; ยกrยก-r,
. t\1y , .,',rit lrยก,ยก r, .. t, i: tff
Iln F*iy, -Hou4
Ko.X
-
tยกr' v The Declaration of lndependence Reuters is more than a name, it's
a
Data for the money, commodities and
securities markets is collected, processed
written guarantee,
Reuters has supplied impartial and
and distributed via a series of computer
accurate news and information at speed since
centres linked by the world's biggest private
1851, Throughout that time our reputation for
global commun ications network,
reliability and independence has been trusted
world's foreign exchange and securities
and respected, Today, as
Reuters dealing systems serve the
the world's largest publisher
of electronic news and information, maintain-
ing such high standards is more important
markets, allowingdealers around the globe to buy and sell currencies and securities,
Through our subsidiary companies, we are also the leading supplier of dealing room
than ever before, Reuters reports the news and provides
the world's largest and most comprehensive realti me fi nancial database,
technology and are building historical dalabases to add value to all our services,
Yet no matter how much our services
collected from 159 Stock
develop and expand, our reputation will
Exchanges and marketsworldwide, with data
remain true to the long-established principles
from over 3,700 subscribers in 80 coun-
of integrity independence and freedom from
tries, aswellasfrom ourown networkof more
bias guaranteed by the Reuter Trust,
lnformation
is
than 7,200 journalists, photographers and cameramen,
So, in the 21st Century Reuters will still be the first word in independence,
> THE WORLD'S LARGEST ELECTRONIC PUBLISHER>
The att of writing. MONTO BlANC
t
J
In
ifl69, mal took his first tentative steps on the moon.
IJaIf a million people spent three days in the mud and ralin at a small
town called \Øoodstock. And three men decided to form the world's first air express company DHL.
Today, twenty years later, talk 'W'oodstock
of Neil Armstrong and
is confined to after-dinner conversations and games of
trivia. While DHL has gros¡n
to become the wodd's number one
international air express company.
A company which today has over 20,000 dedicated professionals worldwi de , athousand offices
in
180
countries and some of the
world's mo s t s ophis tic ated tracking and tracing technolo gy available .
All dedicated to you and your business. Ensuring that every pacl<ageyou send leaves your hands on time artd arrives at its destination safely and soundly. And gaaranteed on time
.
Twenty ye rs later, DHL is still taking giant steps. And because we have our sights firmly set on the future, you simply couldn't express it better.
YUOI1ìUtYYTTE
EXPR€:S û
YOU COULDN'T Ð(PRESS IT BETTER.
SPECIAL REPORT
A long þurney to the gflorious past 12-26 As the FCC marks its 40th anniversary in Hong Kong this month, the Club is in fact over 46 years old, says a former TIIE
of the Chinese Government Information Office, Searls says the Club was found-
Norttr Block, 2 l¡wer Albert Road, Hong Kong.
-
-
Paul Bayheld,
Second Vice-President - Irene O'Shea.
Correspondent Member Governors Anthony Dyson, Graham l¡vell, Robin Moyer, Peter Seidlitz, Michael Shuftleworth, David Thurston, Steven Vines.
Journalist Member Governors Bob Davis, Karl
rvVilson.
Associate Member Governors Wendy Hughes, Bryan Lloyd, Saul Lockhart, Dorothy Ryan
Club Manager: Heìnz Grabner, Club Steward: Julia Suen.
TtrD Editor:
Jenkins
Grindrod, meanwhile, interviewed Graham Jenkins, who was once sentenced to death by China's Nationalist Government, and a host of other elder newsmen to compile an informal history of the Club.
Sinan Fisek,
First Vice-President
qNn[S(f,UHUT
REPORTING ASIA
weighty personality dominated the group for years.
Post-war Asia has been a scene of many upheavals. Death knells of inept governments, birth pangs of new nations, floods, famine, wars...Asia has experienced
Beijing
85
Guangzhou
86
Hong Kong
86
Jakarta
88
Kuala Lumpur
90
Manila
90
New Delhi
93
Pnom Penh
94
Singapore
96
Sydney
96
Taipei
98
the unfolding of human drama in countless ways in the past
four decades. Russell Spurr, who filed his first news cable from the Indian hill station Kalimpong as the Chinese army marched into Tibet almost 40 years ago, recounts the experiences of a newsman on the hop
OFFBEAT Heard
l¡ckhart,
PEOPLE
CHINA- the experiences
Opinions expressed by writers are not necessarily those of the Foreþ Correspondentsr Club.
of a bemused observer
Spurr has also covered China since the mid-
Editorial (Xfice: Unit B, 18/F
Telephone: 58387282, F ax: 18387 262
TECHNOI-]OGY
The Correspondent is published monthly
When cables were the most efficient communication link 42-47
Harvard House, 10S111 Thomson Road, \{anchai, Hong Kong.
Foreign
Club, by:
Printline Ltd, Unit B, 18/F Harvard House, 101111 Thomson Road, \{anchai, Hong Kong
Managing Directon P Viswa Nathan, Operations Di¡ecton Debbie Nuttall,
fext md
page design generated on Ooot" Macintosh ll and firiished art outÞut by Linolronic 300. Printed in
Hong Kong by Kadett Printing Co.,16/F Remex Centre, 42 Wong Chuk Hang Road,
Hong Kong.
37
Clare Hollingworth
the first time in 1954. Strange, says Spurr,
'50s. But he calls himself an itinerant reporter, visiting that complex country for
Correspondentsr
bar... 54-55
here everyday.
OThe Correspondent
of The
across a crowded
The main bar at the pcc is known for its informal atmosphere. Many a lively conversation take place
Cover Concept Peter Wong Cover photo: @ Bob Davis
behalf
where to eat in the region.
85
Publications SubCommittee: Paul Bayfield (Chairman),
for and on
more than six times a year. They also eat out frequentl¡ whether or not they are travelling. Correspondents based in 12 different Asian cities report on where to stay and
Bangkok
P Viswa Nathan
David Thurston, Saul Wendy Hughes
The Correspondenfs guide to living out in Asia Most members of the pcc travel in Asia - many of them
From Tibet to Vieûram...4O years on ttre hop31-35
Editorial Supervision:
-3 I -
48-52
Almost 40 years ago, a few newsmen and others, who enjoyed the pleasures of alcoholic beverages, decided to form themselves into a group. Thus, Alcoholics Synonymous was founded in Jack Conder's bar in Central, Hong Kong. The group has since moved from place to place for its weekly meetings which are held "for the purpose of drinking beverages of alcoholic content". But for nearly the past two decades the group has been meeting at the Fcc on Saturdays. The late Dick Hughes'
ed on May 18, 1943. Freelance writer Barry
Têlephone: S211511, Fax S8684092
LIFESTYIÆ
A few drinks, a spot of lunch and Saturday rolls on
Club president, Guy Searls. Quoting fuom Dateline: China, a book written by Hollington Tong, the \ryartime director
FOREIGN CORRESPONDENTS' CLT]B
President
CLUB NEWS
ank you, Elaine
6l
The chairman of the Publications
The grande dame of the pcc who has covered every war since she witnessed Hitler's tanks roll into Poland, turns 78
the stories that stick in your mind...It is those rare occasions that make the job worthwhile.
Sub-Committee, Paul Bayfield, and
publishers of The Corresþondent, Printline Ltd., extend their thanks to Elaine Goodwin for her valuable assistance in
this month.
Communication technology has advanced a great deal in the past 40 years. Today, news copy and news photos move around the world electronically at miraculous speed. But what was reporting like before the digital computer supplanted the typewriter and satellites breathed new life into radio and television broadcasts?
Mimi
Mario
canvassing advertising
65
support for
Mimi Mario, 21, is the youngest member of the Club staff. Joining the Club in 1987, she works in
this
the Club's main dining room.
out her professional advice
Stephen Kwok
special
edition. \[ith-
67
Stephen Kwok, 41, has been working with the Club since its Sutherland House days. Joining the Club in 1973 he has worked his way up and is now bar captain.
and
support
this venture would not have beên so successful.
Thank you, Elaine.
frRRE-r llNA LYsT
frccou{fnuT
ENéì/MADR
across
"ght the hoard.
Imagine an information system so intuitive and powerful that you could get the information you need right at your desk. Even if the data were stored on a temote host computer floors away. Now imagine that with a few keystrokes you_could test your ideas against the data right on the spot, seeing new patterns of useful information, new opportunities and new courses
of action. IBM is making this potential a reality, wirh
a
technology called SAA (Systems Application Architecture). SAA enables a to share "o-pany information not only among applications, but among different IBM computer systems - and among people. Under SAA, every application uses the same intuitive graphic interface, laking it faster and easier to learn. Better yet, SAA applications automatically share information with each other. The information the sales department generates on a host computer can be instantly graphed by the CEO on his personal computer.
-l I
IBM is offering SAA solutions now. Our new software product, OfficeVision, *' is an integrated suite of easy-to-use tools that work together on a variety of IBM computers, from the smallest to the largest. OfficeVision can help you see your data more clearly, organise it more meaningfully and communicate it more effectively. Right across the board.
W'e're
in the results business
--.t-tEI! 11 I--
-
r-
r-
r-r -|l -
--
-r-r -È --r r
-
-r!-
0Ín?\iir
i!
rBJ¡hark ûf tBn tnP
il
.
T.
MonA 5{oppA futurns
A LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT
to HE
lñe f oreign C orresp orLlertts' C [u6, Agel 40,
from
Ag unce frørLce -lPres s el Agel 154
Foreþ
Correspondents' Club completes 40 years
in Hong Kong this year and, all things considered, it is doing very well indeed. First, however, the bad news:
Jtttttttt-tJttttt tt -Jatt-
THE INTERNATIONAL NEWS SERVICE
The world's first news agency, present in 29 countries and territories in Asia and the Pacific and 125 others worldwide.
But to survive without being too much of a burden on club finances, The Corresþondent needs more ads, and continues to look for a special effort from members. Good news, of course, abounds.
Our finances are healthy, respectable 75 years old by then and
a
veritable antique by
Hong Kong standards, is apparently gazetted to be torn down to make way for "green space" under a proposed flyover. Whether this will actually happen or not is anybody's guess at this stage, but the FCC will certainly engage in
some pre-emptive lobbying. Ailing badly for a while was our new video club. Just as the board, with heavy heart, was preparing to take radical measures, an unexpected surge in subscriptions gave it a . It is still not a money-maker, but even even will be reason enough to keep proband certainly one of the best video clubs
in Hong Kong going. This magazine too has had chronic health problems. Redback since it was relaunched two years ago shows us
rewarding crop of guest spe behind us and more to come our f,fth decade in Hong Kong. l,ord Macl,ehose, who was instrumental in finding our present lavish premises after we were forced out of Sutherland House. l¡rd Maclehose accepted our invitation, but after the first flyers for the party were out, he unfortunately had to decline because of health problems - minor ones, we are assured. o have been
Instead of scurrying for an 1lth hour substitute, the
board decided that there would be not one guest ofhonour, but many: the correspondents, journalists and associates who make up the membership of this Club.
Sinan Fisek
Congratulations from
-taDDt
./JDffD.tr,. f]Jftntttt
that it is the best of its kind in the world; Editor Viswa Nathan summed it all up in the August/September issue.
THE RESIDEIÙT PAST PRESIDEI\TS Guy Searls David J. Roads Bert Okuley Hubert Van Es
1964 - 1965 1966 - t967
t976 - t977 1982 - 1983
Michael Keats Philip Bowring Jim Biddulph Derek Davies
1983 - 1984 1985 - 1986 1986 -t987 1987 - 1989
\Mtr LOOKF'ORWARDTO THE NEXT 40 )'trARS FCC Anniaersary Sþecial
THE coRRESPoNDENT ocroBER rgsg 1
I
SPECIAI. REPORT FORTYYEARS IN HONG KONG
ORMER Reuters correspondent, publisher, no-nonsense newspaper editor, and once an FCC board member GrahamJenkins, has been celebrating his own little known but quite remarkable 40th anniversary this year. It was in 1949, as the communists marched triumphantly through China
that he was sentenced to death in Shanghai for "rumour mongering" by the beleaguered Kuomintang. He had had his last meal, written his last letter,
listened to other prisoners being shot and had heard a British ambassador, who had arrived to try and negotiate his 11th hour reprieve, turned away from the door. Indeed news that Melbourne-
Since its formation in Chungking
in 1943 as a 24-
room residential club operated by the Information Service of Chiang Kai-Shek's Kuomintang government, the FCC has travelled a long \ilay to Nanking, to Shanghai and
finally, when communism
swept over mainland China in 1949, to Hong Kong. Today, it is one of the finest press clubs in the world.
rby
Barry Grindrodr And who
has
born Jenkins ed by firing squad made headlines
Jenkins to thank for his
around the wor-
A clus
life? Who succeeded where the highest diplomats in the land
had been execut-
failed?
ld. But around
the time
were hitting the streets and only
pondentsr Club in
a couple of
Shanghai, the forerunner of the club in Hong Kong," says 72-yearold Jenkins. "Its president Clyde
hours after he had expected to up
against the wall
and shot, Jenkins was released after the last
minute intervention of nationalist
leader Chiang Kai-shek himself.
clom: "No
doubt about it, the reason I am here today to tell the tale is because of the Foreign Corres-
the
newspapers
be lined
\ryITH
Graham Jenkins: The reason I am here today to tell the tale is because of the Foreign Corresþondents' CIub in Shanghai.
12 rl¿n coRRESpoNDENT ogroBER 1989
Farnsworth (who six months later became the FCC's first president in Hongkong when the Club was transferred from the mainland) and members of the board at
that time had the clout necess ary to reach Chiang Kai-shek himself. 'Anumber of them were influencial American journalists and the lastthing Chiangwanted was to damage relations
with the US. So he gave orders that
I
and a newspaper editor who had also been sentenced to death for publishing my story in China, be released."
Broadway Mansion, the Shanghai home of the FCC, is now known as Shang¡hai
Mansions. Asi aw e ek's advertising promotion marketing manager, patricia Bjaaland, who was in Shanghai in August this year, visited the old building. As ène says, "just for fun", and took this picture (far lefi). The club's most farnous home in Hong Kong at 41-A Conduit Road (lefi) was demolished a long time ago to erect a Itrxury aparûnent block there. Above, the present, most auspicious home.
The story began in April, 1949 when the Nationalist capital of Nanking was about to fall and Reuters correspondent Jenkins, reluctantly following advice, caught one of the last Tlm eAcrcRouND:
planes out and headed back to Shanghai.
From there he told the world about the demise of the armies of Chaing I{ai. shek and the fall ofthe leader's seat of
By this time he firm1y believed he was due to make his lastwalk at dawn.
power. Itwas all overbarthe kiling and there was plenty of that going on.
But dawn came and went and at around 11 a.m. Jenkins walked out a free man and a few hours later
The next morning Jenkins was in the Reuters office when three soldiers arrived and arrested him. He was taken
to a house, the headquarters
returned to Hong Kong. Within weeks all the journalists who had played a part in securing Jenkinsl release were in Hong Kong - with the
of
Kuomintangrs secret police, and asked to reveal his contacts. He refused. He was told that unless he named
names he would be court martialed under martial law as a rumour monger and shot. He was given an hour to think
about it.
Once again Jenkins refused and a colonel sat across a small table from him duly sentenced him to death. There was no reason for him not to take the sentence seriously and he did. The nationalists were bumping off suspected communist spies and sympathisers every day. "They took me to a room in the base ment and I thought I would be taken to keep my appointrnentwith my Maker at either dusk or dawn," says the former
FCC Anniaersary Sþecial
all-conquering communists having slammed the door firmly shut - and
publisher, managing director and editorin-chief of the now defunct Hong Kong daiTy,The Star While waiting, he got a phone call from another Reuters man in Shanghai, Monty Parrott, who was later to succeed Clyde Farnsworth as president of
At 6 p.m. Jenkins was led upstairs and given his last meal - rice with a bit ofbroccoli on top. A corporal, Jenkins recalls, apologised saying the allowance for last meals was not very
Frnsr ¡Rsp:
big.
off the beaten path at the far end of
Kong FCC.
paper on which to write
what was then a very young Hong
quite
a
few teeth."
He was also given two pieces of a
last letter. He
"He wanted to knowwhatwas going on and I said I was about to be shot,"
wrote
says Jenkins. "I must say I was surprised that he was allowed to speak to me. But when
He was then taken back to the basement. Shortþ afterwards he heard two
I told him what
was happening the guards cut us off and laid into me. I lost
FCC Annia ersary
Sp
ecial
a
will leaving everything to his
mother.
Chinese men taken outto a tennis court behind the houSe, lined up before a firing squad and shot.
looking for a new Foreign CorrespondentsrClub.
It didn't take them long. Number 15 Kotewall Road was the address, an old two-storey house well
Robinson Road. They were small beginnings indeed, as former United Press correspondent Chang Kuo-sin recalls from his home
in Beaverton, Oregon, in the United States. Although he only came out of China in December 1949, he was, he says, considered a founding member of
the Club.
THE CORRESPONDENT
OC-TOBER 1989
13
PECIA
I¡cal colour. Global spectrum.
Chien-ping started his 4Gyear associa-
tion with the Club. 'When
Liao left for the US in 1977 he was guest ofhonour at a banquet attended by no lesser personage than the then
governor of Hong Kong, Sir Murray Maclæhose (now Lord Macl,ehose) himself, among many others. In a tribute on the nightto the Club's mostloyal ser-
vant, its most likeable and respected member, Dick "Cardinal" Hughes,
reflected
on the early days in
Chungking. "Here Mr Liao began to study English, to learn to cook and adjust to the curious drinking habits of the club members, who were them-
Farewell to Liao The much loved member of the Club staff, üao Chien-ping, joined the Clutr soon after it was founded in Chungking.
When üao (secondfrom lzl) resigned in 1977 to emigrate to the US, the doyen of foreign correspondents, Dick Hugþes, (standing) recounted, at a banquet held in honour of liao, how the former bar captain adjusted to the curious drinking habits of Club members. On lJao's rig¡ht is tlre Club's 1976-77 president, Bert Okuley
selves adjusting to the curious local versions of vodka and gin (there was little
At the time there were just 11 full members! Most, if not all of them, had
or no imported booze in those days).
been members
exchanges at the bar were frequently
of the FCC in
"Drinking sessions and cultural
Shanghai's Broadway Mansion.
interrupted by uninvited bombing planes, piloted by non-member
But in fact, the FCC first started in Chungking back in 1943
Japanese." When the Chinese capital moved from Chungking to Nanking, so did the FCC.
TFn sncNNllùc:
(see The Club a.nd iß ancestry, paCe 17).
it
Thanks to United Press'Walter
was here that the much loved Liao
Logan, who was appointed president,
It was
a
24-room residential club and
the trCC acquired alarge, terraced
Photo: Hugh van Es
it needs through our Global Data Network and advanced telecom-
VISJVEVT/S
munications systems.
NBC REUTERS BBC
Congratulation to the FCC on its 40th anniversary from VISNEWS, The worldrs leading Têlevision News Agency, and first with VISASA, â unique service by satellite covering Asian events for Asia and the world. 14 rrrB CORRESPONDENT
OSTOBER 1989
FCC Anniuersøry Sþecial
Our clients also have the benefit of instant information, through Hexagon, our global electronic bankirìg system.
Over 1,300 offices in 50 countries. And what's right for San Francisco might be wrong for Sydney. That's
wþ
each offrce of the Hongkongtsank
group has to make fast decisions,
worldwide. To arrive at those decisions, each office has acccss to the information
For more information, contact our Group Head Office at I Queen's Road Central, Hong Kong, Tel: 5-8221111; or your nearest offrce of the HongkongBank group. The reach of a worldwide bank, with the local flexibility to make frst decisions. That's our strength.
HongkongBank The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporalion Limiled
Muine Midland Bank o Hang Seng Bank The British Bmk of the Midrlle E¿st o HongkongBank of Australia. Hongkong Bank ofCanada
liludley.
James Cepel.
CM&M
F4uator Bank Carlingford and Gibbs Insurmæ Groups
Fast decisions. Worldwide. CONSOLIDÄTED ASSETS AT 30 JUNE I 989 EXCEED US$I 24 BILLION.
6 r E
n
The Club and its anceshy IIIEcould-and YY
perhaps should be celebrating the 46th
anniversary of the Foreign Correspondents' CIub this year instead of the 4oth.
