Come to Hong Kong, do experiences

Cue the rickshaws: the story behind the Tourism Board’s promo down under…

Director of the Hong Kong Tourism Board Australia and New Zealand, Karen Macmillan, said, “The video series shows the incredible variety of experiences you can do in Hong Kong and really captures its distinctly East meets West vibe.

Maybe it would help if you knew who ‘Honey Badger’ Cummins (and his performing ‘infectious larrikin persona’) is. Though then again, maybe not. Oddly, he doesn’t appear on the lengthy credits (bottom of article), which make the production sound like Ben Hur. Wretchedly over-cliched content aside, it’s hard to imagine the potential size of the Australian inbound market justifying the budget for these videos. Even as the most onerous idiotic Covid restrictions are relaxed, Hong Kong looks set to be a place outsiders visit only if they have to. And Virgin pulls out.

Part of a backlog of recommended reading for the gentry…

How the government turns a blind eye to developers’ (and their contractors’) poor safety standards. Truth is, we all (apart from Transit Jam) take this stuff for granted. 

George Magnus in a long but worthwhile analysis of China’s economic prospects

…it is a moot point whether the PRC can resolve these problems satisfactorily, partly because the CCP itself is one of the main architects of the economy’s current ailments, and partly because of the systemic nature of the problems. Changing the system is simply not an option.

Covering similar ground, but also essential – Michael Pettis in Foreign Affairs on how China has trapped itself economically

…it is difficult to abandon a successful development model. Its very success tends to generate a set of deeply embedded political, business, financial, and cultural institutions based on the continuance of the model, and there is likely to be strong institutional and political opposition to any substantial reversal.

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10 Responses to Come to Hong Kong, do experiences

  1. Joe Blow says:

    The credits of the promo do not contain one single Chinese name. However, Claire Duncum is listed. Maybe this is a covert signal to “stay away from the bloody place”.

  2. YTSL says:

    Hemlock, have you seen this Twitter thread “about HK’s new PR push, the terrorist police, and *that* FT article”? Worthwhile reading, IMNSHO.

    https://twitter.com/caitschult2/status/1577623722738954240

  3. Red Dragon says:

    Very odd photo at the top of the “Honey Badger” puff.

    Most of the folks round the table (HB, included) seem to be toasting each other with rice bowls or, possibly, tea cups. What these vessels contain is open to speculation, but I espy four bottles of soju (very Chinese, that) and two of Hoegaarden (equally patriotic, if you’re Belgian) on the table.

    Two of the merry throng, however, are holding up small tot-glasses of the type from which I habitually neck my early morning Korean heart-starter (takes the edge off the day), leading me to conclude that HB and his other mates must have filled their rice bowls/tea cups with Hoegaarden, which is awful stuff usually served in a very heavy glass bucket.

    This is all very curious, but is perhaps intended to reflect HK’s fabled “East meets West vibe” as channelled through HB’s “infectious larrikin persona”. Who can tell? But if anyone can shed any light on the baffling behaviour of the folks around that table, I’d be grateful.

    Incidentally, who IS “Honey Badger” Cummins? The article refers to him as a “cult”, but I’m almost certain that this must be a typo.

  4. Load Toad says:

    From SCuMP:

    ‘Hong Kong will give away 500,000 airline tickets worth HK$2 billion (US$254 million) as part of an effort early next year to entice travellers to visit the city once authorities remove all coronavirus restrictions for arrivals.’

    Something else we will be paying for.

  5. Gromit says:

    No one in the video I looked at was wearing a face mask. Either an old one, or false advertising.

  6. Din Gao says:

    Re Virgin Pull-out

    We should all be relieved that we will not be subjected to the sight of uniformed Virgin male (am I allowed to say “male”?) pilots wearing skirts.

  7. Big Al says:

    “Infectious larrikin personna”? INFECTIOUS??

  8. Mary Melville says:

    Once the Aussies suss that bars here are subject to curfew and more than 4 folk lingering on a street corner attract the fuzz any interest in visiting will evaporate.
    And did nobody bother to tell them that the beer in bowl locale was forced to close down last month?

  9. Din Dan Che says:

    @red dragon – As a rugby nut I liked his turn of phrase when he was interviewed during his playing days – and he used to make the Wallabies look much better. But he’s bitten off more than he can chew here, while pocketing the dirty dollar.

  10. Chinese Netizen says:

    Re more airlines pulling out: Could a new runway, combined with less air traffic all been part of the original intention of giving the PLAAF a brand new, shining, staging area for launching invasions throughout the region and “projecting power”?

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