Big Lychee, Various Sectors

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waning confidence, even a store of Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group Ltd., tied to New World’s founding Cheng family, has withdrawn from the 11 Skies mall, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing private matters.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.

There are still 70 cases arising from the 2019 protests being processed by the courts – plus 30 NatSec ones…

More than six years since the protests in 2019, some who were arrested are still in limbo. In some cases, protesters were acquitted of charges relating to the demonstrations, but found themselves back in court after the government appealed.

…Meanwhile, the national security trial of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China will begin on Thursday, following multiple delays. It was originally scheduled to start last year.

That case involves Chow Hang-tung, Lee Cheuk-yan and Albert Ho. The HK Alliance is accused of ‘inciting subversion of state power’, though it existed legally for three decades. 

Eddie Chu’s first public statement after being released from prison…

Prison is a very special place. Those earning millions a year and living a high life and those sleeping under bridges struggling for three meals a day become equal once they put on the same prison uniform. This allowed me to have in-depth conversations with people I had no chance to meet before, broadening my horizons within the walls.

On the off-chance anyone’s interested – I get an email from the China visa people saying ‘Your application form No.HKGXXXXXXXX has been rejected’. My immediate reaction is basically Yippee!!! But there’s also some bad news: ‘Reject Reason: please update form 2.3 because you meet the condition of 5 years multiple entries visa’. A sense of foreboding descends.

The SCMP describes it as an ‘unprecedented development’: four major productions – several helped by public funding and/or other official support – fail to appear as candidates in the HK Film Awards. They are Valley of the Shadow of Death, Vital Signs, Finch & Midland and Mother Bhumi…

…speaking privately, observers point to a common thread among the excluded works: the presence of sensitive figures or themes deemed unpalatable to the Hong Kong government. The controversy comes at a time when Hong Kong cinema is struggling amid a shrinking market and stricter censorship laws introduced in 2021. Those laws explicitly ban films that “endanger national security” – but the HKFA’s pre-emptive exclusion effectively removes films from consideration despite the government having approved them for public screenings in the city.

The story speculates on reasons for their exclusion. In order: stars Anthony Wong (a pro-democrat); features recent emigration from Hong Kong; features Anthony Wong and emigration; stars Fan Bingbing (who got into trouble with Mainland tax authorities and recently won a Golden Horse Award in Taiwan).

The Awards are run by directors’ writers, cinematographers and other bodies. A list of winners since 1982. Why bother having a Hong Kong Film Awards?

Political commentator Wong Kwok-ngon is the first person to be charged with disclosing details of a NatSec investigation, which carries a possible seven-year prison term. The investigation is the one into himself for allegedly ‘seditious’ YouTube videos…

…The 71-year-old does not have a lawyer and is representing himself.

…The defendant, who has been remanded since his arrest, applied for bail on Tuesday, but it was denied by [judge Victor] So. The judge said he was not assured that Wong would not continue to endanger national security if released on bail.

The government’s handling of a government scandal ’is praised’. Even the Standard editorial thinks it shouldn’t be…

The Hong Kong government’s response to the logistics department [bottled water] scandal has concluded with a whimper, not a bang. For Government Logistics Department Director Carlson Chan Ka-shun, the most significant consequence is the withdrawal of his Silver Bauhinia Star. As Secretary for the Civil Service Ingrid Yeung Ho Poi-yan stated: “This withdrawal is simply the removal of a reward, not a penalty.” This symbolic gesture stands in stark contrast to the disciplinary proceedings launched against three of his subordinates. The message is clear: at the highest levels, the system of accountability is broken, relying on ceremony over substance.

The investigation’s findings are revealing in their careful wording. No direct negligence was found against Chan. Instead, he was faulted for not doing enough to “enhance subordinates’ work capability, sensitivity, and initiative.” This bureaucratic language draws a convenient line, isolating blame to mid-level staff while leaving the senior leader with only a managerial critique. It perpetuates a well-established pattern in Hong Kong’s civil service where senior officials are almost never formally fired. They typically “choose to resign,” a face-saving mechanism that avoids the stigma and legal finality of dismissal.