Of course what we are celebrating is the 40th anniversary of the Club's establishment in Hongkong. But the ancestry of the Club goes back to May 18, 1943 when the Foreign Correspondents Club was officially formed in wartime Chungking (Chongqing).
An account of the founding of the Club in Chungking can be
found in the book
dateline: China written by Hollington TonS and published in 195O.
"Holly" Tong, a
veteran newspaperman
who studied journalism in the US, was director of the Chinese
Government Information Office for the
The Asian Wall StreetJournal is Asia's busines drily. No other publication hæ more impact on daily decisions in the worlds of business, govemment and the pmfessions. Only theJournal brings the full regional and international busines picture into focus every busines day. The AsianJournal is the only publication ofits kind in Asia. No wonder it is the essential tool ofAsia's busines leadels.
Press Hostel was Tong's brainchild and it
was there that the first FCC was born. Brooks Atkinson of the New York Times was
the first president
(after the war Atkinson returned to New York
and a career as a drama critic on the Times).
There were three
saying he could work better independently, was Til Durdin was already well known as a China Correspondent, especialþ for his eye witness account of the Japanese "Rape of Nanking" in 1937. Durdin, despite his refusal to live at the
Press Hostel, was active in the
professional aspects of
the FCC, as he way
Chao Ming-heng of
many years later here in Hong Kong.
Reuters, Michael Yakshamin of Tass, and
dent mentioned in
vice-chairmen: Tommy
Teddy White of Time,
Life and Fortune. (White
later became famous for his books on the Making of the President.
Spencer Moosa of AP was the
first secretary
and Tommy Chau, in
addition to being
vice-chairman,
a
doubled as treasurer. The one correspon-
dent who refused t<¡ live at the Hostel,
Another correspon-
Tong's accounts of the
SPECIAL REPO RT -
Tudor-style mansion and, courtesy of the Liaol-ogan partnership, three jeeps
for club use from the US Army motor pool at a cost of only US$150 each. TWo were later sold to Time and Life representatives for US$1,500 each and
one to AP for $1,000!
From
Nank-
ing the FCC moved on to
Shanghai and the top six floors
of
Broadway
Mansion. That building
Hostel was Henry
still exists, but under another
after the war and continued working in the Reuters' Hong
name, Shanghai
Baugh of Reuters who returned to Hong Kong
Kong office until he
retired.
Maybe we can hold
a 50th anniversary celebration for our ancestor club
-
in 1993.
Guy Seails
Mansions.Thefor-
mer FCC dining David Roads, room on the top president in 1966 floor is now frequentlyused bylocal officials for entertain-
ingforeþguests. Remembers Chang Kuo-sin, who
a member of the Nanking and Shanghai clubs: "The Club provided a
\ry'as
Forty years ago when the FCC opened its doors ¡n Hong Kong, UPI was there. Today, around the world and around the clock, UPI is at the scene.
Congratulations to the Club on its anniversary.
UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL
THT ASIAN 14IA[T STREET JOURNAL The business publication ofAsia
period covering the war. The Chungking
FCC Anniaersary Sþecial
THE CORRESPONDENT OSIOBER T989L7
SPECIAL REPOR:T despatch of the Club's records and files to Hong Kong and
¡Ì\
Kotewall Road.
Former president David
Roads, who was then with theAP
bureau in Hongkong, was New York Herald Tribune correspon-
dentwhen he became president in 1966. Roads, information officer for the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, remembers that the condition for tenancy was "that we would keep the noise down to a mild roar, but we got away with
murder." William Holden was a regular visitor to the Club. Photo: Honghong Standard
correspondents, accommodation and a place to eat, very important in days when watering hole for the foreign
food was in short
supply.
as Toþo,
"They were not as ambitious or organised as the press clubs in
l¡ndon or l¡s
Angeles."
the red tide of communism swept over the mainland, Mr Liao supervised the Goonsyr Ctmtq: But come '49 and as
,,The Too suÁll, ¡ pl,rc¡: premises were too small for us. we onþ had two or three rooms to accommodâte visiting correspondentsandthebarwasespecially too small as more and more assòciate members joined," says Chang Kuo-sin. And so in 1951came the move to 414 Conduit Road - a grand old mansion,
with expansive lawns, marble fireplaces, tennis courts and breathtakitrg'oie*..
A beautiful moonlit night at 414 conduit Road was enough [o stir even
The Club's Conduit Road home was
a
grand old mansion with expansive lawns
and breathtaking views. Part of the movie, Loue is a Many Sþlendoured Thing was filmed there. the hardest ofhack hearts to thoughts of romance and, according to the old
:I o = æ
o 5
æ
= = = o -E E 9. :p _ô
æ
e
ô =" =
ô æ
-l
æ O æ
ô ô z. a9
è ô o o ìS
õPÈõÈ. þñ\:-s N
\
N
.!98 r) :i
ìhì9sX. )*-
S \ì
'!
'\
ñ
ìÀì ö: *
ô"
à-sè"SQ *
{
.:
!
:
Èñ-t¿
l*rSl s-_\ A.ÈøÌR!
ñ a ñ
¡o'
\ôñ 'F+.<lN;ì
Àõ*s." ñ-sìñ\
<^3!À s"{ ",F Þ I R.õ ñ ì R N sN * S u^¡t.nà
r..'
o
s
il
È o
il
.ñ
E R i,* I
I
rl
,:l
?o
\\ù
I
s !
õ
à ì'r-R \ =Y.o: ;3S: o 3.òìÀ È-o> s ^ s,o :! S \->:
il
?e I
i
$.
s FCC Anniuersary Sþecial
THE CORRESPONDENT OCTOBERlg8g
19
rt t
timers, there were enough facilities there to turn thoughts into action in more ways than one.
helped the Club tick over. Nnws emcrour?: Graham Jenkins, who
was a board member of the Club in the
early r50s, recalls
¡wlrys: UPI bureau chiel and a former FCC president, Wendell "Bud" Merick, for example, was married there. Part of Han Suyin's Loae Is a
who had a tendency to over imbibe. 'lMe decided to fire him but he went
William Holden and Jennifer Jones, was
on for weeks and we had many meetings to try and come up with a solution on how to get him out.
UìmoncE'nABrx
Many Sþlendoured Thing, starring
filmed there although the Clubrs role was that of a hospital and not a mansion. Holden was a regularvisitol as he was some years later when he returned for the making of The World of Suzie Wong.
lnng-time American radio and television entertainer Arthur Godfr y once did a series of radio shows from the
a
v,l
manager at the Club
on a sit down strike in his room.
Itwent
:.-*ë
"At every meeting every board
member would be reminded to remember, 'not a word to the press'." Eventually the manager disappeared into.the blue one night never to be seen agaln.
Later the muchloved Peppi Paunsen took over as manager. He was a member of an old Austrian restaurant family which showed in the way the food improved. he was also great at the piano and would gather
people around for song sessions.
He later emigrated to California where he opened a place ofhis own.
Red Guards terror hits Hong Kong
opponruwry Losr The FCC at one stage was given the opportunity to buy the premises for $145,000 but
,4t'¡
Guy Searls, president 1964-65
lawn of the club at 414 Conduit Road, and world-famous Edward R. Murrow visited the club several times. Clark Gable also visited 414 Conduit Road.
Former president Guy Searls recalls that when he joined the FCC in 1953 the entrance fee was only $50 and monthly subscriptions were $30 or $35. Searls was special correspondent for
CBS News
for 10 years but later
became Mutual Broadcastingrs man in
Hongkong.
It was mostly associate members, says Searls, and associate members were essential for the economic stability of the Club. All major news services had set up headquarters in Tbþo during the post-war occupation, and the
Korean War correspondents were attached to the Japan bureaus. There was, however, a steady coming and going of correspondents on R
and R from the Korean War which
2O mtn coRRESpoNDENT ocroBER
In May 1967, China's Cultural Revolution spilled over into Hong Kong and swept the territory into violence and bloodshed. During that r.eign of terror which lasted more tJran six months, several people were killed; the British and Chinese soldiers exchanged gunfire across the border one day; the economy crumbled; and, many people fled Hong Kong fearing a communist takeover of the territory. For the world's press, Hong
the Club had neither the money nor the confdence in the future of the territory at that time to take advantage ofthe offerl Eventually the Club was turfed out. The FCC took the landlord to court a bid to stay on but the case was lost,
in
the site was sold for $10 million and today Realty Gardens has risen from the rubble of the grand old house. And so in 1961the FCC moved to Li Po Chun Chambers midway
Kong was big news again.
Correspondents started flooding back. Photos: H ong ho ng Stan d ard
between Central and Western districts.
,'ft
It
was a case of "after the Lord Mayor's show" and so began the blackest chapter in the history of the F'CC.
Resignations were commonplace F CC couldn't meet its
and by 1963 the
bills. For
a
few months the Club folded.
But then the faithful few managed to acquire a function room, now known as the Thai Room, on the fourth floor of the Hong Kong Hilton. The future, however, was still looking far from bright with few members
JÈT
and getting fewer by the month. But in 1964 Guy Searls, was elected president and immodestly takes credit
1989
FCC Anniuersary Sþecial
FCC Anniuersary Special
THE CORRESPONDENT OCTOBER
1989
2I
tufthansa's Asian Commitmêht: It all began 50 yearc ago.
Photos: Robin Moyer
Photo: Robin Moyer
Massacre at Beijing Newsmen were again in full force
for turning the Club around. "When I took over we were $18,000 in the red, by the time my year of office was over we were $14,000 in the black," says Searls, who nowworks with the Honghong Standard as well as
in June 1989 to report tlre prodemocracy
demonstration at Beijing's
Tiananmen square, the subsequent massacre of the demonstrators
the Christian Science Monitor Radio Service.
(aboue)
Searls was also instrumental
in the Club moving up to the top floor of the Hilton which had spectacular views of the harbour. Searls also got the hotel to rent the club a suite next to the swimming pool for the summer which allowed all members to use the pool and showers. That was one of the periods of water rationing, andthe 24hour showers were a real blessing. The club also gotthe use of a swimminghut at Stanley Beach.
andthe
spontaneous mass rallies in Hong Kong
(lzl) denouncing the brutality of the Chinese leadership. Photo: Bob Davis
position within the Club , with 003. Also in the top 10 and still using the
Club are former BCC man Anthony I¿wrence and former UPI Bureau chief Charlie Smith.
Vietnam and so, say the old timers, the good old days ofthe FCC began. Regulars Smith, and former presidents Hugh van Es and Bert
Okuþ
still
night, aboutthose days in the frontline. Asm nRv: Smith recounts the storyfrom the Hilton days of well known cartoonist Fred Joss, known in particular for
Former president Donald Wise, Anthony Lawrence, Derek Williams, Saul l¡ckhart and the FCC's Mother Superior Clare Hollingworth were also up at the sharp end. "Clare was there telling the generals how to fight the war and she was usually right," says Van Es. "She has seen more wars than most
president had the distinction of being number 001 but the current member
his book, Geishas and Gangsters. Not a man to be without problems of one form or another, Joss one day emp tied his pockets in the Club, removed his shoes and jumped out of the window 25 floors up. It was during the latter days at the Hilton that Hong Kong was hit by the communist riots of 1967, the territory was big news again and the correspondents started flooding back.
with the lowest number is 1966 president David Roads, a man who has held every
going on across the South China Sea in
He started regular news sheets and professional lunches. One of the first speakers, he recalls, was vicepresident of the Pepsi-Cola corporation, a certain
Mr Richard Nixon. The year 1965 was a significant one as
a new accounting firm took over the books and insisted the former membership numbers, that were then based on an alphabetical system, be changed to a number system. Stan Rich, ollhe Herald Tribune,who followed Searls in 1965 as
ln otfering our congratulations to the F.C.C. for 40 years of service to the Asian community of journalists, we would like to point out a coincidence
tâlk with glazed eyes, especially late at
There was also a little skirmish
Lufthansa, too, began serving theAsian community as long as 50 years ago. Even then serving the media. We're still here to take you there in style.
generals." Aworu¡ ntct¡sl¡: "Everything else has to be an anti-climax after Vietnam," says Van Es, who took the famous picture of the helicopter taking off from the roof of the US embassy in Saigon as the communists moved in on the
cþ
G Lufthansa
on April30,
German Airlines
22Tts,
coRRESPoNDENT ocroBER
1989
FCC Anniuersary Sþecial
-
that end, Lufthansa has introduced the first European 8747-400 service. Hong Kong to Frankfurt, non-stop. New standards of comfort, convenience and service. A direct reflection of the expectations of the Asian business community. And proof positive of Lufthansa's Asian Commitment. To
See your travel agent or your nearest Lufthansa off¡ce
SPECIAL REPO RT 1975, and which became the definitive picture of the end of the war. Okuley was the man who spotted the chopper on the roof from the UPI office across the road and dragged a reluctant and cursingVan Es from the darkroom to take the shots. '"Ihe only money I made from that picture, which has appeared thousands
to the
of times around the world and, no doubt, will be republished and republished, was US$100. That was a bonus from UPI for winning their picture of the month award! "The copyright law was changed the following year which, had it been done ayear earlier, would have meant the picture was mine after first publication. I would have been a rich man. "During the war, correspondents would spend three months in Vietnam and then come to Hong Kong for R and as the correspodents called it, for
R
seven days which we could often stretch to 10 days," says Van Es who was shot down twice during his six years involvmentwith the war, once in a troop carrier and once in behind enemy lines.
a
helicopter
"It really was a time for letting off steam, you had money in your pocket and you spent it. That meant b ooze and broads because when you went back to Vietnam you never knew if the next day was going to be your last."
In
1968 the FCC
moved to the 15th
floor of Sutherland House in Chater Road
Hugþ van Es' award-winning world exclusive for which he got only US$ 1OO,
and with the Vietnam lMar being at its height those early years rvere never dull. In fact its men's toilets made the Club famous thanks to John le Carre who featured them in his book The Honourable Schoolboy.The view of the harbour from the toilets was one of the finest in Hong
Kong, related the best selling author who spent a lot of time at the Club and was a member for a number of years. Indeed a number of his characters in The Honourable Schoolboywere based on people he met atthe FCC.
Incidentally two other best selling authors James Clavell and Robert Elegant are still members of the Club with the latter an ex-president. The FCC moved to its present
premises
in 1982 after 74 years
in
Sutherland House.
Nobody was more
than
Donald Wise.
He relates how in early 1980, as president, he was faced with the task of finding
a new home for the FCC before September when the rent was to more than double.
There was nothing available in Central and estimates of building a Club were pitched at around $18 millionl Someone suggested the old officers'
mess opposite the Hilton. The idea sounded good and so the former I¡ndon Daily Mirrorwar correspondentwrote to the then governor of
ndents'
Club on its
Hong Kong Sir Murray Maclehose
The view from the loo THE FCC's l4th floor bar in Sutherland House was known far and wide as one of the most comfortable watering holes in the world. Less well known was the spendid tiew from tlre loo' on the same floor. Many a male - and we hear tales of a few females - pondered Hong Kongl,s magnificent Fragrant Harbour from this vantage point for a few minutes each visit
40th Anniversary
to the Club. The photogmph, taken þ R. Ian Lloyd, frst appeared in the inaug¡rral edition of the
prize-winning
published
A
in f98f
Gu
by Apa Productions. Lloyd in the centre and for a while, the Club was preoccuppied with guessing his identity.
The mammoth guidebook
had
l75,0OO words and 200 colour plates in its first edition (it is updated annually and is still a bestseller) and FCC members played an important role in its creation. Our thanks for Apa for the use of the photo.
24ryn
coRRESpoNDENT ocToBER
1989
FCC Anniaersary Sþecial
1282 New Mercury Flouse, 22Fenwick Street, Hong Kong. TeL: 5-274324 Fax: 5-8656788
SPECIAL REPORT
Aboue, tlae Governor of Hong
Kong (1971-82), Sir Murray
with a supporting letter from Derek Davies, then editor of the Far Eastern Econow'tic Reuiew,who seven years later
It has shaken off the image of the rough and ready days and today has the image of a caring club with a social
became the Clubrs President. Wise
conscience, even a campaigning club
asked, basically, if the FCC could have the place for next to "nowf in refurn for
when the need arises and as was so ably demonstrated after the introduc-
keeping it in good order.
tion of the Public Order Bill when then
It was six weeks before he got a reply from the governor who had other ideas, or one at least, and it was a good one.
president Jim Biddulph went off to
The FCC was offered a five year lease on the old ice house - we have
since been granted a second five- year term. UPI bureau chief Mike Keats who followed \Mise as president, was given the job of turning it from an ice house
godown into what it is today, one of the finest thertnæt some say, press clubs in the world. Derek Davies, who had two succesthat had become
a
sive terms as president between 1987 and 1989 rates it as the most comfort-
able, least stuffy watering holes of the lot. "Knocks l¡ndon, Washington and New York into a cocked hat," he says. But today the FCC is more than just a watering hole.
(now Lord Maclehose) who helped the Club move into its present elegant home. Left, Donald Wise, (in dark shirt) and Michael Keats (second from right), both former presidents,
accompanied by the club manager, Heinz Grabner (with glasses) oversees the old ice house being transformed into one of the finest press clubs in the world.
I¡ndon to representthe FCC and bend
few influencial ears. It provides a plafform for debate and gives the rostrum to those who have something to say in Hong Kong and a
beyond. Some have more to saythan others, some vry it better than others but the speakers listatthe Club overtheyears is a veritable who's who of big names.
F'rom George Bush
to
Barry Humphries, from Mohammed Ali to l¡rd Lichfield, from Danny l¿ Rue to Dame Lydia Dunn, we have had them all. But the Club is only as good as its membership. Right now there are just over 1460 active members resident in Hong Kong and almost as m¿ìriy absent members all around the world; and, the
bank balance has never been better. Looking back over 40 years and
beyond, the Club has been home to arnazng characters, brilliant journalists and thousands of honest to goodness professionals from many walks of life. I am sure there will be those who
can pick me up on a point or two or who might castigate me for omitting names wortþ of a mention. I am sure there are many and I could have written thousands more words, told a hundred more stories. But space does not permit. I hope, however, I have managed to paint a rea-
sonably fair and accurate picture, cap ture a little of the atmosphere of the Club and its members over the past 40 years in Hong Kong. Meanwhile, here's to the FCC's next 40 years, wherever it may wander. O
Sir Edward Yude, who succeeded Sir Murray as Governor of Hong Kong, officiated the opening of tlre club on November I, 1982. Lefr, tJne club president, Hugþ Van Es, welcoming tlre Governor and. Right Sir Edward receives a club souvenier from Van Es.
26rrrt
coRRESPoNDENT osroBER
1989
FCC Anniaersary Sþecial
ñ
tLr
Z4}iOUR GLOBAL TELEVISION NEWS
l!
l
I
CLLIB NEWS \
Speakers'Forum
PUBLISHING
N \
OVER the years, the FCC has provided a platform for lively debates on a variety of topics. And speakers have come from all around the world. Among them, world leaders, diplomats, top business executives, movie stars, entertainers, sportsmen, authors, journalists and so on. Here is a selection of people who spoke at the Club in the past few years.
\ Edward Heath
Richard Nixon, visiting Hong Kong of Hong Kong Hilton.
These publications are produced bY
in 1966
Best-
seen with Mrs Marianne I-au
PRINTLINE LTD
--'Á
Whatever your needs,
confidential project reports, product catalogues, promotional literature, newsletters or full colour magazines,
Prunella Scales
Tblkb the informdion and publistrirg professionals d
PRINTLINE. Complete publishing service in both English and Chinese
WRITING, EDITING, GRAPHIC DESIGN,
George Bush
Barry Humphries (alias Dame Edna)
ElsieTu, memberofHong
Carlos Romula
Ibnt's I .gislative Council.
TYPESETTING, PRINTING, MARKETING, DISTRIBI-ITION.
Journalist¡t and Anthony Grey
Editor in Chief of ar
Businessweek
BBC's John Tusa
Stephen Shepard
;!/
Fast turn around at most competitive Prices'
.Í
The depth of our technical knowledge and Publishing experience Permits us to offer a truly professional service.
Martin Iæe, member of Hong
For more information please callus.
