Bad Bunny's Infectious Music Crosses the Pacific

Bad Bunny dancing the salsa with Lady Gaga

All the talk today is about how Bad Bunny killed it yesterday at the Super Bowl Half Time Show. Latinos, and in particular Puerto Ricans are so proud that Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio made them feel seen and in a thoughtful, energetic, cultural way, from the sugar cane fields, to the old men playing dominos, freshly-made tacos, a real wedding party, the electricity poles, and on and on.

Yes there are actually MAGA people on social media who panned the show, saying it was "boring." How could anyone resist such happy beats?

He called on people to believe in themselves and his final message, "The only thing more powerful than hate is love" is what we really need right now.

He smiled at hearing he is No. 1 in China

But what's super cool is that Bad Bunny hasn't just touched people in the Americas (including CanaDA), but also across the Pacific in China!

He is the first Latin music artist to rank No. 1 in China, thanks to college students turning to the likes of Bad Bunny and J Balvin to learn Spanish.

According to a study from Barcelona's Universitat Pompeu Fabra, the number of Chinese students taking translation and language science classes has increased 37 percent from five years ago, though the learning materials aren't as developed as they are for learning English.

The UPF study, which was published last year in the journal "Language and Intercultural Communication," says these amateur translators collaborate with Latin music lovers on NetEase Cloud Music to make it easier for the Chinese to understand some of reggaeton's idiomatic Spanish cultural references that don't have Chinese equivalents.

During an Apple Music preview days before the Super Bowl, Bad Bunny found out he was No. 1 in China and he bowled over with a massive smile, incredulous at the news.

The "64" is a nod to his uncle's birth year

Meanwhile many of us watching Bad Bunny's show, featuring Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin, wondered what the "64" reference was on his shirt. 

It turns out is was the birth year of his uncle, who passed away.

Bad Bunny had wanted to take his uncle to the Super Bowl, but this was his way to dedicate the show to him.

However, the Chinese censors didn't get the memo and started deleting his pictures with "64," worried it was a reference to 1989...

Hong Kong's Shrinking Primary Schools

There are fewer Primary One students in Hong Kong this year

School has started in Hong Kong with a lot fewer students.

The latest statistic? Seventy -- 70 -- Primary One classes in 66 schools were scrapped for this academic year. Ten of the 70 schools either only had a single Primary One class or none at all.

The numbers were from data compiled from 453 public and government-aided primary schools and shows the number of families who have left permanently, as well as the birth rate continuing to decline. In 2022 it dropped to 32,500, though it rose slightly the following year to 33,200.

Most of this year's Primary One students were born in 2018, when 53,700 were born, but 40,293 have signed up for public school.

"The shrinking student population is still a serious problem for the sector and the number of pupils enrolled in Primary One in the coming years will continue to fall," said Chu Kwok-keung, a school principal and lawmaker representing the education sector.

Secretary for Education Christine Choi Yuk-lin doesn't deny it, saying that three to four primary and secondary schools would close in the next five years, and she expected the student population to continue to fall.

Teachers could become endangered species in Hong Kong...

Hong Kong Finally Goes Maskless

Some people continued wearing masks out of caution today

After some 950 days, the mask mandate was FINALLY lifted in Hong Kong much to the delight of the residents who have endured wearing face coverings in over 30-degree weather, while exercising, while at weddings, funerals, amusement parks.

And dealing with the fear or harassment of the police gleefully handing out HK$5,000 fines to people who weren't wearing them properly or were caught smoking.

But in reality many today still wore a mask going to work or school, unable to shake the routine, or still wanted to err on the side of caution.

Why not get rid of masks with campaign launch?

The fact that Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu suddenly announced the end of wearing masks just days before March 1 shows how the government didn't think things through -- why not have masks off for the start of the "Hello Hong Kong" campaign? Surely that would have been even more effective in enticing people to come back to the city? 

Even health experts were frustrated that there was no more science to justify having to wear masks outside in particular. Then suddenly poof! Masks are allowed off and people are reticent to do so.

Young children have been hit hardest by the mask mandate. They have been forced to wear face coverings that were unnatural to them (and could not understand why), but now they are so used to wearing them that it will take a while to get them to feel more comfortable to take them off.

Children will take time to adjust to no masks

Educators are concerned these young children have had their learning hampered by mask-wearing for three years. Pupils are unable to pronounce words properly as they cannot see their teachers' mouth movements and imitate them.

The pandemic may have also changed how people interact with others from handshakes to hygiene habits. In Canada it seems the handshake is pretty much back, though some are still anxious about reaching for someone's hand, others grateful to have human contact again.

