The Correspondent, December 1993 - January 1994 by The Foreign Correspondents' Club, Hong Kong

Decembgr 1993 - Jahuary 1994

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CONTENTS

THE

COVER STORY ) Here comes the Guv Hong Kong's Governor Chris Patten, in an address to the club, gets to grips with human rights in Asia.

FOREIGN CORRESPONDENTS'

CLUB 2

Airlines get a serve, nicely Richard Branson launches Virgin into Asia.

NorthBlock, LowerAlbert Road, Hong Kong.

Telephone: 521 1511 Fax: 868 4092

Defending the JFK myth Michael Mackey reviews the club address by JFK's former press secretary Pierre Salinger.

Prsident - Philip Bowing First Vice President- Car[ Goldstein Second Vice P¡esident- Stuart Wolfendale

CorrspondentMemberGovemo¡s

CNN comes to town Tom Johnston, Turner Broadcasting's vice-president for news, extols the virlues of CNN in Asia.

Paul Bayfi eld, Dmiela Deme, Simon Holberton,

Brim Jeffries, V.G. Kulkami, Philippe Le Cone, Paul Mooney, Hubert Van Es

Journrlist Member Governors K.K. Chadra, Karl Wilson Associ¡te Member Govemors KevinEgm, David Garcia, Saul Lockhart, Julie Meldrum

How many directions can a sperm swim? Kevin Sinclair and Chris Davis investigate the love-life of camels in Dubai.

Profession¡l Committee: C o n v e n o r : C a¡l G oldstein Members: Julie Meldrum, Philippe Le Cone, Paul Mooney, Paul Bayfield Finance CommittcÊ' Simon Holberton, Carl Coldstein,

Deng and the making of China Sir Richard Evans, a former Foreign Office mandarin, reflects on Deng's role in China.

V.G.Kulkami Membemhip Committee: Con veror.' Hubert Van Es Members: V.G. Kulkami, Kevin Egan

Convenor: DanielaDene Mem ber : David Gtcia, Paul Bayfi eld,

JulieMeldrum Publications Committee:

C o n v e n o r : Saul Lo cþ.J¡art

THE CORRESPONDENT Advertising Matreger: Kit Myem

EDITORIÀL OFFICE: AsiaPacific Directories Ltd, Rm. 1301, 13Æ, Pæk Comercìal Centre, 6-10 Shelter Street, Caueway Bay, Hong Kong Telephone: 577 9331i Fã: 890 7287

AsiaPacific Directofis Ltd. Rm 1301, l3lF, Prk Commercial Centre, ó-10 Shelter Street, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong.

Tel:577 9331; Fu: 890 7287 Publisher: Vomie Boston Manáging Director: Mike Bishæ

ZUNG FU A Jardine

Colour sepmtion by: Colou,A.n Gnphic Compmy Printed by Elite Printing Co., Ltd., Hong Mm lnd. Centre, 1403-1408,2 Hong Man St., Chai Wân, HK.

Pacific Business (Distr¡butor for Hong Kong and Macau), Bonaventure House, Leighton Road, Hong Kong Tel, 895 7288 Kowloon Tel, 735 I 199 Zung Fu Carpa* Building, 50 Po Loi Street, Hunghom, Tel 764 6919

A distinguished'travel agent' Taiwan's top representative in Hong Kong (and travel agent), John Ni, addressed the club last month.

COVER STORY Vemon Ram reviews Noel Quinlan's exfravaganzaTales from the Middle Kingdom.

Obituary Fred C. Shapiro, l93l-93, former Hong Kong and China correspondeil for The New Yorker.

@ The Corespondent Opinioß expressed by witeß ate Dol necessuily those ofthe Foreign Conespondents' Club. The Corespondent is published monthty for and on behalf of The Foreign Corespondents'Club by:

Too hot for Window Derek Davies' last column for Window was spiked. Here it is.

VmEs

Pâgc MakFup: Jæe Recio Artist: Amædo D. Recio, Jr.

Mayfield takes us along on amagical mystery tour to

Kenya.

WallCommittee: Club Manager C. Hoelzl

will

The FCC on safari Jo

Menbus:H.YanEs, K. \ililson (Editor), Paul Bayfield (Co-opted) F & B Committee: C o n ve n o r : S.nnrl W olfendale Metn bq's : Dav id Garcia,' Simon Holberton, V.G.Kulkami, Brian Jefties, Philippe LeCone

Is it time to go? Francine Brevetti asks whether freelance joumalists be able to operate after 1997.

Entertainment Committee:

Get out you Mao icons he's back On the 100th anniversary- of Mao Zedong's birth, Marty Merz reflects on the continuing Mao cult.

Peddler's Journal Cover photograph by Teny Duckham Inside photographs supplied by David Thurston, Huberl Van Es and Ray Cranboume.

122 Canton Road, Tsimshatsui,

SOUTHERN STAR MOTOR CO. (Distr¡butor for South China), 40th Floor, Central Plaza, l8 Harbour Road, Vanchai Tel, 594 8888 MERCEDES-BENZ AG, BEIJING LIAISON OFFICE (Distributor for North Ch¡na), 20Æ, CITIC Building, 19 Jran Cuo Men Vai Dajie, Beijing. Tel' 500 3051

Mercedes-Benz Engineered to move the human spirit

THE CORRESPONDENT DEC 1993 / JAN

1994 I

I{EWS ANID VIEWS PHOTOS BY DAVID THURSTON

prosperity, as well as of the essential underpinning for its just, decent and

"lf you looked at the London papers, they all had headlines which suggested

tolerant society". This laid the groundwork for Patten to vigorously defend his policy against accusations he's trying to impose foreign standards on Hong Kong. "One of the most bizarre criticisms I encounter is the notion that what we are trying to do which is essentially to preserve a system that has worked spectacularly well is somehow unsuited to Asia, an alien -implant that won't take root here, or

that the government had hardened its line. lf you looked at the Hong Kong papers, they suggested the opposite. Maybe if one read Corriere della Sera or newspaper in between, one would have got the right answer." ln spite of that, Patten still vigorously upheld the right of a free press to en-

quire and ask difficult questions. One thing not open to question as far as Hong Kong's Governor is concerned is whether Hong Kong deserves democracy. That question is already settled. For Governor Patten what is at

certainly not for the time being. lt's a

Humans have rights hris Patten set up his forward gun emplacement in the club to engage in the ongoing verbal hostilities over human rights. His gubernational salvo, loaded with adjec-

By Rex Ellis

even in Asia

said the Asian message was clear: "All

this allegedly Western talk of human rights amounted to little more than a

affairs. ln Seattle, the Chinese postulated as a fact the view that East and

tival grapeshot, targeted Asian leaders who reject the universal human rights concept and commentators who regard

West have differing concepts of human

human rights as two inappropriate words in Asia. He scorned as "an astonishing argu-

saying "there is surely nothing specifically or exclusively European or Nodh American about respecting human dig-

rights.

Chris Patten aimed at that one by

neo-colonialist incursion into Asian affairs. The free market? Well that was fine, but its political bedfellows, free speech, the rule of law, multi-par1y politics - they could stay out of the bed for the time being, thank you very much, if decency and decorum were to be pre-

- to they vary, apparently, from place

while falling short of naming names:

place, from continent to continent". ln a reversal of normal batfle tactics,

"lf you're a journalist locked up for

served." Patten dubbed the Bangkok declaration carefully opaque "wall-to-wall rhetorical linoleum that didn't quite say 'go home democracy' or'down with human

months for telling the truth, if you're a trade unionist incarcerated for championing workers' rights, if you're thrown

rights'". All this was by way of backing up his argument that a proper regard for hu-

out of your own country and deprived of your rights, if you're beaten over the head, or worse, by a policeman, the broad result is the same, for you and for

man rights is a fundamental component of the rule of law. "The rule of law isn,t a kind of optional extra, a bauble awarded to societies that reach a certain degree of economic advancement and sophistication," Patten declared. Asseding that the rule of law has provided the framework for Hong Kong's

ment" the premise that "human rights aren't really universal

as universal as

market forces or the weather

that

the Governor's long range bombardment closely followed the face{o{ace skirmism between the American and Chinese presidents in Seatile. Presi-

nity".

Patten pin-pointed specific cases,

dent Bill Clinton's weapon was the deep concern of the American people over

the community, whether it happens

China's human rights policy giving him the right to fire the MFN bullet. He had to withstand a 1S-minute fusillade during which President Jiang Zemin told Clinton notto meddle in China's internal

Europe, or Asia,, or America, or Africa." Patten zeroed in on the Bangkok conference on human rights that forged the Asian view peresented to the subsequent Vienna World Conference. He

TIJE CORRESPONDENT DEC 1993 /JAN 1994

achievements, Patten described it as "one of the foundations of Hong Kong's

curious argument given that Hong Kong is living proof that these concepts do work as well in Asia as they do anywhere else." Patten described the rule of law, even when it was without local diplomatic institutions, as the "decisive extra ingredient" providing the framework for Hong Kong's achievement. He said the territory had human rights long before its per capita GDP equalled or overtook growth rates iR Canada, Australia and some European countries. So he scathingly rebutted as "preposterous" the idea that human rights hold up prosperity. "Human rights have never emptied stomachs. Human righls don't hamper growth. The most successful economies haven't put human rights on

hold while they've moved forward

they've held on to them hard," he declared. Despite recently publicly complaining that, whatever he speaks about, repofiers always concentrate on electoral reform and the Sino- British negotiations.

Patten couldn't resist saying a word specifically about the talks. Predictably,

coverage of his FCC speech was all about that, ignoring his human rights message. Patten showed his frustration by making what he called the understatement of the year: "We're going to have to get a move on in these talks if we are to reach agreement and get allthe legislation through on time."

