The Correspondent, April - May 2001

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The Tiananrnen Papers China and the Internet FCC Photographer of the YearAwards

THE FOREIGN CORRESPONDENTS'

CLUB 2 Lolver Albert Road, Hong Kong

Teì: (852) 2521

lSll Fu:

(852) 2868 4092

E-mail: <fcc@fcchk.org> Website: <w,.fcchk.org> President Anthony Lamence FiretVice President Laurie Second Yice President -Jim Ray Rudowski,

Hon.

-

Sec.

Correspondent Member Governors Paul Ba1field, Kate Pound Darvson, Hubert van Es, Luke Hunt, Akiko Kato, Mark Landle¡ David Roads,

Philip Segal Jownalist Member Governors C P Ho, Francis Moriarty Associate Menber Governors Kevin Egan, Robert L Fienberg, David Garcia, l\4artin Merz

6 7 8 9

Website

10

Chess Club

Elections

Golf Society Wine

Marketing Column

Finmce Comittee Conuenor: Philip Segal (Treasurer)

Professional Con uenor:

Stories The Tiananmen Papers I I r - co-editor, The Tiananmen Papers "oo.r 11 Perry Link,

Comittee

lin

Laurie

Constitutional Colmittee

14 Tiananmen Papers Chinese Edition - Tiananmen Papers 15 Tom Clancy and The 18 Voxpop \4/hy were The Tiananmen papers leaked?

Conuenor: Davi.d P.oads

Membership Committee Cowmor: Hwbert van Es

-

House/F&B Comittee Conaenor: Dave Garcia

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Entertaiment Comittee Conomor: Jim Laurie

19 uhrna and the lnternet 21 The Great Firewall

Freedom of the Press Comittee Conumor : Francts Moriarty 'Wall

2 3 r.rn.r,rirr"" I 23 Fanny

Comittee

Co-conamor:

Htbert van

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General Manager Gilbert Cheng

24 25 27 28

The Correspondent @

The Foreign Correspondents' Club ofHong Kong

The Correspondent is publishe d 6 times a year Opinions expressed by witers in magazine are not necessarily those of the

Obituary

Club.

Publications Committee Coruaor Luke Hunt

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E-mail : krollhk@ krol lworldwide.com

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Contact Persons: Harry Godfrey lll or Tim Davies

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Printer Impress Offset Printing FacLory Limited Advertising Enquiries Steve White 2981.777?

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Mobile: 9326 5884 Website

<w.fcchk.org> THE CORRESPONDENT APRILMAY

-

Mike Moles

-

Drinking in New York City

*"r

d rhe FCC 32 Diplomatic Reception

33 Jazz Festival 34 FCC at the Seven's

35 Social and Overseas News 36 Easter and Chinese Restaurant Opening

Asiapix Print Services '|el: 2512 9544 Fu:2575 8600 E-mail: asiapix@hk.linkage.net

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Production

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Editorial Edi¡or: Saul Lockhart Tel: 2813 5284 Fax: 2813 639+ Mobile: 9836 1210 E-mail: lockhart@hkstarcom

Central Plaza 1

Employee Risk

-

-

Watering Hole

mor : Paul Bafreld Editor: Saul l,ockhart Production: Terry Duckham

D eþut¡ Conu

Kroll Associates (As¡a) Límited Suite 1701

Law The Role of English in Hong Kong Haruhiko Kuroda TheJapanese Economy Nuri Vittachi \A4rat the Hong Kong Media Want to Know Stephen Rogers The Fall of Suharto: Fact & Fiction Dr Susan \Mhitfield People & Cultures of China's Silk Road

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J I Professional Contacts I 4t ,""Faces Marrin Merz I

T From Allen Cheng #6632

I am really glad that you (Gilbert Cheng) are doing such a f,rne job as the new GM. Overall, I believe the club is doing far better than any time than in the past.

However, I recently heard rumours that the club may be considering shrinking the FCC sauna area.

I am a regular user and am greatþ distressed by this.

The FCC attracts a wide range of members, people who use

it for a variety of reasons. Some prefer F&8, while

others like me enjoy the FCC for its fine F&B as well as for its fìne health club. The sauna area is an important

part of the fitness centre that enhances the FCC's attraction to me and many other fitness conscious members. Without the fitness centre, some of us might

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consider quitting. Therefore, I would encourage you to reconsider this proposed move to get rid of the sauna area. It is a major reason why I use the FCC regularly.

Thank you for your atLenlion.

Editor's note: Othsr members haae also uritten to GM Gilbert Cheng and, the Board on this subject. Please see the Marketing Manager's column on page 10.

FromJulian Walsh #6067

I

received the ballot papers recently and voted based on what I knew about the people standing for election to the board. In some cases I did not know anything about the candidates. Then a few days after I had submitted my ballot I received some background information on the candidates. Having read this I might have changed the way I voted. It seems to happen like this every year. Could the Club not send out the bios at the same time as the ballot papers?

We aþologise for the inconaenience, btr't many arriued late and the ballots had to be þosted. biographies of the

GM\ reþly:

From Sonya Frye, Manager of the OPC in New York

On March 16th, we had about 70 people for the China Hands Reunion. A great success. A full report

in the coming April Bulletin wrìtten by Come to Mo Tat Wan on Lamma Island and discover

Hong Kong's newest venue for al fresco dining and great partíes.

Located on the beach, Cococabana offers a laid back Mediterranean-style atmosphere, Enjoy our exotic cocktails and balcony diníng set against the soft sound of waves on the beach and spectacular views over the South China Sea to Hong Kong. Live Latin music and Salsa parties can also þe enjoyed on a regular basis.

CococaÞana can

be

reached

by ferry from

Also at CuÞana great Cuban sounds like

Candela,

by the Havan a Libre Quartet every Thursd ay and Sunday

night from 8:00 pm. Reservation recommended for tables, Everyday Cuba, everyday Mojito and great Salsa,

For reservot¡ons pleose coll 2328 2t38 Produce your FCC membersbip card and receiue a

free Sangriø uPon arriual.

Brazilian

9869

2526 8889 9631 |n'd,¿,*o' Tlte Delicacy Restcturant

Cburrasco

2a Selle êpoque2537 s361 Cubryta -2869 Cuban Cuisine French'Ctiisine 2

Catl;'ay Pacific.

China Hands know how to have a good time. A great murmur wenl through the crowd when you showed scenes of the FCC Bar. We greatly appreciate your efforts.

CarreTero, Chan Chan and more. ,A real taste of Cuba. Music

RÍo

(ex-FCC

president) Al Kaff. And a big thank you toJim Laurie and Tony Lawrence for orchestrating the video for our China Hands Reunion.

The video stroll through the FCC you provided was great fun. About mid-way through the evening Roy Rowen told a few "China" stories, then we showed the video and then gave away the grand prize of a round-trip business class trip for 2 to Hong Kong on

the

Aberdeen Fishmarket or by junk, Our own boat, Le Junk, is available for hire at a very reasonable price.

12L8

From the President

FCC Raeing Sy*dÌeece The board approved the formation of the FCC Racing Syndicate and the name will be registered with the Hong Kong Jockey Club. We will also try and get a licence to import a horse into Hong Kong and itwill race under the syndicate's name. The cost and expenses are for the individual members of the syndicate only. There is no cost to the FCC. Members of the FCC Racing Syndicate are: Kevin Egan, Dave Garcia,Jim Chandler, Mike Cadd¡ Tony Gurka, Andrew Lam and Albert Ffausammann. To join the slmdicate, you must be a member of both the FCC and the HKJC. THE CORRESPONDENT APRIL-MAY

his is the last presidential report I shall be submitting. As you are aware, I moved into the post from First Vice-President, following Karl Wilson's taking up an editorship with Hong Kong iMail. This changed his professional category from Correspondent to Journalist and made it necessary for him to resign the presidency. Incidentall¡ Karl still gives the Club valuable service as an ex-officio member of the Board of Governors.

For me the last eight months have been an unforgettable experience. The FCC is unique. It possesses a quite special vitalit¡ which you notice as soon as you come through the door. The 1,500+ members I represent have differing tastes, interests and professions.

They bring their friends, partners and clients, providing a human reservoir of experience and talent. But variety of attitudes and professional background can also mean problems.

When as Far East Correspondent of the BBC I joined the Club 41 years ago, it had a much more homogeneous membership than now. It was dominated by foreign correspondents and localjournalists. Back in the 1960s when Hong Kong was still a British colon¡ it was not easy to enter China. Chances of a visa were slim unless you were either a political sympathiser or ready to report just what you were told and film just what they showed you. Correspondents actually based in Beijing were closely supervised. \Arhereas back here in Hong Kong, you could hear all kinds of interesting news from Chinese with relatives in Mainland provinces.

In those days, Hong Kong was also important to the news gatherers because of the steadily developing guerrilla warfare in South Vietnam. Airfreighting film and tapes from Hong Kong in the early days was much

easier and more reliable than from

Saigon.

Correspondents based in Hong Kong _could commute to Vietnam, but whenever there *ur å lnll, return to Hong Kong to catch up on the rest of the Far East.

Throughout those decades, the FCC was the centre of action for us. More changes came with the 1997 Hong Kong Handover. To many editors in the western world, Hong Kong had become just another Chinese city. The economic downturn and the growing concentration of the media on financial and sports coverage also had an effect on budgets and staffing.