Kong's Legislative Council,
Former
British
minister
Hong Kods Chief Justice SirT,L Yang
Britain's former foreign secretary, I-ord Carringfon
I-ord Chaffont
5-8387282 Mohammed Ali
I-ord Lichfield
PRINTLINE LTI) Unit B, 1.8/F,Harvard House
10t111Thomson Road,
Former deputy prime minister Jllalaysia, Datuk lVlusa Datuk tlitam.
Wanchai, Hong Kong Telephone: 18387 282
F
9f
ax: 18387 262
28 røn coRRESPoNDENT
Senior member of Hong I(ong's Executive Council, Dame Lydia Durn (lefi) and Danny La Rue (aboue)
Former Singapore presidenl Devan Nair
FCC Anniuersary Sþecial
Anna Chennault
Hong Kong Stock Exchange boss Robert Fell
THE CORRESPONDENT OCTOBER 1989 29
1
REPO RTIN G ASIA
to the FCC on
I
ltS 40 years From Tibet to Vietrrârr... 40 years on the hop
FartrasternEconomic
ernment was busy denying that
the world was beginning to believe. I was trying to cover this furtive invasion
of
Kalimpong, some 60 miles as any crow might fly from the Tibetan border.
Several full-blown foreign correspondents not half-baked stringers
like myself
had already taken
rooms in the -picturesque Himalayan Hotel, ferretling around thel:azaar for worthwhile snippets of news. Tltebazaar was hardly the place, as
things turned out, to find anything resembling facts. True, it was the terminus of the Tibetan wool fade, filled with seasonal mule caravans. But the grog
shops seethed with the unlikeliest rumours. Tipsy muleteers, in their grubby felt hats and cloaks, swore they'd seen Mao Zedong astride a big, white charger leading his columns towards a
stricken Lhasa. Nothing had so far been said official-
FC C Anni
u e
rsary
Sþ
ecial
LH¡ss¡weRos
URGENTEST,
unprecedented f,2-a-day expense
for interviews with the Dalai Lama, ly. The invasion story remained ominously unconfirmed. The Indian gov-
from the Indian hill station
Hr¡t
cabled the foreign editor, promising an
high Himalayas. Reluctantly he settled for Kalimpong but continued to press
by Russell Spurr
II
alleged invasion, sending the Foreign Desk into frenzies of excitement.
allowance. It took a lot to persuade him thatTibet was a closed country, its cap ital at least two weeks trek across the
The fun and frustration of covering a period of upheavals
Asia's Leading Business Neuss Weekly
Sunday Times. The upmarket Sunday had carried my frst wispy reports of the
Chinese troops had even entered Tibet, Prime Minister Nehru had justput out a statement contemptuously dismissing
"the foreign rumour-mongers in Kalimpong". For the first time (and by no means the last) I found myself dangerously out on a limb.
Beijing, of course, kept quiet. The People's Liberation Army was well into eastern Tibet, in fact, but no one was to
Chairman Mao or anyone else remote-
ly connected with the story. Desperate to dig up something fac-
tual,
I
enlisted the aid of Hamish
Macdonald, father of the three sisters who ran the Himalayan Hotel. It was entirely the wrong move. The old man was part Scots, part Tibetan, a longtime resident of Lhasa and tutor to the previous Dalai l¿ma.
Every lunchtime, he joined the Tibetan muleteers for a jug or two of chumpa, a powerful distillation of fer-
know that for weeks. A British radio operator employed bythe Dalai l¿ma's government had acfuak been captured in the eastern town of Chengdu. He was released from jail five years later and pushed across the border into
mented grain, and came back with sto ries that grew more fantastic by the day.
Hong Kong. My presence in Kalimpong was at the behest of Kemsley Newspapers, a provincial chain in Britain. I'd been stringing for them since coming to Calcutta earlier in 1950. The chain included, oddly enough, the l¡ndon
to Zhou Enlai in Beijing. I mentioned covering the Tibetan campaign from India. The Premier laug'hed. 'You must have been one of those Western correspondents," he said, "who liberated Lhasa a week before we did." Tibet was the first big story I ever
I had scarcely been in Kalimpong
a
week before he claimed that Lhasa had fallen. Four years afterwards, I was talking
THE CORRESPONDENT OCTOBER
1989
31
REPORTING ASIA
REPORTING ASIA and the first person with whom I shared a room was a young language
Parked in a ditch was a jeep with "Daily Telegraph" in gothic script
Chronicle and Jimmy Cameron, writing for the Hulton Pr¿ss, refused to con-
French colonialism might have been a
reconstruction. This same taste for the sensational set a distinguished body of international correspondents struggling to provide news after
student, recently enlisted in the nowdefunct International News Services. His name was Robert Elegant. The billets were an over-crowded shambles. Patrick O'Donovan of the London Sunday Obseruer called the place "a monastery in urgent need of
inscribed below the windshield. A white table cloth was spread across the hood. Ridley had fished a cold chicken out of his picnic baskel Now he was sfuggling with a bottle opener. I pulled up in a shower of dust.
form. This led oneAmerican columnist, who shall be nameless, to write a piece accusinghis British colleagues of being "a bunch of commies".
retained a certain, sleazy style. Officers
the 25 June 1950 inva-
reformation." There were some wild old parties. Patrick was himself cele-
yelled to Ridley.
Campe de Presse in Hanoi when
"Dreadful old chap," he replied in his exaggerated drawl.'The sherry's warm."
cable came in.
the boring old business of economic
.oo sAiu 1f{Af?
sion of South Korea. It was a herculean task.
Merely getting there could be a saga.
Dennis Warner of the Melbourne Heraldwas aboarda C-119
"Flying Boxcar" loaded with bombs when engine failure caused it to lose altitude on the flight from Japan. The crew had to roll the bombs out of the
-
sea, in order to reach
very drunk, his arms dangling ape-like
Maggie Higgins of the New York Herald Tribune wasn't supposed to be in Korea at all. The top brass didn't want women cluttering up the battlefield. But after covering a fortuitous last-ditch stand by
at his sides. "Oo said that?" the giant roared. Maurice was trying to squeeze underneath his bed. "I'm aú old man," he quavered. "I need my fu1lnight's sleep."
the us 25th Division at the gates of
The giant looked slowly around, shook his head and departed. The
Pusan- and acting
Malaya, Indonesia and Indochina had
towards the end of the action
kept a hefty press corps on the hop since 1945. The lo,tr collapse in China, the goings-on in the Philippines and
smuggled herself aboard a troop ship to join the landing at Inchon. Her colleague Keyes Beech, a longtime member of the Hong Kong FCC,
flict in eastern Asia for the next
25
years. Not until well after the fall of Saigon, were most of us able to assess the breathtaking developments transforming Japan and lesser dragons around the Pacific rim; the growth of
old colonial strongholds like Hong
Kong, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and J akartainto modern metropolises; the surprising endurance of democracy; and the sudden and still more surprising retreat from socialism. My own recollections remain dom-
inated
by military
confrontation because the editors and producers for whom I worked found mayhem made better headlines (and rv shows) than
32 ru.g CORRESPONDENT ocroBER
brating a Guards' Brigade anniversary one night down the corridor from the room I shared with Maurice Fegance of the l¡ndon Daily Herald. Maurice had served as an enlisted man in France duringWorldWar I. His temper was often on short fuse. The noise of this particular party was keep ing him awake. He stormed out into
Pusan.
Indian independence, upheavals in
postwar Japan were of more interest to the Americans. The KoreanWar changed all that. It kept the media preoccupied with con-
-
the corridor, shouted "Shut up" and returned to bed. Total silence. "That showed'em," Maurice chuckled. A moment later our door was ripped clean off the hinges. Into our room stepped a giant sergeant major,
rear doors and into the
if my floundering attempts covered at reportage can honestþ be called coverage. It was the last for years in southern Asia. Events throughout the region had monopolised European attention.
Seoul
as
impromptu nurse
- she
once described to me the hours he spent driving back from the front in search of somewhere to file; I gleaned similar stories fromAlan Wicker, then
noise resumed louder than ever. I¡rB
rN
ïIr
BI[Ers: Few of us stayed per-
manently in the billets. Most had homes back in Tokyo, whence we gratefulþ repaired whenever there was a 1u11. Some, like Dick Hughes, chose to cover the story entirely from Toþo.
The Hughes byJine in the London
a correspondent for the Exchange Telegraph News Agency, later to win fame and fortune as a UKTV reporter.
Sunday Times carried stories such as International Brigade Being Formed in
like Louis Heren of the
brought editorial rockets raining in on
North Korea; every weekend they
"Things look bad, don't they?" I
r Pnrss CLue: The Toþo Press Club had been thoroughly infected by the raffish behaviour of its members in Korea. One night someone fired a .45 automatic through the elevator door. The dormitories upstairs were full of, let's say, invited female guests. I checked in late one night after a trying flight from Seoul with a correspondent-priest, the Reverend Father Pafick LIrB n¡
casm. 'T[hile you ¡¡/ere away the Bteam was keeping the seat warm for you."
Nor
sIASno AT
Am The Korean War was
New York Herald Tribunehadleft Korea by the time I was posted there for the
John Ridley of the London Daily
prevented journalists from taking any-
Telegraþh preferred the barrack-room
thing but the most uncompromising,
life. He had his own permanent room and an endless supply ofgoodies from
anti-communist stand. No one was able to write sympathetically about China, for instance, for the next 20 years.
Inndon Daily
Exþress in 1952. The war
had settled into a static slugging match, marked by a few limited but costly
offensives on either side and a great many heavy artillery bombardments.
The still considerable press corps was billeted in an old Japanese apartment house - one of the few buildings
to survive the successive battles for
1989
the Neen. His appetiteswere legendary. One summe/s afternoon I was driving
back from the central front where a Chinese offensive had forced us to refeat several miles. The road to the rear was choked with vehicles. Shells were falling among them from time to time.
FCC Anniaersary
Sþ
ecial
got used to calling it "Tu Do") there were opium divans where you could
"I've won the Pulitzer prize!" the
come across Graham Greene; over in the Cholon casinos the leading Corsican drug barons could be found any night patronising the gaming tables.
looked blank.
'T[hat's that?" I asked.
I
Hanoi was less exotic. And a lot more tense. Ever since the ill-fated
would have preferred to stay on in
French commitment at Dien Bien Phu
Japan reporting developments. But the Daily Exþress found that sort of copy much too prosaic. Japan was still dev-
-
BRcr ro mB Knu¡rc Fìems: Personally
"Another of my flock," Father
O'Connor groaned. 'Wait'til he comes for confession!" The presidential election of 1952 not only brought Eisenhower to power, it brought him to Korea. The toprank correspondents who'd been there at the outset all rushed back to cover the story. "Nice to see the A-team back on the job," Homer Bigert told Keyes Beech. George MacArthur of ¡p was standing further down the bar. "Don't worr¡4" he said with heavy sar-
partly responsible for the growth of McCarthyism in the United States. It
Bþrt
Restaurants served the best Westernstyle food in Asia. But down the Rue Catinat (I never
O'Connor sJ. The first light of dawn revealed a ur photographer, we both knew in a nearby bed busily engaged with a girl. rrMorning Father, morning Russell,rl said the photographe¡ not pausing in his stride.
His Grace's infuriated rival, O'Donovan.
Times andHomer
in magnificent uniforms haunted the Cercle Sportif in Saigon with their beautiful Vietnamese girl friends.
a
columnist crowed delightedly. I
of the
People
l¡ndon
The slander infuriated me at the time. I waited ayear to get my revenge. I was breakfasting with the man in the
cruelly exploitive business but it
Abuses perpetrated by South Korean President Syngman Rhee, whose regime we were pledged to defend, became virtually unmentionable. Afew correspondents, such as Steve Barber of the London N¿øs FCC Annia ersary
Sþ
ecial
astated after the Pacific War and overdependent on us aid. The us was liable to be landed, Dick Hughes wrote, "with a nation of beaming limpets."
So back I went to what was then known as French Indochina to cover the last stages of a losing war. There were compensations. Combat is easier to cover than most stories . It is only as dangerous as you care to make it. Your copy is likely to be used. Some of the
most successful
correspondents
around today built their reputations, originally, in the heat of battle. There were other compensations.
an isolated airborne forfess way over by the Laotian border - Viet Minh rebels had been tightening their hold on the north. They had been hitting hard at the armoured supply fains running between Hanoi and the nearby port of Haiphong. I happened to be visiting the main
French hospital one morning when the surviving Senegalese escort arrived in a fleet of ambulances off an ambushed train. It wasn't a pretty sight. But it was
impossible to report. Censors went a fnetooth comb.
through our copy with
The story the French wanted us to tell was that the elite troops trapped in Dien Bien Phu were coaxing the ene-
my across killing fields swept by
THE CORRESPONDENT OSIOBER 1989
33
-l
REPORTING ASIA unquenchable F rench firepower. '1Ve pray they will affack," declared Capitaine de la Sousse, our briefing officer, the day before battle was joined. At dawn next morning, March 11, 1954,
the Viets knocked out the airstrip. Supply planes were never able to land again, That night Viet infanfy attacked, over-running the outer positions and pulverising the rest. It was only a mat-
ter of time before the beleaguered French garrison was wiped out.' The French tried air-dropping reinforcements. They jumped blindly into the night, onto a muchcontracted perimeter, mostb to their deaths. Some of us correspondents went out to the airfield trying to thumb a lift on the Flying Boxca¡ only to be arrested by the military police. The competitive urge to get to grips
with the Dien Bien Phu story, to gain
respondents in their raincoats watched
from the sidelines. Some were contemptuous and disgusted. The
the siege. We had scarcely begun our meal before a dispatch rider clumped up and
the French surrender. "Bastards didn't even start to fight," groaned John Mecklin of Life magazine. "Beaten by a bunch of gooks." The next time I metJohn Mecklin he was information officer at the us
Vietnam, despite the temporary encum-
needed. The restaurantwas humming
brance of their own inadequate creation,
with covertgossip. Dien Bien Phu had
President Ngo Dien Diem.
ffio FhBt'ùcH: Three months later, the defeated French abandoned North Vietram. The evening before they pulled out of Hanoi, the remaining correspondents were surnmoned to army headquarters in the Citadelle. It was
THn nrrnnnr on
dusk and dnzzlng and exceptionally sad.
The honour guard formed a square around the flagstaff. The commanding
Advantage.
Americans were especialy aggrieved at
saluted. He handed de la Sousse a folded signal. The captain read it, nodded and muttered apologies. He leftimmediately without explanation. None was
fallen.
The Unfair
Hongkong Starulanl
some insight beyond the gruesome dai-
Capitaine de la Sousse to dinner. I had
The
- UPI photo: courlesy
ly briefings prompted me to invite dreams of joining one of the relief columns which were reported (quite inaccurateþ to be preparing to raise
Economist
1957: US President Eisenhower with his South Vietoramese counterpart Ngo Dien Diem when the latter went to Washing¡ton to confer with the us leader
general made a defiant, flamboyant speech, the l.egionnaires in their big, braided epaulets presented arms and the band played a plaintive Marsellaise as the tricolour came down for ever.
The flag was ceremoniously folded and presented to an elderly colonel, a colonial veteran, who stood clutching it, weeping, as the bugles blew, the drums rattled and the soldiers did their parade ground thing before tramping away across the gleaming cobbles. The cor-
FCC Anniuersary Sþecial
embassy in Saigon. The Americans were committed to defending South
"What we need around here is someone with charisma," my old colleague complained. 'We need someone like" - he pulled out a name one like Sukarno."
-
A month later Diem was dead. He'd been murdered by the Viebramese generals whose coup enjoyed American sup port. It was several years more before I found myself back in the'field. The troops by now were American and their morale was very low indeed. "Aren't you a bit old for this sort of thing?" mused the young 1st Cavalry lieutenant fresh out of West Point. I had been assigned to his platoon as TV cameraman to film the airborne assault on the Ah Shau valley. "Reckon when I'm your age," he said. "I'll be putting my feet up." The battalion commander stopped
me next day from joining the first attiack waves. The lieutenantwas killed.
So were most of the men I'd been spending the past three days with, awaiting our turn to go in. "Have a joint, man, and forget it," said a sympathetic black ct. I didn't find it offered much solace. The week before Saigon fell I flew down to Saigon. I suppose I wanted to say goodbye. I got no further than the airport. My name was on the immigration blacklist for a broadcast I made
years before, criticising the Thieu regime. Some unfortunate passenger was bumped off the next Hong Kong flight and I was escorted aboard. My chance was gone of escaping with my colleagues off the us embassy roof. There is a moral to this last, trivial recollection. Western correspondents tend to assume a God-given right to work the way they would back home.
Many of the newly independent
nations of Asia do not see it that way. They fear the freedom of communication we take for granted in the developed world.
Several times I have flown out of countries such as Pakistan and Indonesia simply to file my story without let
or hindrance. Such initiatives earned me no brownie points in the countries concerned; the authorities did not readily forget nor forgive. The truth is, governments are hard to fight. Burma is an outstanding example. But fight we must. læt us keep on publishing - even at the risk of being O damned.
THE CORRESPONDENT OCTOBER 1989
35
REPORTING ASIA
The llongkong Standard Congratulates
THE FOREIGI\ CORRESPONDEI\üN' CLUB L946:
The importance of a free press in Hongkong has been reinforced by the llincidentsrr of June 4 in Beijing and the aftermath of that historically critical event. For 40 years the Foreign Correspondentsr Club has in many ways represented that vital press freedom. It has provided a meeting place for views and news, for arguments, for widely varying opinions and for the usual mix of rumour and gossip that is associated with the world of newspapers and magazines. It has provided a venue for journalists to exchange their opinions and share the joys of their craft., irrespective of the boundaries which invariably exist between competing publishing houses. The Hongkong Standard warmly congratulates the FCC on reaching this milestone and trusts it will continue to perform a pivotal role in the practice of the free press in this region.
The Hongkong Standard Sing Tao building, 1 Wang Kwong Road, Kowloon Bay, Kowloon. Telephone: 3-7982798
1945:
Mao Zedong in Chungking with Chiang Kaishek
CHII\IA - the experiences of a bemused observer Strange the stories that stick in your mind occasions that make the job worthwhile.
Mffiî':xT?:åi"åþ+îi intellectuals were penning their
ill-considered complaints
It
against the regime by the time I got back to Beijing. Some of the
"foreign friends," the whateverists whose fantasies found fulfilment in China, were staging a reception for Anna
and training far beyond my humble capabilities.
those rare
åi;Ïi
Mao and Zhou Enlai in Yenan
,ä
I prefer to regard myself as a bemused observer of a complex scene; sympathetic to the Chinese people but appalled at the pretensions of their government. Anyone arrogant enough to try remoulding human nature the way Mao did is either cruel or crazy. More likely a bit of both. So unprepared was I for what awaited me on the other side of the Lowu bridge, that the initial impact was quite numbing. Crossing for the first time in 1954, I found a country stabilised and at peace after decades of upheaval.
Nothing wrong with that
I-ouise Strong.
-
I felt then, and I still feel -
"Oh Christ!" exclaimed an extraordinarily English lady, as I walked into the room. "Here comes the one hundred and
that China had been unjustly ostracised for its intervention in Korea. But I was suffocated
first flower!"
by the total conformity of
Standing at her elbow was the British communist, Alan \A/innington. We had first met on opposite sides of the Korean truce talks at Panmunjon. It was hate at first sight. "You'll never grasp what's going on in China will you?" he
thought and deed demanded by the new mandarins in Zhung nan hai.
Alan Winnington had no The denigration of Stalin had just begun in Moscow while Alan was still saying "Uncle Joe wasn't such a bad old stick. All those reports of purges are
such problems.
sneered. He could very well have been right. I remembered his jibe last
nothing but bourgeois lies." But then he also believed
May when mingling with the students in Tiananmen square.
My role in China, let me
hastily emphasise, has always
FCC Anniuersary Sþecial
1
989:
Pro-democracy demonstration in Beijing.
the Americans had waged germ warfare in Korea. "I can't share your faith," I
THE coRRESPoNDENT osroBER tssg
37
-t
Congratulations to
The Foreign Correspondents' Club on its 40th anniversary from
t,o* €,hucb J1"" Srolood G/F 58 Central Market Tel: 5-430323
RE PO
RTIN G ASIA
maliciously told
"I'm not that
religious."
People seldom told the truth in China. Way before Simon l.eys wrote Chinese Shadows,I was being given
the runaround by officials
who choreographed my every visit. The
problem was that, unlike Leys, I wasn't always sure I was being
Congratulations to The Foreign Correspondents' Club on its 40th anniversary from
fooled.
