The Correspondent, June - July 2002

Human Rights Press Awards 2002 FCC Charity Ball Hong Kong Five Years On

-T

NIDIï

dise is rvry closer than you think.

TIIE FOREIGN CORRESPONDENTS'

CLUB 2 Lower Albert Road, Hong Kong Tel: (852) 2527 -1571 Fu: (852) 28ô8 4092

E-mail: <fcc@fcchk org> Website: <ww.fcchk.org> Thomæ Crmpton President Laurie FiEt Vice President Kevin Egan Second Vice President-Jim

-

Just

15 rninutes

Correspondent Member Governors Paul Ba1.fìeld, Brett Decker (Hon. Sec.), Daniel Kubiske, Elaine Kurtenbach, Anthony Lawence, Tyler Marshall,

frorn Orchard Road,.

JenniferJmin O'Neil, Ilaria Maria

Sala

7 8

Jounalist Member Governors C P Ho, Francis Moriarty

10 Saul's Swan Song 11 Pool 12 Bridge 13 Chess & Bar

Asociate Member Gove¡nors Mariþ Hood, Barry Xalb, Anthony Nedderman (Treasurer)

David Garcia,

Conu

2 Bukit

Manis Road, Sentosa, Singapore

Finmce Comittee enu: Anlhony Nedderman

Professional & Entertaiment

Embark on the quickest escape to a lush tropical paradise that's only a heartbeat away from downtown Singapore. With our panoramic sea views and landscaped gardens, it's truly a dream holiday in paradise come true.

Contenor:

Comittee

BterlDecket

I

Coretitutional Comittee

RT

Conamor:

Comittee

Conumor: Marilyn

099891 Tel 65 6275 0331 Fax 65 6275 O22B www.beaufort.com.sg

\4

Kevit Egat

Memtrership

Hood

Conumr: Davd Carcia Conu

enor

Photography Photographer of the Year Awards

lrancis Morimty

Club Speakers

20 Tony Wheeler 22 Jason Wordie

Charity Ball Comittee Cucontmus :'lhomas Crmp ton & David Garcia

r24

The Correspondent @

The tr'oreign Correspondents' CIub

ofHong Kong The Correspondent is published 6 times a yeru. Opinions expressed by writers in the magazine are not necessarily those of the Club.

Travel

32 Sydney Harbour Bridge 33 GoldenJubilee Around the FCC 35 Diplomatic Reception 36 Mother's & Father's Days and Bert's

Production Asiapix Print Services Tel:2572 9544 Fu: 2575 8600 E-mail: asiapix@hk.linkage ne t

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Printer Impress Offset Printing Factory Limited

Adverfüing Enquiries Steve White 7717

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THE CORRESPONDENT.JUNE/.IULY

THE BEAUFORT

SINGAPORE

o

L

Pror.ssional Contacts

4t

,"aFaces

r

<m.fcchk.org>

REST OF

38

I

Mobile: 9326 5884

H

tu,.uoo", 24 HKSAR- 5 Years on 26 Impressions of Hong Kong 27 Lunches

Media A Peek Behind the Literary Festival

Editorial Editor: Saul Lockhæt Tel: 2813 5284 Fu:2813 6394 Mobile: 9836 1210 Þmail; lockhart@hkstarcom

S

Breaking the Tourism Boundaries - Exploring Hong Kong Island

Streets

Asia By The Numbers A Buyer's Market

Publicatiom Comittee Conrmor: Patl Bayfrcld Edlior Saul Lockhart Prorlucti.on: Terry Duckham

Tel/Fu:2987

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Feature The Pattens in Beljing

General Mmager Gilbert Cheng

I

14 Human Rights Press Awards 16 Winners of the Human Rights Press Awards 2002 17 Judges of the Human Rights Press Awards 2002

Comittee

Wall Comittee Cuconamor: llaria Maria Sala

U

Cover Story

Houe/F&B Comittee Freedom of the Press

WORLD

Annual General Meeting Charity Ball

Elaine Goodwin - CoverPhotographedbyLeeshiucheong,

MingPao

This was the winningþhotograþh in the Human Rights Auards 2002.

2OO2

(see

þage 14-17)

I can assure you that the nan Board will' continue to that þoliq. I only wish the targets of our lztters felt the foUow onfl imþact as strongþ øs you. Journahsts around ¡þ¿ uevl¡J officers.

From Jeff Heselwood, #543 Am I alone in objecting messages on behalf of me consultation? The letter sig Kate Pound Dawson and

face hrutal e:nemies of free exþression. is our onþ defence. We uill not put it down^ More than

particutarþ in Asia

Moriarty' concernrng

vie¡¡¡s of the , reflect the

,,.."o

C' H' Tung and

notrenecred.r..;;;;,.1,*å11:"''üÏ#t-"Jåîiå such with I, for one, do not wish to bt ^"otiuted

"'rews'

The þen half a dozen of our

journalist

collzagues haae been hill¿d

in

the

f.rst months of this yar alone. More than 96 are at'rrently imþrisoned for their oþinions or fm conducting our profession,

according to Reþortrrs Without Borders. These are journalist collcagues, not statistics. To name some of those' kill¿d since

l, 2002: Edgar Damalnio of the Zamboanga Scribe, kitted on May 13; Félix Alonso Fernánd'ez García of Nueva Opción, killed on January 18; Daniel Pearl of the

January

Wall StreetJournal,

exact date of death unhnown.

am inuolaed in the Foreign Corresþondenß' Club of Hong Kong solely for iß role as one of the few organisations on

I

undugoes Board, di,

the soil of the Peoþtc's Republic of China stalwrt'rtþ dedicated to supþorting freedom of exþression. The day this Club stoþs speaking out against the mistreatment of journalists, I uill resign n1 þresidency and' cancel my membershi,þ.

From Thomas Abraham Editor, South Chinø Morning Post

Thank you for your letter dated May 3, and I

lsland and discover Come to Mo Tat Wan on Lamma tot al fresco dining and

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'nd Thursday and Sunday by the Havan aLibreO'arttt every for recommended night from 8:00 pm' nes'rv'tlon Mojito and great Salsa' tables, Everyd ay Cuba, "*i'y¿^y

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'uhtulon

apologise for the delay in getting back to you. While I appreciate the spirit of concern which prompted you to write, I cannot concur with either your assessment of the impact it will have on th.e South China MorningPosl's news coverage, or of the reasons for his (fasper Becker's) dismissal. I have dealt in some detail elsewhere with the unfounded allegations thatJasper Becker has made, and I do not propose to cover this ground again.

I think the best way to address your concern is through our coverage, and I would urge you make your judgments based on whatyou read every day in our pages.

against any visitor, equally we do not give preferential treatrnent to any visitor on grounds such as profession or social status. Mr Chaudhuri was treated no worse and no better than other visitors. Following a detailed examination, he was granted entry as soon as his bona fide visitor status was established. In my letter of 29 April to Ms Dawson and Mr Moriarty (Thz Cuvæþondmt,\pnl/May),I

uL.udy stressed HKSAR Government's commitment to upholding a free press and freedom of expression. Allow me to say that any linkage of a routine immigration procedure to a deliberate attempt to muzzle press fieedom is way out of proportion and totally uncalled for.

From Eliza Yau (for Secretary of Security Regina Ip re the handcuffing of journalists I refer to your letter of 26 April 2002 to the Chief Executive, who has asked me to reply on his behalf. In

your letter, you expressed concern regarding press arrangements and treatrnent during the captioned operation. llowever, you maywish to note thatwhen the police exercised their statutory power [o stop and disperse the public meeting concerned, the police took all reasonable steps to facilitate media coverage during the operation. A press area was up at Chater Garden, within which area most reporters operated smoothly and satisfactorily, Two reporters, however, refused to enter the press area and they caused obstruction to the

police offrcers at work. They were arrested for "obstructing police officers in the execution of duty."

They were briefly handcuffed, but subsequently

released. As complaints have been fìled by the aggrieved parties and are being investigated, it is not appropriate for us to comment on the case any further. However, I can assure you that investigations into all complaints

will be conducted in a fair and thorough manner. The investigations will be overseen by the Independent Police Complaints Council, an independent civilian monitoring body. The results will be publicly announced. The Government of the HKSAR is fully committed to the protection of press freedom. Such freedom is guaranteed by the Basic Law of Hong Kong.

The incident at Chater Garden was broadcast live on Iocal television, which of itself was proof that the media operated from a good position from start to finish without hindrance. Many letters have been received by this Bureau from members of the public who saw what happened on TV, and supported the Police operation.

From Joyce Hor-Chung Lau #7 533 There is a project under way to collect historical and

biographical information about Clare Hollingworth, long-time war correspondent and FCC member. The purpose of this venture is two-fold: 1) To assemble and organise information about a historically significant figure, and 2) to, perhaps, create a biography in a few years' time. There will be work done on this project in both Hong Kong and London. We are looking for old photos, clips, correspondence and other documents.

More important$ we are looking to interview friends and colleagues all over the world for their personal

From Secretary for Security Regina Ip Re Detention of Amit Chaudhuri Thank you for your letter of 18 April to the Chief Executive expressing concerns over the treatment of Mr Amit Chaudhuri bylmmigration staff at our airport' I have been authorised by the Chief Executive to reply on his behaH. For your information, and to clar:dy a possible

misunderstanding as reflected

in your letter, Mr

Chaudhuri was never placed under detention' In order to establish the purpose of his visit to Hong Kong, our Immigration staff put him under a more detailed examination which lasted no more than 36 minutes. This is a standard procedure applicable to all visitors in respect of whom a more detailed examination was considered necessary. In safeguarding home security and safety, immigration authorities worldwide adopt similar procedures and do from time to time find it necessary to subject certain visitors to a more detailed examination

before allowing them entry. In Hong Kong's case, decisions relating to examination and entry are taken impartially and strictly in accordance with the law. They are not motivated by considerations relating to race, sex, religion or political opinion.Just aswe do not discriminate THE CORRESPONDENT JUNE4ULY 2002

THE CORRESPONDENT JUNE/JULY 2002

3

From the President

of Governors Election

Results of the Board No. of Votes President Thomas CramPton

68

Thomas Crampton, the Club's newly elected president, conducts a selÊinterview

35

Kate Pound' Dawson

First Vice President 84

Jim Laurie Second Vice President Kevin B. H. Egan

Who are you? A columnist and regional for the International Heral'd Trihu'n'c

20r

corlesponclent

161

Raymond A. Rurlouski

have been based in Asia for the last seven yeirrs. Priol to that I livecl in Paris where - like many I smoked smelly cigarettes, thil'cl rvorld dictators ne\\¡spaper,

Correspondent Governors Paul Bayfreld Brett M. Decker Daniel E. Kubiske Elaine Kurtenbach AnthonYJ. Lawrence Tyler Marshall

56 69

JenniferJanin O'Neil Ilaria Maria Sala

58 76

Daaid' Roads

44

51 '/ ()

61 71

Journalist Governors

-

ch'ank espt-esso and studied politics.

Associate Governors David Garcia

Marilyn Hood Barry Kalb AlthonY Nedderman

Francis MoriartY

B¿n Beaumont

58

Euen Camþbell

Why (in the world) would you want to be president of the FCC? Primarily for the Club's role in supporting freedorn of expression and encouraging intelligent clebate about Hong Kong, Asia andjust about any other topic under the sun.

What is the Club's cttrrent condition? The Club has been brought to its highest level of performance in a

The 2002-2003 Boañ (L-R, front row) C P Ho, Paul Bayfield, Jim Laurie, Thomas Crampton, Kevin Egan (Back row) Elaine Kurtenbach, Tyler Marshall, Francls Moriarty, Marilyn Hood, Anthony Lawrence' Ilaria Maria Sala, Jennifer Janin O'Neil' Anthony Nedderman

64

C. P. Ho

I

285 234 251

decacle thanks to the hard work by successive Boards and presiclents. Reflecting our fine shape, this year's elections lvel'e the most highly contested in half a decade.

Who is Tiger? Most older members are familiar with our GIvI's nickname, but for the newcomers, here's the

206

lJz

stor'1, behind it.

FCC as a busboy

Letters

continued from þage 3

anecdotes and stories about Clare

good, bad or ugly'

or who are to contribute,

Those who have something interested in being interviewed, should contact me directly on 9190-1 36 5, or at <clareproj ect888@hotmail' com>'

magazine and the Guardian newspaper of Britain have *ády closed bureaus here in favour of Mainland-based -lhe Washington Post will do so this summer' postings. follow if China's visa policy toward Hong Mor.

