Tag: China

Chinese Documentary Festival 2015

Chinese Documentary Festival 2015

The Chinese Documentary Festival 2015 featuring 31 documentaries from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and France starts on 8 September with 40 screenings running until the 5 October. There’s an Award Ceremony on the 19 September to announce the winners in the three competition categories Hong Kong Documentary, Documentary Features and Documentary Shorts.

Hong Kong Documentary
This year the Festival again includes a Hong Kong Documentary Award with an aim to promoting local films. There were over 30 Hong Kong entries with eight making it to the festival. ‘Search for one’s identity’ is a popular theme among Hong Kong entries, this includes Tsang Tsui Shan’s Flowing Stories and Wong Siu Pong’s Connection. Karl shows us the social and familial pressure faced by a student movement leader. Taiwanese director Kuo Shiao-yun’s inspiring film, Adversity Challengers, follows a group of Hong Kong youth competing in Taiwan cycling contest. A new work by agricultural activist Chan Hao Lun, Open Road after Harvest, focuses on three contemporary farmers. Van Drivers by Kanas Liu is the story of a group of volunteer van drivers who transported supplies back and forth to the protestors during the Umbrella Movement.

Lee Po

Features
Competition is fierce in this year’s features category. Celebrated Taiwanese director Yang Li Zhou’s The Moment – Fifty Years of Golden Horse narrates in a light-hearted manner the history of Taiwan’s Golden Horse Awards. Bridge Over Troubled Water is filmed in a small village where a tug of war competition by primary school students takes place. It also looks at the issue of immigrant brides. It is uplifting without being sentimental. Ninth Uncle and Heaven’s Will from China allow us a glimpse of the country’s social condition through the eyes of two ‘nobodies’. Su Beng, the Revolutionist, is the biography of the 90 year old political activist. Wu Kang: The Village Committee is a remarkable documentation of the resistance in Shantou’s Wu Kang village and the changes that followed. The Taste of Apple follows Next Media, from its move to Taiwan to its sell-off which has sparked off a fierce discussion on Taiwan’s freedom of the press.

Bridge Over Troubled Water

Shorts
The short films include Taiwan’s Water is Life, a film about conservation whose underwater filming is absolutely stunning. Old Soul looks at five people from different fields who share the same commitment to conservation and the future of Taiwan’s agriculture. One of the protagonists is the director of Water is Life Ke Chin-yuan. In Southland Soldier, a group of soldiers who once fought in Burma for the Chinese Nationalist Party find themselves forgotten by the government and are left to face the plight of forced relocation and land reclamation in a foreign land. Fishing Life, Lingering Sound documents Taiwan’s soon to be extinct fish fry counting technique. Cantonese Rice is an attempt by a French born Chinese-German woman to understand the longing for their homeland of the older generations living overseas.

New Taipei City Documentaries
The New Taipei City Documentaries features six award-winning works with different topics and styles. Some of the Taiwanese directors will attend the festival’s seminars to share their experience on filming and how to promote their works.

Seminars
The festival includes four seminars including Go Hong Kong or Mainland China where two directors from Hong Kong and Taiwan whose works all focus on ‘the search of identity’ talk about their own views on immigration. Freedom of press in Hong Kong and Taiwan hosted by The Taste of Apple’s director Kevin H.J. Lee where local journalists discuss the freedom of press and the hegemony of large corporates. Hong Kong and Taiwan Agricultural Documentaries”invites several speakers including directors Ke Chin-yuan and Chan Ho Lun who are strongly committed to agricultural issues to share their views on agriculture in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Special Selection
There are three special selections at the 2015 festival. Sunflower Occupation is about Taiwan’s Sunflower Movement. The other two are in a genre less familiar for audiences –the mockumentary. Taiwan’s We Are Happy Family and Hong Kong’s The Aqueous Truth blur the line between fiction and reality and are meant to provoke discussion and self-reflection.

Chinese Documentary Festival
Date: 8 September to 5 October, 2015
Venue:
HK Arts Centre, agnès b. CINEMA (2 Harbour Road, Wanchai)
HK Space Museum, Lecture Hall (10 Salisbury Road, TST)
HK Science Museum, Lecture Hall (2 Science Museum Road, TST)
Tickets: $65 from Urbtix
More info: www.cdf.asia

Additional reporting: Visible Record

NPC Decision on HK Chief Executive Election by Universal Suffrage

August 31st marks the one year anniversary of the publication of the Decision of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress on Issues Relating to the Selection of the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region by Universal Suffrage.

