94 degrees Farenheit and 68% humidity.
Oh, and there are over 300,000 protestors marching out there in the heat today. Today’s a public holiday, and I’d join them, save for the fact that I’m at the office working right now…
Honkers: July 2004 Archives
More than half a million protestors marched yesterday in the heat and humidity and pollution. And people say that Hong Kongers aren’t political.
From the Times: Huge Rally in Hong Kong Calls for Democratic Elections. The key graf:
But on Thursday, Mr. Tung [Hong Kong’s Chief Executive] was barely mentioned as protesters showed a new boldness in denouncing mainland China for banning general elections here and, in their view, trying to intimidate democrats.
In something of a minor miracle for press freedom, the official Chinese press didn’t completely ignore the march; however, their coverage was perhaps less than comprehensive:
Demonstrators gathered at the Victoria Park on Hong Kong Island at 2:30 p.m. to hold a protest. They marched into the streets and caused traffic jams.
Well, I suppose we can be thankful that they at least mentioned the march…
It should be noted that the PLA garrisons were opened to the public for the holiday; does this mean a change in policy? (probably not, but it’s interesting nonetheless)
More followups: frequent commentor Tom has some great pictures of the march, as does this guy; more first-hand reports from here; here & here; here; and here.
A question for all the non-Asia readers out there: how much play did this story get in your local news (other than the Times, of course)?
And in unrelated news, it’s come to my attention that I have about three weeks left in Hongkers. Perhaps it’s time for a HK blogger get-together before I head back, eh? Who’s in?
Well, I guess I survived that really nasty upper respiratory infection with minimal complications. Missing a week at work wasn’t fun, though; neither was the persistant light-headedness and general fatigue. The flip side is that I lost 10 pounds in four days, so win some, lose some.
This is leading up to saying that my departure from Honkers has snuck up on me with surprising speed, so it’s time to say so long, Hong Kong. And I’ll be saying that Thursday night at 8:00 p.m. at Delaney’s in Wanchai, so if you want to join me in raising a glass to this city, drop on by…
The Seven Deadly Sins, as illustrated by Hongkong Land:
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Click on the small versions to see a very large version of each image.
These posters are used to advertise the on-going renovation of part of the Landmark, a large, popular shopping mall/office complex in downtown Hong Kong. Presumably the renovations will be so luxurious that it’ll inspire each of the sins. The illustrations are clever and subtle: “Gluttony” is transparently metaphorical, while the gender reversal for “Vanity” is both amusing and apt, given the number of dandies that populate Hong Kong’s social scene. I do admit that “Sloth” is a bit too subtle: in other words, I don’t get it. Perhaps our hero is left only with the shadow of a kiss on his cheek because he’s too lazy to pursue the heroine?
The last deadly sin, the one that they left out, is greed. Why’d they leave it out? Well, they probably figured that it was, for Hong Kong, redundant…