-uy

Kong-based correspondents does not change'

One unfortunate result of this policy is

To The Hon. Tung Chee-hwa Chief Executive' HKSAR

On behalf of the Foreign Correspondents' Club, I wish to call to your attention to a matter of deepening concern both to news organisations and independent

journalists working in Hong Kong: Obtaining ajournalist -visa to Mainland China. Foreign correspondents based in Hong Kong often receive visa treatment worse than if they were based in a foreign country. This hampers

that

southern China receives little media coverage' When a factory or other business moves from Hong Kong tothe Pearl River Delta, it vanishes from the vierv of

journalists, and thus from the view of readers and äudiences around the world' This fosters the

Gilbert Cheng started working at the onJune l, 1972 and now leads a highqrralitl, staff of more than 100. Don't let that suit fool yotr. Gilbert earned his nickname of Tiger while rvor-kirre at the bar in 1974 due to the herceness with wlliclr he lefused to serve drunk members. At ourJune 29 Bo¿rrcl meeting, we voted a resolution of thanks to Tiger for- his 30 years of service to the FCC and presented hirn with a gold tiger and ingot.

So is this new Board any good? Yes. This is a great Boar-d that boasts a healthy mixture of new and old faces, lending continuity. Journalists on the board represent a wide variefy of highly respected news organisations including Le Monde, Voice of America, I'he Asian Wall Street fournal, Radio Tel Korrg, the Associated press and the los Associate Members includ.e prominent Hong Kong's legal, financial services, consrrltiug c aching 90, former pr-esident (a Anthony Lawrence rern¿rir.rs

to

to China in a matter of days. Now that I live in Hong Kong, the same visa can take weeks and require reams of paperwork.

This unequal treatment puts Hong Kong at a serlous competitive disadvantage relative to other Chinese cities, specifically Shanghai and Beijing. Not surprisingly, news organisations are closing Hong Kong bureaus and

shifting operations into the Mainland.

Neusweek

reunification approaches, it seems a timely occasion to resolve this issue. If you would like to meet with us so' to do happy be discuss this issue, we should

the

the Board.

Tony have a g0th birthday bash planned? Not oull' ¿6.r Tony plan to celebrate his 90th birthday with .Does

sent to the Chief l-xecutive of the HKSAR regatditg letter the visa policy to Mainland China. A copy of the can you hope and we is enclosed for your reference issue' work with the government of the HKSAR on the 2OO2

Manager Gilbert Cheng receives a hearty congratulations

from incoming president Thomas Crampton on the occasion of his 30 years of service to the FCC The Board presented Tiger with a gold tiqer and ingot,

finally been approved by the government and ratified by our membership. Changes included updating references to "Crown Colony" and cleaning up some ambiguous wording.

What does the new Board plan to do? As promised in my presidential campaign, this Board will inaugurate the first annual FCC Charity Ball. To be held on September 7 in the Conrad Hotel with Martha Reeves as the main act, the ball will raise money for an FCC scholarship fund to f,rnance university studies for Po Leung Kuk orphans. The runaway success of the ball so far (tickets sold out within a week and HK$500,000 in donations were raised at the time of writing) has prompted us to double our fìnancial target. We now aim to raise $1 million in order to finance two children from Po Leung Kuk to attend university.

What else? By the time you read this, the newlyrenovated Health Club will be open, all the bread you are eating with your meals is home-made in our newly built bakery and, as you can see from this issue of The Corresþondent, the 7tl;r Human Rights Press Awards have been announced.

What are these rumours about our beloved Main Bar? Due to building code requirements the Main Bar needs certain renovations. Since it is the only major space in the Club that has not undergone renovation in the last few years, its time has come. The Board has asked four architects to competitively bid for the project and the finalist's drawings will be posted for

members' comments before a fìnal decision is made.

We also plan to freshen up the entry hall and the stairway with new carpet, paint and air conditioning.

All work will be completed by September, we hope.

Any other renovations planned? Our next project will be to renovate the staff changing rooms.

Monthly dues will increase by how much to pay for all this renovation work? Zero! Nothing! Niente! Rien!

Nada! The cnsf of all these renovation will be totally

To The Head of the PRC Liaison Office been We hereby write to inform you that a letter has

THE CORRESPONDENT JUNE4ULY

Award General

TFI ¡:

(:()RRESpoNDIìNT

JUNE4ULy

2002

5

PnnsrnnNT's CoruvrN absorbed by the Club, thanks to savings built up over the last few years. Memtrers will feel no f,rnancial pain' What is the Club's best kept secrets? Breakfast on with freshly baked breads and danish, the Verandah and freshly squeezed orange juice.

Any last message? This club is only as good as you and other members make it. Instead of writing angry

letters to the board, why not help improve the Club yourself) (The list of committees and their convenors is

At last! It took three EGMs, four Boards and the same number of Constitutional Committees and convenors t'o finally iron out of the details that needed changing in the Memorandum of Association and the

I of The Conesþondent to ¡. ã Board member to serve.)

on page

and you do not have Ask not what the FCC

can do for you, but what you can do for the FCC! Feel free to call me if you want to know how you can help out. My mobile: 9272-7617.

":l;* C*(

article had been approved Companies. The wei Membets wielding

Constitutional Committee will now turn its attention to updating the By-Laws when can be achieved at Board level without an EGM.

of ent 26

which translated into 14 to 2 by individuals' The

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Pl)*:Ht" PR

Nwìrekdaüoq

as President

for 2001-2002, it has been

as we managed a year of challenge and reward to keep the Club on track during a diffrcult period.

As always, the Club served as a gathering place for some extraordinary events. It was a place to gather on

ges

NObOdy \MOrkS harder

Presidentjim Laurie's Report or me,

Thomas Crampton

Articles ãf Association, not only to tidy them up but bring them uP for example.)

Correspondent Associate Mem responded to the official notice and gathererl to discuss anå vote on changes to hve clauses in the MoA and 31 changes to 27

Anlmal Ee,nGFî| MeGtinS

-----+--" FIÀIANCTAL

the evening of September 11th, 2001.

Afghanistan, or on the possibility of war between India and Pakistan.

A place to discuss and debate freedom of expression in Hong Kong and China.

A place to hear from an array of newsmakers from the SAR's Chief Executive and Chief Secretary to the presidents of the Philippines and the president now of the world's newest nation of East Timor.

George Soros, Sam Rains¡ Paul Krugman, Mike Moore, were among other headliners here.

We expanded during the year our professional activities, our speakers, our programmes. We will continue to do so.

We expanded our contacts with other press clubs around the world. We joined in Dubai in January the International Association of Press Clubs. Therefore our members are welcomed in a dozen new clubs around the world. Through these contacts we are also able to work with others to encourage increased media freedoms in many countries.

We have tried to offer our members stimulation, information and entertainment.

The 20 years at Ice House Street party was a notable organised by success on the entertainment calendar our ever-active Flouse committee and ever-efficient staff under General Manager Gilbert Cheng.

We are planning our first ever big charity event, a charity ball at the Conrad Hotel in September.

It has been however a tough year for many of us in the

A place to reflect on

media. Cutbacks and closures at many media companies affected us all. But the Club lost only a few members .. ' On the correspondent ledger: the loss of some 30 correspondents was made up for by the addition of 20 new memberships... with the help of a strong At the same time the Club financial team led by Kate Pound Dawson has remained on sound financial footing.

We managed to negotiate and sign a new 7 year lease on these premises and for the fìrst time in our history we have achieved an unconditional licence for the operation of this Club.

Despite tough economic times we have managed to expand Club facilities.

Our Chinese restaurant has proved popular. We marked its first anniversary a few months back.

ln<,2002

THE CORRESPONDENT JUNE/JULY 2002

THE CORRESPONDENT JU N E,l ULY 2002

Old hands Expresidents David Roads (left), membership number 003 and Anthony Lawrence, 005 at the AGM,

\ ' ^,d*

but we believe benefrcially Somewhat controversially v¡s þ¿vs managed to undertake work to to the CIub

upgrade both kitchen facilities in the basement and improve our health and fitness facilities...

With fairness to both constituencies of this club those who wish to expand their girths and those who wish to reduce them.

AII should be ready soon.

In my year as President I have sought to be a mediator, a conciliator, to balance the interests of Correspondent and Journalist Members with those of Associate Members.

The board in the past year has been very conscious of the need for constitutional or legal reform.

We recognise that our by-laws have not been updated in 16 years. And our Hong Kong club is a far different place, living in a far different environment than it was in 1986. with the help of David Roads For tlvo years now and Kevin Egan, we have been reviewing, revising and preparing for your approval, and that of government, amended Club byJaws or "Articles of Association'" Revisions

¿66e¡di1g to practice

-

have been sent

to government.

As soon as government responds we will, according to our rules, with 21 days notice, call an Extraordinary General Membership meeting

in order to

ratify

changes.

We are now about to turn things over to a new FCC

Board. After our first contested elections for President

since 1997, Tom Crampton becomes President' We hope that Kate Dawson will continue to cont.ribute to our Club in other ways.

I was pleased to be drafted as First Vice President the new Board to be introduced to you and all of us shortþ will- do our best in the year ahead to continue to make- this a better Club and work on behalf of all of Thank vou.

) (11*" ,) î, ittt,JáÄrie

Crus AcrrvrrrEs - Csanrrv Ben and go straight into a profession of makes so much difference."

tGG's t $t

She has been fund-raising locally and globally for 30

Krrk

Scholarship Charity Ball, which she is helping to organise, comes at an auspicious time' This

child of the Kuk, a former Miss Hong Kong, a broadcaster, traveller, leading charity fund-raiser and award-winning public relations executive, is seeing the culmination of 15 years of photography in an exhibition being held between July and l)ecember in locations from Hong Kong to France.

Her photographic collection is entitled "Cherished", an assembly of human Portraiture and natural phenomena' As

she pul-s it. it is an "appreciation for human relationships, for all living

is how she started taking pictures, "photographs that catch something that touches your heart and collect memories." Seven years ae-o she went into business and took her creativity with her. Mary Cheung and Associates was voted best PR firm in Hong Kong by.rlzss i ca magazine in June.

'We probably aren't really the best, but it is a sort of

you

after the end of school certain time."

bY a

There was no Place for the usual juvenile dalliances like boy'riends.

and very satisfringlY

for Mary's love of

Paris, the exhibition will be in the EsPace Auteuil under the title Salon d'Automne. "The Macau, China and French exhibitions are all solo."

She has a lot to be proud of' Her almost ageless beauty and grace, her orphan background, her success and her own struggle for the underprivileged as well as that TVB title, which anyone who has held it is never allowed to forget, have maintained a considerable fame necessarily have

The Social Welfare Department found

her After wandering the streets at the estimated age of six' futile attempts to fînd where or whom she came from,

I

andvery disciPlined.

- rang at six. You got A bell up, dressed, lined up for breakfast and went to school. You were sent out for secondary school and you had to be back home

The pictures adorning The Wall, as the photo exhibition space in the Main Bar is called, in July highlight her throughthe-lens talent admirablY. Through August, theY will be hung in Macau's Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau. In late October, they will be at the Guangdong Museum of Art

been so.

are

very independent nobody ties your shoes for

creations of God."

for her in Hong Kong. It need not

biography states that she is a native of Suzhou in Zhejiang Province. How could she possibly know that? ;Oh, I don't, of course! I just picked it because Suzhou is known for its beautiful girls' I picked a birthdate because I am convinced I am a Leo and of course I always knew I was a Mary' I added Pandora too but nobodY ever calls me that."

Memories of the Kuk are fond and she goes back there all the time. "It is like a big home. The older children look after the supervised by a ga cheung, a guardian. You have to be

for oftenneglected old ruins and cultures and for the glorious

finall¡

they handed her over to the Po Leung Kuk at age eight and there she lived till she was twenty-one' FIer

younger and theY

creatures on earth,

and

It

years. That

Club membe r Mary Cheungis an alumnus of the Po Leung Kuk, the HKSAR's oldest orphanage and recipient of the funds, in the form of scholarships, from ih. Churity Batl. Now a successful businesswoman and serving on the Ball committee, she was interviewed by Stuart Wolfendalz or Mary Cheung, the FCC Po Leung

choice.

not time for that!

There were no phone calls 'I,Ve had

in or out. Only family members were allowed to visit so since I had no family I had no visitors - except for sponsor parents of which you could have more than one pair so theY kePt You busY." The inevitable falling behind that comes from being an orphan and the cost and space limitations of even

an oiphanage as generous and involved as the

Po

Leung Kuk meant that Mary was already 20 when she finishãd high school. She had to leave the "home" (the

Kuk) at 21 causing her to go straight into employment' "My firstjob was as a clerk in the Nigerian Consulate and there I improved my English the hard way' I'd take THE CORRESPONDENT JUNE4ULY 2002

On assignment Photographing in China

hle to a consul and he'd sa¡ 'I haveq't got time for all that. Give me a summary.' So I had to grapple with English pronunciation. " a

he Miss Hong Kong pageant polished her further because TVB gave all the contestants a three-month course in public speaking, "for which I had no poise and make-up - her reign in 1975, she mone¡" she added quickly. After became an assistant TV producer for two years then moved into the commercial world. It was whilst she was working for Avon cosmetics that one of her bosses advised her to go back to school to better herself. She was in her late twenties when she began to study Fine Arts at the University of Hong Kong and later the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Ultimately she graduated from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University in Business Administration.