As a result, the FCC has become a different place.

It 2OOI

is still a club for foreign correspondents and local

THE CORRESPONDENT APRIL.MAY

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journalists, but they are outnumbered by the Associate Members. There is still a strong emphasis in favour of correspondents' neèds; under the present rules their votes carry far more weight and the president has to be a correspondent, although local journalists and nonjournalist members are represented on the Board.

Inevitably, there are differences of interest and opinion. One of the main problems confronting the Club is to reconcile differing views and ensure fair treatment to everyone. Space is at a premium, of course, which adds to the problem. Our premises include a health club with a plunge-bath and a small gymnasium. Its loyal clientele view with alarrn a survey, which might result in the area of the adjoining kitchen being expanded to meet the demands of the recently established Chinese Restaurant. There have also been some problems over the letting of function rooms to outside organisations. When delicate situations arise, good Board management becomes vital and the Board, meeting monthl¡ must approve all important decisions. Club rules must be adhered to.

No Board member must be allowed to issue individual instructions to the staff without consultation and approval beforehand. When these principles are ignored, chaos inevitably results.

Bywhich you may deduce that the last eight months have not been without tensions and expressions of dissatisfaction. But moaning at the bar is profitless. My appeal to members is to write to the Board or The Corresþond,enf about anything that you want changed.

Every such letter is taken very seriously. Having said that, if you read the lead story in the February-March edition of The Correspondenú, you will have an idea of just how much this Board has accomplished this year.

Meanwhile, the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Hong Kong is known far and wide as an extremely pleasant and convenient place for lunch, dinner or celebration, press conferences and hearing speeches by interesting personalities, meeting friends for a drink or three, listening to jazz, working (and yes, many journalists do work out of the Club's workroom) and of course, gyrnnastic exercise ...and long may it remain so!

I wish the new president and the Board, which will take office on May 24th, every success.

Capture the Changing World, professional Excellence. the create Nikon F5 The World Awaited Sensation Since the launch 0f Nikon's first F SLR in 1959, followed by the F2, F3 and F4, the F seties has been recognised as the status symbol in lhe world of pholography, The new Nikon F5 is now here to bring you inlo a

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World's Fastest - I Frames per Second Focus Tracking with Lock 0nrM enables you to caplure quick moving sports and action,

World's Exclusive - 3D Colour Matrix Metering

The Foreign Correspondents' Club of Hong Kong invites the professional photographers and photojournalists of Hong Kong, FCC members and members of their families, including children, to submit their photographic works for consideration in the inaugural FCC Photographer of the Year Awards.

The awards seek to promote and showcase contemporary photography in Hong Kong. Both traditional and innovative styles and media will be considered, including images created by special processing techniques and digitally enhanced or altered images. Special awards may be given for innovative styles.

Awards will be judged in two divisions:

The sensor evaluates not only each scene's br¡ghtness, conlrast and distance, bul also colours, enhancing 3D effect and sharpness in the exposure resull

36-exp, film rewind in 4 seconds, self-diagnostic double-bladed shutter, 3D mulli-sensor balanced fill llash, 1/4000 sec FP High-Speed sync capability, verlical shuÌter release button, personal computer link system, solid aluminium-alloy die-cast body and titanium viewfinder housing.

Comprehensive Camera Control System 4 interchangeable viewfinders, 13 focusing screens, MF.28 multi-conlrol back, MF-27 dala back, SB-27 and S8.28

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Open to all professional photographers and photojournalists resident in Hong Kong, and professional photographers and photojournalists who are members or absent members of the FCC. Entrants in the Professional Division may enter in all or any of the following categories and sub-categories:

Open to all FCC members (who are not professional photographers and photojournalists) and family members, including children.

Entrants in the FCC Members Division may enter in all or any of the following categories and . City of Life - Hong Kong is It*

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sub-categories

- News - Magazine features - Advertising

- Corporate - News - Magazine features - Advertising . City of Life - Hong Kong is It* . Asia

. Travel - a Wonderful World of Contrast . Young Perspectives of Hong Kong (for family members under the age of 16 at the time of the competition). * The "City of Lrfn - Hong Kong is It" theme is co-sponsored by the Hong Kong Tourism Board and seeks to promote images that capture the unique qualities and character of Hong Kong.

Entries close October 31,2001 Competition details, entry forms and rules, sponsor details and exhibition schedules, will be available from the FCC Front Office from June I,2001.

THE CORRESPONDENT APRIL.MAY

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VOTE VOTE VOTE The ballots are out. Have you returned yours?

The Board of Governors Elections 2001-2002 PRESIDENT

Jim LAURIE

Star TV

Kathleen DAWSON

Dow Jones News Wires,/Asian Wall Street Journal

Raymond A. RUDOWSKI

Hill & Knowlton

FIRST-VICE PRESIDENT:

SECOND \IICE-PRESIDENT:

Have you logged into the new FCC website yet? Webmistress and former FCC presiden t Diane Stormont tells you what You're missing.

hyperbole. The committee was conceived by Ra¡ led by nks to

to two

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The decision for the home page was a no-brainer' Murray Zanoni's famous etching of the Club won the vote hands down. To speed up loading, we had to "slice" it into 16 sections. We used Macromedia's Fireworks to do this. The icons were designed by Betty Hung, a terrifìc young freelance designer, who also did the "mouseover" effects.

Most of the actual web work was done with another Macromedia product, Dreamweaver' We find it by far the most powerful yet intuitive of the ulsiwyg (\tVhat You See Is \A4rat You Get) web progranÌmes' Anyone who wants to try it out can download a ttial version which works for a month at <wuw.dreamu)ea¡)stcorn>.

Before we get mail from Microsoft and Adobe, yes, FrontPage and Golive are great software products too.

But given the price of the genuine items, and licences,

we have to make a choice. Our html text editor of choice is a shareware product, HTMLed. It is available at <httþ: / /uuu.ist. ca/>.

just the beginning. We're planning to expand the archives section, a chat room and a notice board. With broadband becoming widespread through Hong Kong, we're also considering putting up audio hat's up there now

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hles of club speakers.

As for The Corresþondent, we will be uploading all future issues. In order to display material from back issues, though, we need to obtain "electronic usage

rights" from contributors. Control of web content has now passed to the Publications Committee, convened

by Luke Hunt, which has the task of securing the relevant permission.

The FCC's website is at <httþ://wuw.fcchh.org>. I THE CORRESPONDENT APRILMAY

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CORRESPONDENT MEMBER GOVERNORS: (Vote for not more than eight) Freelance Alec D B McCABE Bloomberg News David O'REAR Economist Croup Akiko KATO Mainichi Newspaper Asia-Pacific Ltd Sarah McBRIDE Asian Wall StreerJournal Hubert VAN ES Freelance Mark LANDLER New York Times Thomas CRAMPTON Int'l Herald Tribune Anthony J. I-A!\,IRENCE Freelance Luke HUNT AFP David ROADS Freelance Writer Paul BAIIFIELD

Francis MORIARTY

JOURNALIST MEMBER GO\iERNORS: (Vote for not more than two) RTHK C. P. HO Eye On Ltd

Martin A MERZ Robin V SEARS Ben BEAUMONT Robert L FIENBERG Kevin Barry H EGAN

ASSOCIATE MEMBER GOVERNORS: (Vote for not more than four) NJB Merz Ltd David P GARCIA Glencore Asia Ltd Futurestep, Asia Pacihc Thomas E GOETZ Goetz Int'l Ltd Winway Chambers Nigel C de BOINMLLE Garden Chambers Forrest Int'l Ltd Marilyn HOOD Network Personnel Baskerville Chambers Services Ltd

The completed ballot must be received by the Club, either by mail or in the ballot box, not later than 3 p.m.

Wednesday, May 23rd.

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by Julian Walsh

By Barry Kalb ne drawback to globalisation is that things tend to become homogenised, and this is very true in the world of wines. The French, Italians, Spaniards Europeans have managed to retain and Germans - native grape varieties, but and improve upon their in the New World, winemakers who aspire to recognition and increased imports today churn out endless versions of the classic French varietals: cabernet sauvignon, merlot, chardonnay and sauvignon blanc.

It's always a treat when less-well-known or unusual varieties show up, and we have two from the Americas one of them really quite incredible for members to sample. In the coming -months, we'll highlight, among others, German

Italy, France, California and Australia

honest and costs a relative song.

rieslings and gewurtztraminers and pinots of France's Alsace region. Italian wines are also on

sobered up by then, but even with some Guam players

on our side we were unable to nudge into first

honed golf skills, but we also had a secret weapon.

Astonishingly none of this preparation made the slightest difference and yet again we were thrashed. However, the golf and hospitality were once again first class and it was wonderful to meet up with so many old friends. Straight off the plane we went to the Admiral Nimitz course for a scramble competition. This was a relatively gentle way to warm up. Our biggest tactical mistake howeverwas to show our trump card too early. Film man Richard Jones, whose entire golfing equipment consisted of one old glove, which he then managed to lose on the bus to the course, was eventually re-equipped and let loose on an unsuspecting opposition. However such was the strength of the Guam team that they were able to cope with his unorthodox approach to the game. The next day was the competition proper, held at Alte Guam golf course. There were over 60 players and to make the numbers more even, some Guam players drew the short straw and had to play for Hong Kong. Richard had almost

place and took the silver yet again. We had a postcompetition banquet at the golf club, sponsored by (FCC member) Lee Webber of the Pacific Daily News and yet again we were showered with prizes. Yours truly which I recall was won a prize for coming 55th - Monday was spent an improvement on last year. and for the slightly more adventurous recuperating

the cards.