For those who have not read it, here is the full text

Decision of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress on Issues Relating to the Selection of the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region by Universal Suffrage and on the Method for Forming the Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in the Year 2016

(Adopted at the Tenth Session of the Standing Committee of the Twelfth National People’s Congress on 31 August 2014)

The Standing Committee of the Twelfth National People’s Congress considered at its Tenth Session the Report on whether there is a need to amend the methods for selecting the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in 2017 and for forming the Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in 2016 submitted by Leung Chun-ying, the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, on 15 July 2014. In the course of deliberation, the relevant views and suggestions of the Hong Kong community were given full consideration.

The Session points out that according to the Decision of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress on Issues Relating to the Methods for Selecting the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and for Forming the Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in the Year 2012 and on Issues Relating to Universal Suffrage adopted by the Standing Committee of the Tenth National People’s Congress at its Thirty-first Session on 29 December 2007, the election of the fifth Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in the year 2017 may be implemented by the method of universal suffrage; at an appropriate time prior to the selection of the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region by universal suffrage, the Chief Executive shall make a report to the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress as regards the issue of amending the method for selecting the Chief Executive in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Hong Kong Basic Law and the Interpretation by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of Article 7 of Annex I and Article III of Annex II to the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China, and a determination thereon shall be made by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress. From 4 December 2013 to 3 May 2014, the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region conducted an extensive and in-depth public consultation on the methods for selecting the Chief Executive in 2017 and for forming the Legislative Council in 2016. In the course of consultation, the Hong Kong community generally expressed the hope to see the selection of the Chief Executive by universal suffrage in 2017, and broad consensus was reached on important principles such as: the method for selecting the Chief Executive by universal suffrage shall comply with the Hong Kong Basic Law and the relevant Decisions of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress and the Chief Executive shall be a person who loves the country and loves Hong Kong. With respect to the methods for selecting the Chief Executive by universal suffrage in 2017 and for forming the Legislative Council in 2016, the Hong Kong community put forward various views and suggestions. It was on this basis that the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region made a report to the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress on issues relating to amending the methods for selecting the Chief Executive in 2017 and for forming the Legislative Council in 2016. The Session is of the view that the report complies with the requirements of the Hong Kong Basic Law, the Interpretation by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of Article 7 of Annex I and Article III of Annex II to the Hong Kong Basic Law and the relevant Decisions of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, and reflects comprehensively and objectively the views collected during the public consultation; and is thus a positive, responsible and pragmatic report.

The Session is of the view that implementing universal suffrage for the selection of the Chief Executive represents a historic progress in Hong Kong’s democratic development and a significant change in the political structure of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Since the long-term prosperity and stability of Hong Kong and the sovereignty, security and development interests of the country are at stake, there is a need to proceed in a prudent and steady manner. The selection of the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region by universal suffrage has its origin in Paragraph 2 of Article 45 of the Hong Kong Basic Law: “The method for selecting the Chief Executive shall be specified in the light of the actual situation in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and in accordance with the principle of gradual and orderly progress. The ultimate aim is the selection of the Chief Executive by universal suffrage upon nomination by a broadly representative nominating committee in accordance with democratic procedures.” The formulation of the method for selecting the Chief Executive by universal suffrage must strictly comply with the relevant provisions of the Hong Kong Basic Law, accord with the principle of “one country, two systems”, and befit the legal status of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. It must meet the interests of different sectors of the society, achieve balanced participation, be conducive to the development of the capitalist economy, and make gradual and orderly progress in developing a democratic system that suits the actual situation in Hong Kong. Given the divergent views within the Hong Kong community on how to implement the Hong Kong Basic Law provisions on universal suffrage for selecting the Chief Executive, and in light of the constitutional responsibility of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress for the proper implementation of the Hong Kong Basic Law and for deciding on the method for the selection of the Chief Executive, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress finds it necessary to make provisions on certain core issues concerning the method for selecting the Chief Executive by universal suffrage, so as to facilitate the building of consensus within the Hong Kong community and the attainment of universal suffrage for the selection of the Chief Executive smoothly and in accordance with law.