This is why it is so appropriate and I'm so delighted that the FCC should raise money for university scholarships. It is something the Po Leung Kuk has never been able to offer before. Those of us lucky enough to get tertiary education always had to do it later in life. Now these kids can go to university straight from high school, have a student life at the right age

recognition. I am trying to merge the commercial aspect of my work with a strong volunteer element and this can really be made to appeal to clients." She helped set up the Jet Tour Charity Foundation where her travel agency client sends sick and underprivileged children on overseas trips four times a year. For Benttey-Rolls Royce she came up with the idea of using close to 100 of their cars, chauffeur-driven, to carry old people in procession with police escorts from Causeway Bay to a banquet in Wanchai. Celebrities sat up front and opened and closed the doors for them. Good was done, publicity was huge and everyone was happy.

For Mary Cheung, her photographic exhibitions this year mark a change in direction. A devout Christian and a reflective woman, new beginnings don't perturb her. Her first love is painting. She has studied with Chinese masters Yang Shen Sum and Li Xiong Cai. "I have left my paintbrush idle for 15 years.

I do think it is time to put down my camera and return to painting again. I am confident that I will be a good painter," she says with a sudden emphatic selfconhdence.

Time once devoted to children is now loosening up.

"I am going to live and paint in Paris for three to four months ayear. UNESCO is helping me f,rnd a suitable studio. Even though I don't speak a word of French, I will be among artists who speak the same language.

Hong Kong is a brilliant place with a great buzz, but not for painting. Paris is the place for me."

seems clear to her. That brisk selÊ conhdence makes a hnal appearance. "I will still run my business. I will still be doing things for others, and I

Her path

will be a very good artist."

I

THE FCC SHOP Looking for a souvenir of the Club?

Lighters Zippo Lighters Umbrellas Chinese Tea Set Postcards Wine glasses Name cardholders Luggage tags Key rings Disposable

$5 $150-160 $100-200 $30 $3 each $36-79 $75 $60 $30

Ashtray Ties T:shirts Lithograph Print of

boxes Bermuda shorts Shirts Windbreaker Wallets Cigarette

FCC

$18 $160 $110 $800 $80 $110 $115 $250 $125

BBC Tape (OÍAllthe GinJoints .) $Zao (PAI)/$350 (NTSC)

THE CORRESPONDENT JUNE/JULY 2002

9

_T

an Song d I-n

on

Editor Saul Lockharl Pens a few tho

his final issue,

raucous. Old hands know the nostalgic reception they receive when they cross paths with old FCCers in far away lands, whether as individuals or attending an event. You newer members will soon discover this FCC esprit de corps and I hope you will get as much pleasure

from it

The

qi and those who make it possible.

iì#"

il

letter on page 2 of this issue.

Concurrent with its highfalutin' role as defender of the FourthEstate, The that means Corresþondent is also a Club magazine the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus adorn the pages now and again, along with a plethora of party pix and

itîlt; i:'';ïïå

rc

I'T*:

* P

I *l'l "" Jì'ïÍ'iioå" FCC. Iì' joined this Alison and I ?J." the î¿å: ::;r'iifr'u, " 35 y""':.:,:^";;îou^ 1""'i'Jt,r' and öc of arriving in the Kong wt:f^-^ w""^.-g z+ hours Se[tember on September fine establishrlertt fine"establishment nnm Saison Saigon from nc then colonY of Hong visit the 27,1967. ,,musr do,s" on my-list chai and visit the en ensconced on

"you" news.

Another question debated periodically, at the Main Bar and at Board level, is whether The Corresþond'ent is in monetary terms that is. In the early days worth it

ted Hilton Hotel'

The of my tenure,

the Club, Cheung

.)I

list' Mr A

mebrl' Iødñt

oJ

strength

'::'"-::':i';

more Btoody

some

both editorially and financially.

Let's get the money matters out of

n-,"

the way straight off. Sadly,

io,.m, und ¡oi,,

ä:ï,ffi: Ïil' ""'¡" ::ï ii';,å''iï: M-Y.t ut'î;;"'";,., never-ending Poter

wett through

the appointment of Luke Hunt and Paul Bayfield as co-Publications Committee Convenors a few years back, the magazine was revitalised,

¡.. taking a bar stãol unconscrousNñ'ïi-,, rîllfull swig of onl ^ll 'lt. h.lp.a

CorresþonrJent

hard times as it was attacked vociferously at Board level' Some of the attacks were very personal as well and that entire episode still FCc tt'¿Pbceabtes upsets me. But we fought back and with

un,-.," BloodY MarY--

,h.

SauI

adjacent room'

ßñq

úd

hkhaft

@th

É!riltr_ú

The

Corresþondenl will never be a true profit centre, even though we make small, one-off prohts with special issues. At the end of the day, The Correspondent runs at a loss. So is the Club getting its money's worth in publishing such a high-quahty magazine every two

il;ï J'iä"",n ::l fJ i;,îl å oo'"tt': u"'--,.-r. *" lltr'5***i* ,r.iää:il;'"i¡i the I'UL' l'\rru :'::i Bloody dt'nl, was a å: months? Are you? in 1g77, mY first nr nor. ^-e i.-3".11".:: My answer is "yes", but I'm ìil;';r*'T ro'" i l;:i trt""-'ìÌ.ring, is no question we could impart was There ;:'tr,i'.'ting^ ""::iî I prejudiced.

Y;:l;fi whether because that was what *^g:i the rhe t'S"l'l'. more cheaply by e-mail (though not even ræ'!ú.Ñd$ÐÑ

Pbd@¿NÐ

o, on members' drinks brew or br.* :l:";"ntal Jental members' imprinted ot and drink was imprinteo nt-ber number .r-.. '" 'Ïlr" :-.:-".;, eveLyonr^o cv'' t:' ;-^ name, conversation conve list. Liao knew hr¡ e r€cenL recenL hv recent a by to and still does' ¡udge

-with him'

I an' straightforward tnt it oificiallY to art to. is magazite ani unfemered Fo The two-fold

t1 rLr orsanisatlon organisation .^ ^, ovnression,"

ïffiil;

corresPondent is

I presented The job of the ,rrppo.t of a free this by covering since

.ers, press awards,

¡@ú.b

have these past three decades.

make certain that image is

Crampton's reply to a

,-*u*"r?".::::.::;;;.ffif:'r::il'J 'n ;iäiå*iläi'n.å'* : ":å'*iij'jlT#: i.:i;ä*; -3:',:'"'i':

I

eeping the FCC's image at the forefront is important to our very existence. We want to

new president Thomas

v lhe utrrL /"'¿d.ent, Diane Stormont '.di,oru of The--Conespot ,-a rn rheir elbows

as

information half of our membership receive e-mail notifications), fax or good old-fashioned, cheaply printed snail mail' Though the magazine does impart information, it is certainly in this electronic not solely what it is about day and age. A bi-monthly publication could hardly compete with e-mail and fax, or even snail mail. The main job of The Corresþondenf, in my opinion, is to carry our image, as well as our message, to the world. That sounds very grandiose and I hope you don't dismiss the statement as spin-doctoring. But it is true. Not everyone can manage to visit the club and hear our speakers or partake of our social activities.

Our Club has a magnificent image in the HKSAR and abroad, .just the right mix of the serious and the THE CORRESPONDENT JUNE,{ULY

2OO2

conveyed, ther just down Lower Albert Road to the Central Government Ofhces or across the world to Washington, DC or London et al. I'm not the only one who believes this, folks. Why in the world do you think the BBC chose our Club, and not the FCQ| in Tokyo

(our only true competition in Asia) as the subject of their 1999 documentary "Of All the Gin.|oints"...? It was our reputation, our image. By the way this is how they described us in December 4, 1999, broadcast on the BBC2's "Correspondent": "The Foreign Correspondents' Club of Hong Kong...has been the journalist's watering hole of choice in Southeast Asia and a symbol of frercely independent journalism from this tiny Western pimple on the face of the Orient." (A tape of that broadcast is available at the Club ofhce.)

There are not all that many really famous press in this world and we hold one of the prime spots in that pantheon. Supporting The Conesþondentis the modest price we pay for keeping our place in the world of the Fourth Estate.

As anyone in publishing can attest, it is not a oneman or a one-woman show and we have a wonderful and talented and very hard-working team. I've already clubs

mentioned the Publications Committee Convenor Paul Bayfield. Asiapix does our production and printing with photographer Terry Duckham (of Photographer of the Year Awards fame), his wife Aira Fernando and Baby Fernando, Aira's sister, rounding out the production group. Steve \À¡hite, our ace adman, is responsible for keeping money flowing into the

rnagazine, and what a fine job he's done these past two years. Jonathan Sharp, our eagle-eyed proofreader, manages to catch those typos that somehow sneak in, in addition to being the mag's ace reporter for speakers.

The columnists deserve a round of applause too. In addition to organising golf or chess, bridge or quiz

nights, wine, the bar, the health club et al, they are hounded by me to put pixel to screen and write. The presidents too.

On the photo side, former President Hugh van Es has been a stalwart for decades. Yes decades. He has been snapping pix of our events and people and all of us who have had anything to do vnth' The Corresþondent

find

ourselves very grateful

for his efforts.

Terry

Duckham, Bob Davis and Kees Metselaar also contribute their hne photographic talent to the magazine.

No editor could possibly publish a single issue without the sterling efforts of our staff. The waiters and captains take pictures for us. Banqueting arranges places at the lunches and more photographs, to say nothing of planning all these wonderful

events.

Administration and Membership are always available to answer the myriad queries that come up when producing The Corcesþondent or the membership directory. Accounts is always unfailingly helpful. And last but not least, good old Tiger, our fearless manager Gilbert Cheng, is always there to assist and offer advice.

These fìne folk in the employ of the FCC put up with the extra work and manage to tolerate my hefty presence in the crowded offrces so that our publications can be first-rate. So, Tiger, Alex, Rosalia (and her predecessors, wherever they may be), Hoi-Lo, Sand¡ Fiona, Carman, Catþ and Lavinia, thank you all.

Folks, please raise a glass wherever you happen to be re ading this edition of The Corresþond,enf andjoin me

in toasting the people who bring you this

fine

magazine: "To the team!" And to Diane and Teri, welcome aboard. I look forward to receiving my copy of The Correspondent in Sydney...and being surprised at the contents. I

Pool Tournament New members brought new talent to this year's Merv llaworth Cup battle.

'WelI, its time to hand it over," says Dr Feng Chishun, having held the FCC Pool title consistentþ for 2000 and 2001, as he passed it over to the new champ Andy Morton.

The first-time champion seemed very pleased to walk away with the trophy. It was his fourth competition at the FCC and is already planning his title defence next year.

Runner-up Rocky Lane, the 1976 National Snooker Champion for New Zealand, recently joined the FCC and hopes to organise an FCC Pool Team to compete against other Hong Kong clubs. "Ardy and I can do THE CORRESPONDENT JUNE/JULY

2OO2

lessons for those who have never held a cue

in their life,

and eventually widen the number of our FCC team."

The winners (L-8) Feng Chi-shun, 2000 and 2001 winner, Andy Morton, 2002 winner with Rocky Lane, runner-up,

Bridg*

Chess do you jump?

Look at this hand dealt fairly and squarely at an FCC

my partner and I had Tuesday night Bridge session: ãir..rrr.d the Unusual ZNT bid on the Monday I play' This mornittg, having faxed him the convention turned uP on TuesdaY night:

bidding was 7C by N down 7, 7C by S made 7 (not Dbl), 6H by W making.

A different kind of hand where do you go [rom here?

Dealer E. N/S Vul

Dealer W : All lulnerable

âK54 TA65

ô ?

a K9

+108542

âKQ70e7

lAJ<QJ7 43

I

N

W

â

E S

ôJ ?109865

)

B7 642 ¡ÈK9

ôJ1083 ?10982 oAQ84

W

P

qJ7

4

rJ1053

s A97

Chess þlayers are madmen of a certain suþþosed to be, and isn't, in general.

quality, the way the artist - Marcel Duchamp

he 2002 FCC Chess Championship has reached halÊway and three players, Anthony Wong, Graeme Hall and Chris Champion, are closely grouped at the head of the standings. Newcomer Andrew Hart is still frnding his feet and Feng Chi-shun has taken to moving his pieces with his pool cue in a quest for increased accutacy. Sarah Henderson, meanwhile, provided the clear highlight of the tournament so far when she held championship favourite Graeme Hall to a draw in Round 4. Sarah has the most attacking style of all chess club members and has as a result over the past two years helped produce

Chris Champion Chess Convenor

many memorable games.

chamþs@netaigatorcom

The

?,5

the tournament at the time of going- to

press is:

Pos 1.

2.

3.

4.

6.

6.