The American Pacific Northwest (Oregon and Washington states, and British Columbia across the border in Canada) specialises, as expected, in grapes from the colder climates, including pinot noir, riesling, and a little-known variety that originated in German¡ lemberger. Winemakers in Washington have turned out some very nice red wines based on lemberger, well-balanced, with a lot of fruit. Try the two different versions for some delightful drinking.

Argentina is slated to become the next major wine exporting country. Producers from Spain,

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there was some scuba diving and more golf before tak-

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ing the evening flight back. As always the organisation was superb and the event ran very smoothly

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thanks to Dave Sablan,James Nelson and Gina Kono. We probably in the are trying to arrange a rematch

have

been pouring money, equipment, expertise and grape cuttings into the country, and the usual varieties wiìl eventually predominate. In the meantime, the Argentines are still producing wines from indigenous grapes, including one called torrontes.

The torrontes from the Santa Julia winery is exceptional. It is a dry, crisp white with unusual scents of flowers and spices, full of individuality and character, a real pleasure to drink. Ten years from now, somebody in the West is going to "discover" this wine, and it wiìl become trendy and high-priced, and most likely will have been vinifìed out of all recognition. Try it now, while it is still

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White Wine

Torrontes, Santa Julia $165 (You're going to loue this wine.)

RedWines Lemberger, Kiona Vinyards, Columbia Valley $550 (Kiona is a well-resþected wi,nery and its lemberger is a,mong the best to

be

found.)

Lemberger, Powers Winery, Yakima Valley $475 (Another gootl, winery, whose wine is less exþensiae but no less interesting than that of Kiona.)

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Philippines for later this year and we certainly look forward to the 6th annual competition next year. I

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Congratulations

To Sarah Henderson on winning the Shell Hong Kong Ladies Amateur Golf Championship. She took the prize with a 15 stroke lead. Sarah is now on the

Hong Kong Ladies International Golf Team and recentþ played in the Queen Sirikit Cup. THE CORRISPONDENT APRIL.MAY

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es folks, the Marketing Department is alive and well! We may seem very quiet in regards to any publicity, but we have been working very hard assisting with a number of Club issues.

I

have now been Marketing Manager here for seven months and I would like firstly to say how much I am enjoying my working environment. Our General Manager, Gilbert Cheng, has the delicate and difficult task ofjuggling every detail on a day-to-day basis to make our club the success it is today. You wouldn't know this though, by his calm, friendly arad mouh mahntaih nature. Thank you Gilbert and thank you to all your staff for making me feel so

committees, the Marketing Department is doing its best to assist in all ways possible.

One area I am very keen on is the Health

Corner/Gym. We have received some letters and e-mails expressing concern as a result of the survey.

These opinions will be taken into account by the Board as it discusses new equipment and the overall use of the area. We will keep you posted along the way.

The area of Club Reciprocals is now being updated so that shortly we can give you a new list for your reference and usage. And speaking of updating, I'm also

liaising with the editor of our nerv Membership

Directory so if you have any updates or corrections, let us know quickly.

welcome.

As you may be aware from the lead story in the February-March edition of The Correspondenf, our membership numbers are the highest they've been in a long time. Part of this growth can be attributed to a mailshot to selected groups advertising the FCC. Another area of interest is the Club committees - I want to assist them to reach even higher levels of success and satisfaction. For example, the Professional Committee's programme of speakers at professional lunches and dinners has expanded this year and is one of the most popular type of club events. The Entertainment Committee's parties and functions have proved more popular than ever. On these and other

I am passionate about is personal member services, If you have something you would like to say or suggest, please nother area that

don't hesitate to either give me a call or come up and speak with me when you see me around.

You may know of a new member, know of a great event or speaker to suggest, have a compliment to share or even a complaint. Anything goes. Please don't be shy.

Andrea Gutwirth Marketing Manager Email: andrea@fcchk.org

Language and Literature at Princeton

IJniversiry discussed his controversial book at an FCC lunch. Excerpts from his talk: will just give you a few highlights of what for me, were interesting new angles that emerged (from) working on these materials. One is the vastness of the movement across China... I was in Beijing at the time of these events and have fìrst-hand witness as part of my memory. I had heard that things had been going on in other cities, I haven't been aware until I

read this material how big the demonstrations were elsewhere. And that they were, in some cases, ended through police action...

One more little highlight: When I was on the streets watching the students and then heard the offrcial descriptions of what was going on, they had to do with a tiny minority of 'black hands' behind the scenes who were manipulating the students for ulterior motives... I thought at the time, well that's just the big lie... After I waded through these materials, though, I revised that opinion a little bit.

Now let me be clear. I don't think it's a true description at all... But if you were there, you know there were

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students all over the streets and there was no way it was planned and manipulated.

But my mind was on the question of whether it was a cynical lie or nol I think by the time it got to the top leaders, it wasn't. That is the kind of language that first emerged in late April in a report from the mayor and party secretary of Beijing and then was pushed by other so-called hardliners. By that time, it was repeated in all the meetings... even Zhao Ziyang and others sympathetic with the students had to repeat those phrases. And I believe that by the time it got to Deng

Xiaoping and the other octogenarians and

nonagenarians who ultimately made the decision to crack down and who, after all, didn't go out on the streets and get their first-hand impressions, that they truly believed this theory was basically right.

Now this raises an interesting question about the quality of intelligence. On the one hand...the Security Ministries and Xinhua tell good information to the leadership, whereas the outside propaganda organs,

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he 2001 FCC Chess Club Championship uis taking shape, with nine confirmed contestants at the time of going to press.

They are Bob Behull, Albert Shu, Sarah

Round pairings and score collation will be conducted scrupulously through special chess tournament software developed in Australia.

Henderson, Graeme Hall, Manju, Feng Chi-shun, V Kulkarni, Chris Champion, and Anthony MitchellHeggs, a barrister who is joining the FCC to become eligible to compete in the chess tournament.

The tournament will be held over a series of Wednesdays at the club, with the precise number of

a couple of first-class provide a prize for the winner be nice, but we tickets to somewhere sunny would would settle for a $100 trophy. Anyone interested is asked to e-mail me.

rounds to be determined after the freld is finalised.

champs@netvigator. com

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11

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be counter-revolutionary or wrong, a number of years later can be re-evaluated. This not only liberates the people who were under a cloud earlier, but changes the political landscape in which dialogue from there proceeds. That kind of thing is in the back-

by the wa¡ Andy got the too in his separate way - knew him before I did material before I did, and that my (reason for) cooperating was not to have this or that effect on Chinese politics in Beijing, but (because) I think it's important historical material and that one of the duties of a scholar is to bring out important authentic material. Secondly, for a long time I have been associated with human rights movements and... (the book's) relevant to human rights when one considers this kind of material. I told the compiler this.

Let me turn to that question of how I decided that the materials were authentic. First of all, you can't do that the way you do a mathematical proof... It's a judgement call and before one risks one's academic reputation on it, one wants to make that a very, very,

ground aboutJune 4th. The people who arranged this leak and gave it to Zhang Liang (a pseudonyrn), who

very small chance, and that's what I did. My first reading of it was sort of agnostic on this question. After all, what

People's

Daily arrd so on, don't tell the truth so much

as

what the leadership wants the party elites to believe.

And that, on the whole, is borne out in these materials, especially at the sort of lower levels of reporting on what students were doing on campus... So there is a problem of bad information getting to the top leaders. he story of why it came about is that there is a political tradition in Communist Chinese culture whereby something that's declared to

gave it to (co-editor) Andy Nathan (Professor of this isn't a secret, it is Politics, Columbia University) hoped that through the in the preface to the book raise the issue of publication of this book, they can judgement of Tiananmen was correct or whether the not...Through that question (comes) the question of political reform within the party (which) was going somewhere during the 1980s, (but) with June 4th was suddenly cut off and hasn't gone anywhere since.

When I first heard the compiler on this, I was a little bit sceptical that a book of this kind could have such an impact. I backed off from my scepticism on grounds that this man is obviously very smart and much better informed about the goings on in the top in China than

I was. And I didn't feel in the mood to

second-guess

him. I did, though, make it clear to him, and Andy did 12

half of this room.

hat was brought to Andy

Ffu 1989 Sìuorf

this direction.

capital investments back...

stronger in my view, is that my job especially was to comb through

and we thought that was that. After quite a long time, the compiler comes back and says, now we really do want to publish this and let's try doing it in English first, and if we can make a success out of that, then maþe a

the documents and try to

Hong Kong commemorates the Tiananmen Massacre

over the country. The reports came from

all over the country...(they could) fill

being honest with you, that was the frrst (thing) that led me in

read through was not original documents, but a computer printout of what the compiler had extracted from documents... As I read more and more and more, my fìrst tendency to think that it may be authentic came from its detail. It's immensely detailed, complex and you don't see any signs in all of these details of what you think might be doctoring or messing around. That's not a am

The second, which is a stronger argument, much

4th

get an unbiased view because of the necessity of selecting. China is a big place. This movement was not just in Beijing, but all

was... probably about 6,000 pages...and the compiler says, "Publish this".

