Some fallen trees on the walking paths in Pacific Spirit Park |
There were strong winds up to 70km/hr last night |
Some fallen trees on the walking paths in Pacific Spirit Park |
There were strong winds up to 70km/hr last night |
Sentences were handed down in the largest NSL case to date |
It is a dark day in Hong Kong, as pro-democracy activists, former politicians and academics were convicted of subversion for their roles in the unofficial primary they held in July 2020.
Sentences range from just over four years to 10 years for legal academic Benny Tai Yiu-ting, who was deemed the mastermind of the primary in a bid to force then Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor to resign. Beijing saw it as a bid to take down the government.
The primary never happened as the elections were postponed claiming the pandemic as the reason, and 47 people were arrested in January 2021. In the end 45 of them were convicted, totally wiping out key figures in the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong.
But to the three appointed judges, it did not matter the primary was successful or not: "It was submitted by some of the defendants that the ultimate consequences of serious interfering in, disrupting or undermining the performance of duties and functions of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government depended very much on the Scheme being carried to the fruition and that would have never materialised. Hence in the present case they said even without disqualification or calling off the LegCo election, the scheme was bound to fail because the participants simply failed to secure sufficient seats," they wrote in the judgment.
"Whether the Scheme would ultimately succeed, it was not for this Court to speculate. What we were sure was that all the participants had put in every endeavour to make it a success."
In general, those who pleaded guilty were given lesser sentences of over four years, while those who claimed they were not guilty were handed heavier ones. For example, Joshua Wong Chi-fung got four years and eight months by pleading guilty, whereas Gwyneth Ho Kwai-lam got seven years pleading not guilty.
But Tai entered a plea of guilty and got the heaviest sentence of 10 years, as the judges believed he instigated "the Scheme".
As they have all been in custody without bail for over three years, some of them will be released on a year or so.
Many members of the public came to see the people in the dock. Former politician Claudia Mo Man-ching is 67 years old and was sentenced to four years and two months. Her husband, Philip Bowring is in ill health, which the court acknowledged, but would not reduce her sentence. Hopefully he can hang on until she is finally released.
There are also concerns about the health of "Long Hair" Leung Kwok-hung who is 68 years old and was sentenced to six years and nine months. The court did not describe him as having "a positive good character" as he has had a track record of protesting against the government over the years, hence the longer sentence.
The trial was meant to show those who dare to criticise the government can face a similar fate.
"If you are being critical of the authorities both in Hong Kong and in China, then it's open season," said Steve Tsang, a Hong Kong-born political scientist and director of the SOAS China Institute in London.
"I think that this case will be seen by many in the international community as the final nail in the coffin for the rule of law in Hong Kong," said Thomas Kellogg, the executive director of the Georgetown Center for Asian Law.
Meanwhile Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung said the sentences showed those who committed national security crimes must be severely punished.
When Joshua Wong was leaving the courtroom, he shouted, "I love Hong Kong, bye bye!"
It's not over yet -- tomorrow Jimmy Lai Chee-ying's trial continues...
Erickson was considered one of the best architects in Canada |
This afternoon watched a fantastic biographical film called Arthur Erickson: Beauty Between the Lines produced by Black Rhino Creative which is based in Vancouver. The film debuted a few weeks ago at a local architecture festival and was sold out for all three dates.
I was hoping to have a chance to see it and Viff is showing it now.
The Museum of Anthropology at UBC |
His designs were also in Toronto like Roy Thomson Hall, the Government of Canada pavilion at Expo '70 on Osaka, Japan, and the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, Washington State.
The film brings Erickson to life from a lot of television interviews together with his niece and nephews (two of whom are architects), and former colleagues and staff that give a more rounded picture of him.
It turns out Erickson was able to compartmentalise his life, as he hid that he was gay for a long time, and knew being gay was bad for business at the time; however he had a partner he loved very much who sadly died of Aids in the 1990s.
Campus of Simon Fraser University |
Erickson studied architecture at the University of British Columbia and in McGill in Montreal where he became friends with the future Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.
Afterwards Erickson taught at UBC and began designing houses. He later met Geoffrey Massey and the pair went on to win the commission to build the SFU campus which was innovative at the time. They looked to the Acropolis for inspiration, how higher learning was found on the top of a mountain. They also created quadrants so that students and academics of different disciplines would interact with each other.