The Session is of the view that since the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall be accountable to both the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the Central People’s Government in accordance with the provisions of the Hong Kong Basic Law, the principle that the Chief Executive has to be a person who loves the country and loves Hong Kong must be upheld. This is a basic requirement of the policy of “one country, two systems”. It is determined by the legal status as well as important functions and duties of the Chief Executive, and is called for by the actual need to maintain long-term prosperity and stability of Hong Kong and uphold the sovereignty, security and development interests of the country. The method for selecting the Chief Executive by universal suffrage must provide corresponding institutional safeguards for this purpose.

The Session is of the view that the amendments made to the method for forming the fifth term Legislative Council in 2012 represented major strides towards the direction of enhancing democracy. The existing formation method and voting procedures for the Legislative Council as prescribed in Annex II to the Hong Kong Basic Law will not be amended, and will continue to apply in respect of the sixth term Legislative Council in 2016. This is consistent with the principle of gradual and orderly progress in developing a democratic system that suits Hong Kong’s actual situation and conforms to the majority view in the Hong Kong community. It also helps the various sectors of the Hong Kong community to focus their efforts on addressing the issues concerning universal suffrage for selecting the Chief Executive first, thus creating the conditions for attaining the aim of electing all the members of the Legislative Council by universal suffrage after the implementation of universal suffrage for the selection of the Chief Executive.

Accordingly, pursuant to the relevant provisions of the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China, the Interpretation by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of Article 7 of Annex I and Article III of Annex II to the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China and the Decision of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress on Issues Relating to the Methods for Selecting the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and for Forming the Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in the Year 2012 and on Issues Relating to Universal Suffrage, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress makes the following decision:

I. Starting from 2017, the selection of the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region may be implemented by the method of universal suffrage.

II. When the selection of the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is implemented by the method of universal suffrage:

(1) A broadly representative nominating committee shall be formed. The provisions for the number of members, composition and formation method of the nominating committee shall be made in accordance with the number of members, composition and formation method of the Election Committee for the Fourth Chief Executive.

(2) The nominating committee shall nominate two to three candidates for the office of Chief Executive in accordance with democratic procedures. Each candidate must have the endorsement of more than half of all the members of the nominating committee.

(3) All eligible electors of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region have the right to vote in the election of the Chief Executive and elect one of the candidates for the office of Chief Executive in accordance with law.

(4) The Chief Executive-elect, after being selected through universal suffrage, will have to be appointed by the Central People’s Government.

III. The specific method of universal suffrage for selecting the Chief Executive shall be prescribed in accordance with legal procedures through amending Annex I to the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China: The Method for the Selection of the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The bill on the amendments and the proposed amendments to such bill shall be introduced by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government to the Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in accordance with the Hong Kong Basic Law and the provisions of this Decision. Such amendments shall obtain the endorsement of a two-thirds majority of all the members of the Legislative Council and the consent of the Chief Executive before being submitted to the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress for approval.

IV. If the specific method of universal suffrage for selecting the Chief Executive is not adopted in accordance with legal procedures, the method used for selecting the Chief Executive for the preceding term shall continue to apply.

V. The existing formation method and voting procedures for the Legislative Council as prescribed in Annex II to the Hong Kong Basic Law will not be amended. The formation method and procedures for voting on bills and motions of the fifth term Legislative Council will continue to apply to the sixth term Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in 2016. After the election of the Chief Executive by universal suffrage, the election of all the members of the Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region may be implemented by the method of universal suffrage. At an appropriate time prior to the election of the Legislative Council by universal suffrage, the Chief Executive elected by universal suffrage shall submit a report to the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Hong Kong Basic Law and the Interpretation by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of Article 7 of Annex I and Article III of Annex II to the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China as regards the issue of amending the method for forming the Legislative Council. A determination thereon shall be made by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress.

The Session stresses that it is the consistent position of the central authorities to implement resolutely and firmly the principles of “one country, two systems”, “Hong Kong people administering Hong Kong” and a high degree of autonomy, strictly adhere to the Hong Kong Basic Law and steadily take forward the selection of the Chief Executive by universal suffrage in 2017. It is hoped that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government and all sectors of the Hong Kong community will act in accordance with the provisions of the Hong Kong Basic Law and this Decision and jointly work towards the attainment of the aim of selecting the Chief Executive by universal suffrage.