Name

Anthony Wong Chris Champion Graeme Hall Feng Chi-shun

Andrew Hart Sarah Henderson

Pts 4.5 3.5

Games 5

4

.1.5

5

26 I4 0.5

6

?K3

4 62

+QJ10843

+AQ7 653 6C 7D

t

¿Þ7 6

S

a N 2NT*

E,

+9

t2

1H 5H 6H

ôQ62

N

ôA86532

w

7

.iAK52

fAKQJl0e53

4

-

E

S

4H Dbl Dbl

5C P P

P (XX failed)

x = Unusual 2NT Lead 10 H. Can you see 7 tricks which were made,

E

S

W

P P P

1C

P

5D 6C

P

P

P P P

x

= Standard Blackwood

So you ask yourself, why

N 4NT* 5NT 6NT

lC to start with? Well, HCP

plus length. OIÇ why jump to 4NT? The answer is there is nowhere else to go - ZNT = 10-12, 3NT = shutout, 4C =

jump in suit (albeit correct),4NT = talk to me......

As you can see 6NT makes, and was made by 2 teams,

though was not bid, but only by your writer.

I will add this: the hand was played in the FCC, no other team bid 6NT, but all were played by N and the lead was identical. Think about it.

Wendy Richardson Bridge Convenor iirwir@netuigatorcom

PRIVAT-tr R

N4S

Albert and Hughes Rooms, for private FGG members can make use of our two inter-connected rooms, the press conferences"'etc seminars, meetings, functions, such as The Main Dining Room, the Verandah and Bertts are also available for larger business receptions or partiesr cocktailsr Ghristmas office Iunches or conferences, wedding and anniversary parties, birthday about any kind of celebration can be staged at the FGG' lrearcasts iower -iust Buffet or fult sit-down, or just coffee and tea - you name it and the FGG's F&B Department and k¡tchen are flexible enough to handle it. And our prices are very competitive,

note that it's going to cost $600 to spit in public from now on. This draconian measure will rob Hong Kong of its only chance of winning a gold

2OO2

category of super bore. Maþe all the pissheads are just as boring, but when we're in our cups we seem very

witty to ourselves.

medal at the Beijing Olympics.

Hong Kong spitters lead the world in volume, velocity and vector (direction). I haven't asked how the authorities are going to prove that a particular gob of snot was the property of the accused in any resulting prosecution, short of DNA testing, but they'll have thought it all out.

I'm sure that

Mailbox I have been inundated by a letter taking me to task for a piece I wrote months ago about feminism, following an outraged walkout by two lady-lawyers who took exception to something I said during a lecture on public relations that I was giving to a room full of solicitors. It's come to a pretty pass when you can be taken to task by hysterical feminists for saying something which one particular loony finds sexist. Any more of this and I'm going to petition to have the Red Lips section of the bar moved down to Bert's.

Wit & Booze Brickbats have been flying around the bar lately following my contention, in this column, that people who give up drinking seem inevitably to lapse into the

Findoutforyourself.GontactFionaintheofficeforbookings Tel 2521 1511 Fax 28,6'8 4O92 E'mail: banquet@fcchk.org THE CORRESPONDENT JUNE/JULY

PnisoneF at the Ban

THE CORRESPONDENT JUNE/JULY 2002

Vèrbosity

Another cornplaint. A former Board member complained to me that one of our noble councillors was single-handedly responsible for extending the meetings by hours.

Could not verbosity be ranked with teetotalism as antisocial unless the withdrawal is under doctor's

orders of course?

I was browsing through a magazine the other day and came upon this little gem of verbosity from a meeting of the U.S Senate: "Permit me to yield, Mr President, to my able and distinguished friend, the senior senator from thus-and-so, for who I entertain the highest regard and the warmest admiration.

Indeed, Mr President, I must say that no member of this deliberative body is held in higher regard, or more justifiably so, than my brilliant and erudite colleague, to whom I deferentially yield such time as he may require."

Now that sort of rhetoric might enliven the Board meetings. Can any contender beat that?

Ted Thomas c orþ c om@hh.

linka ge. n et

T3

ards cere-nonl'

t{::i^}::*

The 7th Annual Human Rlghts

basedJournaltsls arru prlrL\rH.r¿Lylrurù DLvrr.-- --r (lao yu, who journalist Mainland f-h.urã also and their work freedom in pt"ts io' struggle the what :xactly knows at first-hand China means. Jonathan Sharp reports he awards ceremony held on June 8 at the FCC was nothing if not timely, coming amid intensifred debate about the intertwined issues of human rights and press freedoms in the HKSAR as the territory marks the fifth anniversary of the handover to Chinese rule' The backdrop included clear signs that the government is tat lng a tougher stand. - or a less Ëu.ygoing one, depending on one's point of view ,o*ä¿, unauthorised public demonstrations and political activists, Plus recent incidents of friction between police and local reporters about media access to Protests. In addition, accusations have resurfaced that certain members of the media establishment are practising selfcensorship to avoid offending Beijing' As Francis MoriartY, Chairman of

the FCC Freedom of the

difirculry overse as operations h ad crrLLr LU entry vrsas

*t:tlif, .i"|itl:

::Ï:ll iJii;Ë;î'v

::-"J:T'iï-iÏ

get a ::::iiì,:x1Ï':ï"J'i;;i-l :i:î.;ff ;.1: or Beijing :: i'srr^"gn^i .to tr are if problem )'ou _--^ ^,,ite roudne. We have *i"i.'1i11 ffilfi å Ji#: ::iï;"Y:.'i;: iJ,T:'i',i:il. ïid'iä; *å*r1T"J.# ii ,'l; îå'# ,'î'i; l'å'?'ä';:,*'r'i:: j*t i,1î,,"i J'i

ff"?

hal

I

rdl h!¡dr¡ þ'f ¡!¡l

I ii;:i-"..f.,i"g ul but seven a- six-Year iå"tn'"-"t r'urrLrro '"

::1"'-'.:::

state secrets rn allegedly f< t"ututltg the nong

-,,htished

political

in

reasons'

Sï{*-tr

today's China, journalists securitY, their future car

theY choose to slattu the Press' rishri '---Àt-ttand freedom in

beins il

called lor the "libet'a ord"t-ro uPhold human rights i,uìì..r.tited at the awards aPPre as a token of the FCC's dedication' andt dedication.

contemplating the move'" He said this trend stemmed partþ from the fact that Hong Kong-based foreign correspondents working for

Correspondcnb'6a,

(Clockwise from top left) South China Morning Post journalists (l-r)l,lterit Award winner David Wong Chi-kin for "Falun" and "Sludents and staff back Li Shaomin", Newspaper-Feature category winner Sherry Lee for "Learning the hard way" and General News category winner Stella Lee for "Education Denied"; General News category winner Chan Kwong Wai, Apple Daily, for "Police investigate Falun Gong"; lVìagazine category winner Chaim Estulin, Hong Kong Magazine,for "Cleaning Up Our Act"

li#i i:ä Ë;:'''.,' T:l "il, lï i'î'J"i:

Committee, noted in opening remarks at the ceremony, the Human Rights Press Awards do not just recognise outstanding journalism, they promote greater consciousness of human rights issues and are "a litmus test of what is

are

irir¡r

Íi

concern and r noPc'i;åtï;;ttssin ^.'

HongKongbut important issue notjus -, f..-,n. future of Hong Kongl.'

Press

Singapore or Mainland China' "More

I

L,.ter

ar'a pre ss conf'erence

-a:y:t;i

å::,il:iff :

*.:,î:"î¿ï'#il?J,i:ä;:"vl**trii,"åJ\i iffiî#ïXåäïä ï;.;r{ :* "ï ff *" lffiiJT til';'; "'*t' 'n.'; å:i'."irïliiloÏ,""iJJ fn*o**rro"

u LY 2 oo2 DENr JuN ll'lJ

fear that she faced further arrests, but that she was psychologically prepared for such an eventuality. One of her worries was that if she left China, she might be barred from returning. But she had been supported by her family in her clrrrent decision to visit Hong Kong and Thailand, feeling that as Hong Kong was part of China, and Thailand was a close neighbour, it would be politically embarrassing for Beijing

circulated in academic circles, the attitude of the government in its official publications was as strict as during the 1966-76 Cultural Revolution. Her view is that until there is a change in the political environment in China it will be impossible to match the freedoms that are enjoyed in Hong Kong.

Some Chinese journalists were well-paid, she said, but if they did not write exactly what they were told

authorities to refuse her re-entry.

Gao said she still could not have her own writing published under own name in China, and had received no income from an official work unit since 1989, so life had been extremely hard. She recalled that when she was first arrested in 1989 on the eve of the June 4 crackdown in and around Tiananmen Square, it was three and a half months before her family even knew whether she was alive or dead. Family members spent a lot of time turning over bodies in morgues to try to find out whether she was one of those killed.

Gao added that while there was renewed interest in human rights and press freedom issues in China, and

they could look forward to being disciplined, fired or worse. A long list of subjects, including the -Falun Gong movement, were totally taboo, and

even some theoretical works THE CORRESPONDENT JUNE4UIJ 2002

on the subject

were

mention of them in publications constituted

a

criminal offence.

Gao Yu still faces harassment in the form of periodic tight surveillance an experience that she manages to - stoicism and even with humour. face with remarkable She said she had a "good relationship" with the police who keep an eye on her and who tell her that they are only following orders. In response she informs them that she felt that it was better that the bonuses that they earned went into their own pockets rather than those of senior officials. I

15

WinneFs 0f The Human ËitihtC PnG$$ Awands 2ggz ;;ä;"ä?;Ñã.""i il "rä;;i"tí;;*"g I'LrLq #i. :' ä:i:'

S.u.,'th-A,','..,ulHumanRightsPressAwards,co-organisedbythe r ,- 1:^.^ Amneslr¡

ct,'¡ of Hong Kons' the

H.o.ns

-^^^:^+:^^ --.1 Konsl:":11':t:T:"-îi::'::.0'1'i::"';1 ^ -

in recent Section. This year's competitioã was one of the most competitive ,^^ ^^^ .L^^ 1 Ao/^

il; -',,

in th e ;:"": . **i' it vc¿rò' ;ä;: : -':-','.* "1'iÌ: l Ti # "î : iwinners *-- were *i í: -= " the: Merit plaques, and :d engraved tit:g: " ä;;;ì;";;;;r;; each in The Prize winners submissions. suu.Lrllòùrurr ii ln increase irrlr.u." be l,lt.^:ï.^ +Lì,,.rrinc neners enrì rhere mav not may there and ^r ihe judging panels Award. u.. gJ.. u, ,hi ái..r.tio., of øiven personalised certificates.

iïï î

ffi Merit Ceñificate Brick workers @

zc

o

Merit Certificate Violence protest.

Merit Certificate Study room in the public.

o

f @

Winner

if¿.r.u,io.t Denied" by Stella Lee, Post

Gommentany & Analysis

South China Morning

@ =

!

(SCW)

l8

Merit

l,Camp" by Tyler Marshall, Los Angeles Times Neuuspapen

Hong Kong Economic Journal

- teatune

Merit "Ministerial system - Impartial civil servants" by Choy Chi Keung [van, Ming Pao

Winner SCMP "Learning the hard way" bY SherrY Lee, Merit "Amerasians"

by G. Bruce Knecht, Asian Wall

Street

[ournal (AWSI)

""Ciry

of Strife" by Sherry Lee, SCMP

Magazines

"China: Fighting

the State" by Dexter T.

Roberts,

Iñu.¡-

Series" by Polly Evans

& editorial staff' Hong

iitr"

Genenal News

Gommentany & Analysis

Winner

"The tragedy of violent protest" by Chan Yin Ping & Tsang Chi Ho, RTHK

Merit "Millennium - Mosque" by Ng Chi Sum & Lam Ka Yu, RTHK "Drug affairs place the third world at risk" by Chan Yin Ping, RTHK

"Police investigate Falun Gong" by Chan Kwong Wai &

Bnoadcast - Television

Hui King Larrr, AþPle DailY

Winner "Child soldier" by Poon Tat-pui, Eric, RTHK

Merit

iõtrinu't Catholic Paradox" by Brett M' Deckea AWSI Gantoons

Merit lfu L.rn Going, Going, Gong" by Gavin Coates' Hong KongiMail Disaster" by Gavin Coates, Hong Kong iMai'l

Bnoadcast' Ielevision Winner TV "Child SexPloitation" bY Adrian Brown, Star

Photognafhy Winner "Excessive force used towards journalists" by Lee Shiu Cheong, Ming Pao

Merit "Brick Workers" byJohn Stanmeye¡ Time Asia "Students and staff back Li Shaomin" by David Wong Chi Kin, SCMP "Falun" by David Wong Chi Kin, SCt\4P "Study room in the public" by Yip Hong Wah, Sing Pao "Discretion" by Lee Shiu Cheong, Ming Pao "Release of Long Hair" by Tang Wai I{rn, Ming Pao "I want to go to school" by Chun Kok Wai, Ming Pao 'Violence Protest" by Lai Kin Ming, Ming Pao "Same sex marriage" by Choy Ka Wai, Ming Pao "Child Beggars - Pakistan" by Ling Shu Fai, Aþþle Daily '\'Voodmen - Pay the price " by Tsang Hin Wah, þþle D aily

Sing Pao

"Tape reveals ICAC lying" by Carman Hs;u, SingTho

Newspapen ' Featune

blindness", 'A verY certain haunts us all" bY StePhen

Winner "Unemployment

in

Judges fon 20gZ AuuaFds

Shenyang" by China Desk, Apþle

Fred Armentrout, president, Hong Kong Englishspeaking branch of PEN International

Daily "Laúorrr unrest in Northeast China" by Chan'/iu l(ai & Lau Hak Kong, Ming Pao

Sarah Carmichael, chairperson, Amnesty International

Hong Kong Section a

Merit

"Tough life of woodmen in Shandong" by China Desk' Aþþle Daily

a

MaSazines

Winner

'Jiang Weipeng Case" by WangJianmin, Yazhou Zhoukan

.

