Tempers flare are Mainland Chinese antagonism grows

This is reportedly a viral video from Hong Kong that shows an argument on an MTR train between local Hong Kongers and a Mainland Chinese woman who's daughter was allegedly eating soup noodles in her seat and causing a mess.

The argument and the responses to the video illustrate the sentiment felt by local Hong Kong that their infrastructure - and indeed their culture - is being placed under strain by the influx of Mainlanders. A trend that many would like the Hong Kong government to tackle more firmly.

Shockingly, the video has prompted some quite despicable comments from the mainland with regards to Hong Kongers. In a televised interview Peking University professor Kong Qing-Dong likened Hong Kongers to dogs and thieves.

Raised voices between members of the public is one thing. But for a supposed professor to make statements like these on national television?

This is clearly an issue that is not going to go away.

China's Got Talent to hold UK auditions

Calling all karaoke stars, musicians and performers...This could be interesting.

A lot of UK talent shows already feature Chinese or Asian auditionees - often, it has to be said for comedy value (see Goldie Cheung)

But now, a show that was conceived in the UK and was then exported to China is now coming back to the UK to search for British contestants to compete in China!

According to Shanghaiist:

... contestants must 'have a connection to China, either through language, family, or simply an appreciation of Chinese art forms.' Which sounds to us like the floodgates are open for hordes of random non-Chinese people trying to get famous by singing Chinese songs.

This sounds like a great potential opportunity for the many talented singers and performers out there.

Want to give it a shot? head over t the 'CGT' facebook page here.

Chinese Novels: 20 Classics

If, like me, you are a little in the dark about classic Chinese literature, you might appreciate this link sent to me by bachelorsdegreeonline - a list of 20 renowned Chinese novels.

'Water Margin' and 'Lust, Caution' are perhaps titles you will be familiar with but there are a host of other interesting ones to learn about.

Check out the page here.

Lawrence Leung is performing in London!

Regular readers will have caught a glimpse of Larence Leung in this earlier post.

Well, it just so happens that the composer of the ultimate b.b.c anthem is in London doing a series of stand-up comedy performances. Lawrence is at the Soho Theatre until August 13th, and by all accounts puts on a fairly enjoyable show.

Details: Soho Theatre

Yes, we invented hipsters too

Now we know where those trendy people in Hoxton and Manhattan get their fashion ideas from. Trust me, next year's must have accessory will be a red-blue-white plastic sack.

Link: Accidental Chinese Hipsters

The kindness of strangers in Hong Kong

This is not the usual kind of video you get from Apple news. Apparently three girls in Hong Kong have since last Christmas been voluntarily distributing 'tong sui' (sweet soup) to elderly people in the street, as well as stopping for a chat with them.

As one of the girls points out, they do this not just to feed the elderly people they encounter but also to provide a listening ear.

A random act of kindness in Hong Kong? Whatever next?

Is this a sad sight?

Walk to the centre of London's historic Chinatown and what will you find? Perhaps a museum charting the history of Chinese immigrants in the UK? A cultural centre celebrating the richness and diversity of Chinese art and society? Well, not quite. How about a giant betting shop?




To be fair you will also find many great restaurants, community centres and lots of Chinese-run businesses and services. I just find it a little sad that this is what occupies such a prominent position in Chinatown (and the fact it wouldn't be there if there wasn't a demand for it).

Modern China, old fashioned disappearance

The whereabouts of artist Ai Wei Wei is still unknown after he was taken into custody by Chinese authorities as part of a major crackdown on dissent in China. Some have described as a return to the 'bad old days'.

The following is the timeline of his disappearance as reported by Western media.

October 11th 2010



November 8th 2010



March 7th 2011



April 3rd 2011


April 4th 2011


April 5th 2011

Photo: The Guardian

'Dancing with Shackles On': A short film about the internet, China and freedom

Interesting viewing...

Dancing with shackles on from Janek Zdzarski on Vimeo.

via Danwei.org

In China you can 'rent' a white guy for business meetings

Photo: BBC

It sounds ridiculous and yet it also makes perfect sense when you acknowledge the business mindset in China.

These hired white guys are used for photocalls and to be present at meetings and corporate events to give the impression that the company is important and has connections to the West. Says one hired employee:

For the next few days, we sat in the office swatting flies and reading magazines, purportedly high-level employees of a U.S. company that, I later discovered, didn’t really exist. We were so important, in fact, that two of the guys were hired to stay for eight months (to be fair, they actually then received quality-control training).

