A Very Chinese Time in People's Lives

Jellycat's red plush horse with a golden mane 

Everyone's getting into the Year of the Horse -- Snoopy, Mr. Men, Sesame Street's Elmo, Miffy, Paddington Bear, even Jellycat issuing a red plush horse with a golden mane.

Are they all in a "very Chinese time in their lives", or Chinamaxxing? 

Or is it all a marketing ploy to appeal to Chinese fans that they are wishing them all the best in the Lunar New Year?

In some ways it's amusing to see non-Chinese recently discovering the benefits of drinking hot water, or demonstrating that they know to take off their shoes once they enter a home, and these days posting on social media, "Kung Hei Faat Choy"!

Snoopy celebrating the new year

It's great people are more accustomed or accepting of Chinese habits, but it doesn't make them experts on Chinese culture overnight.

It was brought to my attention that a guy from San Francisco on Facebook was explaining or maybe "mansplaining" that people should say "Lunar New Year" instead of "Chinese New Year" to make it more inclusive, as people from Korea, Vietnam, Singapore and Malaysia also celebrate. 

He even talks about how this year is the "Fire Horse", elucidating about the five elements of water, wood, metal, fire and earth, and that a "Fire Horse" only comes around every 60 years...

Hence Chinamaxxing or being in a "very Chinese time in my life" is so bizarre. The latter assumes that one is Chinese for a period of time, unlike say ethnic Chinese who are Chinese their whole lives.

The former are those who look at all the cool things about China -- electric cars, high-speed rail, online payments, AI and Shein, without taking into account or even knowing about, say, the lopsided ratio of men to women, the high unemployment rate for fresh grads, and the restrictions of living in an authoritarian environment.

Elmo with his Korean and Chinese friends

All this just only a few years after China finally lifted its draconian lockdown measures to control the Covid-19 virus from spreading. People were literally sealed in their own apartment units, while everyone else got bags of food delivered to them, and people queuing up and opening their mouths to have their saliva swabbed.

And now China is super cool?

Quite the transformation, but now that Canadian and UK passport holders can travel to China visa-free until the end of the year, it would be great for people to see the country for themselves and then figure out of they really are Chinamaxxing.

If anything, they would be able to legitimately say their visit was a "very Chinese time in their life."

Happy (or Sad) Year of the Horse

Painter Xu Beihong's depiction of lively horses

Happy New Year of the Horse!

新年快乐！恭喜发财！龙马精神！

This year's mascot has been a big hit -- the plush horse with the upside down smile that was a manufacturing mistake in a factory in eastern China.

For many young people, the unhappy horse reflects how they truly feel about how life is for them these days.

Your choice of a happy or sad plush horse

They call themselves niu ma (牛马) or "cattle horse", a euphemism for how they feel overworked in their office jobs.

"This little horse looks so sad and pitiful, just like the way I feel at work," said a netizen called Tuan Tuan Mami.

"With this crying toy in the Year of the Horse, I hope to leave all my grievances at work behind and keep only happiness."

Another person who bought the sad plush horse said it was more relatable than their smiling counterparts.

"Imperfect is the true reflection of ordinary people. Our flaws are what make life truly vibrant," they wrote online.

Demand for the "cry-cry horse" was so high that the factory had to quickly add 10 more production lines.

The company even reportedly applied for an appearance patent for the sad-faced horse, and expanded its merchandise to include items like keychains and travel neck pillows.

So for those celebrating the Lunar New Year and trying to keep it together for the next few days while visiting relatives, the sad horse knows exactly what you're going through.

加油！ 

Review: Spring After Spring

Vancouver Chinatown parades always include Chinese dancing

Just in time for Chinese New Year is a new documentary called Spring After Spring, about three sisters who continue their mother's legacy of preserving and promoting Chinese dancing in Vancouver.