Hong Kong v China in Shenzhen – 3 September – Ticket details

Hong Kong v China

Hong Kong will travel to Shenzhen to face China on Thursday, September 3 for their next match on the road to the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

The match will be played at the Shenzhen Baoan Sports Centre Stadium and a total number of 28,000 tickets will be available for public sale from the Chinese Football Association (CFA) on Tuesday, August 18. 2,200 tickets, individually priced at RMB480, have been allocated to supporters from Hong Kong and they are located at Lower Level 124, 125, 126 & Upper Level 228, 229 and 230 of the stadium.

HK supporters holding valid Home Visit Permit/ passport can access to http://www.mypiao.com for online ticket purchase.

Tickets bought will be sent by express delivery se remember to fill in your full mailing address. To get into the stadium you’ll need to present both the ticket and your Home Visit Permit/ passport.

Remember – 3 September is a national holiday in China and a one-off public holiday in Hong Kong to celebrate the 70th Anniversary of Japan’s surrender.

China Football Association poster
“Do not estimate any opponent. In this team, there are black-skinned, yellow-skinned, and white-skinned players. We must be cautious against a team with so many colour layers”.

Hong Kong Football Association
“Do not let others look down on us. Our team has blacks, yellows, and whites, and our only goal is to show them what Hong Kong is made of. Support us if you’re a true Hongkonger!”

hong-kong-team-photo-june-2015

Hong Kong v China
Date: 3 September, 2015
Venue: Shenzhen Baoan Sports Centre Stadium, Shenzhen, China
Tickets: RMB480

3 September 2015, One-off Public Holiday

An extra one-off public holiday on 3 September 2015 has been approved by Legco. Local lawmakers approved the controversial ‘political’ holiday a few months after Beijing announced that September 3 will be a holiday to mark the 70th anniversary of Japan’s surrender in the World War II.

Lee Cheuk-yan of the Labour Party said: “It is sad to see that the Leung Chun-ying government must follow Beijing’s order even over a holiday.” While Dr Kwok Ka-ki of the Civic Party said: “It is a political holiday. It is a product of the bad relations between Beijing and Tokyo, and Beijing wants to make use of the opportunity to do something to embarrass and criticise Japan. If the Hong Kong government cares so much about Chinese history, why does it not designate the birthday of Dr Sun Yat-sen as a public holiday?”

While millions of Chinese died fighting the Japanese during World War II, China itself did not exist and the CCP itself did absolutely nothing to end the conflict. Japan surrendered unconditionally on the 11 August 1945 after the US dropped two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

To create a new public holiday to celebrate the surrender seems nothing more than Beijing having a dig at Japan and looking to keep open wounds which the rest of the world closed years ago. To create a new holiday to remember the rumoured 14-20 million who died and the many millions more who became refugees would be respectful, but that doesn’t fit in the CCP’s China is great narrative which stirs the fires of patriotism when it needs to distract attention from a failure.

Why More Independence for Hong Kong Makes Sense

one country two systems

The Chinese economy is now facing its strongest challenges for a generation and Xi JinPing’s best efforts to create a nationalistic, shareholder, last stand for the stock market seem to have largely failed. What the fall out from this will be we can only speculate, but the enormous economic disaster that is the Chinese economy is not of Hong Kong’s making. Back in the colonial days, if the British economy collapsed, Hong Kong would not be expected to fall on its sword in sympathy.  Likewise, given the stormy times ahead for China, Hong Kongers should not be looking at going down with the sinking ship, but instead working on preserving what makes the city different, or the Two Systems part of the Basic Law. Given this, the idea of a Hong Kong City State becomes increasingly more viable and appealing.

The impracticalities of a Hong Kong City State are often premised on the geopolitics of Asia remaining similar to what it has been for the last 30 years. But once you accept the premise that the geopolitics of Asia are heading into turbulent seas, then the question of how best Hong Kong can survive the storm becomes much more pertinent and pressing. More independence and autonomy, and not less, suddenly become compelling.