And Andy is busy. He has got his own teaching and research agendas and his family. He says, "I can't do that right away. I will try." It took some time. He tried actually in both Hong Kong and Taiwan to find a publisher directly from the Chinese to publish it first in Chinese, and couldn't. Various publishers backed off whether for financial reasons or political reasons or a combination of the two. The financial problem was that publishers felt there had been a lot of books on Tiananmen and this one in its overall curve doesn't give us a smoking gun or a radical new story; even if it is genuine documents, it's not going to sell or get our

I

strong argument, but I

June

Tiananmen Square The famous man vs tank episode from a poster in the FCC

stan-

dardise the translations, try to put in footnotes where they were needed and try to make it clear

exactly where the document

started and where the compiler's voice ended. That might seem strange to you. But in the original print-outs that we got, that wasn't clear. It was written almost in sort of stream of consciousness style...Now the compiler's voice was usually more sympathetic to the students and the document was more sort of more bureaucratic sounding...It wasn't

that easy. So for all of these reasons, I had to spend quite a lot of time with the compiler, not only face to face, but later by telephone and e-mail and so on, asking all sorts of questions about the documents, about the materials. And I didn't find any sense of unease or feeling trapped in a self-contradiction...

Separately from the question of whether they are authentic, one can raise and should raise the question of selection. That is, for the sake of argument, let's say that they are authentic. It still doesn't follow that you THE CORRESPONDENT APRIL-MAY

2OOI

The compiler eventually took the materials

away

Chinese publisher will pick it up...(and) that's what actually happened...

I want to go back briefly to the question of selection.

I sort of left that strand dangìing. Let's say that the original cache of documents was half of this room and then brought down to 6,000 pages. Then when it was clear thatwe couldn't publish it in Chinese and itwould have to be in English fìrst, it would have to be cut a lot more...If you took 6,000 pages and translated into

ÉË,

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Fronklín, ^Àognum

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English, then it's going to be 20,000 pages in English.

So the compiler was instructed to cut it down even more and he took a few months to do that. He boiled the 6,000 pages down to 516 pages. And on that number,

I can be precise because that's the material that came to me and that I worked with...516 pages of pretty densely packed Chinese, which again if you translated in full, would be too long. No publisher would take it.

So Andy and I had to cut it. Andy did most of it. I gave my opinions. And we cut that pile down to about one-third or one-fourth of the 516 pages of content.

Now the full 516 pages is in the Chinese .r,ersion. (As for) the entire 6,000-pages...I don't know if ir will ever get published.

In the cutting down, you have one more level of winnowing... it is fair and indeed important to ask what gets left out along the way. Within that, is there a bias in what gets left out? I don't think there is bias except that there is a bias in favour of the juicy stuff. The top level politburo meetings and so on were, of course, kept. Andy mostly left out two things: about what the foreign press was saying... (it is interesting to note that the leadership cared...about foreign opinion) ... and a lot of the provincial reports, not because they are not interesting, but because they were so repetitive.

But what the compiler cut, and what the people that helped him in the first stage cut, I don't know. I

TotÌr C

ïiûnan,men

and

PapGFs-

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documents with many very interesting and juicy details.

Second, the five translators did not always agree on a standard translation of some terms.

But interesting and juicy details do not

always

convey the main story. The editing is a sticky issue. In Chinese, zhi-zhi is quite a neutral term meaning "to stop". It is sometimes rendered as "stop" and at other times as "suppress". In the context of politburo meetings the day before Martial Law is promulgated, the difference

is rather significant. Another similar example is being means "to deal with severely" simply "be stopped" on page 258. The "last year" on page270 is "three years ago" in broadcast#37. shou

shi-which

rendered

as

These minor issues do not alter the main story.

he veracity of the documents will be an ongoing issue until the originals of the entire cache are released to the public. One indication of how seriously China takes the publication of the Chinese edition was reported in the Hong Kong magazine Qjan Shao. Rather than have

numerous pirated editions floating around China, printers are being forewarned that reproducing the Chinese edition of The Tiananmen Paþers will result in immediate execution.

Safer to stick with pornography. I THE CORRESPONDENT APRIL-MAY

2OO

to

The Tiananmen Paþers, (TTP) edited by

Andrew Nathan and Perry Link. The difference, of course, is that only one claims to be fìction.

Clanc¡ as usual, has a war at the centre of his latest novel whereas the Nathan-Link book focuses on the political machinations surrounding the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989. Where the two intersect is in their depiction of intimate discussions within the corridors of power. The positions, personalities and political ambitions of China's senior-most leaders of the reform era are laid bare, first in fiction and then in reputed fact.

In The Tiananmen Paþørs, Zhang Liang (a pseudonym) presents what are purported to be detailed records of the most sensitive discussions held within the Chinese Communist Party leadership since the death of Mao Zedong. Clancy, who has been accused in the past of using confidential military sources in his books, has a spy plant a software programme in the computer of a personal secretary to a powerful member of China's Politburo. Daily notes on discussions with colleagues are convenientþ e-mailed to the CIA. In both cases, the outside world is given unprecedented insight into Beijing's thinking.

the English edition are actually derived from long

SinceJanuary 22, RFA had been granted the exclusive rights to read excerpts from the Chinese edition on the air. For five days a week, short excerpts were selected for our listening pleasure. Each ten minute programme was also available on the RFA website .uwu.rfa.org>. The readings culminated on April 13.

From the English edition, it is clear that conversations have been edited to remove bad speech habits like stammering, repetition or incoherent ramblings.

There is no suggestion these are transcripts. But to hear this read out in the modulated professional tones of radio news readers is truly surreal. It is a long distance from natural speech (though one must wonder if such a thing exists in the politburo) yet it adds to the atmospherics.

14

ø"!ftrre

... or the most elaborate forger of documents since German Konrad Kujau swindled US$4.8 million from Sternnagazine for his bogus HitlerDiaries."

If there were money involved in publishing TTP (the editors don't think they'll make much) , it would be much easier to question their authenticity. Instead, unclear political motives appear to be the reason some apparentþ very senior Chinese parly hack(s) risked to document highly freedom and perhaps life itself classif ied policy discussions.

Predictabl¡ senior Chinese leaders call TTP Pentagon Papers

similarities

Chinese while reading the corresponding pages in the English edition. Firstly, some of the short summaries in

death.

Two things are revealed when listening to the

à8¿mr r¡a,

Daryl Lindse¡ writing in Salon.corn, points out quite rightly that "Z}l'ang [LiangJ is either the greatest whistle-blower since Daniel Ellsberg leaked the

religiously listened to each segment. His comments:

teàm of dubbers with heroic, deepbooming resonances to cover up squeaky, thin voices.

Radio Free Asia (RFA) has now provided a simiÌar service for the Chinese Communist Party's Politburo, which is not overflowing with adept public speakers.

While the English version of The Tiananmen Paþers has been in the shops for a few months, the Chinese edition which is three times as long as the English edition - was officially released on April 15, the - of former party secretary Hu Yaobang's anniversary

h D!,, o;;;"¿r

The que.stion of authentieity'

From mid-January to mid-April, Radio Free Asia carried 1O-minute excerpts of the Chinese edition of The Tiananmen Paþers, which was published April 15. An FCC member known as "The Translator" has

a

tdecúon¡û,_-

Dauid O'Rear compares the two books

Edltion

any Chinese actors are fortunate to have

_, *doùsi¡!

I

"...sheer fabrications intentionally engineered by certain people out of very vicious political motives."

Others, with different political agendas (e.g., former Zhao Ziyang aides YanJiaqi and Bao Tong), believe the documents are accurate.

Still, the book "feels" real. The edited and translated language is what one would expect, the timing of speciÊ ic conversations logical and the lack of foresight plausible .

Octagenarian peasant revolutionaries still use rough language. The elders refer to each other as "comrade Xiaoping" and "comrade Xiannian" while the younger generation often adopts honorihcs such as Bo lao

("elder Bo [Yibo]"). While such diction can easily be faked, it adds to the enjoyment of the book.

The vital commun¡cation link...

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By contrast and by design, the hve PBSC members averagedjust 66 years of age, and all but Yao Yilin are still alive

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today. While Li Peng maY chafe at his portrayal, it is mY ." sPecifìc issues' While opinion that there is more at to have "i.*t tend oif'tttt stake here than the Political .ìtirurY 4" and everYhammer a "f fortunes of a single man. BY l" ^ is a world the in exposing the Elders' role, lfrìnn "tt" govern ment which technically violates the tuil; P.,tPtctive' necessarilY don't Party constitution, comPiler nJr""'u.t'ìt arade I.,i¿ ootitions difFerent froma Zhang Liang is taking on the Hence' of the Tiananmen Massacre memory hacks' in peacefully very structure of China's ittor.'of Parfl l'ï"^-"1' *,írh lactional and decision-making. This, during the run-up to the 2002 top leaders of the daY is 16th National Party Congress, may be the ultimate goal: ppreciation of the astonto end the oversight of retired leaders.

