VIFF Review: Secret Mall Apartment

The secret apartment where eight artists lived for four years

The Vancouver International Film Festival kicked off a few days ago and I've already seen five films, all wonderful as I had hoped.

First on my list was the documentary, Secret Mall Apartment directed by Jeremy Workman. Indeed, as the title suggests, there was a secret apartment in a shopping mall in Providence, Rhode Island in the early 2000s.

Michael Townsend is an activist artist -- he believes that art is not a pretty picture, it has to have meaning, otherwise what is the point? A giant shopping mall called Providence Mall was being built in the neighbourhood he was in and as he watched it being built he could see there was a space that didn't seem to be earmarked for anything.

After the mall opened, he tried to find this space and did, telling three other artist friends about it. In the end there was a total of eight people who knew about this space, how to get there, but they had to keep it a secret.

The 750 square-foot space didn't have windows or running water, but it was a place they wanted to inhabit. So they bought furniture at thrift stores and undetected, managed to haul them into this space and live there -- for four years.

Secret Mall Apartment also talks about how these artists were influenced by Townsend, that they would facilitate art projects in a children's hospital, encouraging the young patients to make art with marking tape, and even paying tribute to the 9/11 victims by creating silhouettes of them with the marking tape around New York City.

The documentary also delves into the issues of housing, gentrification, the conflicts between developers and neighbourhoods, and displacement, by talking to people who were stakeholders when the controversial shopping mall was being approved by city hall and when it was being built.

What makes Secret Mall Apartment fascinating too is that there is proof it existed because they recorded themselves with tiny digital cameras and had some 20 hours of footage. It's grainy and not professionally shot, but it's a record of what they did, and many of the clips shown are amusing.

Apparently many people had approached Townsend about making a film about the secret apartment, but none of them were as genuine as Workman, researching not only the history of gentrification of the area, but also tracking down every one of the eight artists and finding out how much this secret apartment experience has influenced them as a person and their own art today. 

Thank goodness for Workman, who told this story beautifully, creatively and interviewed some people who were thrilled to go back in time with him.

Secret Mall Apartment

91 minutes

Directed by Jeremy Workman

Starring Michael Townsend

10 Years Ago Umbrellas Became a Symbol

The Umbrella Movement began 10 years ago today

It's so hard to believe it's been 10 years since the Umbrella Movement kicked off in Admiralty, when Hongkongers were politically awakened and began vocally demanding universal suffrage. They began taking part in civil disobedience and saw that it could be a beautiful, happy, almost utopian thing for 79 days when they occupied parts of the city.

I still vividly remember being in the crowd trying to get closer to Tamar where student activists like Joshua Wong Chi-fung were surrounded by police in Civic Square. We chanted they should be let go. People carried umbrellas, some even wearing swimming goggles, as there were rumours that tear gas might be used.

My friend YTSL had just returned from Japan and she managed to find me in the crowd. After a while we felt the stalemate with the police wasn't going anywhere so we went to get a bite to eat at Dan Ryan's in Pacific Place.

Police fired 87 canisters of tear gas in Admiralty

At the time I didn't use Twitter much, but while we were eating I decided to check it and saw that tear gas had indeed been fired on civilians. In the end Hong Kong Police fired 87 canisters of tear gas on the mostly unprepared crowd, who only had umbrellas to defend themselves. 

By the time we returned to Admiralty, people were walking along the highway, dazed at what had happened. They began occupying the area, sitting on the asphalt, preventing cars, buses and trucks from proceeding. Those who saw the footage on television rushed down to the area, incensed that the police had fired tear gas on fellow residents.

This caught University of Hong Kong professor Benny Tai Yiu-ting off guard. He and Reverend Chu Yiu-ming and sociologist Chan Kin-man had planned an occupation of the city as a form of civil disobedience to show Beijing that Hongkongers were not happy that they were not allowed to directly vote for the chief executive, and that the candidates would be pre-approved by China.

The trio hastily declared that Occupy Central was happening now, but the occupiers were more interested in what the youngsters, Wong, Nathan Law Kwun-chung, Alex Chow Yong-kang and Lester Shum had to say. 

The umbrella became a symbol of the movement

Perhaps the highlight was watching the televised debate between these kids and government officials. The students metaphorically ran circles around the adults, it was amusing to watch. 

Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying refused to deal with them -- he left that to his subordinate Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor. He claimed at the time external forces had influenced people to protest, but even 10 years later he has produced no evidence of the sort.

Even more memorable was the incredible output of art, from people writing their wishes for Hong Kong on multicoloured sticky paper to amateur artists drawing their interpretations of the Umbrella Movement, to a large statue of "umbrella man", to people teaching others how to make small yellow umbrellas out of paper. 

