has ordered television stations to run nightly broadcasts of a patriotic propaganda video, sparking worries that communist China is attempting to indoctrinate the free-spirited territory.

The nightly 45-second airing of China’s national anthem played over a montage of patriotic images has sparked more complaints than flag-waving in Hong Kong, where many of the 6.8 million residents remain leery of Beijing’s communist government after the territory was returned from Britain to China in 1997. ...

The video, titled “Our Home, Our Country,” was launched last week as Beijing celebrated the 55th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China. It is now being shown every evening before the news on three Chinese-language TV channels.

While the anthem plays, the film shows images of the first Chinese astronaut, Yang Liwei; Chinese Olympic medallists including diving queen Guo Jingjing; members of the People’s Liberation Army; Hong Kong children singing and some of the territory’s landmarks. 

CCTV has now provided the counter-argument -- no nation in the world broadcasts the national anthem during prime time.  Can Hong Kong join the league of nations too?

P.S.  If China had a democratic election system like the United States, there would be fewer worries about stuff such as national anthem broadcasts and more concern about the really vital matters.  Their elected representatives can concentrate on more important issues such as the Flag Amendment.
 
P.P.S.  The Hong Kong Press Workers Website has this comment: 香港政府同公民教育委員會拍馬屁拍中馬撚了.  Sorry, it is untranslatable.

• [086]  Reporter Bloggers (06/27/2006)  Recently, I got the opportunity to speak to some real-life reporters in Hong Kong.  On the matter of whether they should be writing blogs, the answer was NO -- they had discussed this at a company meeting, but legal considerations barred them from doing so.  That is, they were afraid that if their personal sentiments and thoughts on the blog diverged from the published accounts on particular stories, then this becomes proof of malice in a libel suit.  So it is a bit of a shame that the environment in Hong Kong is so unfavorable to reporter bloggers (or blogging reporters).  Here are two rare specimens: Over The Rainbow (in Chinese) and Shenzhen Zen.
   
  In China, the species known as reporter bloggers is in fact dominant in influence due to the environment.  On their jobs, the Chinese reporters are often frustrated by the restrictions on what they can write and publish, so they often publish it on their blogs or at forums instead.  Chinese reporter bloggers provide much of the information that I translate on this website.  Here are my favorite illustrative examples:

The Shalan Flash Flood - Part 3  This is a translation of a Nanfang Weekend report that was written but denied publication.  But it found its way to the Internet anyway.  Read this gripping account even as you figure out why permission was denied.
The Shalan Flash Flood - Part 4  The journalist who wrote the banned Nanfang Weekend article also wrote about what else he couldn't write in the article.

Meanwhile, Tim Johnson and Richard Spencer are Beijing-based English-language foreign correspondents who maintain their own blogs on the side with company approval.

What about reporter bloggers in the United States?  Hmmm ... why would reporters do a thing like that?  They get million dollar advances on their books, so why would they give the information away for free on blogs?

• [085]  Soccer Betting Bonanza?  (06/27/2006)  From Soccer betting blitz puts squeeze on syndicates, by Albert Wong, June 26, 2006.

Since the World Cup began on June 9, Hong Kong police have mounted around 50 large-scale operations, arresting more than 100 people and seizing an estimated HK$50 million in betting slips.  The stakes were raised last week as national teams battled it out to go through to the knockout stages.

On Wednesday, police uncovered the biggest bookmaking operation in Hong Kong since the launch of the crackdown, when they arrested two men and found betting slips worth HK$12 million. A computer was found connected to an overseas gambling Web site.  Five Hong Kong residents, including a 15-year-old boy, were arrested in Macau Thursday.

On Saturday, a joint operation seized an estimated HK$100 million in betting slips.

It is by no means clear that this is striking fear into the hearts of the betting syndicates.  What is the outcome after a police raid, if these people were smart enough to have computer backup files not seized by the police?  It would be a win/no-lose situation for them.  For anyone who placed a bet and lost, the syndicate would collect the bet; for anyone who placed a bet and won, the syndicate would say that the police seized all the records.  Now isn't that the perfect arrangement for the Big Boss?  You almost have to wonder if he didn't tip the police off!
 
None of this may be true.  That is just Internet gossip.

• [084]  The Kaohsiung Rally (06/26/2006)  Depending on what you read, you may have completely different impressions.  
   
  From AFP: "Taiwan main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) chairman Ma Ying-jeou (C) shout slogans during an anti-President Chen Shui-bian's rally in Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan. Thousands of protesters have taken to the streets calling for the resignation of Chen over a string of corruption scandals. (AFP/Sam Yeh)"
  
   
  (Apple Daily)  Due to the "assassinate Ma Ying-jeou" talk on the underground radio stations, the police mobilized 1,500 hundred officers to prevent that from happening when Ma Ying-jeou appeared at the Kaohsiung rally.  When Ma entered the venue, he wore a bullet-proof vest and there were five layers of police cordons around him.
  
   
  From Associated Press: "A Democratic Progressive Party supporter bleeds as he is carried away by police after a scuffle with opposition Nationalist Party supporters during a rally, Saturday, June 24, 2006, in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Taiwan's opposition parties launched a final weekend of protests to recall President Chen Shui-bian on Saturday, just days before a legislative vote on whether to hold a referendum to sack Chen over allegations his family is corrupt. (AP Photo/Steve Chen)"
  
   
  What was really going on?  On one hand, I was not there, so I had to rely on the media.  But I know that for the media, "Dog bites man is not news whereas man bites dog is headline material."  So do you think that these three selected photographs really tells me what happened?  On the other hand, even if I were there personally, I could have only seen what was happening from where I was standing and I am still unsure whether that was the whole deal.  Each of these pictures therefore have their own truths, but they do not constitute the whole truth which may never be presented.

• [083]  Football and Nationalism (06/26/2006)  The following is a partial translation from an essay by Liu Xiaobo published at Boxun:

Compared to the true enthusiasts, I'm just an amateur football fan.  The first reason is that I don't like the festival joy that football creates, I don't like the mass celebrations and I rarely feel to urge to watch a live football game.  In my view, passion prevents one from appreciating the art of football as well as the performances of the stars.  When the French team won the 1998 World Cup, a million people rushed towards the Arc de Triomphe; when the South Korean team made the final 16 in 2002, the entire country was swamped in a sea of red.  These scenes made me feel very weird when huge masses of people are cursed with nationalism -- when a crowd goes crazy, its strength is powerful and scary.  A crowd like that may be a historical event, but it may also lead to human disaster.

But those are my personal preferences.  I don't want to insist on politicizing the passion that football brings to people and I don't oppose people who like mass celebrations and emotional outpourings.  As long as there are no acts of violence by football hooligans or nationalistic incitements, these mass celebrations bring 90 happy minutes to innumerable people.  Nobody can despise the ordinary person for pursuing and enjoying this.

