Cardinal Zen to Fly to Rome, Chinese Raring to Party in HK

Zen allowed to travel to Rome to attend former pope's funeral

A bit of good news coming out of Hong Kong -- the courts have allowed Cardinal Joseph Zen to fly to Rome to attend the funeral of former pope Benedict at the Vatican.

Zen's lawyers made the application in a closed-door hearing at West Kowloon Court, asking for the former bishop's passport so that he could attend the unprecedented funeral that will be held on Thursday morning local time.

Former pope Benedict passed away on Saturday in a monastery on December 31 at the age of 95. He was the first pope in almost 600 years to resign citing failing health. He stepped down in 2013 after succeeding John Paul II in 2005.

Zen's application met no objections in court

It is understood that Principal Magistrate Peter Law Tak-chuen, one of the jurists approved by Hong Kong's Chief Executive to oversee national security proceedings, had allowed Zen to travel between Wednesday and Sunday, after the prosecution raised no objection.

When Zen returns to Hong Kong he must surrender his passport to the police. He is believed to be the first person arrested on suspicion of a national security law offence to be allowed to travel while under investigation.

Wonder if Zen will be able to meet with Pope Francis to talk? 

It's a slim hope...

Meanwhile China is not pleased that other countries have imposed negative Covid-19 tests on its citizens when they travel to places like Canada, Australia, the United States, Italy, and Malaysia to name a few.

China claims it may retaliate.

However, anyone travelling to China needs to show a negative polymerase chain reaction or PCR test, so what's the difference?

Chinese Blackpink fans eager to see them in HK

Nevertheless, it looks like many Chinese residents will travel to Hong Kong to party.

Many have snapped up tickets way above the listed price to see South Korean girl group Blackpink, who will be performing at Asia-World Expo from January 13-15. Tickets were sold out within two hours in November and many were being resold by scalpers. 

One ticket bought for HK$2,999 (US$383,60) is now on sale for HK$25,000, which includes a seat that is 13 rows from the stage and VIP access to the group's pre-show rehearsal and other benefits.

Others are keen to attend the music festival Clockenflap that was unable to hold shows for three years. The three-day event will now be staged in early March (previously it was in mid-November). 

Mando-pop stars JJ Lin and Jay Chou will also be having concerts in Hong Kong in March and August respectively.

And these are only the people who want to fly to Hong Kong to attend concerts. What about those eager to shop and eat?

Hope everyone there has their bivalent vaccine shots...