I remember dropping in on Liu Li Chan around the autumn of 1954. The antique shops were still stuffed with items we would class today as treasures. And at amazingly low prices.
Carden Co. Ltd, 58 Castle Peak Road, Kowloon
Congratulations from
One shopkeeper sadly admitted he was being forced to close. He had been taxed to the point of ruination. Private trading was being nationalised: "Worst luck," he added. Since I was on my own, shopping unescorted, this was one of the few genuine glimpses I got of the vast Maoist experiment in collectivism.
C5
I met the same man two years later. His shop had been amalgamated with several others in the
CHATER PROPERTY SERVICES
same street, to make one large store. He praised his role as a servant of the state. Customers would no longer be
YOUR PERSONAL CONSUUTANTS TEL: 5-265228 FAX: 5-8685011
Congratulations to The Foreign Correspondents' Club on its 40th anniversary from rWANG CHEONG No 2 Second Street G/E Sai Ying Pun, Hong Kong Tel: 5-4083 1 5, 5-+08336
Congratulations to
The Foreign Correspondents' Club on its 40th anniversary from
xAo|(t
cheated, he emphasised, although I
H0
noticed that prices had already
started to escalate. The Press Liaison Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs took
charge of visiting journalists. The department wasn't exactly overworked. Most of the visitors were from the Soviet Union - China was bursting with fraternal love for the Elder Brothers from Moscow or from gushingly friendly India. "The future of the world is evolving here before our very eyes," enthused the counsellor at the Indian Embassy in Beijing. He changed his
tune a few years later after the Tibetan border war. Trust me to hit China, first-off, in
an atmosphere of crisis. Assault forces from Chekiang v/ere driving the xvr from their foothold in the Taching Islands. The 7th Fleet came up, huffing and puffing, and confrontation loomed. My head office bombarded me with cabled
.
UilBEATABTE VATUE
O AIR FARES, HOTEI ACGOMMODATIOil, BREAKFASTS & TRA]ISFERS I]{CLUOED
¡
IÎ{DIVIDUAI DEPARTURES
o A GH0IGE 0F M0BE THAil 50 H0TELS PHUI(ET from Hl( $3550
PATTAYA from Hl( $3150
KATHMATIDU from HK $4395
Miles ol beaches Sprcy Thar cuisrne Great seaf@d Hot days, balmy n¡ghts Cooling summer showers and allernoon sieslas And inte¡esting things to buy All ol lhis awails you in beautiful Phuket lsland, now accessible by Dragonair ll¡ghts non-stop in both drrections Dragonarr Holidays offers you a chotce of srx excel¡enI resod packages with exka nrghls at specral rales You maywanl ló stayloreverl
Thailand's answer lo lhe Riviera, Paltaya rs serued by non-stop Dragonair flighls to Ulapao, a shorl distânce away Pattaya has itâll, lrom quietlamily resorts lo swinging night spots Plus, of course, wonderful seafood restaurants as well as Thar and European cuisine lf the beach rsn t your style, you can ky gokarling, horseback íding, shopping lor Thai arls and
Nepal resìs on the very rool of the wor d and Dragonarr flies to Kalhmandu, the caprtal of thrs rnlngurng and exotic counlry From shopprnq rn the Tibelan bazaars lo trekking rn the hrgh Hrmalayas, Nepa rs an unforgettable experience lor the tourist, yet wilh modern accommodatron and excellenI restaurants Dragonarr Ho|days has aranged specral packages with seven leading hoiels rn Kalhmandu
KAG0SHIMA from HK $4820
lhe more relaxed almosphere of Pattaya in the
Dragonairopens up a whole new Japan wilh regulâr lhghls to Kagosh¡ma in Kyushu, Soúthern Japan For an enlirely diferent holiday experience, includ¡ng hol
evenrng JuslaboutanythinggoesinPatlaya sowhy don t you go too! On a Dragona¡r Holidays package
cralls orjustsleepingthedaysaway
lf
youlike,you
can also take a day lflp to Bangkok and then return lo
spr¡ngs, volcanrc sand therapy, temples and ol course Jâpanese lood, check out Dragonâir Holidays spectal 4 dayl3 night package Longer slays al special rates
GHlllA f rom HK $1695 Dragonarr Holidays grves you a chorce of nlne
destinalions, rnc uding the most popular lounst areas of Guilin, Hangzhou, Kunmrng, Haikou and Be¡rng Busrness kavellers 1o Chrna wr¡l also ftnd Dragonatr Holrdays packages useful. lo Shanghar, Xramen, Nanlrrq and Ddlian
./
/a
/
DHAKA from HK $6550 The caprtal ol Bangladesh Dhaka rs served by non slop Dragonârr flights From trgetrwatchrng rn lhe Sunderbans regron lo explonng lhe Chrltagong Hill Tracls area, Bangladesh ofiers a unrquely diflerent toursm expenence Package pflce rncludes 3 nrghts at Sonargaon Hotel rn Dhaka
demands for news. All lhe above pr¡ces are on lw¡n-shaîe bas¡s Single room cosls sl¡ghlly
Silvercord, Tower 2, Rooms 506-5, 30 Canton Road, Tsimshatsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong fel 3-7225244, Fax: 3-692604
more
FCC Anniuersary Sþecial
Openng up
Asta
'.;,:
For free brochure and rate sheet, please câll your Travel Agent or Dragona¡r Holidays on 3-7360880.
Or send the coupon to Dragonair Holidays Lld.,12lF., Tower 6, China Hong Kong C¡ty,33 Canlon Road, Kowloon
,/
/
/ FCC
Dr¿gona
r
Ho rdays
Ltd
L
cence No 3508
RtrPOR'IING
ASTA
&,
President Nixon's visit to China in 1972 and the opening up of China to Western correspondents brougþt a whole new era.
Press Liaison was useless in these
circumstances. The man who answered the phone refused to unwind when I wished him a simple "Good Day".
"Comments on the weather," he
intoned "must come from the
meteorological office." It was not his job, he made clear, to
hand out official announcements. They would be carried exclusively by Xinhua, with transcripts available the following day. The best way to keep track of events, I soon found, was to listen religiously to the BBC. It was no more, after all, than Winnington and his friends were doing.
The biggest headache over the years was keeping pace with the party line. Innocents like myself found it confusing to be told things (often by the same person) entirely different from anlthing they'd said a
reinforce the editorial and market position o Yazhou Zhoukan: the credible, i -depth, uhbiased and authoritative editorial for the intellectual Chinese around the world." Morris Ho Associate Media Director Saatchi & Saatchi Hongkong
year or two before.
One official I knew and liked joined in the then-trendy attacks upon Rossellini's China documentary. There were tears in his eyes as he condemned those who
spoke
of
divisions within the
Chinese leadership.
"Who could possibly believe," he cried "that the chairman's own wife could be working against the party!" The poor chap had a fit when the Far Eastern Economic Reaiew ran a cartoon of Jiang Qing decked out as the Empress Dowager. Three months later Madam Mao was under arrest.
There were times when
I got my
own back. During a 7970 visit to the
Yazhou Zhoukan, "Eyewitness", June 25, 1989
Beijing Iron & Steel Works the FCC Anniuersary
Sþ
ecial
revolutionary committee, then in charge, reeled off some ridiculous
authorities worried. No one ever attempted to censor his copy (or
production figures. The blast furnaces were being operated, it was claimed, at four times the capacity built in by the "bourgeois" designers. Tën years later, on a return visit, I found the
anybody else's) but there were subtler ways of bringing pressure to bear. My old friend left China, for a while, on strained terms with officialdom after
capacity quoted a great deal lower. "But you told me such-and-such in 7970," I complained to the manager. "Has production fallen off this badly?"
The manager looked embarrassed. "Any figures given out during
the Cultural Revolution are bound to have been exaggerated," he lamely mumbled.
I told this story to Jonathan Sharp of Reuters. He had toured China with me during ping-pong,diplomacy, listening to selected parrots recalling
the (pre-revolutionary) "bad old days." A certain "Mama Wu" couldn't wait to tell us how much better life had become since the revolution.
"We were fooled, werèn't we Russell?" Jonathan said bitterly. "But { tell you this: we won't be
fooled anymore."
The opening up of China to
Western correspondents, especially Americans, after the Nixon visit of \972brought a whole new era. Jim Pringle was one of the select
his discerning coverage of the 1976 Tiananmen demonstration.
My colleague Jim Laurie of American Broadcasting (ABC) helped develop the satellite feeds from Beijing that shook the world a few months ago; Fox Butterfield of the Neu Yorh Times cut the flow of uncritical comment put out by the first, credulous wave of American correspondents and injected the first acidulous notes into his news copy.
Strange the stories that stick in your mind. Forget the sensations of recent months; looking back over the years the most revealing was also one
of the most trivial. It concerned the American business exhibition staged in Beijing at the end of the last decade.
Jim Laurie reported that the exhibition was seriously behind schedule because the Chinese construction workers, engaged to
erect the stalls, refused to work fast enough. Carpenters had to be flown in from Hong Kong and Singapore. The outsiders worked day and night,
band who breathed much-needed life
finishing the job while local
Reuters man to take up residence in
craftsmen sat watching them. The real crisis in China, the crisis of freedom, incentive and the iron
into China coverage. As the first Beijing after the incarceration of
Anthony Grey, he steadfastly refused ever to speak to the official who locked Grey up. David Bonavia introduced a degree
of expertise that soon had the
rice bowl, was exposed in this one brieftelevision report, open for all to see. It's those rare, rewarding, if prosaic, occasions that make the job worthwhile. - Russell Sþurr
THE CORRESPONDENT OCTOBER
1989
4I
TECHNOLOGY
When cables \ryere the most efficient communication link The'50s were the print journalists high-water mark . . . movie cameras were rarely allowed into press conferences. by Russell Spurr UR faces fell whenever we them kepthopping after everything in heard the motorbike. Seven o'clock in the evening was the usual time. Up the drive the machines would come, a sharp turn off Poldulam Road in Hong Kong, bearing the messenger from Cable & Wireless carrying the crimped fawn envelope with commands and comments from Fleet Sfeet. Sometimes itwas nothing more than a harmless query checked out with a quick call to our stringer, Alec Greaves, atthe China MaiI. Occasionally it bore the imprint of a liquid lunch at El Vino's, the staccato cable-ese laced with heavy
It never pays, I learned, to play for laughs in cableattempts at humour.
grams. All too often there were marching orders to some distant part of Asia. My poor wife would burst into tears. "The only trouble with Hong Kong," I'd been warned by Charles Foley, everurbane foreign editor
sight. Our stories didn't always get printed,
which was heart-breaking
if
you'd
slogged several thousand miles just to cover the assignment. And when they appeared in the paper (usually page 2) it was in a breathless 'I was there' (Iwt) style that scorned words like "exclusive."
reply. IIeræ FoUND youR ENTERTAINMENT ALLowANCE oNE HUNDREo SrnRltNc IN CREDIT,
Exchanges were pretty cryptic, even on the subsidised Empire cable rate. News stories cost a penny a word and we tried to tack our servicers onto the
end of messages with ample use of
latin prefixes. Word from Foley
was
invariably succinct and cutting. UnrDß, uNlon: I'11 never forget the way he dealt with the Exþress man sent to Cairo on an unusually vague assignment. The
man holed up in the bar of Shepherd's Hotel and failed to file for a week. He was still leaning on the bar when a cable came in from l¡ndon. It was from the foreign editor. Wnv Urun¡ws euERY, Foley deman-
"Everything in the Exþress is goddam-well exclusive," growled Max Beaverbrook, our Lord and Master.
The reporter took another drink and reached for the message pad. The staff
That was a hands-on proprietor if ever there was one.
in Shepherd's were so well trained, went off immediately.
The l¡rd once sent me a congratulatory cable the same day Foþ threatened to fire me for over-spending my ÊlGamonth entertainment allowance. I shot off a cable of resþation to Foley accompanied by a separate, suitably grovelling acknowledgement to the Beaver. Rnc;rurr usr¡xr, came Foley's hasty
ded.
it
U¡rxews IS GooD Nnws, the reporter replied. Within the hour, an urgent whammed back frorn l¡ndon: UNNnws UNJoB
-
Fomv.
A resident Cairo correspondent had a girlfriend in Beirut. Each weekend he
would slip off to what was then the Paris of the Middle East. One Sunday
of the London Daily Exþress, "is that all the
matches are away." Noruucunvmnssr Back
in the midrS0s the
Crown Colony seldom generated much interestin Britain. The pres
ence
of
Now all Faxline 100 customerc can be one
eu+ troops
ahead
along the border was yesterday's sensation; fears of invasion, which
the
with arì
along with a Multifax cover sheet, and we'll send it
incredibly
through to all the numbers you've requested, whether that be 5 copies or 5000!There's no doubt that Multifax
convenient new service called Multifax.
In a
flared briefly in 1949, were gone and conve niently forgotten.
But the
of
step
nutshell, Multifax enables you
to
send
thousands of faxes at the same time to destinations in
Daily
Exþress could never
allow me to sit idly around. Not on f26 a week. The paper operated a hyperactive for-
is the most effìcient way to distribute information to
a
number of destinations.
Hong Kong, without having to re-dial each number
To find out more about Multifax, please call the
and without tying up your fax machine for hours.
Multifax hotline on 5-28717O. Then sit back and
Simply fax your message to Hong Kong Telephone,
relax while Multifax does all the hard work for you.
eign service in those days, with at least 20 full-time correspondents in the field, all of
42
Honsl(onsTelephone
rr¡n coRRESPoNDENT ocroBER
1989
FCC Anniuersary Sþecial
DataGomn Slenrf,aes
(
/')?
TECHNOLOGY while he was away the Egyptian Army overthrew King Farouk. Fenour ABDTcATED, Foley cabled, ìMner youn prANS, euERY.
Telephones barely worked domestically at that time. It was a
major effort calling Paris from l¡ndon. Cables were our main means of communication. Telex was still a gleam in some technician's eye. Outside a few well-
trained oases like Shepherd's, cables hadto be taken personalþto
the nearest Telegraph Office phoning long ones was agony, especialþ in Asia - although the 12hour timelead over London, here in Hong Kong, made things easier.
Itwas trickier in NewYorkwhere the clockwas running againstyou. The biggest snag was that queries
closing stages ofthe French Indochina war. Delays were so serious that an old
and corrections took endless time.
Australian colleague, the late Ronny Munson, hit on the brilliant idea of filing on pink instead of white flimsies (lightweight typing paper). All he then
Four hours might elapse before a ser-
vicer came into Hong Kong from I¡ndon and a reply landed back on the Foreign Desk. We thought it marvellously efficient at the time; indeed
had to do was grease afewpalms in the
it
F I-r to ensure that all pink messages went to the top of the heap, The scheme collapsed when a suspicious rival caught on and everybody
was, compared with places like
Afghanistan, Indonesia or Indochina. But there was nothing to compare with the ease with which we bounce messages around today by fax and phone.
in the infamous Campe de Presse began filing on pink, then green, then blue or whatever colour the frantic
Pn'¡r
Munson stuffed in his typewriter. Air travel was naturally slower. The
Fuuges:The most consistently bad
service came out of Hanoi during the
vt'lw
NOW - rwo DAYS FOR IHE PRICE
Continentol don't lry to be lhe very chaopest cor renlol compony
if it didn't haVe "-::îi.i:î"J"ÏilJî:iå'J;åi Gom munications
#,5.:Hffi#"åi:"1""
tomatch? (HKlLld. pany
Mercury Houæ, 22 Fenwbk St.æt. HorE Køg l*phoæ: ff621 t 1 1 Telegram: CABLEWRE Telex: 73240 CwADf¡ Hx
N4
Currency, commodities and shares are constantly changing hands while international tansactions are concluded 24 hours a day.
In their dealings with other ma¡kets, the people and corporations of Hong Kong must have communications facilities that provide instant and unlimited access to the rest of the world. In fact, Hong Kong has the most sophisticated communications system in Asia, developed by Cable & ïVireless through 100 yea:s of experience and leadership in technologry. The people ofHong Kong have a lot to be proud of in the many ways they can talk to the world.
on lhe mofkel We core too much obout dep€ndoblllty, But, wllh lowor ov€ñsods ond promotlonol costs lhon lhs glonts, we ore obls lo ollor exc6pllonolly good voluo lhe roles we odvsdlse or€ tully lncluslve: thol meons lncluslve of l5tvolue odded tox (VAT), comprêhsnslvg ¡nsuronc€, colllslon domoge wolvor, AA roodslde osslslonce ond un. llmlt€d mlleoge No ungxpecled exlro chorges whon lho llmo comes to poy. ll's os slmplg os thol ptRsot{At sERYtcE
Al0 0Ffltt)A¡tuIY
TORD ESCORI
FIESÍAXR2
rcRO S ERRA ESTAÍÉ MTRCEDES
Atfo
190Ê
2oAYS ìWEEK2WEEKS
. ç307ì 3071 ì0150 215.00 0 ç 3229 3229 lì300 226.m t327r 3271 na50 2æ.00 13 3å13 r31 50 269.00 0 c . t a2?l 1271 ì1S50 29gm 0 I r27r 127ì ra950 29000 . ça700 atm ì6150 3æ00 0 I 50.71 5071 l?750 35500 . 977m 77m 269$ 0
. Ltr SrcN
0 HGH
Sm
ç
8557 MAY
15
855? 2S50 . Stm
ì5 æC
539.00
ì5 - JAN
15
mark. Television was still flickering into life. Scribes hogged the news scene. Movie cameras were rarely
soNlce ol London's Hgolhrowond Glosgow olrpoñs Mole slmple r€osons whythousonds ol vlsllors lo &lloln ond Erltons resldenl ovg]3eos r€nl cors fiom us yeo? ollel]rÊot. AÌnmqorcE0f utt$r008.s loke your plck hom ourfleel ol 800 vghlcles ronglng fom Ford Fl€slos lo Mercedo3 - sub{ompæls to llmouslnes.lhe bulk ol ourñeel 13 chonggd ev€ryslx monlhs orlo¡¡, €nsudng low mlleog€ s8r0foR0t R8r00iÆ[0w
ctÍn ¡Ërsr tþ{s¡mc¡
o
stoNE cLosÊ HORIO}I ROAD D
^l
FCC Anniuersary Sþecial
bly molnlolned cors, heê plck up
59000
'ULLYIrcTUMùIES
to¡ Driv:¡!
TIIB tuctt-wRrrR MARK:
ONE,
38
FORD
lations - surely the most elegant aircraft ever desþed, and over large stretches of Asia the indestructible Dakota. Many a time I've sat saying my prayers in one of those battered old machines as it
Øntnantal GoltMck olrports, Monchosler ond
l0åY
FOR€XIMPLE:SÉAS0N
Whon ll comes lo seMce we're sllll smoll onough lor evEry lndlvlduol cuslomer lo counl. And ol lho some tlm€ r€'r€ lcirge enough
lo oller dgpendobllllV !gcond lo none. A fle€l ol some 800 lmpecco-
Of
AND MORE SAVINGS ON TONGER PfRIODS. ATWAYS WIIH UNTIMITED MIIEAGE.