Directed by Jon Chiang, the film pays tribute to Maria Mimi Ho, who founded the Strathcona Chinese Dance Company, and helped start the Lunar New Year Chinatown Parade, where her students dressed up in colourful costumes and danced along the route.

Lisa, Val and Anabel talk about their mother

She roped her three daughters into dancing too, and they all became professionals in their on right -- eldest Anabel founded the Vancouver Academy of Dance, teaching Chinese dancing; middle child Val, aka Ms Vee is a hip hop dancer who teaches at Juillard; and youngest Lisa made it to Broadway, performing in shows like Mama Mia, Shrek and Chorus Line.

Their mother died in 2010 and left a big hole -- would the three sisters try to continue doing the Lunar New Year Chinatown parade? How would they do it? Would it be good enough in their mother's eyes?

There is a lot of archive footage of their mother, so energetic and happy as she performed -- she was a school teacher, but her hobby was dancing despite having no formal training. She studied books and later videos to learn new steps.

Ho was a force in Vancouver's Chinatown

The three sisters reminisce a lot and it's great to see them not only reveal more about their own personalities, but their mother too and how much she influenced their lives. Val is the most vocal and seems to be the most thoughtful in terms of reflecting on how she was brought up and describing the immigrant mentality of working hard all the time.

While it's clear the trio love their mother, and Anabel says it is only now, some 15 years later, that she feels comfortable speaking about her, they also remember how she was a tough Asian tiger mom, how whatever they did was never good enough.

A lot of Asian kids can relate to that kind of scolding.

That's what director Chiang hopes will spark conversation about difficult topics from viewing Spring After Spring.

"I know that from my own experiences in my family, there isn't a lot of conversation around the topic [of grief]," says Chiang. 

The three sisters are professional dancers

"There's so many taboos, there's a lot of cultural hurdles to overcome. But I feel like maybe by watching this film, people can see their families through this film and maybe not be afraid to talk about difficult things, both in the Chinese diaspora but also in other immigrant families and other Canadian families as well."

He discovered the story of Ho from his friend who is Anabel's husband, and filmed it with a lot of care and thoughtfulness, giving everyone an opportunity to talk. However, their widower father doesn't say anything, and the film focuses on the three sisters. 

Nevertheless, it was great for Chiang to encourage them to dance one of their favourite ones their mother got them to perform as a group. It shows the sisters united, passionate and happy dancing and enjoying each other's company.

Spring After Spring

Directed by Jon Chiang

78 minutes

Hong Kong Braces for Super Typhoon Ragasa

Masking tape and vegetables at the wet market

Super Typhoon Ragasa is approaching Hong Kong, and the Observatory has just raised the No. 8 storm signal almost 30 minutes ago.

Ragasa, a Filipino word that means "rapid" or "fast motion" already crossed the Luzon Strait 

with winds clocking at 230km/h, making it the most powerful storm in the world so far this year.

Two shopping carts filled with instant noodles

People in Hong Kong are now rushing home, and bringing back whatever supplies they can find to survive at least two days.

Supermarkets and wet markets were swarmed by customers, with fresh vegetables and fruit to quickly disappear, along with eggs, meat and bread.

On social media there's a video of a man who filled two supermarket trolleys with around 70 instant noodle cups and several bags of frozen dim sum. Was he planning to eat that all himself?

One shopper described the mad rush as busy as before Lunar New Year. The 67-year-old woman bought more than 1kg of vegetables, including two cabbages, five dragon fruit and four oranges, that she believed would last till the weekend.

However, one couple that wasn't as quick to buy essential food items could only find snacks, though they did still have some food at home. 

Some people prioritised buying up toilet paper to ride out the storm...

Slim pickings for those not organised

And yet there were those who believe in using masking tape to tape up their windows. Lo Kok-keung, a former Hong Kong Polytechnic University engineer, says there are three major causes of window breakage during typhoons: strong winds that generate vibrations that cause cracks, high wind speeds that blow up debris that breaks glass, and strong winds that deform glass.