Merit

.

"Massacre in

llunan" by Zinang Cheng,

Oþen Magazine

THE CORRESPONDENT JUNE,{ULY 2002

16

Bnoadcast - Radio

"Gays complain against Red Cross" by Lau Mei Ngan'

s..uLing Point" by Matthew Forney' Time Asia

;ãoi.,ittg

ChineSe.la,nguagc g'atG$OFles

Merit

Kong Magazine

Merit

'.A call for help" by Renato Reyes, Asia Television "Outsider" by Raymond Cheng, TVB Pearl Report

Winner

BusinessWeeh

Soecial Award

The winner Excessive force used on journalists by Lee Shiu Cheong, Ming Pao

Merit

Winner Estulin, Hong Kong "Cleaning UP Our Act" by Chaim Magau'ne

Winner "The choice between civilisation and stupidity" by To Yiu Ming, Ming Pao "Conscience under pressure" by Xiu Xiang Chung,

Merit "Strike a balance between patriotism and impartiality"

by Wong Lok Ha¡ RTHK "Family religious groups" by So Wing Kuen, Cable TV "Peace and war" by Echo Wong, RTHK

Father Louis Ha, editor-in-chieC, Kung Kao Po Thomas Crampton, correspondent, International Herald Täbune, president, Foreign Correspondents' Club Angela Lee, board member, Amnesty International Hong Kong Section Jacqueline Leong SC, former chairperson, Hong Kong Bar Association LawY-rk-kai, directoq Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor

TH E CORRESPON DENT JU

N

E/J ULY 2002

Leung Man-fai, chairman, Hong Kong Press Pho tographers Association

Mak Yin-ting, chairperson, Hong KongJournalists Association Dr Bryce Mclntyre, associate professor, Department of Journalism and Communication, Chinese

University Joyce Nip, assistant professo¡ Department

of

Journalism, Baptist University Hubert van Es, photographe¡ board membe¡ Foreign Correspondents' Club Ronny K.W Tong SC, former chairperson, Hong Kong Bar Association

17

Who wilt be the

Ye rr the of Photographer

2002P

PhotograPher of the Year annual second The FCC has launched the levels have been exPanded entry and categories Awards. This year, the the Year included. POYA of Photograph the for and a new award chairman, Terry Duchham rePorts Imaging, has been added Non-Professional divisions mendous influence and

nology has brought to

extended to Hong Kong camera clubs to organise

Awards, POYA ZOOr. t.n. f OO i-äg.* will be displayed in several high trafÏic public u.rìt", in Hong Kong

titions. These will feature POYA Non-Professional ntries will be submitted to nsideration in the final

will be invited to among comPetitions aphic the two themes from the chools

expect it to be even stronger.

POYA 2002 has been eipanded with more categories

and the Non-Professional

g Perspective categorY. The

members of Hong Kong's camera clubs. A special c between the ages of 12 to 18 Aswell as the Photographer select a Photograph of the

s from the Chinese media nted and a good balance of ased foreign PhotograPhers

bmitted for judging for

ugh to the toP awards.We alance and high caliber of

T image that has the most i

series or individual entry.

parameters of the category il was entered into' into The Professionl ¿ïisîon will again be broken Kong Hong seven categories divided between Àriu uttd images in the categories of News, Magazine Features' category to

we are expecting

Hong Kong th Professional divisions. Th and World City. Both the broad opportunity to c Kong's rich cultural and ofnatural resources and unique charactet' The Non-Professional dirision has been expanded

The fìrst two categories Landscapes in Ti,me allow flexibility to combine cl

utgtto' with creative interpretation. The third category'

18

ng Kong iMail, Aþþle DailY he great Prizes from APPIe

entax, Fuji, Polaroid, Action

in both

to three categories to allow their abilities over several

contribution to

s. Ditto the suPPort from

The Hong Kong To rir- Èoui¿'s Hong Kong

A

;il?l:ïriil,ffi;:i'i: was a major

replace last year's advertisins category.

categories,

.,".

hay Pacific AirwaYs and the

Corporate and a new digital and computer

category,

a

Corporate Communications

public eye, Crown Pacihc hibition transPortation and ts.

suPport and the expanded With strong sponsor are expectlng to and new terms of entry we

categories

^^^ m2nv more ol Hong Kong's photographers ry forms will be available and will be distributed to in Jul¡ 2002. Entries will r 14.l THE CORRESPONDENT JUNE/JULY 2002

Last year, Hong Kong photographers made 269 individual entries, consisting of more than 1,200 images, and a total of 54 awards were made by the POYA judges

regaled a packed luncheon with ng. Excerpts from his talk: -'- nften interested in

is so topical and

Places

I

->

Ireal

states' wlral interest in pariah

a few

of them in

ilä

r

aid it is because as ush labelled it the theY were sort of

"'.:::^i:: l;l

is

in the pay

Ko re an, :i,Ë' Ñ;'thnå' :îîî'li"1i3:t:i::: because ::,i, "l iiit u t"r' ¡ttl rhev go there " li.rä.;;;ä Proctice Commencement of

OPTNION IECOND proctice) (medicol

Room B, cen'¡ral, Hong Kong

Ñltr,

?

Need o good Nø¿d o

Need o second oPinion?

Mobilet 9304 1678

Tel" 2537 6042 Fox: 2537 1348

hk'com Domoin nom¿: secondopinion e-mail: chi@secondopinion'hk'com

dance. If it ever comes down to deciding wars by which army can dance best in mass formation, the North Koreans are going to be hands down winners...

I have been a few times, that great deal of angst...is Burma, always caused me a a lot more visitors than North Myanmar. Myanmar gets last year which is a lot more Korea... about 150,000 that were coming when than the twenty-odd thousand have been there quite Burma.

I I first started going to if compare that you a few times over the years...But visitors, or even million-odd with Thailand's eight in the now, it's a drop Cambodia's half-a-million visitors rights and wrongs go over the bucket. I am not going to of visiting Burma but I will sa¡ I feel that engagement and contact and talking is always better than isolation and boycotts and embargoes. And I feel that progress has been made in Burma, and God knows how much progress. The place is a myster¡ a town of rumours, people told me when I was last time there in Rangoon.

And finally one more thing about globalisation and so on. We call it Lonely Planetisation and we do worry about it. We do get criúcised about the changes we are accused of making in the world. I am actually flying to Bali tomorrow and Bali is a place that we often get to.

People say before (we) did that first book on Indonesia back in the early 1970s, Bali was awonderful place. Look what you have done to it. And I think, yeah, build the airport, putting those hotels up....I seriously hope that producing guidebooks, we can be a positive factor, that we can encourage people to go to places with a little bit more open mind, with a better approach to it so they can be more sensitive and better tourists. (Q&A + p21) A

Badland where

THE CORRESPONDENT JUNE,IULY

20

it's

genuinely weird. Some people say (North Korea) is a Stalinist theme park or a Gulag run by Mont Python.

It's definitely a strange place. And what did I find? Well I was there for one thing about the mass games army is they can Korean the North

comefrom North Korea'

W Bush I am sure that George

to Cuba, the other of

It's a big difference. And

il;;;;;,. )',x1å"iåil fri

themselves'

also went

those Badlands, in the last 12 months, and in comparison to North Korea, Cuba is a sort of a capitalist paradise.

Á'¿tands' and, t li";'::ii: t.:¿tt ttLv "*-' l^ìiii'. the Ilast 12 months.

il;ì';;r*,

it is the last hard-line

communist state.

2OO2

On the cover of the Hong Kong Guide which shows the Bar¡k of China tower peering through the fog how was it chosen? I would like to know why that was chosen as well actually. It's a picture of a blue haze and with a magni$'ing glass you can see the Bank of China building in the blue haze. A number of us at the ofhce said, who chose that and how did that get through? I have no idea. So I am glad you raised that one. That's another point I will take back.

On being included in a guide (It's) a problem on tlvo sides. One is this instinct some people have to follow it as if it's a Bible. In the front of the books... (we) say this is not a blueprint and this is not a set of instructions. You can do other things. There are other restaurants than the ones we mentioned.

You don't have to follow this like it's a plan for your life. You can do other things as well. But unfortunately some people are a little bit sheeplike some[imes and do just follow it and you meet them all in the same place...

On bribery We do, in the front of the book, (also) say...that we don't accept bribes, that nobody pays to be in this book, that it's our own opinion and we have formed that opinion ourselves and we try to be as fair and even-handed as we can...The funniest case we ever had of the corruption or bribery was in Vietnam.

We had a writer who went around Vietnam one year working on the update of our book and shortþ after

he got back we had various complaints coming in saying, you were really nice to me last time in the previous edition of your book. \AIhy isn't my place even not mentioned anymore after I paid for it? (Or) I paid (and) why isn't the recommendation better than it is? \Atrat had happened. (is that) this guy had actually gone around part of the places with a driver in a car and as he looked around the place and was sitting down writing notes, his driver was handing out the bill for being in the book.

On criticising areas

in

the Great Britain edition

The whole thing with our Great Britain book has been such fun. The very hrst edition we did of it, our PR lady... underlined anything that was critical.. That was the time when they had just opened the Buckingham Palace for tours and we said that a tour of Buckingham Palace would convince you the Queen didn't have the world's best taste. She had underlined these things and fed it out to the British press and it was rather like feeding a pack of hungry sharks. It was just wonderful.

You know it was the horror guide. I was accused in the Guardianin an editorial of being a traitor as I was born in Britain...It just went on and on...But the amazing thing was we were able to do it again. Every time we bring a new edition, every tlvo years we take the next edition and we underline more critical things, feed it

THE CORRESPONDENT JUNE4ULY 2002

out to the British press and they do the same story all horror guide trashes "your town". It's over again terrifrc. I love it.

On future guides I do actually have the Lonely Planet Guide of the Future here in my pockets. We are going to somehow wrap these three things together, my PDA, my palm pilot which actually does have a city slnc card because I am going to write now, my mobile phone (since I am in Hong Kong, my hand phone) and my GPS, my Global Positioning System...When we go out in the future, to the airport to fly to Manila, there will be a machine where you plug in your thing, your palm pilot or whateveq and swipe your credit you are only card and you have some sort of profile interested in either expensive hotels or cheap hotels or only in Japanese restaurants or whatever it is, it's your particular profile. (It will) download that information on to your palm pilot or whatever you are using at that time, or else bill your credit card and send me the money. You get to Manila and get off the plane and turn it on and you say I want to stay at this hotel or I want to eat in this restaurant tonight and they will sa¡ right there is a table and you press this button and it will phone there and you will say book me a table, and then the GPS will sa¡ it's that direction 13.2 kilometres, and the taxi fare should be so many dollars. So that's the guidebook of the future. It's here. We just have to manage to combine it into one little package.

On a guide to outer space? Are we going to do a guide book to outer space? I will definitely like to have it... We had actually thought about it. I mean there is always talk of space tourism (and) a couple of people who have done it. It's a very limited market so far, but I am sure there is an armchair interest.

On the best-seller and worst-seller Our best-selling guidebook at the moment is our Australia Guide . It has been various books over the years. Back in the early days, it was our Southeast Asia Guide. Our India Guide has been our best-selling guide a number of times. Our Thailand Guide has been our best-selling guide. As far as our least-selling, it's probably the Yemen, I think, which is a real shame because Yemen is a very fascinating place but there just aren't many visitors going there. And we produce a certain number of books that are really a labour of love, that we loved doing them because it's always fun to do.

On Iran We have an Iran Guide. We cover North Korea in our Korea Guide. We cover Iraq very, very briefly in our Middle East Guide. What I would like to have to go with our Iran Guide (is) a North Korea Guide and an Iraq Guide. Then I could do the "axis of evil" box set! I 21

The Pattens in

HK lsland Author .fason Wordie has established an enviable reputation as a historian of Hong Kong who can communicate to a general audience. Excerpts from his talk:

Bonnie Engel crosses paths with the extend 10-15 Years ago'

ell, first of all, thank you very much for having me for this talk, particularly in the light of the phrases that I made about the FCC in one of the sections in my book which I won't repeat but you can read if you wish or not, as the case may be. \À4rat I would like to talk about is some of the things that my book is, and some of the things that it is not...As a work, it was somewhere between the cracks because it's a guidebook, but it's not a guidebook. \À¡hat does that mean? It details and explains a

number of things which one wouldn't find in

contemporary guidebooks...It's a history book, but it's not a history book too because I think it's readable as well as being solid...It is not another Hong Kong picture book with beautiful images and fairly thin text. But it has got quite a lot of pictures in it. The pictures are, I might add, old and contemporary...It's not only about the good things that one finds in Hong Kong...I talk about some of the less agreeable things...that very much are part of Hong Kong and give a flavour of what the place is like.