“Lots happening,” Ken told me. “We need people for a week every month. It’ll be better next time, too. We’ll have new offices.” He paused before adding: “Bring a computer. You can watch movies all day.”

I look forward to the day British companies need to hire fake Chinese guys.

Source: Boing Boing

Is Gordon Ramsey a hypocrite to criticize the use of shark fin?

Renowned chef Gordon Ramsay recently made a TV documentary exposing the practices behind the procuring of shark fins for sale in Asia where, as we all know, it is eaten as a delicacy.

The footage shown in the documentary was harrowing (sharks having fins cut off whilst alive and being thrown back into the sea) and it showed that there does appear to be a murky, ungoverned black market in shark fins that has no regard for animal welfare.

I personally am happy not to eat shark fin again (it is genuinely tasteless and has no nutritional value and is believed to to have extremely high levels of mercury) and I'm sure some fellow bbcs feel the same.

What might be more difficult is persuading Chinese people not to include the dish (once the preserve of emperors and the elite classes only) in special celebrations such as wedding banquets, where shark's fin soup has become a traditional dish.

To use an analogy that is closer to home: Imagine if western wedding dresses could only be white due to the use of certain dye, and this dye was found to be harmful to some species of animals thus sparking a campaign calling for an end to the wearing of white wedding dresses. You can imagine how tricky it would be to change people's minds in such a scenario.

That said there is a steadily growing anti-shark fin movement in Asia and I think in time its use will indeed phase out.



"I Pledge Not to Eat Shark Fin Soup" - Campaign Video - English from Shark Savers on Vimeo.

However there is another side to this story, which is that Gordon Ramsay, like many top, western chefs, continues to use foie gras in his restaurants.

Foie gras is the engorged liver of geese or ducks that are force fed by man and in my opinion it's even crueler food than shark fin.

The poor shark suffers when its fins are cut off but the animal at least dies soon after and you could argue that animals in the wild suffer injuries and death as part of their natural life.

In contrast, foie gras is produced using a mechanized process called gavage which involves trapping the animals in tight cages inside huge barns for weeks and literally pumping feed into them using pipes. That's a 'nice' description - to see gavage in action, go to Youtube but I have to warn readers that some of the footage is disturbing.

Foie gras geese are said to be the only animals in farming that recoil from their food such is the fear and discomfort they experience.

Killing a shark inhumanely is one thing but the gavage process is more like torture to me, sustained over several weeks until the animal is butchered (if it doesn't drop dead).

For me, this makes Ramsay a hypocrite because you cannot condemn the use of shark fins in cooking on ethical grounds if you persist in using foie gras.

Of course, you can also go to the other extreme and pay no regard to animal welfare whatsoever. As demonstrated by the chef who created what might be the cruelest dish known to man: Dim sum that contains both foie gras AND shark fin

Thanks, Zen Peninsular, San Francisco!


Story: The Sun

Related: SharkSavers campaign

Related: Channel 4 - Shark Bait

Unhappy China forces Nobel boycott and launches own 'Peace Prize'

In an unusually overt and high-profile move, China has made its displeasure with the Nobel Foundation well and truly known by setting up its own rival 'Peace Prize'. The Confucius Peace Prize is to be awarded one day before writer and human rights activist Liu Xiaobo is honoured as the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize winner.

Liu has been imprisoned by the Chinese authorities since December 2009 for subversion - his fourth prison term for political offences - and his awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize has seriously aggravated the Communist Party, unsurprisingly.

So much so that it has threatened consequences for other countries if they participate in the prize ceremony which has been held annually since 1901. The threat has been enough to cause 18 nations not to attend.

State news agency XinHuanet says:

Everyone knows that Liu Xiaobo, who is supposed to be "honored" in a ceremony in Oslo on Friday, is an imprisoned criminal and what he has done has nothing to do with "peace. Why did the Committee select Liu as this year's winner?

The answer is clear: Liu has done everything he could to subvert the Chinese government, and that suits the strategy of some organizations and people in the West toward China

Liu was one of the authors of Charter 08, a political manifesto published in 2008 which called for political reform and an end to one party rule in China.