In a bid to minimise the risk of glass shattering, Lo suggests taping the Chinese character for rice (米) on windows, which he says provides more support points and reduces the likelihood of glass fragments shattering.

Shops were selling masking tape like hot cakes, with one renovation store in Hoi Wan selling 200 rolls in the past few days. 

"People have heard that this coming typhoon is bigger than usual, so they're stocking up just in case," the manager said, adding that most customers were buying more than two rolls and many were new faces.

"Some were buying as many as 10 at a time, especially those who live in places with many windows or are purchasing for high-rise offices."

Bangkok: Chinese Scared of Traveling to Thailand

After Wang's release, he said he hoped to return to Thailand

In Bangkok there was a lot of chatter about how a lot of mainland Chinese tourists are not going to Thailand because of fears of being abducted and taken to scam centres near the border with Myanmar. 

Victims are lured to Thailand by promises of jobs, like the Chinese actor Wang Xing, who thought he was being casted by a major entertainment company. But once they arrive, they are whisked to these scam centres where they are forced to find victims through Whatsapp and other digital platforms and try to scam as much money from them as possible.

15.6 percent drop in Chinese tourists to Thailand

When Wang's situation and eventual release came to light, the Chinese government warned its citizens about the perils of traveling to Thailand, which led to a drop of about 15.6 percent of Chinese tourists in January.

But these warnings are not new -- as far back as 2022 there were rumours that going to Thailand would result in people getting trafficked to Myanmar and losing their kidneys. A year later the blockbuster No More Bets was a fictional account of Chinese tourists forced to work in scam centres.

Nevertheless Wang's story has resulted in lots of Chinese cancelling trips to Thailand and going instead to Japan and Malaysia. 

This is frustrating for Thailand, as it depends on Chinese tourists to help the country recover from Covid. In 2024, more than 6.2 million tourists to Thailand were from China, followed by Malaysians at 4.5 million and Indians at 1.9 million.

Although the Thai government has tried to reassure Chinese tourists that the country is safe to travel, around 10,000 trips from China were cancelled during the Lunar New Year.

After such a negative story about being lured to scam centres, it's not easy to get these millions of Chinese tourists to reconsider traveling to Thailand. 

Scam centres along the Thai-Myanmar border

But perhaps some common sense would help -- stick to touristy spots and avoid wandering in dodgy areas, advice that is universal for all places you are not familiar with.

One expat pointed out he finds Bangkok and Thailand very safe, and doesn't understand how Chinese people could be so easily spooked; but incessant coverage in state media has led them to believe Thailand is a dangerous place without doing research or critical thinking.

However, Beijing may have an ulterior motive to keep its citizens from traveling in general -- to boost the domestic economy by spending at home.

Interestingly most of these scam centres are run by Chinese gangs, though Beijing now has to step in to clamp down on these illegal operations. 

While these scam centres may not be entirely eliminated, the Thai and Chinese governments need to show they are shutting these places down, otherwise the number of Chinese tourists coming to Thailand will slow to a tiny trickle.

Making Radish Cake or Lo Bak Go

Cooked radish cake that had been steamed for an hour

When I lived in Hong Kong, my great aunt would make large round containers of radish cake, or lo bak go (萝卜糕) for Lunar New Year. When people came to visit (bai leen), she would cut several slices of radish cake and pan fry them over the stove to serve guests. We also ate it on the first day of Lunar New Year.

I finally got a chance to make it myself the other day with my mother. It's a lot of work, but fun to make at home.

Stir frying the meats and shrimp together first

My mother's recipe called for 4kg of radish, but we only had 2kg (two daikon), so I was tasked with grating them. I was surprised there was a lot of water from this vegetable, and I remember my great aunt saying the grated radish had to be squeezed to prevent the finished product from being too wet.

However this version did not require this step (thankfully!).