FORDFIESIA
Dum Dum airport, glowingwith national pride as Indian groundstaff gingerþ feltthe fuselage, They expected to find it heated by high speed flight. The Comet project ended disastrousþ alas, and itwasn't until the earþ'60s thatthe Boeing 707 established jet supremacy. We had to make do until then with propeller-driven Lockheed Constel-
staggered into Urumchi, Mandalay and, for that matteç the tìny cramped airfield at Kai tak.
t/oilcail
R nY ilCtUSwE R rES.ll0 tltDf)til ûInÀ9
first Comet flight came into Calcutta early in 1951. I'was one of the many Brits who came out to greet the jet at
lYHo D¡xAND A l¡rre r DrAr
WEST DRAYÍON MIDDTES€X U87 AJU PITONE (0895) ¿22¡ü,1
Fff (0895)ü85ól
TELEX9ì 78¿TCONC
cttru
RG
Ldoot{ oBcr
PHONE (0r ) 9ó83388
The '50s were
the print journalists' high-water
allowed into "press" conferences andwhen theywere, rv took aback seat. Covering the release of allied prisoners in Korea, with one of the
original optical Auricons,
I was
assigned to a plaform at the back of
the room and expected to shoot everything on the end of my long focus lens. Zooms were still an unattainable luxury. let me explain at this point how a journalist like myself came to be fooling around with a camera. Since entering British provincial journalism in 1938 I had been fascinated by
THE CORRESPONDENT OCTOBER
7989
45
TECHNOLOGY
TECHNOI-OGY
How cotr,t¡ youR DRr-q.r LRn¡e sns
Sþ
sprint. Then I hurled myself across and settled into a slit fench to await the oth-
reporter when "16 mil" came on the
World War II achrally became a combat
scene and I well remember the battles
BEARD, QUERY.
l¿b went down in Western Australia.
lowing that the line wasn't clear
cameraman, shooting stills in Burma for the Royal Indian Navy where I also picked up basic movie techniques. During the Korean War, when my Exþress salary was only f,22 aweek,
er half coming towards me. It's what cameramen call "the reverse angle." Not a shot was fired until one foolhardy cr stuck his head over the parapet and made a rude gesture at the
that raged between the traditionalists who swore by 35mm and the upstart
watching Chinese gunners. Rocket
subs, I moonlighted unashamedly for
after rocket slammed into our position. Thoroughlyfrightened, we had to wait for nighffall before creeping back to the
Têlecom workers in Australia were staging one of their perennial strikes, but a friendly official in Sydney cut me into the landline as the evening newscast was being carried acrosscounfy. The woman producer in New York had never handled a satfeed before. She was understandably nervous.
enough.
less, in fact, than the Fleet Street desk-
The upI cameraman had snapped the wrong manl But it was satellites that changed world news coverage. A quick "feed" from the remotest spot brought today's coverage instantly into the living room.
photography. And towards the end of
the American networks. They paid US$25 a story. It seemed like a fortune.
Life was expensive in post-occupation Toþo and, without rent or cost of liv-
main line.
ing, I had a wife and one-and-a-half children to support.
A nm¡on
THn pownn or TV:
The first film I shot for
NBC, on the Korean central front, showed life in a forward bunker under fixediine fire from the Chinese positions. Getting there involved a SGyard sprint across cover-less, open ground. The Americans wisely did most of their sprinting (with supplies and reinforce-
ments) at dead of night but when I turned up with the network logo on my jeep there were plenty of volunteers to do it in broad daylight. Such is the power of the medium. I was filming with a heavy 35mm hrr-
ret Eymo. The turret held three lenses which would be replaced today by the conventional zoom. The 100-foot daylight loading spools ran no more than two-and-a-half minutes. There was, of course, no sound. Half my volunteers did the daylight
BREAKTHRoUcH:
Television was
transformed by the advent of the synchronous sound camera. Mute footage suddenly acquired an invaluable new dimension. Cameras had to be soundproofed (or "blimped") like the pioneer Auricons to cut out the grinding and whirring of the filming mechanism. The Auricons started out with optical sounds; and an easily damaged exciter lamp projected a pattern down the left side of the film. It was superseded by a thin magnetic stripe fixed to the fìlm stock.
Much better sound quality came in with double-system equipment whose sound was monitored on a separate tape recorder. The film still had to be devel-
oped and the sound transferred ("Iifted") onto another track. The biggest breakthrough was the development of 16mm equipment which
gave a new portability to the business. I was working in British television as a
innovators. 'You'll never get the same quality," one outraged old-timer told me. True enough, but the miniaturisation that followed was sufficient tradeoff. It was matched by a similar advance in stills. The standard tool of most newspaper photographers since the twenties had been the bulþ Speed Graphic. I opted for 35mm cameras like the l,eica whenever I could afford them. The pros raised the s¿une moans about quality in what they contemphrousþ dismissed as "miniature" photography. The firstJapanese carneras, copies of the Leica and Ziess lkon, came on stream in the early '50s. They were much cheaper than their German prototypes; their lenses were in some cases
superior. I took an early Canon to l¡ndon in 1955 and showed it to a dis-
believing Photo Department. Tlte Exþress chief cameraman took it one evening, almost as an afterthought, to a soccer match between Arsenal and Spartak of Moscow. Afight flared up on the field and my camera, with its R1.4 was the only one capable
of catching the action. The picture made the front page next day. A grateful office purchased the camera at the Hong Kong duty free price, less 20 per cent discountfor used goods. Stills had been transmitted by wire since before World War II. But all too often there was only one transmitting machine available. The trickwas to get
to it first. The upt vice president for Asia, flamboyant Ernie Hobrecht,
A
spRcB MoNstER:
My first experience of
this sci.fi gadget was immediately after the Kennedy assassination. I completed
my report from Dallas (for the British public affairs show 77¿¿'s Week) andflew the footage to New York for forwarding to l¡ndon. The fixed-orbit, geodetic satellites had notyet been launched. We had three hours to complete our feed before the "bird" trundled away out of reach. A more comprehensive system was operating when I came back to Hong Kong in 1972. Ihad just witnessed the spectacular coverage of the Nixon visit to Beijing; still a major triumph, to my
mind, of electronic communication. Soon I was mounting nightly satellites,
forVisnews, of the Viet Cong offensive
in South Vietnam, racing from our Kowloon office through the newly opened (and comparatively unused) HarbourTunnel to the telecine room in old Mercury House. American Broadcasting (¡ec) later
asked me to piggy-back a feed when
after half-an-hour's shouting and bel-
A far cry too from those tortuous journeys to the cable office when I key up my computer modem and transmit, without line errors, direct from Sydney to the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong. Digital technology has supplanted the typewriter. The word
It was nothing to the shock I got when the colour bars on my monitor
processor is, in my opinion, the greatest literary invention since ink. As for
snapped
those electronic cameras the kids carry round these days well, wonders will
off and a space monster
appeared on the screen. "Is your tape running?" I asked New York, trying to speak as casually as possible. "I think Sþ lab may have picked up a passenger." No such luck. Itwas five minutes before news time. We had caughtthe closing episode of DoctorWhn. WoNlBRs wrLL NEVER c¡Rs¡: Satellites breathed new life into radio broadcasts.
I could (and still do) dial directly to New York and get a near-perfect line. I'm sure you've found the same, receiv-
ing an overseas phone call, which sounds like it's coming from Tsimshatsui. Yet only yesterday, it seems, you
booked a crackling circuit out of Saigon, walked up five floors ('?'¿scenseur ne marche þas", Tbny Iawrence
would say despairingþ only to be told
f_mAn,çe
- already getting never cease. They're
smaller and proved their worth in Tiananmen square, along with portable hand phones which seem to me straight out of science fiction.
There's only one danger. There's lately been a trend to trivialise the news, especially on television. Some newscasts in the US, and certainly in Australia, are becoming comedy shows. By all means let's avoid an over-
dose of gloom and doom but laughs are strictly for comics. The news must be delivered without embellishment as
truthfully
as we can get it. A better,
brighter generation of highly educated young people has taken over where old
hacks like me left off. So play it straight, please children. The ball is at feet... O
your
ExEcunvE
believed he had the opposition stymied on the Dalai lama story.
//
¿.
SEARDBT coD-rflNc?: When the Tibetan God-king fled to India in 1959, Ernie
A
processed all upI film aboard the char-
ter flying him to Calcutta
/-r
-
unlike
Associated Press who waited until they reached a local lab - and had 20 prints
across the Telegraph Offìce counter
before his ap rival came panting along.
Three, four, five prints went off to New York with Ernie beaming at his infuriated colleague. Fifteen more to go... The AP man was tearing his hair
MOTI M. KIRPALANI
From Asia's first financial magazine a toast to the finest club in town the FCC. We raise our PC's and our Rate Cards in salute to 40 great and memorable years. May there be many more.
-
out. Suddenly an urgentfor Ernie came down the wire.
Asian Finance Publications Ltd. 3/F Hollywood Centre, 233 Hollywood Rd., Hong Kong
46 rup coRRESPoNDENT ocroBER 1989
FCC Anniuersary Sþecial
Hong Kong in Butterfield & Swire tugs,
under the guns and binoculars of l¿ter he escaped from the Japanese prison camp at
A few drinks ) aspot of lunch and Saturday rolls on
Lunghua and after a journey of 1,200 miles reached friendly territory. Then
he became a paratrooper and ended up
in Hong Kong, to open his famous bar and provide a home for Alcoholics Slmonymous, of which he was the first secretary-treasurer.
Alcoholics Synonymous, a loose grouping started almost 40 years ago by habitues of Jack Conderrs bar in Central, Hong Kong, meets weekly at the FCC.
TH¡ Rou{orRs: Who were the club's orig-
by Anthony I-awrence O CALL Alcoholics Synonymous a club demands some exercise of imagination. It is more a loose
grouping,
a vague expression of con-
viviality. Somewhere in the rules it is laid down that membership be limited to 16 0ater changed to 18) but this is misleading. Nowadays some members enjoy active and some irregular status. And absent members, passing through Hong Kong, are sometimes unexPectedly present at the regular Saturday morning sessions and wish to know over a couple of drinks, just what has been happening in the five or six years
they were away. Alcoholics Synonymous enjoys the hospitality of the For-
present membership; but one recalls the late Bob Drummond, old Beijing hand with a fascinating fund of reminiscences, the amiable Captain James Babb, formerly of the United States Navy; the inimitable Richard Hughes, whose weighty personality and humour dominated the club foryears; and many others. THn orucl¡{s:
YEARSONTOP OFTHEASIASTORY
Japanese naval craft.
According to the records,
inators? Very old Hong Kong hands may remember them. They are recorded by Dick Hughes to include the following, using the word "taipan" somewhat loosely: Sid Jackson (us taipan); Brig. Young
(English taipan); Maurice Rice (us ConsulateGeneral); V[ R Cator (Dutch Consulate); Jim Boyle (Irish taipan) Jack Conder @nglish publican)
THE WEEKLY NEWSMAGAZINE
;
Brewin Cheny (Canadian taipan); Hugh Bellamy (us taipan); Peter Griffiths (English lawyer); and David Mathews (English taipan). Four other
Alcoholics Synonymous was founded on GuyFawkes Day, Sth
November, 1955 in Jack Conder's Bar, centrally situated up an alley off
eign Correspondents'
Queen's
THE CTIARTER (a) To act as a means of during the 24 hours pregathering its members ceding meetings.
together
at appointed (.) To encourage
memthe ú; *h;ç åccident purposeof drinkingbeverh;;; ilaãåuired the ages of alcoholic content. ;il;";;I"ãi;-to offe. (b)To promote the relief consolation to those who
times and places for
correspondents as well as
Road, behind the Shell House.
local journalists have
Jovial Jack
figured importantly in its membership.
Conder himself, known as
Club where it meets in an upstairs room.
Foreign
As the
name implies it is involved in the consumption of
alcoholic liquor, but not fanatically. One member, the late Stephen Chou, could never touch anything stronger than lemonade, but then his talk always had thevitality of a man with a cou-
ple of glasses
of champagne inside him. Notthatreliable HUGHES. whose drinkers have been DICK weighty personality domilacking. This is not nated Alcoholics Synonymous the place to speak of for years
48 ruB coRRESPoNDENT ocroBER 1989
of hangovers acquired
Hong Kong's foremost pub-
lican, had joined
have done so.
signahrres though not clearþ decipherable are reliably believed to be those of
the Shanghai police force as a constable at the age of 21 in 1928, after coming out from Britain as an orderly in the Royal'$rmy Mèdical Corps. But he resigned from the
Charles Arthur (us taipan); Saxo Kurman (unidentified); Robert Van Name (us taipan) and John Wright
police after three years and worked for a while with the Shanghai Gas Company
was said to contain every known brand in the world. They used to shake dice for
before transferring
to Butterfield & Swire. When Vichy took over the French Concession in Shanghai Jack
smoothly organised the
defection of at least 500 crew members from French ships
and smuggled them out to
Clll¡\A S Ilr\O TSL'I'UNC lhr (ìr¡r¡uni't lios fu rncd rlr rnnl r.¡
lx'v
(New Zealand taipan).
They were all habitues of Jack Conder's bar where the beer menu, in a
decorated board behind the counter,
drinks and, recalls Jim Babb, "There were several who believed that the dice
TIME
ANDTHE F.C.C.-rloGErHER IN HoNG KoNG slNcE 1ft49
were not attuned to their limited resources and that they were paying, over the years, a higher proportion of the bar bills than was to be reasonably expected or desired. So they agreed to found an organisation, dedicated to alle viating the cares of the past week, but
FCC Anniuersary Sþecial
TI^rlE
THEWORLD NEWSMAGAZINE
It has been said that although children have never been good at listening to their elders, they never fail to imitate them. Today's chjldren will one day take over from us. Continuing to shape what has become one of the world's major economic and trading forces.
For they are the future of Hong Kong. And no matter where their futures take them, through the ranks of business or the corridors of power, no other company will be as directĂž involved in every facet of their lives as Hutchison \Whampoa.
From providing life's daily necessities to the homes they live in. From the power of electricity to space age telecommunications. Not just today,but tomorrow and in the years that lie ahead. Hutchison \Ă&#x2DC;hampoa . P art of today's world.
Hutchison Whampoa Limited
ÞY ARTHUR HACKER
TFIE /C,C-
gHUN@KIN@ ßf,ANSil@NS NÞ I .SFAAY fÀe FtRsT F,c.c. PENE
Þ
ON
fË rsH VENY SPoT YeAP.s AGo
foundation of the club.'' Bud Merick was chosen
HE
you gained a few friends.
LLO
9AI LOR
lñ>r.rptf¡gLY ÞÉAR
^^/ Lr.JsH A¿
of ferocious dedication to
( l$
v. \t
{'
luciditY of stYle oromising '(spe box, þage 48)
'
some Years membershiP has of a .irå*"ì""*ät emphasis infavour There or ;;ii;ti;; cailing Profession'
In
pretãuË1""n times when journalists
anK dominated' One recalls rHats Telegraþh ; ilË;ã"" of the D ailY
iìiãirttuupt representing the.German Þ;;;; ö"tek Round of the New z;";;^;d Þiã.. n"ociation; L"-*li" õ-iüt;]"rmerlY of Reuters; Eddie Chinese i.åttg *tto repiesented -Press; the Dennis and Ñãtioîaüst iìrîåãïôittt ot ttt" obseruer' Itm
Street. and later the venue was .t unnãA to the Foreign Corresoondãnts' Club - first in Sutherlano
ifä"t" ,t¿
then in the present build-
ãiãã"f"¡ -¿ Anthonv l¿wrence of the olthe Far Eastern
ãàtio"t"t
Davies
memEconomic Reuiew was an active RalPh also and some for Years; ber Þi"tá" of naaio Têlevision Hong Kong'
' "^G;;i- ;ere invited from earliest ,lav-s-""d, from the time that records
' often consisting of a verY
at a local restaurant to
have been invited' There and invitahave also been boat picnics'
iiã"t-uu
members to their homes'
w;;üt;ñmbered
is the hosPitalitY
ni-it't"'Not*an Stalkers on Lanlau' öã-"ir.ã. me nbers took Part in
*ãtã i"gufmv kept' something like.500
There is even a club tie' an informal Ëîi -ofit remains "'..ã"tiállv varying attendance' club ã¡tLiïg
52
háve been inscribed' As
"i.itoi.:nu*õs iåiirc -èãting-place, this was stillJack õånãã.;. ¡ar üñtit the autumn of 1963 *hen redevelopmentforced a move to th; Sp""i.h Roôm of Windsor House in D". Vo"r* Road, Central, and later to ãräcãr" ãe Paris in Queen's Roarl'
;;;;;äk;-'
rggcoRREsPoNDENT ocroBER
ôÈnt ut. Jack Conder had been keeping a the clubrecords but when he set uP job the Kowloon in äå*
"tà¡fi.hment
1989
Look atitthis way. You didn't lose a bottle of Chivâs,
FCC AnniuersarY SPeciaI
---l
Aru Asm r oF
REVm Ideas
& Literature & Asia
AnAsn RrvmwqBoorc
{ @ Odr
YórE
uîr ¿d
&
dk&!t N1¿ÁÀ
rI¿
Arù
o.f
dù
tq
Heard across a crowded room
@ S''W Mftla'¿¡ú/rm6 F¿h n dl¡Þ ¡¡ir ¡eú
An&'r O,e ld a¡loMrh sFr¿rþ¡a¿ofúh(
Dod ntÀ! Ærdu¿
nru
VER the years many an entralling tale, downright lie, jolly joke, sad story and a wry chuckle has been told over a glass of whatever one happens to be drinking at the time. Some of the more memorable snatches of conversation heard above the hubbub at the bar of the FCC include:
4*
8
lss.
i*,i'
+
r
lntroducing a refreshing new monthly magazíne which h"s ís its focus Riia. ]-he Nl néia Rãview ' sivins vou reviews 6u tu?É luminaries clíester, Clare ng, Anthony Lawrence If you are interested in Asia and enjoy a good leilure read, this is what you have 6eón riaiting for. Columás, interviews, music and travel, socierv and the arts, sfyle and architecture, the latest þaperback sellers, what to buy ac the airport beforË yåur n.*, flight, and lots -ót.. Perfect for plane trips or weekends . . . why not subscribe today?
All Asia Review ofBooks infoimation, post this couPon to: "nd'furthe, Geoghegan Publishing Ltd GPO Box 13311 Hong Kong. For vour free copv of the
"I
ofiten give up drinking weight." (Charlie Smith)
for a month to lose
"No! its not on my bill!"
* (Tony Dyson)
^AEN
Rolex watches?"
l¡vell)
can get hold of some fake
,,I
do . . ." (John
(Russell Cawthorne)
'Ihat's good."
TTtn CORRESPONDENT october
"No! It's not on my bill!"
(Bob Davis)
x "Just- a glass of
(BrianJefferies)
tflen"
water . . . oh, alright a maguerita
(Sue Girdwood)
x
(Bob Davis and BrianJefferies)
"Mumble, rnumble, mumble . . ."
*
grene orshea)
"I leaned down to help him to his feet by his tie" (]ohn læneghan)
go."
"f
always wanted to be a Phys. Ed. But now just a Piss 'ead." (Tony Dyson)
I'm
* (Derek Williams)
,,I
* was speaking to God on the big white telephone." (Simon Martin)
*
(BrianJefferies)
FCC Anniuersary
Sþ
ecial
"f don't know what it is . . I found it in my nose."
FCC Anniuersary Sþecial
lBruce Maxwell)
"I think I'll try the Shepherd's pie. . ."
)< (Mike Keats)
1989
LEGAL ÞEPARTMENT 'There's a naked lady in the jacuzzi. . . what's the co-ed rules again?" €erer Cahill)
(Phillip Bowring)
54
ÞAN K ERs BENÞ
)É
(Dorothy Ryan)
*
"Mine's a small Carlsbergr"
REUTERS TERRITORY .fAU.fAGEMAKERJ
x
"Mine's a small Carlsberg."
*
VALE OF
ÞWARF.'
(oel Houplin)
*
"Has that old tart been in yet?"
Mot
v¡stïoR.t
"f've got 64OKB memory, 2OMB Hard disk storage and a serial communications port.,'
Norman)
"Has that old tart been in yet?"
fHE REVIE.
level with my lips, otherwise my mascara
(Penny Byrne)
"I'll have a J&B on the rocks;,'
*-
EÞÞ8R,.'
YNÞICATE
*
*
tr JEFFERIES
MARK JIX
\.
I
JEAT
Þ
"I've got to pace meself tonight . . ."
* (Graham
tr OKULEYS
ìR,.ANÞ
*
"I'm from G-I-S and I'm here to help you."
COR.NER
(Hugh van Es.
x
RHKYC
ANNEX
CORR.ESPONDENTJ
LOAÞER.f
"Calvados doesn't affect me . . .',
it
LIP5 VAN
FREE
x
"Hold runs."
I . ." (Bert okuley)
"Anyone know where
REÞ
BRIGAÞE E.'
(Keith Shakespeare)
"I'll have one more Bell's, then I must
Address
0oa
x "So do
FCC BAR GUIDE
(BrianJefferies)
\l/ rñ
Name
EÞ
)<
"I'm not balding!"