Hanging out there was surreal -- where vehicles used to rush by, we sat there, ate our dinners, walked around and then went home, while others even slept there overnight. There were water bottles available, people came around with garbage collection, and there were study halls for students and tutors available to help.

It was a romantic time that was suddenly crushed on December 15 that year when the police came in, arrested anyone left occupying the streets, and violently took down tents and umbrellas away. 

I thought this kind of occupation would never happen again.

I was wrong.

Picture of the Day: Hong Kong's Garbled Message

How much of this can you read in a few seconds?

The Vancouver International Film Festival began yesterday and sitting in the theatre waiting for my first film to start, there was a slide show of ads, and one of them was from the Hong Kong government.

As this slide was only shown for a few seconds, one had to take a picture of it to really read and understand what's going on.

What caught our attention was the tagline on the right: 

HK: Raise capital. Raise a family. Raise your heartbeat.

Hong Kong. A world of opportunities.

"Raise capital" refers to Hong Kong being a financial hub, we all get that. But "Raise a family" seems odd as the next sentence, though perhaps a subtle hint that the city's birthrate is plunging, where in 2023, a woman in Hong Kong gave birth to 0.75 children during her childbearing years.

What does "Raise your heartbeat" mean? Blood pressure from stress comes to mind... 

The words are set against some images promoting the arts, like a rock concert, Chinese opera and an art installation. What does that have to do with the tagline?

It is only when we read the words on the left do we see it is referring to the West Kowloon Cultural District or "WestK" as it's known these days.

"Sitting on more than 40 hectares of harbourfront land, the West Kowloon Cultural District is one of the world's largest preserves of art, culture and entertainment, positioning Hong Kong as the premier arts and cultural hub of Asia," it reads.

"Already it boasts breathtaking architecture: the Xiqu Centre, home of year-round Chinese opera; the iconic M+, the first global museum of contemporary visual culture in Asia; and the Hong Kong Palace Museum, which houses treasures from Beijing's Forbidden City. 

"With bike-friendly promenades, pet-friendly parks and indoor and outdoor performance venues, this exhilarating swirl of art, culture, lifestyle and nature adds a new dimension to the allure of Hong Kong as one of the most liveable, connected, family-friendly cities on earth."

Then there's the Toronto phone number for the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, and a QR code!

But really, this slide flashed on the screen for only a few seconds, once every five minutes or so. Hardly any of the viewers would have been able to read any of the text on the left column. And on closer examination, there are so many things going that it's quite confusing.

Perhaps a dramatic photo of Bruce Lee in Hong Kong would have gotten people's attention?

Canadian Olympian Retires from Swimming

Decorated Olympian Mac Neil with her numerous medals

Today multi Olympic medal swimmer Maggie Mac Neil announced her retirement from the sport at the age of 24 to pursue a law degree (in addition to her masters degree in sports management at Louisiana State University).

On her social media post she wrote in part: "Anyone who I crossed paths with never, ever told me I couldn't achieve my goal of going to the Olympics. It's still surreal to be able to say I'm a 2xOlympian."

Butterfly is Mac Neil's signature stroke

Mac Neil originally thought she would hang up her goggles after the Tokyo Games in 2021, but felt she wanted to accomplish more in the pool and extended her career to include the Paris Olympics this summer.

"I know I'm not going another quad [four-year Olympic cycle]. I've never wanted to [compete] to 2028," she said last February. "I've accomplished more than I ever wanted in swimming and by doing that, I would be happy if I retired now."

She was named best female athlete of the Tokyo Games after winning her best event, the women's 100-metre butterfly, and a silver in the 4x100 freestyle relay and bronze in the 4x100 medley relay.

In Tokyo, she finished fifth in the 100-metre butterfly, and finished fourth in the 4x100 freestyle relay that included swimming sensation Summer McIntosh. Mac Neil was also fourth in the women's medley relay, fifth in the mixed medley relay and 16th in the women's 100-metre freestyle.

With her adoptive parents in London, Ontario

From London, Ontario, Mac Neil was born in Jiujiang, Jiangxi province and was adopted by the Mac Neil family when she was one years old. Interestingly it was the 2008 Beijing Olympics when the then eight-year-old Mac Neil decided to take competitive swimming seriously.

Also in her social media post, Mac Neil wrote: "I'm excited to begin the next chapter of my life journey, as I embark on discovering who I am outside of swimming."

She's made Canada proud and we're excited to see what she does next.

New World's CEO Adrian Cheng Steps Down

Cheng has stepped down as CEO of New World

There's a saying, "The first generation makes it, the second generation maintains it, and the third generation spends it".

