The trial of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China and its leaders opens…
Lee Cheuk-yan, Albert Ho, and Chow Hang-tung appeared at the West Kowloon Law Courts Building on Thursday to stand trial for inciting subversion under the Beijing-imposed national security law, after the proceedings were twice delayed since last year.
…“The leadership of the Chinese Communist Party [CCP] is the most fundamental feature of socialism with Chinese characteristics,” [prosecutor Ned Lai] said in Cantonese, referring to China’s political system as stipulated under its constitution.
“The Alliance’s [call for an] end to one-party rule’ is essentially [a call for] an end to the leadership of the CCP, which is never allowed under the constitution,” he said.
“There is no lawful means to end the leadership of the CCP.”
Nor even to suggest it?
Also being covered by Reuters, the Guardian, etc.
Back in 2003, the Alliance was legal, and could register its opposition to the original proposed National Security law to the Legislative Council.
More bad news about New World’s airport mall project…
Cash-strapped builder New World Development Co. is facing fresh turmoil at its HK$20 billion ($2.6 billion) mall near Hong Kong’s international airport, as a slew of tenants terminate leases, according to people familiar with the matter.
In a striking sign of waning confidence, even a store of Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group Ltd., tied to New World’s founding Cheng family, has withdrawn from the 11 Skies mall, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing private matters. Chow Tai Fook Jewellery is co-led by Sonia Cheng, daughter of family patriarch Henry Cheng.
Other tenants like Uniqlo, and Lukfook have also abandoned plans to open branches there.
Few things are lovelier to behold than the failure of a complex of luxury retail outlets planned at the wrong time in the wrong place, so this has been a compelling story. But I hadn’t previously noticed that little detail in the first para: HK$20 billion.
It’s just a not-very-tall (next to an airport) building. How can it cost that much? Even the giant cruise terminal at Kai Tak cost under half that.
Some weekend reading…
Apparently, some people in the West think reheating rice can result in fatal food poisoning. A Vittles magazine article explains the origins of ‘fried rice syndrome’…
How do dormant spores turn into a nasty bout of food poisoning? According to Palombo, the ‘danger zone’ in microbiology is between 5°C (the temperature of the fridge) and 65°C (the temperature that food should rise above when cooked). ‘So, imagine you’ve cooked your rice or pasta and there is B cereus in there. You’ve killed the bacteria through cooking but the spores have survived. If you chill it right away, then you’re fine, if you reheat it properly then you’re fine,’ he told me. But if you leave it at room temperature for too long and there’s sufficient moisture, then the spores spring back to life and begin feeding on the starch while secreting toxins. ‘Bingo,’ Palombo continued, ‘these toxins are what will muck up your guts and cause you to have diarrhoea, vomiting or even more severe consequences.’
…If B cereus is a risk with any starchy food, then why aren’t we as fearful of reheated pasta as rice? And if reheating rice does carry this potential to cause illness, why is the perception of risk so inconsistent across cultures?
From Works in Progress magazine, an in-depth look at why South Koreans have so few babies. After reading it you will wonder why anyone has kids there. Hong Kong and other places share many of the underlying problems…
If current fertility rates persist, every hundred South Koreans today will have only six great-grandchildren between them.
…Contrary to popular myth, South Korean pro-parent subsidies have not been very large, and relative to their modest size, they have been fairly successful.
The story of South Korean fertility rates is thus doubly significant. On the one hand, it illustrates just how potent anti-parenting factors can become, creating a profoundly hostile environment in which to raise children and discouraging a whole society from doing so. On the other, it may offer a scintilla of hope that focused and generous policy can address these problems, shaping a way back from the brink of catastrophe.
Made in China essay on China’s policy of using ‘excavated material as claims of civilisational continuity’ to influence ‘contestable historical narrative’. The author refers to the emergence of……the PRC’s ‘archaeological state’: a fragmented bureaucracy that routinises excavation, registration, and display—mobilising archaeology as both discipline and method—so that material culture becomes a medium of narration, governance, and legitimation.
On an obscure note – for fans of early 70s psych/prog, a 2023 concert by Steve Hillage of Gong etc. Tight performance, low audio quality, suitably weird video backdrop.
But the Constitution can be changed. There are legal processes to go through to make it happen. It may be convoluted and difficult, but it can me done. Was it not changed a few years back to allow the President to serve an unlimited number of terms?