£20,000 reward to find killers of Helen Chung

The search continues for the killers of Chinese restaurant owner Helen Chung Kam Fum, who was brutally killed in her home, first mentioned here.

Police have now offered a £20,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the killers:

DCI Steven Lawrence, leading the investigation, said: "The investigation into the murder of Mrs Chung and the linked break-in in Vine Lane on the night of November 6 continues. We know at least three suspects broke into Vine Lane.

"There is a reward of £20,000 for information that will help us prosecute those responsible."

He added: "The local community has been very helpful with our enquiries into these two appalling crimes where victims have been brutally attacked in their own homes.

"But I believe that within the local community of Hayes and West Drayton people have information who have yet to come forward.
It was initially thought that Helen had the restaurant's takings with her when she returned home, but police now know she did not.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the incident room at Belgravia on 020 7321 9251, or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Full story here.

The 'bbc' causing a stir on the contemporary art scene

His parents moved from Hong Kong to London in the Sixties. His dad worked at a waiter. His early years were spent 'bored mindless' in his family's chip shop. He became interested in digital technology. Sound familiar? :)

He was told he would never get into the best art school in the country, St. Martins, but he did. Now Gordon Cheung is a celebrated, award wining contemporary artist.

Since graduating from the Royal College of Art in 2001, Cheung, a British-educated son of Hong Kong Chinese restaurateurs, has made his name with strange, visionary dreamscapes painted on to a backdrop of stock listings from the Financial Times. Over the past two years these economic landscapes of the imagination have made the shortlists of half a dozen art prizes, been included in the British Art Show 6, appeared in group exhibitions from Arizona to Slovenia and secured Cheung a solo show in São Paulo.

Two years ago financial pressures nearly forced him to give up painting. “I hit rock bottom, and when I clawed my way out I resolved to paint like every day was my last day.”

Story from The Times.

HK fashionistas pounce on star's 'pirate' costume

Found this story on Asianfanatics.com

Cantopop star Joey Yung appeared at the 2007 Chik Chak Music Awards show to pick up an award wearing a distinctive, starry tutu outfit. All would have been fine were it not for the fact that the outfit was a pirated copy of a design by Viktor and Rolf.



Cue dozens of complaints from eagle-eyed, trendy Hong Kongers and an apology from the star. Only in Hong Kong!

More on the Chik Chak awards: The big winner was Leo Ku who won four big awards, including Album of the Year for "Human" and Favorite Song. He ran second for the Male Singers Award and his single "It's Too Late to Love" was listed in the Top 10 Songs.

Also check out Eason Chan's, erm, distinctive outfit (below) from the show (the Chik Chak awards have a tradition of stars dressing as outrageously as possible).

'Ghosts' - The Story of the Morecambe Bay Cockle Pickers

British director Nick Broomfield has dramatised the harrowing story of the Chinese cockle pickers who died on Morecambe Bay in 2004. His film 'Ghosts' screened at the 2006 San Sebastian International Film Festival and the 50th London Film Festival. It will also be in competition at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2007.

The film is released in the UK from January 12th. Official movie site.

Burberry may soon be 'Made in China'

British luxury clothing brand Burberry has been in the news recently for its latest ad campaign featuring Kate Moss but another story about the company you might have missed concerns its decision to switch nearly all of its manufacturing from its traditional base in Wales to China.

It's a decision that has drawn fierce criticism from many and there is even talk of a parliamentary investigation over the matter. Actress Emma Thompson added her voice against the move, saying:

"Burberry should not make this move: it will brand itself as greedy, unethical and -- perhaps most importantly for the profile of the company -- inauthentic. By staying in Wales and honouring a contract that has long been held with the workers there, it will retain its code of decency and high standards. Anything else is a betrayal of the workforce and a bastardisation of the brand."

It is hard to see how Burberry can maintain its upper class, British image if it were to become common knowledge that its products were made in China by a workforce probably earning a pittance compared to the average western wage.

Many 'bbc's' and indeed Chinese people in general view lifestyle and luxury goods that are 'Made in China' as less desirable and a large part of the appeal of brands like Burberry is their authenticity and European origin.

Moving production to China will undoubtedly save Burberry money but it may find itself losing quite a few customers from the Far East as a result, even with Kate Moss gracing their posters!

More on this story here.

Inventor of Doll Noodles ('gung jai mein') has passed away

Momofuku Ando, inventor of Nissin instant noddles, has passed away. His noodles may have contained more MSG and fat than you might have expected, but boy how many of us have turned to Doll noodles in times of need? His is some legacy.

Mr Ando, thank you.

This Life + 10 + a Chinese character = ???

I found This Life compulsive viewing during the 90s. At the time, it was the only TV drama to set itself in a world anything like the one I was experiencing although when I look back at the shows now, the dialogue seems incredibly cheesy and unrealistic. Of course, this could mean that I and the people around me at that time were also incredibly cheesy and unrealistic but never mind.

So it was with some anticipation that I tuned in to watch 'This Life + 10' - the much hyped reunion show that would presumably try to portray thirtysomething life in contemporary Britain as insightfully as the originally series showed twentysomething life. Surprisingly, a Chinese character appeared early on in the show. Specifically, a Vietnamese model based in Hong Kong who had married one of the lead characters, Miles (he's the guy on the far right in the picture above, if you don't know the show).

Interesting... How, I wondered, would TV drama's 'voice-of-my-generation' portray a Chinese/English mixed relationship?

Well, sadly, the Chinese character was a bit of a cliche - all timid and awkward - only coming to life mid-way through the show when she had a semi-breakdown (brought on by being around the characters of 'This Life', I guess).

It didn't seem to occur to the writer that a professional model based in Hong Kong might in fact have quite a personality, confidence and energy about her. Clearly, we were being asked to see her as an 'ornamental Oriental' and before long, the acerbic female character, Anna was referring sarcastically to Miles' wife as a 'geisha'.

Later on, Miles says his wife naively married him because she thought he would be 'an English gent'. Anna suggests he went along with it because he thought she would 'an easy ride.'

I thought this was the most interesting aspect as it's not often you see a white, female's perception of mixed relationships expressed so frankly, and it got me thinking.

In Paul Courtenay Hyu's Missing Chink programme of 2004, people in the street were asked to give their general perceptions of Chinese people and at least one (white) female described Chinese women as 'pleasure givers'.

From Little Britain's Dudley and Ting Tong to This Life + 10, white male + Chinese female relationships tend to get a bad press. Often it's suggested the woman is needy or subservient to her man whilst the white male is, by implication, a bit of a loser and inadequate - in some way not good enough to get a 'normal' girlfriend. It struck me that this really isn't a positive view of Chinese or Asian women.

The question is should the media be criticized for these kinds of portrayals, or is it simply reflecting the truth? After all, 'This Life', whether you like the show or not, does strive to be authentic in a way many other shows do not.

It seems to be one of the strange quirks of western media that Asian females are portrayed as universally attractive to white males, whilst at the same time, relationships between white males and Asian females tend to be portrayed as something derisory, sad and not quite as 'real' as other relationships.

Now all we need is for someone to depict a Chinese male + white female relationship and things would really get interesting :)

Happy New Year Random Photo of the Day Or So

I thought I'd start the New Year with this earth-shattering discovery from a recent trip (or should that be food odyssey?) back to Hong Kong.


Your eyes do not deceive you. No Photoshop has been employed. Yes, Haagen-Dazs does indeed make Azuki bean (aka red bean) flavoured ice-cream. Hallelujah!

It was just one of three delights I picked up from a local 7-11, the others being these cute, little ice-cream mochi.



And I can confirm they were all yummy.