That rings true in the case of the Cheng family that controls developer New World Development, with surprising news that Adrian Cheng Chi-kong is stepping down as CEO following the company recording shocking losses of between HK$19 billion (US$2.44 billion) and HK$20 billion.

K11 Musea is the "Silicon Valley of Culture"

It's the first loss in 20 years and largest for the company since Cheng's grandfather Cheng Yu-tung founded New World more than half a century ago, according to a profit warning issued last month.

Trading was halted on Thursday when it was announced the third-generation Cheng would take a non-executive role in the company.

Until recently, Cheng had long been thought of as the heir apparent to the conglomerate that spans property development, jewellery and logistics.

He joined the family business in 2007 as an executive director of New World and then became CEO four years ago. Cheng had graduated from Harvard and worked at Goldman Sachs Group Inc as an investment banker before redeveloping shopping malls K11 and K11 Musea.

The latter mall along the Tsim Sha Tsui harbour front is a confusing space, very dark and a bizarre mix of shops and restaurants, not to mention the buttons for the elevator are in books, and the distinct scent that was very off-putting to many. It was also a trek to get there, with winding passageways and confusing signage. 

This sculpture is in the foyer of The Rosewood

Even better was the tagline of K11 Musea: "the Silicon Valley of Culture". 

What does that even mean?

His sister Sonia runs The Rosewood Hong Kong, another ambitious project where a lot of money was spent on the decor, including pieces of art, like a realistic looking elephant collapsed on its side lying in the lobby foyer.

She was recently awarded the SevenRooms Icon Award 2024 at the World's 50 Best Hotels event for running the Rosewood Hotels & Resorts Group, appointed CEO at the age of 28.

For now New World is being led by current COO Ma Siu-cheung, and financial results will be revealed later today...

Knocking Down Loneliness in Toronto

Some 8,000 giant blocks were set up around Toronto

If you enjoyed playing dominoes as a child, setting them up vertically and then knocking them down in a line or pattern, then you might have enjoyed the giant version that was recently held in Toronto.

This past weekend volunteers help set up 8,000 lightweight concrete blocks that went down a 2.5km path through Canada's largest city this past weekend. 

Some 200 people helped set up sections of blocks

Some 200 people volunteered and each person was responsible for setting up 30-40 blocks around the pre-determined route that started at the corner of Niagara and Wellington streets and wound its way to the shores of Lake Ontario near Ireland Park.

The giant dominoes has been done in more than 20 cities since 2009, like London, Copenhagen and Melbourne, and the aim is to bring people together, says Julian Maynard Smith, artistic director and co-founder of Station House Opera that organised this project to Toronto.

"[Dominoes] is always about connecting different parts of the city," he says. Cities are by nature, a jumble of diverse people and spaces. And as the dominoes fall, they purposefully wind through the rich, poor, and in-the-middle neighbourhoods of a city. They travel through public and private areas; towering buildings and patches of parkland. The idea was that wherever you went, we would try and find those relationships... and make a line that connected all those different kinds of communities."

And in Toronto it did just that, with people cheering and running along with the giant blocks as they fell, curious to see if it all worked out in the end.

The dominoes were placed in a designed path

"We are closer than we think," says Ilana Altman, co-executive director of The Bentway, a public space that is trying to do community building.

"This season, The Bentway has been reflecting on a lot of reports that we've been hearing across our city... about a growing phenomenon of loneliness and a lack of social connection," she says, pointing to the Toronto Foundation's 2023 Vital Signs Report that the city is one of the loneliest places in Canada.

"So all of our programming has been geared towards helping to foster greater connectivity amongst neighbours," Altman said.

Speaking of lonely... would Hong Kong be interested in hosting this event? Might be fun to have the dominoes falling along the harbour front? Too ambitious to have it going up Lion Rock? Or it's not mega enough of an event?

Ai's Porcelain Smashed at Show Opening

What's left of Ai's Porcelain Cube in Bologna, Italy

Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has purposely broken a 2,000-year-old pottery for "art", so it was quite the shock for him when one of his own works was destroyed in Bologna, Italy last Friday during the private opening of the show.

Entitled "Who am I?" shown at Palazzo Fava, Ai's Porcelain Cube was displayed, a cube made from porcelain tubes painted in a blue and white floral design.

Porcelain Cube was made in Jingdezhen

However, a 57-year-old Czech man by the name of Vaclav Pisvejc, snuck into the invite-only event and purposely toppled the porcelain structure by the dissident artist. In a surveillance video shared by Ai, Pisvejc loiters by the work before forcefully pushing the porcelain piece over, and even looks triumphant as he proudly holds a fragment before security tackle him to the ground.