When you live in the shadow, of the overly jealous and malign CCP, even uttering the word independence under your breath is high treason against The Party. Certainly, there are significant amounts of people who believe the independence debate in Hong Kong was created by the CCP to create social division within the democratic movement and brand everyone who opposes the government as splitists.  In China, there can be no worse a traitor than a splitist. However, most of the anti-independence arguments are actually ill-thought out if we work back from 2047. For, when we look at the pros and cons of more independence based on 2047 as a starting point, it starts to make a lot of sense and a much smarter path to follow than blithely accepting whatever bones the CCP wishes to throw Hong Kong erstwhile its own economy and political system rips itself apart.

It’s not too early to ask the question, what will happen come 2047? Does Hong Kong law become superseded by Mainland law? Because if that’s going to be the case, the day this is officially announced, whether it be tomorrow or in ten years time, will be like pulling a plug on the city. Money, resources and people will stampede to safer havens. Those that faithfully pledge their full allegiance to The Party, will be left in a hollow shell of a city as anything that creates real, global value will be gone.

If your argument against greater Hong Kong independence is that HK’s unchangeable destiny is to eventually be  fully assimilated into CCP’s China and become a carbon copy of any other CCP city then you must first be clear what these other cities will look like in five years time, or even five months time! Simply pointing out that we need to be more like ‘them’, but having no clue what ‘them’ will look like and having zero control of how ‘they’ are created is no plan at all. Hong Kong certainly has all the tools to make a positive contribution to the place known as China for many years to come. The same can’t be said of the multitude of cites we’re supposed to be more like, and that includes Shanghai. The most likely future for these cities are astronomically high, local debts, huge environmental clean-up bills, violent, social unrest and rampant corruption. None of which Hong Kong suffers from yet. Hong Kong has everything it needs to protect itself from such a bleak future, but unfortunately the current government seems intent on throwing away all the city’s global advantages in a lame attempt to show loyalty to a broken political part that pretends its a country.

No one who advocates greater independence is dreaming that Hong Kong isn’t part of China in a physical sense, but being geographically part of a continent and being ruined by the politically oppressive CCP are not one-in-the-same. The CCP is not China, it is not the country, neither is it the people. It is a shadowy, political organisation with a horrific track record for wreaking havoc upon the peoples of China throughout its very short and violent tenure. There will come a time when the CCP no longer holds power, but there will still be a China and also city in its south called Hong Kong. This is what the independence debate is based on, a practical approach to preservation, and there’s a lot to be protected here in this quasi-City State. This is the true pragmatic path for Hong Kongers now, or how does Hong Kong negotiate the impending disaster that is the CCP’s complete loss of trust in China and not be destroyed with it?

Currently the CCP tirelessly tries to bewitch pragmatists in Hong Kong with the narrative that the only future lies with them, a transient and decaying political entity, motivated by self-preservation and quick gain. However this lie becomes increasingly less convincing with every passing week.  Hong Kongers are no stranger in handling inept northern governments. They have played this game for almost two centuries and they know when the winds of change howl, and China looks like a shaky pile of eggs (危如累卵 – Wei Ru Lei Luan), their future lies in protecting their own autonomy and not integrating more into turmoil.

The opinions in this article are of those of the writer, if you agree or disagree feel free to leave a comment here or on our facebook page. The wonders of a free press allow for a discussion and debate of ideas – unlike north of the border.

cartoon: www.anntelnaes.com

Yes! Dongfeng on the Podium!

For China, the Volvo Ocean Race, and all those who thought we couldn’t do it. Dongfeng Race Team secured a place on the podium of the Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15 at their first attempt today in Gothenburg, Sweden – an incredible achievement for Charles Caudrelier and his Chinese backed team.

However this podium finish reaches further than just the realms of the team. It touches the Chinese sponsors Dongfeng Trucks, Aeolus Tyres and the city of Shiyan, who took the risk of financially backing the campaign, for whom sponsorship and sailing were completely new just last year. It is a huge reward for the professional sailors and shore team who embraced the project knowing that it was not labelled a ‘winning’ campaign. And finally, it touches the journalists, family, friends, fans and everyone else who believed in us and supported us on our journey.

Winning comes in many forms, we didn’t take the trophy home but does that mean we didn’t win? Maybe we didn’t win the Volvo Ocean Race but we won our own challenge.