He also played an instrumental part in persuading many students to leave Tiananmen Square during the 1989 protests, saving many lives. Ironically, for those actions he was dubbed one of the "Four junzis of Tiananmen Square". Junzi is a term meaning an exemplary, commendable person and was coined by... Confucius.

Liu is serving an 11 year sentence to run until 2020.


Story: Daily Telegraph

Related: Liu Xiaboa, Wikipedia

Related: XinHua

Side by Side

Being a BBC is a bit like inhabiting two worlds: The Western, British world and the Chinese world. This can be taken literally if you have spent a lot of time in both the UK and Hong Kong. So I wondered if it would be interesting to pair up some familiar, everyday things from both worlds and show them side by side - a sort of pictorial description of the world through BBC eyes.

This isn't meant to show that one side is better than the other or anything; It's just to try and show the 'two worlds' that we become familiar with as BBCs.

What do you think of the pairings? Accurate or off the mark?

(If it isn't obvious, the left side is always UK and the right side HK)











More later... :-)

Photo credits: Priceinspector.co.uk, dlade, rfeldman11, thesocialistway, dailymail, hongkonghustle.com, kellynwrites.com, paperin.org, uk.gamespot.com, webs-of-significance, absolutginger, coinnetwork.ning.com, travlang.com

Gun Hei Fat Choi, Sun Leen Fai Lok!

Wishing all readers, wherever you are, a happy Chinese New Year.

Here's a sample of personal CNY thoughts and celebrations around the world, courtesy of Twitter.

Well, the bbc blog does try to keep up with the latest trends ;)

Did you know the next Pixar film stars an Asian character?

Photo: Parkerblogs

You may have already seen the trailers for 'Up', the latest wonderful-looking film from the makers of Finding Nemo and Toy Story.

What I hadn't realised until now was that 'Russell', the funny little kid who stars in the film (alongside the grumpy old man) is actually an Asian American boy.

As reported by Slashfilm, the character of the boy was based on by an Asian animator who works for Pixar but his ethnicity has not been made a big deal of. He's just a cute, funny little kid who happens to be Asian.

I often post about depictions of East Asian people in the media but do think it's an important issue (in particular for younger generations). I know that were I a 10-year-old boy going to see Up, knowing that the main character was Asian would simply have made my day.

If Uncle Ben's made an advert for Chinese people...

Those of you in the UK will know that for the last few years the American company Uncle Ben's has been running some really lame TV commercials for its ethnic food range.

The idea is always the same: A white, middle-class household sits down to dinner. Someone takes out some Uncle Ben's convenience food and starts heating it up.

The food is meant to smell so great that people in the country where the food hails from (in the case of sweet and sour sauce, China) drop what they're doing and rush over en masse to England and end up at the family's house where they enjoy the Uncle Ben's dinner.

Yes, Uncle Ben's are so amazing that apparently Chinese people would actually leave China and travel across the world to eat their reheated sweet and sour sauce!

If you don't know the ads, you can view them here:

Uncle Ben's commercial 1

Uncle Ben's commercial 2

Apart from the whole concept being ridiculous, the ads are made even more super-patronising by showing the ethnic characters as mute, grinning and dressed in stereotypical national dress (sombreros for the Mexicans, kung fu outfits for the Chinese etc.).

These stupid ads caught the attention of designer Lisa Lam, who has penned 'An Open Letter to Uncle Ben' on her blog.

They also got me thinking: I wondered what if Uncle Ben's made a 'Western' convenience food and used the same marketing strategy in China?

I imagine the commercial would go something like this....



In a tiny, cramped Hong Kong apartment kitchen, a pretty Chinese housewife tries to decide what to make for dinner (because it's so hard to get a decent meal in Hong Kong). She opens her cupboard and picks a jar of new Uncle Ben's Roast Beef, Yorkshire Pudding and Gravy in a jar! Yummy! With a big smile she open the jar and pours out some brown sludge into a frying pan.

We then jump to London, England:


Inside Number 10 Downing Street, two men who look remarkably like Gordon Brown and Tony Blair suddenly stop what they're doing and sniff the air. Mmm, the unmistakable aroma of roast beef, their favourite food! Let's go!



Meanwhile in a traditional thatched cottage, a farmer is shearing his sheep on the kitchen table. Suddenly he stops what he's doing and sniffs the air. Mmmm, Yorkshire puddings! I must have some of that!