TTP. (Arr excellent list of decades maY be found at 2/

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The ,tikety impact todaY

)

Sadly, TTP is unlikely to have much of an influence

TP is that the rty Politburo Standing five-man

over the structure of Chinese politics in the near term' Those who will decide the future leadership of China in the next 18 months or so were themselves benefrciaries of the Elders' interference' More important, they very much want to continue to guide events after retirement.Jiang Zemin and other members of the Politburo over the age of 70 are slated to step down from their formal party and state positions at the next National Party Congress, in 2002.

General SecretarY Zhao ce Premier Yao Yilin, secu-

iao Shi and ideologY and didn't have the final saY the reviews of this book line Positions taken bY Li eng XiaoPing's behind-theore at stake here than the

Of the 24 members of the politburo (including

. (Most of the other major

alternates) and its standing committee, half will be over

d.)

e-holders,

Li Peng and

70 by 2002. of Li Tieying, Luo experience of mate decisions leaders still keeping a grip on critical issues, will form the institutional memory of Beijing's turmoil.

Like many who have read TTP, I want to believe it is mostly true, if only for the insights into how China is run. I

Yao

n the 'l989 demonstrations' are Portrayed as seeking a Qiao Shi sits on the fence' lock within the PBSC, and

the interference of Deng

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Yibox, Peng Zhen,

Deng Xiaoping,

The Super Elders, plus Bo

Zhen, Deng Wang

Yìngchao,

backed the 1e76

The early 1989 Politburo Standing Committee (PBSC) Zhao Ziyang*, Li Peng*, Yao Yilin, Qiao

Shi*, Hu Qilix

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removals from the PBSC Hu Ziyang*, Qili*

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ANY SHAPE. ANY SIZE. ANYWHERE. The world's largest air express company can be trusted to deliver, well, just about anyth¡ng to

over 210 countr¡es worldwide. See fedex.com for more THE

16

Li Xiannian,

Yang Shangkun

The author's motivation ini iåi.ît^ved bv th e. Eisht I,T^:,11^T I ::- Ti:: (,.Jil;';iîÅ'a j7""0::.lT1l:T"i.^i??,,:"."i"^i th

Who's Who

a

China's Political culture'

CORRESPONDENT APRIL-MÄY 2OOI

details. Welivetodeliver.

Express

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Chin& &nd the I ter et

the Tfr i*.n€Ìtlmen

W ers ßeæIxed?

Alkman Granitsas, Journalist

At last, China's 'Watergate'. Proof positive that the Communist Party monolith is crumbling at every level. Can the disintegration of the party be more than a few years away?

Freedom Forum held a conference recently to discuss China's battle with the Internet. The director of the Asia Centre, Arnold Zeitlin, who was moderator, reports

Ted Thomas, Public Relations Consultant

It seems to me that the PRC Government has for some years now employed a reverse public relations consultant, who provides negative PR advice on every occasion.

China vs the lnternet Dìscussing the developments are (l-r) Y P Jiang, deputy director of the online division of People's Barry Kalb, Restauranteur

Daily, Arnold Zeitlin, direclor of the Freedom

Forum's Asia Center, A Lin Neumann, a consultant to the Committee to Protect Journalists and lnternet consultant Peter

Obviously leaked to discredit the hard-line faction and to support the reformists. With a party congress and a new politburo soon, the timing was important. Legitimate or a fabrication, the intent's the same.

Lovelock,

hina is losing its battle to control content on the Internet, according to a representative of the US-based Commiltee to Protect

J.tli*

(CPJ).

Walsh, Accountant

Political advantage? I don't see any fall-out yet. Financial advantage? Was the source paid? Altruistic motives? Doubt it.

Remember tb,e Hitler Diariei

t1ã;Journalists But a director of one of China's most powerful Internet operations is refusing to concede the point, insisted at the same time the "vast development of the Internet in China won't slow down."

Y P Jiang, deputy director of the online division of

Daiþ, tlne Chinese Communist Party organ and one of China's most widely circulated dailies, said he was confident the Internetis pace of äevelopment will continue because "the United States, the world leader in the Internet, just loves China too much and loves selling equipment to China."

He added that 'Journalism and news reporting in China has gone through tremendous change..In terms of quantity and quality, the change in all media cannot be compared to what theywere 25 years ago."

Peoþle's

Christopher Slaughter, Research Director The English version could be the most important book nobody ever read, but the Chinese version might knock them for a loop in Beijing. Either way, its keeps the Tiananmen Massacre

in the headlines.

Jiang spoke at the same discussion on China and the

Internet as A Lin Neumann, a consultant to CPJ based in Bangkok, and Beijing-based, Australian Internet

18

THE CORRESPONDENT APRILMAY

2OO1

THE CORRESPONDENT APRII.MAY

2OOI

consultant Peter Lovelock. The discussion launched in Asia the new CPJ report, Attacks on the Press 2000,which

contains a survey Neumann wrote on the Internet

in

China.

For those who believe that China wants to suppress the Internet, said Lovelock, China is undergoing "the fastest, biggest, most sustained communications network rollout in human history.

In the last decade, China has gone from six million telephone lines to 180 million phone subscribers using 223 million lines, 86.million mobile phone subscribers and Z0-plus million Internet subscribers doubling every year.

n contrast to other countries such as India, Thailand, Indonesia or even developed countries like Australia, where access is in the richer parts of the country and you have a digital divide, in China you have a country that has successfully rolled out netlvorks across the country."

"China has always wanted its people to have information," said Neumann. "It.iust wants them to 19

have the right information. To promulgate the right information is the biggest challenge the Chinese government has ever faced. More than ever before, the Chinese government is involved in the single greatest experiment in controlling the Internet that anyone has ever embarked on in the world. Probably they are losing the battle already and probably they will lose it in some basic way."

eumann noted that widespread independent reporting on the Internet in March forced China's premier to reverse Y government denials that a explosion 4 that killed 40 children in the town of Fanglin was the result of the use of their school as an illegal fireworks factory.

Neumann said complaints about the fireworks "were amplified on the Internet until the government could not ignore them...Five or 10 years ago, the government line would appear in the papers, and that

would have been the end of it. The Internet has changed fundamentally the way information moves around China."

Jiang did not directly address the matter of state control in his remarks about Peoþle's Daiþ Online, which operates websites in Chinese, English, Japanese,

e

French and Spanish...and will open two more in Russian and Arabic.

"Like other media," he said, "we will do our news according to our editorial line. We have the right to select what goes on the net or not." In response to

a question about an item concerning an attempted assassination attempt on President Jiang Zemin that disappeared after 20 minutes on the Peoþle\ Daily forum chat line, Jiang said: "\À4ren our editors find that some articles do not match the standards or criteria held by the editors, they have no hesitation in deleting them. This is the same aim in any country or every media.

"If

to

then he can simply post a view on our forum. There are no restrictions for anyone posting their view on the forum. We have four management rules for our forum: first, nobody should violate the state's law; second, no personal attacks or slander; third, no divulging state secrets; fourth, no pornography. I think anybody wants

say something,

This is an excerpt from A. Lin Neumann's The û

these standards are quite universal."

Peoþle's

Daily, wltic}l claims a circulation of more

than two million, plans to throw its resources into developing its online operation, saidJiang, "Over the next 10 to 20 years," he said, "the Internet

will become the main form of publication for Dai\.We want to make a lot of money." l

Peoþle's

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Great Firewall: A Special Report by the Committee to Protect Journalists which is available in the book Attacks on the Press 2000 or from the CPJ Website <ultrlt).tþ'j.org, nemy forces at home and abroad are sparing no effort to use this battlefront to infiltrate us," tl^Le People's Daiþ said recently in an editorial about the Internet. The argument is as old as Chinese Communism itself. Since the earliest days of the revolution, underground cadres inside newspapers spread Party propaganda. Private media were quickly nationalised after October 7949, and journalists became vehicles for disseminating the Party line.

The Internet is becoming the latest battleground for press freedom in China. At least seven people have been arrested for Internet-related journalism in China and more arrests are likely. Can the net, as China's -authorities would have it, be nothing but a vehicle for e-commerce and state-controlled information? Or will the Internet inevitably open China up to a cascade of unstoppable ideas, as western enthusiasts predict?

The climate for free expression in China hinges on the outcome.

At least 20 provinces are creating Internet "police" forces, according to Xinhua, with the task of "maintaining order" on the Internet. Meanwhile, criminal statutes have been revised to allow for the prosecution of online subversion. Finally in October and November 2000 the government issued two sets of regulations that specifìcally govern ownership, content, and other aspects of

I I -l( trs ()N lHl, ,^ , ,",3.g 0,,{,r

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feature of many Chinese sites, where the anongnity of cyberspace fosters discussion of democracy and the shortcomings of the ruling elite. Under the new rules, however, all service providers must monitor content in the rooms and restrict controversial topics.

The rules are routinely ignored. In a grimy residential neighbourhood a few miles from the stately Stalinist squares of Beijing, Lei, a 22-yearold engineering student, showed how to surf the Web, Chinese-style. Lei searched for Web sites about the Tiananmen Square massacre and Falun Gong. All were blocked. Lei (not his real name) then opened an e-mail that contained a long list of proxy servers that allowed him to bypass China's firewall, the regime's first line of defence against unwanted Internet content. Soon, he was browsing through documents about Tiananmen and catching up on Falun Gong news at the supposedly blocked Nat York Tìmes site. The entire process took about 30 minutes.