The Governor denied any policy change was made at the British cabinet meeting he attended in early November. "The cabinet didn't change its line, soften its line, harden its line," he insisted. And in a side foray Patten loosed off

issue is whether "the democracy that

... and the questioned. a volley of small arms fire at the assem-

bled regiment of reporters. Offering "some constructive proof of the difficul-

one has sometimes in getting a message across," Patten cited the different media interpretations of the cabinet session.

Hoist by his own petard | ...tne role of the government in Hong Kong is that of a referee. ln today's terms it is to ' ensure a level playing field' for all players, whether Hong Kong, foreign or PRC. That is what Hong Kong's legal system provides. lndeed a significant proof of the value ofthe legal system has been the increasing number of firms which are set up in Hong Kong. They all need Hong Kong offices to seruice the export contracts of their enterprises.

Contracts with the Hong Kong branches of PRC enterprises are governed by Hong Kong law. Any dispute

can be resolved by arbitration or through the courts. Judgments are easily enforced. This is an immense advantage when doing business. ln the PRCthese remedies are notavaiĂž able. Arbitration awards often cannot

has been promised will be real democracy or counterfeit democracy." He described the nature of elections for Hong Kong's first wholly elected legislature as crucial to the terrÂĄtory's future. He said real elections will enhance the legislature and underpin the rule of law. Then came this dire warning: "Compromise the elections, and you inject dry-rot into the entire institutional structure of Hong Kong."

be enforced, even when the Courfs in

Beijing order their enforcement...' Now none of that is Patten speak-

ing. Those aren't my words. Those are the words of Singapore's Senior Minister, Lee Kuan Yew when he last

visited Hong Kong. He was absolutely right to underline the importance of the rule of law and its role in

creating Hong Kong's prosperity. I am delighted to see that the Senior Minister is once again exercising his right to freedom of speech in Hong Kong today."

Governor Chris Patten quoting from Lee Kuan Yew's Li Ka-shing lecture at the University of Hong Kong December 14, 1992 and noting that, on the same day Patten addressedthe FCC, Leewas speak-

ing at the 2ndWorld

Chinese

Entrepreneurs Convention at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhi-

bition Centre.

THE CORRESPONDENT DEC 1993 / JAN 1994

NEWS AND VIEWS

Airlines serYe,

Camelot in general. The first was the character issue, i.e., sexual conduct which has unmade several presidential candidates but which never touched JFK. Maybe Americans

By Michael Mackey ierre Salinger has the sort of

nicely

CV that people dream about and at an FCC lunch he showed and told how he got it. For the best pad of an hour he spoke and then took questions, on the media's role, his time with two American presi-

hen Richard Branson spoke to the FCC on Tuesday No-

dents, Kennedy and Johnson, and a

vember 23, a lot of ground was turned over. True very little of this was new hard facts and figures. The Branson style is evasive, discursive, in the nicest possible way even his assault on the airline industry is gentle and humorous. lt's also media friendly.

a man of soundbites,

topic clearly close to his heart, what he

understands that the way to make either poftantly the early evening news is to be concise and funny. Take this denunciation of the airlines industrial grouping IATA, "IATA evolved

as a protective trade association that makes Freemasonry look like a supermarket car park on a Saturday afternoon". Not to forget his ability to slip into Old Testament-style language to parody

the IATA rules about what are quaintly referred to as Grandfather slots. More the businessman as joker philosopher maybe even daydreamer, than

as hardheaded and hardheaded wheeler-dealer.

One impression lingers. Richard Branson talks to his audience but he rarely if ever looks them straight in the eye, if he does he tends not to hold it, preferring instead to move quickly on as if embarassed. As he spoke his eyes were elsewhere, usually some far off vista. Landing rights in Shenzhen perhaps? As for his speech, well it does not fall into the market-moving category. Using 1993

in a state of shock having a President who was actually "doing it"

were

as the highly visible and obviously preg-

nant Jackie Kennedy showed.

{lt

Maybe the press who covered the 1960 presidential campaign and referred to it privately but never in print as the "ln

termed "the new world disorder". A press pugilist of the old school, Salinger spoke with conviction, threw in

the next morning's papers or more im-

THE CORRESPONDENT DEC

discussed the Gulf War, something that he was against, largely I suspected because it wasn't started by Kennedy. But there were two anecdotes about Kennedy that Salinger told without any sense that both showed something seri-

ously wrong with JFK personally and

but

a different ball game.

Sure there wasthe ritual comment about the media being manipulated when he

In defence of the myth of JFK

get a

Very much

highly but quite frankly when comes to

journalism, it's

Branson lays down the gauntlet to Asian airlines. humour and an honesty that costs him nothing and appears to be genuine, he told of his plans for Virgin airlines and wove into this a powerful criticism of the airline industry as well as revealing his own business philosophy. That was incidental though. His main target was the airline industry and the twin evils of "giantism" and immunity to competition, which, he said, had lead to "the airplane-as-cattletruck-philosophy". His solution is quite simple, competition. He pointed out the advantages that have occurred to everybody since British Airways lost its 40-year-old monopoly at London's Heathrowwhich he said had been tantamount to "an embargo". What he promises here in Asia and Hong Kong is to be the springboard for more competition in the airline industry. Not only did he mention that there would

inflight services. ln-seat gambling and inflight massages of the genuinelytherapeutic kind are a key parl of this, as is that gweilo obsession of more leg room. Maybe he did use the FCC to fire the

opening shots in what well might become a war of either product or prices, depending on your viewpoint; illuminatingly he referred to it as "a product war". Attending his speech was worlhwhile, although no one had to hold the front page, even if he did cause perplexion to some by abruptly leaving the table to go to the bathroom midway way through the meal. Positive proof at last, that tycoons need to pee, too.

Although in one, well perhaps two

be an attempt to root out grandfather

ways Richard Branson is special. He is the only tycoon who sports a lurid red FCC sweater and he is the only man ever to speak at the FCC and escape without being given the obligatory FCC

slot, but he is challenging airlines that

tie.

boast of thelr service by providing more

/ JAN 1994

Michael Mackey

some good anecdotes and pulled no punches. The problem was on whose behalf the blows were landed namely "Camelot" and the myth of John

Salinger: old-style press pugilist.

Fitzgerald Kennedy. Take this response to the first question which used the words "dubious

As for civil rights. Well look at the dates. Elected in 1960, Kennedy and his brother Robert, the then Attorney General, took their time and only moved slowly under immense pressure from the civil rights movement. This was well documented in the excellent American television seri es Eyes on the P rize.f here was not a principle or a vision involved, only the fear of offending Southern rednecks. So much for leadership. Putting politics aside, while he could still punch up the Kennedy myth, irritatingly so to the critics among us, when he talked about JFK, the man he worked for, the fondness was still there. It was almost touching when he confessed that, with the 30th anniversary of the assassination coming up, that "every day, every week, every month I look back at that pafticular parl of history". Still within a sentence we were back onto familiar ground with a quick jab at "how much rubbish has been published about John F. Kennedy." The trouble is some of it is true or at

achievements" wi'th regard

the

Kennedy presidency. "Well every word you said is wrong... How can you say all this rubbish stuff that Kennedy's presidency was not effective? I look at the Presidency based on what he did that was right, what he did that was wrong." "Yes, he made some mistakes, the Bay of Pigs, that was a serious mistake but what about the Cuban Missile Crisis? He saved the world from a nuclear war, you don't think that's an effective thing to do? He went and put America out in the space." "And what you say about civil rights is totally wrong. lt's his civil rights bill that he put out on the table, that was passed two months after he was assassinated. It was his own bill he'd talked to the American people about."

Factual interlude one. Kennedy did not save the world. He took it to the edge. lf that crisis has any real heroes,

an unlikely prospect in any form

realpolitik, then the best candidate is Kruschev for backing down first.

least too well documented to be ignored. As a flack, Salinger comes in

the Sack With Jack Tou/', had collective amnesia. Maybe they were told not to. lf so, by whom? ln his tenure of the press office in the White House Salinger said "only one time" did a journalist raise the issue. "l gave him a sixties answer." Note that he did not say that it's true. "l said look, he's President of the United States. He has got to work 16/1 7 hours a day. He's got to handle foreign policy, he's got to handle domestic policy. lf he has a mistress after that what the hell difference does it make?

The guy laughed, walked out and that was the end of that story". Perhaps but not the questions or the implications. The second concerns cigars. Salinger

was requested by the President to find 1,000 of his favourite cigars. Once he knew that Salinger had found 1,200 of them Kennedy signed the Presidential

decree forbidding the sale of Cuban products.

This was told amid laughter when Salinger spoke and was a light way to end a speech that was full of doom and gloom about the New World Disorder. And yet there is a connection between the two. Putting yourself above the law, in spirit if not by the letter, isn't really on nor is its trivialisation.

Michael Mackey is a Hong Kong based freelance

journalist.

THE CORRESPONDENT DEC 1993 / JAN 1994

The Sruirc

Group

NEV/S AND VIEWS

A chicken noodle lunch? By William Gratter om Shales, a columnist for the Washington Posf , once wrote: "You live in the Global Village. The house has many peepholes through which you can peek out at the world. And one picture window: CNN." Sowhen Tom Johnson, the vice-president for news at Turner Broadcasting, the purveyorsof the Cable News Nework to a world-wide audience, addressed a full house he outlined what he referred to asthe "headlines" on CNN's progress in Asia. But in real news terms, the announce-

their point of view," he said. Johnson was clearly aware of accusations of cultural hegemony at a time

It was in 1981 that CNN first put its fledgling all-news network on satellite

when Robed Murdoch, the chief executive of News Corp, the controlling force behind CNN's rival Asian service Star TV, has been referring to the behaviour of "totalitarian" regimes such as the one in Beijing. "That is why Ted Turner ordered that CNN does not carry editorials," Johnson said.

to Asia. ln 1981 it also establlished its Tokyo bureau. "And since then, of all the neighbourhoods in the global village, none is more

news bureau in Hong Kong in late-1994 was the most striking item during what turned out to be an elaborately polished presentation, involving fat press packages, CNN badges, a slick video segment and a Q & A session with three CNN staffers backing up Johnson.

into gear against Saddam Hussein. According to Johnson's slightly overwrought verbiage, "CNN brought'live' to all the mesmerised neighbourhoods

of our global village the images

carried out on 14 satellites around the globe by the middle of next year. But "we intend to accomplish our strategy in cooperation with our Asian part-

ners", said Johnson. During the later

Q & A session he backed that statement with a disclaimer, that CNN was not a tool of the American government

or worse a tool of Saddam Hussein during the Gulf War.

