Just wanted to write down some thoughts that I had about the handover and the events prior to the handover of Hong Kong from the UK to China. Its a wonder that the both sides agreed to anything at all. At one point the British suggested holding separate ceremonies and Chinese Premier Li Peng had to announce that maybe he would shake Governor Patten's hand after all. But it all looks to happen at the stroke of 12:00 midnight July 1, 1997.
Deng Xiaoping- dead guy
Jiang Zemin- Chinese President
Li Peng- Chinese Premier
Rita Fan Hsu Lai Tai- Provisional Legislature President (not recognized by UK)
Margaret Thatcher- The Iron Lady
John Major- unemployed guy
Tony Blair- British Prime Minister (Funny he doesn't look like Maggie)
Chris Patten- HK Governor (China says it's all his fault. He will probably head
the next British conservative party)
Tung Chee Hwa- Chief Executive Designate
Anson Chan- Chief Secretary
Martin Lee- Democratic Party leader (will be doing his best to get
arrested)
SAR- Special Administrative Region
LEGCO- Legislative Council (China announced that it would replace
the democratically elected legislature with a Provisional Legislature
which was elected by 400 delegates hand picked by Beijing)
Derek Sancho- witness and general nuisance
More after the event...
Friday June 27 The very British "Last Night of the Proms" with a 74 piece orchestra and the 60 strong HK Oratio Society playing such colonial icons such as "Rule Britannia" and of course ending with "God Save the Queen". Like Prince Charles I was unable to attend the event(all be it for different reasons) but like most HK Chinese I saw it on television. Apparently an impromptu version of "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow" brought a tear to Governor Patten's eye.
I've been watching broadcasts of the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather in HK. It's very funny watching the American point of view with repeated mentions of the arrival of COMMUNISM and the PLA coming in ARMOURED PERSONNEL CARRIERS just like in TIANANMEN including repeated bloody images of the MASSACRE IN TIANANMEN. No wonder my mother is worried. Was on the internet speaker phone with my brother. I mentioned that I was intending to go to some of the planned demonstrations but perhaps he shouldn't mention anything to Mom. There was a pause before my brother replied,"Uh...Mom just walked into the room and she wants to talk to you."
The entertainment consisted of the following:
MAIN STAGE ALTERNATIVE STAGE
Joel Lai Gene
Grace Jones Christian
Paul Oakenfold Adrian Sherwood
Pete Tong Audio Active(cool Japanese band)
Boy George Adrian Sherwood
Christian Metalicto
Suiki
Several things that I noticed while dancing the night away: Grace Jones reminds me of the DJ in "The Fifth Element" except her voice is deeper(she also had 2 mostly naked muscular guys help her change in & out of outrageous costumes on stage), Boy George is not a very good DJ(perhaps I was just disappointed because he didn't sing "Karma Chameleon"), not only gweilos(foreigner/white ghost) were partying during the handover there were plenty of Chinese kids, it is far easier to walk through a crowd when holding your drink up in the air while simultaneously bopping up and down(people think you'll spill your drink on them), gay men can dance longer than heterosexuals(towards the latter part of the evening I noticed there were large groups of good looking muscular men dancing together with no shirts on; large gay presence also explained by Grace Jones and Boy George being featured). I made it all the way to 7am before deciding that I'd had enough.
In the evening my roomie Jerry met his 8 friends from out of town who would be crashing at our place this night. We headed over to the harbourfront to get a good view of the fireworks. This night would be a collaboration between China and Britain for a 30 minute show. Of course it was raining(I wonder if this was a sign) but nothing short of a typhoon would stop the show. So while the officials were enjoying the official show, everyone else was in the rain(or watching it on tv). There was a film crew from CNN(perhaps I was on tv but probably not). I took another walk around the convention centre but nothing much was happening there. Later at a pub the atmosphere more resembled a party. Expats were singing English karoke (apparently English people sing in groups while drunk whereas Chinese people prefer to sing one at a time while drunk). At midnight there was a ten second countdown (I almost yelled "Happy New Year!") before everyone welcomed China by just screaming. At the convention centre 4000 guests watched the lowing of the Union Jack(after a speech by Prince Charles not British PM Tony Blair) and the raising of the flags of China and the SAR. Then the Brits boarded the ship Britannica and got out of Dodge.