I also do something towards debunking the myth of Hong Kong as an international, cosmopolitan world cit¡ whatever that means, and peel away the layers of uncritical acceptance of these labels. I also talk about

the concepts of heritage and how that is rather

subjective and how it differs for different groups, different individuals, different times, different places and different locations. I also try to write back

something

of vanished communities and vanished

a fair amount of historical imagination wandering around in some areas. It's not aided by the fact that Hong Kong and its people have a fairly short-term collective memory, which is perhaps one of the most striking features of the place and perhaps also one of the reasons why its administrators places and that requires

and businessmen and politicians can get away with some of the allegations the way they are.

I talk about a couple of places and the changes that

one can find within it and some of the things on that line Shelley Street, not 500 metres from where we

-

are now, these days rather aspirationally known as SoFIo, a

place of trendy little bars and rather overpriced theme restaurants and so forth. That what it's like now. That's

what we think today of that area...Those memories

ore-escalator daYs

we

|nlnt ol a rather dingY

little back street area with a few slum shoPs and a communitY market and not a great deal more' But if we go back a century'

n within Hong Kong as Matto

Probably Moro. Now who has heard of Matto Moro? area rs That nobody here unless you are over 100' lived where Ho.tg Ko.rg's local Portuguese community they when in the nineteenth century from the 1850s Macau' started moving across i,t iarge numbers from of Tsim^ right up ,o ,rtã 1910s when iitn trtt opening of Sha Tsui later in the 1920s, the expansion Now there' Homantin, local Portuguese moved over as that was where they lived. (The) name"'translates from comes the held of Muslims' The name, of course' since the the Jamia Mosque, which has been there that where 1840s. And in those little streets' that's the community lived. How many people remember But one' no These days piobably local Portuguese now?

nonup until ,ni fSfO. that was the second largest

Kong' Their Chinese, non-British community in Hong place was enormous and they

influence on this

1950s they vanished. They have iatgely gone' Since the

have emigrated out.

eít íf"y"" go back even to the

Hong Kong 1950s, thã majority of the clerks in the shipping the Bank were local Portuguese' The hotels' them' for companies, they all haithese people-working has i;;i .." not áround u"o -ott' Their presence done have I vanished. But they are still about' And what write in the section on Shelley Street for example is something back about th were, who theY were, wh glittery little shoPs ancl escalators and the rest of i

n*pt*l'ng Hong Kong rsland ByJason Wordie

Kong Uoäg X"ttg University Press, Hong ISBN: 962-209-563-r PB, 315pp, HK$f 95

-**;

THE CORRESPONDENT JUNE/JULY

2oo2

hris Patten, the European Commissioner for

External Affairs, made a seven-day visit to Beijing just after Easter for a cordial meeting with China's PresidentJiang Zemin and other important officials. For those who remember the vitriol hurled at him by the Chinese administration while he was Governor of Hong Kong before the Handover in 1997, this seems to be such a surprising turn-around that it was featured in no less than three articles tn the South China Morning Post.

Called a "whore," "sinner of a thousand generations," and a "tango dancer" for his attempt at democratic reforms in the territory, he received a warm welcome and made several

former governor and wife in Beijing where young artists could show their work' "Every exhibition works in this space," he said of the watchtower. "It's a very dramatic setting to showcase modern art. Young artists are being taught various art techniques by the best teachers in China and have mastered many different media. Now they are looking for their own meaning."

Wallace squired Mrs Patten around the current exhibition, a large show of the printmaking skills of two teachers and six of their students.

Awidely varied show, the talent of the printmakers ranged from abstract constructions to scrolls of characters and stick figures.

Few were representative or realistic.

Upstairs, pieces were on display of the gallery's regular artists, including the shocking Sheng Di, a performance arlist who cut off his little finger in

speeches in Beljing that showed his diplomatic skills at their best.

Apparentþ willing to overlook the insults, he said with his trademark grin, "I have forgotten them all.

But I do dance a pretty mean tango." His ostensible purpose was to deepen the ties between Beljing and the European Union.

Meanwhile, Lavender Patten was being shown around Beljing

by Stephanie Mitchell, Project Officer for the European Union,

Delegation of the European

a piece called "Giving Art the Finger." He then planted the finger in a flowerpot so he can take it with him during

exhibitions and other performances. Large oil paintings, acrylics and modern sculptures were but a few of the media these contemporary arlisls Surprise meeting Absent member Bonnie Engel met Lavender Patten at Beijing's Red

use now.

He introduced me to Mrs Commission. \A4rile I was there Gate Gallery while husband Chris was with the Patten and I gave her a copy of Chinese leadership, doing some research on a Beijing As'ian Art Newsþaþer. She said art gallery story for Asian Art everywhere she had been in China she ran into Newsþaper, she stopped by the Red Gate Gallery people from Hong Kong who recognised her. When which occupies a fifteenth century Ming she mentioned that they all seemed to want pictures watchtower atop a huge stone wall. The interior taken with her, I jumped at the chance. She was as soars four storeys inside, the curved roof being held charming and gracious as usual, commenting aloft by giant red columns. The gallery occupies that although she was enjoying this trip to China, the ground and third floors, with Ming Dynasty she was at heart a home body and preferred relics, tourist art and artefacts available on the staying behind. She had little to say about the other two floors. purpose of her husband's trip other than it had Red Gate's director Brian Wallace started the been very pleasant. I gallery in 1991 when there were very few galleries THE CORRESPONDENT JUNE,/IULY 2002

residing in the constitution's Article 23, empowering the government to pass laws that combat "subversion."

It took the September 11 attack on America to move the government to draft an anti-terrorism orrlinance'

I äili;::1"TffiJ:

-

l'#î::l'å:::ff:.":

It's been half a decade since the HKSAR's birth. Author editor

what's been accomplished, and missed, during the period Tod,d, Crowelllooks at

about hen people ask me what's different Uorrj- Korlg five years after the -Hu"1îtt:-1 Royal ,.;;Ïly ,uy ihur" rhey've painted the red and..one Mail úoxás Hong Kong Pos[ green'

Flag raising Police raise Hong Kong and Chinese flags at a special ceremonY

before Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa was sworn-in for a second five year term bY Chinese President Jiang Zemin.

two sys[ems' How the famous equation: one country'

;;;

;;;s

no.'g's basic

ome of the fears that first researching mY British tule, Farewell, MY

seems like a

That can see a lot more red flagas Ayng Ã: t eve.n f i ci al, ruvLrr rry ...p pr.

- -'iooàlooks PrcLL/ I ^1t!.t 1o and:' feels remarkably l"îilY; ", the Hong Kong ofJuIY British the just before ür.. ,n. Ëotlg ü.ong oî;t"tt 1997 Union flag was hauled down forever' named after The trams still trundle down streets

ti :Ïl

statlre colonial governors. The big bronze "f 9l-::: her name' stanng bears that park the in Victoria ,iitt ,ir, barristers placidly at the mountains' In the courtrooms s..owns' their itill adåress red judges (from the colour of "your as , ,-ràt tn.i, politicat persuasion) respectfully dances the i".arnip." lfo pu.up^t"ase Deng Xiaoping' still danìe and the horses still race' there have Even on a superficial level' of course' October in how been some changes' Who remembers the red with were festooned -""y f-" of Hãng Kong considered be and blue Nationalist flugi No* it would so openly display least'.to tt" Juy to politically incorrect, I see other the de facto national bánner of Taiwan'

my South signposts of change when I open institution' ñornl'ngPosf to discover that that colonial been Jimmy's Kitchen, has M Neil The ProPrietor, cha has that "Hong Kong

t:::iiîti,îT3;.iå.i

Colony, have receded'

-

and Páople still march d'own Queensway the of in demonstrate almost every day 11""t Road' Albert offic.es in Lower ;;;.;;;""t often enough demonstrating agarnst this or that'

€;;;'"s

Handover

*ltñtl:, night,

ï::ir:ä

requt

"notice of no objection" proLests. The Police tried

allies and

favourable Positions rece the courts. And the me for the Tiananmen Squar Some ãn Chinese soil, is "ã* u Hong Kong frxture' of spite in Park' Vicioria 25,000-30,000 .f,o*Jrrp at 4th' pastJune this .ããp.t,i"" from the Wàrld Cup'

Chi'na

Years," with changed excePt that it is Thatls to state the obvious, ot course' rrLrl

four or five

rL rù

that gave small thing since many of the intangibles British the to Hå^g Ifu""g- its peculiar'flavour were due as time' with inevitably fade ;;;tå.. h"ere'^That will are cynics as ïlor.g Kotg becomes more Chinese' or wont"to .uy, '3.ttt another Chinese city'" nor for another \Mhat are not supposed to fade away' 45 years an)^'vay, are the political Ot:U:Ï:]:l Ït:i: of trr^* that form the second half

;;tffi;;ir'.'t"it 24

itselr ti'i^i"tn' HKsAR sovernment HT"* the asking CFA' th; appeale d over tn" i"^J "r that Lrr<rL 4PPçar Chinese National PeoPl the Basic Law in such a deport these PeoPle, inierfere in Hong K Abode issue continued HKSAR's courts until t year. Police have now s these "overstayers" to

i:Ï;."

tntfo",lLtltrprise

of many' there has beeu no

:îti": 2oo2

THE CORRESPONDENT JUNE/JULY

äi i:t

be that the electorate is simply bored with the current crop of politicians, who couldn't summon the energy to offer even nominal opposition to the re-selection of the Chief Executive. That may be one reason why the radical and perpetual demonstrator Leung Kwok-hung did surprisingly well in the last Legco election.

And what to make of Tung Chee-hwa, five years

on? Viewed conventionally, I would suppose that Tung's first term would get middling grades at best. Everyone can recount the failures and snafus that seem to dog Tung's administration. It remains to be seen whether the new "ministerial" system designed to make the civil service more "accountable" without, of course, providing any real democratic rriechanisms for accountability will make things better.

than the government) who were not satished with a HI6AR judicial decision.

The People's Liberation Army garrison remains largely invisible, hve years after the troops marched into the territory and occupied the old British army barracks and dockyards. It took nearly five years before they scraped off the words that identifiecl their But in the longer term, he won't be judged on how headquarters as the Prince of Wales Building and handled the bird flu crisis, or managed the civil he Even now one characters. replaced them with Chinese in US Nar,y of the is more likely to see ships ¡ ß the harbour than the Chinese NavY. .7 T Mostjournalists are aware of the alarums from have erupted over press freedom that T the time to time during the past fìve years n !

RTHK to at occasional blast by left-wingers o o slrpport the administration, the departure of prominent journalists from Chinawatching posts at some of the major English nelvspapers. It would take somebody who follows China coverage more closely than I do to comment on whether the coverage of China has become less critical than it was prior to 1997.

But I have some sympatþ for former Post editor Jonathan Fenby and his successors, whose every editorial decision is second-guessed as being directed by Beijing.

Not long after the Handover, a lunch partner of mine, an expatriate, said he had in President Jiang Zemin (B) and Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa (L) given Lrp on the good old Post. His Swearing stand with performers after Tung was sworn-in for a second five year term on complaint: a story on a doping scandal for July 1, the fifth anniversary of HKSAR's Handover to China sorne Chinese swimmers at a contest in service, or reneged on his pledge to increase public Syclney had been relegated to inside pages, when, he belie'r'ed, it should have been front-page news. To him housing, or the Asian financial crisis or any of the other this lvas conclusive proof that the Pos¡i had moved issues. His historic mission has been to guide Hong wholesale into Beijing's pocket.

Kong into the unknown and untested new world of one Most political reporters must find the current scene country, two systems. Judged from that perspective, he ver1, frustrating, if not downright boring, after those hasn't done all that bad.

