This round-up of links from around the blogosphere promises to be completely Democratic Convention free*:

Blogs

Via Paul comes some handy first time blogging hints from a first time blogger.

Andrew Sullivan is having another pledge drive to raise money to continue his professional blogging, pleading excessive bandwidth and other costs. Before you donate you should read what Michelle Malkin, Wunderkiner, Ace, Richard Hawkins, Gold Blogger and Poliblogger have to say on the blogosphere's first big money scam. Laurence suggests far more worthy alternatives such as Spoons or Iowahawk. American Digest says it's good business changing political sides and asking for pledges. Sullivan's change to backing Kerry has provoked a lot of reactions, many of which are summarised at the well-named Resplendent Mango. Jay brings some common sense to the hysteria of Sullivan's changing sides as does Pieter. Dean neatly summarises my thoughts too.

Jim celebrated his first blogiversary and Silent Running had its 500,000th visitor (damn time zones conspired against me).

Rusty comments on the nastiness of blogophobia.

Doug has an upcoming interview with Robert Kaiser of the Washington Post and is looking for help with questions.

OK, this is where I break my promise, but you knew I would. NZ Bear had some great advice for bloggers at the DNC, which unfortunately not many seemed to heed. Joe at TMV has a good post on what was learnt from the convention blogging.

Politics

BREAKING NEWS: Kerry was in 'Nam...who knew?

Ilyka follows up with more on her thoughts on centrism and moderation.

Beautiful Atrocities has a helpful guide to bumper stickers.

Dean has a good essay on politics and has a pledge for conservatives to take in the lead-up to the election. It emphasises the idea of a loyal opposition, or in English, agreeing to disgaree but respecting the other side.

Rusty looks at the truth behind the allegations of America's 'worst recovery ever'. The basic premise is statistics can be tortured to say anything you like. Just like the time my grandfather, at his 103rd birthday party, was asked if he planned to be around for his 104th."I certainly do," he replied. "Statistics show that very few people die between the ages of 103 and 104."**

I didn't realise but Ace says David Hasselhoff actually brought down the Berlin Wall.

Random Penseur on AIDS in South Africa and some of its consequences.

Iowahawk tell us why he's (not) a Democrat.

Miscellany

Via Emma comes 12 things we no longer need.

Wanbro talks about single name rock stars.

Akamonique (also at the Showcase) is actually Mrs David Sedaris .

Via Harvey and American Digest comes one registration page worth filling out: bugmenot's.

Helen shows us why she's so hot: she's funny and beautiful! Y's a lucky guy.

Finally the most important question of the week: who will be the gay Simpsons character? The appropriately named A Perfectly Cromulent Blog has the form guide. Personally I like Comic Book guy as the best contender. To help here's a list of all the appropriate references from the series.

* _{This is a political promise and means very little.}

** _{Thanks Da. Some read your jokes but I bet none incorporate them into blog posts.}

The IHT has reprinted an article from Paul Mooney talking about the CCP's responses to criticism and how the preservation of the party remains paramount, even for the new guard of President Hu and Premier Wen. The killer quote: As one Western diplomat said, the party is not in the business of putting itself out of business.

And in other cheery news, it seems the frenzy over a potential Chinese attack on Taiwan is going up another notch. China is in the middle of a major propoganda offensive to convince Taiwan of dire consequences should they makes moves China deems moving too far towards independence. Taiwan is not taking the bait - yet. But if China continues to warn of war it may have the contrary effect of drumming up even more support for Taiwan's independence movement. This is one hell of a high stakes political and diplomatic game at the moment.

Lesson 1: Never, ever, ever mention your Dad once gave CPR to a feckin' hamster.
Lesson 2: What he said.

Prepare yourself: your inbox will soon be full of jokes alluding to the politician/vermin connection or inevitable variations on that Richard Gere story.

I'll bet the Bush girls are having the "Dad helped birthing a calf story" scrubbed as we speak.

In an acknowledgement that functional constituency seats do not give true legitimacy to political parties in Hong Kong, the pro-business Liberal Party is chancing its arm at winning geographical seats this time around. They are putting their three best known members forward including party leader James Tien. Beijing is getting behind them. They hope to form the "ruling party" after the election together with the misnamed Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB).

It would normally be funny that the Communist Party of China, representing the proleteriat and peasants, finds its best chance is to back the pro-cartel, pro-business Liberal Party, who's leader drives a Porsche and is a multi-millionaire. The SCMP reports poor James Tien mixed with the riff-raff on a public bus:

Liberal Party chairman James Tien Pei-chun formally began his maiden battle for a directly elected Legislative Council seat yesterday and had his first taste of campaigning - squeezed in a double-decker bus stuck in heavy traffic. Forsaking his customary Porsche to pack in with fellow candidates and hangers-on, the wealthy businessman known as "Young Master Tien" was full of confidence, despite repeatedly complaining about the bus's lack of power on the hills.

Politics makes for strange bedfellows and both the CCP and Liberal Party have one thing in common: they prefer the status-quo.

UPDATE: Let's quote liberally from Hemlock's entry today. He has the good taste to even reach the same conclusion as the title of this post:

...Beijing is serious about the Liberal Party. Not only is it shooing away would-be candidates from other loyalist groups, it seems to be eyeing James Tien’s band of opportunistic, pro-cartel nematodes as the anti-democratic mass-appeal movement the DAB has failed to become.

The idea of someone as unprincipled, let alone un-burdened by cerebral ability, as James Tien as Chief Executive is so frightening that hundreds of commuting taxpayers momentarily consider making a dash straight to the Airport Express. But no, that’s just Baby James fantasizing. Even so, it is a sobering thought that Beijing feels a need to boost a political grouping so driven by naked self-interest that it stabbed Tung Chee-hwa in the back over Article 23 last year.

As well as being slimy, the Liberals lack even the faintest grasp of public policy. Indeed, their shallowness when it comes to political issues is a wonder to behold. Who can forget their brilliant initiative – the levy on foreign maids, which raised irrelevant amounts of revenue, irritated maids’ middle class employers and effectively taxed the lowest-paid members of the workforce? In a recent attempt to prove themselves friendly to the working class, they recently argued against the proposed MTR rail line to the south of Hong Kong island, on the grounds that consumer preference for this faster and cleaner transport system would deprive 300 bus drivers of their jobs. Such intellectual bankruptcy, such deficiency of any sort of integrity, cannot be matched by any other Hong Kong political grouping – and that’s no mean achievement. We can only hope that Beijing’s anointment of these unprincipled worms will turn out to be the kiss of death.

Have you visited the Showcase lately? There's some quality stuff going up there. I particularly like American Idle, who entered this (or at their site here). For some reason it seems to be attracting job seekers (there's an answer for this one here) as well.

Please help spread the word and help get exposure for this new blogging talent.

Swinging our way across Asia blogging again:

Hong Kong, Taiwan and China

• Tom at DTL finds more proof that Hong Kong's autonomy has been diminished by the central Government. He also says criticism of Google, Yahoo, Nortel and Cisco in "bowing to Chinese censorship demands" is utter cr@p. Glutter has a report on the same issue from a very different perspective.

• Richard notes a further ratcheting up in tensions between China and Taiwan. Joseph, Jodi (who has a poll up on the issue) and Phil both have more and Peking Dork notes a poll on Taiwanese attitudes to China and the US.

• Richard also points to a BBC article on the growing strains on China's petition system, where people can try and appeal decisions of local cadres. ESWN also addresses the issue (and that of wages owed but not paid) in translating a letter to Premier Wen and asking if anything is being achieved? The answer, ESWN says, is it impossible to know due to the nature of China's political system, but time will tell.

• ESWN translates and comments on a book talking about Hong Kongers and their command of languages. He also asks the following question: Is it possible to be convicted of having engaged in two acts of sexual intercourse within twenty minutes in exchange for the promise of money while still being certifiably a virgin afterwards?

• Conrad looks at the ICAC raids on newspapers and arrest of several people in Hong Kong.

• Fons says China is approaching 1/2 million bloggers. Who knew so many could write so much and mean so little? He also says there is another debate over the legitimacy of The Tiananmen Papers.

• ESWN has comprehensive coverage of Taiwan's biggest shoot-out between gang members and police.

• Danwei interviews a novelist, essayist, frequent traveller to India and the editor of Taiwan's Playboy: Lolita Hu.

