Category: feature
Biting Satire, Charlie Hebdo’s Iconic Covers
HKU & Kennedy Town MTR Stations
http://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2014/Kennedy-Town-HKU-MTR-Stations/46641311_HZrLvj#!i=3792392706&k=hTjbngz&lb=1&s=A
Quite how, during busy periods, the MTR will get 689 mainland tourists just off a Macau Ferry and their 689 pieces of heavy wheelie luggage onto a train inside a ‘normal stop’ is anybody’s guess… However as of 6am on the 28 December after passing through HKU, the MTR’s Island Line ends in Kennedy Town instead of Sheung Wan. The two new stations, located 80m and 60m underground respectively, are efficient and well connected to to bus stops and minibus terminuses.
There’s big shiny wall murals at each station – with HKU having an interested potted history of the the University on the long corridor to exits A1 & A2. It’s an interesting 50m plus panel with some nice photos, but people reading the mural block half the space creating an irritating logjam even during the afternoon.
The Good:
Public toilets: the MTR have finally recognised that it’s customers might need a toilet, and there are public facilities inside each station.
Wifi hotspots: at each entry concourse, the MTR’s free wifi hotspots allows 5x 15 minute logins per day – registration free.
New Ticket machines: which among other things allow for checking of your Octopus transaction history and, for $3, a transaction print out.
The Bad:
Exit A at HKU station. This lift only exit is split into two parts A1 and A2 – each is bank of four elevators using a new lift tower. A1 opens at the top to offer exits at HK University and A2 which opens at the bottom onto Pokfulam Road. The lifts are double sided, with the unsigned exit side opening before the entry side. This makes for very slow lift fills – in the middle of the afternoon there was a queue. It’ll be messy in rush hour and a nightmare when raining.
Click on the photos to see more internal and external images
http://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2014/Kennedy-Town-HKU-MTR-Stations/46641311_HZrLvj#!i=3792396669&k=G8DcL7R
http://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2014/Kennedy-Town-HKU-MTR-Stations/46641311_HZrLvj#!i=3792400777&k=FkZXPKt
http://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2014/Kennedy-Town-HKU-MTR-Stations/46641311_HZrLvj#!i=3792394092&k=hMz9r8R
http://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2014/Kennedy-Town-HKU-MTR-Stations/46641311_HZrLvj#!i=3792402283&k=X7C2Bhv
The Great European Carnival Opens Today, Sort Of…
http://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2014/European-Carnival-Media-Day-22/46511057_Gg5vK3#!i=3778838542&k=4t7whS9
For the next 60 days Hong Kong’s harbourfront event space hosts the ‘Great European Carnival’ and to give it’s CEO Micheal Denmark his due – it has potential. There’s plenty of games with lots of stuffed animals and toys to win, a lovely outdoor ice skating rink, a beer tent, a community stage, food (most food stands were closed on the media tour so we can’t comment on the quality of the food) and rides…
And here’s where the problems start, the rides. There are plans for between 25 and 30 rides of all shapes and styles for adults and children alike. On the media tour, none were open – not even the most basic slide. The bumper cars were quiet, the ghosts of the Haunted House under arrest for shopping in Mong Kok… A couple of interesting looking rides were being tested, but most were still awaiting construction.
I know from spending three years working on a traveling carnival in the United States that good carnies can erect or tear-down a ride pretty fast – but these are international rides and new to Hong Kong and getting them safety checked and licensed appears to be complicated. It’s good that government is ensuring the rides are safe, but when they ask “What happens when two bumper cars hit each other…”
10 rides are scheduled to be working today, opening day – but with unbuilt and un-opened rides dotting the midway, the carnival looks like what it is, a work in progress, which is a shame.
http://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2014/European-Carnival-Media-Day-22/46511057_Gg5vK3#!i=3778867149&k=RzDHPMT
Entry costs $125 which includes 10 tokens. Games and rides use tokens – which cost $10 each. All food and beverage is cash only. There don’t appear to be any ATM’s on site. Don’t like waiting, there’s a fast track entry and ride band which costs $600.
The carnival can hold around 12,000 at any time, so at busy times, expect to queue. As I said earlier, the carnival has potential lets hope the organisers can get it fully up and running as quickly as possible, because really, there’s nothing like a day at the fair.
Great European Carnival
When: 11am – 11pm, 23 December, 2014 – 22 February, 2015
Where: New Central Harbour Front
How Much: $125
More info: www.tgec.asia
http://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2014/European-Carnival-Media-Day-22/46511057_Gg5vK3#!i=3778882716&k=P5ptkTN
Umbrella Movement – 22 December, 2014
http://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2014/Umbrella-Movement-22-December/46511051_tSsmWK#!i=3778837564&k=FJkFfmM
Outside Legco and Civic Square the Umbrella Movement’s tented enclosure fights off the cold and government as the struggle to bring competence and accountability to those ‘elected’ to run Hong Kong continues.
A ‘Lennon’ chair, re-cycling, study corner 2…
Click on the photos to see more.
http://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2014/Umbrella-Movement-22-December/46511051_tSsmWK#!i=3778833285&k=zP7hQsN
http://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2014/Umbrella-Movement-22-December/46511051_tSsmWK#!i=3778834697&k=9GWJq9v
http://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2014/Umbrella-Movement-22-December/46511051_tSsmWK#!i=3778843262&k=GBqLxJQ
http://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2014/Umbrella-Movement-22-December/46511051_tSsmWK#!i=3778837452&k=nSZ3t29
Panda by Sadhu-X
#Occupy: an expression of global conscience is an exhibition at the City Museum Kathmandu that seeks to acknowledge the art and creativity that is inspired by the spirit behind occupy.