Meanwhile at Wembley stadium, someone who looks remarkably like David Beckham suddenly stops practising free kicks and sniffs the air! Mmm, that gravy smells delicious! I must go to where it's coming from!



Gordon Brown, Tony Blair, the farmer and Becks all jump aboard a red London bus and head for Hong Kong.


The bus arrives at Nathan Road, everyone gets out and runs up to the apartment.

The Hong Kong housewife opens the door, looks surprised and lets them all in (except for Gordon Brown who has to stand outside because the apartment is too small). Everyone sits down to dinner and they enjoy Uncle Ben's Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding together! Mmm. Uncle Ben's.

I think it would work, don't you? :)

Jackie Chan's awkward position, and the controversy within a controversy

This is the video of Jackie Chan's recent comments about Chinese people needing to be 'controlled' that sparked such an angry response from many Chinese commentators. His comments were made during an interview about mainland media regulation.

In case you hadn't heard, Yahoo News (and others) have reported that:

A group of mainland Chinese academics and media professionals wrote an open letter calling Chan the "spoiled brat" of the Chinese race.

"You are born in Hong Kong, a free Hong Kong which provides you with excellent conditions to become an internationally renowned martial arts star," the letter said.

"You are now the cream of the crop, and yet you don't know the importance of freedom."

There have even been calls for boycotts of Chan's movies and concerts. The main part of what Chan said that caused such anger was:

In these ten years -I grew up in Hong Kong- I slowly felt, I don't know how much freedom we should have. Too much freedom and we'll be like Hong Kong right now, very chaotic. Or become like Taiwan, also very chaotic. I slowly feel like we Chinese needs to controlled. If we're not being controlled, we'll just do what we want.

If we don't control things, we'll do things as we wish. Why can't I eat gum in Singapore? You would think that not being allowed to eat gum is correct. If I give you gum, some people might take the gum and stick it on tables, put it on chairs without self-respect."

It is hard to read such comments and not see them as being critical of Hong Kong, so I think the anger of people in the SAR is understandable.

But that initial controversy has spawned its own controversies with Chinese bloggers claiming Chan's words have been misinterpreted, with some even claiming that it is an evil Western conspiracy.

CN Reviews claims the furore is the fault of the evil 'Western media'

"Westerners look like they’re frothing at the bits to use anything they can to paint China in a negative political light: “Oh look, even lovable kung-fu funny-man Jackie Chan has betrayed his own, selling out both himself and his kind to the evil Communist regime!” To which the Western masses reply in unison: “Gasp!”"

That's an extreme reaction, I think. Chan's comments were indeed critical of Hong Kong, or 'his own', the place that made him a star. And I think most people would accept that Chinese entertainment figures are indeed very careful not to upset Chinese authorities in the interests of their career. I don't think that's a crazy invention of the Western media.

EastSouthWestNorth chose to interpret Chan's words differently, coming up with a translation that doesn't use the inflammatory word 'control':

If there is too much freedom, it becomes like Hong Kong today ... very chaotic ... furthermore, it becomes like Taiwan ... it is also very chaotic ... eh ... I have slowly come to realize that we the Chinese people need regulation ... If there is no regulation and we suddenly opened up, we can do whatever we want.

Even if that is a grammatically correct translation (and I'm not the one to judge that), I'm not sure if the meaning is exactly right as Chan actually talks about personal freedoms and behaviour before and after the quote in question - not the sort of things usually referred to in English as 'regulation'.

cfensi blog also chose to translate the line differently as:

"I slowly feel like we Chinese needs to control. If we don't control things, we'll do things as we wish."

i.e. not 'be controlled', but to do the controlling.

What seems to have been missed in all the analysis is that however you translate the comments, the point he is making is basically the same when you look at the entire speech.

I would suggest that what Chan actually meant in his off-the-cuff remark was that Chinese people need rule of law. If we don't have rule of law, we'll do things as we wish. I base that on the fact that he talks about freedoms in Hong Kong immediately before, and laws in Singapore immediately after the comment in question. Is that simple statement something many of us would dispute?

My take on this whole thing is that for Chan, being asked about Chinese media regulation put him in an uncomfortable spot because he recently had a movie banned in China for being too violent. The journalist may have been hoping the actor would make a comment about his own movie being denied a release but Chan chose (perhaps diplomatically) not to do that and instead broadened his answer to make a generalised statement that ended up being in favour of control (or regulation).