The second reason is that I like football without borders.  I want only to watch high-quality games and brilliant football artistry.  No matter which countries are playing, an awful game is awful and it is not going to get better on account of patriotism.  As a Chinese person, I don't like Chinese football.  Chinese football is of poor quality, the system is ossified, the players are lousy and corruption is rampant.  It cannot give me any pleasure to watch them, and the corruption disgusts me.  Therefore, I never watch the league games in China, I rarely watch the Asian Cup and I only keep up with the World Cup preliminary qualifying matches through news reports.  When China qualified in the round of 32 in 2002, the Chinese fans were ecstatic and the official media were hyping it up, but I was not excited.  Actually, at the 2002 World Cup, the performance of the Chinese team was as ugly as always.  The Chinese football system is just as ossified and corrupt as the general system, and incapable of making systematic protection and incentive to improve football and player quality.  Instead, it became a tool that buried talents and inflamed narrow-minded nationalists.

Here, Liu Xiaobo is just saying NO to the non-football-related added-values.  There is also the opposite approach as exemplified by: A Socialist's Guide To The World Cup, Simon Black, ZNet, June 14, 2006.  Instead of refusing to read any significance, a much greater and critical significance is read into the game.  If you want the details about Chinese football, there is this Chinese-language article 中国足球困境的宪政透视 by 贺卫方.

• [082]  Hong Kong By The Numbers (06/26/2006)  (Apple Daily)  Now that Anson Chan has announced that she will attend the July 1st march, how will that affect the attendance?  Apple Daily conducted a survey of 419 citizens (note: no methodology given) with these results:
   
  - 11% will attend because of Anson Chan
  - 13% will attend with or without Anson Chan
  - 61% will not attend
  - 15% undecided
   
  The population of Hong Kong is about 7 million, of which maybe 60% (=4.2 million) are adults.  11% + 13% = 24% of 4.2 million is about 1 million.  So there you have it -- 1 million marchers on July 1st this year.
   
  Of course, I am kidding.  No serious business would ever mistake "intent to purchase" for "actual purchase."  Here are some commercial numbers from the TGI Latina study:
   
  - Number of households that intend to purchase a house in next six months: 3.5 million
  - Number of households that actually purchased a house in last six months: 0.8 million
   
  - Number of households that intend to purchase computer in next six months = 2.3 million
  - Number of households that actually purchased computer in last six months = 1.2 million
   
  If you plan your revenue forecast, staffing and production according to "intent to purchase," you won't make it.

• [081]  The Celestial Queen (06/26/2006)  (Oriental Daily via Yahoo! News)  You take a look at this poster.  It looks like a movie, right?  Who is Mia Wong?  You have probably never heard of her.  Is she a new star?
  
  Mia Wong is an established star but of a different variety.  She is an English-language teacher at a tutorial school.  She is presently in the news because she is being sued by her former tutorial school for breach of contract.  For how much?  The estimated economic loss is HK$8 million.  Is an English-language teacher really worth that much?
   
  Here are the economic data from the case.  In 2002-2003, the school generated revenues of HK$2 million.  In 2003-2004, the school invested more than HK$1 million in advertising that featured some of their teachers including Mia Wong, and revenues increased to HK$4.5 million.  In 2004-2005, a star Chinese-language teacher left and revenues decreased by HK$1.5 million.  In view of this, the school signed Mia Wong to a contract lasting until 2008 which requires that she cannot unilaterally terminate her contact and work in a similar capacity elsewhere without the permission of the school.  In May 2006, Mia Wong resigned to take a job at another school.  The plaintiff estimated that (1) the school had invested HK$1.5 million during 2004-2006 to make Mia Wong famous; (2) the school estimates that it will lose HK$4 million as a result of her departure; (3) the school estimates that it will have to invest HK$2.5 million to hire another teacher and create the same image through advertising.  Therefore, the total cost is HK$8 million.
   
  Are there Hong Kong-based English-language teachers among my readers here?  Did you know that you are worth HK$8 million for doing your job?

• [080]  The String Theory Paparazzi (06/25/2006)  Very funny stuff from Joel Martinsen (Danwei) on Science vs. the paparazzi: string theory in Beijing.  Consider that my bookshelf (see You Are What Your Read - The Living Room) contains books such as:
  
  Maybe you would think that I am interested in what Stephen Hawking has to say on this China trip.  Sorry, no.  We scientists are inbred snobs.  Any significant research results would have been released as pre-prints to a small circle years ago.  There is nothing new in these general public speeches for anyone who is familiar with the subject already.  And for anyone who isn't familiar with the subject, there is not much hope of getting anything within such a short timespan.  So what remains is decorum, which has obviously been missing in action.
   
  P.S. Oh, you say, "But you don't have any Stephen Hawking books here."  But actually they are all there.  A Brief History of Time is a light-weight populist book and it was therefore relegated to the backrow.  Instead, you can find the yellow-covered book by Hawking and Ellis: The Large Scale Structure of Space-Time which covers the detailed empirically observed astronomical data to support a certain theory of space-time (while being consistent with other theories of space-time too).

• [079]  Say Hello To The Paparazzi (06/25/2006)  Yesterday, I had an appointment near St. George's Building on Kadoorie Avenue.  I live downhill and so it was a short 3 minute walk for me.  On the way, I was mindful of the paparazzi situation (see Comment 200606#019) and therefore looked for cars parked on the street.  There was none.  Afterwards, I walked downhill again and I spotted a car parked down the road.  I walked up to it and looked at the two male passengers, and they looked back at me.  I smiled at them.  They did not smile at all.   I did not have my camera, so I just continued walking.  I never found out whom they were staking out: Jimmy Lai?  Kelly Chan?  Who knows?  Who cares?  This is so commonplace Hong Kong.  Have a nice day, guys!  I know you have a tough job!

• [078]  China Media Project (06/25/2006)  Although the China Media Project is also located in Hong Kong, I have never had the honor to have any contact with that team.  But increasingly, I am pleasantly surprised to find an uncoordinated convergence of interest recently.
   
  Here are some examples:
  - State Council Information Office says Western media coverage of China has taken a turn for the better (CMP; June 24, 2006) and The Demonization of China (ESWN; June 24, 2006)
  - The Liu Zhihua Case: reading power and profit through the Chinese newspaper page (CMP; June 21, 2006) and The Case of Liu Zhihua (ESWN; June 13, 2006)
  - Chinese media debate information disclosure as reporter sues Shanghai City Planning Bureau (CMP; June 12, 2006) and Journalist Sues Government (ESWN; June 8, 2006)
   
  Perhaps this means that I can retire from the business of covering developments in Chinese media and hence focus on my core audience in the manner of immensely popular items such as Kiddie Porn In Hong Kong, The Yongchuan Government Promotional Photos, The Shenzhen Cat Meatball Restaurant, The Jilin Quintuplets and, of course, Bus Uncle!  But then all of those so-called 'low brow' stories are about the media too!  The fact is that we get most of our information from the media.  There is just no getting away from them.