"The information is there, [so] why can't we see it? We treat this like a game."

Who will win the game? Eager surfers like the students above, or state commissars who see the

Internet as nothing more than a vast electronic newspaper to be controlled and monitored?

The first set of rules limits {direct foreign investment in Internet companies and requires companies to register with the Ministry of Information Industry. Article

22309662

15 bans the dissemination

of information that might harm unification of the country, endanger national security, or subvert the government. Promoting "evil cults" (an unsubtle reference to Beijing's campaign against Falun Gong) is similarly banned, along with anything that "disturbs social order."

The regulations also cover chat rooms, a popular

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2OO1

ciaté"þrofessor of journalism at Shanghai International Studies University. "China is going to develop the Internet, but we do not know whether it will be with the kind of unfettered press freedom that Western experts want. Maybe we do notwant that kind of freedom." I

A. Lin Neumann is a consultant to in Banghok.

CPJ based

21

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The Role of English

in lIong Kong

Who hasn't complained, or heard a complaint, about the deteriorating standard of English in the HKSAR? The lady whose job it is to correct the situation is Fanny Law, Secretary for Education and Manpower.

Excerpts from her talk at a Club dinner.

The features of these models include:

.

Wide range of unit capacity:

declined?". Notwithstanding public

80 Bottles (85cm height x 60cm width x

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(l25cm x 70cm x 67cm)

260 Bottles (l56cm x 70cm x 67cm)

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hen I took office, the first question I asked was "have English standards

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suitable for all type of wines Strong and durable wooden shelving

criticisms about our English

proficiency, I have been assured by the Examinations Authority that Grade C of the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination is recognised internationally as being equivalent to the GCE O-Level Pass. So, it is safe to say that the English profrciency of our top students is still very good.

Flowever, as the Hong Kong economy expands and becomes more service-oriented, we need more people with good communication skills. This is where the criticisms arise, as our education system has not been able to

produce a sufficient number of people with the requisite skills to meet the demand in full.

This prompted us to take a number of bold steps to improve English teaching and learning.

Three years ago, we started the Native-speaking English Teacher Scheme (NET). We now have close to 500 teachers recruited from English-speaking countries

like Australia, New

For further information Tel. 2880 0389 Fax:2880 0314 Carrier Refrigeration Operations 2107 West Tower, Shun Tak Center' 200 Connaught Road Central, Hong Kong

Zealand,

Canada, the UK and the US teaching in all our secondary schools...One positive outcome of the injection of native-speaking teachers is the introduction of more innovative methods of teaching English and a new, more participatory and interactive teaching culture...

At the same time, we have not spared any effort in upgrading the standards of our local teachers of English...The learning of English should not stop when a student leaves school. Indeed, the real test of English only comes when students enter university and after that, the workplace. Apart from allocating specific THE CORRESPONDENT APRILMAY

@ProvidingOElectroluxProductsanclServicestoYou

2OO

1

funding on a recurrent basis to all universities to run English language courses for undergraduate students, we have asked the universities to consider establishing a common English language test which all students have to sit before graduation.

For the workplace, the $50 million Funding Scheme for Workplace English Training has been in operation for about a year now So far, around 15,000 employees are being supported under the scheme...

Finally, I think our famous medium of instruction policy, better known as 'mothertongue teaching policy', deserves a mention... English as a subject remains a core part of the curriculum, taking up a quarter

of the curriculum time, and Chinese-medium schools have

been given extra resources and English teachers to enhance the teaching of English...Where

the teachers and

students

have the necessary capability to learn through the Englishmedium, the schools are allowed to remain English medium schools. Roughly a quarter of our secondary schools fall into this category.

Critics of our medium of instruction policy should realise ,í that if a school without these enabling conditions insists on using English as the medium, not onlywill the students' English not improve, their understanding of all the other academic subjects will also suffer as a result of the language barrier. This was exactly what happened extensively before the present policy was implemented. Hong Kong can ill afford to pay this price again. I Mrs Law also sþohe on Education Reform and the role of in suþþorting education

the community

23

The Japanese Economlr Jilu"tvi..+vtinisterofFinance,HaruhikoKuroda,sharedhisviewSon recent developments in Asia and the Japanese t concerns Japan. economy. This exc Japanese economy grew by 3.2Vo at an annualised rate in the fourth qual'ter of last year. As a result, GDP grew \.7% in C\2000.

Recentl¡ however, the economic recovery

he

reflecting the slowdown in the US economy. weakened, which in turn has decelerated have Exports \A4rile corporate profrt and busiproduction' ináustrial

dÐE

Raconteur, author, columnist l,{ury Vittachi's new book, l{orth Wind, details his turbulent times at the SCM Post. Excerpts

has slowed.

continue to grow private consumption the unemplolrnent rate remains at and flat is basically nearlY 5%' of high a historicallY Going forward we should be vigilant to the downside risks associated with external factors, such as the slowdown in the US economy as well as the recent volatile movements in global stock markets. Taking into offìcial accoúÍrt these external and internal factors, our

amount of problem loans. The capital adequacy ratios of major banks are estimated to be well over 707a on average, even after a fall in stock prices. I might add that the government plans to introduce a framework soon that would encourage Japanese banks to clear their books of non-performing loans by writing them off outright rather than resorting to indirect write-offs, in which case non-performing loans would remain on

renewed concerns of the market, together with a sluggish

changes in the economy, Japanese companies are under intense pressure to become more effìcient.

ness investment

Ullhat th,B Hong Ko Hl,edia lfilant Yeu to lfnow hanks all of you for coming. I wanted to do a little survey before I start due to a

stock market and the slowdown of the US econom¡ were giving rise to wide spread anxiety in Japan' With (BOJ) announced drastic this in mind, the Bank ofJapan (in March) ' The bank changed its measures last week the overnight call rate to the outfrom target ooerating checking accounts at the BOJ, the of balance sànding the consumer price above stabilising to eye an with interest target was a short-term words, other In zero.

Mergers and acquisitions are in vogue, along with the strengthening of co-operation beyond traditional business relations. Companies are reconsidering their employrnent relations. Also, deregulation is under way. Financial

past experience. Could you please put your hands up if you are a lawyer from the South China Morning PosÊ There was one last time... Actually I am not really just going to stand here and (attack) the SCMP. In fact, I nearly got censored last night by tine Hong Kong iMail.I wanted to pen this story about this woman in Taiwan who got a mobile they were concerned phone stuck up her bottom - But once I showed that this might be in poor taste. them the sales f,rgures for Nokia 8850s in Hong Kong, they were convinced that this was a story of great public interest. The nice (thing) about the iMailis that they censor me regularly on matters of taste, but never for

deregulation, in particular, has proceeded in strides under the reform known as the Japanese Big Bang.

Naturall¡ such structural adjustment takes time to produce tangible results, but it is necessary and inevitable if our economy is to transform itself to meet

politics.

Censorship on the grounds of taste is really not censorship. It's editing. Isn't it? But removing journalists who don't have political views as such, that's different ...But according to a fascinating new book which I have

¿åi¿.¿ to increase its outright purchase of long-term øovernmenI bonds in case it considers that increase Io

the new century's challenges.

srowth forecast for F112000 ending on March 31st is i.ZVo und for FY200l , I'7%' On the monetary front, prices continue to fall. The

replaced by

a quantitative one' Moreover, the

BOJ

smoothly providing liquidity' These and appropriate. With the signihcant are measures of a "Lombard-type" lending February in introduction facility, they should prevent a continuous price decline' I am confident there will not be a crisis such as the crash of the Japanese government bonds (JGB) or a

i. n...rru.y for

does not have fiscal and current account deficits' It does not need foreign money to finance its deficit'

Nonetheless, with public debt approaching I20% of GDP by the end of FY2001, fiscal consolidation is one of our most imPortant PolicY goals' Given the slow pace of the recover¡ the amount of non-performing loans of financial institutions has not, .rn ,h" whole, declined. Most financial institutions are

provisioning adequately and writing off a substantial

24

the balance sheet.

I would add that in the face of wide spread structural

ow let's take a look at theJapanese economy

in a wider

perspective. The "net bubble" may be over, but the fact remains that the

driving force behind economic growth is and will continue to be, digital technology.

Communications used to be conducted P to P, that is place to place. With the rapid spread of the Internet, P to P now means person to person. InJapan, we have more mobile phones than fìxed telephones, some 65 million or one for every tlvo persons. In the area of mobile technology, Japan is one step ahead of the rest of the world. For example, it was the frrst country to commercialise an Internet-accessible mobile phone i-mode. In the two years since this service began, the number of i-mode subscribers has already exceeded 20 million and is increasing rapidly. Moreover, with the planned start of a third generation (3G) of wireless services ahead of other countries, Japan is spearheading the P to P trend. I THE CORRESPONDENT APRIL-MAY

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Ntrry

Vittachi

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whole story mysteriously vanished around about the middle of the nineties. You used to frnd that story a lot in my (Lai See) column. It continued in the column right up to the handover, and then shortþ after the handover that angle and me both disappeared. The angle of business invading politics is simply not there.