One of the complaints was that in winter it was so dreary on campus that a professor once complained to Erickson about it. He replied that since the building elicited emotion, then the architect had done his job.
Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto |
From there they got a number of commissions inside and outside of Canada, but Massey was getting annoyed with Erickson's frivolous spending habits to please his partner, Venezuelan Francisco Kripacz, who designed furniture, went bankrupt and then Erickson took him in as an interior designer.
Kripacz added flair to Erickson's designs, which made them a good team, but he had extravagant taste and influenced the architect to spend a lot of money. One time a party in their Los Angeles office cost $50,000 -- just for flowers.
Financial problems caused Erickson and Massey to break up their practice, and later on Erickson broke up with Kripacz. Erickson had another boyfriend, but then a mysterious disease called Aids was killing gay men, and his boyfriend died, as well as Kripacz's.
The two reunited, but Kripacz was infected as well. This was also around the time that Erickson declared bankruptcy in 1992, unable to pay all his bills. It was devastating because it meant he was unable to keep his license as an architect and would have to literally start all over again taking courses -- Erickson of all people who had taught architecture!
He refused, so he gave up his license, but was pretty much broke. In the 1990s Erickson phoned around, asking doctors for any kind of experimental drug that would help his partner; Erickson found some uncashed traveler's cheques and went to give them to Kripacz, but discovered he had committed suicide.
Kripacz was Erickson's longtime partner |
I learned a lot about Erickson's life and career, as well as his approach to the various projects he worked on. Vancouver is so lucky to have many of his buildings, pockets of his vision around the city. It also helped that governments were willing to invest in big infrastructure projects like the provincial law courts and Robson Square to create public spaces for people.
Arthur Erickson: Between the Lines was a lovely tribute to him and showed that even when facing adversity, he did it with style. Even when he was announcing his bankruptcy he never let on his disappointment or frustration; he just carried on, dressed in his sharp suits.
A photo of Bo on his LinkedIn page |
Wow a blast from the past.
Remember Bo Xilai and his quest for power, his police chief who fled to a US consulate begging for asylum, and an Englishman who was murdered?
Bo is behind bars for life after he was convicted in 2013 for abuse of power and corruption, and was removed from all party and public positions.
Gu, Bo and their son Guagua many years ago |
However, their younger son, Bo Kuangyi, or commonly known as Bo Guagua, is in Taiwan to visit his fiancee's family.
The younger Bo entered Taiwan with a British passport on November 13, as he will apparently marry the scion of the Hsu family; her grandfather was Hsu Wen-cheng, the founder of Lotung Poh-ai Hospital in Yilan and influential KMT member, who passed away in 2019.
The Hsu family is considered to have strong political and business connections in Yilan.
After Bo arrived, he had a health check at the Lotung Poh-ai Hospital on the morning of November 15 and met his fiancee's family. Apparently a visitor needs to have a health check if they want to apply to stay longer in Taiwan.
Lotung Poh-ai Hosptail in Yilan |
Taiwanese media are speculating if Bo will be applying to live in Taiwan long-term, and what he's going to do after he gets married...
Would you pay to see a robotic whale shark in an aquarium? |
At Xiaomeisha Sea World in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, visitors pay 240 yuan (US$32) admission to see real marine life, but instead were treated to a robotic whale shark.
Some were in awe of the innovative way to present wildlife, while others felt deceived paying so much to get in and see a fake shark.
"I cannot believe the whale shark is fake. It's outrageous to charge over 200 yuan for a ticket," said one online commenter.
Two aquarium staff with the robotic shark |
Although the robotic whale shark costs millions of yuan to produce, it can cost over 100 million yuan (US$14 million) to care for a real one.
It's also worth noting sharks can live between 80 to 130 years in the wild, but only about five years in aquariums, according to Li Jianping, dean of the Academy of Future Ocean at the Ocean University of China.
The aquarium can ensure optimal water quality and temperature control, but there just isn't enough space for the sharks to roam.
Some visitors suggested perhaps the aquarium should inform people in advance that there is a robotic shark on display so that they can decide if they want to pay the admission or not...
Someone must really love eating cheese to steal that much |
Don't eat bear paws in Canada! It's illegal folks! |
Some fallen trees on the walking paths in Pacific Spirit Park I have a good excuse for not being able to blog last night -- there was a bomb...