We also chopped up dried shrimp, and lap cheung or Chinese sausage and lap yuk (cured pork belly) that had been steamed. I diced the Chinese sausage into smaller pieces, and chopped off the fat from the lap yuk before dicing the meat. To add a bit more flavour we also shredded some conpoy that had already been soaking the day before.

In the meantime my mother mixed rice flour (not glutinous rice flour) with cornstarch and water.

Then adding the grated radish to the wok

To make the radish cake, we stir fried the meat and shrimp together, and then added the grated radish, including the water. In hindsight may be we should have added the floury mixture right afterwards to mix with the water to make it easier to combine all the ingredients together. 

We had stir-fried the grated radish for some time and the moisture was almost all gone before adding the floury mixture which made it quite hard to mix properly and started sticking to the bottom of the pan.

Nevertheless, once everything was thoroughly mixed, I portioned the mixture into two round pans that had already been oiled and then we steamed them one by one for an hour.

We ate the first pan and while the radish cake was pretty sticky when scooping it out of the pan, it tasted pretty good; perhaps it could have been seasoned with salt, or added some chicken stock to it for a bit more flavour. Nevertheless we were pretty pleased with the result!

Finally combining with rice flour and cornstarch

The following day we pan fried the second pan of radish cake and it tasted better of course.

Looking forward to making this again!

Last Richmond Night Market of the Year

Not too crowded but a bit chilly at the Richmond Night Market

A friend asked me to go check out the Richmond Night Market, and I can barely remember if I had gone before so a good a reason as any to check it out this evening.

It turns out she had admission tickets and the market ends this weekend so we were able to skip the very long lineup to get in at 7pm when it started. There are a few dragon decorations from the Mid-Autumn Festival, though there are a few dinosaur sculptures standing around which is a bit incongruous, but no one seemed to notice. 

California Roll in seaweed taco

Once we got in we made a beeline for the stalls serving food. It felt like the Canadian version of Ladies' Market in Hong Kong, or maybe what the Lunar New Year festival in Victoria Park used to be like, with the various stalls selling items for impulse buys and mostly deep-fried food to entice your hunger pangs.

We had some Japanese takoyaki topped with large bonito flakes that were not bad, and had some deep-fried popcorn chicken and mushrooms, both were quite good. 

At a dim sum stand I got some pan-fried pork buns and Hong Kong-style curry fish balls that were not bad. By this point we were getting thirsty and had a lemonade drink for C$7, though one could get a giant bucket of a drink to carry around too.

My friend got a California roll taco, basically rice topped with fake crab meat, a bit of mentaiko, sprinkles of sesame seeds, mayonnaise and spring onions in a deep-fried seaweed taco shell; after eating that she was full. I got a giant scoop of pistachio gelato that only had a hint of the nut flavour, but the ice cream hit the spot despite it being around 8 degrees Celsius.

The non-food items ranged from earrings and fake nails to socks, smartphone accessories and even camping gear. As it is the last weekend, some stalls discounted prices to get rid of stock, only with limited success.

A man and his dog hanging out

I was surprised to discover Richmond Night Market has been around since 2000 when entrepreneur Raymond Cheung started it at Continental Centre on Cambie Street. It's now on an empty piece of land that has a lot of electricity to power all the stalls as well as live entertainment.

As we were leaving we discovered the games section of the fair, where people had to throw rings around the necks of bottles or pick up a bottle using a ring attached to a stick. One guy with his dog strapped to his chest hung on a bar; he had to stay there for two minutes, but gave up at the 1.47 mark! 

Would I go again to the night market? Probably not, though I didn't mind spending C$45 for food and drinks to share on a chilly Friday night.

Charity Fundraiser with a CNY Theme

The lion made its way around the room

Last night we attended a fundraiser for the Alzheimers Society of BC, which raised almost C$150,000 from selling seats for a Chinese banquet, donations, and silent auction. 

Even though the last day of Chinese New Year was the day before, the event gave people one last chance to celebrate the Year of the Dragon, with a lively lion dance and the God of Wealth stopped by every table where people wanted to have selfies with him.