Korea and Japan

• Korea has now gone too far in its blogging block: it's blocking Munu. Newsweek has a small write-up on the problem: it seems like slowly more attention is getting paid to this issue. That a liberal democracy can ban sites on such a flimsy basis is a real disgrace. The article mentions Marmot and Kevin, who points to this excellent response to calls from some who want even greater surveillance of the Internet.

• Tony has the full Robert Kim story and Jodi has more on various Asian American spies.

• Andi talks about Koreans and sex education.

• North Korea is again dragging the chain over the 6 party talks on its nukes, blaming "US aggression", says ACB and Jodi says North Korea are worrying about a pre-emptive attack by the USA. FY says North Korea leader Kim Jong Il has more to worry about that nukes.

• Marmot reports on the arrival in South Korea of more than 400 defectors from North Korea, by way of Vietnam. He also says Koreans are planning a cyber-attack on China. Good luck.

SE Asia

• Conrad compares the Philippines' response to Australian criticism of its hostage drama with its blather to the Islamic kidnappers themselves. The Sassy Lawyer disagrees with the Australian Foreign Minister. Conrad also says Arroyo scored an own goal, while Marc says appeasement is inflationary. Marc also sees the door opening on the Spratley's dispute. Dean looks at Arroyo's State of the Nation speech and doesn't like it.

• The Sassy Lawyer has links to 3 different views of Filipino families.

• Jodi looks at the relationship between Vietnam and China.

• Macam-Macam says Abu Bakar Ba'asyir will get away with not being charged over the Bali bombings.

Miscellany

• Arthur Chrenkoff rounds up all the good news coming out of Afghanistan.

• Prince Roy is making history from his new diplomatic posting in India. It seems to have some nice fringe benefits.

• Adam says there's a new book coming out written in SMS texting. No word yet if it will be translated into languages those over 30 can understand.

• If haven't yet, go eat a Big Mac and help ALN establish its alternative Big Mac index.

China is conducting a crackdown on p0rn sites. The China Daily has a special page devoted to following these activities. It's title: "Anti-p0rn Action". If that doesn't get it hits from Google, maybe the URL will: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/focus/china_porn_page.html.

I'd like to think someone has a sense of humour at the China Daily, but I doubt it.

Chris is being critical of the latest Hong Kong effort to re-use trash. History repeats itself, first as tradegy, second as farce (or in this case, first as Spike, second as Time).

You and the wife have decided you no longer like sleep or money and are going to have a baby. You, the male, feel this is the final step in changing from caveman slob to responsible hunter-gatherer, from flannel to corduroy, from night life to day time. You figure that you'll at least be guaranteed of getting some lovin' time with your beloved. But there's 9 months* before you get there. So I am going to provide a helpful guide to what you've got yourself in for.

There are 4 stages. The pregnancy is usually broken up into 3 trimesters, which is medical speak for "we are going to charge you more and more the closer it gets to your due date". Let's look at each in turn.

The first 3 months

For a few weeks you're probably not even sure your wife is preggers. In fact often there's a clear early sign she is pregnant: she will go on some wild bender when the little foetus, your pride and joy, is only a few delicate cells old. This is called acclimatisation. Then your wife will go to the pharmacy and buy ludicrously expensive one time tests to determine if she really is up the duff. These mostly revolve around one principle: your wife pishes on a stick. It's a test: if this grosses you out, then babies are seriously going to be an issue for you. Then you sit and wait for 30 seconds until the line shows up. It is a common male mistake to see lines that aren't there, or to see the line that is the check the test worked as the line that you are extremely virile and your little fellas are Olympic swimmers. Trust me, you need two lines. Often, especially if this is your first baby, you'll burn through enough of these tests that you'll soon realise this isn't cheap. Get used to it, buddy.

Let's assume you've made it past this first hurdle. Your wife will then enter a period known as the "I feel like I'm going to be sick" stage. Morning sickness gets its name because it happens at any time of the day or night. Remember, the same people who named this sickness are charging you a fortune to see them each time. There are some women who don't get morning sickness. They are known as "lucky bitches". Your wife will be completely off-limits and the very sight of you can induce nausea and worse. The severity of this sickness differs but basically expect to go from getting plenty to getting none rapidly.

The other thing you need to prepare for is your first visit to your obstetrician (herein known as the money vacuum cleaner, or obs). In many places you need to call and book in just prior to conceiving the baby. That's right, prior. It's like Viagra but without the fun. At 12 weeks you go and visit the obs. The doc will be running late. You should get used to this. You will be in a waiting room with various other couples that go from old timers (usually on their 3rd or 4th, talking casually about anything but the baby) to other nervous newbies like yourselves. Finally you enter and the doc proceeds with the usual questions and tests. This involves plenty of blood and urine, much talk of horrendous financial conditions (ie yours) and a blow-by-blow description of the changes your wife will undergo. Then the doc will work out your expected due date (EDD, not Mister). The doc does this by taking a wheel thing-y, asking about your wife's last period, consulting the newspaper's astrological papers, reading some tea leaves and picking a random date about nine months later. From this moment the EDD will define you as a human. The chance of the baby coming on this date are about 3%. Don't attach too much importance to it. Also you need to get used to a new phrase: "normal for pregnancy" (NFP). The doctor will repeat this ad naseum to your wife in the months ahead as she asks questions: "I'm getting cramps". "That's normal for pregnancy." "I'm feeling tired and have high blood pressure." "That's NFP." "My left leg fell off." "That's NFP". You get the idea. Most importantly you will be told it's almost too late to book into a hospital for the birth. You should've called just after conceiving instead of having that cigarette. Let that be a lesson to you.

Once you pass the doc test it's time to tell people. Follow your wife's guidance on this. Telling random fellow bar-room drinkers before your in-laws is not a good start. Staying quiet and accepting glasses of champagne and manly winks and nudges is a far better route.

Note: at this stage it's too early to speak to your wife's tummy, or play music or whatever other bizarre hot housing method you have for turning your kid into a genius. The thing is a fish at this stage. Seen any fish with ears?

The middle 3 months

This is known as the golden period. Your wife will glow. Her morning sickness often (although not always) lifts and she develops a special state of nirvana. Her stomach starts to form a bump, and for once she doesn't mind. In fact often your wife will rub it affectionately. Be careful: there is never a time to tell a woman she is getting fatter, even if she's preggers. You will visit the obs monthly and will get an ultrasound of the baby. As I said, it looks like a fish. That's if you can make anything out at all. The technician will helpfully point out all the organs and bones developing in your pride and joy. The truth is it looks like static. It's best to nod politely and go along with it.

This is also the stage you read various books about babies, childbirth and pregnancy. Usually these books contain helpful photographs of what will happen. Unhelpfully they are not big enough to contain a magazine that you'd rather be reading.

The last 3 months

Your wife will continue to grow. She will actually be pleased that she is putting on weight. Enjoy this, it is a unique time. However she is also entering the business end of the pregnancy. Biologically this induces changes in your wife. Her "nesting" instinct kicks in. This requires multiple visits to various baby stores for all sorts of paraphernalia that the caveman seemed to manage without but are indispensable to modern child rearing. If you're lucky this will be it. If you're unlucky this will start to involve you and your wallet. It could be repainting the house; renovating the house; or worst of all a new house. Like you don't have enough stress already. If this is the case your friends and family may be thankful: your conversation will change from babies to the house, making a nice detour on your otherwise single-minded obsession with your upcoming parenthood.

Your wife will be getting bigger and bigger. It looks uncomfortable but that's mostly because it is. It is time to enter the world of new age manhood. Try helping out around the house. It won't help you get any, especially as you near the end, but it's the least could you do given the state you've put your wife in. If you forget this step, don't worry. You will be reminded.

The main event

The big day is approaching. You've mapped out the route to the hospital. You have your bag packed (checklist for women: clothes; for baby: clothes; for man: camera, video, mobile phone**, snacks, drinks, a change of clothes, a strong stomach). But you're worried about how something that big is going to get out of the little hole you used to call your own.

Newsflash: this has been done before. Hell, even your parents dealt with a birth, so you can too. The most important thing is this is not about you. It's not about your wife. It's not even about your baby. It's about the hospital and doctor making as much money as they can as quickly and as effortlessly as they can. And these guys are good.