• [077]  Multiple Uses (06/24/2006)  In The Demonization of China, I noted that the following photograph was used in the Ta Kung Pao article with the caption: "外國媒體常利用負面新聞來吸引受眾。圖為日前北京民眾申訴場面。" (in translation: Foreign media often use negative news to attract audiences.  The photo is about a group of people petitioning in Beijing.)
  
   
  Meanwhile, in the comment directly below this one about Tianjin deputy mayor Chen Zhifeng, the following photograph was used with the caption: "天津多名官員因房地產問題被查之際，一批被迫遷的天津市民周三到北京，向建設部請願，要求嚴懲拆遷中腐敗官員。 美聯社"  (in translation: At a time when multiple Tianjin officials have been investigated for land-related issues, a group of displaced Tianjin residents arrived in Beijing on Wednesday to ask the Department of Construction to punish corrupt officials.  AP) 
  
   
  The original AP caption (via Yahoo! News) is: A Chinese security guard tries to prevent a photographer from taking pictures of Tianjin residents protesting outside the Chinese Construction Ministry in Beijing, China, Wednesday, June 21, 2006. Investigators have questioned three top officials in the northern Chinese port of Tianjin over alleged corruption tied to shady real estate deals, a human rights group said Wednesday. The allegations come amid protests by Tianjin residents over what they say are forced evacuations being directed by officials out for personal profit. The Chinese words read 'Central Government please investigate Tianjin home eviction issue'. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)"
   
  This illustrates the final point in the Demonization article -- certain objective facts gave cause for the western media to write the negative reports to "demonize" China.

• [076]  Where Is Chen Zhifeng? (06/24/2006)  (Apple Daily via ChineseNewsNet)  Who is Chen Zhifeng (陳質楓)?  He is/was/is the deputy mayor of Tianjin city.
   
  On June 21, the overseas media were asking the Tianjin spokesperson about whether Chen was being investigated by the Central Party Disciplinary Commitee for economic problems.  "Hey, our deputy mayor will even be attending an international conference on Monday!" said the spokesperson in a strong denial.
   
  On June 22, on the Tianjian city goverment list of leaders on the official website, the name of Chen Zhifeng was removed without fanfare.  When the media asked the Tianjin spokesperson again, he was unresponsive.
   
  On June 23, on the Tianjian city government list of leaders on the official website, the name of Chen Zhifeng was restored without fanfare.
   
  Since the authorities will not explain these mysterious happenings, the citizens' only source of information is the Roadside News Agency -- there is a major political strugge between Tianjin Party Committee Secretary Zhang Lichang (張立昌) and Tianjin Mayor Dai Xianglong (戴相龍).  So there you have it!

• [075]  China's English-Language A-List Bloggers (06/24/2006)  There is no such list, of course.  If there is such a thing as an A-list blogger in China, the person would have learned from Zhuang Zi (莊子) to not worry about status and to enjoy just doing it instead.  This is particularly true at a time when being a 'blogger' is actually become restrictive and constraining with respect to other possibilities beyond traditional blogging.  For an interesting discussion, please see Danwei's comment about "Danwei probably does not count as a blog any more: there are too many contributors, and we are trying very hard indeed to sell out, by accepting advertising." and then Sinosplice's follow-up.
   
  More importantly, who wants to be called an A-list blogger anyway?  Here is what Atrios noted: "Lots of bloggers and blog readers have something against the nebulous club of 'A-List bloggers'."  Why?  Here is Atrios' explanation:

There are a variety of reasons people seem to like to get their hate on at us ... and I'll try to spell them out as I understand them without bothering to argue with them.

1) A-list bloggers have shitty blogs that no one should read but people just read them because they've been around for so long.

2) A-list bloggers are supporting the wrong candidates/causes. They are doing X, but they should be doing Y.

3) A-list bloggers suck up all the attention from better bloggers who everyone should be reading.

4) A-list bloggers end up representing the "netroots" but they shouldn't.

5) A-list bloggers aren't generous enough with their links and should be providing more publicity for other bloggers.

6) A-list bloggers are stupid and they're ugly and nobody likes them. 

Indeed, who wants to be known as stupid and ugly?

P.S.  In like manner, 韓江雪: 尋找香港的「公共知識份子」 is wondering where the public intellectuals are.  There are two types of public intellectuals -- those who are busy talking about being public intellectuals and then there are those who are busy being public intellectuals without bothering to talk about the process.

• [074]  The Hill of the Waiting Wife (06/24/2006)  On page A21 of Apple Daily (via Diuman Park), the following paid ad appeared.
  
  The natural stone figure is known as the Hill of the Waiting Wife and can be seen when descending from the top of Lion Rock down to Shatin.  Alternately, you can see it from the train window leaving Shatin and heading into the Lion Rock tunnel.  The waiting wife is looking towards the sea with her child bundled behind her back in the traditional Chinese style and hoping her seafaring husband would return soon.  There is no explanation for this figure, so the assumption is that the audience is native Hong Kong people who are familiar with this legendary site.
   
  In this advertisement, the child's caption reads: "Mom, have you seen universal suffrage yet?"  The words underneath read: "Universal suffrage did not explode out of a rock!  July 1st.  Persist.  Get out in the street.  See you in Victoria Park at 3pm, July 1st."  As the Diuman Park blogger noted, the concept for this ad was developed by private citizens who contributed it for neither pay nor acknowledgement.

• [073]  The Hong Kong Economy (06/24/2006)  Yes, I'm talking about real estate, because nothing else really matters.  This evening, the apartment owners of my building held a general meeting to discuss our future.  Our building was constructed in 1949 for the grand sum of HK$50,000.  There are four sections (A, B, C, D) at five stories each, so that there are 20 apartment owners.  The original plan included a section E, but we ran out of money so there was an empty lot.  My family began renting our apartment from a Chinese-capital investment company in 1959.  In the early 1970's (and in the last throes of the Great Proletarian of Cultural Revolution), an edict came down from Beijing  to the investment company directors: "We are a socialist country and we cannot conceivably own any capital.  Please dump all the holdings ASAP!"  The company then looked for the quickest route: they made an offer to the tenant (namely, my parents) for this 2,000 sq. ft. apartment in an exclusive neighborhood at the grand sum of HK$180,000.  My parents went for it and that was how our family became landlords again.  To put the money figures in perspective, the apartment comes with a parking space.  Today, HK$50,000 will buy you half the parking space and HK$180,000 will buy two parking spaces (ignoring the issues of inflation, costs of living, etc).  [Note: I was informed that I am seriously undervaluing the price for the parking space!]
   
