…the overt property-developer shoe-shine is back. The Standard reports…
The address from the director of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council Xia Baolong on National Security Education Day interpreted a high-level strategic roadmap for Hong Kong, outlining the inseparable relationship between security and development, said chairman of Henderson Land Group Peter Lee Ka-kit.
…Lee, also a member of the Standing Committee of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference … noted that the entire community must strengthen its national security awareness to protect Hong Kong’s current positive trajectory. With the opportunities presented by the nation’s “15th Five-Year Plan” on the horizon, the key for Hong Kong is to translate its stable environment into tangible results.
…Lee believed that as long as all sectors of Hong Kong society grasp the One Country, Two Systems principle and work with greater confidence, the city will solidify its advantages and make new, significant contributions to the nation’s modernization.
The golden age of tycoon preemptive cringe was back in the 80s and 90s, when the (now mostly departed) original generation of real-estate moguls performed their ‘instant-noodle patriots’ trick, discovering a sudden love for the Chinese government. There was a lot riding on it in those days, when Hong Kong (and Mainland) asset values were undergoing a historic uplift – and the professions of loyalty were impressively eager. Li Ka-shing donated an entire Hong Kong HQ to the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
Things are different now. The guaranteed vast profit margins are history. Beijing officials are more skeptical of the role of property developers in Hong Kong’s economy and society. And the younger generation of scions are a shadow of their fathers when it comes to both style and substance
“Hi ChatGPT, Peter Lee here. Look, I need a response to …. to …. [checks computer]…Xia Baolong’s recent comments about….about….[checks computer]…Hong Kong’s role in the upcoming five-year plan. Usual stuff, like the last one, but can you put these words in it somewhere….[checks notepad]…”solidify”, “positive trajectory’, and “inseparable relationship”. Oh, and “tangible results”.
Ta.”
Anyone else heard this new tag line for the Northern Hub Thing – ‘One River; Two banks’ – it’s kind of….wank
Hell, the new generation can’t even sire their own children.
A gay developer with three surrogate heirs has to watch his back.
Singer Hins career prospects hinge on his overt display of reflection and conversion.
https://www.thestandard.com.hk/news/article/329042/Singer-Hins-Cheung-to-mentor-youth-detained-in-2019-unrest-after-apology
Kwok Ka Ki struck off medical register
https://hongkongfp.com/2026/04/17/former-pro-democracy-lawmaker-struck-off-hong-kong-medical-register-over-national-security-conviction/
Bar Society is no doubt sweating over its presser that will announce the purging of Alvin Yeung while at the same time ‘upholding’ its myth re rule of law, blah, blah.
The noose tightens on all sectors.
@Load Toad, you’re joking, right?
In the immortal words of Frank Zappa, “Nobody looks good with brown lipstick on.”
@Load Toad: You forgot “One zone, two parks” – a winner! 😀
I never joke about One River; Two Banks