0ohn Brembridge)
THE CORRESPONDENTOctobeT
1939
55
CLUB NEWS
FOR many years, the Club has been holding comPetitions to test members' ability to lift a pint of lager and drink it fast. Those who have taken part in this form of sport in the '70s (toþ row, second fron't lefi) seem to have withdrawn from competition' However, several new contestants have entered the scene, as witnessed
.inir ?iiqi:,
':
at the most recent competition held
last November. That contest ended with Karl Wilson as the winner of the men's division while WendY KaY took the
women's title (toþ roa,Iefi) ' Beer drinking contests, bY no means, is the Club's major social event. There are manY other functions that draw large attendance' In the past two Years the Club has had fashion shows, food festivals, not to mention the ladies' night New Year celebrations and ice house
E H
anniversaries.
I
56 run
coRRESPoNDENT ocroBER
1989
FCC AnniuersarY Sþecial
FCC Anniuersary Sþecial
r
THE CORRESPONDENT OCTOBF]R 1g8g 57
CLUB NEWS
t,
* I
I
a
(
I
(i 58 rsn
coRRESPoNDENT ocroBER
1989
FCC Anniaersary Sþecial
a
I
PE O PLE AS the pcc celebrates its 40th anniver-
sary in Hong Kong, save a case of
champagne for Clare Hollingworth, the
against Jews and foreigners, retreated
to the corridor. This gave Clare just
enough time to phone the British Embassy for help - almost certainly
doyenne ofwar correspondents for the past 50 years, she will be 78 this month. s ofThe Sunday
saving her life." Clare's scoop-studded journalistic
Clare during the
career is awash with many more of
rt of ìMorld War II last month, said: 'Age has not diminished the maddening discretion with which she cloaks
such stories, but known oniv to a few
1
Manchester
Guardian, Alastair Hetherington, who
was then editor, called her in and
asked bluntly: "Are
you working for
as now, Clare,
vlo?" (She wasn't,
is
but there were
matched only by her
grounds
modesty, is "a very pri-
unassuming and quite content to be seen as a hardworking profes-
on the paper.)
Yet, curiously, journalism was far-
sional whose lite is
Everythingis geared to heþyou from your Mæintosh, so you owe it to your business to get more
HONG KONG CONVENTÏON AND EXHIBITTON CENTRE Roon 404 10125t89
-
ll:004 m 12:00 [oon
Centre and filled it
with the
latest and most interesting third-
parry hardware and software developments.
The three day exhibition & seminar programme is dedicated to Apples Mæintosh technology and is designed to appeal to everyone from computer professionals to general users, There llevenbe apublic domain library where you can copy valuable Macintosh software free of charge.
Ve'll be unveilng some important new breakthroughs
in Chinese operating systems: The Mæinhsh ChineseTalk and Chinese page layout software, æ
02
00pn
-
Thellagicof Ihæ
Vhat ß ir? ând Hov b use il? N¿tional ìlerkeong \lÐagpr lor Ilrhimedrr Sôhrrion( Ànnlp r,nxdx
t0t26189 10:00 a m
ll:004
ll:30 a m
ÀWle[ùFal
-
trlckjnrry
Design
pm.-
of
DPI
San
Fruciso
b
߀comea
Quãliry
hwer
to.qußitor
Mvared Cmphß T4hniques Dai8n
Ass
&
Apple
-
m
vsmd
/\'erbum Maguine,
USA
Uscr Ixperknce (in Canbnese)
rcintosh CEphic D€sign fr p€rierce Diredor Àrcw Produdions Ltd
de Consulhnß Ud
Drubde
User[xpericnce Hov ro ProKt Yourllac from lirus? tÞn Chan, Ilicm SysþmsSuppoilSpeciålist Apple Far Eat llåcinlosh ßusins Solut¡on CAD \þMCÁD for lnterior D6ign BinÆh Tiahiono. lnrerior Desimer U*rEtlæri€nce
'Thid $ãvc L€¿rning - New 1èchnolo8i€s for Edtrcdon & Coeoßte TmininA Sco[ kremân [ducation trlånager Ápple Far Eal
Ânimalion & 3D Cflphið Jack D¿vis,lHù¡vis D6ign Assoc/\brbum trlr€¿ine, US4
l:l:30
p
User
-
0200pm-
hperiere
Hov to &com€ a Poñrr llser? V¡lson, Quality turqußìtorFtr Eðt ^pple trlacinlosh Busincs Solurion 0flìce Aubmalion
m
Ändw
KqnoFSpe{h rept?r Ilultimediå Whatisil? md hul
03:00 Pm
How to üse it?
Wallaron, N4ional Ilarkcling Ilrnâger for
IulLim€diaSolurions
-
Ioftl Pm!¡snB [reùhc - Å.honTâre
0À Solulions inSpffiúhepr ãnd Slertn Hong, Prcducr Suppon
ApplcCîndâ
K€ynoreSDæch Éplây U:00
p
n
05:00 p m
Ldß
Ilâûntosh Chinese 0ænt¡ng S).nem ,nd Desktop toblishing Solutions Ubo \frrlering Diredor& ì1\f Chan, DTPSp€rirlisl Applc FarE6t
Ilæinbsh BusinessSolution 0ffrce,lubnlation Letrn b fb with \lingz È\rúordinîl Slreâdshedingtbol trlth?cl Bmwn lnfomN SofNare Inc
Horline 5-8803613
brand new Mæs: Mac IIci, a top of the line 6SO3O bæe CPU running at25MHz. And, for the upwardly mobile, the very fust Macintosh
Glue
-
II:JOa m
what you see is
Port¿ble.
lishing
Deliveing the pover of lnfomîrion to t)eople Kelvin Lm, lsiaiccqnttrfan4er À_ovell Inc.
Far[ar
Câpóilili6
Keynde spech
lo:UU a m
-ASIA
NNare
Ku Chilì Ping,
10121189
CÁD
Ef[4live Dahbae llmâgement forb6e+ trlAC 2 0 llichpllp ße.Ä$r \lenagpr(CoryoÉle\laíkÂrng) lmaginpprinB
User?
Keynote Spe4h
f
-
IlæintoshhsinssSolution NNork¡ng How
JækDavis,JHD¿Vis
0i:00pm
DiKbr
Us€r Erp€riere
Ándßv Wikon,
03:00tìm
ÀuloCAD
Bur Chinbe Raymondlte,
trlæinloshBusine$Solution ColorDsktop tublishinB
S@e
l2:30pm
ll:00i
YourMac from Virus?
DânChú, IlicmSyrffisSuprcrtSNialist-
0200fm-
04:00
Pdæt
Kqnore Spech
-
m
-
lla(inbsh
HoN to
0tmÞm
CAD
ManagingDiKLor
Dâþb4e 4lh Dimension 2 0 deb6e rh^t dso speâÌs Chin6e Nlârlon Chðng, ilânagingDiffilor ACI AsìâLtd
trlullimedia kul Vdlòþn, User Expeience
04 00 pm
Amdr
llæinGh tusin6sSlurion
KEnolcspeæh
03 00 pm
DII
We'll also be showing two
MacinGh Ch¡nse 0peÉing Sysem ând D6krop toblishing Solulions
be there.
Chinese
what you get.
Room 406
kJnoreSp@h
Louis{bo,trlarke¡ingDiræto.&fIl Chan, DIPSpecialist ÀppleFtrtal
Weve taken an entire floor in the Convention and Exhibition
LæerV'riter. For the frst time in
Our dealers and third-pæty hardware & software suppliers will demonstrate their most advanced business solutions like CAD/CAM, Desktop Publishing, düabæe management, multi-vendor nel working environment and multiruffenq/ æcounting syst€m, to name a few So whether you're a Mæ user or not, there ll be lots to see and lots to leam at AppleWorld 'B!. Call our Hotline 5-8803613-5
and reserve your seats now. 0r you'11 be left standing.
-
5
Ú apfleComputer
thest from
very much her work." The woman who saw Hitler's tanks roll into Poland, the terror of the oes in Algeria, and the horrors of the
Vietnam War, has
puckish streak
for
Hetherington's suspicions elsewhere
vate person, utterly
well æ the specially designed
of the
stories for
her profession."
APPLEVORLD'89 OCTOBER 25TH-27TH
party followed suit.
startled when, after
aclysmic events she has witnessed ... it is only from friends that one discovers the extraordinary life she has led in the pursuit of
AppleÏíorld is backl And this year it's bigger and better than ever.
laughter when recalling the "rather startled" look on the British ambassador's face as other members of the
an impressive run
her own role in the cat-
then,
her clothes off and dived into ttre water. A diplomat who was present roars with
Then, Clare's turn to be
¡
whose courage
embassy picnic by a river on a hot summer's day when Clare suddenly threw
the
career goals of Clare, the daughter of a well-to-do coun-
ty
family
in
Thistleton, Rutland,
who grew up in a world that expected little more of her than that she marry an eligible landowner like all her other friends. Since her father did not
a
privileged
and
uncanny presence of
mind in crisis situa-
tions. The episode that
best illustrates this goes back to the time
when fascist thugs of Rumania's Iron Guard
believe in "educated women," Clare was sent to a boarding
pounded up the stairs to her third floor flat in
Bucharest in
school f"t young for ililiä frnrin.*orrh. trcu^rt. î¡i¡t^+--)-- times +:^"^^^ :^^ "utlY Clare Hollingworth: Usually, tt the" øao+ most frightening 1940. in wa_r,are when nothing is "trro ladies ladies at al haþþentng' ^ r>horo:southchinafuorningpo$ As recounted by ä-"-îr'^,,--^,,r.was was
took She into gar-
an' sex see
Clare rebelled against Eastbourne and was allowed to begin her real edu_ cation near home at a grammar school
"Disconcerted, the Guards who Em6assy. were conducting a campaign of terror In a lighter vein, there was FCC Anniuersary Sþecial
the
in Ashh.r-.lo-1. 7^"^l 'T.Ll^ in Ashby_de_la_Zouch. This l^l led +^ to a^ scholarship in Slavonic studies at
r¡ndonuniversityandteachingjobsin
THE CORRESPONDENT OCTOBER
1989
61
PE O PLE Zagreb, Prague and Geneva, where Clare worked for the læague of Nations
on refugee problems. By this time, Clare had become Mrs Vivian Robinson, the wife of a rich, upperclass Englishman whom her contemporaries describe as "a handsome, hopeless drifter." With his money and
her language skills, the couple spent months roaming the Balkans while Hitler consolidated his power in Berlin. On the outbreak of World \Mar II, the
Robinsons'marriage ended and both decided to go their separate ways. In 1939, Clare's knowledge of the languages and potential battlefields of Eastern Europe landed her a staffjob with the Daily TelegraþØ. It also gave the young reporter the extraordinary opportunity of witnessing Germanyrs blitzkreig across the Polish border,
shortþ before dawn on September
1.
For a few hectic hours that morning, Clare found herself trapped behind the rapidly advancing German tanks as she
drove frantically eastwards from the border town of Katowice to $et back to Warsaw with her story. It was at that
dramatic moment, as she desperately dashed down sideroads and tracks to avoid German tanks, that it dawned on Clare what she was going to do with her life: she threw herself into a career as a foreign correspondent. It was an inspired decision and the timing was flawless, because this was a great time to be a foreign correspondent. Clare moved from The Telegraþh to The Daily Exþress, and reported the fall of the Balkans, the Western Desert
campaign, the civil war in Greece in 1946 and various other post-war crises,
including the bloody birth of Israel. Srhat made Clare's reputation and
celebrity status among her peers was the Algerian war in the '50s and early '60s. At the height of her zooming career, Clare found happiness in a second marriage, to Geoffrey Hoare, a fellow journalist she first met in Cairo during the war. Hoare had been a Times
correspondent, but by the time they married at the Kensington Registry Office in 1951, he had taken up a post with the News Chronicle inParis. Clare followed him, working as a
correspondent
for
NZA
Meat Co., Limited AGENT FOR
the
New Zealand chilled beef and Iamb, 10 Fort Street, G/F North Point, Hong Kong Telephone 5-665415 (6 lines) Telex 66129 HX Fax No. 5-8071352
missions with American ground forces in Vietnam and it was just hard slog all the way. In the air, someone else does
all the work and one is much more aware of the danger. Usually, the most frightening times in war are when nothing is happening." Courage of a different kind was called for, following her husband Geoffrey's death from a stroke in 1965. She was inVietnam when she heard he had taken ill, and returned in time to share the last three weeks of his life. It
was a terrible blow and even no.w a subject too painful for discussion. Surprisingly, the key to Clare's professional success, in the view of her peers, "has never been her writing, which is workmanlike; nor her breath-
profit can tum into a loss in a matter of seconds. 'Which is why a
your screen gets your undivided attention.
,\t
Glerate, we've given our undivided attention
to the world's
financial markets. As a pioneer of
electronic real-time information systems, Glerate reports prices, news, plus in-depth commentary and analysis
for market movers. 24 hours a
day.
To help you react to a changing financial world, you can access comprehensive coverage of any financial
instrument worldwide.
In addition, Glerate
adds value
computer-based anaþtical tools
with sophisticated
that allow you to
perform extensive calculations and manipulate live
of the market
Obseruer.
Zhou Enlai's wife was a confidante during Clare's long years in Beijing. The Shah of Iran remained a friend from their first meeting in the 1940s.
The
Together, they
toured
the
Middle East for their papers, and bought a cottage
in the
and gave riotous
large Paris flat. By the late '50s, Clare came
to be regarded as one of the best correspondents covering the Algerian war,
defying threats and terror tactics
by the dreaded
OAS squads. Clare's colleagues and friends all agreed
that she never
62 rr¡r, coRRESPoNDENT ocroBER 1989
"I remember going on dangerous
n today's financial world,
though that is, but rather her range of
parties at their
J-
about what is going on to worry too much. Anyway, I would be a liar if I said that there wasn't a thrill in flying combat missions. There is something very compelling about war in the air.
Guardian, The Economist, and
¡¡
Ittt rdrañnn
action, under fire, you're too concerned
market data. The result: a clear, well-informed view
r-/ USA Top Quality Beef
"The truth is," Clare told MacManus, "that when you're in
IF YOU SPECIALISE IN FNAI\CE, SHOI.]LDN'T YOLIR INFORNIATION SOLJRCE Do TI{E SA[,IE?
taking courage, attractive thought
Manchester
hills behind Antibes,
silms0n.
shows fear under fire because she gets a strange kick out ofviolence.
contacts."
'The reason for Clare's success is her fabled reputation of never having broken an undertaking or going back on a promise to a contact." Showered with honours, including the osn and the Hannen Swafer prize
'We're
-
as
it
happens.
also dweloping future generations of
transaction services which
will allow
traders to
electronically execute transactions, 24 hows
a day.
Fast and accunte financial information uppermost
in your mind all the time.
Choose the
company that thinks the same way.
for her Algerian coverage, Clare has four books to her name and an autobiography in the Front Line, d:ue to be published byJonathan Cape earþ next year.
China, which is the focus of her work now, mainly for defence magazines, is also the source of her one great regret. "I never got to interview Mao. But then, no one else did. So I don't feel too badly about it."
-
VernonRam
Anecdotes and quotes excerpted formWoman At War,
the Amazing life of Clare HoLlingworth, by James MacManus in The Sund.q Telegraph Reuieu.
FCC Anniaersary Sþecial
is
L_TELERATEThe Financial lnformation Network Glerate (Asia-PaciÊc) Limited, 16lF, Three Exchange Square, 8 Connaught Place, Central, Hong Kong. Tel: 852-5-8682687 Tokyo Gl:813-506-0555, HongKong'1e1:852-5-273686, Singapore Tel:65-223-0736, Sydney Gl:612-267-5500, Melbourne Gl:613-650-3488, Brisbane TèI:617-227-7255, ,\delaide Tel:678-231.-0684, Perth Tè1:6t9-48t-0I44, Täipei Gl:8862-757-8888, Seoul Gl:822-390-3570/5, Manila fè1:632-816-2436, Bangkok 'îel:662-236-6788, Kuala Lumpur Tel:603-238-4777, Wellington TeI:644-852-516, Auckland Gl: 649-370-905, J"krrr" Tel:62-21-345-791
PE O PLE IN HER street clothes and mod, wedge hairdo, Mimi Mario would be undistinguishable from the yuppie teenagers who crowd Central's upmarket boutiques.
But inside the dining areas at the Foreign Correspondentsr Club, Mimi,
know and recognise members by their names and
their Club numbers, a valuable aid when greeting a member or in preparing his or her bill.
"The actual challenge,"
the baby{aced waitress with the mostest, is all attention as
in
she drapes the napkin on your lap and waits for your
rush hours and in being able
Form Five at St Margaret Girls'College in Caine Road and responded to ajob advertisement placed by the ncc. Simon, the assistant head-
waiteç took Mimi under his wing in the initial months as she learned the ropes of a job aboutwhich she knew little. To start with, she didn't even know how to set a table.
Patient coaching by peers
Everyday Thehst.
She also learned, before long, to
Mimi says, "is in being able to remember who ordered what
order while deftly filling your goblet with fresh water. Mimi, who turned 21 in July, is the rookie among the serving staff, even though she has been with the Club since 1987, the year she finished
FlidnProfiles.
it a drink or a dessert.
and Captain Joseph gave Mimi the confidence and inhouse training to be able to second-guess what a member would want or prefer, be
a
crowded table during the
to deliver that to each person in correct order. In the earþ days, I used to get confused or
nervous and make mistakes.
Thatwaswhen the captain or headwaiter came to my rescue and sorted out the situation. And I made a note of the mistake so as not to repeat it." Starting with the brealdast routine - the 7 a.m. to 9.30a.m.
shift on the verandah, followed by table setting and other chores until3 p.m. -
Mimi has now graduated to the main dining room, where she moves with quiet efficiency and conidence. The work is less of a challenge now than it seemed when she frst took up the job. What does the future hold for Mimi? Ideally, she fancies being a flight stewardess.
She can't get that job,
Mimi Mario at work.
Photo: Ray Cranbourne
though, because she is short on qualifications, not having
her education to be able one
completed the minimum requireme_nt of Form Six. But she is not disappointed because she has plans to
job. Meanwhile, Mimi begins
attend night school to widen
begin any day. - Vernon Ram
day to go into a travel-related
each morning with a cheer-
ful smile, the finest way to
Farewell to Chiao
South China Mglning
lost
Deng calls Zhao a
traitor
Attack marks bittcr strugglc for powcr --re
\,_¿--
----
ã+-* r'5 --5 -. --,L-,1--_:._a-53i -,---i
A great daily newpaper gives you more than the facts that matter. It's a friend. And as in all true friendships, little touches add to bigger issues. That's why you'll find more and more people read the South China Morning Post every day. Make a habit of The Post. Call us today. Ve'll see you never miss another issue.
Chaio Chin-Chen, who has worked with the Club
since 1949 retired last year. Chiao (centre) is seen here receiving a farewell gift from the then president of the Club, Derek Davies. Photo: Hugh van Es
5-652473 FCC Anni uersary Sþecial
THE CORRESPONDENT OCTOBER 1989
65
KODAK EKTACHROME
IOO(
PE O PLE
F'CC BAR
CAPTAIN
Stephen Kwok may not be the most senior member of the Club staff. But his face has to it the familiarity of an old newspaper masthead. At 41, the bespectacled and portly bar captain, who has logged 16 years with the Club, has grown accustomed
to his role as he circulates with quiet authority around the Club's main oval bar on the ground floor, supervising a crew of six or seven, dis-
pensing drinks and taking orders for food or snacks, checking stocks and keeping in touch with the bars in the basement and on the dining
room floors.
Stephen Kwok
respectful distance from members, a trait he has
Stephen, who is answerable to Sammy Cheung, who is in charge of all three bars, has seen the Club grow from its Sutherland House days in the r70s, to its present glory. Blooded by veterans like Liao, the bar supervisor since
passed on to fellow members of the bar staff, there is little that escapes Stephen's eagle eye as he keeps track olcomings and goings in the Club's
the Club's days in Chung-
Richard Hughes and David
king, and three captains (:u, Lai and Chan), Stephen has indeed worked his way to the top after joining the pcc in 1973 as an apprentice waiter. Earlier, he had worked in a garmentfacto
ry at a time when that
industry faced pressures of export restrictions and
trading quotas. An all-rounderwho can
neatly slide into any department at the ncc,
Stephen's principal asset has been his ability to keep the bar humming through all hours of the day until closing time in the early hours of the morning, particularly on Fridays and holiday weekends.