  Anyway, this is the year 2006 now and this building is obviously heading for an encounter will the wrecking ball unless it collapses on its own before that appointment.  That was the reason for our meeting today.  We invited a banker and a lawyer to give us a briefing, and what they told us is related to how the Hong Kong economy works.  First, the land title to the lot had been divided among the apartment owners individually.  To rebuild, we must all sell our individual land titles to a combined entity (whether this is our own company or a developer or a joint venture), for which we would have to pay a 3.75% sales levy.  After the builiding has been demolished and rebuilt, the entity will sell the new apartments back to us, for which we would have to pay a 3.75% sales levy again.  The total sales levy from these two rounds is estimated to be circa HK$40 million.  Now you understand why the Hong Kong SAR government imposes such a low personal income tax.  
   
  Of course, the sole decision at the meeting was: "Seek legal/expert counsel to see how we can get around the sales levy."  That is the more significant part about how the Hong Kong economy works.

• [072]  Photo of the Day (06/23/2006)  More properly, the title should be "Idiotic Photo of the Day."  (TVBS via Yahoo! News)  During a parliamentary debate, KMT legislator Chiang Lien-fu (江連福) took out a toy gun and a Chen Shui-bian doll and declared : "子彈上膛，上膛之後，阿扁總統，你是自己了斷？還是要我代表全民，來幫你了斷？在這邊就幫你了斷好了，(開槍)。" (in translation: The gun chamber is loaded.  Now that the chamber is loaded, President Ah Bian, are you going to finish it yourself? Or should I represent the People to help you finish it?  I'll help you finish it here right now. (Pulls the trigger)."
  

• [071]  Interview with Ang Lee (06/23/2006)  The following the section of the Southern Daily interview related to the new movie <<Lust, Caution 色，戒>>.
   
  Q: I hear that you are in Shanghai for the film festival and also to prepare for your new film adapted from Eileen Chang's novel <<Lust, Caution>>.
  A: Yes.
   
  Q: Eileen Chang has left us many works.  Why the interest in <<Lust, Caution>>?
  A: I adore Eileen Chang's work, but I did not think about turning any of them into a film.  This one is a short novel which leaves a lot for the imagination and I really like it because it is carefully written in great depth.  Therefore, it has a particularly strong sense of a movie, plus a stream of consciousness.  It touched a certain sense of tragedy of our Chinese people.  I read it and I put it away.  Then I thought about it and I put it away again.  So now I really want to make a film.  Of course, I have quite nervous because there are many out there who adore Eileen Chang and there are many experts.  People will have high expectations.  One can say that they must be sharpening their knives.
   
  Q: Since you made Zhang Ziyi into a star in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, many female actresses want to star in your movies.  Are the roles in <<Lust, Caution>> locked up?
  A: No, but I am seen some who are more suitable.  The genius of Eileen Chang as a writer is that she tells you what she thinks.  Basically, such a female character does not exist.  We can only try to be as close to what she described.  For example, if there are five requirements and no one meets all of them, we will look for four, three, two.  We will look for the closest person.  For me, it is important to have a passion to act.  Talent, passion, involvement, she must be willing to use her image, emotions and intelligence to interpret the novel and allow us to capture it.  This is one of my selection criteria.

• [070]  Internet Triumphalism (06/23/2006)  Whereas Product Placement In Mission Impossible 3 appeared on this website on June 14, Shanghai Daily and Los Angeles Times carried the story on June 20 and June 21 respectively.  And I don't think that they got it right either.  In the first report, "In trying to sanitize Shanghai's image, the film censors scrutinizing "Mission: Impossible III" missed a phone number for phony documents that China netizens trumpeted.  But by the July 20 release date, that's likely to be wiped out by the censors who want to put Shanghai's best foot forward."  In the second news report, "Chinese censors recently delayed the release of "Mission: Impossible III" because they didn't want to air the city's dirty laundry.  But the sharp-eyed film police apparently missed a more obvious smear, a crude advertisement for one of China's most notorious businesses: producing fake documents.  Now, Internet mavens across the Middle Kingdom are tsk-tsking at the censors' bumble. Some have clipped the fleeting scene from a pirated download of the movie — which won't be released in China until next month — and posted it on the Web, generating guffaws in chat rooms."
   
  The facts are that the 'censored' version to be released on July 20 has not been seen in China yet, and all references are to the pirated edition which was obviously not screened by any Chinese censor to make sure that the roadside vendors are selling politically correct DVDs at 10 yuan (=US$1.2) apiece.

• [069]  Taiwan Public Opinion Polls (06/22/2006)  After President Chen Shui-bian's speech to all the people (delivered in Minnan dialect and therefore alienating a significant proportion of the population), the first poll cited was from Era TV at 92% against Chen.  The fact that the poll result was announced within 30 minutes of the speech and it has a sample size of more than 60,000 meant that this was a self-selected Internet poll.  So forget it!  Similarly for this one: "An opinion poll conducted by the Yahoo Taiwan website showed that only 15 per cent of 23,920 voters were satisfied by the case Mr Chen made, while 84 per cent said they found the speech unconvincing."  On the extreme, Taipei Times obtained the feedback from three academic types, of which a majority approved the speech.  But with more time, the more traditional public opinion polls done by telephone are being reported.
   
  Apple Daily (sample of 934 adults via computerized voice interviewing, which means quality control is lacking)
  - About the speech, 69% thought it was an attempt by Chen to weasel his way out; 22% believed him and sympathized with his situation; 9% don't know/not sure
  - How did it change your opinion of Chen? 23% better; 64% worse; 12% don't know/not sure
  - Is Chen still suitable to be president? 26% suitable; 66% unsuitable; 8% don't know/not sure
   
  TVBS (no description of methodology)
  - overall approval of Chen: 18% satisfied; 65% dissatisfied
  - approval of speech: 27% satisfied; 65% dissatisfied
  - Chen should resign?: 50% agree; 32% disagree
  - Chen suitable to be president? 31% suitable; 55% not suitable
  - president wife's met with Chen Yu-hou? 14% no (=believe president); 56% yes (=believe other version)
   
  United Daily (also at Yahoo! News)  (sample of 865 adults (with 414 refusals) using random telephone numbers in phone book and then randomly changing last two digits)
  - overall approval of president: 20% satisfied; 64% dissatisfied; 15% no opinion
  - Chen a trustworthy president: 19% yes; 60% no; 18% no opinion
  - Chen spoke truth in televised speech: 13% yes; 50% no; 36% no opinion
  - president's wife met with Chen Yu-hou? 11% no (=believe president); 56% yes (=believe other version); 31% no opinion
  - president said wife did not 'directly' receive SOGO gift certificates.  5% thinks she did not receive them at all; 66% thinks she received them indirectly; 26% no opinion.  By political affiliation, pan-greens 20% thinks did not receive and 48% indirectly received; pan-blues 87% received indirectly; independents 51% received indirectly.
  - president's family involved in fight to control SOGO.  49% yes; 15% no; 35% no opinion
  - recall of president?  47% agree; 38% disagree; 13% no opinion
  - if recall fails, no confidence vote in government?  35% agree; 38% disagree; 24% no opinion.
   