Our lo hei topped with truffle sauce

The dinner, held at the Continental Seafood Restaurant in Richmond, did a pretty good job of churning out food for over 400 people. The dishes were a bit different from the usual fare, starting with lo hei, a southeast Asian tradition of using chopsticks to throw ingredients up in the air for a chance at higher promotions or larger prosperity. Needless to say it was a messy start.

However, the salad made of vegetarian ingredients that were finely sliced was delicious when mixed with a truffle oil sauce. It was so good I had seconds.

Another dish we haven't eaten for a while was fat choy, or black moss. It was in a dish of braised sea cucumber, Japanese tofu and choy sum. 

There were other traditional banquet dishes like salt-baked chicken and steamed fish, but the carbohydrate was called ginger rice, made with wild rice and red rice for a healthier twist. In it were bits of vegetables and egg white. The older folks didn't like it so much, as they felt the wild rice wasn't cooked through enough and was hard on their teeth. The ginger flavour was quite prominent.

A healthier carb dish using red and wild rice

For dessert, we had osmanthus jelly with wolf berries, and of course sweet dumplings filled with black sesame in red bean soup. The red bean soup wasn't cloyingly sweet, thanks to the use of monk fruit as a sweetner. 

I put in bids for a few things in the silent auction, and was surprised to win two out of the three.

One was a Chinese restaurant coupon for four people to dine on a set menu, the other a gift box filled with snacks, jam, tea and chocolate sourced from BC companies. I definitely donated a lot this year for a good cause!

Hong Kong's Fortunes in Neutral Position

Lau holding fortune No. 15, a neutral one for the sixth year

Hong Kong's Year of the Dragon will not be a good one, according to the fortune Heung Yee Kuk Chairman Kenneth Lau Ip-keung picked out on Sunday, the second day of Chinese New Year.

The "neutral" No. 15 stick reads: "Holding an axe and entering a forest, looking for something not yet obtained. Wasting good material and losing one's strength, offering oneself and waiting for the arrival of spring."

Lau drew the stick at Che Kung Temple

In other words: "When you're in the forest with an axe, there are many trees to chop down. This is exactly what the government has to do, to choose appropriate policies," said Lau. "Spring will come but the government should not waste time and resources."

Or maybe it's time someone else shakes the cylinder full of bamboo fortune sticks and shakes a better one out? Lau has drawn "neutral" sticks in the past six years.

Happy Lunar New Year

Happy New Year of the Dragon!

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year!

This year is the Wood Dragon, and it is the only mythical creature on the animal zodiac. The Dragon has the characteristics of dominance, ambition, authority, dignity and aggression.

Some famous dragons include Russian President Vladimir Putin, tycoon Li Ka-shing, and billionaire Jack Ma Yun, retired from Alibaba, as well as the late Deng Xiaoping and martial arts legend Bruce Lee.

While fortune tellers are predicting a tough year ahead for Hong Kong's economy, we hope the city's Lion Rock spirit will help residents be resilient and weather the rough times ahead. 

Chinese New Year Western Style

The dragon winding its way through the crowd

Last night I was invited to a Chinese New Year party held at a popular restaurant in downtown Vancouver. When I got there after 6pm it was already heaving with people and I barely knew anyone.

Nevertheless it was fascinating to people-watch during the hour that I was there.

Many women took advantage of the theme to wear cheongsams with heels, warmed by the mobile heaters, or something red, from sweaters to slip dresses and one woman even wore a body-hugging hooded floor-length red dress, something Grace Jones would wear with shades.

Two acrobats posed on spinning hoops

Some men wore Chinese jackets, mostly the tacky satin embroidered kind found in Chinatown.

The music was definitely not Chinese, but it was pumping dance music with a strong beat from a DJ and so I was surprised to see a Chinese woman carrying a one-year-old boy around and then later some girls, five to seven years old with red decorations in their hair looking up to see a scantily-clad acrobat twirling around from a hoop suspended from the ceiling.