An expression for social justice that grows into a social movement, largely with the use of social media: this is what has defined a generation’s efforts to stand up for what they believe is right, it is what has inspired thoughtful and provocative art and literature, and it is what has helped destroy the notion of staying silent, and being ignored when speaking up. If “we” see something, we say something. If “we” feel something, we do something. If those in position of delivering social justice turn a deaf ear, “we occupy.”
#Occupy resonates and is an ode to a generation looking for itself, and eager to “do something.” It is a generation occupied with liking, double tapping ♥, showing up, being seen, obsessing about everything, obsessing about self, a generation occupied with wanting to do something, to mean something.
Among the many exhibits is Panda by Sadhu-X one of two pieces commissioned by Kashish Das Shrestha the curator of “#Occupy: an expression of global conscience” who says this about Panda.
“When the International New York Times published an image by Vincent Yu (Associated Press) of Hong Kong police dragging a protestor away, I spoke with Aditya Aryal (Sadhu-X) on using that image to make a larger point about accountable systems. I also wondered if we could play with the dynamics of Banksy’s iconic protestor with flowers. So I urged Aditya to replace the protestor from Vincent Yu’s photo with something else, as Banksy replaced a Molotov cocktail with flowers. After a day, Aditya proposed a teddy bear. We eventually settled on a Panda.
In early December 2014, as the #OccupyHongKong protest was in its last throes, China extended its ‘Panda Diplomacy’ to Israel, offering to loan its zoo in Haifa two pandas. China has often used pandas as a way to extend its diplomatic relations with the receiving country. However, China’s relationship with the global ecology and wildlife is far from being diplomatic.
In November 2014, China’s top leaders were implicated in a massive illegal haul of ivory using the President’s jet. The news was based on the report ‘Vanishing Point: Criminality, Corruption and the Devastation of Tanzania’s Elephants’ published by Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA). In it, China is repeatedly declared the global leader in enabling illegal wildlife trade. In July, EIA also reported on how China’s illegal timber trade is the leading cause for loss of forest in Mozambique. And days after the Panda diplomacy made news, EIA also reported how captive-bred tiger trade in China is posing an “enforcement nightmare” and “stimulates illegal trade.”
Political unaccountability has many serious repercussions for a society, and a global ecological crisis is as serious as any. In this piece, we have tried to express both these issues, while paying homage to an iconic street art.”
Kennedy Town and HKU MTR Stations open on 28 December, 2014
The MTR’s Island line gets two new stops on the 28 December as the Kennedy Town and Hong Kong University stations open. A third stop in Sai Ying Pun has been delayed until early 2015. The first train will leave Kennedy Town for Chai Wan at 6:00am
Fares for the new stops have yet to be announced.
The details of the Sai Ying Pun discounts are as follows:
“Sai Ying Pun Station Pre-opening Special Discount Promotion”
Due to difficult ground conditions in Sai Ying Pun Station, the required number of entrances will not be completed in time to open the station in December. Instead, Sai Ying Pun Station is expected to open at the end of the first quarter in 2015. To encourage commuters living and working in the vicinity of Sai Ying Pun Station to use the new rail service from Sheung Wan Station or HKU Station, a special HK $2 “Sai Ying Pun Station Pre-opening Special Discount” will be offered to Adult Octopus users (HK$1 discount for concession Octopus) from 28 December until the opening of Sai Ying Pun Station. The discount can be obtained at self-service machine s located inside four 7-Eleven convenience stores in the Sai Ying Pun area as follows:
Shop E, Tai Hing Building, 125 Des Voeux Road West, Sai Ying Pun
Shop A, Kaiser Centre, 18 Centre Street, Sai Ying Pun
55 Bonham Road, Sai Ying Pun
240 Queen’s Road West, Sai Ying Pun
Your Rights v Police Powers
The increasing suppression of freedom of speech, the blocking of the press by the police to prevent their actions being recorded, scrutinised and exposed when illegal is fast turning Hong Kong into a police state.
There has been nothing public from the ineffectual buffoons in Legco to instruct the police to act in this manner. So one can only assume the harassment is on the instructions of Cy Leung and his Beijing puppet masters.
With this random stop, search, arrest, assault – it’s important that you know your rights and what the police are legally allowed to do. Not that, as we have seen, the police obey the law.
It’s called the Hong Kong Civil Liberties Union Protestors Rights Handbook – but it’s worth reading by anyone as it offers a good simple explanation of your basic legal rights when dealing with the police. Download a pdf copy here
The police have extensive powers, the two most relevant sections of the Police Force Ordinance are Chapter 232, section 54 entitled ‘The Power to stop, detain and search’ and Chapter 232 section 50 entitled ‘Arrest, detention and bail of suspected persons and seizure of suspected property’.
Several tweets have quoted police officers in Mong Kok as saying that if they see the same id card in their random stop and search harassments – then that person will be arrested.
The attraction of Mong Kok is wandering the streets full of wonderful street food and restaurants while trying to decide what’s to eat or buy… if that’s now been deemed illegal then it looks like a slow death for Mong Kok shops by police intimidation of their customers. I love the red bean pancakes and other pastries at the Kee Tsui Cake Shop 奇趣餅家, 135 Fa Yuen Street, but going there to buy them each week I now face the prospect of being arrested.
Or perhaps this is part of the bigger plan by the government, property tycoons and the Urban Renewal Authority to destroy the Mong Kok we love and replace it with more generic shopping malls targeting mainland tourist shoppers.