  China Times Part 1 Part 2 (sample of 814 adults (response rate of 62%) using random telephone numbers in phone book and then randomly changing last two digits)
  - approval of speech: 23% satisfied; 46% dissatisfied; 31% no opinion.  By political affiliation, pan-greens are 53% satisfied and 25% dissatisfied; pan-blues are 8% satisfied and 71% dissatisfied.
  - president's wife cleared? 12% yes; 41% worse than ever; 47% no opinion
  - president's wife met with Chen Yu-hou?  11% no (=believe president); 42% believe other version; 47% no opinion.  By political afficiliation, 33% pan-greens believe president.
  - president's wife in SOGO gift certifcate case clarified? 13% yes; 51% no.  By political affiliation, 38% pan-greens think yes.
  - recall of president?  43% agree; 34% disagree; 22% no opinon.  By political affiliation, pan-greens 20% agree and 67% disagree and pan-blues 73% agree and 15% disagree.
  - if recall fails, no confidence vote in government?  35% agree, 36% disagree and 29% no opinion.
   
  Summary table: United Daily

• [068]  Fishing For The Bottom Line (06/22/2006)  In China Digital Times' feature on Nicholas Kristof's essay on the Chinese Internet, there is a translation of a comment to Kristof's blog:

Ha ha, I saw today's masterpiece from Mr. Kristof on the New York Times, China vs. the Net. Let me say a few words here about it. Please allow me to be direct. This method to detect the bottom line of freedom of expression on China's Internet may not be the best. First of all, your test blog has very low traffic so far so even if the censor's see it, they will not feel threatened.

Secondly, maybe freedom of expression online in China does not have a well-defined bottom line. If you really insist, you may want to be a regular visitor to this forum, where you may learn something. 

The bottom line might actually be even deeper.  Here is another example: zyzg.org ( 自由中国论坛).  This is not a totally 'free' site because Rule #1 at the discussion forum is: "#1.  No posts allowed about FLG's Nine Criticisms or Party Resignations or Organ Removals (but information related to democratic political systems are negotiable)."
 
The top of the subject list will always be occupied by this message: "Please remember this alternate URL if this website should be shut down again."
 
Here is a list of recent subjects at the zyzg.org discussion forum:
- The riot at Shengda College in Zhengzhou University
- The freedom of blind dissident Chen Guangcheng
- New developments at the Chinese Democratic Party
- The Wang Yi-Yu Jie versus Guo Feixiong debate
- The shutdown of the search engines of Sina.com and Sohu.com (via South China Morning Post)
- Election of the next Chinese Communist Party chairman and the Central Military Commission chairman 
- Cao Changqing's report on the firing of US State Department "pro-China idiot" (=Robert Zoellick)
- Chen Shui-bian: "My coming or staying will be decided by my people"
- Gao Zhisheng: "Kidnapping an old woman and a young boy -- more misdeeds by the Hu-Wen government"
 
Why is this sort of thing happening?  Why aren't the Internet secret police all over them already?  It isn't that easy for an Internet secret police such as the one described here: A Day In The Life Of A Chinese Internet Police.  I would suggest that the female police officer and her colleagues in that story have no idea who Chen Guangcheng, Wang Yi, Yu Jie, Guo Feixiong, Cao Changqing, Robert Zoellick, Gao Zhisehng or the Chinese Democratic Party are.  Dear reader, do you know what the issues are with all nine stories listed above?  Furthermore, the authorities don't have the ability to keep the Internet secret police informed on the latest developing stories, because it will likely destroy faith and morale.
 
I suggest: stop whining and start paying attention to what the Chinese netizens are actually writing and reading on the edge of and underneath the radar screen.  They are probably already too many to be stopped effectively.

• [067]  The Eviction Squad (06/22/2006)  I am sure that you have read about the thugs hired by land developers to evict peasants from the forcibly requisitioned land (see for example The Sanzhou Incident, The Shengyou Reporter's Fieldnotes, The Huaxi/Huankantou Incident).  But I think the following photograph from Southern Metropolis Daily (June 6, 2006, page A47 via zyzg.org) gives you the best idea about what an eviction crew looks like.  These are not hired thugs, but they are civilian patrol members brought in to evict homes to make way for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.  You have to wonder if this was staged for some movie ...
  

• [066]  Lights Out For Ma Ying-jeou (06/22/2006)  (ETTV via Yahoo! News)  KMT chairman Ma Ying-jeou was going to make a television appearance at 8pm to give his reaction to President Chen Shui-bian's speech the previous evening.  Ma is presently the mayor of Taipei City.  By coincidence, the Taipei City Environmental Protection Department had an one-hour program starting at 8pm for citizens to turn off their lights and electricity for one hour.
   
  At the press conference, the Taipei City Environmental Protection Department director said: "We call upon our citizen friends to tell off your lights and televisions sets at that hour and step outdoors to enjoy our natural energy-saving night."  The reporter asked: "But the mayor is speaking tonight at 8pm?"  Duhhh!  The director was acutely embarrassed.  However, this event was planned and scheduled some time last year.  Here is the compromise: "If you have to watch television, at least turn the lights out!"

• [065]  An Amazing Essay For Popular Enjoyment (06/21/2006) The essay titled Looking at the recall bid with a foreign eye by self-described 'longstanding observer of US politics and media' and 'deputy secretary general of the Northern Taiwan Society' Michelle Wang 王美琇 appeared on June 18, 2006 in Taipei Times.  Here is the revelant excerpt:

For a fresh perspective, let's try looking at the situation through US eyes. The US is a mature society that has practiced democracy for more than two hundred years. The preposterous presidential recall bid proposed by the blue-camp would be unlikely to occur in the US, given that country's more mature legislature, media and society. ...

US politicians and citizens did not initiate impeachment proceedings against former US president Bill Clinton over his sex scandal, although the US public definitely disapproved of his behavior. In the end, Clinton remain as president until the end of his second term. The moral is, if the president did not break the law, he cannot be impeached or recalled.