What were these kids doing here on a school night?

Perhaps their parents are regulars at this restaurant? These people congregated in groups and had already commandeered tables where they had plates of food and glasses of wine -- red of course.

Ah yes the food. We were in a restaurant, after all.

But this is a Western restaurant and nothing Chinese about the food, with queues for every thing to eat and drink.

There were freshly-shucked briny oysters -- and amazingly I didn't get sick -- as well as tons of sushi, and two stations where giant parmesan cheese wheels were melted to coat penne pasta. There was also a queue for roast beef and mini Yorkshire pudding complete with three different mustards to choose from and gravy poured from a teapot.

Freshly shucked and briny oysters

And then there were glasses that from a distance looked like dessert. When I got one, it was under a heat lamp and when I dug my spoon into it I soon realised it wasn't sweet -- it was beef stew topped with mashed potato.

However the Peking duck spring roll was good, stuffed with meat and vermicelli, while dessert of mandarin mousse in what looked like a mini mandarin orange was a nice finish.

I felt badly for the servers who had to hold heavy trays with one hand and put their other arms around glasses and plates to prevent people from knocking them over. What a tough night.

Just after 7pm the drumming and clashing of the cymbals began and there was actually a glow-in-the-dark dragon weaving around the crowded restaurant. Quite appropriate since it was pretty dark in the place and the dancers had to try and wind their way around people and food. 

An hour was enough time spent there to take in the revelry and see Vancouverites turn out for a Chinese New Year party. Next time wear red red red! And heels heels heels!

Lighting up Chinatown

There will be 16 of these neon signs installed

Vancouver's Chinatown looks brighter in the run-up to the Lunar New Year on February 10. Mayor Ken Sim unveiled a neon sign featuring a dragon that are being installed on the street lamp posts on East Pender Street between Main and Carrall streets.

In total there will be 16 of these neon signs just in time for the Year of the Dragon.

Mayor Sim unveiled the design for CNY

The initiative was from the Vancouver Chinatown Business Improvement Association, which began planning this idea two years ago. 

"Chinatown used to be famous for its neon signs and its unique designs. And it really is an homage to the past. Even though it took all that time to get here, it's appropriate that it comes out at the start of the new Year of the Dragon," said Jordan Eng, president of the Vancouver Chinatown BIA.

He hopes the signs will stay up for at least six months, and possibly remain a permanent fixture.

"It'd be nice to have something on a more permanent basis, just because of the amount of time it takes to produce and go through the process to get it certified, and all the engineering effort that goes into it to get it to where we finally installed it," Eng said.

The Lunar New Year will be celebrated in Chinatown on Sunday, February 11 with a multicultural parade through the area. Places like the Dr. Sun Yat-sen Classical Chinese Garden and the Chinese Canadian Museum will have various workshops and demonstrations, from lion dances and calligraphy lessons, wood block prints and street food.

East Pender Street with neon dragon signs

Here's to hoping these new light fixtures not only hark back to Chinatown's glory days, but also inspire people to come back to the neighbourhood more often.

Balloon-gate Ends with a Bang

The moment the balloon was shot down by an F-22 fighter jet

The deed was done -- an F-22 fighter jet shot down the giant Chinese so-called weather balloon as it was hovering over the Atlantic Ocean, six miles off the coast of South Carolina.

Thus came the end of the balloon saga, following US President Joe Biden's order.

"I told them to shoot it down," he said on his way to Camp David. "They said to me, let's wait until the safest place to do it."

Biden gave a statement after the ballon was shot

And so it was shot down at 2.39pm EST, and the Pentagon said the Navy and Coast Guard would recover as much of the debris for further examination.

Meanwhile the Chinese expressed its "strong discontent and protest" about the downing of the balloon, repeating its explanation that it was a civilian aircraft that had inadvertently strayed into North American air space.

