A Good Dose of Art at M+

Great Criticism: Chanel by Wang Guangyi

The Hong Kong contemporary art museum M+ opened just after I left the city two years ago so it was a place I wanted to visit. However, getting there is a hassle as the signage on the MTR station and in the Elements shopping mall are vague. I had a bit of a run around trying to find out the best exit to take until I looked up the directions on the M+ website. 

Vague directions to get to M+ in West Kowloon

From Kowloon Station, go to Exit C1 or Exit D1 and take the escalator to the 1/F and follow the signs to the Artist Square Bridge on 2/F, Metal Zone (as if going to the Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong). However, when you walk through the mall, there isn't enough signage to give you the confidence you are going in the right direction. 

Eventually I found the bridge and from there the giant black building that looks like a massive computer hard drive was in front, and the entrance was signalled with a series of white lamps that echo the shape of those red plastic lamps found hanging in wet markets.

I had bought a ticket in advance, but could have gotten it at the front desk, though the website makes it sound like purchasing it ahead of time was a requirement. When you buy a ticket be sure you get the access to the special exhibitions you want to see otherwise you are not allowed in as the staff scan the QR codes to these rooms. 

Liberty Guiding the People by Yue Minjun

Speaking of staff, the place was crawling with them wearing M+ jackets everywhere. They hung around chatting with each other, or it seemed like they needed an army of people to repair something, or stand around and supervise the repair. They were all trying to look busy, but they didn't seem interested in welcoming visitors to the place and kept to themselves.

In any event, the first place I checked out was the Uli Sigg, a Swiss businessman, diplomat and art collector, who donated a big collection of Chinese contemporary art to M+. The pieces run the gamut from paintings to sculptures, and videos. 

Many of the art works either hark back to proletarian China, where idealistic Chinese communists fight for the motherland, inspiring patriotism, or at the opposite end of the spectrum and showing how capitalist the country has become, with propaganda-like paintings with brand names like Chanel on them, like Wang Guangyi's Great Criticism: Chanel.

Old People's Home by Sun Yuan and Peng Yu

Yue Minjun, known for his laughing self portraits, makes his own version of Eugene Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People, with him in a white T-shirt and gray shorts, complete with brown open-toe sandals and gray buildings in the cloudy and dusty background.

An eerie multimedia piece is Old People's Home by Sun Yuan and Peng Yu features 13 life-like sculptures who resemble politicians, admirals, generals, bishops, and dictators, but they look old and frail, dozing off in their wheelchairs. All the wheelchairs are supposed to move, but because this piece is pretty fragile, only one was moving.

Controversial works by Ai Weiwei were not shown, in particular the photographs of him giving the middle finger to places like the Gate of Heavenly Peace or Tiananmen Square, or even the photograph series of him dropping a vase. Instead there is a giant brown cube called Ton of Tea, made of pu'er tea leaves and wood. 

Kacey Wong on his floating apartment

Nevertheless, local artist Kacey Wong, who has gone into exile in Taiwan, has his work here. It's a video called Paddling Home, where he is dressed in a white captain's suit and a life jacket and gets into his tiny floating apartment, a satirical critique on Hong Kong's lack of affordable housing. 

Fashion designer Vivienne Tam's black and white Mao Suit from 1995 is also displayed here. She really made her mark with her Mao prints, and I still have my T-shirt of Mao with a bee on his nose that she designed.

Not only did I appreciate the works on the walls, but the building itself, designed by Herzog & de Meuron. The large expansive spaces allows a lot of room for the works of art to be exhibited without cramming them, while the views looking out are also panoramic, unlike the Hong Kong Museum of Art that only has one area facing the harbour.

Nice views of the harbour and city from M+

On the third floor is the Korean Michelin-starred restaurant Mosu, and there is also an outdoor garden for visitors to have a 180-degree view of Hong Kong Island and Kowloon. I found out about this place thanks to a friendly staff member who encouraged me to go take a look.

Tragedies Highlight Underprivileged Need More Help

The bodies of two brothers were found at Sau Mau Ping Estate

Underprivileged people in Hong Kong are falling through the cracks, a problem that has persisted for decades, but now has become more acute.

The latest is the death of two middle-aged brothers who apparently starved to death because they depended on their mother's care, but she had gone to hospital.

The siblings, 53 and 55 years old were intellectually challenged and were more dependent on their elderly mother in recent years but she had gone to hospital in May this year.

The brothers apparently died of starvation

The brothers' decomposing bodies were found in the flat at Sau Mau Ping Estate in Kowloon after officers came to investigate a strong odour.

Apparently the younger brother of the pair tried to visit the flat on June 8, but they did not let him in, and he tried to contact them by phone but they did not answer.

What more could have been done? Why didn't the mother say something to someone about her sons needing help? Or the younger son call the Social Welfare Department for help in helping his brothers? 

It is believed that the family did not reach out to any organisations or the government for assistance.

The department has now commissioned a 24-hour hotline to provide help on the phone and direct callers to organisations according to their needs. 

The hotline won't be ready until the end of the year, and professor Hector Tsang Wing-hong of Polytechnic University who suggested this along with other recommendations says these initiatives should be speeded up.