According to CNN's Beijing correspondent Mike Chinoy, who also spoke: "Our policy, all along, has been to consult and create lines of commmunication

with local affiliates such as CCTV

Beijing. Really you have to judge CNN by its coverage, and by our efforts to be

fair to everyone and allow them to air

LESS THAN

7 HO端RS FROM

Saddam Hussein, Tomahawk missiles buzzing Baghdad and of Scuds falling from the skies over the Persian Gulf.

Afterwards, perhaps harshly, one

Even so, the main thrust of the roadshow was Johnson's speech in which he revealed that CNN will be

impoftant to the eadh's stability and well being than Asia," said Johnson. Nevertheless, comprehensive reporting from throughout the world is still CNN's primary mission and it has dramatically managed that during a number of events. Three years ago the lraqi invasion of Kuwait demonstrated the attraction of a global television news organisation as

the diplomats failed to find a solution and the US-led war machine cranked

ment that CNN intends to establish a

member attending the presentation described it as "little more than a news conference and a sales pitch to potential adverlisers".

over the Pacific Ocean so as to transmit

"Then just a few months later we were

Johnson: CNN bureau for Hong Kong. Even so, the achievements of CNN during the past 10 years DO speak for themselves. Occasionally the network may be called the Chicken Noodle Network, but the joke is growing rather limp. "Little more than the decade ago, the daring vision of Ted Turner (the creator of Turner Broadcasting who has now been forced to take in other shareholders such as the massive Telecommunications lnc group) brought Marshall Mcluhan's concept of a global village closer to reality," he said. According to Johnson, Turner's vision was of a global news network that would repor124 hours a day on what is happen-

ing in every part of the world, "instanteously, imparlially accurately" via a network of satellites orbitting 20,000 miles above the earth.

THE CORRESPONDENT DEC 1993 / JAN 1994

in Moscow transmitting live as the So-

Now Cathay Pacific flies

viet tanks were confronted by Boris Yeltsin atthe Russian parliamentand a

coup was stopped. "We were back there as Yeltsin's prodemocracy movement was forced to attack that same gleaming white parliament building to turn back the forces unleashed by the hardline conservatives led byAlexander Rulskoi. Forthree more days we transmitted live from Moscow as that traumalic battle ensued." CNN has long claimed that it is available in 140 million homes around the world and eight million in Asia. And, said Johnson somewhat portentously, the Atlanta-based organisation also knows who those people are. "We know because they tell us about it. "Our common language our coin of

non-stop from Hong Kong

to Cairns and the

wonders of the Tropical North. The Banier Reef.

making:

The

rainforests. And the magical Kuranda railroad. Then you can

fly on with Cathay Pacific to the bright lights and fabulous beaches

of Brisbane and the Gold Coast.

commerce- isthe truth, -thefilament

of history in the

natural

.a .- -

CATHAYPACIFIC Arrive in better shape.

DROMEDARIES

Half the calves are male. But it's the swift

females which are the prize racing

How many directions can a sperm swim? By Kevin Sinclair very reporter sometimes gets the odd assignment. They don't

come much odder than the one

cameraman Chris Davis and I were on recently. Deep in the Arabian deseft, in the arid red hills around the oasis town of

Al Ain, we both learned a lot more than anyone ever wants to know about the aftificial insemination of camels. I had nobody to blame but myself. A couple of years ago, I had been in Dubai (astonishingly advanced, sophisticated and with an economic outlook rivalling Hong Kong) doing some business stofles.

While there, lwas intrigued by items in local papers about the world's first camel conference. Scores of scientists were there. The main topic was the love life of the dromedary. This is a subject to which I had previously given little thought to. I became intrigued. So when the chance came to return to the Emirates, I called Chris. "Are you free to come to the Gulf foraweek?" l asked. "What's the job?" he replied. "Camels bonking," I explained. "l'm your man," he said instantly. So there we were, Sinclair of Arabia and Davis of the Gulf, standing about in the middle of the deseft looking at three score camels, all of them, if you'll excuse the expression, well and truly up the duff. Al Ain is the world capital of artificial insemination of dromedaries. The reasons go back deep into Bedouin culture. The warring tribes of the Arabian peninsular used to race their beasts long before biblical One of times.

beasts. So, on average, the owner of a champion gets only one potential new speedster every four years. Suddenly, the Emirates were overrun with Australian vets, not to mention lndian doctors, Danish animal dieticians and sclentists from Germany, USA and other places. All of them were in various ways encouraging camels to come fofth S and multiply. q Lady camels were being pumped full ù of hormones. lnstead of one egg, they s had up to 28 in their wombs. These were flushed out (l'll spare you the details) and then fedilised with sperm from superior gentlemen camels. I will not graphically describe this operation. Made-in-

Japan artificial camel vaginas figure in the technique. I am not kidding. ïhe amorous male camel enters a steel pen where he is introduced to the manmade, rubber and plastic imitation

three litres in natural state to up to 18 litres daily) and wool, hides, meat and general health of animals is rapidly improvrng. So this is not just a load of wank. One of the joys of travelling on a Gulf job with Chris Davis is, apart from being

a total professional, he is also a doppleganger of the late Sheik Rashid Maktoum, founder of modern Dubai.

NEWS AND VIEV/S

Deng and the making of ChÍna

The late Sheik's picture adorns almost every public building. After a day watching camels humping, Chris got a bitof asuntan, making his normal swarthy looks even darker. We'd go into a restaurant orbar and I'd nod at the porlrait of the Sheik, then

meaningfully point at Chris behind his back. People would look at me, look at the bearded photographer, look at the Sheik. l'd nod solemnly. Red carpets were laid over dunes.

ir Richards Evans is no stranger to China nor to Hong Kong. He led Britain's negotiating team during the period leading up to the signing of the Joint Declaration in 1984 between Britain and China and was, for the following four years, London's man in Beijing. A career diplomat for four decades,

Sir Richard's biography on

Deng

territory, was handed over to the Japanese at Versailles. China's weakness and humiliation was

never greater than when Deng was growing up. And it goes some way to explaining why Chinese of his generation anti-communist and -communist, non-communist are such ardent na-

tionalists. National reunification on the basis of

Xiaoping was recently published by

unity and stability has been one of his chief aims throughout his life.

done.

Hamish Hamilton. This is an edited version of his address. Of all the political leaders of the second half of the 20th Century there are only two, in my

These days, the rival sheiks vie for

One scientist obligingly slipped asample of camel sperm onto a slide and into

mind at least, in the premier league-Charles De Gaulle and

supremacy on the dunes with 10 km ra-

a computer. This has been specialist

Deng.

ces that take champion camels with teenage jockeys 18 minutes to com-

programmed. You switch it on and the VDT lights up excitedly; it tells you how many sperm are in the sample, how fast they are swimming and - get this - in which direction they are going. Chris and I looked at each other. You need a computer to tell which way a sperm goes? How many directions can they go? This was subject for much learned discussion between the two of us later that night over a dozen pints of draft Heinekin in the local pub, of which Dubai has an ample supply.

dromedary version of Madonna. ln front

of anxious scientists, the difty deed

Sinclair copes with beer crisis.

plete. One ruler imported an Australian vet,

seeking to make his steeds faster by exercise and training. This didn't work. A camel can run only as fast as Allah intended.

So the stress turned to improving camels bettergenetically. This is where

the dromedary humping comes in. Now a lady camel, we learned, gives birth naturally but once every two years.

On the laboratory wall was a tasteful selection of pictures of the private parts of lady camels

and

the love-weary racing steeds.

THE CORRESPONDENT DEC 1993 / JAN 1994

Deng is also

a man who

respects

One could include Mao but most

of the good he did was before 1950 and not after. As I left the diplomatic service in 1988 I don't feel I can comment with enough authority on what is happening in China

Davis of the Gulf. There was a lot more to this job than dromedary bonking, camel humping and massage parlour techniques for loveweary racing steeds. Dubai is an amazing place with wonderf ul restau rants, nightclubs that would make Bangkok blush and a population that is 80% expatriate.

But the great question of the trip re-

pictures of gentlemen camels being masturbated. lt was difficult to keep a straight face. Apart from making super-cam els that run faster, the pro-

mains hanging, hauntingly, over us. On the flight back, sipping some badlyneeded champagne, we kept on return-

gramme has signif icant economic implications for areas from North Chinato the Atlantic, where camels are vital for human welfare. The genetic scientists have improved milk production (from

swim?

ing to it.