This last paragraph made me wondered if I had been living on a different planet.  So I checked -- on my planet, there are 4.6 million entries when I googled 'Clinton+impeachment.'  For example, Washington Post has consolidated all their Clinton impeachment stories at the Clinton accused page, with even the exact Senate votes on the perjury and obstruction charges.  If you believe that Washington Post is a pack of liars, here is the Wikipedia entry on the Impeachment of Bill Clinton.  Fact: Clinton was impeached but he survived the vote.

Now Wang also had this paragraph:

As a longstanding observer of US politics and media, I have never seen the US media make a big stink of what the first lady is wearing. How she wants to dress herself is a private matter unless the way she dresses is obviously inappropriate or connected with bribe-taking. US media and lawmakers are more interested in whether the president is competent to govern the nation than in how the first lady dresses. They supervise how the president manages foreign, economic and domestic affairs. If the president is clearly involved in any misconduct, the media and Congress will move to impeach him or her based on the evidence. Former US president Richard Nixon's downfall over the Watergate scandal is a classic example.

For the exemplary behavior of the American press, please consult the entire archive of Bob Somerby's The Daily Howler from 1998 to 2006.  Every day, the man just copies one or more examples of howlers from the American press.  Do you believe that Gennifer Flowers, Katherine Willey, Monica Lewinsky, the Arkansas state troopers and the long cast of characters have much to do with the "foreign, economic and domestic affairs" that US media and lawmakers supposedly only care about?  By the way, it also did not matter what the US media and lawmakers had to say, because Clinton's approval ratings among the general public was always around 60% during the the period when the impeachment trial was in progress (see chart).
 

Here is today's bonus report in Globe (via Daily Kos):  

Laura Bush stormed out of the White House after a blow-up with the president over whether he was cheating with Condoleezza Rice. [...]

The infuriated first lady spent at least one night in the famed Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C., after the bitter row, respected author and national security expert Wayne Madsen tells GLOBE. ... We reported in our Jan. 16 issue that in a recent therapy session, the 59 year-old president confessed he lusts after other women. And now, sources say he's been acting out those fantasies with Rice, 51.

Rumors of the affair have enraged Laura, who has been at odds with her husband for months over their deteriorating 28-year union.

Meanwhile a host of other problems are plaguing the Bush marriage, including reports that the president had been caught drinking whiskey again after quitting for 20 years, and strife between Laura and her meddling mother-in-law Barbara, say sources.

Relevant Link: Unbeknownst to me at the time of writing, Keywords had the Michelle Wang article covered.  I could have spared myself.  But it goes to show that this was so obviously and outrageously wrong.

• [064]  The Internet Censors Failed At Their Jobs (06/21/2006)  (Ming Pao)  There are about 7,000 posts per day at this website.  It employs ten web editors who inspect the web contents every day.  In addition, 130 trained students function as "forum masters" who inspect the web contents on a regular basis.  The website has an automatic filtering system for harmful keywords.  In order to post, one has to become a member so that it is possible to follow up with the individual about any harmful information.  This sounds exactly like mainland China, doesn't it?  This is so bad ...
   
  Hong Kong Education City is a non-profit organization funded by the Hong Kong Education and Manpower Bureau to the tune of HK$24 million per annum and is intended to serve young students.  The product is the website hkedcity.net, which is billed as Hong Kong's largest one-stop educational website.  
   
  So what happened here?  A Mrs. Wong complained on Commercial Radio that her 9-year-old daughter told her that the contents on Hong Kong Education City were "disgusting" (好核突).  Mrs. Wong checked for herself and was appalled, because the joke section contained many adult jokes including ones about sexual organs when a brother and sister bathed together, a nun being assaulted by a sex fiend and a doctor violating a female patient.  Mrs. Wong described the jokes as being "very perverted and very filthy."  When Hong Kong Education City was informed, it removed the offensive contents and published a reminder about the rules.
  
   
  Should Hong Kong Education city have implemented a censorship system with Chinese characteristics?  And how come it wasn't working?  Talk among yourselves ...

• [063]  Polo Weekly (06/21/2006)  While Apple Daily may lay claim to be the most popular newspaper in Taiwan, there is a competitor (see Yam News) -- Polo Weekly.  This is an Internet spoof that has accumulated more than 1.2 million reads already.  Here is the most recent issue (see this Xiute blog for the complete high-resolution publication).  This issue's headline is about stock number 2260 (the share price for concept stock for Chen Shui-bian's son-in-law Chao Chien-ming is soaring, noting that 2260 is the prisoner ID number for Chao).
  

• [062]  The Vindication of Sidekick (06/21/2006)  Previously, I left three links on my recommended reading list.  I'm requested to explain to an English-only reader what the interest in this collection of Hong Kong blog posts is.  I suppose an explanation is in order.

• 我要平反！  Just A Sidekick
• 關於回應Sidekick問題  MO's View Reborn
• 致黃世澤先生的公開信  The Duke of Aberdeen
• 關於黃世澤先生的一些事情  大腦角落

The incident began late last year when a blogger Martin Oei accused another blogger Sidekick of working in conjunction with ep21.com.  At the time, Sidekick responded with a blanket statement that she has no connections to ep21.com.  In reply, Martin Oei said that he has proof but he was busy and promised to produce the proof as soon as the December 4th 2005 march was done.  It is now June 2006.  In the first post above, Sidekick says, "I want my vindication!"  
 
In the second post, Martin Oei replies that anyone who wants him to produce the proof ought to think instead about why Sidekick took so long to demand a "vindication" and that should be enough to figure out Sidekick.  In addition, Martin Oei welcomes any email from Sidekick to explain her relationship with ep21.com.  Martin Oei also allows no trackbacks and comments on his blog post.
 
In the third post (also reproduced at InMediaHK), the blogger The Duke of Aberdeen openly questioned whether Martin Oei (who is newspaper columnist, political commentator, Legislature consultant, Chinese University of Hong Kong Assessment Committee member and political and administrative science lecturer) can assign a political label to a blogger without any evidence.
 
Now, I am just a blog reader and I don't know the rights and wrongs beyond what was written.  But from my summary, you can tell that I think it is inadequate (actually, pathetic) for Martin Oei to make the unsubstantiated assertion, fail to keep a promise to provide the evidence and then turn the burden of proof on the accused.  The preceding is not libel, because I am just telling you what I have read and concluded.  This is therefore free thought and speech.  Martin Oei can change my mind by producing the evidence.

• [061]  Yet Another Chinese University Student Riot (06/20/2006) After The Zhengzhou University Riot story made it into western media reports, there is now another reporte of a university student riot involving almost 10,000 students at the Jiang'an campus of Sichuan University (The Sun via Wenxue City).  In early morning of June 12, the students in more than ten dormitories began to toss water bottles, beer bottles, wooden barrels and even their washing basins out of the windows.  They also set fire to bicycles, sofa and computers.  More than 9,000 people participated in the riot, and dormitory administrators were injured.
   