I suspect the heady days when the last governor, Chris Patten, was Either by calculation or serendipity arottnd to stir things up. All of the familiar democrats it seems our Chief plays a pretty shrewd game. latter - a stern warning to the Falun Gong followers got back into Legco after the brief interregnum of the He issues now to obey the law (never mind that they are a perfectþ many of th peaceful, law abiding group). He describes them in d now for y Legco as having aspects of an "evil cult, " using the same these clays, language of Beijing. Of course, this infuriates liberals No cloubt they would blame the dreary political and democrats and probably a lot of expatriates. Yet the scelle on ilre dead hand of China and the indifference leaders in Beijing hear these words and think, "our of the Chief Executive to democratic reforms. Or they man in Hong Kong is sound." may argtte that Hong Kong people have reverted to One can easily imagine what Chris Patten would their (supposed) noräat potiiicai torpor. But it could continuetl on þage 26

l/

THE coRRESeoNDENT

JUNEduLy

zoo2

25

pressions of ong Kong o o

two decades ago for Absent Member William Holsteinwas based here with BusinessWeek and UPI. Since then he has done stints in New York few years' (JS News €l world, Rnport, dropping into Hong Kong every His thoughts on This time he is on assignm åi A"* CtrO magazine' the HKSAR

To commemorate the HKSAR's halÊdecade mark, the FCC held three luncheon programmes in the last week ofJune. Jonathan Sharp reports he vacant chair at the speakers' table in

ù

the Main Dining Room at theJune 25th inaugural event spoke volumes. The seat had been due to be occupied by Harry

G I !

p o

Wu, the Chinese-American human rights activist who rvas invited by the FCC to speak on freedom of passage issues at a panel discussion, but who was hirnself denied freedom of passage by the HKSAR government. The ban, applied even though IJS citizens normally receive visa-free entry, was not

T q

altogcther- surprising as Wu was detained and cleported ¡vhen he arrived in Hong Kong in April.

Horvever a voice conferencing system ensured that Wu at least could be heard, if not seen, at the

uts d e gove i

rn

nt of m-e

f

i

ces

a g ai n

Pending rnore Per sPent! Hong Kong

st

aPt to

quality the tãrritoryìs rapidly deteriorating air

the t's fashionable these days to bemoanlean imminent failure of Hong Kong' Allow me to

was based here for Ilnited Press International from 1979 to 1981' a the time in FCC history when gentlemen frequenting harbour the in take olcl Sutherland House Club could finest view while relieving themselves in Hong Kong's

in a contrarian direction' I

of the three programmes examining Hong The Panel Kong fìve years after the Handover. Speaking from following which, "you will need to be courageous to

fir-st

e tolrflsts'

changing

circumstances, not one whit' old loo with Now if only the !CC could recreate the a view... I

HKSAR-SYearsOn continuetl from þage 25

Washirrgton,

DC, Wu's verdict,

understandably

jatrnclicecl, was that

the 'One Country, Two Systems' forrnula that is supposed to allow a high degree of atltor-roltly for Hong Kong for 50 years was, if not eutirell, rnoribund, certainly in its death throes. He cjted a list of post-Handover developments not just - toially the ban on him as evidence tÈat Beijing - politically, even rhough ,One co¡rtrols Hong Kong Loulìtr)', Trvo S1,51s65, was,,still alive,, for the territorl,'s ecorìomy. s¡reakers at the forum were not so categorical . Othel that all is lost even though they expressed vãrying clegrees of forebod.ing and criticism abour the HKSAR

"loo with a view", as it was then called' I'r'e returned past many times over the years and most recently this

June.

of It's true that there is a clear decline in the quality

criticise the government. " She added: "More and more since the Handover, I feel tremendous pressure that people like me are being cornered, being sidelined, being ignored, being put out in the cold." She had received hate mail when she went to Geneva to brief the UN on the issue of Chinese people seeking the right of abode in Hong Kong. Some of the mail used "colourful" language not suitable for

public airing.

Speaking on press freedom, Jasper Becker, recently

fired as Beijing bureau chief for tlne South China Morning Posl, accused his former employer and other English-language media of being over-cautious in their

reporting on China he cited "ridiculous things" happening at the SCMP for fear of offending

[o rulLr urrL' tested. We have another 45 years anv indication.

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Beijing, a concern which he- said was unnecessary. He also spoke of a strange turnaround in which people on the Mainland were becoming increasingly open about discussing political issues, while the trend in Hong Kong was the reverse. "It is now far easier (in China) to talk freely, at least in private, about what is wrong with Chinese leaders than you can here because people are so nervous." As a result, people on the Mainland who used to admire Hong Kong for its independence and courage now view it with a kind of contempt.

27

-=-...-

Princeton Professor Perry Link, speaker at the second of the anniversary forums onJune 27, may

Becker said it was a great pity that Hong Kong had been unable to move ahead with democratic reform, as he knew a lot of people in the Mainland and the Communist Party who would have liked to have seen Hong Kong

serve as

have feared he was going to suffer a similar fate as Harry Wu. Link, co-

editor of the Tiananmen PaPers on the suppression of the 1989

a laboratory for political

democracy protests, was detained by

development.

immigration lor 46 minutes on arrival at Chek Lap Kok, a sign he said of the failure of 'One CountrY,

aul Cavey of the Economist Intelligence Unit, which has periodically drawn the ire of

Two Systems'.

Having made it safely to the FCC, Link, speaking on self-censorship in

the HKSAR government over its analysis of Hong Kong's economy, said most post-Handover fears that the

territory would suffer from

the

Perry Link

Mainland's ills such as financial corruption had proved unfounded, and some sectors of the economy,

including telecoms and banking, had become more competitive. "Still, progress has been patchy. Even where the government has great influence over the economy, it hasn't acted as much as it could have done," he said, noting that a decision on abolishing minimum broker fees had been postponed several times. And Hong Kong remains mlnerable to the charge that it is not competitive enough. "There is too much complacency about the competitiveness of the Hong Kong government on the part of the economy, and they need to look at this."

second hve-year

term during the

DeGolyer said that when the

'One Countr¡ Two

anniversary

celebrations, had a satisfaction rating of only 33Vo, down from 50% hve years ago.

roject director Michael DeGolyer of Hong Kong Baptist University said: "Fundamentally, when we look back at the hrst five years of the SAR and its experience, certainly it could have been worse, but I think we can also say fairly that it could have been better."

academia and journalism, said he had been startled to observe how Hong Kong reporters, who had been openly critical of

He said that with the recent revamping of the government structure and the introduction of a

the Mainland following the Tiananmen crackdown,

ministerial system, there was in effect an acceptance that the directions adopted f,we years ago were wrong and had been diametrically ret,ersed.

"For example, in the first five years Tung Chee-hwa did everything he could to weaken the parties. Now he's bringing the parties into the government. He did everything he could to depoliticise Hong Kong, now every single one of the top ministers is a political creature. Effectively I think it's an admission that the first five years went the wrong wa¡ which is why the 50 years without change could be taken as a threat, not

had now become nervous. He said that during

a

visit he

made last year in connection with his book on Tiananmen, "some of the rePorters had their hands as they were asking what seemed to me pretty simple and straightforward questions"' Link said he did not know whether his short-lived detention at the airport was an attempt to shut him up or whether it was security-related ahead of President Jiang Zemin's visit for the l{andover anniversary. He stressed that what happened to him was trivial by comparison with what many Chinese academics had that happened, but it would have a "chilling effect" - to on Chinese scholars who wanted phrase again visit Hong Kong.

Link said he had always felt that the promises of autonomy given to Hong Kong leading up to 1997 were "baloney" and were merely attempts to reassure Flong

quivering

Systems'

formula was designed a generation ago, the assumption was that the Mainland would be poo¡ a source of low-cost labour and not a member of the World Trade Organisation. It was also a source of instability, which was why Hong Kong needed to be insulated from the Mainland.

"But Hong Kong today faces an entirely different prospect, in that it needs to be a financial centre for a continental economy, not just an enclave on the shoreline of some Michael DeGolyer

a promise."

quasi-mediaeval backwater. " If Hong Kong wants to become a financial centre on a par with New York, it needs New York's efhciencies, including in such areas as communications and transport. D_eGolyer said it was ridiculous that it still takes up to II/2 hours to travel

from Central to the Lo Wu checkpoints.

"Hong Kong basically faces a choice of becoming Nerv York or turning into Venice. Venice is nice to visit but nobody talks about it in terms of being an international hnancial centre. " Or, as someone murmured later at the Main Bar after digesting DeGolyer's observations: "Anyone for Venice?" I

Kong people during the transition before changes inevitably creep in. "I think what happened to me in the airport is just one example, among several' of what's happening."

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mbellishing on his essay The Anaconda in the Chandelisr (published in the Neu York Reuiew) about the pervasive and subtle methods of repression in China, Link added: "I give the Chinese government high marks for the psychological sophistication of the way these pressures are applied." ÉIowever there were few high marks accorded to the HKSAR government and Chief Executive Tung Cheehwa in the Hong Kong Transition Project's five year report card entitled "Floundering Government, Foundering Democracy?" The results of the research

group's survey was presented at the final

4 to,c¿¿f M

Trade news... free email trade alerts... topical webcasts ... market profiles ... and much more. FAST.

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programme for the Handover anniversary onJune 28.

The survey assembled by the academic-led Project chronicles in fìne detail the growth of dissatisfaction with Tung and his government, noting that only one in four of those surveyed remain optimistic about Hong Kong's future prospects as a part of China, and more than a third are pessimistic. Tung, inaugurated for a THE CORRESPONDENT ]UNE/JULY

2OO2

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29

A Buyer's Maîket IMhy a healthy trade surplus may be bad

By David O'Rear

7TI I

I

rade surpluses are good, right? After all, if a country doesn't make money from selling

ii:i?:,

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healthy economy.

Umm, not really. True, a wildly out-oÊwhack trade balance (more correctly: current-account balance, which includes services and other things) can be a sign of trouble, but in and of themselves, there's nothing wrong with imports.

In fact, rising imports are a key sign of improving economic health. Think about it: if a country is doing prettv well, it can afford to buy more. If an exporter has customers, he irnports components. If a consumer has a few bucks in his pocket, he springs for a nice 1998 Katnook Estate Sauvignon Blanc, rather than a tin of San Miguel.

So it shouldn't be a surprise that US imports started falling in the second quarter of last year, and accelerated into the last three months of the vear. In

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the first quarrer, the pace dropped off a bit (fi.om 14.9% in October-December to -II.7% in .|anuarvMarch), and most pundits are now claiming the US is out of recession and back to building the next br-rbble.

Similar things are being said aboutJapan, but it seems premature. As of April, Japan's imports (in US dollar terms) had contracted for 1l months in a row, and 13 of 14. The first third of rhe ¡'ear-saw sellers to Japan finding a US$19.45 billion hole i¡ their budgets, equal to a I5.87o drop over.|anuary_

April 2001.

Of course, this is entirely due to fluctuations in the yen:dollar exchange rate, right? \4/ell, only partly: in yen terms, imports were down 7.17o in the first four months of 2002, and had contracred nine months in a row. The yen was down g.5% during the same period, making imports that rnuch more expensive.

Asia, being so clever, wouldn't suffer as much as, say Europe, right? Wrong. Asian sales toJapar in yen terms were off 22.6% in January-April. -The - Korea (-20.3%...ol:tch!), Malaysia (big losers were 75.4%) Taiwan (-14.1%) and Singapore (-12.3%); whereas China (+I0%), Hong Kong (+7.9%) and Thailand (+0.9%) managed to stay above warer.

As the table below illustrates, there is still a lot of room for improvement in most Asian economies,

with the unique exception of China (that's a different stor/).

Imports, US$ terms, (Percent change, Jan-ll/.ar 2002

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of the recent literarY festival nude romp, a secret blacklist, allegations of the real censorship and a sex scandal story of the recent literary festival can be revealed exclusively by The Corresþondent. lvlost of the local and international media picked up on seveLal news stories at the mid-April writers' shindig

in Hong I(ong. They all got the sorry tale of Amit

Chaudhuri beingjumped on by immigration officers at Chek Lap I(ok. Many television stations and newspapers also picke cl up Alex Kuo'sjoyous winning of the American Book Plize, and got some interesting comments from Hanif l(ureishi and Amitav Ghosh. But the media missecl the really juicy stuff. So here is some of it.

Shzu'p-e1,sd residents of Cheung Sha beach on Lantau Island might have been surprised to see three inclivicluals romping stark naked in the surf late one night cluling the festival. No, it wasn't the conference's thlee clir-ectors, driven mad by demands from prima cloun¿r authors. Only one of the nude trio was on the organising team stand up Jane Camens, the loud,

-

recl-lrair-ecl books editor of the Far Eastern Economic Raictu. Thc next was tall, long-haired "dissident" writer Htraug Bei Ling. The third nudist was a young female jotrlrralist from the South China Morning Post.

Nlore scandal: the day after Amit Chaudhuri was cletainecl, festival organisers gave a press conference at

rvhich Your Humble Narrator waxed þical about how cliftìcult it rvas for Asian writers to get their voices heard

)

dtrc to censorship, race problems and so on.

I n,as interviewed by Shirley Lau of the

Indonesia

-32.4%

-lr.5%

Afierrvalcls,

-26.5% -9.IVo

Singapore Koreax

-25.2% -6.2%

East Asia (ex-Japan and China)

-r7.9%

Malaysia

South Chir¿a Morning Posf. A few hours late¡ at a festivallinked event hosted by the Harvard Club of Hong Kong, I got a call from Ms Lau. She explained that I was blacklistecl by her paper's newsdesk. Harvard Club tnerttbcls rver-e treated to the hilarious sight of yours tt'trl1' talking into the ear of co-director Elaine Leung, rvho t'epeated my words over the phone to Ms Lau. Thel' lysr-. cluly printed under Ms Leung's name.

