Author: simon

Big Buddha Renovations

The Big Buddha, or to give it it’s official name the Tian Tan Giant Buddha, at the Po Lin Monastery will be closed for maintenance and repair work from the 2 June 2020.

The repairs involve the cleaning of the bronze statue, which opened in 1989, to remove the oxidation layer and pollutants. During the maintenance, the area around the statue will be closed to the public but the monastery and religious ceremonies will continue as usual and visitors are welcome.

Image: Po Lin Monastery

Instagram’s ’90-second rule’ on Livestreams

To deter music copyright infringement Instagram is implementing a ’90-second rule’ on Livestreams.

Users will now only be allowed to play 90 seconds of a copyrighted material before being kicked off the stream and there’s also a pop-up to warn people when they are approaching the limit.

You can read the new guideline here.

For those who like to livestream, Instagram’s owner Facebook is now offering pay-to-watch streams.

Joint Statement from the UK, Australia, Canada, and United States on Hong Kong

Joint statement by UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne, Canadian Foreign Minister François-Philippe Champagne, and US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo responding to China’s proposed new security law for Hong Kong.

Signatories to this statement reiterate our deep concern regarding Beijing’s decision to impose a national security law in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong has flourished as a bastion of freedom. The international community has a significant and long-standing stake in Hong Kong’s prosperity and stability. Direct imposition of national security legislation on Hong Kong by the Beijing authorities, rather than through Hong Kong’s own institutions as provided for under Article 23 of the Basic Law, would curtail the Hong Kong people’s liberties, and in doing so, dramatically erode Hong Kong’s autonomy and the system that made it so prosperous.

China’s decision to impose the new national security law on Hong Kong lies in direct conflict with its international obligations under the principles of the legally-binding, UN-registered Sino-British Joint Declaration. The proposed law would undermine the One Country, Two Systems framework. It also raises the prospect of prosecution in Hong Kong for political crimes, and undermines existing commitments to protect the rights of Hong Kong people – including those set out in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

We are also extremely concerned that this action will exacerbate the existing deep divisions in Hong Kong society; the law does nothing to build mutual understanding and foster reconciliation within Hong Kong.

Rebuilding trust across Hong Kong society by allowing the people of Hong Kong to enjoy the rights and freedoms they were promised can be the only way back from the tensions and unrest that the territory has seen over the last year.

The world’s focus on a global pandemic requires enhanced trust in governments and international cooperation. Beijing’s unprecedented move risks having the opposite effect.

As Hong Kong’s stability and prosperity are jeopardised by the new imposition, we call on the Government of China to work with the Hong Kong SAR Government and the people of Hong Kong to find a mutually acceptable accommodation that will honour China’s international obligations under the UN-filed Sino-British Joint Declaration.

This statement was published on the UK Government website on 28 May, 2020.

Hong Kong Protests – Wanchai – 24 May, 2020

After Beijing’s announcement of the unilateral imposition of a ‘National Security’ law on Hong Kong the first post Wuhan virus protest demonstration occurred, after the police rejected an application for a march, on 24 May, 2020.

Thousands of people walked peacefully from Causeway Bay towards Wanchai to register their protest against Beijing’s actions. The streets resonating to the strains of what has become Hong Kong’s unofficial national anthem Glory to Hong Kong – including a plaintive mouth-organ version.

And as with the marches and demonstrations in 2019, attendees were peaceful – until hundreds of police dressed in riot gear and armed to the teeth with all their new ‘toys’ arrived to create tensions where none existed before.

Looking to annoy and irritate for no reason:
Blocking shoppers from using the escalator to access the bridge from Pacific Place to the Admiralty MTR and forcing people to climb the stairs outside.

30 or so police charging up onto the pedestrian bridge at Wanchai MTR threatening people going to the station, blocking the entrance for five minutes – until the about twenty people trying to use the bridge had descended the stairs to walk to use another entrance/cross the road before they ran off…

Launching rounds of tear gas down Hennessy Road, when the road was empty…

Intimidating reporters through stop and search, spraying them with pepper spray.

Apparently a couple of ‘protester’s broke the windows of a store in Causeway Bay – but there are so many plainclothes police deployed now, who have (sadly) been seen caught and charged with initiating violence and criminal damage, that it’s impossible to describe them as anything other than persons dressed in black until further information, is known.

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2020/Hong-Kong-Protests-Wanchai-24-May-2020/i-DmRRvXw

What was caught on video (credit @WilliamYang120) was a policeman in riot uniform walking into a convenience store and stealing a bottle of water. Why hasn’t he been arrested and charged? If it was a member of the public, they would have been. After the video emerged on twitter, police (media liaison officers?) went to the shop to pay for the water.

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2020/Hong-Kong-Protests-Wanchai-24-May-2020/i-rdCT8RF

Under Beijing’s new law, likely you would not be able to read this article. The press would not be allowed to take photos and videos of the many acts of violence the police have perpetrated on HongKongers over the last year.

If the police have nothing to hide why do they actively try to stop the media from recording arrests and enforcement actions?

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2020/Hong-Kong-Protests-Wanchai-24-May-2020/i-jSF7Kkh

More images here

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2020/Hong-Kong-Protests-Wanchai-24-May-2020/i-krVQsm4/A

General Holidays for 2021 Announced

The following list of general holidays for 2021 have been gazetted:

Holiday Date Weekday
The first day of January 1 January Friday
Lunar New Year’s Day 12 February Friday
Second day of Lunar New Year 13 February Saturday
Fourth day of Lunar New Year 15 February Monday
Good Friday 2 April Friday
Easter Saturday 3 April Saturday
Day following Ching Ming Festival 5 April Monday
Day following Easter Monday 6 April Tuesday
Labour Day 1 May Saturday
Birthday of the Buddha 10 May Wednesday
Tuen Ng Festival 14 June Monday
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Establishment Day 1 July Thursday
Day following the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival 22 September Wednesday
National Day 1 October Friday
Chung Yeung Festival 14 October Thursday
Christmas Day 25 December Saturday
The first weekday after Christmas Day 27 December Monday

Notes: A Government spokesman said, “As the third day of the Lunar New Year in 2021 falls on a Sunday, the fourth day of the Lunar New Year is designated as a general holiday in substitution. Furthermore, as the Ching Ming Festival in 2021 falls on a Sunday, the following day will be designated as a general holiday in substitution. However, as the day following the Ching Ming Festival and Easter Monday fall on the same day, the next day that is not itself a general holiday will be observed as an additional general holiday.

Joe Bananas 21 Anniversary – 29 September, 2007

Joe Bananas, a Hong Kong institution, turned 21 on the 29 September, 2007

Click on any image or here for the full gallery of photographs.

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2007/Joe-Bananas-21-Anniversary-29-Sept-2007/i-c4Lwb9W

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2007/Joe-Bananas-21-Anniversary-29-Sept-2007/i-k6CPXHt

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2007/Joe-Bananas-21-Anniversary-29-Sept-2007/i-26jrkRq

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2007/Joe-Bananas-21-Anniversary-29-Sept-2007/i-FZVd5P9

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2007/Joe-Bananas-21-Anniversary-29-Sept-2007/i-r7T8BSZ

RIP Mark Andrew Rendell

Tragically Mark Andrew Rendell died recently of a suspected heart attack.

Mark worked many jobs while living in Hong Kong for almost 30 years. For the last few he managed a Wanchai bar, creating a vibe that attracted a wide and eclectic mix of customers who happily made it their local.

bc offers our condolences to his family. RIP my friend.