Then Jerry and I headed down to the protest site by Statue Square. I got there just after a manifesto was read by Democratic party leader Martin Lee. However I later talked to local tv reporter Deborah Khan who filled me in. China at first denied permission for the Democratic party to occupy the building after midnight. In fact they wanted no protests at all. Then there were negotiations with Chief Designate Tung Chee Hwa. The next day it was announced that people would be allowed to express their opinions if they were non-violent and applications were made. So the Democratic Party applied and were given permission to occupy the LEGCO building. Permission to read a manifesto was not given, at least officially. Martin Lee along with others from the Democratic Party stood on the balcony (and sang "Don't Cry For Me Argentina"...no not really but that would have been cool) and read carefully prepared speeches, most in English(quotes like "We shall return" and singing "We shall overcome" for the benifit of the international press). After the speeches there was a student march to Tung Chee Hwa's office(which I was able to attend) just as workers were removing the Queen's emblem and putting up the SAR logo. Coincidentally as there were fewer reporter, there were fewer speeches in English except at the end when the speaker thanked "our foreign friends for coming" and asked if they would continue to support the HK people. There were some reporters there and I was sitting on the ground facing them(did anyone see me in the paper or tv?). The march continue to the Convention Centre but I didn't feel like walking all the way and went back to Statue Square just as the Democratic party members were leaving the building. Then I went back to the pub to join the rest of Jerry's friends. We grabbed some pizza and then headed back to our place and watched some of the official ceremony on video. Got to bed around 6, around the same time as the PLA(People's Liberation Army) rolled across the border(Apparently the soldiers had to ride in open-air trucks in the pouring rain for 2 hours). I don't even remember the name of the girl I slept with(Get your mind out of the gutter. She's married and her husband was on the sofa).
Funny how well organized and carefully planned including the ceremony as well as the demonstrations. I believe that from now on in HK, the Chinese administration will make outrageous statements of intention, there will be negotiations with Tung Chee Hwa as middleman, and announcements retracting parts of earlier statements will be made. And people don't think the Chinese understand capitalism, they're going to run HK like a fortune500 company. The board of directors will naturally assure stockholders that everything is fine with the company. Hong Kong will be the showcase(PR stands for public relations not People's Republic) of China to the world so rest assured there will be no repeat of Tiananmen here.
I read that Governor Patten tried to shake President Jiang Zemin's hand upon Jiang's arrival at the convention centre but was ignored. DJ Boy George had to wait outside a dance club until someone recognized him and whispered into the ear of the bouncer. Seems like Brits are having a hard time getting respect these days.
Tonight was HK 97 Spectacular, China's turn to throw a fireworks show so of course theirs must be bigger, better, and more expensive than any show thrown under that British imperialist administration. The $100 million HK show would include an illuminated flotilla, music(including an attempt to get the largest populated karaoke in Guiness Book of World Records), water fountains, special effects, lights, lasers, and fireworks display. I headed on over to the Kowloon side of the harbour (with an estimated 800000, more on HK side) to see the mother of all events. Didn't live up to the hype. The show started late(later learned it did start on time, I just couldn't see), I couldn't see the floats from where I was(only people in the front or from elevated positions in hotels could, many who couldn't see gave up and went home), and the climax sputtered to an end with one firework every 5 minutes for about 15 minutes(perhaps this was just a deception by Chinese authorities to confuse crowds allowing a controlled staggered return of the masses to their homes...oh I've been watching Dan Rather too much). However the regular 30 minute fireworks was quite intensive and impressive(was better than the British). I later found out that one of the barges caught on fire at the end of the show, which could explain the problems at the end. However in the papers officials said that the fire did not affect the show and that there was nothing but praise for the event(makes on think that any mention of problems would be a loss of face for the Chinese). Apparently there is no karaoke category in the Guiness Book of World Records, besides most people didn't have radios to follow along.
A few days ago one of the provisional legislators made some public comments on strengthening "patriotic" education. Baum, a professor wrote a letter to the SCMP, a local paper, criticizing the legislator's comments. Another critic, Tim Hamlett who lectures and writes for the SCMP took issue with Chu's description of HK during the handover as "overwhelmed by reunification celebrations geared to a feverish pitch". Hamlett wrote,"The facts are that HK was not overwhelmed, and indeed that most of it was not celebrating." Chu, the legislator, wrote back to them and their seniors at the university angrily condeming their views as colonial arrogance, complained that HK tax money was being used to pay their salaries(Baum's expenses are paid by the University of California) and suggesting that they be sacked, sparking a row reported in the papers and tv. Undoubtably seniors were consulted and meetings were held because the next day Chu apologized at great length saying that he got caught up in the argument and that perhaps he picked up some of this in his American education. Photos were taken and more articles in the paper appeared. However I can see the papers walking a fine line as they reported the incident yet didn't take the opportunity to tear into Chu as much as they could have, especially with that comment on American education.
I would say the truth lies somewhere inbetween the two views. Certainly Chu's"feverish pitch" was an exageration but Baum's claim of unbiased western news is also suspect. Chu's bullying tactics might work in China but do not in HK. So free speech survives in HK, at least to some degree.
Derek
Hong Kong
SAR, China
7th August 1997