How many directions can a sperm

Kevin Sinclair is a local columnist, writer and contributor to dozens of maga-

zines and publications both in Hong Kong and

overseas.

today nor indeed those matters Evans with Zhou Nan in 1984. relating to Hong Kong and its future underChinese rule. What lcan do achievement and who respects sucis discuss three themes which I believe cess. He respects the achievements of Hong Kong. are relevant to what is happening today. Despite what some may say, Deng What is Hong Kong to Deng? knows a great deal about the world , Deng is an ardent patriot of the May 4 generation ... May 4, 1919. infinitely more than Mao. He spent five years in France in the 1920s, visited the As he was growing up in Sichuan, in US, Japan and Southeast Asia. the second decade of thiscentury, China I accept him at face value when he had touched rock bottom. The country had vifiually disintegrated. This was said in 1984 that the people of Hong Kong did not want socialism and that when warlordism began and where the China would not foister socialism on revolution of 1911-12 failed. For China Hong Kong. I also accept the story that it was also a time of great humiliation. he was the author of the concept of one lf the revolution of 191 1-12 had succountry, two systems. The content of ceeded and led to the establishment of a strong, popular government, China this concept may largely be the work of may not have been treated as she was others but lthink he named it. I don't think it grew out of the soil of after World War I when the Shandong peninsular, which had been German thinking about Hong Kong but out of the THE CORRESPONDENT DEC 1993 /JAN 1994 9

soil of thinking about the future of China and Taiwan.

Blltr

NEWS AND VIEWS

What pan has Deng played over the

years in formulating China's policy

relation to Hong Kong?

The part he has played has varied .l

over time. ln 982-84 he was still at the height of his power. ln 1984, at the age of 80, he was in remarkable condition

for a man of his age. He was still

command of everything in an intellectual, physical and moral sense. Now, at another crucial period for Hong Kong, he is no longer at the height of his power. I don't know, perhaps none of us know

just how old and frail he has become. But he is obviously not the man he was nrne years ago. I am sure he was closely consulted by on China's negotiating team on the Hong Kong issue throughout 1 984. He set the agenda and would have been consulted every inch of the way. But more imporlantly, Deng has seen Hong Kong in the wide context of the

eventual reunification of China as a whole ... something which he has been dedicated now for the past 70 years. Deng, however, still believes in an Anglo-American conspiracy to roll back socialism, not just in China but everywhere. China's behaviourtowards Hong Kong since 1989 - the year of Tiananmen and the collapse of the Ber-

Bugaboo '97 nears, is it time to go? By Francine Brevetti

ineteen Ninety-seven. That bugaboo year.

"Are you going to stay until

1997?"

"After 1997? "

These questions have become so worn that we ask them and respond with a yawn. ln fact, many of us have stopped asking them. But our ennui does not mean that we have the answers to these questions down pat. ln fact, I suspect, most of us do not want to

think about them at all.

These concerns are especially germaine to foreign journalists in Hong

HONG I(ONG TRADE DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL

five years here mapped out very clearly or at all. The drag of inertia is heavy erspecially for those who have investments here or whose spouses or lovers are Hong Kong natives. Here's hoping we meet no difficulties and can continue our professional and personal lives as they are now. l've noticed that any suggestion of a more pessimistic view meets with resistance. Some of my colleagues argue that China needs Hong Kong just as it is and will see that its best interests lie in keeping it so. I said this too once. But today l'm not conv¡nced that China's interests,

Hong Kong's and mine converge. l'm not trying to inflame fears, merely to set out certain points to ponder in

planning our futures. we can chart our destinies here with clarity and preci-

Wall- has to be seen in that context. Deng has a geopolitical view of things. What is said and done about Hong Kong

A STORYAT THE

Though I do not suggest

sion, I feel we do have to face at least these uncer-

lin

by others is often interpreted by him in this geopolitical context as well as the national reunification context. So, does Deng want Hong Kong to continue to be prosperous and stable? Does he understand the link between China's prospects of recovering Taiwan and its behaviour towards Hong Kong? And does China's signature on the Joint Declaration matter to him anyway? To all three questions I say YES. But having said that Deng is a patriot and patriotism matters a great deal to him. lt is something he expects in others and goes without saying. ln the context of Hong Kong, he said in 1984: "l don't mind if the people of Hong Kong believe in socialism, capitalism orslavery butwe do want them to be patriots. We want them to be good citizens of the People's Republic of China." @

THERE'S ALWAYS

tainties, and perhaps many more.

Will we be allowed to stay? lndeed nothing concrete

has either been said or intimated to suggest at this

The Hong Kong Trode Developmeni Council con help you moke business heodlines every doy of ihe yeor As

point in time that foreign

o mojor force in world trode you'll find we've olwoys goi o good story to Tell: no podding, no puff ond bocked by occurote, upìoJhe-moment figures ond stotistics Next time you receive one of our press releoses, give it o good

journalists, employed or Kong and even more so foreign free-

lancers. I have been asking my colleagues, "What do you think is going to happen to expatriate journalists, especially freelancers, after 1997?"

A nervous shrug of the shoulders is the most expressive reply. Because there are so many imponderables surrounding this matter, because most of us have been comfortable here till now, it seems few of us have our next four or

THE CORRESPONDENT DEC 1993 /JAN 1994

freelancers, will not be allowed to work here. Perhaps employed expatriates feel more protected on this point. Freelancers may be another matter. But it is a fast changing scene. Consider that the definition of a permanent resident may change. There are signs of movement on this point both from the territory's government as well as from the Chinese. China wants to consider as two separate issues what the definition

once-over You'll soon see whot we meon Or contoct us if you need detoils on ony ospect of Hong Kong lrode

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of permanent resident is and later who will be granted the right of permanent residence. According lolhe Hong Kong Economic limes (August 25, 1993) the

Chinese authorities are mulling over whether foreigners must give up permanent residence in overseas countries after living in Hong Kong continuously

for seven years in order to qualify for residence here.

ln August, Dr Wu Wai-yung, Hong Kong head of the cultural panel of the preliminary working committee for the

SAR preparatory committee was reported in the Hong Kong EconomicJournal(August 31, 1993) as proposing that

foreigners could not become permanent residents purely because of the

work they do here. He found inad-

long-time Hong Kong resident and journalist, is fairly sanguine. "We don't know how much pressure we will come under. lf the Joint Declaration and the Basic Law are followed, I can see freelancers

still operating out of

Hong Kong," he

said. "l will stay on. The only thing that will drive me out of Hong Kong is the rent." But what is agreed to in formal documents and the way things actually transpire after that fateful day four years from now may be very different things. Michael Downey, a legal scholar and

general editor of lhe Hong Kong Staff Employment Manual(in association with the Hong Kong lnstitute of Personal Management) observed that "nothing in the Basic Law says we (expatriates)

equate that provision in the Basic Law which says that a foreigner must live in the territory for seven years

Of course, don't know what the Chinese are thinking or will do anymore than you do. Dr Wu is one man on one panel on a committee with, as yet, no power to enforce its recommendations.l merely bring it up

the atmosphere colony wide in the industry, how can freelancers be exempted? There will be tense pressure on journalists and freelancers especially," she said. The prospects of press freedom after 1997 are dim but is

Ihfutk about it! F.C.C. members represent one 0f the highest earning, per-capita, consumer spending $oups in Hong Kong

Mormng Postand Daisy

F.C,C. members are generally decision makers who decide

\4/HAT to buy for their companies.

THE CORRESPONDENT is a controlled circulation publication, reaching all members plus their families. Complimentary copies are mailed to other key figures in

Li.

as evidence that our comforl-

What are the chances that the definition hammered out will favour our work

can't work here. But it is vague about the terms and condition. Nothing says existing policy or procedures must be maintained, either. "lmmigrqtion provisions relate to executive authority. Will these provisions be interpreted by local courls or the National People's Congress? l'm sure it will all work out but you have a right to be concerned." ln the meantime, Downey will devote 1994 to mastering Cantonese. When a journalist on the mainland can be imprisoned for leaking a speech, when major shareholders of the Soufh China Morning Post and The Standard are chummy with the most august leaders of the Beijing government, when a

here as well? Anthony Lawrence, a

Hong Kong journalist is arrested for

" lf that

attention focused on Hong Kong during the year of transition will keep this industry relatively safe. put after world attention wanes, "Then we really face danger, but it won't be overnight," said

Will we be allowed to write here?

whether they will be allowed to stay in businessor will be shut down," according to Emily Lau.

Hong Kong Journalists Association, both foresee that world

dency.

and British nationals living here will have to apply for work visas. They will no longer have the right of unconditional stay. A hint of things to come?

of foreboding. "They do not know

Su nday

base for permanent resi-

of 150 years are being cufiailed

ous just writing this story. With local journalists suffering these abuses , what hope is there for expatriates security? Even propietors of Chinese-language newspaper have a sense

Li Yuet-way, chairman of the

sensus to confirm whether residents have used Hong Kong as

Lau. Next year, British residency privileges

1997, then I say: "Wake up, boys and girls. The pany's over." Frankly l'm nerv-

change on July 1,1997. Danny Gittings, political editor of the

apply to be a permanent resident. Dr Wu pressed for a

able existence in Hong Kong is not necessarily assured. Until the question of which non- Chinese may reside in Hong Kong on a permanent basis is resolved, "expatriates cannot feel any sense of security here," said Legislative Councillor and former journalist Emily

of Hong Kong says that he fears for press freedom today not to mention

things will not necessarily

continuously before he can

allegedly stealing state secrets, when the chairman of the Newspaper Society

THE CORRESPONDENT DEC 1993 / JAN

1994

China is looking at the Singapore Press as a model for Hong Kong, she said. Expatriate journalists write for a range of audiences. Some of us write about local subjects for a Hong Kong audience; about international affairs for the Hong Kong audience; and about local and regional affairs for Western

Thought about it!

and regional readerships.Some industry sources wonder whether the same f reedom and commercial opporiu-

nities will prevail, permitting us to write for Hong Kong audiences after the fateful day. Perhaps selling stories abroad may be less risky. Li thinks expats who write on international issues not related to Hong Kong may be safe but stories on Hong Kong, even for international audiences, may not be. Chinese embassies and Xinhua offices worldwide monitor newspaper

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The name of the world's articles about China. "They are not pleased when an afticle shows China in a badlight," she observed. Lau predicts that Beijing will seek out

offending journalists residing in Hong Kong and make life difficult for them or get rid of them.