Pisvejc was arrested for "destruction, dispersion, deterioration, defacement, soiling and illicit use of cultural or landscape assets".

In addition he is known to Arturo Galansino, the exhibition's curator and director general of Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi in Florence.

"Unfortunately, I know the author of this inconsiderate gesture from a series of disturbing and damaging episodes over the years involving various exhibitions and institutions in Florence."

Ai was concerned that people were injured by the incident and asked that the fragments be removed. They will be replaced with a life-sized print of the cube with an explanation of what happened to it.

Ai is familiar with breaking priceless pottery too

He said the sound of the destruction sounded like an explosion so he thought it could be a terrorist attack.

"Afterward, I felt it's a pity as the artwork had been incredibly difficult to create," he said. "Crafted using the finest blue-and-white qinghua porcelain techniques from Jingdezhen, it required numerous attempts and a lot of experiments to produce."

It took over a year to create Porcelain Cube by using a traditional kiln. "Only true connoisseurs of the Yuan and Ming dynasties' porcelain can appreciate the effort and style behind it," said Ai, adding he would not make a replacement piece, saying these sorts of incidents are "part of the reality" of a divided society.

Bakehouse Has a Recipe for Success

Michaud launched Bakehouse 6 years ago

One of the few eateries in Hong Kong that is going gangbusters is Bakehouse, started by Swiss pastry chef Gregoire Michaud.

There are usually lines outside the original Wan Chai location, where young people are keen to have brunch or a sandwich along with some pastries washed down with coffee. Otherwise there's also a line for takeout, like loaves of freshly-baked sourdough bread, danishes, jam-filled donuts and the signature sourdough egg custard tart.

One fun fact is that Bakehouse sells between 18,000 to 20,000 egg tarts per day, which adds up to a whopping HK$91.25 million in annual revenue from those flaky egg tarts alone.

Even during the Covid-19 pandemic Bakehouse was busy with a 20 percent increase in business, but the bakery lost 60 percent of its wholesale business supplying bread and pastries to restaurants and hotels. Michaud had a tough time motivating staff during this period, but he just knew he had to keep going.

These days Bakehouse is extremely busy thanks to being featured in Xiaohongshu, a Chinese social media platform that has touted its egg tarts. Chinese visitors can be seen posing outside the bakeries with the aforementioned egg tarts or the coveted Bakehouse blue paper bag.

Because of the flood of customers, Michaud has said recently Bakehouse will double the number of outlets by the end of 2025, as well as expanding its main kitchen in Chai Wan.

Not bad for the former executive pastry chef at the Four Seasons Hong Kong, who traded his starched white chef jacket for a blue apron and has been non-stop ever since he launched Bakehouse six years ago. He also won over locals with his decent Cantonese, making fun videos with Chinese media.

He is also looking to expand Bakehouse across the border into China in the next 18 months.

"We will start by operating with a local partner, but we will be fully involved because we do not want to lose our quality and our integrity," Michaud said. "It's Bakehouse, but we also represent Hong Kong as a brand."

It's amazing to watch Michaud succeed with his vision and endless creativity in the kitchen. He's willing to try new things and knows local tastes. 

But yes those egg tarts. In Hong Kong, you have to try them, along with a bowl of wonton noodles, congee, milk tea, pineapple bun, roast goose, dim sum...

 

BC Election Countdown

Voters are going to have a hard time deciding who to lead BC

The writ has dropped in British Columbia with less than 30 days to go before the provincial election.

In the last few weeks we've had so much drama -- in particular BC United suddenly ending its campaign and leaving its candidates orphaned -- that it gives the Conservatives an even closer edge to the incumbent NDP.

BC United leader Kevin Falcon has numerous missteps, from insisting the BC Liberals had to change to BC United, and then many of his star candidates defecting to the Conservatives. They want to win a seat, not be the opposition, if that.

The Conservatives have come out from nowhere in the last two years with John Rustad taking the reins after he was kicked out of BC United for not believing in climate change.

Meanwhile the Premier David Eby has squandered two years in power, making promises and not following through in issues like drug addiction, healthcare and housing. Now the province has mandated that all cities must densify and some municipalities are fighting back because one model doesn't fit every situation.

The healthcare system is on life support, with many hospitals in remote areas having to close on the weekends because there aren't enough doctors. Heck there isn't even enough family doctors so that emergency wards won't be overflowing.

Eby probably wishes he had called a snap election two years ago while he was ahead...

So it's neck-and-neck between the Conservatives and the NDP, though candidates who were unceremoniously left behind by BC United are running as independents on shoestring budgets. If they are elected they could form a new party.

