bc magazine

Hong Kong Women Win Asian Games Qualifier

Hong Kong Women’s Field Hockey Team won the Women’s Asian Games Qualifier in Jakarta to qualify for the upcoming Asian Games. Hong Kong won 5 of its six matches, conceding just one goal.

The team, coached by Arif Ali, were playing in their first tournament after a two-and-a-half-year covid imposed break. “Victories aren’t born on the field. You create them during practice even in difficult times and our ladies have proven that” said Ali.

Co-Captain Evelyn Cheung with 7 goals was the tournament’s top goal scorer.

Covid Test Needed to Enter Bars & Clubs

From today you will need a negative RAT test to enter local bars and clubs.

“Patrons are required to present proof of a negative rapid antigen test (RAT) result obtained within 24 hours before entering bars, pubs, clubs or nightclubs from June 16 to 29” announced Secretary for Food & Health Prof Sophia Chan.

According to the government announcement, customers will need to show a photo of the RAT device with their name, testing date and time written on it as proof of taking the test – before they can enter.

Local illustrator surrealhk perfectly captures the new rule.

1672 – Yuli Riswati: Domestic Worker and Citizen Journalist

https://youtu.be/pNTykPfp0fU

How a domestic worker became a fearless citizen journalist in Hong Kong | Witness Documentary (https://youtu.be/pNTykPfp0fU)

“If I can do something small to help Hong Kong people and Indonesians to put the truth in front of them to see, then it’s worth it.”

Yuli Riswati worked in Hong Kong as a domestic helper and on her days off covered news and events for Indonesians in Hong Kong on Migran Pos – a website she launched with her friends.

“Suddenly, not only was my connection with the outside world severed the connection between my name and myself was gone. My existence as a human instantly turned into a string of numbers. 1672.”

After a month in detention, Yuli was deported by Hong Kong Immigration in 2019 – even though she had a valid work visa and her employers were happy with her work.

Picnic at Tamar Park – 3rd Anniversary

Deported lawyer Samuel Bickett has published an article about what he witnessed and photographed when the Hong Kong Police attacked a peaceful anti-extradition law protest on 12 June, 2019.

June 12, 2019: What I witnessed on the Hong Kong protest movement’s first violent day

Hong Kong’s protest movement is often referred to abroad as a democracy movement. It is true that universal suffrage was, and is, one of Hongkongers’ goals. But democracy was never the primary focus of the 2019 protests. After initial protests against an onerous bill that would have allowed Hongkongers to be extradited to the Chinese Mainland, attention shifted to police brutality and justice for its victims. Of the five demands made by the protesters, three were related to police and prosecutorial abuses, and all three initially stemmed from a single day of violence: June 12, 2019.

Sunday is the third anniversary of that day. Known in Hong Kong simply as 612 (luk-yat-yi in Cantonese), that afternoon the Beijing-controlled Legislative Council (or LegCo) was planning to force through the deeply unpopular extradition bill. In response, Hongkongers staged a general strike and organized a protest in front of the LegCo Building. The demonstration was authorized and largely peaceful, but police soon rushed in with batons and shields, and shot tear gas, rubber bullets and bean bag rounds into the crowd. Protesters were arrested, and countless people were injured. The police declared the event a riot, despite the fact that they instigated the violence themselves.

I was at the demonstration that day. This is what I witnessed…

Read the rest of the article here https://samuelbickett.substack.com/

image and text: Samuel Bickett

Tian’anmen Square Vigil – 4 June, 2022

Today we honour and remember those who died in and around Tian’anmen Square in 1989.

We take time to light a candle in their memory! Not to make a political statement but because honouring and remembering those who have died is an important and integral part of Hong Kong, Chinese and yes English culture.

That some would threaten violence towards those who wish to remember the dead says far more about them than us… What next, will Ching Ming Festival be banned as well?

HKPPA News Photo of the Year: The Pillar of Shame

The Hong Kong Press Photographers Association (HKPPA) has announced the winner of its annual “Focus on the Frontline” photo competition.