What will be allowed to write? Sources agree that expatriate reporl ers, especially freelancers, may not be at risk if they write about local politics. After that, there is no unanimity. Lau thinks the spheres of religion, academia and art will also be dangerous ground since the Beijing government controls

those areas strictly. Since some fear that academic and aftistic freedom will be restricted, to them it stands to reason

that afticles about these areas will also be. But Li says any subject which Beijing sees as flouting the authority of the central government will be difficult for writers to address.

It makes you wonder what papers here will look like, clones of the cheery China Dail¡Q It is not unlikely that the central government will keep files on journalists. They probably already do. Gittings had a

tail journalists' work opportunities here. ln the last few years, more and more expat journalists have come to Hong

Kong looking for the employment they

can not find in their home economies. But it is not cerlain they will find it here after the transition. Several foreign publishing and broadcasting institutions are reported already to shift their staffers to Beijing. After the British flag falls for the last time, British media will probably stay for a while and they will disappear Gittings said. Already several Hong Kong magazines are printed and published elsewhere in the region. Li finds it worrying that Reuters is shifting its operations out of the territory. Singapore and Malaysia have both made pitches to lure Hong Kong's media interests to their shores. Will Hong Kong become just a curiosity? There is a broader picture. China itself is changing. Cataclysmic changes may be in the foreseeable future. Li reminds that there is a vigorous contingent of journalists on the mainland struggling for press freedom. The HKJA feels honour bound to act as an example forthem

chilling experience after he wrote an article describing China's viewpoint on the construction of the new airpofi. "A high level NCNA off icial took me aside to lecture me. He said: 'You should be careful. The British have four more years

t MasterCard issuer,

and give them hope.

While in the shorl run things seem pessimistic, Li wants to continue the fight for freedom of expression for the day when China will be ready for it. "We have to set up hurdles for China to overcome. We are preparing in case China opens up," she says, But whose concerns are these? They

are those of local Chinese journalists and citizens who will have to remain

CLASS'C

here after 1997. They may also be the concerns of those expatriates who are prepared to have a bumpy ride and willing even to give up their home citizenshipI to continue living here.

5tÞ10

to96

re3+

w oltgt

[B tEE ËAI lIôT

Possibly, it may not fall to us to decide whether we will be allowed to stay here. Even if we can, we may have to decide whether Hong Kong will be the kind of place where we want to live and exercise our craft after the transition.

name welcomed at more than 9 million outlets worldwide,

Francine Brevetti is a freelance journalist based in Hong Kong

The most important name of all.

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here. The SCMP will be here for many

more years after that. You should be careful.'

The publishers of Return to the Heart of the Dragon are offerng the

The wide-spread practice of self-censorship in the local press has been welldocumented. Two lecturers at the Chinese Universityof Hong Kong, DrJoseph

book to FCC members at

discounted price of

collaboration with Dr Chin Chuan Lee of

HK$330. The bookwas previewd in the September issue of

the University of Minnesota (USA),

The Correspondent by

conducted a survey of Hong Kong journalists in 1990. Of the 522 respondents, 23 per cent said they were "apprehensive" when criticising the Chinese government.

Christopher Slaughter. lf you recall, the project

Man Chan and Dr Paul S N Lee

involved 26 photographers, including 11 Hong Kong-based FCC members.

Will pseudonyms offer protection?

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THE CORRESPONDENT DEC 1993 / JAN

1994

Not Just Mastercard' citibank MasterC¿rrcl.

TRAVEL

FCC on safari in Kenya

Grace Kelly arrived to film "Mocambo" had East Africa seen such a group, comprised mainly of FCC members, which tumbled off the plane at Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta Airpo11.

Having survived the non-stop forcefeeding and drinking of GulfAir's Busi-

ness Class, we vowed never to eat again. lnstead, we gulped in fresh,

away.

Next morning, the lodge's resident The gang at Amboseli Serena Lodge with Kip. robi Hilton General Manager Hassan

8-seater vans were

Hamza. Also attending were representatives of Safari World (who did the superb

SafariWorld's driver-guide Mustapha

ground logistics for our trip), GulfAir, Kenya Government officials from the Ministries of Tourism, and lnformation and Broadcasting, as well as newspaper and television editors, the Kenya Wildlife Services, and the East African Wildlife Society. Hospitality and exhaustion were now

a bit of a shock to the

Hong Kong residents and smokers amongst us. At the Nairobi Hilton, we were welcomed by the staff over breakfast before a quick look around town and by the time

waiting;

Wayira had the misfortune to draw the short straw and won Richard Rund, the unsinkable Neva Shaw - sans Meryl Streep's Out of Africawardrobe, but she managed Sharon Bruce, Keith "Shakey"- Shakespeare, "Mam" Sukkasem, and the writer). The rest of the group breathed an audible sigh of relief and got on their buses.

Swahili, toddled off, happily "jambo"ing everyone in sight. Early afternoon we drove to Nairobi National Park and animal orphanage - it was a good opporlunity to stretch our legs and see the "big

Nairobi was quickly behind us and we were in the open countrywith wandering Maasai tending their cattle and goats and occasional glimpses of "real" game such as gazelle. At the Namanga petrol stop on the f anzanian border, Neva quickly negotiated a "reasonable" fee for us to all photograph a group of extremely picturesque Maasai. Well, we thought HK$20 was pretty reasonable, even if

cats" up close as they often prove

their very attractive "PRO" made a

elusive in the wild. It was also a chance for Richard

somewhat unladylike gesture as we

Rund to introduce his trademark foot-

long Honduran cigars to Sebastian,

Unfortunately, friendly Freddie Whitehouse wasn't quite quick

the resident, nicotine-addicted chimpanzee. Last seen, said chimp was deliriously puff ing away to a delighted crowd of locals who had gathered around us. Back at the hotel, it was still all "go" when we were guests of honour at a cocktail reception hosted by the Nai-

enough and omitted to get her name and address so he could "send her" the picture. Just hope he didn't get the several dozen pix he took of various beauties, and their addresses, mixed up. Travelling parallel with the border to Tanzania across the dry lakebed

we hitthestreet, weresuccumbingtothe

famous Kenyan friendliness; some of the less jet-lagged, already fluent in

ment are, quite rightly, proud of their

around a blazing fire under the starstudded sky with wildebeest, gazelle and other game grazing a few yards

ot since Gable, Gardner and

bringing a gross each. Meanwhile, Club Secretary Karen En managed her usual quick "reccy" of the -prices, our Frontiers 56 Travel leader, the remarkably calm Corinne Risacher, did yet another head count, while Freddie was busy again with the lens and address book. Leaving Amboseli National Park, we picked up security for the drive through open country. The Kenyan Govern-

Molo lamb. Then post-meal drinks

By Jo Mayfield

clean, pure air

regretted our lack of foresight in not

of Lake Amboseli, Mustapha pointed to the horizon and there it was - majestic Mount Kilamanjaro, wreathed in cloud and looking just as spectacular as we all knew it would. By this time, we had entered Amboseli National Park and were madly snapping everything we saw - gnus, zebras, baboons (who, we found out, could lipread "banana" and invaded our bus to steal the fruit), antelope, giraffes, elyou name it. ephants We "jambo-ed" into Amboseli Serena Lodge in time for late lunch, and more game viewing before dining on famous

beginning to take their toll so we had to, unfoftunately, forgo the planned pursuit of Nairobi nightlife in favour of sleep before our first day "on safari". At 9 am next day, ourthree pop-up-top

departed.

The happy Sebastian.

THE CORRESPONDENT DEC 1993 / JAN 1994

Maasai cultural lecturer and PRO, Tomanka M Ole Kipepiari, explained

Richard Rund watering his tree.

many of the customs and traditions of his famous tribe and answered our (some, rather bizarre!) questions before we added to Amboseli's reforesta-

Outbound net day proved somewhat hazardous due to the overnight heavy rains and a couple of vans nearly got

tion by planting trees in the reserve

permanently bogged. To the

outside the main gate.

shutterbugs' disappointment nobody fell in the mud... Up the track we came to one of the

After lunch, "Kip" escofted us to a traditional Maasai village. Within a thick thorntree circle were a number of dung huts and smaller corrals for overnight stock penning and lined up to meet us were the village elders, warriors and

young women who kept our shutters and videos going nonstop with their

many wayside souvenir/loo/drink stops and another chance to display our bar-

gaining skills: we discovered that Giordanocotton baseball caps (HK$1 5),

disposable lighters (at least half-fulll) and clip-on biros were HOT trades and

famous tourist industry but due to a few isolated cases of banditry, prefer tourist convoys to be "escorted". I think we all felt quite secure, with or without security, in Kenya, but the thrillseekers amongst us seemed a little miffed that our armed escorl didn't get a chance to display his markmanship! Across Ku Ku plains, we came to the spectacular Shaitani ("devil") black lava

flow, before entering Tsavo West National Park and Kilaguni Lodge where we enjoyed more game viewing during lunch. By this time, Sharon Bruce and Douglas MacGregor were in seventh heaven

as they had "come home": FCC-er Sharon (wife of PAA Corporate PR, Phillip) was born and raised in Kenya where her father built many of the country's rail tracks before they left in 1972. Hong Kong-based businessman, Douglas, had also spent much of his life on the African East Coast and was full of anec-

song and dance until the heavens opened up, deluging and nearly

stranding us. Our vans skidded through mud

and blinding rain to regain the main track and drenched, we returned to the lodge, hot showers and a barbecue dinner with local I

Kenyan wlnes

at HK$48 a bot-

tle, one of the tour's many bargains. Sadly, but perhaps not surprisingly, the lodge ran out of stock that night... By this time, most of us were replenishing our film stocks but the video shooters, including

Shakey and Mam, and Nicola Thomas and her mum, Patricia Parkinson, were still going strong.