There are various signs that your wife is entering labour. The clearest one is when your wife grabs you by the hand and squeezes the life force out of you screaming "we need to get to the f*cking hospital NOW!". Listen to her. But be prepared, there's a good chance the hospital will tell you both to turn around and go home. Even more interesting is the Jekyll and Hyde nature your wife adopts. When a contraction comes she will be in a state of extreme distress and is likely to blame you for many of the world's problems, not just hers. Be prepared for this and remember the age old rule: what's said in the delivery room stays in the delivery room. There's an important caveat to this rule: it only applies to your wife. It's not the time to tell her the bit on the side you had at that conference in Bangkok. In between contractions your wife will assume a tranquil and peaceful air and become at one with the world. Again be careful: it's a trap to lure you into a false sense of security before her next contraction. In the delivery room there will only be the two of you for much of the time. The midwife will be there for some of the time. The doctor will be there at the very end for just long enough to say they were there and earned their fee. The midwife will clean up the baby and leave the three of you alone. Your wife resumes her blissful state and will seem remarkably beautiful and wonderful to you. You only have one question left to deal with:

What do we do now?

* _{Yes, 40 weeks in reality, but you get my drift.}

** _{Do NOT use the hospital phone. You're in enough financial trouble already.}

The Guardian has an article summarising the recent arrest and release of Dr. Jiang Yanyong - the doctor who blew the whistle on SARS and then confronted orthodox CCP thinking on events of June 1989. The article's hook is to turn this into a battle between Dr. Jiang and China's former President Jiang Zemin. It takes until the end of the article to get to the main point:

However, while it is tempting to see the conflict in black and white terms, the reality is far more confused. Dr Jiang appears to be a squeaky-clean hero, but it is unclear whether he is acting alone or on behalf of senior communist officials who would stand to benefit from the demise of the former president.

With a long history of proxy wars within the party, there is speculation that the current president, Hu Jintao, and the prime minister, Wen Jiabao, are using the surgeon to weaken the power base of their main rival.

In other news, southern China is rapidly catching up to some of its Asian rivals in yet another area: kidnapping: With only an estimated one percent of kidnappers brought to justice, it often made more sense than robbing banks. Kind of makes you want to work in a bank.

The SCMP reports:

Hong Kong's pornographic-film makers desperately need actors and actresses - and yesterday tried to advertise at a job fair to find them. No experience is required, but they say you have to be "serious and passionate" about the film industry.

The Sun Power Production Company posted an advertisement to hire people at a job fair co-organised by the Good Jobs section of Weekend Weekly magazine and the Hong Kong Employment Development Service. It stated they were looking for actors aged from 18 to 38 to star in adult films. The advertisement was removed 90 minutes after the start of the two-day event. Company manager Tommy Wong said they wanted to produce cheap adult movies. He said the firm believed there was a market in Hong Kong since the adult movie industry was dominated by Japanese and Korean companies.

Asked what qualities the company was looking for, a Sun Power employee said: "The most important thing is to overcome the psychological gap - be willing to take off your clothes. And how much you earn depends on how much you are worth." The basic wage rate for a recruit in the adult film production industry is just HK$3,000 to HK$4,000 a month, and for an actress HK$5,000 to HK$6,000.

The co-ordinator of the fair, Carmen Yan Ka-man, removed the sign but stressed she believed the job was a proper occupation.

And it will dovetail nicely with the Mainland's enlightened attitude to the same industry.

In modern times risks with airplanes is a serious matter. So when there was a scare on a United Airlines plane out of Sydney people get worried. Reuters at 15:51 reported the incident. At 16:11 HK time Reuters then reported Sydney Airport says no attempt made to break into United Airlines Flight 840 Cockpit. The full Reuters article on the incident clarifies that it was a false alarm and the plane was returning to Sydney as a precaution. So it's a shame the people at CNN haven't learnt how to use the net or read news wires before embarrassing themselves. It is currently 16:47 HK time and CNN TV have broken their coverage of the world's most boring political event to report on the incident, invoking all the usual panicky buzzwords and stooping to that lowest form of journalism: interviewing other journalists. Hell even their website confirms it was all a false alarm. Talk about a non-story; it's the equivalent of speaking without thinking but it seems to be how "news" is made these days.

Left hand, meet right hand.

In happier news, Alexander Downer, Australia's Foreign Minister, has started growing a backbone. It seems being diplomatic these days involves calling a spade a spade.

Often moral lines are crossed in the endless pursiut of "beauty", especially these days in China:

Parents are taking children as young as three to plastic surgeons in China as part of a trend that is seeing the country's young generation increasingly putting themselves under the knife...Most want their noses enlarged and a fold cut onto their eyelids to make them bigger -- to make them look more like the Westerners they see in Hollywood films and the ubiquitous advertisements on billboards and magazines in China.

China has become the world's eighth-largest and Asia's second-biggest cosmetics market as disposable incomes jump in an increasingly wealthy society.

If you only give to one Breast Cancer 3 Day 60 mile walk this year, make it this one. Its being done by Reader of the Year Paul and he strongly deserves your support - he's going to walk 60 miles and you are going to open your wallet a little to help fund breast cancer research, education, screenings and treatment.

It's just another perk of being Reader of the Year. Please donate and spread the word.

While you're spreading the love, Jim's set up a new blog to highlight some of his excellent creative writing from his excellent creative brain. Protomonkey is worth a visit. Try the FAQ for a taster, including the origin of the phrase "spank my muse".

The Democrats are having their political convention in Boston. The main point of this seems to be to provide set-piece speeches for various worthies while the media can spend a week not having to think about their programming. And it drags on until Thursday.

But this year there's a twist. You see the Democrats invited some bloggers. Quite a few, actually. Finally blogging gets its moment in the sun. And you'll have to forgive me but so far it has been a disappointment. There's plenty of coverage: try the NYT, WSJ or Washington Post for two examples. There are three different aggregators, combining all the bloggers at the convention: Feedster, Technorati and ConventionBloggers.

It seems, at least at the moment, bloggers are so enjoying spotlight being shined upon themselves they are in danger of being co-opted by the traditional media they should instead be watching. And in the meantime important stuff they should be on top of is slipping under the radar. It seems that a lot of attention from people such as Glenn (who has a slightly sceptical tone in his article on MSNBC), Dan Drezner and many others are so focussed on bloggers at the convention that the main point is missing: nothing is actually happening in Boston. Bits of gossip, saying you met such-and-such blogger, or details of convention and blogger logistics are frankly uninteresting in the extreme.

So far it has been a poor start for bloggers at the convention. It can either get better or fade away into insignificance. I hope it's the former but fear it will be the latter.

UPDATE: Even from Boston it seems Tim Blair is keeping up his Margo-watch. She has a ham-fisted and not easily followed explanation and has offered a half-arsed apology. It's not convincing and she deserves the worst possible sanction for this idiotic statement. Except the SMH employs her to stir the pot so the chances of action being taken are extremely low.

UPDATE 2: Back to this convention. If you want real, solid coverage of the important events at the convention, check out Jeff's updates here, here, here and here, not to mention here. It's all fair and balanced.

Nothing gets newspapers more worked up than stories about themselves. Late last week almost all HK's newspapers reported on a court case involving the Independent Commission Against Corruption. A woman, who is a protected witness, went to court saying ICAC was holding her against her will. The papers printed her name in reporting the case, a breach of the law on protected witnesses. This lead to the ICAC launching raids on 6 newspapers and detaining two lawyers involved in the case. Both lawyers were later released. And now the press are going into a frenzy of righteous indignation.

The problem for the papers is they are completely in the wrong. The first question has to be where are these newspapers' legal departments? They need to seriously have a look at themselves. Secondly the newspapers need to come back down to planet Earth. Of the papers raided 3 had editorials. The SCMP: The conduct of Saturday's investigations exacted a high cost. In this case, it goes beyond casting an unnecessary shadow over local press freedoms. It includes straining the ICAC's relationship with the press..." That sounds almost like a threat rather than a reasoned defence of the newspaper. But that's because the paper apparently has no other defence. The ICAC was heavy-handed but they certainly acted within their powers. They obtained warrants that were issued by High Court judges and followed the correct procedures in launching the raids. Indeed the high profile nature of the raids is clearly sending a message as well as being an investigation into breaches of the law. It is saying to the media and wider public that breaking the law will not be tolerated, no matter who or what you are. That is as it should be.

Two other papers, the HK Economic Journal and the Sun, both had similar editorials with the words "reckless" and "infringing press freedom". There are firm arguments that press freedom in Hong Kong is under threat but this is not such a time. Vitriol like this doesn't help nor explain the situation. Instead this raid represents a victory for a legal system that works and the newspapers have been caught out. The Standard, a paper that was not raided, has a good report on the whole schlemozzle.