Meanwhile, where does this all leave the voters of British Columbia? Very little choice. Either way they have to hold their noses to vote the lesser of two evils. 

People should still vote anyway because the parties need to know where BC residents stand on issues. But before then, the parties really need to listen to them and present platforms that provide real solutions. We're beyond promises.

Japan to Gradually Restart Seafood Exports to China

Chinese consumers can start eating Japanese seafood soon

Since August 2023, the Hong Kong government has been testing and reporting the quality of seafood from Japan following the country's decision to release contaminated wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear plant that had a meltdown in 2011.

Water was used to cool the reactors and it could not be contained much longer, so Japan got the approval from the UN atomic agency to release the water into the Pacific Ocean, claiming it was safe. 

China banned all Japanese seafood in Aug 2023

However, China begged to differ and banned all Japanese seafood imports; Hong Kong decided to ban seafood imports from specific areas of Japan -- some were even landlocked areas.

Everyday the Hong Kong government would release a report on the tested seafood products for harmful radiation, including fish, seaweed and sea salt, and they were "all satisfactory".

But now over a year later, China has decided to "gradually resume" importing seafood from Japan.

"China will begin to adjust the relevant measures based on scientific evidence and gradually resume imports of Japanese aquatic products that meet the regulation requirements and standards," a foreign ministry statement said.

Apparently Chinese and Japanese officials have been having "multiple rounds of consultations" on the discharge of wastewater from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station. 

Hong Kong banned some seafood

China said Japan had committed to "fulfilling its obligations under international law, doing its utmost to avoid leaving [a] negative impact on human health and the environment, and conducting continuous evaluations of the impact on the marine environment and marine ecosystems".

However, despite the gradual resumption of Japanese seafood imports, China still "resolutely opposes" Japan's discharge of the waste water from the nuclear plant.

Nevertheless, that didn't stop mainlanders and Hongkongers from going to Japan to eat lots of sushi and sashimi... 

In any event, the Japanese government may be relieved to restart exporting its seafood to China -- in 2022 over US$500 million worth of seafood was exported there.

Review: Lanxuan Restaurant

The shrimp toast is impressive at the new Lanxuan Restaurant

When Chinese people get together, they invariably talk about which restaurants are good these days. This one's not as good now, we went there recently, or we heard the chef has left this other place, and so on. You have to keep track of when you heard the news as things may have changed since then.

The latest is that Chef's Choice, a restaurant on Broadway and Ash used to be pretty good, but the chef left. Where did he go? South to Richmond to a recently opened restaurant with a Mandarin name.

Bizarre beach scene lights up the restaurant

Called Lanxuan Restaurant, it replaces Marina One Richmond Seafood Restaurant next to Tom Lee Music on No. 3 Road and Capstan. Before that it used to be a Knight and Day.

The head dim sum chef who used to be at Chef's Choice is Wei Lai, who has over 30 years' experience in the kitchen, and in May won gold in the team and individual categories of the ninth World Championship of Chinese Cuisine.

Lanxuan's interior is very mainland Chinese in style, with a massive digital screen at the back of the restaurant showing a beach resort scene, with palm trees, blue skies, sandy beach and low couches that look inviting...

This "picture" is so incongruous with the rest of the restaurant which serves a combination of Cantonese and northern Chinese dishes... in a way a strange combination as well.

On the dim sum menu, diners can also order boiled water fish or 水煮鱼... most of the staff speak Cantonese, but some customers are mainlanders. 

Pan-fried vermicelli with beef was a highlight

Nevertheless, overall the dim sum was pretty good, made fresh and interesting fillings. We also ordered rice roll filled with beef paste and had chilli sauce drizzled on top which was different, and shrimp toast was actually pretty good. Shrimp mousse was placed on top of a slice of white bread, deep fried and covered in sesame seeds. There's a decent ratio of shrimp mousse to toast, and hardly oily too which is impressive.

We also had some steamed cake which looked dense, but was actually fluffy and not too sweet. 

We may have found our new dim sum spot, but that digital beach scene has got to go... 

Lanxuan Restaurant

3631 No. 3 Road #170

Richmond, BC

604 285 8989

Discussing Being Under the White Gaze

There were a lot of people waiting for Cheung to sign books

This evening I went to a book talk at the Vancouver Public Library featuring journalist Christopher Cheung with his new book, Under the White Gaze, which talks about how people of colour are represented in the media and how we can do better when reporting about them.

The room was packed out tonight, many of them Cheung's friends, and many Asians who felt the topic resonated with them.

Author Kevin Chong was tasked with asking Cheung some questions about himself and his book before the Q&A session.