JUnKJUnK 'Water

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Hong Kong have behaved extremely badly over the transition period, which I measure as running from 1994 to 2004. So we are still in the middle of this difficult period. Some have flip-flopped several times. Many of them, in the middle of that period, simply shifted their stance to an absurdly pro-Beijing stance. The SCMP of course did the same thing. I know because I was associate editor (until 1997) and I was part of that self-censorship operation. I am really one of the bad

\ in this story.

The story of Hong Kong over the past decade is a story of how the business lobby took over politics. That is the one story that runs through the whole thread of the last few years. That is the story we as journalists need to tell. It's the interplay between business and politics. It has businessmen who are now dominating guys

the Executive Council and the Legislative Council...

It's a story you will not find in the Hong Kong press (today, but) it's a story you would have found in the SCMP

in the late 1980s and the early

THE CORRESPONDENT APRIL.MAY

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1990s. But that

You, your family and friends...can all have the fun of a 'junk unk' boat trip. If you 'vvant to have a go at wake boarding, scuba diving or water skiing...the choice rs yours.

j

The 'junk junk' boats are based in Deep Water Bay/Repulse Bay, and are readily accessible.

From there, choose an itinerary and catering. We'll work it out according to your need to make it a real experience.

All of us on the 'junk junk' look forward to helping throw a pafiy, use a speedboat, host a kid's party or just enjoy an end-ofday relaxing event,

25

The Fall of Suharto:

It's the story of Hong Kong, It's the storY we need to be focusing on and it has vanished mvsteriously.

Soon after Ijoined (the SCÀ4P), the pressure started to take over. There was a secret list compiled of people I n,as not allowed to write about. It started off r'r'ith the Chirta Dailry... I wasn't allor'r'ed to mention Xinhua, and so on. Very soon the management of the Posl decided

to simplify things. Instead of sending me messages through (Jonathan Fenby) the editor, I was just summoned up to the 29th floor where the management are, and had new names added to the secret list. The

use of the phrase "turtle's egg" was a cause

for instant dismissal...in fact, I was actually sacked for using rhar phrase. But they then rescinded my sacking. So I eventually agreed, OK I won't use the phrase "turtle's egg" anymore. I then wrote a travel feattrre about how in Malaysia you could sit on the beach and watch shelled quadruped aquatic creatures. The editor was not amused.

After a while, the list got embarrassingly long and I rvas getting more and more embarrassed about this because obviously I always thought about myself as one of the good guys. So I was summoned up to the CEO's office and told I was not supposed to make any jokes about (Chief Executive) Tung Chee-hwa because he has no sense of humour.

This rvas a big problem for me because a satirist has to make jokes about the ìeader of his community. It's a

rule. You cannot call yourself a satirist unless you do this...An¡vay, that was the first time I stood up for myself. So that's why I am mentioning that. That started to change things. I went downstairs, I wrote lots of columns about Tung Chee-hwa and the Ch.ina Daily and Xinhua and the Provisional Legislature.... I

North

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FCC member Steþhen Rogers spent seven years in Indonesia as head of research for a European brokerage firm. His historical novel, The Last Puppet Master, dramatises the events leading up to Suharto's departure. anv first novels are b1' definition partly autobiographical and The Last Puþþet Master is no exception...For much of the background I have dra'r,r,n on the characters I have met, from high-living expats and corrupt government officials to Indonesian Chinese traders and poor pribumi Indonesians scraping a lir,ing on the streets. For the developments in the currency crisis I have drawn hear,ily on my owrl experiences... struggling to make sense of the almost daily confusing and contradictory developments as the crisis unfolded.

The reasons for rvriting this novel were twofold.

Firstly...(with) Suharto's fall, an era had ended.

Not just the replacement of one discredited leader by a soon-to-be discredited successor, but it was the end of a political system, u yuy of life ancl perhaps even the beginning of the ehd of a counlrv.

Today it is almost impossible to f,rnd someone in Indonesia, from the poorest farmer to the richest businessman, whose life has not been changed, be it for better or worse, by Suharto's departure. For most, Indonesia is now a more dangerous place than it was. Religious and ethnic differences have come to the fore and at times the colrntry seems on the very edge of disintegration. \Arhatever Indonesia ends up as, it will never be the same as it'r'vas under Suharto's time. In writing this novel I wanted to sive a snapshot THE CORRIjSPONDENT ;\PRTL-ì!I^Y

200 I

of the tail end of an era which has now passed, or been pushed, into history.

The second reason was to give my version and explanation for u,hat really happened in Indonesia in 1997 and 1998. After Suharto's fall it became apparent to me that very few people outside Indonesia actually understood nhat had taken place and why.

Many of the developments reported were confusing and quickly contradicted, sometimes within hours.

After Suharto's departure, popular myths were quickly put forward by those with most to gain and perpetuated b)' elements of the media. Two of the most popular myths...(were)...that his downfall had been inevitable and rvas the result of a people power revolution lead by Megawati.

The truth was very different. Although The Last Pupþet L[aster is a novel and does not deal exhaustively with the crisis, I hope that within the book I have provided a readable explanation for the reasons why Suharto did what he did and effectively brought about his own downfall. I The Løst Puþþet Master

By Stephen Rogers Asia 2000 Ltd, Hong Kong PB, 201 pages, HK$f40

ISBN 962-7160-97-0

27

Mike Moles

Peorle & Gultures ol ehina'$ s illr Ro Historian Dr Susan \\hit'f'eld runs the Dunhuang Project at the British Llbrary, database which Provides access to 50,000

Passing away unexpectedly at home on l' March 19th, Mike was an institution around the Club. What follows are some of the tributes and messages

a

pre-eleventh centurY Silk Road manuscripts spread all over the world. She is the author of Ltfe Atong the Silk Road. A brief excerpt from her talk-slide show.

feel that perhaps the atmosphere of Hong Kong is something like it was on the silk route in the first millennium Of course, there is one important heyday' its in A.D. is a hub of a great sea route, Kong Hong difference I am talking about, across route silk the as where route, stretching landlocked gÎea:t a was Asia, Central and from the Mediterranean the of shores from the

are traded now...The merchant, of course, was the main traveller on the silk route. Most merchants didn't actually go all the way. They travelled from one market to another market and sent (also) agents. In the first chapter of my book I put merchants because I think they deserve (the) frrst place in this story.

Once the route was opened up, following the merchants were great diplomatic embassies that travelled from one silk route empire to another, up from India across to China, from all the smaller silk route kingd east, west, north and south.

I run the Donhuang Project at the British Library.

The aim of this project is to bring all this material...

not until the 19th century when a German coined the...name. (Yet) trade was probably as diverse as it is

students can study

second millennium B'C"'I think probably first millennium goods were more diverse than t.hose that

books than mine.

aving worked with the silk route and (its) life in history...for several years, I

Baltic all the way across to the Pacific Ocean and down into the Indian Ocean' Silk...gave its name to this trade route, but this was-

todav. ..We know of silk being passed on the tracle route f.o- Chi.tu up to Afghanistan at least as early as the

(together)...with high quality colour images so that the it on the Internet without needing

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F{e was fond of calling me 'young Stuart' and considering that I will be 50 at the end of the week, I was always deeply, deeply grateful for that.

I shall miss that rolling gait, the unquenchable confidence and the very wide knowledge. I will miss that sense of humour that would not have us miserable tonight. Mike would want us to enjoy each other's company, to help share the grief of Pat and his family in the most cheerful way possible-and share some very huppy memories of a very fine gentleman.

So to begin our evening, let us raise our glasses to the everlasting memory of Dr Mike Moles.

From FCC President Anthony Lawrence (at the crematorium) On sad occasions of loss, well-known conventional words and phrases of regret and sympathy are waiting there to be uttered. But today the usual expressions of regret, the clichés of mortalit¡ seem especially ineffective and inappropriate. For now we mourn the loss of a personality outstanding and unusual, whose life has been an example even to those who met him

(Mike) was fascinated by the progress of medicine and science, the behaviour of societies. He worked in famous hospitals, travelled widel¡ served hve years in the armed forces: his knowledge was foTmidable, he was called on to serve on countless committees dealing with medical problems of the da¡ he worked for the United Nations. Unlike many learned men he was ready to medical share his knowledge on a score of subjects matters, politics, life in Bosnia, education. He enjoyed discussion. Not only was his own mind intensely alive; he created liveliness in the minds of others.

tsorleaux styfe

easily achieved.

infrequently...

^lUonlerfut sefectíon

From Stuart Wolfendale (at the wake) It is indeed a sad privilege to have been asked to officiate at this wake for Mike. My role is to get some serious drinking under way in Mike's memory.

Mike Moles was always an ebullient shooting star across my horizon in the Main Bar. He never failed and he always left me to teach me somethirg - all positive, which, after feeling cheerful and above several glasses of the Chilean red was not a condition

PARK ESTATE !(iINERY

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behind? It will be the comfort of knowing that, when they think of Mike, it will not be of someone burdened by old age \,Vhat comfort can we offer those left

Fax: (852) 25422794 THE CORRESPONDENT APRIL-N{AY

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THE CORRESPONDENT APRILMAY

2OO1

with tottering steps, infirmities, lost memory and fixed opinions. No, their memories will be of a man in the full physical and mental vigour of life, a great doctor, a wonderful companion.