I hope the ICAC can maintain their integrity and carry through with this investigation on these newspapers. If they have broken the law they deserve to be punished, regardless of their bleating. It's hard to feel sorry for the press when they bring things upon themselves.

Jim's one and he's had an couple of early present. It makes it even sweeter. Go visit Jim and congratulate him on both counts. If you're not reading him your life is empty.

China has something of an obsession with mobile phones. However it seems someone has displeased the Lord: From the China Daily:

On the Juyongguan section of the Great Wall, lightning hit dozens of tourists at 2:40 pm on Saturday, injuring 15 people. During the thunder and lightning, a senior person was using a mobile phone to make a call, witnesses said. When analyzing the cause of the accident, experts said the senior person's use of a mobile phone had caused the lightning strike.

It is very dangerous to use mobile phones in stormy weather where there is thunder and lightning, said Liu Shuhua, a professor of the Atmosphere Science Department at Peking University. The electromagnetic waves emitted by mobile phones were quite good conductors for electricity, Liu told China Daily. When using a mobile phone while there is lightning, the mobile phone is just like a lightning rod and a large electric current is concentrated in the mobile phone, Liu said.

Let's plunge straight into today's Asia linkfest:

Hong Kong, Taiwan and China

• More on the Taiwan-China potential for conflict. Firstly Richard points to a story of some Taiwanese people perpetually in the wrong place at the wrong time. Joseph Bosco follows up on Phil Sen's analysis of the military situation. Richard has another link to an op-ed in the Taipei Times that says George W. Bush's policy on Taiwan is contradictory. Wayne wonders what the point is of Taiwan's recent military exercises. Adam thinks there's a far more interesting battle going on that is much more important. Finally Phil Sen finds an aircraft carrier.

• Richard also says Beijing is not as expensive as cities such as Tokyo for expats.

• Several have commented on a Chinese journalist standing up to his editors and the cr@p they publish. Richard links to a FT story on the matter, ESWN has a translation of the original letter that is worth a read and CDN has more too.

• HK Reporter tells the story of a Chinese woman in the very wrong place at the very wrong time. The Ruck also follows the story. Note to self: avoid Niagara Falls for a while.

• ESWN says Britain is hypocritical in criticising China on democracy in Hong Kong. He has a point, up to a point. Yes the UK did not bring democracy to HK until towards the end of their colonial reign. However they did attempt to introduce it, albeit when the handover to China was in sight and when it was too late. Historically Britain did many things wrong; the more important point is to look at the UK today for a more relevant look at their attempts to bring democracy to various places across the globe - not just Iraq. You can't live in the past forever.

• Asia Times has an article looking again at the differences between urban and rural populations, this time in relation to development along the Yangtze River.

• Mad Minerva says Taiwan's Presidential election is finally over.

• DTL notes another numbers game with crowds, although this time on a smaller scale. Tom also has a historical footnote from 1963 China that again repeats the mantra that China's countryside needs containment ("stability" in the jargon) before reform. ESWN continues with the state of China's peasants with another article stating a local government's attempt to pull one over some workers despite orders from the Central Government.

• ESWN notes that what Hong Kong's English newspapers write can be very different to what local rags have, and he has a recent example to prove it. And he says Hong Kong's upcoming election is bringing out the worst in petty reporting.

• Chris isn't optimistic about Asia's budget airlines, even if it is an underhanded business.

• Are China's cities becoming cheaper or more expensive. Fons says AFP cannot make up its mind.

• ESWN continues his photoblogging experience of life in China.

• Danwei says China is taking the beauty pageant to new frontiers.

• For readers in China itself, Scott Sommers wants to know if you can see this site.

Korea and Japan

• The ongoing Korean blogging block is still, well, ongoing. Kevin points to a summary of everything here. Andi has a piece on the issue, comparing with another form of suppression and The Korea Herald has an article on the situation. IA, who is already pessimistic about Koreans and their attitudes, talks about his approach to the censorship row and why he doesn't care. Blinger is constantly updating on the issue.

• FY talks about Korea's interests in the Straits of Malacca.

• Kimchee GI says US troops are finally moving out of Seoul.

• Jodi thinks John Bolton was out of line with his comments on North Korea and has some more thoughts on taking the situation forward. She also looks at Japan's disturbingly high suicide rates.

• Marmot points to an article saying markets could be a better form of attack on North Korea than any military effort. Events in the past two decades say that's probably right. He also notes that some in Korea cannot understand what parody means and the North Korea Human Rights Act is making progress in the US.

• Conrad takes offence at those who say North Korea produces nothing of value, via Beautiful Atrocities which has more examples.

• ACB notes some hypocrisy in China's coverage of Japan's efforts to renew whaling.

SE Asia

• Conrad reports on some fishy business in Indonesia.

• Cranial Cavity sees some Malaysian hypocrisy (something of a theme today) in their denials of being involved in any Philippine ransom payment for the Iraqi hostage. CC also notes the Philippine Government's internet efforts aren't going so well.

• The Swanker talks about the Indonesian court ruling overturning its anti-terror laws and its impact on the Bali bombers.

• Good news: the follow-up to the request for information on a Filipino working in Iraq is posted at ALN. Score one for the blogosphere.

Miscellany

• Richard points out the soccer started in China.

• Antti says lotteries can destroy families.

• It is worth again mentioning ALN's attempt to construct an alternative Big Mac Index; there's more background here. Do something good and go have a Big Mac.

• "Honey, I've got to go to a conference in Shanghai next month."

Whereas in many parts of the world an airline hijacking, especially post 9/11, is a massive story, in China it is handled in a time honoured way:

An Air China airliner was hijacked but the incident had been resolved, a spokesman for the Civil Aviation Administration of China said. The plane had been hijacked Monday en route from Beijing to Changsha and had landed in the central city of Zhengzhou, an official at that airport said. The flight, CA1343, a Boeing 737, landed at around 10:00 a.m. (0200 GMT), the Zhengzhou airport official said.

"It has already been handled successfully and we are investigating it," said a spokesman for the Civil Aviation Administration of China. He gave no details of the hijacking or how many people were on board the flight.

Last week Brad DeLong picked up my story on the Two China's, being the difference between the rapidly growing and comparitively wealthy coast and the poor and stagnant rural areas. The comments at his site had an interesting discussion including such econo-speak as purchasing power parity and the Big Mac Index. The point some were trying to make was that a dollar in China is worth more in terms of what it can buy you than what it does in (say) the USA. It's a fair point and one the economists spend a lot of time working on to establish relative standards of living and meaningful comparisons between countries.

Stephen Frost has an interesting alternative way of looking at the problem of determining the value of money: he looks at a comparison of minimum wages to determine what 625 yuan (the benchmark for "extreme" poverty in China). It re-emphasises my main original point: 625 yuan is not a lot of money under any circumstances.

It has lead Stephen into trying to construct a new alternative Big Mac Index, this time based on how long it takes a McDonald's worker to earn enough to buy a Big Mac. It's an ingenious twist on the original and I highly commend you sacrifice yourself one lunchtime to help him out. I'd do it myself but Stephen's a Hong Konger already. Volunteers please - any location accepted.

UPDATE: Manilla results are in.

Macau is an interesting place. A Portugese port and trading concession with a 500 year history, it has retained (just) a touch of its Portugese heritage while becoming the only part of China with legal casinos. It's other major industries are reproducing "antique" furniture and tourismo, with a small sideline in impossibly long names for every company and institution that must end in 'Macau', leading to a lettering and signage industry without peer in the Portugese speaking world (outside of Portugal and Brazil). 24 hours in the place was about long enough to get a feel for it. Really it's just a huge vacuum cleaner for Hong Kong and Mainland Chinese money, the casinos providing the suction and not in a particularly classy way either. Interestingly when I inquired if they had some kind of booklet explaining some of the games (bacaarat, some dice games with flashing lights, more bacaarat, 3 card poker and did I mention bacaarat?) I was told they have booklets in Chinese and Portugese. Nothing in English, though. Fair enough too given we seemed to be the only non-staff gweilos in the Sands.

So if your idea of a good time is not seeing sunshine as you watch thousands of your hard earned dollars go to the coffers of rich men who own the place, surrounded by smoke and surly Chinese people who have idiosyncratic methods of card turning and playing (how does waving a piece of paper over the cards help?) while aged and ugly token gweilo women dance on bar tops for the amusement of no-one in particular, then Macau's the place for you. Oh, the food's pretty good.

Suffice it to say if something like this ever happened there would be a new inmate of Macau's mental institution.