Though he keeps
a
most active floor. Stephen also speaks fond-
ly of members like the late Bonavia, men he speaks
Photo: Ray Cranbourne
about with warmth
and
the rcc has not hired bar-
respect. Knowing the regulars around the Oval Bar, like Burt Okuley, Charlie Smith and Irene O'Shea, he has their favourite drinks ready even before they have ordered. One of the things he has noticed is that the pcc now has more women members than ever before. Asked why
maids, Stephen believes they
somehow would not fit in with the Club's image and clientele. "Also it would be difficult to attract the right Ăžpes, who may not fancy the hours of work, particularly late in the night." Given the fact there is a
tremendous demand for staff in the hotel industry, which offers better remuneration
packages,
Stephen said he
had not
been
tempted into mak-
ing a change. "I have been here 16
years and have three daughters aged between sev-
en and 15. I enjoy
Besides,
my work
here among friends. I
certainly don't fan-
cy dropping all this to start afresh somewhere else."
In a
way,
Stephen speaks for most of the senior staff at the
FCC
who
have
become a part of The Club's oval bar Sutherland House where Stephen Kwok received training under Li (in dark su
FCC Anniuersary SĂžecial
the institution that
has now got into their system. -Vernon Ram
CLUB NEWS
How moods change at parties!
68 ruB
coRRESPoNDENT ogroBER
1989
FCC Anniuersary Sþecial
THE coRRESPoNDENT ogroBER rssg
69
CLUB NEWS Sports and I-eisure MANY Club members are active sports people. They take part in a variety of sports - but mainly tennis, squash, sailing and golf. Snooker, billiards and pool tournaments are held in the Club every year. Yantze is another popular game played at the Clubrs basement sports bar area lastyear a Club team also took part in
the annual Maclehose Trail walk for charity. Andy Sloan, (aboue),
the 1978 Clutr pool
champion. Below, a pool game in progress,
CongratuLations to the FCC on its
40th Anniversary from
NAM F"T]NG NIIRSERIES LTD. No. 11, Braemar Hill Shopping Centre, Braemar Hill Road, North Point, Hong Kong. Tel: 5-788416 - 8, 5-788110
The
CLUB NEWS
RIGHT: a game of yantze in progress. BELOW: Scoreboard lor yantøe contest.
log la-.?
We understand that advice comes in many different forms, So when someone comes to us on the advice of a friend, we listen, For fifteen yean, Matheson PFC has been
helping individuals to meet their financialgoals through sound financial advice.
Congratulations to the FCC on its Ruby Anniqtersery. rtlllr
sifl
M*J"4sp,"o."*PHS,\\\{x
1301 World Trade Centre, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong Tèlephone 5-8908448, Facsimile 5 -8902524
FCC Anniu ersary Sþecial
THE CORRESPONDENT October ßeS 7 3
PROTECTING PEOPLE AN D PROPE
CLUB NEWS
Todoy, occess control ploys
RTY
o moior
port in personol ond compony security.
At Chubb we've developed flexible ond relioble occess control systems. Our systems con be used in oll kinds of premises,
Horse racing attracts a good number of Club members (aboae). But some others took to the South China sea for sailing and fishing.
Congratul
o) .S
3 o
{a Ò
¿
from offices ond foctories to hotels, oportment buildings ond even privote homes.
For more detoiled informotion obout fronic occess control coll us todoy!
-
elec-
the key of the future
-
FINE WINES AN
^rÃ,Fi+iÉ
1-5 Floor, First Commercial Building, 33-35 Leighton
EEGffi
74
rtrF. CORRBSPONDENT october
1989
FCC Anniuersary Sþecial
CHU88
HONG KONc
LIMITED
THEsEcuRrryCENTRE,4srcAsrLEPEAKRoAD KowLooN HoNcKoNG
IEL 3 7469628 T€LtX: 3814ì
rhe
Etø,on,c Grup
CHSEC HX FAX: (852) 3,7850ó58
GOIDHN HARVË$T PRffiSËNT$
CLUB NEWS
Golf has gained
popularity among Club members lately and an FCC GoH Society has been formed this year.
GIVE YOUR PRESENTATIONS
TFIE PROFESSIONAL TOUCH Presenlolions hove never been simpler, ond freer. Just feed your grophics & doto files through the projec-
Hmw
tion ponel direci lo the projector while you monipulote your presentotion os you like on the loptop computer,
When connected to the Diconix polroble printer, you'll get o hordcopy on poper or overheod film os well,
And you con impress your
oudience onywhere
you
wish with this combinotion of
llritten
-
and oseasianally starring TËlË ütRRË$p0ruDEruT$ who have eot¡*ed Asia for thc past four dceadcs, Featuqcd ûppeêrantes by JtURNALI$T ffiEffiBER$, Plus a huge supporting east of A$$CIelATE ffiEtuTBËR$, and photagraphed by
-
us on 3-ó89ó37 for further deloils.
or drop
in to your neorest Toppon Moore
Retoil Oullels
portobility
Golden HarvestGroup
coll
slore. Kowloon, Tel: 3-ó80003 No, ó3, 2/F Admirolty Shopping Arcode, Admirolly Cenhe, Hong Kong, lel: 5-270090 No I 31, I /F Pen¡nsulo Centre, Tsimsholsui Eost, Kowloon Tel: 3-ó89ó37
1G28, Bosemenl Pen¡nsulo Cenlre,lsimshotsui Eosl,
El ropper
uooRE (Er)
LTD.
HETPING BUSNESs MANAGE INFORMAIIoN
2/t,WingOnDeporlmenlSlore.2ìì
DesVoeuxRood,SheungWon,HongKong ¡elt5-447795 Desgned ond Produced by Toppon lloore (Htg Ltd
Distributed through Golden Communications
FCC Anniuersary Sþecial
- Adveûsng
THE CORRESPONDENT October tsss
77
v I_.. ':J-
\
CLUB NEWS
Bre$uet Precision mastery since 1775
I-ast year, a joint FCC/American Club softball team bravely challenged a visiting team from San Francisco's Washington Square Bar & Grill. The
visitors won the match. And this year' a Club team and the Hon$ Kong Yacht Club's weekend sailors matched their skills at cricket. The yachties rvon the game.
Ir
¡r ¡r
I I I t
¡
6
I,t t'
I " t l,n,ll'
tlli tlll
i:ffii LIVE ENTERTAINMENT
SPECTACULAR
HARBOUR VIEWS
Wine Bar & Restaurant
,/
104-206 Tower 2, Exchange Square, Central, Hong Kong. Tel: 5-231003
HONG KONG'S ONLY REAL WINE BAR! OPEN Mon - Sat 8:00 a.m. - midnight
,/ ù FCC Anniuersary Sþecial
ê
Sole Agena: Swiss
7
Import Export Tiading Co., Ltd. Hong Kong 5-273046
Congratulations to
The Foreign Correspondents' Club on its 40th anniversarY f rom
Congratulations
THE FOREIGN Congratulations to The Foreign CorresPondents' Club on its 40th anniversarY from
SIJN WAH MARINE PRODUCIS (H.K.) CO. TTD. FAX: 0-4563054 TUEN MUN TOWN LOT 274, AREA44, TELEX: 43e83 GcPRo HX rúrñ uúñ. N.T., HoNG KoNG
CORRESPONDENTS' CLUB
TO THE
on
TEL: 0-4688868
its 40th Anniversary Congratulations to The Foreign Correspttndents' Club on its 40th anniversary from
r'.ö? ""íã*'- ffiFmñËm¿lEl SHING HING FBozEN MEAT
'='ää;fu,
1n
Hong Kong
co.
rärÅ,lorto,
Congratulations to
The Foreign CorresPondents' Club on its 40th anniversary from
Tai Pan Laundry & Dry Cleaning Services, Ltd'
WITH THE COMPLIMENTS OF
corrpartnrent 95, Tsuen'Wan 'E' Godown 54-64 Chai \Øan Kok Street, Tstren \Van Hong Kong. Tel: 0-493479I-4Fax:0-4768695
Congratulations to
The Foreign CorresPondents' Club on its 40th anniversarY from
PRINTLINE LTD
PLBLISHERS. INFOWATION CONSULTANTS' ED]TORIAL SERVLCES
UNIT B, 18/F HARVARD HOUSE 105-111 THOMSON ROAD WANCHAI, HONC KONC
FlalJ,l4lF Yip Cheung Centre, 10 Fung Tel: 5-568268,
S-S-OSOO8
Y1R
S-t,ChaiWan, Hong Kong
Tlx: 61167 VAYIP HX Cable: TFCYIP
Communication Management Ltd.
GROUPPUBLICATIONS Elle.Eve.HomeJournal .HongKongBusiness.HongKongTatler.Mode.SingaporeEve.SingaporeTatler
CLUB NEWS
I
È: Èi Ë \J tf-,l \rY
/-\ \J :,
I-
b9
-e äc (1
o!È
È€ t-l
x.-, \J
9
hc
€) (1 -
v
¿'
I
b
r
¡'
An FCC-backed team took part in the loo-kilometre Maclehose Trail walk last year and collected more than $1O,O0O for charity. A similar expedition is in the making for this year. Meanwhile, one Club member went for something more adventurous - paraplane flying in China. He landed on a tree.
¡, ¿{
',fl
I
,,t-'\4 I
ETAK .-Ø¿.,.-.¿¿n,/ -%/ "We toast the FCC , d free press, democracJ and fr ee r esÞonsible þeoþle
eqr
ery wher e ."
-l
LI FE STYI-E
The Correspondent's guide to living out in Asia
Congrotulotions
SURVEY conducted among Fcc members last year found that most members travel in Asia, many of them more than six times a year. Most members also eat out frequently, whether they are travelling or not. Travelling and eating out being so much apart of our life, The CorresĂžondent asked 12 journalists who cover Asia for regional or world media to name their favourite hotels and restaurants for this "Correspondentrs Guide to Asia". This is what they had to say:
to
The Foreign Correspondents' Club Hong Kong
Bangkok
DIRTY, noisy, trafficjammed. Bangkok is the gateway to Thailand and even more dangerous locations. Indochina, Burma and the
ever-popular Golden Triangle are each an hour away
If you can't handle the Oriental's fantastic rates,
o1d
correspondent favourites like
the Trocadero and
the redecorated Royale are still good bargains.
Nick's No 1 is popular for European food while wait-
ers on roller skates serve their dishes at the biggest
from the sophistication of outdoor restaurant on earth Thailand's capital of eight -The Tam NakThai.
on its 40th Anniversory
million. Riverside breakfasts at the "world's best hotel" is mandatory for anyone visit-
If you can't take another day without Dim Sum, the Tien Tien is a good excuse for visiting Patpong Road.
ing Bangkok.
- Karl Wilson
Beijing
THE best hotel is
the Beijing, which is situated in the centre of the city and is
convenient for shopping, sightseeing and obtaining taxis. That is, unless you enjoy waking to wonder whether you are in Dallas,
Amsterdam or London. Although they no longer
ground floor for meeting people.
TheJianguo is more modern and is popularwith diplo
mats; while the Minxu is good but too far away from the centre for the casual coffee orbeer. There are, now no
old-fashioned bars in the city.
A visit to the
famous
Beijing Duck restaurant is essential so, too, in summer is the Peihai I-ake restau-
rantwhich imitates the cooking of the o1d imperial kitchen. One of the Dowager Empress's cooks - no'w over 80 - has trained manyyoung men but still comes in him-
self at weekends. Another
favourite of mine
is
the
- the Grill which is noted for Kaoroufi
Mongolian dishes and is also situated in an attractive spot
deliver hot water for tea making every morning, the hotel has character and there is a
near the Drum Tower and
wide range of restaurants plus two good cafes on the
beside a lake. Food at the International
wifh fhe compliments of
UNITY ENGINEERING CO.,
ulotions
UTD
3 Tsot Po St,, Block B, GrlFl
Son Po Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong
sotY
Iel:5-224224 Tlx: T5140 UTCBR HX Fox: 3-3523448
Designers, Monufocturers ond Controctors for Food Service Equipment
FCC Anniuersary SĂžecial
THE coRRESPoNDENT ogroBER rgsg
85
LI F'E STYLE ers who have the Cantonese craving to do a deal. What to do? Wander the streets, sfoll along under the
Club is disappointing but the drinks are all right esPeciallY
by the swimming Pool in summer.
-
Clare Hollingworth'
Guangzhou
SOPHISTICATES scoff' "Guangzhou?" they murmur. 'Tlrhat's there?"
Alot.
of the city. Menu imaginative, wine terrific, service supreme. The Silk Road at the White
Shamian Island where Zou Enlai once led rioters to rout the Brits, and two years later was given sanctuary bY them
thatthe Chinese in Chinacan
most fascinating destinations in China. Because of the centuries-long association with foreigners, it s a lot easier to get about than most Places in
down the Canton Commune Uprising. Stop at one of the hundreds of stalls or restau-
Hong Kong has rubbed off;
of the people who approach you. 'You Hong Kong?" they ask. "My brother there."
China. The proximitY to
people are open, business is
easy, the atmosPhere is relaxed, the red $100 note of
rants for a cold Zhú Jians (Pearl River) beer; you're sure to get a storY from one
Hong Kong is accePted freelY - nay, eagerly-bY shoPkeeP
Where to eat? The best French restaurant in China is
the Connoisseur at the
down on gids who have reaP
in such establishments. The best bar in the city is the Corner Bar at the China Hotel, just over the road from the big Fair build-
peared
The Roof at the Chinagives a view over the old, tiled walls
spreading banyans that border the esplanade alongside the mighty Pearl River. Muse on the ironies of historY on
during the 1927 slaughter when the Kuomintang Put
The old port citY on the Pearl remains one of the
Garden Hotel. The decor is superb. The food is better.
Swan is elegant, and proof a firstclass foreþ restaurant. The renowned, glorious Parxi Tea House is the most
run
famous dimsum establishment on earth. Don't bother
eating Cantonese food in Guangzhou. It's better in HongKong.
Where to drink? Free-
enterprise bars are springing up all over the city. But be
careful if you feel like more a Tsingdao, Baiyun or Zhu Jiang beer (about m¡e10 each.) The current campaign
than
against spiritual pollution means police are cracking
ings. And
if you want to
know what's happening out in the South China Sea oilfields, don't bother with government officials but droP into the magnificent lobbY
bar at the White Swan
where you can sip
a
cocktail
based on mao-tai and watch the Pearl River flow Past the 40ft-high glass windows on its way down to the sea and HongKong. - Keuin Sinclair
ONCE the home of the Pcc, the Hilton Hotel todaY is a
home away from home for the travelling journalist or
ln conjunction with Garfin Productions Ltd, the FCC is offering 1990 diaries and an address book with goldstamped FCC logo and personal name or initials. For your convenience the diairies will be booked and paid for via the FCC' Pñc¡ lHlf Spcci¡l 0urntily Diæouttt
1
-21
Conecpondent¡' Club
De¡k Diary :orei gn Correcpondent¡'
25-{9
50
-
ovsr
300
É5
235
150
125
118
135
128
otY Amount
:oleign Correrpondont¡' Oub tocket Add¡o¡¡ Book
from all of us at
Pacific Davies rty Consultants throughout Asia payaole to Forelgn enclosed (cheque paiable Club) Correspondents'
O Payment
O Bill my FCC MembershiP account
0ub
¡ockgt Diary
40th
Hong Kong
| 990 DlAl RlEs
FCC
Forei gn
to the FCC on its
Signature: 160
Daytime Delivery Address Total
FIRST PACIFIC DAVIES
Free goldstamping for the. following names:
Desk Diary.. Telephone:
Pocket 0iary....,,,.....,. Pocket Address Book
.............
Mail order to Foreign correspondents' club, North Block, 2 Lower Albert Road, Hong Kong
86 ruB
FIRST PACIFIC
coRRESPoNDENT ocroBER
1989
Free Delivery w¡thin Hong Kong Territorìes' Overseas dolivery will be charged accordingly'
FCC Anniuersary Sþecial
(HONG KONG) LIMITED
23RD FLOOR TWO EXCHANGE SQUARE 8
CONNAUGHT PLACE CENTRAL HONG KONG
LIF'ESTYLE foreign correspondent l¡cated in the shadåw of the new Bank of China
skyscraper next door, the Hilton is just a stone's throw
from the FCC's lce House Street quarters. The best bar in town is still that of the Pcc,
the Grandstand Grille, meeting place of the racing fraternity and original home ofthe Long Lunch. Or drop downstairs to "Someplace Else," a basement club frequented by the w crowd and other prime-time swingers.
but the Hilton's Dragon
Back on Hong Kong
Boat is cozy, and it's right
island, in the Causeway Bay district to be precise, head
next door to the world- class
Grille Room. Whenthe Clubwentbroke
for the Casa Mexicana, whose slogan is "we party every night' and one that the
Kowloon restaurant, not far fromThe Peninsula, where lobby habitues like to sip tea and look for celebrities. Hong Kong's newest jazz club is named just that, The Jan Club.It's located in the
funky Lan Kwai Fong dis-
Mandarin, but the two I would recommend for visiting hacks are:
The Borobudur
-
the
small exfa distance from the business centre and the wellworn quality of the decor are compensated for by pleasant
trict, just down the road from
lobbies with good restau-
the Fcc, and where aging hipsters mix with yuppies
rants, bars, shops and exten-
and other would-be trend-set-
courts and the biggest hotel-
ters.
A
warning: bring
sive gardens, four tennis swimming pool an1'where.
Try to get a room on one of
takes
extremely seriously.
money, or bread, or moolah. And finally, for a down-toearth pub, where almost any-
From there it moved to larger quarters upstairs, on the 25th floor below the Eagle's Nest, before finally moving to the
For more leisurely, as well as reasonably priced, dining, head down Wyndham Street from the pcc and duck into
thing goes, drop into the Hong Kong Press Club, strategically situated in Lockhart Road. For the
with
late, lamented Sutherland
Jimmy's Kitchen,
House in early 1968. For anyone fnding himself across Victoria Harbour "on
Kong landmark. (The same
uninitiated, that's in the heart of the Suzy Wong District. Bert Okuley
ly well-known I-andau's,
the
which has relocated to the
in the early'60s, it took refuge in a fourth-floor fr.mction room
Tex-Mex eatery
next to the swimming pool.
the Kowloon side,"
a Hong
management runs the equal-
-
the floors recently renovated.
The Hotel Indonesia
built by Sukarno
-
Japanese war reparations in the early 1960s, the hotel was locale for The Year of Liaing
Dangerously and a hint of intrigue still hangs around its lobbies. large rooms, dated
furnishings.
Neither
have your
Sheraton Hotel &Towers is
Sung Hung Kai Centre,
Jakarta
accountant jumping up and
hard to beatwhen it comes to both service and cuisine. Try
Wanchai.)
THERE are plenty of expensive newish hotels like The
funds for:
Jimmy's also operates a
To one of
down, leaving plenty of
our neu)est, but "oldest" cttstomers,
Iløppy 4hlc bùrtlcdoy, tCC! facing tbe next decade togetber/ From your "younger" partner in business, Here's
to
N IXE!CI RF CO M PUTE R
I
Probably thebest beer in theworld. 88 rHB
coRRESPoNDENT osfoBER
198e
FCC Anniuersary Sþecial
r LIFESTYLE Eating and drinking: Satay House Senayan,
in the ancient, gloomy bar, and sizzling steak-the house
No shortage of classy lodgings in xr but for atmo-
Jalan Kebon Sirih: an old favourite for satay, gadogado, goat soup etc. Good
speciality responsible for the all-permeating smell and
sphere, the slightly rundown Station Hotel is worth a visit, with its huge rooms,
Indonesian food in clean surroundings, with cold beer. Natrabu, Jalan Sabang:
another old standard, serving hot (chili-style hot, that is) Padang food.
late Night: Tanamor, Jalan Tanah Abang Timur: deafening music, reasonable cover charge and drinks, dim and smokey atmosphere, the demi-monde lethargically at play.
-
Hamish MacDonald
Kuala l,trmpur
THE Coliseum Cafe
on Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman (ex-Batu Road) is the best-
smoke - in the smoggy restaurant. The grumpy Hainanese waiters all look above 70 and ifyou dropyour fork you might as well drop dead. Rooms for rent upstairs
are some of the cheapest in town, probably for good reason. Somerset Maugham, it is said, would arise at the old
Majestic Hotel (now the National Art Gallery) up the street, brealdast, spend the daywriting, then stroll down to The Coliseum for a few stengahs and dinner before retiring with the young person of his choice. He would arise the following morning, brealdast, spend the day wril
known of several holdouts
ing, then stroll up to The Majestic for a few stengahs .
from colonial times: Stengahs
. . and so on.
ceiling fans, vintage lifts and,
for those so inclined, its alleged resident ghost. Also on Batu Road is the murlqF "bar that time forgot'', that of the Rex Hotel where, locals swear, the same
during the Commonwealth conference this month and visiting correspondents are welcome.