The irony of an Asian author being blacklisted by tretvs staff cover-ing a press conference on blacklisted Àslan uuthors was lost on no one. The Posú's editor Thotuas Abraham, told about what had happened, insistecl that there was no off,rcial blacklist coniaining tn)' Ilalne but later agreed that the incident had - few occrtt-red. A days later, festival participant Jasper

Philippines

-5.0% -r5.8% -2.7%

Taiwan*

-r3.r%

China

+5.3Vo

*

Gl Baskerville House, 22I'ce House St.

r's.

fCC resident humourist l{ury Vittachi gives us a look behind the scenes

Thailand ASEAN (5) Hong Kong

Japanx

highlights and colouring!

For more information

for your health

January-April data

Dauirl O'R¿al freelance author and, uritq lns uondering what uent wrong with Jaþan for a aery long ltnte' This is his 30th column inThe Correspondent.

l¡een

THE CORRESPONDENT JUNE/JULY

2OO2

l'l

l

l,l (ìoRRL.SPONDENT

JUNE/JULy 2002

The Hong Kong International

Literary Festival and cried Becker was sacked from the paper blows shared censorship. Mr Becker and Mr Abraham in print over the issue for days afterwards.

But now we come to the juiciest scandal of all. The audience at the by-invitation-only gala dinner at the Mandarin Oriental was astonished when Australian shock-schlock author Linda Jaivin took the podium, shared her favourite four-letter words, and told a lurid true-life tale about a man she overheard at the FCC talking on the phone that day about his astonishingly complex love life, involving a wife and several mistresses. Indonesian-born writer Dewi Anggraeni rose to her feet and explained that she too had

overheard the amazing cont'ersation. The two authors explained that they had drawn a flow chart of the man's love life. he audience laughed at the tale, and that, so most people thought, was that. The really when the authors in funny bit came later raced up to the organisers and question -labout he's here!

"The talkins talking man we were saicl: The and turned. gasped FIe's one of us!" Everybody seated at the dinneq had been boastful philanderer listening to two speechmakers re-creating his phone and he had been sitting next to his confessions unfortunate wife all along.

And the other scandalous stories? Well there are at least three more. But those are too hot, even for this fearle ss publication. Let's just say that writers may seem

boring, but you can't judge books by their covers.

Three tours of Wan Chai redlight clubs occurred as

part of the festival, and one poet remarked: "This is the hrst time I've had to bring a condom to a 20th century literature session."

It was fun. As one novelist remarked on the last day of the festival: "If I put all this stuff in a book, people would say it was too far-fetched." Which just goes to show: at the Hong Kong Literar;'Festival, truth really was stranger than fiction. I 31

Elizabeth II's halÊcentury on the throne was celebrated throughout the British Isles. Absent member KenJackson tells of how the occasion was celebrated in rural England

@""tt

The challenge of climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge . Saul Lockhart decided to see if he could do it. ou're going to what?" my long-suffering bride of 30 years exclaimed,

y 7}-year-old next-door neighbour in

her eyes dropping to the portly part of my delicate

wife and me that she had just returned from paying her final respects to the late Queen Mother in London.

"My brother picked me up before dawn and we drove for four hours. We stood in queue for seven

bod which invariably enters ahead of the rest of me.

"I intend ro climb the

a

room

Sydney

Harbour Bridge tomorrow morning," I stated quickly and probably a bit too emphatically.

I didn't bother telling her about my own doubts of how I was going to make a three-hour climb, the first half of which was a very steep uphill trek.

In fact, even at my age and weight, it was a snap.

The first 30 minutes is on the ground, encompassing a video presentation, a breathalyser (yes indeed folks, they check your alcohol content), kitting up with briefing on how to, practice sessions with the guide

on linking up to the guide rails, practice session with the radio and a frnal briefing. You're not allowed to take anything up with you so watches, purses, jeweller¡ pens, notebooks, cameras etc are all left behind in lockers.

You're given ajumpsuit-type uniform and fitted with a special utility belt which allows you to clip on to the rail as you move along the walkways. Accessories include a knitted cap, gloves, fleece vest, gloves, a handkerchief and straps for glasses. Everything is clipped or pouched. Nothing is loose.

Groups of no more than a dozen are created under the auspices of a guide. Our group consisted of a family of five from Alaska, two young ladies from Singapore, a woman from Argentina and Australians. In fact, 60% of the climbers are from overseas. You climb mostly in the daylight hours but in the long, dog days of summer Down Under, a dusk tour is added.

Our guide turned out to be 29 year-old Kyle James

from New Zealand. He trained us on the ground, taught us how to link up to the guide rails and kept a pleasant patter going on the radio. He carried the digital camera and first aid kit, and later admitted that part of the training was how to get up and down quickly through well-hidden staircases. I asked him the proverbial "how did you end up in the place like this?"

question and his answer was straightforward: "I was bored with my offrce job want to do something different." After three month's training and lots of

32

Union Jack.

Devon, England, Mrs Yeo, recently leaned o\/er our garden wall and announced to my

practice, BridgeClimb, the company running the walks,

turned him loose.

The bridge, opened in March 1932 after eight years of construction by 1,400 workers, is made of steel girders. The worker's walkways, fitted with guide rails and other safety equipment, are utilised for the climb.

The joining arch, linking the North and South sides of Sydney Harbou¡ was laid at 10 p.m. on August 19, 1930. It stands 134 metres above the water at the very top. You don't walk to the summit, but you're close enough to have the city at your feet when you cross over and begin the descent.

The morning I chose to climb it was a beautiful Sydney day on the ground. It was also a beautiful day aloft, but a different one. It was still sunny, but the temperature was only 12.8'C with a windchill factor of -4'C. Wind was out of the north-northeast at 30 kph.

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climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge? Pace. I knew we'd be climbing in a group, but my ego wasn't all that keen to be the o.r" io hòld everyone back while I wheezed my way along...I need not have worried.

With variou, grorrp. ahead, Kyle couldn't charge off if he wanted to. So there were frequent stops just to enjoy the vista and additional ones to record the event'

hoP and

were

ce was more of

even though it lY manageable'

Even for me. (Contact <www.bridgeclimb.corn) for details.) I THE CORRESPONDENT JUNE/JULY

2oo2

i villages held Street Party è\^.celebrations. They were a source q ot ct\''rc prlde. I herr organlsatlon

in'77".

'Thatwould make around four times a century, then?" "Guess that's about right. I only go if it's

E<

months. But this time things appeared to be different. Far fewer places planned street parties this year. This fact was

Mrs Yeo's view is pretty with the attitude of traditional people in this conser-r,ative part of England's consistent

deduced because local organisers were requested to register with a

West Country. They respect the

Central Jubiìee Commission.

monarchl, (at least the Queen

The Commission even published a Toolkit for party planning on

and Queen Mother), but they have little use for their nation's capital ...and don't mention

the Internet.

he Toolkit followed a

Tony Blair.

This put the countryside people in a bit of a quandary when it came to this year's

nine-month timeline for

preparations with

appropriate checklists. It included helpful advice on how

Golden Jubilee celebrations.

Although rhe eueen is touring

to set up a beer tent

the rvhole of the United

|

Blitish solution to this problem for eveiything from coronations to V-E Day to jubilees has long been the ] local Street Par$. Don't let the name deceive'you. Over tne )'ears, a rraditional English village Srreer parry has I /l I had little to d.o with kegs of beer and even less to do I with-amplifìed rock music. The featured beverage is usually tea served with cakes and snacks on long rong taDres tãbles decorated with everything you can fashion äou THE coRRESpoNDENT

JUNEduLy

2oo2

would have occupied parish

I committees and officials for

important."

Kingdom, most of the official Jubilee functions from June 1-4 were held in London.

So-horv do rural people show their loyalty. feel part ot^ sttch national celebrations and still stay home? The

school band plays, songs are sung,

Children have always been the main focus of these gatherings. The idea is to give them a sense of occasion and history at seminal national events. The adultoriented segment of a Street Part¡ which would include the previously mentioned kegs of beer, takes place off the street in a local Hound and Trumpet after the kids are finally rounded up and wiped down. It is good homey family fun, to be sure, but is it still relevant to modern Britain?

At Queen Elizabeth's Silver { ¡.tbll.., around 5,000 towns and

hours to get into the chapel. After we left the chapel, we found the car and drove back."

"That sounds like an awfully lonu day," I said.

"It has to be done, hasn't it?"

"So, how often do you get up to London?"

"Last time was the Silver Jubilee

A

parades parade.

and

thoughtful tips like don't put the toddlers' play area next to the beer tenr. Public convenience was also addressed: allow one toilet for .u.ry 50 female guests. As was public safety: always consult the Civil Aviation Authority before setting off fireworks next to an airport runway. All valuable information, no doubt, but one sensed fhat a ìirtle of tn. .*.rnerant spontaneity of previous times had heen losr.

e few months ago, if you'd asked most Enelish i maleswhatimportanl .u..rt*urscheduledforthehrst "-tlrrst rounct weekend lnJune, weeKencl inJune, you you'dct nave have uKely likely neard, heard, "First round of the World Cup, mate, idn't it?" But, following the 33

Diplomatic Reception

Queen Mother's funeral services with the astounding outpouring of pubic affection for her and with the onset of the televised pageantry of preliminary Golden Jubilee events, the mood

Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa led a HKSAR delegation to the annual Diplomatic Reception where more than 60 countries were represented.

Mr Tung spoke of his early days in the FCC and was one of only three people present who had ever dined at the Conduit Road premises.

Mr Tung (number #193 ) and his father, shipping magnare C YTung (#192), frequented the Club regularly.

shifted. This is an important symbolic year for the British. The notion that something must be done gained momentum.

Our little village of Instow (pop' 500) and many others decided to hold parties. Disregarding the Toolkit, our celebrations were opened by a drag "Queen." Inexplicably escorted by a man in a toga wearing a Roman helmet, "she" bounced behind a bagpipe corps through festooned cobbled lanes alongside ancient cottages draped in bunting to the church square. Crowds of normally sensible adults

Bring your FCC

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Sihasak Phuangetkeow and Michael Vatikiotis IFFEF)

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6le ús, its enough! Other'wEffie wo-n'l stop f eedino vou-. Sundov to Thursdqy tosty Portugúeke ond Bra2ilion fqvorites f rom our A laCarTe menu is o must.

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Tung Chee-hwa made a beeline for Captain Keith Lee Chor-cheung who as a junior waiter in Sutherland House, frequently served the CE and his father, shipping magnate C y Tung.

(Left to right)Tom Crampton (/HI), Democratic People's Republic of Korea Consul General Ri To Sop and Michael Vatikiotis IFEEF)

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Cu

bq.n

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Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa and Dutch Consul General Jochum Haakma

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34

done. hasn't it?"

Button-holing the Chief Executive

Photos by Hugh van Es

I THE CORRESPONDENT JUNE/JULY

2@

THE coRREspoNDENT

JUNE4uly

2ooz

35

Award-winner Absent member Derek

E

Mother's & Father's Ðays

Williams (right) was recently honoured with a prestigious Peabody Award in the US for his superb camera work in the CBS Sixty Minutes ll documentary Memories of a Massacre Derek, a former CBS News cameraman, heads the Bangkok-based Asiaworks Television which specialises in filming news and documentaries The film was shown at a special Club dinner in May and Derek answered queries by phone Pictured with Derek is CBS producer

=o ôo

Gheers Teetotaler l\/arvin Farkas (centre) was recently advised by his doctor that an occasional glass of red wine would beneficial Hugh van Es (left) and Martin Merz did the honours for Marvin, who sports membership #004, at the Main Bar Wall space Photographer Ray "Cuddles" Cranbourne (right) is short of exhibition space at home, Between his photos and daughter Cheryle (left) and wife Nida's paintings, there's little room left for the veteran's snapper's work, That's Cheryle's painting in the background, displayed at the recent Contemporary Filipino Artists Exhibition held at the Club.

o

F

o !

D

¡¡d

[d#

I

I

Tom Anderson,

Crossing paths David O'Rear (rþht) visited Absent Members Jon and Lyra Rittger in Pinehurst, North Carolina

f

¿_3

t

Reunion Former Club Steward Liz Eckersley was back in town and caught up with some former FCC staff (L-R) Captain Lai Tim, Liz, the famed barman Mr Liao, executive chef Lo Tim and barman Dickson "Shanghai" Chiang

l'e:

Happy Birthday Rudy Kleinhout celebrated his 50th in the FCC, with daughter Melanie (left) and wife Christine assisting.

/,roe al World Cup fever Even in the FCC

Musicians from the cast of "Fame" Jammlng

Los Angeles David Sills (right) and Mark Henderson

Australia John Morrison

Duell¡nS Guitars? Guy le Claire (left) and

Photos by Hugh van Es

THE CORRESPONDENT JUNE/JULY

2OO2

rHE CORRESPONDENT JUNE4ULY

2002

37

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