Schedium

(photo by James Yuanxin Li via Wikimedia Commons ) According to the latest survey of the Public Opinion Programme of the University of Hong Kong (HKU POP), Chris Patten, the last British Governor of Hong Kong, enjoyed the highest ratings among political leaders of the city in the past 24 years.  Chris Patten was a member of the British Parliament with the Conservative Party from 1979 until 1992, when he lost his Bath seat at the general election ( Chris Patten: East and West. Pan McMillan 2012 , p. 13). British Prime Minister John Major offered him the post of Governor of Hong Kong . Patten's term of office as Governor lasted until 30 June 1997, when Hong Kong was handed over to the People's Republic of China.  The POP survey, released on March 29, shows that upon assuming office Chris Patten's rating was approximately 55% and at the end of his term in June 1997 it was 60%.  After the handover and the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Admini

The transformations Hong Kong has undergone since the end of the Second World War are simply astounding. 

Despite Beijing's pledge that Hong Kong's system would remain unchanged after 1997 , the institutions of Hong Kong are little by little aligning themselves with the national ideology of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).  According to local reports ,  the theatrical troupe  The Nonsensemakers  (糊塗戲班) was invited by  Hong Kong's Leisure and Cultural Services Department  to take part in an event in late March . However, the department asked that the name of the alma mater of one of the troupe's members, National Taipei University of the Arts, had to be changed and the word "National" had to be removed.  In a statement  published on their Facebook page, The Nonsensemakers explained: The Nonsensemakers were invited by the Leisure and Cultural Department to perform the piece " Three Novels: The Third Lie " from 18 to 20 March at the Tsuen Wan Town Hall . Because the Department was the organiser of the event, it was its responsibility to print

Tong Zhenyuan (credit: Wikipedia ) On 18 March Tong Zhenyuan (童振源), professor at National Zhengzhi University , visiting professor at Berkeley University and ex vice committee chairperson of Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council , was invited by the Chinese website The Paper  (澎湃新闻网) to answer netizens' questions . However, about one hour after the beginning of the question-and-answer session, the broadcast was interrupted and taken down because Tong had used "sensitive words" which belong to the forbidden vocabulary of the People's Republic of China (PRC).  The Paper has a section called "Ask Questions" ( 問吧 ). Tong Zhenyuan had been invited to answer netizens' questions regarding the future of Cross-Strait relations and the possibility of peaceful reunification . Some netizens asked why young Taiwanese people endorse independence and why Taiwan does not recognise China.   Tong received over 200 questions and replied to 50 of

On March 19 Mark Zuckerberg , Founder and CEO of Facebook, was received in Beijing by Liu Yunshan (刘云山), member of the Politburo Standing Committee and of the Secretariat of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) . According to Chinese media reports , Liu Yunshan said that the internet is a new common home for mankind and that shaping the future of the cyberspace community is a common responsibility of the international community (互联网是人类共同的新家园，构建网络空间命运共同体是国际社会的共同责任). "Chairman Xi Jinping 's 'Four Principles' and 'Five Propositions' regarding the administration of the World Wide Web have received widespread approval", Liu was quoted as saying.  He added that over the past twenty years China's internet has grown following "the path of development and governance with Chinese characteristics" (中国特色的发展治理之路).  Liu praised Facebook's advanced technology and management model and expressed his hope that the US company "might stre

On March 13 Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou began an official trip to the central American country of Guatemala, one of the few states that maintain diplomatic relations with Taiwan .  On the website of the Central American Parliament (Parlamento Centroamericano) Ma Ying-jeou is called "President of the Republic of China (Taiwan)". According to Taiwanese reports, other sections of the website called him simply " President of China (Taiwan) ". At a press conference, Ma Ying-jeou clarified which country he represents. "As far as the relations between our two countries are concerned", he said, "China means Republic of China ". Democratic Progressive Party legislator Luo Zhizheng (羅致政) criticised Ma's response, wondering if the Foreign Ministry could accept "Republic of China" as the country's official name. Wang Peiling (王珮玲), spokesperson of the Foreign Ministry, reiterated that "Republic of

In Taiwan , nightclubs are traditionally a matter of controversy. In a country where public ethics and reality often clash , the media tend to portray nightclubs as places of perversion and loose morals. Whoever has experienced Taiwan's night scene knows that what goes on in nightclubs can be quite extreme. But while pleasure - and specifically sexual pleasure - as an element of nightclub life cannot be ignored, the way in which one judges the individual freedom to enjoy oneself is entirely subjective.  A new type of nightclub party has recently hit the headlines in Taiwan. According to local reports, Rave Club , a popular nightclub in Taichung City, has announced on its Facebook page that on March 18 it will organise a so-called " Touch Me Party " (摸摸派對). This type of party seems to have originated in South Korea. Although Taiwan's media have noticed this phenomenon only recently, the club has been holding such parties for about a year, as pictures of " To

If you are in Hong Kong and live in North Point, chances are you have seen that guy . Middle-aged, tall, scrawny, he has a long, wrinkly face, a long nose, blue eyes. Once he shook hands with me, and I felt the power of his sinewy arms. He is from the United Kingdom and, as far as I know, he has been living in Hong Kong for a few years. You might have seen him because every day he stands at the corner of a sidewalk - usually near North Point MTR Station - and he plays guitar. That is how he earns a living. If you ever heard him play, you know he plays badly, and his singing talents are even worse than his music. And yet he manages to support himself. At least he earns enough to stay at a serviced apartment in Fortress Hill. At night, after "getting off work", he goes to McDonald's next to North Point Station and drinks there a coffee, which he regularly pays using a bunch of the coins passers-by gave him. While he counts each coin, he talks to the staff who, embarras

Hong Kong Polytechnic University (Hung Hom Campus) (photo by Baycrest ) Another student has committed suicide in Hong Kong. According to local reports, on March 13 a 21-year-old female student  of Hong Kong Polytechnic University jumped from a window of her residence in Tseung Kwan O .  Her dead body was found at around 1 p.m. The student left one suicide note for the media and others for family members and friends.  This is the fifth student suicide in Hong Kong this month. Over the past ten years, more than 110 students have committed suicide  in the former British colony. 23 students have killed themselves since the start of the current academic year - the youngest of them was just 10 years old. Only four days earlier, a third-year student of Hong Kong Faculty of Arts had killed himself. He left a suicide note in which he blamed himself for not performing well enough. The 20-year-old student, surnamed Su, was an only son and lived with his parents in Wong Tai S