Cheung's first book

Cheung explained he grew up in Oakridge and as a child his classmates were multicultural, as illustrated by the snacks they shared during recess, from Japanese dried seaweed to Iranian fruit leather. He feels this informed him of the Vancouver he lived in and felt there were stories to tell.

That's what led him to become a journalist, working for the Vancouver Courier and then Metro Daily, both of which he notes no longer exist. He has been at the Tyee for many years now and went from writing 500-word news articles in the Courier to now 2,000 words in the Tyee.

A good example of how minorities are not represented was when Cheung saw how developers prided themselves on creating tax-free spaces for residents to create community gardens and share the fruits of their labour.

He found this quite odd considering his grandfather and his neighbours have been growing vegetables for decades and sharing their harvests. Cheung used this as a way to get other mainstream media to realise they are not observing what is happening around them and just following a press release.

Chong noted a chapter in the book focuses on the four Ds: Darlings, Deviance, Delicious, and Damage.

When asked to explain, Cheung said it was inspired by CBC broadcaster Duncan McCue, who asked an Indigenous elder how they were covered in the media. He replied: drumming, dancing, drunk and dead.

He is very passionate about Vancouver

Cheung came up with his own four Ds when it came to ethnic minorities:

Darlings are model minorities, extreme examples of people who work very long hours and that is considered success despite the heavy toll;

Deviance is criminalising people of colour. One example is complaining about Chinese signs in Richmond;

Delicious is about ethnic food stories, and "calendar journalism" where Chinese food is covered during Chinese New Year;

Damage is about refugees, victims of colour who have terrible things that happen to them.

As a result, Cheung wants to push beyond these tropes and have minorities better represented in the media.

During the Q&A section there were some good questions, but there was a bizarre first question from a Caucasian woman in front, wondering why there were so many Asians in the audience tonight and complaining that there isn't multiculturalism in Canada, and how we live in silos. 

Many of us were taken aback by what she said, so much so that an elderly second-generation Chinese-Canadian woman wanted to engage with her, but after the event was over, the Caucasian woman said she didn't want to talk to her and fled the room!

Meanwhile the Chinese-Canadian asked if the book was for her, as she had repressed her Chinese-ness for most of her life and only in the last 20 years has begun embracing her heritage. But Cheung believes she can still read the book...

A man in the audience asked Cheung and Chong about being "bananas", an outdated term to describe Canadian-born Chinese who are "yellow on the outside, white on the inside". I hadn't heard that term being used for so long and particularly now when people try so hard to be politically correct.

In any event it was a good discussion and has inspired me to read the book!

Anticipating More Visitors to HK for October 1

Hong Kong may get more tourists for the October 1 holiday

A tourism executive believes Hong Kong could benefit from the upcoming October 1 holiday because... the mainland will be celebrating the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China!

How will Hong Kong celebrate this milestone? With a drone show, free trams, ferries, and half-price movie tickets among some of the offerings.

Free tram rides will not lure more visitors to HK

Timothy Chui, executive director of the Hong Kong Tourism Association -- not Board -- says the public holiday will bring more long haul visitors to the city.

He said that hotel bookings were up during the October 1 holiday, particularly for budget and mid-range hotels.

In the meantime, surely the city can come up with grander celebratory things to do to mark 75 years of the PRC? Hong Kong needs more mega events! Tourists aren't coming to the city for free tram rides...!!! It only costs US40 cents!!!

Will a Cooking Competition Bring Back Diners?

The restaurant sector is holding a culinary competition

With fewer visitors coming in and locals going across the border or overseas on short jaunts, Hong Kong's hospitality sector is desperately trying to lure more "bums in seats", and has come up with a snazzy idea to try to tackle the problem.

The restaurant industry has come with a cooking event called the "Golden Chopsticks Creative Culinary Competition" where dining establishments need to come up with new dish ideas by October 31.

Lawmaker Tommy Cheung Yu-yan admitted the competition will not be able to "tackle all ills", but will encourage restaurants to try new things.

"We have had complaints from our customers in the last couple of years, and they probably could not see anything new compared to... if they travel to the Greater Bay Area," he said.

"[We want to] stimulate restaurateurs and hoteliers to think of new dishes so that customers from Hong Kong, where they come to our restaurants, they would have something new, and they probably want to come back again."

But isn't that what restaurants do periodically, come up with new dishes to entice diners to come back and try? Or have Hong Kong eateries been resting on their laurels this whole time and not had to think of new dishes to serve?

As much as the catering sector is trying very hard by holding this competition, it's not going to bring customers back by the droves; consumers are very price sensitive these days with inflation and high interest rates. So when dining out is at a fraction of the cost across the border because ingredients and labour are so much cheaper, how can Hong Kong restaurants compete with such low prices?