-
Sinan Fisek
Manila TTIE Manila Hotel should be the hotel of choice for a visiting correspondent. It is convenient, comfortable and a favourite haunt for people
sarong-clad lady has been holding court for 45 years. When weary of colonial slumming, many KL col-
who make (or like to think they make) the news. The gardens outside include a swimming pool, tennis
Jaya's pub row, Jalan Gasing.
the evenings. The Manila is also accustomed to visiting hacks, and can cater for most
leagues hang out at the Betelnut, a lively pub-cumdisco on Jalan Pinang, or at Rene's Place on Petaling The National Press Club has new quarters in a Jalan Parlimen villa that was reportedly a Japanese interrogation cenfe during World War II. It will be open around the clock
kÈ
courts and a bayside restaurant especially attractive in
of their more demanding requirements, including secretarial and appointment services. Rates are about us$85.
For insomniacs, it also has 24-hour TV from the us Air
SUPER VALUE COMPUÎING PACI(AGES...
AT YOUR CHOICE!
lntegrated utility software
SHARP laptop
Wo*-at-homespecial: Power-uset
spec¡al:
Works + PC Tools Deluxe + Microsoft Works + Microsoft
Pc46o2 PC4641 (40M8)
Traveller speG¡al:
+ STAR NX1000 (9-pin) + STAR NX24-10 (24-pin)
+ K0DAK Diconix 150 (inkjet portable)
= -
1912,390
l$20,900 I $21 ,900
PLUS 3 FREE GIFTS to make your money g0 further: Laptop shoulder bag, letterhead and printer cable.
9O rHB coRRESPoNDENT ocroBER
19s9
FCC Anniuersary Sþecial
HONG KONG GOVERNMENT HEALTH WARNING; CIGARETTE SMOKING IS HAZARDOUS TO YOUR HEALTH LOW TAR (MANUFACTURERS ESTIMATE)
LI FE S"IYLE Force base at Clark. Another source, for occasional news tips for hacks on the trot, is
Mama Letty, still plays
a
The top category, which also includes journalists, covers
people who dislike both India and the Indians. Next come those who dislike Indians but like India - the landscape, the lifestyle,big bungalows, servants, polo etc. The third category con-
mean game of Scrabble.
the Intercontinental Hotel in
in Filipino food. Try also The a
Makati, a haunt favoured by politicians on the inside and outside track, newspaper columnists and a few who seem to hanker for the Marcos Days. Eating out is not a Michelin Guide experience in Manila but among
Across the street from D'Spider and the Eagle's Nest and the China füastare
block from Remedios, where
fivo other restaura¡rts: another
the coffee shop at
Graphically speaking
are mostly European, and the Patio Mequene, just off the Circle, which specialises
the better places are the Nielsen Tower in Makati. It
Hobbit, on A. Mabini,
the live music is
good
(though loud) the ambience petite and the food only pass-
in Mexican food (excellentmagueritas) and a dozen or so restaurants in Greenbelt, a shopping plaza cialises
area behind the southwest corner of Ayala and Makiti
rooms in the Immigration
Avenues. Ermita has the most notorious girlie bars: best known of which, for hacks, are The Firehouse, The Blackout, The Blue Hawaü, TheBangkoh and of course, The Spiders Web, now D'Spider and with apiano. The Mamasan,
a bar Tower.
and Customs halls and
in the
Control
Around Remedios Circle, close to Ermita (of fame): The Cafe Adriatico, Bistro Remedios (try the fried crickets for an hors d'oeuvre) and Guernicas, which
Spanish and with tabletouring guitar players, and I-afayette,
able. Back in Makati, Aunt much quieter and recently Mary's Other Aunt spe- reopened. The Manila [Iilton
used to be the Manila airport
terminal: private dining
Guernica, predominantly
is now the Manila Pavilion and has a casino that takes up
the entire second floor. - Graham Lowell.
New Dehli
ACCORDING to Khushawant Singh, Dehli jounalist par excellance and a man whom visiting correspondents should call on to keep up with New Dehli gossips,
Indians usually divide foreigners into three categories.
sists oflovers who drool over anything about India and the
Indìans. They find Indian mysticism more satisfying
than Christianity,
forehead.
\44richever category you belong to; the best hotel in
the Indian capital is The Oberoi (no more than HK$1,000). Next comes Le
Congratulations to the FCC and all its members I)nTt.lì \S,¡()N(l DFlslGN
a AssoctxÌ'l.s I.INIITìII)
can assist your graphic needs. Just call 5-81.01055 A
N4INI
POFTFOLIO IS AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST
Ragas
more melodious than Beethoven, the dhoti more sensible than trousers, hot curries tastier than steaks. Women in this category wear saris and put a red spot on their
your Video Library
t--LI FE STYLE Meridien, which is situated in the centre of the city. However, for half the price at the Oberoi, you can find a good room at Claridges. If
you are travelling
with
madame andwantto give her
alreat, the garden setting of Claridges is good. Claridges dates from the days of the British Raj and is
still a favourite of visitors from Britain. The management there takes extreme care - they not only draw the
drapes in rooms for those who dislike the sun but also sew them shut so the guest will not be disturbed. For dining, diplomats and hacks vote The Bukhara in
the Maurya Sheraton
as
the best Indian restaurant. Drinks are expensive (about HK$50 for a beer or a shot of whisþ) and available only in
hotels and clubs. My
favourite drinking place in
Dehli is the Golf Club next to The Oberoi.
-
Peter Seidlitz.
Phnom Penh
\.\[TH the final withdrawl of Vietnamese troops from Cambodia, many old Asia hands who covered the war during l¡n Nol days, discov-
ered on their return that much had changed in their beloved Phnom Penh, and
border at Moc Bai. Hotel accommodations in
and a band which plays an amazing mix of Western rock
Phnom Penh have increased, but the quality has declined.
and Russian and Ktrmer pop.
over the Samaki Hotel, which mostwill remember as I-e Phnom and before that
menu which features a broad selection of l{hmer, French,
The Royale.
and Chinese dishes. The
ffi
prices are low, but seem to fluctuate from nightto night,
bottles and bleary eyes.
able second choice, has fallen
since they are not marked on
serious
the menu, They also have a
doldrums. 0f dog day afternoons and weeks of searching for
French wines, at least the
The relief mercenaries who make up the bulk of the foreign community have taken
The Monorom Hotel, which was always a reason-
into state of
delapidation. But at us$16 per night, one can't complain too
good supply of drinkable
(some of us have never been
loudly. The roof of The Monorom has the best breakfast in town, not so
labels say they are French. Road travel is possible to
price for hiring a Russian Volga with driver is us$300. Add to thatthe us$2 for some good Russian vodka and us$12.50 for a tin ofcaviar and one can break up the six-hour journey with a pleasant roadside picnic after crossing the
THE TEII BEHITID THE HEADI.IIIES
The current favourite restaurant is The International, located two blocks up the road from The Monorom. They have a
much had not. The first change was that one could drive from Saigon able to call it Ho Chi Minh City) to Phnom Penh. The
ATTER 40
much because of the food, but because of the lack of flies, which trouble the plen-
tiful street-side
establish-
ments. By nightThe Monorom roof is transformed into a swinging night club packed with Vietnamese taxi dancers
DESERVE
TITTTE CHEER.
A
forty years 0f cold coffee and full ashtrays. 0f empty
0f
distant disasters and domestic
sOmeOne who's been raped and speaks English.
ffi
Four
many parts of the country
including the beach
at
Kompong Som Siem Reap is a us$90 air-
plane ride, but that's the cheap part of the trip. The tourist authorities there charge us$20 to visit Bayon and Angkor Wat, a mere five
CHINA NATIONAT ETECTRONICS IMPORT & ÐßORT CORPORATION decades
of politicians, press
releases and propaganda. 0f
bombs and binges and things that go bump in the night. 0f o o o a o a
Capacitor
o Radio Measuring
Resistor
a
Potentiometer Connector Controlling Component Magnetic Material and Device
a
Electroacoustic Device
O
Electron Vacuum Device O B/W picture tube o Semiconductor Device Integrated Circuit
a Special Material
for Electronics Industry
0n the campaign trail.
Instrument
ffi
Exactly'14,610 days of deadlines,
creased shirts and scuffed shoes.
Broadcast Transmission Equipment
0f
tangled typewriter
ribbons, jammed f ilms and cracked lenses. And only 23 years
a Home Electronics
o
o
knackered Nikons, three-day growths and fear and loathing
Wire Cornmunication Equipment
Electronic Components
of Hong Kong
Special Equipment for Electronics Industry
ffi
Industrial Electronic Products
Cheersl
You
Trade Development Council press releases.
rea y worked hard for this beer ... and the next.
ffi
Agricultural Electronic Instrument and Equipment o Medical Electronic O
Instrument
Computer & Peripheral Equipment
Address: 166 North Zhongshan Road, Nanjing, China Telex: 34724 ELENJ CN Cable: EIEJB Fax: (025) /639124
1LJ L,/ 7
Lr--rr\\ Ef
trlltr Hong KongTrade Development Council
FCC Anniuersary Sþecial 36
391h
Floor, Convention Plaza, 1 Harbour Road, Hong
Kong
Telephone:
H334333
Telex; /3595 COlilHK
HX
Fax: 5,8240249 Cable: CONIOTRAD HONGKONG
WHEN HONG KONG'S MOST RESPECTED PURVEYOR OF LUXURY GOODS LOOKED AROfIND FOR A PUBLIC REIAflONS CONST]LIANT THEY CHOSE CORPORATE COMMTINICAflONS
LI FE STYLE kilometres away. The only hotel is The Gmnd, which is us$19 per night. Amenities, such as running water, [ghts and a fan can cost more. The
food is inedible and warm beer is us$2 a can. Be sure to bring plenty of I¡motol and bug spray.
-John Giannini
I trust my next survey of Singapore menus does not
cover the canteen at the Whitley Road headquarters of the Internal Security or
THE FOREIGN CORRESPONDENTS' CLUB
the prison fare of Changi jail. - Derek Daaies
CARD COTTECTIOII
Sydney SYDNEYis an expensive
cþ
and not one designed for vis-
Singapore
iting journalists. There is no
of the
HACKS in search of a Singapore watering hole,
equivalent
whose expenses do not cover the excellent bars available in
Correspondents Association - but they have no premises,
Singapore's three- and fourstar hostelries, should make
FCC
although there is a Foreign
just lunching occasionally together.
Journalists have two basic for Jack's Place or The watering holes - one for Pavilion, Orchard Road (if they have not already partaken of the ritualistic Sling at the run-down but still atmo-
Omega and Tissot watches, Caran d'Ache lighters and pens, Gaston deLagrange cognac, Pierre Balmain watches, Daϡera fine jewellery, Abel Lepitre champagne, Harbour International Business Centre, Ernest-Borel, St. Honore and Georges Claude watches - a pretty broad range of top quality products and Omtis is responsible for all of them.
promotions to advefiising just wasn't enough, they called in Corporate Communications. That was five years ago. 'We've
been together ever since and our Chief Executive wears an Omega.
CREATIVE COMMLIIVCATIONS AT CORPORATE COMMUIVCATIONS LTD.
Corporate Com¡nunications Ltd. 7O4ßast Town Building 41 Lockhart Road, Hong Kong TeL5-28OOO7 Fax:5-8613559
cally, the Fairfax pub is called
speric Raffles). The Island
The Australian (namesake
Republic's puritanism closed down Bugis Streetwhich the
It is on the corner of
tourist people now want to revive elsewhere by blood transfusions and artificial insemination (results still awaited, but visitors should be aware of the consequences of the close-down: transvestites are no longer concentrated in one place, but can be a lure to the undiscerning all over the place). The top hotels in Singapore
are the well-known names
\Øhen Omtis decided that limiting their
Fairfax and one for Murdoch, of course. Ironi-
-
The Oriental, Mandarin, Shang¡i-I-a, Westin and so
on: their excellentfacilities are still reasonably cheap by inter-
national city standards. It is difficult to eat badly in
Singapore, which benefits from Chinese, Malay and Indian expertise and general-
ly likes the admixture of chili. On the off-beat trail, hy the vegetable curries at Komala Villas or the fishhead curries atthe Banana I-eaf. And the hawkerfood is clean and good: all you can eat of prawn steamboat for s$B at
the stalls opposite the
Catholic News centre in Waterloo Road.
of Murdoch's national paper).
Broadway and lMattle Street just across the road from the Sydney Morning Herald.
I¡nchtime and early evening the backbaris crowded with Fairfax hacks and they have their own version of a Friday night "zoo." The Murdoch pub, The Evening Star (known locally as "The Evil Star') is more athactive phys-
ically than the Oz, with a paved garden area. It is in Surrey Hills opposite News
Ltd. Which one
superb watercolour by intemationally renowned artist
you try
depends on who you know or wish to know. There is something called The Press Club -fullof taxi drivers and poker machines - which makes the Wanchai establishment of the same name look like the Ritz. Hotels in cenfal Sydney are far more expensive than Hong
Kong. Acouple of reasonable ones, not too far ,out are The Lau¡son ([Iong Kong owrted) in Bulwara Road, llltimo, also
near the Herøld, or The
Shemton Motor Inn at Potts Point (near the evils of Kings
Murray Zanoni
soon available at the Club office Post
Cards
.
HK$ 2.00 each
Christmas Cards (pacþs of 1O witb enuelopes)
HK$30.00 per pack
Folded Card (þacks of 1O witb enuelopes) (suitable for giÍts, thank you notes, inuitations)
HK$30.00 per pack
Christmas and folded card stze: 5,
x 7,
Cross), notto be confusedwith
ORDERS ACCEPTED NOW
!
('anoil
ì
LI FE STYLE the very expensive Shemton
Wentworürinthe
citY.
If in Sydney, you mustgo to Doyles on the beachfor sea food. It is at Watson's Bay and can be reached bY cab or by ferry from Circular
Quay, just by the OPera House. Do not confuse it
with the very inferior Doyles at Circular QuaY, which is a tourist rip off. There are several good but touristy pubs and restaurants atThe Rocks, the old restored area almost under the bridge on the southern
side of the harbour, and a very nice place for lunch (only) is The Bulletin in Bulletin Place in the financial area just off Pitt Street. - Mike Malik
Taipei THE firstthing to remember aboutTaipei is, forget about
cheap. While currency
appreciation and inflation have combined to make it at least as expensive as Toþo, this fact is still mostlY unaP preciated by editors and accountants who vet journalists' expense rePorts. Unless you have a very fat exPense account indeed, don't even
think about the half dozen so-called five star hotels. These will set you back from
us$15G200 a night. Two alternatives are The
Grand and The Hotel
Golden Palace. The first is justly renowned as an example of Chinese palace architectural kitsch, the second is on the seventh and eighth floors ofan anonymous office building in downtown Taipei. The Grand has two main
drawing points: nice-sized rooms (without aview) in the
old building cost just
seem to gro\ry on longtime Taipei residents. Those who like loud rock n'roll bands occcasionally even a good one - might check out The Farmhouse, just down the alley from Sam's. Many lovers of Chinese
cuisine consider Taipei to offer better eating than Hong
Kong, China, or the main overseas Chinatowns. Two places to start might be
under us$100; and secondly, for the athletically
Peng Yuan at 380 Linsen North Road, for Hunanese
food, and for
generallY
under-appreciated
Taiwanese cuisines, Chi Chia Chuang near the corner of Chang Chun and Linsen North roads. Or if you really want EuroPean food, go to Zumfass, where you're sure to get good - but not cheap
-
Swiss treats.
Congratulations to
inclined, you get free use of a beautiful
The Foreign Correspondents' Club on its 40th anniversary from
Olympic-sized swimming pool and tennis courts. The Hotel Golden Palacemaybe
ü1fiila\fl
a good choice for people who just want a cheap,
clean room. \Mhen last
visited earlier this year, itwas charging aboutus $40 a nisht to its clientele of mostly Japanese businessmen.
Taipei's main "comclubs,
bat zone" of
pubs, and dives is locat-
ed on Shuang Cheng street, near The President Hotel. Hardcore drinkers might try Sam's Bar; while utterly lacking in atmosphere, its charms
1-11 Au PuiWan Street, Fo-Tan, Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong' Tel: 0-6996213 Tlx: 40863 SIMS HX Fax: (852) 0-6917199
Congratulations to The Foreign CorresPondents' Club on its 4oth anniversary from WIT,S¡ON MEAT CO., LTD FROZEN MEAT DEALER Lane, Gr, Fl. (Next to Central Market) Tit Hong 6 Hong Kong Tel: 5-455O62, Tel: 5-451c067 ' 5-412624
alasting impression. Photographers, Iike fishermen, love to talk about "the big one that got away." But with the Canon EOS 630, there's no excuse for letting great pictures escape because the autofocus is faster and more accurate than ever So when photo opportunities knock, you'll be ready to grab every one of them. The built-in motor drive lets you bang off up to five frames a second. With that kind of speed, you can catch the instant-by-instant sequence of a fast-breaking event or the subtle changes of expression on a subject's face. The EOS 630 also has Programmed Image Control for prearranging great shots, 6-zone evaluative metering, Custom Function Control, and a fully integrated fÌash system that automatically handles any lighting situation The Canon EOS 630: The quickest way to take pictures that will be long remembered. Which member of the EOS family of fine cameras is the right one for you?
Canon
eo5 630
BOOK THE YEAR'S BEST OF HONG HISTORIC POSTCARDS
Cðmera body av¿ilåble in black ånd/or metallic grey, depending on
country
EOS 630 is called EOS 600
in Europe, lhe i\'liddle
East and Àfrica
A SUPERB CHRISTMAS GIFT. PRODUCED BY
eoS650
MEMBERS OF
THE
F.C.C.
FROM THE PRIVATE COLLECTION OF
ARTHUR HACKER M.B.E.
DISCOUNT PRICES FOR F.C.C. MEMBERS. AVATLABLE FROM THE CLUB'S
Autofocus, Depth-of-Field AE for easy control, and a host of other features for uncompromising creativity.
eo.s750
Built-in, auto-retract flash that pops up whenever you need it.
eos aso
Quality photography at its
simplest. Offers the same features as the EOS 750, without the builrin flash.
FRONT DESK OR DIRECTLY FROM ROSANNA K\{'OK AT THE STOCK HOUSE PRODUCTIONS LTD. TEL. 5-8I07878.
CANON lNC.: PO Box 5050, Shinjuku Dai-¡ch¡ Se¡mei Bldg, Tokyo 163, Japan CANON HONG KONG TRADING CO., LTo.: Boom.l101-3 & 1121-2, Peninsula Centre,67 lvlody Fìoad, Ts¡mshatsui East, Kowloon, Hong Kong
D6ryfeÆÊ? HA! You S€¿g Auff'lr
Cynics and salesmen don't usually mix. But at Duty Free Shoppers Internarional they do! Even the toughest of them all can't say no to a wide range of brand name merchandise that is tax free*, with worldwide guarantees that make shopping risk free, at conveniently located stores that make the whole experience worry free! So the next time you're travelling to or from of Hong Kong, drop by a DFS International store. Just...feel free!
tntir
lp6 Ir.¡ Ttrl S
Visit any of these Duty Free Shoppers International Shops: o Chinachem Golden Plaza,77 Mody Road, Tsimshatsui East. o Hankow Centre, 1/F, Hankow Road, Tsimshatsui.
.
China Hong Kong City,'1./F,33 Canton Road, Tsimshatsui. o Ocean Centre, 2120B., Ocean Grminal, Kowloon. o Hong Kong International Airport.
Duty Free Shopperc International Limited WE GUARANTEE OUR MERCHANDISE WORLDWIDE
*
The only merchandise offered for sale at our outlets in Hong Kong wh¡ch ¡ l¡able to duty in Hong Kong ß Liquo¡ Tòbacco and Cosmetics. Duty on this merchøndise has been paid except where sold under bonded arrangemenß.