In the meantime Hong Kong may see a spike in Covid-19 cases now that masks are officially off, but most of the population has herd immunity from vaccinations or from infections. 

What other momentous occasion happened today? The closing of Penny's Bay Community Isolation Facility!

It was opened by the Security Bureau, which made it apt that Undersecretary for Security Michael Cheuk Hau-yip "closed" the massive facility with a symbolic "lock" made of cardboard.

Cheuk with the "lock" on Penny's Bay

What is going to happen to all those shipping containers converted into mini cells for people who had mild symptoms or were close contacts of infected patients and had to wait it out here?

Is this place going to be yet another white elephant left to collect dust? There were talks of possibly making them into low-cost housing, but in terms of logistics it would be a no-go. What a waste of taxpayer money to build these facilities that were not really used but built to show Hong Kong's determination to fight the virus...

Consumption Vouchers Denied

People collecting their vouchers on their Octopus cards

About two weeks ago the Hong Kong government looked at my LinkedIn page, where it's usually companies and contacts who find me there. 

I found this quite curious and now I know the answer.

Before the authorities handed out the second tranche of HK$5,000 in e-consumption vouchers on August 7, it warned that anyone who had departed from Hong Kong would not be eligible.

So that's why the HKG was on my LinkedIn page

Sure enough, on Wednesday I received a text message that says:

"As you have submitted a valid claim request for early withdrawal of your mandatory provident fund/benefits under occupational retirement scheme on the grounds of permanent departure from Hong Kong, we consider that you do not meet the requirement on "not having permanently departed from Hong Kong nor having such intention". You are therefore not eligible under the Scheme and will not be disbursed with consumption vouchers."

If there was a dispute about this, one could reply in writing to a PO Box number...

However, it turns out there are some 250,000 people in Hong Kong who withdrew from their MPF funds early for financial or personal reasons, but have not permanently left the city who were denied the HK$5,000.

On Friday morning, more than 100 people went to the secretariat office in Mongkok to complain.

Steven Lai is one of them. He is a 45-year-old restaurant manager who withdrew his MPF [mandatory provident fund] early as he planned to move to the mainland with his wife in 2020, but in the end decided to stay in Hong Kong.

Those who left HK are not eligible for e-voucher

"To be honest, the HK$5,000 was not the most important thing, but I don't want this to affect my other applications for government services and benefits... such as public housing and subsidies [for my children's education]," Lai said.

He added the government should check people's travel records to ensure they haven't permanently left Hong Kong.

Another Hongkonger, Bill Yuen, 32 was frustrated because he took a half day off work to go to the secretariat to apply for a review for his pregnant wife who withdrew from her MPF account a decade ago to tide over her financial situation at the time.

Following complaints like these, the government has now said that those who claim to qualify for the HK$5,000 can now prove their residency by showing utility bills, bank statements, salary pay slips, rental tenancies or hospital visit records. 

Some 6.3 million residents are eligible for the HK$5,000, including about 300,000 who are eligible for residency, such as those with specialist qualifications, entrepreneurs and students.

Canada Second Most Desirable for Study for Hongkongers

After the UK, Canada more popular for higher education

Canada has beat the United States and Australia to become the second most popular destination for higher education after the United Kingdom.

Previously it was the UK followed by Australia, the US and then Canada.

But after the Canadian government last year announced new ways for Hongkongers to emigrate in Canada, 6,365 Hong Kong residents were granted student visas, just behind the 6,511 student visas issued by Britain.

Hongkongers looking for ways to leave the city

Canada used to be the least popular of the four countries for Hongkongers to study abroad. Only about 2,500 were granted Canadian student visas each year, from 2018 to 2020, making up about one-fifth of the total student visas issued by the four countries.

Australia was popular because geographically it was closer, and the United States for its quality education, but perhaps the racial attacks against Asians and the rise in gun violence may have played a role as well. 

This latest news will be a boon for the Canadian education sector from kindergarten to post secondary, as being a student who graduates in the last three years can be granted permanent residency; they can also gain residency after graduating from post-secondary school in Canada or abroad, and has one year's work experience in Canada.

Interest in these two new pathways grew as a result. Last year, nearly 2,300 Hong Kong residents gained permanent residency, a newly 50 percent increase compared with the pre-pandemic total of just over 1,500 permanent resident landings in 2019.

Growing interest in HKers to come to Canada

In addition, in 2021, 10,143 Hongkongers and those holding BNO passports obtained a Canadian work permit. This compares to only 931 people who got work permits in 2019.

It's good to see the Canadian government stepping up and offering opportunities for young Hongkongers -- and middle-aged ones too -- who need a fresh start and a good education to move ahead in their careers as they settle down in their new home.