Some mid-week reading…

China Media Project on Hong Kong’s new NatSec language

Local officials now decry “soft resistance” against the state and exclusively refer to the pro-democracy protests that drew millions of mostly peaceful marchers to the streets as the “black riots” (黑爆) and an attempted “color revolution” (顏色革命) orchestrated by foreign “black hands” (黑手).

Perhaps the most curious new addition to this dialect of officialese, however, has been “going into battle lightly equipped” (輕裝上陣). The four-character set phrase has been a favorite of Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu (李家超) when delivering promises about how the law will revitalize Hong Kong’s economy, which has been in the doldrums since the first national security law imposed by Beijing in 2020.

As far as metaphors go, it’s not the most intuitive. But the logic is something like this: Hong Kong has, hitherto, been weighed down by threats to its national security. This need to constantly be on guard against hostile foreign forces has distracted authorities from developing the economy and solving long-festering livelihood issues like unaffordable housing and an overtaxed healthcare system.

But…

…Didn’t Hong Kong’s economy thrive for generations while it was supposedly beset by insidious foreign threats, and didn’t it begin its present freefall precisely when the national security crackdown began? How is digging further supposed to get them out of this hole?

“Going into battle lightly equipped” is that rare breed of political slogan that not only defies reality but flips it entirely on its head. As “Asia’s World City” decides to go to war against the outside world by making cooperation with “international organizations” a possible security infraction, it is doing so more tightly encumbered and heavily weighed down than ever before.

An SCMP op-ed by Mike Rowse calls for the government to ease off on the inflammatory press releasees and high-profile pursuit of ‘absconders’…

Perhaps Hong Kong should start by ceasing to add fuel to the fire. Whenever government officials attack named individuals in a high-profile way using strong language, the outcome will only add lustre to their standing.

I was disappointed to hear the Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung and other government figures say that going after fugitives is likely to be the top priority following the enactment of the Article 23 legislation. Is this the best course of action? After all, the people involved will never come back and their host governments are highly unlikely to extradite them.

Surely the city government’s first priority should be to rule wisely and ensure social stability is maintained….

(His recommendation: get some old gwailos to talk the city up.)

Stephen Roach, of Morgan Stanley/upsets-Reg fame, asks why bother with the China Development Forum? (He sounds disillusioned but still eager to be a fan. Presumably he is using the gathering, at which he was sort of sidelined, as a metaphor for China as an investment location?) 

More on the 3 Body Problem problem… Background from AP/HKFP

An examination of Chinese sensitivities by the NYT

Instead of pride and celebration, the Netflix series has been met with anger, sneer and suspicion in China. The reactions show how years of censorship and indoctrination have shaped the public perspectives of China’s relations with the outside world. They don’t take pride where it’s due and take offense too easily. They also take entertainment too seriously and history and politics too lightly. The years of Chinese censorship have also muted the people’s grasp of what happened in the Cultural Revolution.

And perhaps best of all – Howard French in (possibly paywalled) Foreign Policy on the expanding scope of US soft power: ‘period epics [Netflix’s Shogun and 3 Body Problem] rooted in non-Western cultures for mass audiences that preserve space for non-Western characters and non-Western languages’…

The fiercely hostile online reaction of some people in China toward 3 Body Problem’s opening scenes reminds me of the famous quip by the writer La Rochefoucauld. “Hypocrisy,” he said, “is the homage that vice pays to virtue.” These popular criticisms derive from people who are likely finding alternative ways of streaming 3 Body Problem because for political reasons it has not been, and probably can never be, released in China. That isn’t because the Netflix miniseries gets anything wrong but, rather, because it gets this Chinese scene right. The best response, of course, would be for China to produce its own realistic dramatizations and accurate documentaries about this crucial recent period in history, in which an estimated 2 million people were killed, but of course official censorship could never tolerate this.

…Can Western audiences be carried along by non-Western actors who dominate the leading roles?

If the American entertainment industry can overcome this lingering racial timidity and provincialism, the sky would seem to be the limit. There are new audiences to be won on every continent with authentically told stories about dramatic periods in history that have little or no need for Westerners front and center.

On real-life disasters: how a Greek former scout led a group to safety out of Tarako Gorge after the earthquake. (Interesting if you have been to the Gorge – some photos from my last visit below.)…

Later in the afternoon, with the aftershocks gradually subsiding, Belbas heard a bird sing, interpreting it as a good sign: “If the birds are willing to sing, maybe Mother Nature is slowing down a little bit.”