It’s true that this 12th edition of the Volvo Ocean Race has been epic and unbelievably, after 11 countries, over 41,000 nautical miles, two leg wins, five podium results out of nine, one broken mast and it it all came down to the last few miles. Dongfeng Race Team finished leg 9 in fourth place behind Team Alvimedica, Team Brunel and MAPFRE. The Spanish frustratingly managed to slip in front of Dongfeng a few hundred metres from the line after being covered all the way from The Hague by the Caudrelier-Bidegorry duo. But it was enough for Dongfeng to secure the overall podium place they deserved – Mapfre had to beat Dongfeng by two places to overtake them in the overall standings.

 

So whilst there was some disappointment on their faces from missing a leg 9 podium after putting so much energy in to these past few days, the overall third place is a great victory for a team for whom a podium finish in Gothenburg was just a distant dream.

“I want to thank Dongfeng and Bruno for giving me this opportunity. A year ago I never would have believed this possible. I have lived the most incredible human story with this team and I am so proud of the progress of the Chinese sailors. Turning Chinese athletes including HongKonger Cheng Ying-kit into professional offshore sailors was challenging but it was worth every second.” – Charles Caudrelier.

In most people’s mind the concept of winning is an absolute. Technically, Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing has won this race, and we congratulate them, they were there the favourites, they delivered, and they deserved it. They got first place, they held an unassailable lead coming in to Gothenburg and they will take the trophy home. So what does this tell us? Well, we know they were the ‘race favourites’ and as Charles said “It’s hard to be the race favourites and even harder to maintain that image. They’ve done a great job.”

But for Dongfeng Race Team it has been a different story. Hardly race favourites, from day one this Chinese campaign has faced adversity and sometimes it’s been draining, both physically and emotionally. It’s a given that if we had a dollar for every tear, drop of sweat and laughter over the last nine months, we would be millionaires today.

As a campaign we wanted to reignite offshore sailing in China. We wanted to build a campaign the Chinese people could take ownership of, something they were proud of. We wanted to inspire a new generation of sailors and we had a mission to teach and train young Chinese sailors, take a first step in the right direction to bring offshore sailing to China and if we could, leave a Volvo Ocean Race legacy.

“There is still a long way to go but I know from the reaction back home this project has been great for offshore sailing in China,” says Yang Jiru (Wolf). “I hope it will inspire young Chinese sailors for years to come. Eighteen months of this life with this team has taught me a lot. Besides offshore sailing it has taught me how to deal with situations and emotions I would have never otherwise faced.”

This team defied the odds, and ultimately became a team that could win – if not this time, then in the future…

This time though – Charles Caudrelier, Chen Jin Hao (Horace), Pascal Bidégorry, Yang Jiru (Wolf), Thomas Rouxel, Liu Xue (Black), Eric Peron, Cheng Ying Kit, Yann Riou, Sam Greenfield, Kevin Escoffier, Liu Ming (Leo) and Kong Chencheng – and the whole team – be proud.

Vetoed 28 – 8!

change-governemnt

The Beijing dictated ‘Motion Concerning the Amendment to the Method for the Selection of the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region’ a method of faux Universal Suffrage has been vetoed by the Hong Kong Legislature by 28 Votes to 8

The vote took place at 12:33 today far earlier than many expected after all the Legco members who wished to speak had done so and a vote was called for.

In a strategy based on the rule that at least 35 members have to present before a bill can be put to a vote, the Pro-Beijing Legco members walked out of the Chamber. If not enough members are present, the Chairman will ring the bell to ask for members to return to the hall. If there still is not enough people present after 15 minutes, the meeting will be adjourned.

However, not enough Pro Beijing members walked out and 36 Legco members remained, and the vote proceeded.

There’s long faces all around on the Pro-Beijing lawmakers, ironic really that they failed to vote on the reform measure because they didn’t understand the Democratic processes of the Legislature.

There was joyous celebrations inside and outside after the vote.

The reality is that the veto is but one step on the long road to where the people of Hong Kong can hold their Chief Executive accountable for his job performance. CY Leung has shown shown complete and utter contempt for anyone who can’t do something for him. This is not the attitude for a Chief Executive.