If we were able to speak to him across the Great how sad Divide, what could we say to him? Only this we are that you couldn't stay longe¡ Mike. But thank you for coming From David Thurston (at the cremation) Mike was sitting on the Main Bar stool. He turned and looked at me with that earnest gaze which announced that he was about to reveal something very dear to his heart "a very important piece of fact".

"You, si¡ have got Egl'ptian Soldier's Shoulder Syndrome."

He articulated this tongue twister with absolute precision (as he always did with'r,r,ords) and went on: "It gets you in one shoulde¡ then mysteriously clears up before seizing you in the other. If you're very unlucky, it'll then come back to the fìrst one.

I thought he was joking and replied something daft

like "I suppose the best treatment for that is

a

Cairopractor."

We laughed a lot and he observed that as I didn't often wear collar studs I should be able to live with it.

Of course he was joking. But he was also absolutely correct. After some weeks and many hours of physiotherapy my left arm healed only for my right to seize in what is more often known as "a frozen shoulder".

That was Mike all over. He actually took life very seriously indeed but all the while rejoiced in making fun of it. That is what made him such good company.

His encyclopaedic knowledge of all sorts of things and his great humour.

From: DorotþRyan

I'm in shock at Mike's sudden and unexpected departure. All I can think of is how much he cared and did for people. FIe was an amazing friend and one I will always remember. He had a waywith words (and he had 29

manyl) that always makes me smile. Hong Kong will never be the same without Moles. Mv thoughtsJ as are Steph's and Suzie's, are with you.

From Steven Rottman, President, World Association of Disaster and Emergency Medicine

Mike was a great supporter of WADEM, and an untiring advocate of collaboration among world organisations dealing r'vith emergency and disaster care. As Chairman of the 1989 World Congress in Hong Kong, Mike shared with all of us his dream for bringing many of these independent societies together in the common goal of improving the health care of populations affected by natural and man-make disasters. Mike had a marvellous way with language, a fantastic wit, a great respect for matter of protocol, and an unparalleled sense of humour. His death is a stunning blow to all of us; we have lost a great friend and colleague.

From Drs David and Marion Baker, France We are completely devastated by the news and I feel I know this will not last because

a great emptiness. But

everything about Mike avoided the negative. FIe 'was always full of kindness, encouragement and joie de uiare. He was the sort of person who always gave to life and he will leave for me nothing but a flood of happy

memories. I have known him since he taught at Southampton and the past seven or so years when we

have rvorked closely together have been some of the most stimulating of my life. I would like to send sincere condolences from Professor Pierre Carli on behalf of all our colleagues in the French Emergency Medical

Service (SAMU). Mike had many friends in France where his work around the world was highly respected.

From: Dr. Marvin Birnbaum Edito¡ Prehospital and Disaster Medicine World Association of Disaster and Emergency Medicine

share your deep grief as I feel I have lost a wonderful, sincere, and close friend. I have known Mike for some 20 years and always enjoyed his presence.

Mike had a wondrous presence. Often, I wished I had half of his eloquence with the English language. The brilliance of his mind and the kindness of his heart to all other humans set a standard for all of us to aspire towards. I treasure every moment we spent together,

I

the problems we addressed, and the fun that we had in

reaching and implementing the solutions' It was through Mike's efforts in Hong Kong Congress that blew nerv life into the WADEM and Mike and I shared the dream that some day we would see WADEM become the co-ordination body for all of Disaster Medicine world-wide. His efforts were extraordinary and he almost lived to see his dream realised' All the sadder. We all will miss him' He leaves a great legacy and a big hole.

Out of the thousands of bars, where's the best place to bend an elbow in New York City? Dan Boylan points the way f you find yourself in New York City and come to the gloomy conclusion that there are no journalists' bars here, you are not alone. Once a rowdy crowd, the American press that slammed Richard Nixon and nearly shamed the nation into quitting the Vietnam War, over the years somehow morphed into a dim-witted and sexless creature.

Nowhere was this more apparent than Manhattan, the gleaming media capital, where the lack of any tavern associated with writing confirmed how dry the profession

Isles pub fair and encourages unruliness. A going-away

party throrvn for my cousin departing for the Congo degenerated into a wild rout with someone scrawling on a Half King bathroom wall: "Nate Thayer has big balls!" Easy to access by taxi, it sits on the corner of West 23rd Street and 1Oth Avenue in the Chelsea district.

Given the Hollr.r¡tood hype around Junger, the opening rveeks were a ridiculous swirl of oily agents,

had become.

But recently, drinks have started flowing thanks to Sebastian Junge¡ the author of the best-selling book and hit movie The Perfect Storm. Late Iast summeri the once struggling, but now millionaire, journalist used a chunk of his proceeds to open what has quickly become a "can't-miss" watering-hole The Half King.

Named for a local American Indian

DE LOÀCH

chief who molested the British and French during the Revolutionary Wa¡

DeLweny Is tKee

the bar is an attempt to revive the bvgone,

boozy era when rough-neck reporters ruined their talent with drink and

enjoyed every damn minute of it. The Half King partners llr) scott Anderson (iournalist), Nanette Burnstein Aciually, the mission is even more (documentary filmmaker,) Sebastian Junger (author/journalist) and Jerome o'Connor romantic..|unge¡ a winner of awards for (film producer) producers and the g'pe who led to the death of the New his magazine reporting on Afghanistan, Kosovo and York scene in the first place. The movie version of The Sierra Leone, wants to also create an atmosphere Perfect Storm was in theatres and rumours were flying wherein journalists can support each other like they do that Junger and Anderson had sold Hollpvood a at certain bars he found in war-zones. "That network of stor)¡ from [heir recent vacation to Sarajevo. But the fellow writers is incredibly helpful. if not lifesaving, " he short attention span of the in-crowd soon sent them says. scurrying somewhere else, leaving the Half King to Every pub should start life with such grand goals. settle into whatJunger and his partners dreamed of, a Luckily for us, Junger is also a Massachusetts-bred cozy place for pints and talk. "We're not glamorous and realist who has partners: war correspondent Scott

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Anderson, Academy Award-nominated documentarian Nanette Burstein and Irish filmmaker and former tavern owner Jerome O'Connor. Indeed, the Half King seems to have hit the right recipe for a good bar one part class, one part madness. With a dimly-lit wooden interior, black leather sofas, a few machetes on the walls and a spacious back garden, it boasts tasty Northern THE CORRESPONDENT APRILMAY

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THE CORRESPONDENT APRIL-MAY

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we don't want to be,"Junger says.

So go visit my friends and sayJunger promised you

free drinks.

I

Dan Boylan couers North America for the South China Morning Post from Los Angeles and hoþes to soon again enjol a drinh at the FCC Main Bar 31

Anouun THn FCC

Diplomatic Reception The Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa and the diplomatic corps stepped into the lion's den and faced FCC members.

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It was a star studded line-up in the Main Dining Room. One hundred and twenty six guests enjoyed a fabulous evening of dinner, dance and song. Music by Jazbalaya, Son Xango Cubans, Eugene Pao, Robin Lynam, Karin Malmström and Puerto Calera's own Maya.

Food by Allan Chan. Dancing led by Martin Merz. The Second Annual Puerto GaleraJazz Festival takes place in Book early!

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Red Lips farewell Lyra Rittger was farewelled in style by the Red Lips Brigade, She and husband Jon have moved to

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North Carolina.

Speak at the Club?

That's the question First VP Jim Laurie asked Malaysia's feisty PM Dr Mahathir bin Mohamad (above left) as he greeted him wllh a big smile,, which quickly changed to a'grin and bear it look' (left) when the answer came back a "resounding no " Dr Mahathir last spoke to the Club in 1992

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Secret career? The truth will out When FCC stalwart and former president Hu van Es disappears from the Main Bar its to pursue his modelling career

Birthday celebrations The FCC was honoured with the presence of H M Oueen Elizabeth ll who made lhe long trip from Ol' Blighty to wish

the HKSAR's annual intern ational seven-a-side rugby fiesta.

Stuart Wolfendale

Welcome back Old Asia hands gathered at the home

of

Life Absent Member Nancy Nash to welcome Life Absent Member Roy Rowan, formerly Time-Life's Bureau Chief in Hong Kong,

Overseas news

"Happy Birlhday"on his 50th Her l\/ajesty's last visit to the FCC was in 1999 when she made an unannounced appearance at our 50th anniversary party

3 o

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Marriage Paula and Peter Everett signing on the dotted line at their wedding held at The Observatory

t'

in Canberra.

THE CORRESPONDENT APRIL-MAY

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THE CORRESPONDENT APRIL-MAY

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Hong Kong comes a-calling Visiting former president Peter Seidlitz in Sydney were (l-r) Dave Garcia, Peter, daughter Margaux, Celia Garcia, wife Sylvie, Annie and Hu van Es

Prize-winner Walking ofi with the "Best ASEAN Travel Article" prize at the ASEAN Tourism Forum was Paris-based Life Absent Member Garry Marchant Garry's winning mols appeared in an article called "Singapore's Cultural Fuslon" in World Trave le r magazlne,

35

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