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13 Responses to Some mid-week reading…

  1. Young Winston says:

    Soft Resistance from a Foreign Devil. That’ll end well.

  2. The Loyal Garbage Strategy Session says:

    1. Mike Rowse thinking that the best bait for old moneyed gwailos is another old moneyed gwailo: is that like the trained goats they use to lead sheep into slaughterhouses?

    2. The most reactionary and self-serving elements of the pro-Beijing camp are going to wield the cudgel of national security against any government policy that goes against their interests. “Surely, you, the most patriotic government to ever govern, don’t REALLY mean to build housing on the golf course/ charge people to dispose of rubbish. Those were ideas the TRAITORS supported. Just admit that you were bullied into it by radicals and call it all off. TRUE PATRIOTS need not be troubled by divisive ideologies like affordable housing and environmentalism, amirite?” Fun.

  3. Chinese Netizen says:

    Apparently the 3 Body Problem has hurt the feelings of the ever thin skinned Chinese people.

  4. MC says:

    The Howard French article isn’t convincing. His own argument is undermined by Shogun’s British central character and the race swapping in 3-body problem.
    Also, ‘Western’ audiences already lap up all-Asian programming from Korea and Japan, they don’t need the Yanks to make it for them.

  5. the real dr adams says:

    @MC:

    True, I guess, but I think it’s a bit of a narrow viewpoint. Look at the crucial role ‘Yank’ streaming services like Netflix, Disney, Amazon Prime, HBO, etc., increasingly play in funding, producing, distributing and marketing said Korean, Taiwanese, Thai and J-content (and increasingly Indian content) to the wider Asian and global audience all on one easy to use, standardized platform with subtitles in multiple languages, high picture quality and good value subscription plans.

    Anyone who tried to watch Asian content before those companies got into the business could tell you it was often a nightmare trying to find decent platforms to watch the stuff. Picture quality was usually crap, content locked by country, English subtitles often unavailable or unintelligible, missing episodes or whole seasons, content removed at a whim, and sites could disappear overnight.

    Also, I highly doubt something like squid game would ever have been the worldwide phenomenon it was without good old Yankee marketing chops, social media buzz and promotional muscle (and probably production assistance).

  6. Wolflikeme says:

    Roach will continue to attend CDF as long as someone else pays for his flights, hotel, and in room massages.

  7. justsayin says:

    Agree with MC. James Clavell could hardly be called ‘non western’ – it is more like Last Samurai 1.0. and yea Squid Game etc. did pretty well

  8. Mark Bradley says:

    “2. The most reactionary and self-serving elements of the pro-Beijing camp are going to wield the cudgel of national security against any government policy that goes against their interests. “Surely, you, the most patriotic government to ever govern, don’t REALLY mean to build housing on the golf course/ charge people to dispose of rubbish. Those were ideas the TRAITORS supported. Just admit that you were bullied into it by radicals and call it all off. TRUE PATRIOTS need not be troubled by divisive ideologies like affordable housing and environmentalism, amirite?” Fun.”

    Yeah but the ordinance for the trash paying scheme was passed by an opposition free Legco in 2021. So there were no radicals to bully the patriots.

  9. Lulu says:

    @justsayin – James Clavell also wrote and directed To Sir, With Love, the theme tune to which one can imagine all of Legco standing up and singing to John Lee every time they have a closed meeting.

  10. HK-Cynic says:

    Perhaps the most curious new addition to this dialect of officialese, however, has been “going into battle lightly equipped” (輕裝上陣). The four-character set phrase has been a favorite of Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu (李家超)……

    Are we to interpret this as John Lee’s way of signaling, “The Great Firewall is coming soon to Hong Kong”?

  11. Reactor #4 says:

    I am delighted to hear that Taiwan’s former leader, Ma Ying-jeou, is currently in Beijing meeting with senior officials, notably President Xi. To recycle a line from Mrs Thatcher, we should rejoice at the news. We should also enjoy the US warmongers hating being outmanoeuvred.

  12. Mary Melville says:

    The claim that Leggers were bullied into supporting waste charging is effectively a declaration that they were and are a bunch of pussies.

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