"In these circumstances, for the United States to insist on using armed force is clearly an excessive reaction that seriously violates international convention," the Chinese foreign ministry statement said. 

"China will resolutely defend the legitimate rights and interests of the enterprise involved, and retains the right to respond further."

The US told the Chinese the possibility of them shooting down the balloon -- it was floating over the US for seven days, thus giving the Chinese several opportunities to own up to the incident, but apparently its reason was not convincing enough.

The debris is being recovered for examination

Some experts say the balloon may have been literally a trial balloon to see how the US would react, and others say perhaps Beijing is testing its latest surveillance capabilities.

In any event, there is now a second balloon flying over South America... 

What is hard to understand is why this balloon mission was given the green light at this time, further ratcheting up tensions between China and the US. Is Xi Jinping looking for a fight on the last day of the Lunar New Year?

Where Did Mainland Visitors Go?

Around 11K mainland visitors come daily to Hong Kong

It is day eight of the Lunar New Year and the windfall of Chinese tourists flooding Hong Kong did not happen.

There had been reports before the Year of the Rabbit began that some 1 million people applied for visas to travel to Hong Kong and Macau.

Shops did not see flood of tourists as expected

Perhaps the majority of them decided to stay closer to home instead?

So far 64,000 people visited Macau on average everyday during the Lunar New Year, of which 37,800 were from China. In contrast, during the same period, only 23,000 people visited Hong Kong daily, and only 11,000 of them were from the mainland.

Newspaper editorials like the one in the Hong Kong Standard are complaining that it took Hong Kong much longer than Macau to settle a deal with Guangdong to drop PCR tests, and the daily cap of visitors coming in either increased or scrapped entirely.

Hong Kong's outgoing deputy at the National People's Congress Standing Committee, Tam Yiu-chung, says he expects Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu to announce the removal of the PCR test mandate for those traveling between Hong Kong and the mainland tomorrow.

Macau seeing way more mainlanders than HK

If that happens, that could help salvage the last few days of the Lunar New Year, or looking long-term,  hopefully entice more people to come back to the city.

Hong Kong's Nightlife Perks Up

People visiting bars and nightclubs no longer need RAT tests

Hong Kong's re-opening continues with bars and nightclubs thrilled at the news that its patrons no longer need to show a negative rapid antigen test to enter, or at cinemas, museums, amusement parks and performance venues. 

While the cap on banquets at 240 people has been lifted (how did they even come up with that number?), the rules that a maximum of 12 per table and wearing masks in public still remain.

Lee will visit Beijing on Wednesday

It seems the Hong Kong government doesn't seem to care how the lifting of social-distancing measures has had on the healthcare system, with over 14,500 new infections, 4,105 need to be hospitalised. That said there are 41 patients in ICU.

Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu warned the number of people receiving hospital treatment surged to over 4,000 -- four times the figure of when arrivals to Hong Kong underwent "0+3".

"The consideration is that we have to gradually open up while putting the risk under control," he said during a press conference announcing he would travel to Beijing on Wednesday until Saturday.

On the agenda? Talks to reopen the border with China, and ask about the progress for Beijing for its interpretation of the national security law on whether overseas counsel were allowed to take part in relevant cases, and in this case Jimmy Lai Chee-ying.

But back to the lifting of Covid-19 rules -- people can finally freely patronise bars and nightclubs, and restaurants and hotels are doing brisk business, why is it that people can't gather to watch fireworks still?

The government released a notice saying the 2023 Lunar New Year fireworks display would be cancelled. 

Yet another lunar new year without fireworks

"While there have been adjustments to the anti-epidemic measures recently, allowing the staging of more large-scale activities in society, this year's Lunar New Year Fireworks Display could not be organised in time, as it normally takes two to three months to arrange," it said.

Seems like the government was either caught completely off guard by the recent developments or it's a cost-saving measure. Either way it has sucked out the fun of the upcoming Year of the Rabbit already.