It could be back to the drawing board again soon...

Picture of the Day: Happy Boulder

A happy boulder sitting at the end of the street

The City of Vancouver has been working in our neighbourhood for over a year now, installing badly needed sewer pipes to replace those that are over a century old.

It's also because the city (and the provincial government) intend to densify neighbourhoods with up to six units on one lot, and our area is on the target list.

Every morning work starts at 7am, making the construction noise a jarring alarm clock, and the work goes on all day until 3pm.

Sometimes when they are digging up the roads they find massive boulders. A few months ago there were two giant ones near our home and they were hoisted up by a forklift onto a truck that took them away.

The other day another giant boulder was dug up at the end of the block.

Someone decided to personify it with eyes, nose and a mouth!

Dire Straits for Luxury Brands

Hong Kong's luxury malls are looking pretty empty these days

The projections are that big spenders from the mainland won't be splashing the cash in Hong Kong, Paris, Milan and London anytime soon, as China's economy continues on its downward spiral.

Analysts say this year is not good, and aren't even holding their breath for next year either and it's hurting luxury brands in their stock value.

Tiffany & Co's Shanghai shop to halve its space

Burberry Group had its market value plunge 70 percent from the past year, causing the brand to lose its inclusion in London's FTSE 100 stock list. 

Gucci and Hugo Boss have also been hit hard, both losing half their value over the past year. Gucci is owned by Kering, which owns Moet Hennessy and Louis Vuitton, which was Europe's largest company by market cap a year ago, has fallen to second place.

To that end, Tiffany & Co owned by LVMH is looking to halve the size of its Shanghai flagship store, while high-end malls in Hong Kong are practically empty. 

Hermes is sitting pretty with Brunello Cucinelli

The only brands doing well are the ones catering to the uber rich -- Hermes International selling Kelly and Birkin bags, and Brunello Cucinelli with its cashmere sweaters. 

May they live long and prosper!

HK Media Facing Harassment, Threats

Dozens of journalists have been intimidated and harassed

In what the Hong Kong Journalists Association describes as a 'systematic attack against media workers", the group says dozens of journalists in the city are being harassed, as well as their family members, employers, neighbours and landlords.

Reporters from at least 13 outlets, such as Hong Kong Free Press, InMedia, and HK Feature have been targeted through emails and letters containing defamatory content sent to their home addresses, workplaces and other venues.

Cheng said threats interfered with press freedom

HKJA's chair Selina Cheng condemned the harassment as "a serious interference with press freedom", and said the matter had been reported to the police.

"Since June, self-proclaimed 'patriots' have sent anonymous complaints by email or letter to at least 15 journalists' family members and their family members' employers, landlords and related organisations, including charities, schools and private businesses," she said.

"The format of each email or letter is similar but tailored to the different identities and characteristics of a given organisation or individual."

Cheng said many of the letters and emails warned recipients that if they continued to associate with the journalists in question or their family members, they could be violating the domestic national security law.

"Since at least August, users of several private Facebook groups have also posted hateful content against certain media outlets and journalists, portraying legitimate reporting as problematic or illegal, and baselessly accusing articles of being inflammatory," Cheng said.

"According to HKJA's investigation, at least 36 journalists were identified in these Facebook posts, from multiple different outlets, education institutions and the HKJA itself."

Cheuk was unaware of harassment

Some of the messages included threats of violence and death threats.

It is unclear how the journalists' private contact information was found, though the HKJA suspects personal data had been leaked from "government or other private databases" and urged law enforcement agencies to launch and investigation.

Cheng said she too was a victim, with employers of her family members receiving letters containing accusations and false claims about her in late July.

Undersecretary for Security Michael Cheuk Hau-yip said he had not heard about the harassment and doxxing raised by the HKJA, but stated Hong Kong was a city that followed the rule of law.

"Any individual should be free from threats, free from fear and free from harassment," he said. "So if any individual, irrespective of who you are, if you are receiving such threats and harassment, please come out and report [it]."

He did not believe the association's claim that personal data had been leaked, or that the city's press freedom had further eroded.

Meanwhile the police force spokesman said: "Hong Kong is a society underpinned by the rule of law. If members of the public suspect that they are being intimidated or harassed, they should report the case to the Police. Police will handle each case in accordance with the law and actual circumstances."

The Mystery of the Missing Karsh Portrait Solved

The Roaring Lion has been found... in Italy

My father is a photo enthusiast and loves taking pictures. When I was young he told me about the famous Armenian-Canadian portrait photographer and showed me his famous pictures in two books he had.

There was then Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, actress Sophia Loren, scientist Albert Einstein, and actress Audrey Hepburn. They are striking photographs because they are usually minimalist backgrounds and focus on the subject's face and their expressions. It was an honour to "be Karshed".