(We are yet to view the public releases of these epics,)

The intrepid balloonists enjoying post-flight champers for breakfast. THE CORRESPONDENT DEC 1993 / JAN 1994 I7

preservation. With Tim's employment a few years ago, and nine trained rangers, their efforts are now being rewarded as many spe-

cies on the sanctuary, including elephants, are now increasing. Following an al fresco lunch on the tree-shaded lawns of Taita, some of us dipped in the pool or rode camels, then it was back to Salt Lick to grab sweaters and head for our "mystery" dinner venue. An hour before sunset our vans chugged up the nearly veftical track to Kudu Point, where we were met

at its peak by an local band and liveried Hilton waiters bearing champagne. "THIS is down and out in Africa???" we exclaimed.

Checking the merchandise.

It was a magic evening, watching the

dotes and stories of life in the "good old days". Via the green oasis of Mzima Springs, where hippos lazed in the clear water, we arrived at Taita Hills Sanctuary and were enroute to Salt Lick Lodge when word came down there'd just been a kill by lions so we swung around, cameras ready, and into the bush. Our vans crept up on two prides feeding on a water buffalo carcass right on the roadside: the males had already gorged and gone, but the lionesses and theirsixcubswere still dining. Guarding them (and us!) were two Taita rangers, for as well as keeping tourists in line, these rangers monitor the movement of animal groups as they roam the unfenced, 100 square kilometre sanctuary. After this exciting start to our

guys in our group found this highly disconcerting... We managed, however, to make the next day's early viewing drive, before breakfast and the shoft drive to Taita Hills Lodge where conservationist/ ecologist (Dr) Tim Allen-Rowlandson, the only such professional employed fulltime by a Kenyan sanctuary or national park, enthralled us with details of the work carried out by him and the staff at Taita.

Since Hilton first leased the propefiy 20 years ago, they have been committed to conserving the wildlife and habitat as well as trying to maintain the delicate

balance between tourism and species

Taita Hills visit, we enjoyed drinks with the Hilton management on the game viewing balcony of Salt Lick before dinner and finally retiring to our rooms. At this point, we were all seribut how can ously underslept you possibly go to sleep when a

herd of 20 elephants stroll out of the moonlit bush to drink and bathe a few yards from your bedroom window? Or if the dominant Simba nearby is exercising his sexual prowess, and lungs, for the fifth time in an hour. The

Neva Shaw finds some contrast.

THE CORRESPONDENT DEC 1993 / JAN 1994

red sun sinking and hundreds of migrat-

ing buffalo on the plains below, before

we dined in open-sided thatched huts and the star-studded nightsky show began.

Betsy Pisik and David Jones, all the gton

eed it was a highlight of the trip and we starting talking about "when I come back to Kenya...." It was hard to leave that mountain top but half the group had elected to "rough it" it overnight in bush tents before embarking on a dawn hot air balloon flight over the savannah. Having seen the accommodation, I can honestly say

way f rom Th e Wash

Ti mes, agr

those tents were bigger and better

equipped than many Hong Kong apadments (cheaper, too!). Next morning wefarewelled our Hilton hosts and headed for the coast where Mombasa welcomed us with heat and a troupe of nubile dancing girls at the Serena Beach Hotel entrance; three of our "white hunters" sustaining (minor) injuries in their haste to disembark and snap these young charmers. No sooner had we checked in than we were out to the beach, pool or a 20 minute cab ride to Mombasa for the dedicated shopaholics. And, what bargains we all found: jewellery, carved

OFF THE V/ALL

figurines and animals, drums and irimbas, materials and stoneware, the list was endless and the prices the lowest of the trip.

Our Moorish-style hotel on the warm lndian Ocean beach was a cool haven after a week on the track and Mombasa "Casablanca of the East Coast" -wastheintriguing. Not least of its attractions

was the fading colonial glory of The Mombasa Club (no reciprocal rights but we bought chits and Freddie, Sharon and I enjoyed sandwiches and drinks for HK$40 total!). Standing next to the Fort Jesus ruins, this residential club commands a superb view of the ocean and coral reef and is near the Old (Arab) Quafter and markets, both fascinating areas to explore. Suddenly, the trip was over and as we waited for our delayed f light in Mombasa

Tai chi in Shanghai, 1980.

The Bob Davis eye From December, the FCC's photo fea-

ture wall takes on a new design thanks to the free services of Peter Wong.

The first photographer

to be fea-

tured with the new look is Hong Kong's

Above, Junk llong Kong 1970; below left, New Guinea (Cathay Pacifrc); below right, Maui (Regent).

Bob Davis, with images from Hawaii, New Guinea, Japan, Shanghai and Hong Kòng.

The print¡ng, paper and mounting by Phil

were provided - also free Cappar of The Lab.

Airport's departure lounge, we were joined by US Army troops and Swedish UN personnel returning from R & R to Mogadishu, just 800 kilometres up the coast. Our flight was finally ready and, grabbing carved giraffes, bongo drums and

overstuffed bags, we dashed to the plane, just making it to Nairobi and our connecting flight home. Its impossible to write about our Kenyan holiday without it sounding like the usual cliche-riddled "tourist" story. But what we found was much more than that and even if none of us ever make it back, we'll always remember the warmth and hospitality of the Kenyans and the beauty of their fascinating country.

Jo MayÍield is an Associate member and is a PR and marketing consltant.

THE CORRESPONDENT DEC

1993

Tokyo (Day in the Life of Japan). / JAN 1994

THE CORRESPONDENT DEC 1993 / JAN 1994 2I

ple's Congress at Beijing's Nationalities Cultural Pal-

COVER STORY

ace. That presentation, PHOTOS BY TERRY DUCKHAM

which received a standing ovation, Quinlan said, was telecast live and, therefore, must have been viewed by millions of people all over China. The CD's appeal to East-

jrr'l '-!i

ern and Western ears and the Beijing experience gave

Quinlan the idea that Middle Kingdom could, indeed, be made visual and excit-

ing. "Music by itself is

powerlul tool; but music plus image can be both spec-

tacular and captivating," Quinlan said. Next, he got down to the job of assembling live singers and dancers to trans-

form his vision into realitY, namely, to create a Broadway-style Chinese musical. ln this he had help from the combined dance companies of Willy Tsao's CitY Contemporary Dance Company and the Guangdong Modern Dance Company. Katusha Tsui, the APA graduate now doĂŹng advanced voice-training studies at the Guildhall School of Music, was flown in from London to sing some of the prime numbers, backed by colourf ully- robed musicians

It began on the golf course FCC member NOEL QUINLAN has scored a hole-in-one twice: once on a golf course and the second in Hongkong entertainment world. VERNON RAM hole-in-one at the FCC Golf Tournament in Discovery Bay one year ago was the trigger for Noel Quinlan's widely acclaimed hi-tech musical, Tales From The Middle Kingdom, that played to full- houses during five shows at the Lyric Theatre of the Academyfor Performing Ads in Novem-

By Vernon Ram

ber.

"That hole-in-one in Disco Bay, believe me, changed mY whole attitude and approach to life. lf I could do that, I told myself, I could take on any project, and a surge of confidence welled inside me," Quinlan said. Right then he was working on an ambitious and challenging musical project: setting to music and dance traditional Chinese melodies and legends in a contemporary idiom and format. Nothing like this had ever been done

before and the concePt of

THE CORRESPONDENT DEC 1993 / JAN 1994

gweilo

presenting and intepreting Middle Kingdom tales and melodies to the Chinese appeared bizarre, if not impossible. But the Sydney-born Quinlan, who has soaked enough Chinese culture after a stayof 25years in Hongkong andthrough his Shanghainese wife Maria, knew he could do it. The first hint came when he released last year his album, Middle Kingdom, on his Big Sky labelthat was distributed by Warner Music. lt sold 100,000 copies in Asia and still continues to sell around 300 CDs a week in Hongkong. ln October last year, Quinlan was

invited

to present Middle

Kingdom

backed by live dancers to the Standing Committee of the 14th National Peo-

who performed on traditional Chinese instruments. Stunning costumes and trick lighting effects were topped by a unique, digital

surround-sound system that injected pulse and pace to Quinlan's

own ultra-modern electronic music. As a showbiz package, it was sheer magic, a non-stop visual and aural extravaganza. No musical of this style or scale had ever before been attempted nor delivered with such punch or panache: that was the unanimous verdict of everyone who saw Tales From The Middle Kingdom. Quinlan generously concedes thatthis $3-million extravaganza was made pos-

sible due solely to the sponsorship from Shun Hing, the electronics trading conglomerate which made the gesture as its

contribution to the community to mark its 40th anniversary celebrations this year.

What next in Quinlan's agenda? Hongkong's first successful musical theatre production, if Quinlan's plans bear fruit, should go on the road, an ideal showpiece for international promotions mounted by the Trade Devel-

opment Counciland the Hongkong Tourists Association. The music of "Tales," meanwhile, has led to the release of Quinlan's Middle Kingdom ll, a CD now on sale in the record shops and, possibly, at the FCC. That should make a nice Christmas gift and a fine gesture of appreciation of the quiet triumph of a longtime FCC member.

THE CORRESPONDENT DEC 1993 / JAN 1994 23

The dragon and the

junk: simple but powerful props.

