Don’t be put off by quack doc disaster

The SCMP reports…

A 47-year-old Hong Kong man has undergone an amputation of his left lower leg two days after developing a Group A Streptococcal infection following acupuncture treatment he received at two traditional Chinese medicine clinics.

The Centre for Health Protection said on Tuesday the man developed a fever and left thigh pain on April 11 and subsequently sought care from a private hospital, where he was diagnosed with septic shock and necrotising fasciitis, commonly known as “flesh-eating infection”.

…“During the investigation, the team suspected that the Chinese medicine practitioner had not strictly followed infection control procedures when performing acupuncture. The investigation is still in progress,” a spokesman said.

The man started off with a strained muscle, which would have fixed itself, then went to the voodoo clincic, then – after infection set in – to a private hospital, which sent him to Queen Mary. (Not to the Baptist U ‘Chinese medicine’ facility.) 

The paper’s explainer describes the infection and urges readers to exercise caution, while quoting a ‘Chinese medicine’ guy…

Lawmaker Chan Wing-kwong, president of the Hong Kong Registered Chinese Medicine Practitioners Association, also said he believed the case was isolated and it was the first in Hong Kong. He urged the public not to panic or stop treatment.

Nowhere does it mention that acupuncture is a pseudoscience.

The government is completing a ‘Chinese medicine’ hospital at Tseung Kwan O. Interesting to read the tender info.

Some weekend reading…

Brian Kern reposts Chow Hang-tung’s recent statement on why she decided to withdraw her judicial review on the Correctional Services Dept’s refusal to let her receive four books, including Szeto Wah’s memoir. He prefaces it with a useful commentary…

It’s not hard to see why, in this new era of political censorship, prison authorities refused to deliver those last three books to Hang-tung. In fact, according to Hang-tung in her application for judicial review, the CSD did give a verbal reason for refusing the books, something to the effect of the books “containing biased descriptions of social events, which may arouse a sense of resistance to governance and pose a threat to the security and order of the institution and are not conducive to rehabilitation.”

Here, it should be noted that Hang-tung’s actually the second Hong Kong political prisoner to make an issue of being denied books. Owen Chow was the first. On December 5, 2023, he filed an application for judicial review of CSD’s decision to deny him a book that contained a reproduction of Botticelli’s famous painting, “The Birth of Venus.” When his friend who was trying to deliver it received the book back from CSD, on the page in question was a post-it note with a prison guard’s writing, “Nude! Reject!” (裸露！退!).

A Chinese immigrant’s thoughts on voting for the first time as a Canadian…

…there’s homework to do. To make an informed decision, I’ve followed election news, tuned into political podcasts, and watched the leaders’ debate. I even told my parents back in China about it—like a child announcing proudly he’s learned to ride a bike.

When my mom recently asked how Canadian elections work, I struggled to explain an electoral system that can feel bewildering to outsiders.

Sure, the concept of “riding” was easy enough for her to grasp. But how would I unpack the intricacies of “strategic voting”? Or explain that we don’t vote directly for the prime minister, but MPs who represent us in Parliament? And what was the right Chinese word for “constituency”? Before long, our conversation veered into a new recipe my mom had recently tried.

Der Spiegel tracks down Chinese mercenaries fighting for Russia in Ukraine. Details of their motives and lives…

One of those contacted, though, opens up. On Douyin, he calls himself “Rabbit in the Bear Pit.” Videos show a man with a propensity for silliness. In one clip, he has stuffed animals shoved into the pockets of his military vest, another shows comrades dancing in a forest. The war is different than he thought it would be, he writes, “the ground was covered by the sleeping.” What? “By the eternally sleeping,” he specifies. Almost everyone in his unit is dead, he explains. He, too, urges his compatriots not to enlist.

He answers questions for two hours, soberly and without emotion. His responses come quickly – perhaps the conversation is a welcome change of pace. None of his comrades speak Chinese, he writes, adding that he is unable to speak English and his Russian is still poor. Still, he sends his nom de guerre in Russian: “Koshmar,” meaning “Nightmare.”

The Diplomat on growing closeness between Taiwanese who identify with the ROC but oppose unification with the PRC and those who support Taiwanese nationhood.