  Okay, what was this about?  During normal times, the university supplies electricity only up to midnight.  During examination time, the university usually supplies electricity 24 hours a day for students to study.  This year, the electricity has not gone 24 hours a day yet and the students are upset because ... they can't watch the World Cup past midnight!  After the rioting, the university has turned on the electricity all night and opened the cafeteria for the students to watch the games.  Although examinations are scheduled for next week, the students still stayed up until 5am to watch the games.

• [060]  Upgrade in Progress (06/20/2006)  At this moment, if you try to access Sina.com's iAsk and Sohu.com's Sogou search engines, you will get a "search service in the process of being upgraded message."  How coincidental for both of them to upgrade at the same time?
  
  In South China Morning Post (Shi Jiangtao in Beijing):

The search engines of two of the most popular Web portals on the mainland have been blocked in a sign of intensified internet censorship, with millions of users expected to be affected.  Sina and Sohu are the latest victims of Beijing's increasing control of the internet for having failed to filter certain keywords deemed politically harmful, industry sources in Beijing said yesterday.

"Chief editors of Web portals were summoned to the State Council Information Office in the morning and Sina and Sohu were ordered to shut down their search engines after they failed an on-the-spot censorship test," one of the sources said. The two portals had been given three days to "rectify their mistakes", the source said.

The Sina and Sohu search engines have been out of service since noon yesterday, with the search pages carrying a message that the sites were undergoing upgrades. Other services of the two portals were unaffected.

The two companies declined to elaborate on the shutdown or provide statistics about their users.  Sohu spokeswoman Zhang Xin insisted that it was normal to have a system upgrade. Her counterpart in Sina, Yan Hongyan , did not offer an explanation. "I don't know yet what has happened and why the search engine is out of service," she said.  Both companies said last night the services would not resume for two or three days. 

Now this is a brand new piece of information -- there exists a test in which the examinees were allowed to observe.  Previously, people might have thought that you were blocked PERIOD without any further feedback, you are given no clue as to what needs fixing and you have to go back to guess what they want.  But there is actually a test and they show you the results.  Will someone let the people know what the test is (of course, that person would be leaking state secrets)?

Relevant Link:  Nanny Fails Sina Sohu China.com Search Engines  Letters from China

• [059]  Two Public Interest Ads (06/20/2006) The following two photos appear at the Flypig blog.  The translated text is: "Due to the gradual erosion of gender distinctions in China, various businesses and foreign companies have developed print ads with this as the core value.  The following two photographs came from a transnational 4A advertising agency and is being circulated privately."  In other words, these are not real ads -- or, at least, not yet.  If they really did run these ads, there would be major controversies (with LYC's fans).
  
  "It is the same having a boy or girl" --
  for the Beijing Municipal Commission of Population and Family Planning
   
  
  "Google: Large or small, it can be found"

• [058]  Never A Dull Moment (06/19/2006)  Front page headline news in Sing Tao: "Regina Ip returns to Hong Kong to push democracy."  Holy crap!
  
  Three years after being chased out of Hong Kong for pushing Article 23 (which led to 500,000 protestors in the streets) and one masters degree from Stanford Unversity (thesis title: Hong Kong: a case study in democratic development in transitional societies), she is returning home to lecture us about Hong Kong democracy. 
   
  Opening statement (in translation): "One-person-one-vote only meets the most basic requirement for democracy.  Many southeast Asian countries have one-person-one-vote, but the government is rotated among several families with the support of the military.  This type of one-person-one-vote system is not democracy in the eyes of western scholars.  Democracy involved truly competitive elections, with rule of law and basic guarantees of human rights ... In the Hong Kong Legislative Council, there are six political parties which have very few members.  The most experienced party is the Democratic Party which has fewer than 1,000 members and lacks participation from business and government administrative elites ... even if a political party assumes control, where will they find the 50 or 60 departmental secretaries and their deputies?  We cannot rule Hong Kong on the basis of street demonstrations only."

• [057]  The Secrets of the Huayuan Case (06/19/2006)  Is there any fear or anticipations of secrets being revealed in Lai Changxing Writes His Memoirs?  Well, it will be a tough act to follow on the previously published The Secrets of the Huayuan Case (「遠華案」黑幕) by Sheng Xue (盛雪) from Mirror Books.  This author claimed that three-fifths of the book was based upon personal interviews with Lai Changxing and the rest on independent research.
  
  Here is a summary from a review quoted in ChineseNewsNet:

I have just read the first ten pages and I cannot believe what my eyes were seeing!  Is this a fantasy tale for a single person to assume so many identities?  A Fujian peasant who never completed third grade in elementary school; the Huayuan boss with more than 1 billion yuan in personal wealth; a Hong Kong permanent resident; Hong Kong's outstanding youth of the 20th century; a Fujian People's Congress representative; third class honorary special agent for the Chinese security bureau; double spy for China/Taiwan; ... Of course, the Chinese call him "China's biggest smuggler" and he calls himself "a Canadian political refugee."

How much confidence do you have in the following?

-- He knew any number of important people in the party, government, military and police in China, from members of the Chinese Commuinst Party Central Politburo Standing Committee down to the Fujiang provincial party secretary and the Xiamen customs director; by his estimate he knew 83 persons at the secretary level or above, including Jiang Zemin, Zhu Rongji, Luo Gan, Zeng Qinghong and Wu Yi.

-- Chinese Politburo member and Deng Xiaoping's bridge partner Wang Hanbin got him a Zhongnanhai car license plate so that he can come and go at Diaoyutai and the People's Congress.  When he is not in Beijing, Wang gets to use the car; when he arrives, Wang assigns him a chauffeur to drive him around in that car.

-- He got cigarettes supplied by actress Gong Li's husband; he was in partnership with Macau's Stanley Ho on the casino boat project; he was friends with Li Peng's son Li Xiaorong, the comedian Jiang Kun, the actress Liu Xiaoqing, etc.  Is there any celebrity in China who is not connected to him?

Believe it or not, I continued reading because it was too readable ... This is better than a spy adventure film from Hollywood!

For mainland Chinese readers, you can probably pick up this book from your local roadside contraband bookseller.

• [056]  The Root of Chaos in Taiwan (06/18/2006)  (China Times)  Yesterday at the pan-green rally to support President Chen Shui-bian on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei, the TVBS live reporter was surrounded and yelled at.  Eventually, the reporter had to interrupt the live coverage and leave the scene.  All other TVBS reporters at the scene were then ordered to remove the station logo in order to avoid incidents.
   
  (China Times)  Meanwhile in Tainan, a crowd surrounded the SNG vehicle and yelled at the reporter.  For the sake of safety, TVBS interrupted its live coverage.
   
