Remembering Terri Holladay

The gorgeous Holladay died in December at the age of 55

Hong Kong media just found out that former model and socialite Terri Holladay passed away at the age of 55 on December 27 in the city. An online memorial page was set up on February 5 with an obituary and condolence messages from friends, including from her son Roman Chao.

I did not know her personally, but a good friend of mine was in touch with her for several years. For us Holladay reminded us of 1990s Hong Kong. She was stunningly beautiful, and even her recent pictures revealed no signs of aging.

Chao with Holladay at a society event

The half-Vietnamese, half-American model was best known for being with tycoon playboy Cecil Chao Sze-tsung. They met in 1991 and were engaged the following year. They had a "ceremony" in Singapore before Roman was born, but when they broke up, Holladay discovered she and Chao were never legally married.

She fled Chao's compound on Victoria Road, and was chastised for not taking much of the jewellery he gave her. Many described her as very sweet, honest and naive, and they still do.

When Chao soon took on another lover, a mainland Chinese woman named Scarlett, Holladay tried to stay in Hong Kong. She tried to take Chao to court, and eventually settled out of court; she needed to stay in the city in order to see Roman.

Eventually she moved to the United States and met and married Italian businessman Paolo Durazzo in 2005, but he died in 2018 from cancer. 

Holladay told my friend during the pandemic that she was desperate to get back to Hong Kong to see her son, and she eventually moved back in late 2022.

Roman with his mother in an undated photo

In a news clip from a few years ago, she and Roman attended a society fundraiser in Hong Kong and he divulged that he was studying an MBA at City University.

His message on the online memorial page:

Hi Guys. Thanks for all the support and wishes for my family through these difficult times... To be honest, I'm still struggling with what to write about Mom. There's just too much to express and it's really hard to type out in feelings.

She and my late stepfather were the warmth and unconditional love that I wish I appreciated more. They were [the] kindest people I've ever met and having them gone, it's hard not to feel alone...

However, I know she'd want me and the family to move forward. Still in quite a bit of grief, so would appreciate everyone's prayers. Please help me pray for all our good memories to transition from sadness to strength. I love you Mom. I wish you and Paolo an eternity of happiness together in Heaven.

So tragic Holladay died so young, leaving behind a son who is practically orphaned. My friend had hoped that being back in Hong Kong she would be happy again, but her life was cut short.

Get the Fourth Jab Now

Over 81 percent of fourth jabs in HK are the bivalent vaccine

It is heartening to know a lot of people in Hong Kong have signed up to have the bivalent booster vaccine, a five-fold jump from last week.

Leung says fourth jab prevents severe illness

A week ago, 9,232 people got the fourth shot, but this week it jumped to 47,742, with 81 percent of them opting for the BioNTech bivalent jab, the rest Sinovac.

Respiratory specialist Dr Leung Chi-chiu appealed to the elderly and other high-risk groups, including those living in care homes and those who are immunocompromised or suffering from chronic diseases to get their fourth shot, as the number of infected cases is on the rise.

"A fourth jab is mainly to prevent hospitalisation, severe illness and death," he said.

The last point should be enough to motivate people, no?

University of Hong Kong microbiologist Dr Ho Pak-leung said the government should encourage residents 6o years and older to get their fourth dose as soon as possible. 

Ho says over 700K elderly still need fourth jab

He cited 95 percent of the city's virus-related fatalities last month involved people who were above the age of 60. Ho added 700,000 elderly were eligible to get the fourth jab but still hadn't done so.

Seriously -- what are they waiting for?

NSL Indoctrination Begins

University students must now pass a class on NSL to graduate

The Hong Kong Education Bureau is making sure students are learning about the national security law with university students having to take a non-credit course on the subject in order to graduate.

In an email sent to all University of Hong Kong students on Monday, students must enrol in a course titled "Introduction to the Constitution, the Basic Law and the National Security Law" from the 2022-23 academic year.

HKU will offer the course in September

The HKU course will be taught online with a "self-directed learning approach" -- whatever that means.

"Students will have the flexibility to take this course in any semester throughout their period of study and there is NO NEED TO ENROL in this course during the upcoming course selection and/or add/drop period," the notice says, adding students just need to pass the course without further details.

It's not just this university but also the other seven that will launch or have already started offering national security courses.

Ming Pao reported that the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and the Hong Kong Polytechnic University will begin offering the NSL course the upcoming school year.

Baptist U has incorporated NSL in seminars

Meanwhile, Hong Kong Baptist University, the Education University of Hong Kong, Lingnan University and City University of Hong Kong have already incorporated national security content into their curriculum in the format of seminars and workshops, according to Ming Pao.

But don't think that young children have escaped the opportunity to learn about NSL -- the Education Bureau has collaborated with the Security Bureau to create picture books for pupils in kindergarten, primary and secondary schools "to raise the sense of national security," said Secretary for Education Christine Choi Yuk-lin.

"... [the Education Bureau], together with the Security Bureau will gift all secondary and primary schools, and kindergartens, a picture book titled 'Our Country, Our Safety', and introduce a sense of national security and raise students' awareness and sense of responsibility of maintaining national security through various themes and real-life examples."

Wonder what examples Choi has in mind...

Kindergarten pupils to get NSL picture books

She added the EDB will also provide subsidies of around HK$50 million for secondary and primary schools, and HK$10 million for kindergartens to promote reading. 

Ostensibly reading NSL-and patriotic education-related materials...