Tomorrow Mrs M and I are off to Macau, because it it's this easy, we've been wasting our time in Hong Kong. So I present an early and abridged version of the usual weekly linkfest that is Enemablog:

Blogs

My favourite Sarge is back online. Go say hi from me.

Daniel Drezner and Henry Farrell have put together a serious academic paper on blogging and its influence on the political cycle. Dean Esmay expands on the subject, noting an important point the original paper seems to miss: that blogs influence key decision makers and big media journalists and the readership of the biggest blogs likely rivals many of the op-ed writers in more traditional media. James Joyner points to Michelle Malkin as an example of proving the paper's assetion there's room for new big political blogs. Jeff Jarvis also expands on big media and blogs and gives another example of blogs impacting on the political process.

Joe Gandelman has a good piece on the blogging of the conventions and defending blogs against big media, as does James Joyner, Classical Values, Matt Welch, Stephen Green and the Boi from Troy. NZ Bear makes a great point that bloggers are there to watch the journos themselves as much as to compete with them.

I've already mentioned her, but I'm going to do it again. Potentially NSFW, but worth investing the time to read: Weggly Woo's Pillowbook. Helen, you've got competition, especially now you're getting political on cave-men and all.

Anna's line of Creekside Soaps look and sound great. Anyone from Hong Kong interested in putting together an order?

Politics

Arthur Chrenkoff's regular round-up of good news in Iraq is always worth a read. It's so good it even made it into the Wall St Journal. Another Aussie making it big on the world stage.

New Zealand's got a new flag in light of its latest endorsement. One can only hope this is the exception rather than the rule. The kiwis soon may even become what's been de facto for a long time: a state of Australia.

Conrad has a thought-provoking post on the ethics and sense in not voting.

Kim du Toit talks about the 2 Americas.

Miscellany

In the economics department, Jane Galt argues efficent markets aren't yet dead whereas John Quiggin thinks they are.

RP talks about good times.

Might as well call of Miss America this year, Kevin's already found the winner.

Finally Rusty's had a big week: he's got both a new baby and a new blog! Update those bookmarks.

Joe at Winds of Change kindly cross-posted the last edition and in return I'm pinching his formatting idea. Let that be a lesson to you.

And now on with the show of Asia's blogging's best:

Hong Kong, Taiwan and China

• Phil Sen looks at who would win a war between Taiwan and China based on his experience with Jane's. Gut Rumbles has a short post on the upcoming military exercises by the USA and China while Mad Minerva says Taiwan is conducting training too. Jodi also has a look at the issue, as does Joseph. UPDATE: Donald Sensing also has a summary of the issues at play here, although he perpetuates the 7 aircraft carriers myth for Operation Summer Pulse 04.

• Joseph also talks about the release of Dr. Jiang Yinyong, the doctor who blew the whistle on SARS and then challenged the CCP's view of the events of June 1989. He also points to a NY Times article on the matter and what the release signifies about the CCP leadership.

• In a really disturbing piece of news, Shanghai Eye is closing down. I dearly hope it reappears at some point.

• Tom has a review of a book on China's issues and challenges. I'll be adding it to my (rapidly growing) China book pile.

• Via Richard and CDN comes this Asia Times article on the ongoing powerplay between Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao at the top of the CCP, this time in cyberspace. While on the Asia Times, via Marmot comes this piece on Chinese bloggers.

• Gut Rumbles has the scoop on a slightly modified version of Bill Clinton's book. The Ruck has more.

• Richard also notes an article from the Heritage Foundation saying the EU should continue to refrain from selling arms to China. Richard agreeing with the Heritage Foundation - who would have thought?

• China now has 87 million internet users, reports Fons.

• Chris has a follow-up on the recent resignations over the handling of SARS in HK.

• China Letter comments on a journalist's return to Beijing and her impressions of the place, including the idea (oft-repeated on this blog) that Beijing's leadership does not really govern China.

• Conrad talks about the "improvements" proposed in Hong Kong's accountability system.

• Danwei follows China's war on porn and how the official Xinhua is leading by example.

• Tom follows the Asia Cup currently underway in China, including the controversy over a few misjudged comments by AFC Chairman Peter Velappen.

• ESWN re-analyses a recent Hong Kong opinion poll and comes up with different conclusions to the accepted wisdom. He also has the results from another poll on what Hong Kong voters expect of their politicians. His conclusion is partially right: those running for election need more on their platform than "will push for democracy in Hong Kong". However I don't think civic conditions are as bad as he makes out - all cities have problems but Hong Kong's are not particularly bad by world standards.

• ALN, which is mentioned later as well, talks about the number killed in industrial accidents in China and looks at the numbers killed in mining accidents so far this year. Frightening stuff.

Korea and Japan

• The Korean blog blocking continues, with Kevin continuing to lead efforts to publicise the issue. Adam brings up an interesting point in contrasting the Korean blocking with China's. Via Scott Summers comes the latest news on the Korean situation.

• Via Kimchee GI comes an interesting piece on anti-Americanism in Korea.

• Cathartidae follows Korea's Keystone Cops and their attempts to catch a serial killer. Marmot has plenty on the killer. Oranckay says a large and growing number think the law just gets in the way anyway.

• FY has more on the accommodation being reached between Japan and the USA over deserter Robert Jenkins. He also says the "No" means "Roh".

• Jodi from Asia Pages has a fascinating lunch with Mr. C, an expert on fiscal policy in Korea.

• Marmot says the US's attempt to force North Korea to do a Libya on nuclear weapons won't work for the simple reason it's North Korea you're dealing with.

SE Asia

• The fallout from the Philippines pull-out in Iraq continues. The Sassy Lawyer points to some examples where America has "given in" to terrorists, although she has some questions on the largess being lavished on the victim this time. She also muses on the changing relationship between the USA and the Philippines. Michelle Malkin looks at the reports of a potential ransom being paid by the Philippines to secure the hostage's release and is not amused. Neither is Wretchard who now sees the taking of more hostages as a natural consequence of the Philippines actions. Among others commenting on the ransom story are Cranial Cavity, John Hawkins, Donald Sensing, Stephen Green and Michele at ASV. On the other side Jardine Davies has a series of posts on the topic as well from a domestic point of view: he has posts here, here on the ransom and here on the differences between Washington and Manila.

• HELP: Even after the Philippines pull-out there are still many Filipino workers in Iraq. So via the essential ALN comes this plea: Hi. I'm a daughter of a Filipino generator mechanic in Camp Anaconda. I just want to know if it is possible for Filipino relatives here in the Philippines to view the present situation of Filipino workers in Camp Anaconda and other parts of Iraq? This is because of the limited access to communication with our relatives. I really am worried about the situation in Iraq and I want to know how my father as well as his fellow Filipinos are. Thanks a lot. Hope to hear from you. God bless. Cory Cruz If you are able to help please visit ALN and leave a comment in response. At ALN you can also read about the extreme conditions household workers have to endure in Malaysia.

• The Swanker says it looks like some Indonesian politicians may be reverting to the bad old days of aligning with military elements.

• Jodi says Singapore is dragging itself into the China/Taiwan/US circus.

Miscellany

• Via Serial Deviant comes a delightful set of graphics illustrating each of Singapore's public holidays. Someone's had too much time with Clipart.

• Jodi looks at Asia's plastic people.

The next edition of Asia by Blog will be out soon. It will include this but it's important enough to have a seperate post: Via Marmot comes this piece on Chinese bloggers. The article covers the story of Liu Di, a noted cyber-dissident. It talks about the rapid rise in the number of bloggers in China and the Government's efforts to deal with this profusion of free thought and need for censorship. It estimates China has placed 63 cyber-dissidents in prison although the true number is likely to be higher. There are even hints that some blogs have had a part in influencing political decisions such as a bid by a Japanese firm to build a bullet train between Shanghai and Beijing. More interesting again is an element of self-censorship amongst China bloggers in order to avoid having their sites blocked and on efforts to build a China Wikipedia.

You know what I'm going to say: read the whole thing.

While you're at it the IHT has an article on America's need for a China policy. A small excerpt:

China is rapidly developing into a global economic force. Yet U.S. policy toward China remains confusing and contradictory as a result. The U.S. choice is a simple one: We can either strive to protect our superpower status by trying to impede the rise of China, or we can exhibit more enlightened leadership by helping China mature into a full partner on the global level.

For any American living in Asia in recent years, it has been obvious that the United States and China need to find a way to better understand each other. Time and again, in issues big and small, there has been a tendency to misunderstand and even to exaggerate differences...