Tsang of Polytechnic University

"The department should learn a lesson... the Social Welfare Department needs to speed up the pace," he said. "It is a very unfortunately event that happened in the transitional period."

Tsang said the tragedy underscored that underprivileged elderly carers had little knowledge about accessing existing social services.

This is one of several tragic incidents that have happened in the last few months:

In June, firefighters found a severely dehydrated and weak 75-year-old woman bedridden with lymphoma in a flat in Happy Valley. That's because her younger brother and carer, who was 71, was found dead in the bathroom.

On May 15, a skeleton of a 69-year-old man was found in a public rental flat in Sha Tin after Housing Authority employees visited. The man apparently lived alone and there was no sign of a break-in.

A day earlier, a 59-year-old woman and her 86-year-old father were found dead in their home at Mei Foo Sun Chuen in Lai Chi Kok after a family member called for help after no one answered the door on a Mother's Day visit.

Civil society is fast disappearing in Hong Kong as many social organisations have been forced to close following the implementation of the national security law; sadly there will be more of these tragic incidents to come.

Investigation Into Illegal Structures at Tai Tam

The slope is unstable at Redhill Peninsula following landslide

Today Hong Kong's weather has heavy rains, and in parts of Kowloon and Sai Kung there are even flash floods. Seems like the city can't get a break from the rain, let alone have enough time to clear all the drains so that the water can be removed from roads.

In the aftermath of the record-breaking rainstorm, there are now questions as to whether there are illegal structures built in the tony area of Tai Tam. 

One house at 72 Redhill Peninsula had to be evacuated because of the landslide caused by the heavy rains, while the two houses next to it, 70 and 74 will undergo safety checks, as they could be affected as well.

Linn says the homes will be inspected for safety

An initial investigation revealed illegal structures at all three houses, including digging below to create basements. The occupants not only violated the terms of the leasing conditions, but also the extensions occupied land that belongs to the government.

"As to whether there are unauthorised building structures or unlawful occupation of government land, our initial evidence shows there is indeed some breach of leases and unlawful occupation, but our primary focus at the moment is to stabilise the slope to ensure public safety," said Secretary for Development Bernadette Linn Hon-ho.

Government contractors will inject cement into the slope in a bid to stabilise it, Linn said.

Chief Secretary Eric Chan Kwok-ki said the authorities would strictly enforce the law in response to discovering any illegal structures.

"We place a lot of importance on that, as [the illegal structures] could affect public safety," he said.

Will the occupants be prosecuted if illegal structures are found? An NGO that focuses on land and development research found satellite images that suggest a garden extension at 70 Redhill was done 13 years ago.

Landslide reveals possible illegal structures

Mostly celebrities and wealthy businessmen live in these houses that can cost some HK$112 million for 3,136 square feet.

Jason Poon Chuk-hung is a structural engineer who says the digging at Redhill Peninsula to create basements could have aggravated the pressure on the slope.

He said the Buildings Department would need to issue a demolition order to the owners of the three sites if illegal structures are found on their properties, and this could cost some HK$10 million per property.

"But the slope has collapsed, which cannot be rebuilt. The best the government can do is to build an artificial slope, which will cost about HK$50 million," Poon said. "Whether or not the government can claim the construction costs from the property owners will depend on the courts."

Poon added the three houses would be plagued by structural risks going forward, and their property prices would drop by 25 percent.

It has now been reported that the owner of 74 Redhill Peninsula refuses to allow government teams to inspect the house, and so the authorities are currently applying for a court warrant to investigate any other illegal structures.

Get out the popcorn, folks. It's going to be a a dramatic show.

The Last Mahjong Tile Maker to Close

Cheung hopes to continue making mah jong tiles by hand

Another one bites the dust.

The last shop to make mahjong tiles by hand will be closing at the end of this month after receiving an eviction notice from the Buildings Department.

The letter dated from September says Biu Kee Mahjong on 26 Jordan Road will be removed because the store is identified as an authorised building work due to it being located at the foot of the building's staircase.

He is the last tile maker in Hong Kong

In other words, Hong Kong has no interest in preserving its local culture.

Biu Kee's owner, Cheung Shun-king, known as "Uncle King" is still interested in making the mahjong tiles by hand until he gets too old, according to a Facebook post.

The post also says, "We sincerely hope the related government departments can deal with the situation in order to keep Biu Kee Mahjong in its current location and to allow the traditional art form of hand-carved mahjong tiles to be passed on."

Will anyone in authority listen to this earnest plea?

But when the government isn't interested in stepping in to save the Star Ferry which is teetering on the brink, nor giving more breaks to Hong Kong Tramways to keep the tram moving, you have to wonder how the Hong Kong Tourism Board has anything left to promote when old shops, businesses and services that have been around for decades or even over a century are left to die a long, slow death.

He uses traditional tools to carve tiles

Instead the authorities choose to waste taxpayer money on white elephant projects like the hundreds of quarantine units near Disneyland and Kai Tak, and pandemic supplies and vaccines that aren't being used, former chief executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor's cloth masks (remember those?) And those boxes of Chinese medicine Lianhua Qingwen that have been totally discredited by Singaporean health authorities...