THE 1994 FCC DIARIES The FCC 1994 range of executive diaries is now available at'club'prices. Each has been specially produced with a wealth of important information, in either black imported bonded leather or calf skin for the wallet. All feature a discreet club logo and your name, if requested. Ask to see the samples at the Club office. Avoid disappointment and order earþ as stocks The Foreign Correspondents' Club are limited. Allow two weeks for personalizing l¡werAlbert Road with your name or initials. Hong Kong 58 weeks in popular week-to-view format; international public holidays; world atlas and lift-out directory

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THE CORRESPONDENT DEC 1993 / JAN 1994

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r NEWS AND VIEV/S

One of the most

'distinguished' of travel agents By Philippe Le Corre or most of us, Taiwan is a sepa-

Bowring's introduction, "John Ni has been in Hong Kong since 1991 as the managing director of Chung HwaTravel Service, the Taiwan Foreign Ministry's

rate entity from China which

unofficial representative office here.

besides huge investment and trade doesn't have much to do with the

"Hong Kong," he said, "is very exciting and interesting, and sometimes very frustrating city". Nevertheless, his appointment two years ago expressed Taipei's increasing link with the territory, particularly as far as business is concerned.

PRC.

Just talk to John Ni, Taiwan's top representative in Hong Kong, and you'll getanother idea on the matter. Aformer director-general of the Ministry of Economics' lndustrial Development and lnvestment Center in Taipei, Ni, who was born in the mainland 52 years ago, three years

before General Chiang Kai-shek escaped to the island, always refers to "the Republic of China on

Taiwan".

Such a definition will surely not amuse the Political Adviser's off ice here, which has been constantly denying visas to Taiwan officials invited to speak to FCC members in the Ni: increasing links in Hong Kong. past, despite numerous Ni said Taipei wants to increase concommitments from the Hong Kong govtacts with the private sector in Hong ernment regarding freedom of informaKong at a time when business is boom tion. ing between Taiwan and the mainland. Those who have been turned down ln less than five years, bilateral trade include the secretary-general of the Two via Hong Kong has reached US$2.9 Straits Foundation, Cheyne Chiu, a few months ago, and the former vice-chairman of the Mainland Affairs Council, Ma Ying-jeou, now Taiwan's justice minister, in 1990. On October 29, John Ni was the first Taiwanese official to speak at

to serve this community," Ni said,"and talking about one

country-two systems we are committed to a system which is more similar to the one enjoyed by Hong Kong presently." ln addition to Chung Hwa Travel Service, Taiwan has two other branches here, lhe Free China Review which just moved to huge new office, and an economic branch, the Far East Trade Service. As far as direct air and sea links are

concerned, Ni said, "my government

billion, according to Taipei's government and US$14.1 billion according to

thinks its to everybody's advantage but,

Beijing.

recognise each other as two legal political entities".

lnvestment stands between US$3-7 billion depending on each government's

statistics. "One of the world's most distinguished As a result, many companies from the travel agents," according to Philip island have set up branches in Hong

the FCC.

Kong, for instance f inancial giant China Trust, whose chairman is C. F. Koo. Taiwanese companies have been very active recently in the Far East, and rank second among foreign investors after Japan in several Southeast Asian countries. As a former investment chief, Ni also has a role to play in helping Taiwanese businessmen to get in touch with new markets in Southeast Asia. That includes Vietnam, where Taiwan became the main foreign investor in 1991. Officially, there are only 88 Taiwanese companies registered there, but Ni said the total investment reaches US$1.3 billion now. I nvestments f rom the island have been flowing to ASEAN countries as well. ln Malaysia for example, Ni said US$5.6 billion has been invested by some 1 ,100 companies, mainly in textile and electronics; in Thailand, this year's figures show a total investment of US$4.3 billion involved in various fields such as machinery, hardware, computers, and petrochemicals. ln Hong Kong, the island's citizen's rank first inthe tourism area (1 .7 million visitors), mostly because of increasing business and family links between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, using Hong Kong as the obligatory transit point. "After 1997 we will continue

THE CORRESPONDENT DEC1993/ JAN

1994

first, Taiwan wants the two sides to

Philippe Le Corre

is a

correspondent

for Radio France lnternational.

NEWS AND VIEWS FCC members who subscribe to Window and the probably larger number of members who receive free copies may have noticed that the fortnightly column "Capitalist Roadel' contributed by Derek Davies, former long-time Editor of the Far Eastern Economic Review and FCC President, no longer graces its pages. Davies in fact gave up the column afferWindow chairman, T.S. Lo spiked the column: this despite the assurance he had given Davies that he could freely write and express his opinions as long as he did not make fun of the Chinese leaders. This struck Davies as being ultra-sensitive either on the paft of T.S. Lo, or on the paft of the Chinese leaders. The offending column subjected the leaders to no jibes, being largely concerned with matters historical. We run the column in question below. Readers who are anxious about press freedom in Hong Kong may be interested to know that the South China Morning Posl, which was offered the column gratis, rejected it unseen, shortly after the recent change in the Posl's ownership.

The 'Capitalist Roader' departs.

Too hot for Window and the Post ropagandists have always known

that if they repeat a falsehood

By Derek Davies

often enough an extraordinarily

large number of people accept it as

avoid a breach with China.

unquestionable truth, and that in many ways the bigger the lie is, the better. So when China goes on repeating that Chris Patten's "democracy" package is contrary to the Joint Declaration, the Basic Law and the seven letters exchanged between the British and Chinese foreign

The truth bears repetition, too. So let it be spelled out yet again. Annex One to the Joint Declaration states: "The legislature of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall be constituted by

ministers, an ever-larger number of people, who have never read any one the documents in dispute, assume it is so. Chris Patten has remarked that whenever he asks his Chinese opposite num-

bers kindly to point out just exactly where, in the Declaration or the Law (or indeed in the seven letters), a modest enlargement of Hong Kong's eleclorate is specifically forbidden, his opposite numbers switch to vaguer allegations that his proposals violate the spirit of these documents. The only spirit they may violate is the spirit (or the ghost) of Sir Percy Cradock, the former British foreign policy panjandrum, whose appeasement policies led China to conclude that Britain could be pressured into making a concession in order to

elections." Hold onto that fact. Nor can China claim that Britain did not make its intentions very clear. Both Mrs Thatcher and the then foreign secretary Sir Geoffery Howe spelled out London's intention of putting a democratic system into place. ln the House of Commons, the FO Minister responsible for Hong Kong, Richard Luce, stated: "We all fully accept that we should build up a firmly based democratic system for Hongkong in the years between now and 1997." ln the House of Lords, Baroness Young repeated the pledge. Thus, if China wants to damn Britain's failure to keep its word, it would have an excellent case by pointing to the failure to install a democratic system.

Perhaps China would argue that Thatcher, Howe, Luce and Young are politicians and that their promises (anyway made to sellthe Sino-British deal to

Parliament and Hong Kong) could be discounted. But what about Sir Philip Haddon-Cave, who once occupied the posts of Financial Secretary and Chief

T.S. Lo: on the spike.

Secretary with unimpeachable honesty? No politician he; just the opposite in fact: a bureaucrat of the old school, to his very finger-tips. Not for him the rewards to the ego and to the wallet of staying on

THE CORRESPONDENT DEC1993 / JAN 1994 27

in one of the local "jobs for the boys" on retirement, he retired. He was not a man

Jiatun (the then head of Xinhua News Agency and, before his embarrassing

to give his word lightly.

defection to California, China's senior spokesman in Hongkong) banged his spectacles on the table and darkly accused the British of deviating from the Joint Declaration). ln London, Cradock advised that

Leafing through some old files recently I came across the text of the speech he made as Chief Secretary to Legco on 9 January 1 985, just three weeks after the signing of the Joint Declaration. He was moving a motion welcoming the White Paper on the Further Development of Representative Government in Hong Kong. Admittedly the speech hardly gave the impression of trumpets heralding a new democratic era. lt bore allthe signs of drafting and re-drafting by the bureaucrats and diplomats involved before it gained higher-up approval. For the record, Legco was to be enlarged from 46 to 56 members, with a rather bigger contingent of elected unofficials.

And a 1987 review of this nervous excursion into democracy was promised. More to the point, Haddon-Cave out-

Haddon-Cave's baby should be aborted and that Britain should instead cave in. The 1987 soundings were taken and the results twisted with breath{aking dishonesty into a shameful conclusion that

The rest is history, until Patten came along. But history will record that in 1 984 China agreed to an elected Legco; that early the next year the Hong Kong government staded the "progressive" proc-

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system should be developed gradually and progressively," he said. So what's new pussy cat? What's new about the Patten package that was not officially adumbrated within weeks of the Joint Declaration by the most apolitical bureaucrat ever to bless Hong Kong's shores? Now, what happened to the 1985

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lined the thinking behind the move. The objective was, he stated, that the future system of representative government would be "firmly rooted in the community" and thus "directly accountable to the people of Hong Kong." Second, the government was determined to ensure that Legco would be "broadly based."

Unofficials opposed any f urther dilution of their self-importance, just as they had once fought tooth and nail against the appointment of an Ombudsman. Perhaps Exco secretly oppposed a diminution of its status. Perhaps the

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r OBITUARY

Fred C. Shapiro l93I r 1993 CC member Fred

century with The N ew Yorkermagazine by serving as its China and Hong Kong correspondent, died of cancer in New York on October 22. He was 62. Fred was diagnosed in Beijing as

having pancreatic cancer shortly after a visit to Tibet in June. He

On the 100th anniversary of Mao Zedong's birth, Associate member Marty Mery reflects on the continuing Mao cult.