To me, it seems he was just performing a difficult balancing act whilst in an awkward position - something Jackie Chan is very used to doing!

Related: The journalist who asked the original question responds

Traditional Chinese art, animated

Here's a bit of nice, chill-out viewing for your weekend (Sound recommended).



via Drawn

Why do we make V signs in photographs?

Photo: tutyluv

Don't say "Cheese", make a V!

Ever wondered it is popular for Asian people to make a V sign with their fingers when posing for photographs?

It might not be as universal as it used to be, but it's a common sight in informal, 'fun' photos of Asian people. The sign denotes positivity, it's a gesture that says "I feel happy. Things are okay. Life is good."

Generally, the V sign is made close to the face for females, whilst more to the side and away from the face for males. Why is that? I have no idea. That's just the way it is.

Not quite right?. Photo: Fobspot

Photo: cashboy017

Theses days, the conventional happy V sign has evolved into a gangster-ised form, palm inwards, fingers held sideways like scissors. This V sign doesn't so much say "I feel happy" as "Don't mess with me. I am just too cool."

Photo: PhokingCho

The trend never really took off amongst bbc's which is perhaps why I started to think about why people is Asia do it, and how it all started.

A V sign made with the palm facing inwards is said to have originated in England and is an insult rather than a positive gesture. You've probably heard the story: The sign was used by English longbowmen at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415 to insult the French army who had threatened to cut off the bowmens' arrow-holding fingers. It's a legend that has never really been proven or disproven.



In the West, the V sign with the palm facing outwards has two major associations; Winston Churchill and the 1960s anti-war movement. Churchill wanted the sign to stand for 'Victory' but initially made it palm-inwards. Oops. Being a wealthy member of the upper class, he didn't know the negative meaning of the gesture and had to be told by his aides to reverse his hand when making the gesture thus giving us the iconic pose that is now known all around the world.

In the 1960s, the American anti-war movement used the sign to signify 'Vietnam' and would call for peace whilst making the gesture. Gradually the gesture itself came to mean 'peace' and was popularised by the flower power movement and luminaries such as John Lennon. This was the beginning of the association of the V sign with happiness and positivity.



In Asia, the V sign first became popular in Japan in the 1970s and 80s and quickly spread to the rest of Asia. But what triggered its popularity? Japan's fondness for the Beatles and the flower power culture goes some way to explaining why they took to the V sign but there are two predominant theories as to why it became so popular.

The first concerns a little known (outside of America) ice skater named Janet Lynn.

Lynn competed at the 1972 Winter Olympics at Sapporo and was a huge hit with the Japanese viewers. Her skill as a skater, cute appearance, positive spirit and likeable attitude (she suffered an embarrassing fall during one of her crucial routines yet remained smiling throughout) made her immensely popular in a country in the grip of Olympic fever.



Off the rink, Lynn was a peace activist and often flashed the 'peace' V sign to photographers. It's thought that Lynn's popularity at this time sparked the Japanese love of the V sign.

The second theory, and the one that sounds most convincing to me, was put forward by Japanese entertainment show Downtown DX which discovered that a popular actor named Jun Inoue starred in a series of commercials for Konica cameras, also in 1972. These commercials all featured people making the V sign. He reportedly chose to do this, ironically, because he thought the sign was popular in the West.

In doing so, it is believed Jun Inoue started the trend of making the V sign when posing for photographs in Japan.

So there you have it, that's how the whole V sign thing started. Interestingly, try as I might, I've not been able to find a single picture online of either Janet Lynn's or Jun Inoue's V signs so for me there is still as slight mystery to it.

But at least now we know that whenever we make a V sign for a photo, it's all down to ice skater who fell on her butt. Or a 1970s camera commercial. Probably.

What the year of the Ox holds in store for you (if you believe in that sort of thing)

There's not long to go until Chinese New Year and for those of us who believe in such things, Hong Kong's BC magazine has commissioned an expert astrologer to predict what the coming Year of the Ox has in store, based on your Chinese zodiac sign.

One interesting thing about the article is that it talks about being born either the hot or cold parts of the year as a factor in your horoscope which I hadn't heard of before.

I remain a skeptic but I guess people will always find horoscopes entertaining - whether they are of the Eastern or Western variety. Over to you, Russell:



Related: Did 2008 disprove the luckiness of the number 8?
Related: Feng Shui Foolishness