Boats jockeying for position outside of Queen’s Pier during a public holiday.
In the background is The Building of the Hong Kong Detachment of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army. In Macau, the troops of the local PLA garrison are allowed to mingle freely with the Macanese; while I didn’t notice any during my day there, at least one guidebook suggests that they are a frequent and common sight among the streets in the former Portuguese colony. In Hong Kong, however, PLA troops are strictly confined to the grounds of the garrison; they are completely cut off—isolated—from the local populace.
Two other, perhaps unrelated, facts to consider:
- The PLA troops that rolled into Tiananmen Square in June of 1989 were not Beijing-based, local garrisons; they were troops that had specifically been recalled from the hinterland and who had no local connections or allegiences.
- Macau is thought to be politically stable and unlikely to rock the boat, unlike Hong Kong, which is considered by the mainland to be a hotbed of seditious democrats.
If you’ll excuse me, I have to go adjust my tinfoil beanie.
Umm...there is hardly anything or anyone in Macau worth rocking the boat over to be honest. It's a fraction of the size of HK.
I reckon the only time you'll see someone over there rocking the boat is if Beijing interferred with Macau's two main raison d'etres - gambling and prostitution.
No tinfoil beanie needed, Paul. You're only describing centuries of imperialist military doctrine.
sorry to hear of your upcoming "memorial"
The Building of the Hong Kong Detachment of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army? Does that sound catchier in the original language? Do they abbreviate it or something?