Get out your Mao

yuppies armed with mobile-phones and Great Wall credit cards - one

waste disposal

can't help feeling this man is an

with

Shapiro, in fĂŹshing hat, in Lhasa in June.

from

Fred was a repoder and rewriteman for

Philadelphia, Baltimore and New York

Teaching journalism at

New York University, Fred saw his chance to fulfill an early ambition to report from Asia when one of his Chinese students told him how Xinhua

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News Agency hired foreigners to "polish" copy for its language service. Soon Fred was in Beijing, using the one point by Xinhua job - funded at as a base from the United Nations which to file the first of what would become 11 incisive "letters" 1o The New Yorker from Beijing, Tibet and Hong Kong. Those full-length items included a running series on the Tiananmen protests that earned him the 1990 Overseas Press Club award. Fred moved to Hong Kong in '1 990, filing regularly on the run-up to 1997 as well as whipping off the occasional column for the Sunday Morning Post. This year he signed on for another stint at Xinhua in Beijing and began work on what would have been his fourlh book of his career, this time on China. Fred is survived by his wife, lris, who shared his Beijing and Hong Kong adventures and now is in New York,

and their son and daughter. lris asks that donations in his memory be made to any cancer research foundation of

one's choice.

Robert MacPherson THE CORRESPONDENT DEC 1993 / JAN 1994

speeches came into circulation courtesyof selective leakstothe Red Guards. The Red Guards published Snow's biographical materials about Mao. This seemingly uncontrolled flood of materials was not free of political control. Lin Biao was a prime mover behind the deification of Mao during the Cultural Revolution, a process that began

in the military almost as soon as he became Minister of Defence in 1960.

cused in the 1963 murder of two white girls in New York, won Fred the 1970 Robed F. Kennedy award for distinguished journalism. Later, he pioneered environmental repoding, investigating the then-obscure topic of radioactive enough verve to turn out a seminal 1981 book on the

"C." in his byline distinguished him his namesake father, also a newsman

ANNIVERSARIES

black drifter wrongly ac-

Shapiro, who capped an award-winning quarter-

rushed home immediately, underwent surgery, and was starting chemotherapy when he passed away in his sleep, his family said. Born in Washington, DC the

newspapers before joining the New York Herald Tribune in 1962. He was still at Ihe Tribwhen his first piece for The New Yorker in 1964, on the Bedford-Stuyvesant race riots, appeared in the weekly. He moved fulltime to the magazine the following year. H is three-part series on George Whitmore, a

By 1966, the Mao cult had escalated to absurd proportions, resulting in a huge amount of resources being devoted to manufacturing Mao images and paraphernalia. Although Lin's attempt to

portrait dangling in its laminated plastic

splendour from the rearview mirrors of a thousand taxis carrying

BPut S poli \cau Dnote

enrgma.

e d

Mongolian grasslands. The baton was simply passed on to the next contenders for control of the image that became that became the

Our first glimpse of Mao came through a sympathetic American journalist - whose Red StarOver Chinabrought Mao into the international limelight half a century ago.

By this time Mao was already a middle-aged warrior who had ruthlessly battled his way to the top of a highly disciplined - and determined revolutionary pady. Edgar Snow was knowledgeable about China but was not privy to the internal workings o{ the Chinese Communist Pady. Although he obUpsurge of interest in Mao trivia. served Mao at close quarters he once saw Mao drop his pants to scratch give the party prestige. at lice it is now evidentthatthere was By the time the CCP emerged victoria great deal Snow did not see. ous from the civil war in 1949, Mao could When Snow met Mao, the seeds of the no longer appear in public places for Mao cult had been firmly planted in the fear of being swamped by fans, and like party's image of itself. The parly leaders a Hollywood personality he both loved decided that Mao and Zhu De, the Red and hated his predicament. He enjoyed Army's chief of staff, should be poradulation and recognised it as a useful trayed as personifying the par1y. Both political tool. The key issue was always: their portraits were used on the poorly who controlled this marvelous tool. printed notes circulating in the commuRight up to the mid-1960s all official nist base areas. Even after 1949 the speeches and essays published in China poftraits of Mao and Zhu were the main had the life edited out of them, in a way icons of the CCP. that hid Mao the man. The thought of Partly in response to the KMT,s deifiChairman Mao was essentiallythe work cation of Sun Yat Sen as the nation's of acommitteeon which Maowas merely founding father, but more imponantly one member. Although Mao was the to counter the Chiang Kai-shek propaparty supremo, the pady had control of ganda machine which had been in full his image and his "thought", and, to a swing since he took control of the KMT great extent, control of his life. and China's government in 1927, the It was not until the Cultural Revolution CCP cultivated hero worship of Mao to that a large quantity of unedited Mao

key to political power in China. Despite claiming to Snow, who revisited Mao in the early 1970s, that he wanted to tone down the cult, if anything it intensified.

The "Gang of Four's" play for power was based on its ability to use Mao for its own purposes. After Mao's death in 1976, the transitional party leader Hua Guofeng made his mark in the annals of Mao worship by hastily building a mausoleum to display Mao's pickled cadaver as a reminder of Hua's own political pedigree. Hua was shunted aside, and Mao continues to be a tourist attraction. Deng Xiaoping's famous posthumous defence of Mao - 7Ol" good,30% notso-good - is similar to Mao's defence of Stalin. Both before and after coming to power Mao suffered at Stalin's hands, yet Mao defended Stalin to the end. Deng's career was adversely affected by Mao, who allowed him to be purged three times. Deng defends the Mao that Deng controls. The recent popular upsurge of interest in Mao icons is discomforling to the party, which for the first time has lost control of one of its main assets. The party desperately wants to be able to control the image of Mao as strictly as it did in Snow's time. lronically, a strong

THE CORRESPONDENT DEC1993 / JAN 1994 31

The SLR c

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Drunkardts Alley ooo a place to remember t was the fall of 1986. We were assembled, over200 people in all, in a large room rented for the occasion, in the lmperial Hotel in Tokyo. lncluding myself there were three for-

fromadiffere

station in Tokyo. She has stayed in the business ever since.

A buffet was laid out on a cluster of tables in the centre of the room and a large banner was draped across one wall which said, in Japanese charac-

She is outspoken, direct and to the point. ln shod, a character to be reck-

ters, "Congratulations 2Oth anniversary of the Buoy". The master of ceremonies mounted the stage and taking the microphone in hand bid us to be silent. The background music stopped and a brief fanfare blared from the speakers. The door opened and to resounding applause a solitary woman of about 60 entered the room. She made her way slowly to the podium

mid-1980s pop their heads into one

a short, highly emotional speech of thanks. A toast was offered and the festivities began. The woman was the proprietress of a Iiny nomiya (drinking establishment) called the Buoy, and her 200 plus hosts who had chipped in to make the occasion were her regulars. I was introduced to the Buoy by a friend several years earlier on a chilly and gave

night in March when the last snow of the I

have been back many times since. It is nestled with a collection of similar stand bars, as they are sometimes called, in a lane appropriately named nombe yokocho (drunkards alley), next to the Yamanote railway line, around the corner from Shibuya station. This little section, an oasis in the midst of modern glitter, has somehow remained intact and unchanged since the early years of the occupation. Wandering minstrels, long displaced by karaoke in other entertainment districts of Tokyo, would as recently as the

faced and survived great hardship. She lead a privileged childhood ìn Manchuria but with the end of the Pacific War and the invasion of the Soviets, the well established expatriate society there was torn apan. Losing her family she managed to make her way back to Japan by herself. Somewhere along the line she married, but being the type of person she is, that didn't last long ln order to survive she opened a small pushcart stall dispensing drinks and snacks, old timers will remember them as being clustered in large numbers

many years ago, around the railwaY

ergners.

year was turning the mud into slush.

Japanese females who has in her time

door after another or where there was no door under the noren (hanging curtains), searching for customers willing to pad with a thousand yen or so to listen to or join into a rendition of theirfavourite

enka (traditional Japanese ballad). At the end of the lane is a communal urinal where the drinkers regularly dis-

pose of their excess liquid intake. On evenings when the wind is right directions are not needed to find it. The Buoy seats five, but when occasion demands can manage seven. The interior is decorated, or perhaps better put, cluttered with bric-a-brac reminis-

oned with. She selects her clientele with care and allows newcomers only by introduction. Many of them are from the nearby NHK studios including some well known personalities. Years of listening to her customers' business and family problems has made her a psychologist of note, and her advice, freely dispensed, is listened to with care and respect. The BuoY is a

place for good food, good drink and a quiet chat. lf an outsider had wandered into our parly in the lmperial Hotel that evening and listened to the succession of speeches, it would have been almost impossible for them to comprehend that magnificent reception was in honour of the owner of a tiny nomiya in "Drunkards Alley" next to the railway line in

I haven't been back in a couPle of years now, but I checked with a friend recently who confirmed that the developers have been kept at bay, "Drunkards Alley" remains unchanged and

the decor which makes the BuoY so

Hirano-san still presides at the Buoy.

THE CORRESPONDENT DEC 1993 / JAN 1994

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cent of days long past. lt is not, however, special but the proprietress, Ms Hirano. She can be found each evening sitting behind the counter cooking broiled fish, octopus orsquid overcharcoal and serving beer in mugs or sake in masu, those old-fashioned square wooden cups. Regulars are entitled to their own /??asu with their names inscribed on it. Hirano-san is one of that vanishing breed of strong minded independent

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of Erßlua.

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The lncol islnulers, who

hotl

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ning of tht war, nastcd nt¡ timc in sah,¿rgng

at murh uf the þrecious

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B"t the tínæ tiæ

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aniued on the scene the "Politícian" har) sl;ppetl beneath the waves aru) no

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the "PoLiticiun" was explored and

additional bottles of Balbntine's were

recouered intr"ct dnd sr¡ld

oq-,er

Â500

As you can see the taste of BalL.nti¡æ's has always bem aþþreciaæd

no nutttcr when, no mntter Perhaps ù:u:t's wlry Ballanarc's ß

whøe.

Ewop's

ru,tmberr'¡ne selling Scocch \X/hislcy.