  (Apple Daily)  Since TVBS's program "The People Talk At 2100" had been accusing the president's family of corruption, it became the "public enemy" at yesterday's rally.  Photographs of "The People Talk At 2100" host Lee Tao and frequent guest Chiu Yee were hung up as target practice and pelted with rocks and water balloons.  
  
  Banners include "Turmoil-causing group Chiu Yee and TVBS get out of Taiwan," "Media's shame Lee Tao (李掏), Legislature's rice worm (邱疫) are detested by people and gods," and "TVBS is source of chaos in Taiwan."  There were far more anti-TVBS banners than those that support President Chen Shui-bian or oppose the KMT. 
   
  (Taipei Times)  Local TV news channel TVBS, which is viewed as a pro-China media outlet by pan-green supporters, became one of the targets at yesterday's rally.  Some protesters shouted at the TV station's reporters and refused to be interviewed.
   
  So once again the time is ripe for another round of politics (via TVBS):  DPP legislator Lai Ching-te: "即便是將TVBS關掉，都應該是在所不惜。" (Even if it means shutting down TVBS, it should be worthwhile.)
  
   
  That's right -- if TVBS is shut down and all other media are intimdated into silence, then there won't be any more corruption in Taiwan.
   
  Taipei Times, June 22, 2006:  "The Cabinet yesterday urged the National Communications Commission (NCC) to investigate and, if necessary, punish TV talk shows for misleading the public with remarks on political scandals that are currently under investigation. Cabinet Spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) said that the Government Information Office (GIO) has received a significant number of phone calls from the public about this matter. The complaints mainly requested that the GIO "do something" about the TV talk shows, which continue to report, criticize or analyze scandals which are under investigation. "[The talk shows' criticism of these scandals] obviously violates the Broadcasting and Television Law (廣電法). We urge the NCC to get involved, investigate or even punish those TV talk shows," Cheng said. Cheng said the law stated that the media should not discuss, criticize or analyze any case under investigation because doing so could mislead the public."

• [055]  Which Search Engine?  (06/18/2006)  In Chinese Women News, I concluded with: "As an individual, I will use the search engine that serves my purposes best.  If a search engine wants to 'castrate' itself to the detriment of user satisfaction, it will be punished in the free market."  Brave words!  So it serves me right to be therefore asked: So what do you use most of the time?
   
  For China-related subjects, my principal interest is in tracking down different versions of a single story.  Here are some recent examples with the past week: The Jilin Quintuplets, The Case of Liu Zhihua, Rainie Yang Goes To China, The Naked Ladies With The Pink Ribbon.  With due respect, Google, MSN and Yahoo are useless and I am left with Baidu.  But that is me with my very special needs, so please do not generalize.

• [054]  "I Denounce My Daddy" (06/18/2006)  (Phoenix TV via 6Park)  Second-year university student Wang Jing thought that she had a perfect family: her dad was a cadre in the National Land Resources Department and her mom was a teacher.  In October 2003, the illusion was shattered when her mom found her dad with another woman in an apartment that he rented in an adjacent building.  Wang Jing said: "I understand my dad.  He was a military staff officer and he knew that 'the most dangerous place is the safest' and therefore he kept his mistress right by us."  On that night, her father removed his bank passbook and his clothes and never returned to the family home again.  Shortly afterwards, he filed for divorce in family court.  Immediately, Wang Jing took action by sending the family court judge two wooden figures of an old couple -- the judge got the message and rejected the request.  But the father filed an appeal.
   
  In June 2005, as soon as she finished her university exams, Wang Jing traveled to Beijing Central Party Disciplinary Committee office to denounce her father.  She recalled: "The lady wearing the Number 115 badge was really nice.  She said that I had to provide documentation."  So right in front of the Central Party Disciplinary Committee office, she wrote down the case of her father and the mistress word by word.  Her denunciation was taken seriously and the local party organizations were ordered to investigate.
   
  However, Wang Jing's dreams were shattered when the local court ruled for a divorce due to irreconcilable differences.  The heartbroken Wang Jing then traveled during the 2006 Spring Festival to Beijing again.  In the complaint, she asked the Central Party Disciplinary Committee to oust her father from the Party on the basis of articles 151, 152 and 154 of the Chinese Communist Party Disciplinary Regulations.  When contacted, her father had no comment.  The case is pending at this time.

• [053]  Update on <<Lust, Caution 色,戒>> (06/18/2006) (ETTV via Yahoo! News)  For the film adaptation of Eileen Chang's novel <<Lust, Caution>>, director Ang Lee has settled with Tony Leung (梁朝偉) as the male lead.  In my opinion, he is a little bit too handsome for that role, but what do I know?  The female lead has apparently been chosen but not announced yet.  It is likely to be an unknown.
   
  But for filming to take place in China, there are political issues.  In the original novel, the story is about a young female spy being recruited by the KMT government to join an assassination plot against a Chinese person who was collaborating with the Japanese occupation forces during the Eight Year War of Resistance.  Ahem ... on the first proposal, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television had a problem with the idea that the KMT should have a role in fighting the Japanese.  So the revised proposal now refers to an assassination plot by spontaneously organized patriotic students.
   
  Well, what can I say?  It's only fiction, right?  At least, it wasn't changed to a Communist plot ... hehehe ... (And why not? Because the plot failed and we cannot have failed Communist plots, can we?)
   
  By the way, this falls into the category of entertainment news, which means that nothing can be taken to be truthful.  And that is a universal characteristic, whether in mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Italy, UK or USA.

• [052]  The HMS Tamar Poll (06/18/2006)  (Ming Pao)  The Society for the Protection of the Harbour commissioned the Hong Kong University Public Opinion Programme to interview about 1,000 citizens by telephone.  The subject was the proposed government headquarters at the HMS Tamar site.
   
  Here are the survey results: 45% supported the allocation of HK$5.2 billion to build government headquarters at HMS Tamar, while 36% opposed.  But 60% believed that the government need to hold more hearings and only 30% believe that the decision should be made now.  The survey also found out that 40% of the citizens believe that they know "little" or "very little" about the HMS Tamar project. 
   
  HKU POP director Robert Chung said that the reseach showed that citizens do not adequately understand the HMS Tamar project.  In the absence of knowledge, the citizens will tend to support the popular government; even if they don't know much, they will cast a vote of confidence.  Chung pointed out that this is not a long-term solution to use popularity to force through projects because there may be drawbacks later on.
   
  On this type of subject, I have declared myself to be a crypto-fascist a long time ago.  The following two posts are for that other boondoggle known as the West Kowloon Cultural District: 
  - Pictures At An Exhibition
  - The West Kowloon Cultural District Poll Fraud
   
  For the HMS Tamar project, I believe that polls are useless.  I am sure that I can swing the support le