…For the public, this outcome is deeply corrosive. It confirms a pervasive suspicion that there is one rule for the elite and another for everyone else.

…True accountability is not about finding junior scapegoats; it is about ensuring that leadership is synonymous with responsibility.

‘Courts respect freedom of expression’ unless you’re wearing a T-shirt with XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX written on it.

The Ceremonial Opening of the Legal Year 2026 takes place. Top legal and judicial officials insist, as usual, that all is fine with rule of law. First, Chief Justice Andrew Cheung…

…the top judge said the convictions of former media tycoon Jimmy Lai and his companies in a recent national security trial had drawn international attention and some critical responses amid geopolitical tensions.

Cheung said few court decisions pleased everyone and that openness to scrutiny was among the strengths of the city’s justice system.

“A comment or a criticism is only as meaningful as it is informed,” he said.

“Any serious comment or disagreement intended to be taken seriously must be grounded in a careful reading of the judgement and a sincere effort to understand the court’s reasoning.”

Does this also apply to comments supporting the court’s guilty verdict in the case of Jimmy Lai? Most of the ones I read claimed that the judgement was sound because it ran for 855 pages. 

Cheung stressed that laws in Hong Kong guaranteed the independence and impartiality of courts.

Secretary for Justice Paul Lam…

…refuted what he called “unfounded accusations” against the judiciary, stressing the need to uphold the rule of law and public trust and confidence in the legal system.

…Lam acknowledged that judgements in “highly charged” national security cases had sparked criticism, including what he described as false allegations used to advocate for unlawful sanctions against judges or to pressure overseas non-permanent judges to resign.

…Such criticism, Lam warned, risks eroding trust in Hong Kong’s judicial system and the rule of law – foundations he called critical to the city’s status as an international hub.

The justice minister made it clear defendants were treated fairly in judicial proceedings.

“Some might opine that the proceedings have taken a long time. I would say the time was well spent and necessary to ensure that there was a fair trial to all parties concerned,” he added.

…Addressing external pressure, Lam noted the judiciary has repeatedly stated that judges exercise power independently and free from interference, in line with their judicial oath.

“There is absolutely no reason whatsoever to doubt the veracity of these statements,” he said.

If these statements are self-evident and true, why do he and other officials feel such a need to keep repeating them? 

In case you haven’t seen it – Donald Trump’s recent letter to Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre. So embarrassingly unhinged that many people initially refused to believe it was authentic. Seems it’s real.

I’m supposed to spend a few days over the border next month. Haven’t been for six or seven years. I had a multiple-entry visa, which of course has expired. Do I need one at all these days? Hard to find an authoritative source – China’s official websites are impenetrable or vague. But after asking around, it seems I do. Can you get it at the border? I remember people doing that in the old days, but it seems that’s no longer a thing.

Looking into it, I can’t believe it used to be this much of a nightmare. Rather than drop into China Travel (surly) Service and go back a few days later, you must apply online. Eventually, I find the right place. Incredibly slow website. The form is four pages of mostly nonsense questions. Date of arrival and of departure. Your last employer up to five years ago, including supervisor’s name and phone number. Your parents’ names and dates of birth. Which university you went to. Details of who you are staying with, including an ‘invitation letter’ from them. (After asking around, I hear the simplest solution is to book a cheap hotel that accepts foreigners nearby; when you check-in, they handle the registration with the police – you never even bother to go in the room.)

Plus you need to attach photos. Not just your mugshot (rejected if background is not sufficiently white), but your passport details page, plus all pages containing entry/exit stamps for countries visited in the last year, plus your last China visa, plus the passport details page if that was in a different passport, plus confirmation of hotel booking – and even the f**king bus tickets for your planned trip. 

So this was put together by people who either are totally stupid, or who want to torment people of certain nationalities. Or both. 

Eddie Chu Hoi-dick, Persian speaker, scourge of white elephant projects and collusion, record vote-winner and the greatest environment/lands/housing minister Hong Kong never had, is released from prison. He served four and a half years for ‘conspiring to subvert state power’ – also known as taking part in a primary election. 