Karsh is best known for the Churchill portrait

But perhaps the most famous portrait is that of then British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill, which was taken after he addressed the Canadian Parliament during World War II on December 30, 1941. 

Right after his speech, Karsh took the portrait of Churchill in the Speaker's Chamber during a very quick photo session.

As the story goes, Karsh asked Churchill to take the cigar out of his mouth, but he refused. So just before Karsh took the picture, he plucked the cigar out of the prime minister's mouth and got that grumpy, stern expression.

After the photo shoot, Churchill said: "You can even make a roaring lion stand still to be photographed," which led to the name of this portrait.

Karsh and his wife lived in the Chateau Laurier in Ottawa for many years where he also had a studio, and when they moved out, they gifted a signed copy of the Roaring Lion to the hotel along with other portraits that were hung in public areas for visitors to admire.

Estrellita Karsh in front of the portrait

But sometime between December 25, 2021 to January 6, 2022 the Roaring Lion was brazenly stolen from the hotel and replaced with a slightly smaller replica.

In May 2022, Italian lawyer Nicolas Cassinelli unknowingly bought the portrait from a Sotheby's online auction for around 5,000 euros, or over C$9,000.

The portrait hung it in his house in Genoa, Italy, and Cassinelli today told the media it was like having the Mona Lisa in his living room.

It wasn't until August 2022 when a hotel maintenance worker who worked there for decades, noticed there was something different about the portrait and reported it stolen. Ironically the police told him he was considered a suspect, as the authorities thought it was an inside job.

Last October Cassinelli was contacted by Sotheby's warning the Canadian police were investigating the theft and would need to look at the photograph, as it may have been stolen.

The apartment in the hotel the Karshes lived in

However it wasn't until February 2024 that police verified he had the stolen picture.

Yesterday it was announced Jeffrey Iain James Wood, a 43 year-old from Powassan, Ontario, was arrested in April on multiple charges, including theft, forgery and trafficking stolen property.

In the meantime Cassinelli will travel from Genoa, Italy to Rome to formally return the portrait to the Canadian consulate this weekend and then it will be brought back to the Chateau Laurier where it will be rehung.

Cassinelli was only reimbursed about half of what he paid for the photograph, but he is taking it in stride and says he has an interesting story to tell about his brief time with Karsh's portrait.

Grazie mille Cassinelli and we are looking forward to Churchill coming back to Ottawa! 

Picture of the Day: Christmas at Costco

A Snoopy Christmas, anyone? It's available at Costco!

We went to Costco today and there were lots of Halloween candy in bulk and costumes for sale, but Christmas?!

There were advent calendars with chocolates in them, and this cute Snoopy set with a pair of mugs and a cookie jar wrapped with chocolate cookies and hot chocolate balls.

We haven't even had Thanksgiving yet!

Harris Commands Debate with Trump

Harris kept Trump on the defensive during the debate

Tonight was the highly-anticipated debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, and there was little doubt who the winner was.

Broadcast on ABC, the two anchors asked the two candidates questions on abortion, the economy, and on foreign policy, such as the war in Ukraine and Afghanistan.

It should have been easier for Trump to attack the incumbent, but he lost his footing when she baited him about the crowd sizes of his rallies, how people leave because they're bored.

She went over to shake his hand at the start

Unable to keep it together, Trump rambled on about topics that had nothing to do with the questions that were asked, and what he said was mostly false, as the New York Times fact-checked both his and Harris' points. 

The most egregious was about Springfield, Ohio, where he claimed Haitian immigrants were eating people's pets. Harris for her part laughed that Trump resorted to pulling out this outrageous claim that he said he saw on television.

Perhaps the best part was when she chastised Trump for being weak, which is why dictators liked him.

"This dictators and autocrats are rooting for you to be president again because they're so clear -- they can manipulate you with flattery and favours, and that is why so many military leaders who you have worked with, have told me you are a disgrace," she said.

Minutes after the debate was over superstar artist Taylor Swift published an Instagram post endorsing Harris and Tim Walz, and encouraged her Swifties to do their research and register to vote, and signed off as "Childless Cat Lady".

Swift publicly endorsed Harris after the debate

Walz found out about this live on TV with MSNBC, and was thrilled when Swift said she was impressed by his work supporting the LGBTQ community and women's reproductive rights. 

Seeing Trump and Harris tonight was literally night and day respectively; while he pitched darkness, negativity and hopelessness, she promoted change for the future, better lives and optimism.

It will be interesting to see the polling done after this debate, and what Trump's dictator buddies think of his chances now...