The 2021 winner is HK01‘s Liu Ngan Hung for his photo “The Pillar of Shame” depicting workers removing the Pillar of Shame from HKU. The statue remembers those murdered when the People’s Liberation Army opened fire on democracy protesters in Tian’anmen Square on 4 June 1989.

The “Focus On The Frontline” photo contest began in 1993 and has become one of the most prestigious awards for local photojournalists. Through the competition, the HKPPA looks for photographs that are important to Hong Kong’s history and which combine the elements of art and journalism.

Commenting on the winner “The jury thinks ‘The Pillar of Shame’ reflects the Hong Kong people’s sustained concern over June 4th, which is also a yearning and worries for the country’s democratisation. As workers removed the pillar in the twilight, it symbolises the freedoms of thought and expression once cherished in Hong Kong being dispossessed. The lighting condition and framing of the photograph gives it a baroque aesthetic, bringing tension to the work. The posture of workers lowering their heads to avoid being photographed and the darkness that envelopes the action are metaphorical, constructing a meaning that is more than the sum of all the visual elements in the image.”

Ming Pao’s Lam Oi Yee image of people drinking on a street, metres away from a fatal car accident came second in the Spot News category.

Vinexpo Rebrands and Moves to Singapore in 2023

After twenty years Vinexpo Hong Kong is no more. The government’s covid restrictions on travel and the bar and restaurant trade have essentially forced the popular wine exhibition to leave Hong Kong for a location where over 1000 global exhibitors will be able to participate.

CEO of Vinexposium Rodolphe Lameyse commented on the move “Unfortunately I and my shareholders consider that Hong Kong is not where we want to be in the future.”

Vinexpo Asia will take place at Marina Bay Sands, Singapore from 23-25 May 2023.

Project 4th June, a 24-hour Online Dance Commemoration of Tiananmen

Singaporean artist Ming Poon, aka Ming Apur, likes as he puts it to use choreography as a “tool to interrogate, disrupt and re-organise the social and political relationality of the body in time and space.”

Poon’s latest work is Project June 4th a 24-hour online commemoration of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests that looks to use dance to speak out against state censorship of peaceful dissent, criticism and the erasure and rewriting of history. For as Poon says “Once we forget, history repeats itself and the oppressors become emboldened”.

On 4 June 1989 the peaceful mass student protests in Tiananmen Square were ended by military force. Although more than 30 years have passed, the Chinese government still suppresses any mention or acknowledgement of the incident.

On 5 June a single man stood against a column of tanks… Project 4th June commemorates those who were murdered, the movement and choreography of Tank Man represents as Poon puts it “the potential that lies within ordinary persons to stop the machines of violence and oppression. It is also a call-out to stand up against injustice, no matter how small we think we are and how insurmountable we think the task is.”

6 dancers will take turns performing Tank Man throughout the 24-hour commemoration. Each will attempt to interpret the choreography in a way that expresses their individual thoughts and relationship to the Tiananmen Square incident, state censorship and the fight for human rights and democracy.

The 6 dancers are:
1. Pink Tank: “Watch out, the world is not behind you.”
2. Tank Ghost: “Of Ghosts and Shells”
3. Tank Zheng: “No Tank On Rainbow”
4. Tank Sexy: “The Days Without Cigarettes / 沒有煙抽的日子“
5. Tank Plant: “Planting the Reality”
6. Tank Critique Critique: “Which Tanks Do You Need To Stand In Front Of?”

If you want to watch, join or participate (see the video above for the choreography) in the commemoration Poon has an event etiquette to help make it safe for everyone. Keep your identity, as well as others’ anonymous!

If you turn on your camera during the commemoration, put on a mask before doing so. Also, make sure that your background does not reveal any personal information, ideally sit with a blank wall as your background.
Microphones will be turned OFF by default throughout the commemoration, to avoid voice detection.
Before entering the commemoration room, replace your display name with an alias. Your alias should be written in the following manner: Tank ___ (e.g., Tank Person, Tank ABC, Tank 123, etc,). Do not include any personal information in it.

Project June 4th
Date: 4 June, 2022 (
Venue: live stream on Zoom and Youtube
Tickets: Free
More info: www.mingapur.com
live stream on Zoom and Youtube