Sometimes kids can get in the way of the best laid plans. From the SCMP:

When Wong Yee-wan, 32, began work as a waitress in a restaurant not far from her village house in Sai Pin Wai at about 6am, she received a call from her "lovely" son, she said. "Mum, Dad has brought a woman home and they are now in the bedroom," Ms Wong said, recalling what her son told her on the phone.

She immediately hung up the phone and rushed home. As she opened the door, she found her 41-year-old husband, surnamed Kwok, sitting on the sofa with his arms around Lam Oi-ling, 19. The two women started arguing, with Ms Lam allegedly throwing things at Ms Wong, police said.

Firstly the SCMP reports on a disturbing new trend in Vietnam:

...a new gambling craze in Vietnam: fish fighting, which can pull in bets of more than US$100 a bout...The aquatic version of cock-fighting has been around Vietnam as a folk game for decades. But only recently has it attracted high rollers...

The battles themselves are simple. Most punters buy their fish at the venue, for anywhere from US$1 to $3, though some of the more serious enthusiasts breed their own at home. The fish are typically small aquarium fish of undetermined species...varying colours are the key distinction for the casual buyer.

The selected fighters are placed in a bottle of water, which is then given a good shake, and the agitated fish usually start biting each other...In most bouts a winner is declared after a few minutes when one of the combatants stops attacking, though sometimes a particularly savage fish will kill its foe.

More interestingly the CSM has an article asking Would China invade Taiwan? It presents both sides and potential ramifications, including looking at the economic and broader geopolitical aspects of an invasion. To be honest they could have saved some newsprint. The same to the question is yes. Still it's worth a quick read.

I blame Ted for this. It is a read-the-whole-post on some of the hazards of snow. However before the link, some warnings:
1. Sort of safe for work (herein known as SoSFW): it has explicit but extremely well-written content and a photo that's borderline.
2. NSFC at all
3. Not Safe for leaving the desk for 10 minutes afterwards (herein known as NSFLD)

Without a further a-do, Weggly's pillowbook.

Her regular blog is pretty good too.

With the seemingly massive gulf between left and right in the USA, it's good to see there are at least some good examples of moderate thinking. Via TMV I suggest you look at Tutakai; as an introduction read this on being militantly moderate. Straight to the Top Shelf.

Another reason to hate Olympic athletes.

Mia reports it's just like it was in the olden days.

The word buzzword has become such a buzzword itself as to render itself almost meaningless. Nevertheless it can prove useful on occasion. The People's Daily has a list of the Top 10 buzzwords culled from a survey of 13 major Chinese papers from the first half of this year. I'm going to reproduce the list in full:

Top Ten Buzzwords of Comprehensive Type: China's market economy status, concept of scientific development, peaceful rise, European Championship, maltreatment of captives, highly pathogenic bird flu, interpretation of law, substandard milk powder, power shortage and auditing storm.

Top Ten Buzzwords of International Type: 60th anniversary of the Normandy Landing, interim governing council, Hamas, Athens Olympic Torch, hostage incident, Tashkent Summit, separation wall, nuclear freeze, transferring of Iraqi sovereignty, attack warning.

Top Ten Buzzwords of Economic Type: auto show, zero tariff, power control, two-color ball, auto recall, negative interest rate age, underground insurance, non-performing loan ratio, legislation on direct sales, lottery legislation.

Top Ten Buzzwords of Scientific and Technological Type; Mars exploration, Transit of Venus, Spirit, dual-mode cell phone, intelligent cell phone, Chang'e Project, genetically modified food, meteorological monitoring and warning, sasser virus and innocuous disposition.

Top Ten Buzzwords of Cultural Type: China-France Culture Year, red classic, "Three Education", Shi mian mai fu (Ambush on All Sides), synthetic beauty, Twelve Girls Band, Porch of the Three Kingdoms, film classification system, media responsibility and film legend.

Top Ten Buzzwords of Current Affairs (Domestic): issues concerning agriculture, rural areas and farmers, Xibaipo Spirits, passenger accident insurance, BMW lottery case, 2nd identification card, deficiency of honesty, Taiwan referendum, clean government commitment and flight delay compensation.

China's official People's Daily has an article on China's attempts to reach zero population growth. It has some interesting but also some disturbing elements, breaking the problems down into five key issues:

• The country will take 30 years to reach the zero population growth level, taking the total population up to the 1.5 billion "security" line.

• "The population quality needs to be raised" - we'll be coming back to this one.

• The imblanace of the gender ratio, now at 117 boys to 100 girls, well above the normal range of 103 to 107 boys to girls. I've talked about this recently.

• Urbanisation: 40.5% of China's population live in cities and this is estimated to rise to 65% by 2020. In numbers that's 360 million extra people living in cities, making a total of 900 million city dwellers. This pressures land and water resources.

• Impact on the "traditional system" and changed allocation of labour resources. In other words, the economic gap between rich cities and poor rural areas will get worse. In the priceless words of the article: Besides, the pattern in which rural dwellers move to cities and developed regions has widened urban-rural gap, forcing the state to put more funds and material resources into poor and backward areas where young and middle-aged labors ran off. You bad people for following the economic incentives presented to you.

Let's return to that second point. From the article:

the population quality needs to be raised. China now has some 60 million disabled persons, nearly 20 percent of them are born with disability. The occurrence rate of born defects stays high. On the other hand, common people are facing challenges of both infectious diseases and chronic, non-infectious diseases. Besides, the cultural standard of the population is rather low and the overall schooling lags far behind developed countries

NOTE: If you've arrived here via a search engine looking for China's population, it hit 1.3 billion people in early 2005.

Can anyone tell me what the actual "birds and the bees" story is? In enlightened Australia our education on such matters was, ummm, more of the practical rather than theoretical variety. But I'm genuinely interested in how two non-compatible species could be used to explain such a basic act?

And on the subject of fitting in...

While reading an article on Chinese hackers' latest virus I discovered this:

Weapons, supplies, online money and other virtual goods associated with the "Legend of Mir" online game can be easily sold for real money. It is not uncommon in China for online game characters with high skill-levels to sell for more than a hundred U.S. dollars.

...hackers placed a very conspicuous ad online earlier this month advertising a service that would custom make viruses for between USD 12-24. The practice of selling computer viruses is nothing new in China. The business has existed underground for a substantial period of time, but has more recently become increasingly blatant in its advertising.

The SCMP reports on the Shenzhen Government's latest efforts at open communication with its citizenry:

Shenzhen has set rules to restrict people from staging petitions outside government offices because authorities say they cause social disorder. The regulations, announced on July 9, stop people from holding banners, distributing pamphlets or shouting insulting slogans outside government offices. And it also limits the number of people taking part in a petition to five.

People who want to launch complaints with the government must first obtain "valid official documents", although the regulation does not specify what documents are needed.

Asia Times has an article on "The Great Chinese Land Grab". AT's writers often have a barrow to push, but with that caveat in mind some of this is disturbing if even partially true. It also dovetails with my post yesterday on the "two China's" - rural poor versus wealthy urban areas.

Over the past seven years, China has lost 66,670 square kilometers in arable land, according to the Ministry of Land Resources, an estimate that many experts consider grotesquely below the actual figure and not reflecting desertification, poor management and unbridled illegal land grabs. While China is a vast country, the amount of arable land for a population of 1.3 billion, more than 800 million of them farmers, is relatively small and intensely cultivated...In April Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao announced a series of measures to curb widespread illegal land requisition nationwide, both in an effort to rein in the red-hot real-estate sector and to protect the lawful rights, interests and livelihood of millions of farmers and others who depend on the rural economy...

The AT also has an article on the limited power the Central Government has over the regions in bringing the economy under control. It notes that whereas in the past the regions meekly followed the path laid out by centre, now some of them are standing up to decisions they don't like and even openly criticising them in the media. The problem in a country as vast as China is it is almost too big to be centrally governed. The lines between national and regional governments are as blurred as the lines between the CCP and the machinery of the state. With different regions growing at vastly different rates and having very different needs these tensions will go on increasing. However the ties that bind China together are likely stronger than the forces that would break it apart. Accomodations will be made and solutions will be found. China has long been many states operating under one nation. It will continue to remain so for many years to come.