What would Hong Kong be like if its people had been allowed to elect their own government, and talent like Eddie Chu could formulate policy?

Bloomberg reports on Hong Kong’s plummeting birth rate…

A total of 31,714 births were registered in the Asian financial hub last year, a drop of 14% from 2024, the office of Deputy Chief Secretary Warner Cheuk said in response to a Bloomberg enquiry. The figure is 3% below the previous pandemic low in 2022.

The city introduced a HK$20,000 ($2,565) cash handout for each baby born to a permanent resident between October 2023 and October 2026. Authorities had earlier estimated that the three-year, HK$2.29 billion scheme could help boost annual births to 39,000 — a 20% increase from 2022. As of the end of last year, just over half of the budgeted fund had been distributed, according to Cheuk’s office.

Hong Kong has also reduced the waiting time for families with newborns to apply for public housing — a key subsidized program for low income families in one of the most unaffordable housing markets.

Japan, South Korea and Taiwan have similar rock-bottom birth rates. China’s is not much higher. Even Thailand’s has fallen to 1.2 per woman. 

Pick the cause according to taste: the high cost of housing; the high cost of child care; the nightmare of getting kids into the right kindergarten and through homework and exams; a sense that the world is becoming a place you wouldn’t want your offspring to grow up in. They’re all valid. And there’s clearly a realization among younger people that you don’t have to have children. Careers, finances and life – for men as well as women – might just be easier and happier without them. I’d like to see a chart plotting the birth rate for these countries overlaid with a line showing dog ownership.

A billion bucks in incentives later, and Hong Kong just sees births decline. The North Asian countries have similarly tried throwing money at the problem to no avail. Assuming it is a problem. For a hint of one obvious solution, go to a few 7-Elevens in Tokyo and see how many Japanese are behind the counter compared with Russians and Sri Lankans. 

Something for architecture fans: from Historic Shanghai – why Shanghai is not as Art Deco as you think.

Speaking at the opening of the Legislative Council, John Lee urges lawmakers to ‘show courage in reflecting public opinion instead of simply following the tide’. (Standard story on on-line print edition only.)

So, after introducing ‘all-patriot’ elections in 2021 to ensure only vetted, non-opposition candidates can run, the authorities worry that the resulting legislature lacks credibility (barely 30% of voters turned out). 

Can people picked to agree with the government be induced to criticize it? (Maybe officials can train them by making them watch videos of Long Hair in the chamber, delivering his unscripted, impassioned pleas for social justice.) Do they have the knowledge of public affairs or the thinking skills to devise alternative policies?

And why should they need ‘courage’ to do it?

Obituaries for David Webb – from the NYT…

While finance was his main focus, Mr. Webb saw Hong Kong’s economic prospects as inseparable from its political system. In 2014, he gave a speech before thousands of protesters who were calling for a more democratic way of electing the city’s leader, saying that a popular mandate would make Hong Kong more stable and prosperous.

“Don’t worry about the small economic impact of these protests,” he said, according to a transcript of the speech on his website. “Think about the large economic benefits of a more dynamic economy, ending collusion between the government and the tycoons who currently elect” the city’s leader, he said.

…“I didn’t want to just, at the end of my life, have the epitaph: He made a lot of money,” Mr. Webb said in the interview with The Times. “Lots of investors have done that. It’s much better to feel that you’ve accomplished something in the policy areas, made the place you live in a better place.”

And Bloomberg…

When in October 2016 he posted a demand that hotel amenities maker Ming Fai International Holdings pay a special dividend from a property sale, the shares jumped around 7% within minutes. Later at a shareholder meeting, the firm’s mom-and-pop investors stood to shake his hand and thank him for intervening.

…In hopes that his website would live on without him, Webb said he tried handing it over to the University of Hong Kong along with offers of substantial donations to support it, only to be turned down. Maintaining a repository of data about companies and powerful individuals had become more perilous as Hong Kong’s government moved to restrict public access to such information.

