Category: Love Hong Kong

Free Travel on MTR, Bus, Trams on 19 December

Even though almost everyone who wants to vote can easily walk to their polling station the government (scared of a low voter turnout?) has arranged free travel for all on Sunday 19 December, LEGCO election day.

“Members of the public will be able to enjoy free rides on the MTR, franchised buses and the tram.”

As the government puts it: “The above-mentioned public transport operators will provide free rides from the first to the last departure on that day. Services will be maintained at the normal level and be enhanced for busier routes and during peak periods subject to passenger demand and actual traffic conditions. The public transport operators will separately announce further details of the arrangement.”

The exact details of the free travel will be confirmed by the relevant companies.

Centenary of Tsim Sha Tsui Clock Tower Bell

At 6pm today, 9 December 2021, a ‘Chiming Ceremony’ commemorated the centenary of the former Kowloon-Canton Railway Clock Tower Bell. It’s the first time the bell has been heard in 70 years.

The Kowloon-Canton Railway Kowloon Terminus used to be located at the present site of the Hong Kong Cultural Centre. Designed by Arthur Benison Hubback and built on reclaimed land overlooking the harbour; the Kowloon Terminus opened in 1916 as the southernmost railway station of China and served as a gateway between the Mainland and Hong Kong.

1931 TST Air view

A lack of space for expansion saw the southern terminus move, in 1974, to a new station built on land reclaimed from Hung Hom Bay.

The station building was demolished in 1978 except the clock tower which was conserved thanks to the efforts of the Heritage Society. Additionally, six pillars of the original station building were moved to the Urban Council Centenary Garden in Tsim Sha Tsui East.

Now known as the Tsim Sha Tsui Clock Tower, the tower is a popular landmark. The Bell of the Clock Tower began service in 1921 and ceased operation in 1950.

Now in 2021 the Bell’s chime will be brought back and report the time via a digital bell system synchronised with the web clock of the Hong Kong Observatory, sounding hourly every day between 8am and midnight.

A “Centenary of the Bell – Resonance of Time” exhibition will run from 10-24 December in the foyer of the HK Cultural Centre. More information at www.hkculturalcentre.gov.hk/en/hkcc/TSTClockTower

Images courtesy of the relevant owners

Hong Kong Underwater Photo Competition 2021 Winners

The winners of the 10th Hong Kong Underwater Photo Competition 2021 – for photos taken in the year up to 30 September 2021 – have been announced and the winner in the Macro & Close-Up category is Fran Cheung for her image “Single-eyed Hairy Shrimp” (above) taken off  Yin Tsz Ngam. While Henry Li is the Champion of the Standard and Wide Angle Category.

Macro & Close-Up

First Runner-up: 
Poon Yiu Nam David – I Believe I Can Fly, taken off East Dam

Second Runner-up: 
Henry Li

Standard & Wide Angle Champion: Henry Li

First Runner-up: 
Yu Wing Chung

Second Runner-up: 
Ho Tsz Hung Daniel

Exhibition of winning entries will be held as follows:

Date: 28 November – 2 December 2021
Time: 10am to 7pm
Venue: Venue A, Level 7, Fortune Metropolis, Hung Hom

Date: 2-6 January, 2022
Time: 10am to 7pm
Venue: Atrium C, L2, MOSTown, Ma On Shan

There is also a virtual exhibition of the winning entries at www.golocal360.co/HKUPVC2021/index.htm which is online until 27 November, 2022.

A booklet about this year’s competition and the winners can be downloaded here

Hong Kong Players Compete in Virtual WESPA Championship 2021

Hong Kong has three entrants in this year’s World English Language Scrabble Players Association (WESPA) Virtual Championship 2021.

Brian Po, Thomson Law Long Yin and Douglas Tsang are playing in the Virtual WESPA Championship 2021 group stages over two weekends on woogles.io.

105 of the top Scrabble players around the world are competing in 5 groups. Brian will be in Group A, while Thomson and Douglas are in Group B. And you can catch all the action live at https://woogles.io/tournament/wespac2021

Hong Kong players Tournament schedule of  (HK time):
Brian Po (Group A)
20 & 27 Nov 15:00 v Group D
20 & 27 Nov 18:00 v Group C
21 & 28 Nov 00:00 v Group E
21 & 28 Nov 20:00 v Group B

Douglas Tsang, Thomson Law (Group B)
20 & 27 Nov 21:00 v Group E
21 & 28 Nov 14:00 v Group D
21 & 28 Nov 17:00 v Group C
21 & 28 Nov 20:00 v Group A

Find out more about competitive scrabble in Hong Kong at hkscrabble.org

There are also social Scrabble meetings, visit The Hong Kong Social Scrabble Meetup Group for details of their meetings.

Hong Kong Intangible Cultural Heritage Centre Reopens

After an extensive revamp of its exhibition materials, the Hong Kong Intangible Cultural Heritage Centre at the Sam Tung Uk Museum in the New Territories has reopened.

Declared a historical monument in 1981, Sam Tung Uk is a 200-year-old Hakka walled village that was converted into a museum in 1987. In 2016, the Intangible Cultural Heritage Office opened the “Hong Kong Intangible Cultural Heritage Centre” to raise awareness of local Hong Kong culture.

The new Lost and Sound – Hong Kong Intangible Cultural Heritage exhibit is a combination of three exhibitions exploring the vibrancy of local folk culture.

The themes of the exhibition series are Hong Kong Festivals and Traditional Craftsmanship, Ordinary ∙ Extraordinary and Sam Tung Uk and Traditional Village Culture.

Showcased are an array of local traditional cultures and craftsmanship including the techniques for making flower boards, lion heads, wood carving, Hong Kong cheongsams, guangcai, Chiu Chow sugar loafs, mahjong tiles, galvanised iron products, dim sum and bamboo steamers, as well as performances in traditional festivals such as hand puppet Cantonese opera, bayin (eight categories of instrumental music) and unicorn dance.

Sam Tung Uk Museum
2 Kwu Uk Lane,
Tsuen Wan, New Territories

Opening Hours: Monday, Wednesday to Sunday – 10 am to 6 pm.
Entry is Free

721 Yuen Long – Second Anniversary

Two years ago today… 721, as police turned their backs, hundreds of armed white-shirted men (alleged triads) attacked MTR passengers in Yuen Long station.

The police narrative of what happened in Yuen Long on the evening of 21 July, 2019 has morphed from an attack by white-clad men on ordinary people into a violent confrontation between men in white T-shirts and men wearing black.

Here’s the New York Times description of events.

HKCNews have a graphic with links and explanations of the attack.

The RTHK programme Hong Kong Connection: 721 Yuen Long Nightmare investigating the attack has been deleted as the censorship and coverup continues… The programme and a second collected CCTV footage dated 21 July from different cameras and interviewed several people there that night to reconstruct the attack’s timeline and take a closer look at the police’s action during Yuen Long’s ‘nightmare’.

https://youtu.be/mrHywuxPMV0

HK Police Demand Wix Takedown Nathan Law’s Website

Hong Kong Police requested, under threat of prosecution under the National Security Law, that Israeli company Wix disable Nathan Law‘s website 2021hkcharter.com. Wix complied.

Update: Former lawmaker Sixtus Baggio Leung website hosted by WordPress appears to also have been forced offline.

Update 3 June: Law’s website has been restored by Wix after being taken down on 31 May.

The screenshots mentioned in the letter were not included in Law’s tweet about the website takedown, here is a quote from Law’s statement about the takedown.

Law’s statement in full is below