Just a little tinkering on the edges on this site today:

1. I've shifted several of the blogrolls off the front page. This should speed up the loading of the site significantly. I know this site is good, but even I was getting sick of waiting for it to load. The "Top Shelf" and a small selection of top Hong Kong blogs remains on the front page. The "On the Cusp/Look at" roll, the Asia roll, the Aussie roll, the Best of the Rest and the all important Munu roll are all on their own pages, with a link under the Other Blogrolls title on the sidebar. I suspect I'm the only one who actually uses these rolls anyway, so I'm sure you don't care. But there you go.

I've also added a new roll, called Reciprocal Links. If you want to exchange links and you're not on one of the rolls already then email me and I'll add them on this page. There's a strong chance the link will get moved to one of the other rolls eventually, so don't fret.

2. A second feature is the new "Top 10 Referrers" section. This will be updated regularly, probably weekly. It's not perfect: at the moment I've relied on the very inaccurate Sitemeter and some of the stats provided via the hosting service. However I have a feeling neither of them are right. I've left the full Referrers listing underneath it as a secondary check. I'll be working to get this listing right over the next few weeks so it accurately reflects who's sending traffic this way. Visit each of those fine blogs who have the good taste to send people here. If you want to join the list, bribes are welcome. Otherwise send traffic this way.

3. There's more changes to come but all things in time.

As always, feedback and comments are welcome.

I'll bet his wife is happy.

Hong Kong's odious Liberal Party, the political incarnation of the tycoons' desire to maintain a grip on HK's polity ala Russia, have realised if they want to win direct election seats there are more votes with the general public than with the business elite. This amazing political revelation will hopefully result in James Tien missing out on a seat in September's LegCo elections. Yesterday he had the following disturbing comments:

``I hope the Liberal Party can develop into a ruling party. If we win more seats, we can be a stronger representative of the public and we can better reflect public opinion to the government,'' he [Tien] said...After chanting their election slogan, "Fight for the interests of the moderate majority. Exercise the power of balance'', Tien admitted he, Chow and Ting faced an uphill battle in the direct elections because they had no record of community work.

Far more interesting is the release of a report on Christianity in China. While China has a network of "approved" churches the report states there are a plethora of clandestine "house churches" across the Mainland. China has locked up people for religious beliefs, especially those deemed to be part of cults as defined by the Government. As an example the Roman Catholic Church is not an approved church in China, partly because of the matter of Papal authority (China sees it as a potentially undermining force towards the CCPs rule; please see Poland for an example) and partly because of the Vatican's cordial relations as a result of this with Taiwan. The SCMP reports that at the same time Shanghai is clamping down on religious activity:

Shanghai plans to implement new rules on religion that will for the first time regulate the activities of foreign residents and the use of the internet by religious groups in the city, government sources said....Shanghai's existing rules on religion date back nine years. The city is revising them as it tries to cope with a rising number of foreign residents and the rapid growth of the internet as a medium for proselytising.

At the same time, the central government is drafting its first national regulation on religion to replace a patchwork of rules and policies, but Shanghai's regulations will be implemented sooner because local authorities see an urgent need to keep up with change. Under the proposed rules, Shanghai will increase supervision by setting up a watchdog to help monitor the religious activities of foreign residents...In another nod to modernity, the rules also aim to strengthen supervision of the use of the internet by religious groups...

"Previously, the rules weren't designed for internet content. Now, we must strengthen the management of the internet," an official said. (my emphasis)

Doing the rounds for the Asian blogging round-up:

Hong Kong, Taiwan and China

Slowly minds are being turned on the idea that China might actually invade Taiwan. Richard notes that, as is often the case, the media sometimes has hidden agendas on this issue too. Tom weighs in on the issue including a quote stating this could be the cause of World War 3 and ACB notes the US Congress again backed the Taiwan Relations Act. I used to think this was alarmist but I'm more realistic now - the depth of feeling on this issue is difficult to fathom for those outside. On a similar note, ESWN looks at the "Summer Pulse 04" story and the various options for "war" against China and how a bit of simple fact-checking would make the LA Times a better paper. Adam also has links on Summer Pulse.

ESWN looks at some opinion polls for HK's LegCo elections in September and notes the high undecided vote up for grabs and the lack of platforms for the campaigning parties. He also translates a From 7 student's views on the recent HK march and the crowd estimates.

Danwei on spin in China. ESWN also notes the perverse effects of Hong Kong's libel laws on reporting stories. ACB notes China is now redubbing stories to prevent news leaking out to English or Japanese speakers.

Marmot has an article from Foreign Affairs on the rise of Asia and its influence in the shifting sands of international relations. Marmot says the lessons of history need to be heeded on both sides in dealing with this new reality. It's a forward-looking analysis of emerging geo-politics which doesn't get as much airplay as it should because of the focus on the Middle East.

ESWN translates a chapter of a report on Chinese peasantry and notes that often China's political leadership need to work hard to get around their bureaucrats and effect change. I don't agree with the conclusions reached (at the bottom of the translation) that China needs to solve its problems its own way. A democratic leader is just as likely to visit many of the country's counties as an imposed one - a democratic leader needs votes; the imposed one needs legitimacy.

Gut Rumbles notes China's "softening up" of Singapore's next PM.

Chinese Suburbia points to an interesting site called China Elections. The conclusions are obvious: democracy involves far more than just elections. Rule of law, non-arbitrary detention, private property rights and many more elements are needed for a viable democracy. Nothing new there, but important points nonetheless.

Fumier looks at HK driving and how not to teach it. He also points to the invaluable 30th anniversary Hello Kitty quiz, a must for Hemlock.

Chris talks about the madness of crowds when a typhoon approaches. Wanbro has an imaginatively-titled post that agrees it was much ado about nothing.

TR talks about the latest Chinese war on the internet: this time against p0rn.

The Tapei Kid says fakes are everywhere these days.

Via Fons comes this summary of a "crisis" in China blogging. Sounds like a case of beal to me. As to Fons' description that blogs should maintain strict focus, I completely disagree. Blogs are at the discretion of their author: if they want success then perhaps strict focus is one way to attain it. However there are plenty of different blog styles, just like there are plenty of TV channels or newspapers. It is these differences that make things interesting. Anyway Fons and John both point to this article on a fictitious China expat blogger. It is harsh and not entirely fair and seemingly devoid of a point. Some blogs are written by (mainly) American ESL teachers in China. However much you don't agree with them, they all have interesting insights into life in China from their point of view. And like everything on the internet, if you don't like it or you're not interested you don't have to read it. In all it seems a patronising article towards these bloggers. If the author had a blog himself he might be in a better place to pass judgement.

Phil Sen (who's blog just turned 1) notes that China is getting quicker at putting up walls.

Korea and Japan

Korea's ongoing censorship of blogs continues. Kevin has more here, an exchange with Marmot on the issue here, an analysis of the blocking and more here, and finally an interesting post leading on from the whole issue onto the idea of moral equivalence. He's also got a flattering write-up on a Korean news site (via Kimchee GI). FY thought the ban might be over, but it turns out someone was just asleep at the wheel. Blinger has ongoing coverage of the whole fracas.

Kimchee GI says the North Koreans are no longer pretending about nukes.

RiK laments the poor state of reporting in Korea's media with a thorough example of how bad (and racist) it can be.

Adam and Marmot report on a cyber-attack on South Korean networks out of China.

Marmot has the links on the capture of what looks like South Korea's worst serial killer. He also talks about the importance of names and the history they reflect.

Jodi points out a double standard in Japan's handling of Bobby Fischer and Robert Jenkins. She also thinks Robert Jenkins at least owes the US military an explanation.

SE Asia

Following up on the pullout of the Philippines from Iraq: Michelle Malkin responds to some mail and has some more links on the issue. The Sassy Lawyer succinctly responds to Jay Leno's quips and the reactions to it. She also summarises the deeper reasons behind the moves. I disagree with her: despite the history of the Philippine/US relationship, a long and complex one, the political reality is this pullout makes Iraq more dangerous for others still there and it is a slap in the face for the US after it's support in helping the Philippines deal with its Muslim insurgents. The other side is nicely presented by Dean Jorge Bocobo who has more here and here. Jodi agrees with Dean.

Who knew? Andres says Israel helped set up Singapore's armed forces.

The Swanker points to an Asia Times article on the shifting political sands in Indonesia.

Miscellany

Jodi talks about culture shock when Western pop culture hits SE Asia.

I've been able to locate a photo of some of the damage by Friday's typhoon.

(via Stacey)

Luckily, no-one was hurt.

The cancer-stick burners at work use the fire stairs to indulge their habit.