…Webb had his fair share of detractors. He was quick to dismiss the viewpoints of Hong Kong’s local brokerage community, Choi Chen Po-sum, a vice chairman of the Hong Kong stock exchange in the 1990s, told Bloomberg in 2019. An ultimately successful campaign to end stock trading-fee minimums in the mid-2000s spurred some in the local press to label him an agent of foreign hedge funds, an allegation he laughed off.

…“Don’t worry about the small economic impact of these protests,” he told the crowd blocking a major highway in front of the city’s legislative building, according to a copy of the speech on his website.

“Think about the large economic benefits of a more dynamic economy, ending collusion between the government and the tycoons who currently elect the chief executive,” he said. “When 70 old tycoons visit Beijing for instructions, you just know something is wrong. It should be the Great Hall of the People, not the Great Hall of the Tycoons,” he said.

An authentic Hong Kong hero dies…

He addressed pro-democracy demonstrators during the city’s 2014 Umbrella Movement, speaking in favour of a “free market in leadership”.

The activist investor also criticised Hong Kong authorities during the city’s huge and sometimes violent pro-democracy protests in 2019.

In one of his last public appearances, Webb warned in May 2025 that the rise of authoritarianism in Hong Kong had threatened its core economic model.

The RTHK story puts it more coyly, saying he…

…[advocated for] transparency as well as better corporate and economic governance.

I used to have lunch with him occasionally at the HK Club (he wasn’t an adventurous eater). Although geeky, he was down-to-earth and very smart. He annoyed – indeed, sometimes massively pissed off – all the right people.

His Webbsite has been reopened by a medical tech outfit. Hopefully, they will be able to keep it going. David had at least one, if not two, assistants going through corporate accounts updating all the info. Not sure if all that work can be automated.

AP describes the collapse of Hong Kong’s ranking in RSF’s World Press Freedom Index in the last 20 years…

Behind the decline are the shutdown of pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, more red lines for journalists and increasing self-censorship across the territory. The erosion of press freedom parallels a broader curtailment of the city’s Western-style civil liberties since 2020, when Beijing imposed a national security law to eradicate challenges to its rule.

…A massive fire that killed at least 161 people in an apartment complex in late November revealed some of these shifts.

After the fire broke out on Nov. 26, reporters, including those from newer online outlets, went out in force to cover Hong Kong’s deadliest blaze in decades. They interviewed affected residents, investigated scaffolding nettings that authorities said had contributed to the blaze’s rapid spread, and reported on concerns over the government’s oversight.

Cheng was encouraged by the coverage of the aftermath. But warnings and arrests followed.

Beijing’s national security arm in Hong Kong summoned representatives of several foreign news outlets, including The Associated Press, on Dec. 6. The Office for Safeguarding National Security said some foreign media had spread false information and smeared the government’s relief efforts after the fire and attacked the legislative election.

After arrests of non-journalists who posted allegedly seditious content online or organized a petition, public voices grew quieter, leaving reporters with fewer interviewees, Lee said.

A planned news conference related to the fire, organized by people including former pro-democracy district councilors, was canceled. Bruce Liu, an organizer, was summoned by police for a meeting the same day. An investigative report on the maintenance project by a pro-Beijing newspaper is no longer viewable on its website.

Ellie Yuen, who wrote a social media post questioning regulators’ oversight that went viral, said she stopped posting about the fire for “obvious reasons” without elaborating.

Which brings us to Jimmy Lai’s mitigation hearing. No mention of press freedom (other than publish and speak, your honour, what did he actually do?) But we learn that Judge Esther Toh gains weight when she’s on holiday and sitting at home.

The Standard celebrated the new year by having a re-design/makeover. As well as a new – and far less eye-catching – masthead, the paper has introduced a new font for its headlines. It’s a skinny-looking serif thing that experts will no doubt be able to identify. But here’s the main impression: it makes every article look like a paid-for ‘sponsored content’ advertorial pretending to be real news. Which you may think is entirely appropriate.

Best stick to HKFP. An op-ed on delays in Hong Kong in bringing criminal cases to trial…

Connoisseurs of legal bullshit will particularly enjoy Grenville Cross’s reliance on a doctrine which never applied to criminal cases and was formally abolished by the English parliament in 1769.