Business Week has an article on China's changing attitude to AIDS. It's well worth a read. In short it says China is at least acknowledging the problem but has a long way to go to deal with it effectively. The first step is admitting you have a problem. Of course locking people up who talk about the problem isn't the correct second step. But it's progress of sorts.

The apartment complex where I live (as far as I know, it also has the world's highest concerntration of unrelated unrelated bloggers - 2) has a slavish following to superstition. The floors of each building skip the numbers 4 (unlucky for Chinese), 13 (unlucky for Westerns) and 14 (unlucky for Chinese). However the complex has towers 4, 13 and 14. So they are unlucky enough not have floors named after them, but not so unlucky they can't have whole friggin' 20 floor towers named after them. Like many things here it makes no sense.

On a completely different note, watching Pearl TV last night the news break came on. After the usual blather came the announcement the next break will be at 11:37pm. That's impressive precision for one of the world's worst commercial TV channels.

Many people think of China as potentially two countries: the People's Republic on the Mainland and the Republic of China in Taiwan. However there's a far more important split with the Mainland's populace. China's economic boom of the past twenty years has primarily benefited those living in the provinces on China's coast as high as Shanghai and across to Beijing. However the great mass of people living in-land have largely missed out on the benefits of this boom.

Today's Standard carries a report by the Chinese State Council's poverty reduction office saying the number of residents without adequate food and clothing increased by 800,000 last year for the first time in 20 years.

"Since Beijing started transferring money originally allocated for coastal economically developed provinces including Guangdong, Fujian, Zhejiang and Shandong, to relatively poorer western provinces in 1994, six million people were lifted out of extreme poverty every year,'' he said. "However, the number fell to about two million in 2001 and 2002.''

China's extreme poverty levels, defined as those without adequate food and clothing, and earning less than 625 yuan a year, are significantly lower than the international standard of US$1 a day...

"The people lacking adequate food and clothing, mostly farmers, are those earning less than 625 yuan a year while the income in China's rural areas on average is 2,622 yuan. This means the average income of rural people is about 4.12 times the extremely poor figure. But in 1992, the average income of rural people was about 2.45 times the extremely poor figure,'' he said.

"The current gap might widen more when one takes into account social benefits provided in some rural areas.''

Joining the ever-swelling ranks of (in this case soon to be) HK bloggers, I give you Thanschka's blog.

Methinks the time is soon approaching for another Hong Kong blogger meet-up. Interested?

The current Hong Kong Observatory warning states:

THE NO. 8 NORTHWEST GALE OR STORM SIGNAL WAS ISSUED AT 2:45 P.M. IT REPLACED THE NO. 8 NORTHEAST GALE OR STORM SIGNAL.

THIS MEANS THAT WINDS WITH MEAN SPEEDS OF 63 KILOMETRES PER HOUR OR MORE ARE EXPECTED FROM THE NORTHWEST QUARTER.

AT 3 P.M. TROPICAL STORM KOMPASU WAS CENTRED AROUND 30 KILOMETRES EAST-SOUTHEAST OF THE HONG KONG OBSERVATORY (NEAR 22.2 DEGREES NORTH 114.4 DEGREES EAST) AND IS FORECAST TO MOVE WEST-NORTHWEST AT ABOUT 16 KILOMETRES PER HOUR TOWARDS THE PEARL RIVER ESTUARY.

KOMPASU WILL COME VERY CLOSE TO HONG KONG IN THE NEXT FEW HOURS AND THE WINDS ARE EXPECTED TO REACH GALE FORCE.

This city is really full of crazy people.

A slightly early and truncated version but nevertheless linkage from what's in my link in-tray:

Blogs

Michele has a separate site called Don't Pee in the Millenium Falcon with plenty of great parenting stories which are eventually destined for a book. Go read and enjoy. WARNING: NSFC*

Forget about underblogs. Go to nominate Overblogs: those blogs that get far more traffic than they deserve. Harvey has an interesting theory on it. For one I'd nominate Rachel Lucas, and I think Harv would agree.

Harvey also has a great post on ways to generate traffic to blogs, a frequent complaint from those quality bloggers that don't get the traffic they deserve.

Politics

In worthy cause of the week, Alex pointed me towards Books for Soldiers. You might be suffering compassion fatigue: these guys are facing a whoe different league of fatigue and problems. Please help spread the word.

The Sassy Lawyer talks about different types of Americans.

In the proof of the power of blogs department we have two entries: firstly Zonitics (and many others) effectively policed discrepancies made by Josh Marshall of TPM over differences in the Iraq/Niger uranium story. Secondly Chief Wiggles reported a problem with Operation Give, the call was heard (and by many others too) and a solution quickly reached. And people say blogs won't amount to much.

Miscellany

Pixy has a Headstart Philosophy Program that is well worth investing the time in. I now know my isms from ologies.

Look out for Paul "Fast Eddie" Felson.

Let's finish on a good note. Firstly via SR comes Rock, Paper, Saddam (NSFC*). And RNW has quotes from the greatest TV show ever made: The Simpsons.

* _{For the last time: Not Safe for Coffee}

Bullsh!t.

I don't have time to go through this report in detail, but clearly the measures the Cato Institute uses to measure economic "freedom" need some work. Unless you consider a country with little Government regulation but huge oligopolies divying up the economy and running the city for themselves as "free". Singapore was second; the US, New Zealand, Switzerland and Britain were equal third.

This New Zealand? The one that cancels a trip that wasn't happening?

Conrad went over all of this when the Heritage Foundation put out their report at the start of the year. Same rubbish, different institute.

The New York Times has an article on Jiang Zemin and the tensions at the top of the CCP's leadership. While slightly alarmist it captures many of the recent differences between Jiang's more conservative old guard and the new, more open and progressive President Hu and Premier Wen. People often have the impression that China's polity is a unified monolith whereas the reality is it is as political and split as many other coutries. It is just that much of the debate and differences are sorted out behind closed doors. Jiang may:

still hold ultimate power in China and has no immediate plans to give up his remaining position as head of the military...

Mr. Jiang, 77, may consider himself as having entered the pantheon of Communist giants, along with Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping.

Blogging may be cut short today...

UPDATE:: The No. 8 warning (better know as the "get the f*ck out of there now" warning) will be going up at 11:45am according to the HKO. Wind Rider, I'll be watching for that sign. In Hong Kong there are several bars that remain open during typhoons, offering people shelter from the storm in the warm embrace of alcohol. It's such a caring city...

Typhoon Projected Path:

It doesn't look like a direct hit on HK...so it means everyone gets to leave work early (it's looking like lunchtime or early afternoon) and you get to plunder your DVD collection for 24 hours or so.

Normal broadcasting will resume Monday.

China's decided it has to do something about its massively unbalanced sex ratio - there are currently 120 boys for every 100 girls. The average ratio is about 105:100. They're a little vague on details, mostly because it is perhaps the first time a Government has decided to fight 2,000 years of culture and history. China's traditional preference for boys and the one-child policy inevitably lead to this imbalance, despite attempts to prevent it. Sex-selective abortions are common. India, facing the same issues, banned tests to determine the sex of foetuses. However like China the economic incentives for most people, especially the rural poor, will continue to push the sex ratio towards more boys. While Government efforts can help, the only real way change will be achieved is over time. Slowly the "price" of girls (reflected in expected doweries) will rise and the incentives for having girls will balance and likely eventually surpass having boys. So in the end it is economics that will beat culture and history, not law. Score another victory for the dismal science.

UPDATE: The Guardian has an article talking about the incentives being offered and the problem: "Wife-selling, baby-trafficking and prostitution are all expected to increase as the first generation born under the one-child policy hits the normal marriage age...The Chinese government is increasingly accepting free market principles in the business field, but state intervention continues to guide demographic policy. Two laws have been passed banning gynaecologists from telling pregnant women the sex of a foetus once it is confirmed by ultrasound checks. But as doctors are increasingly more dependent on private income, many accept payments to reveal the gender and find an excuse for an abortion if it is a girl."

Here in Hong Kong the creative excuses department has been working overtime. The SCMP reports:

Two mainland Public Security Bureau officers caught in Hong Kong with a pair of handcuffs last month were on a sightseeing trip with five staff of a rental car company, mainland officials have told Hong Kong security chiefs.

Lastly former Chinese President and Central Military Commission (read head of the PLA) chairman Jiang Zemin has put a deadline on Taiwan's return to the mainland: 2020. The Chinese article is here (via V-Man). The SCMP reports on the article:

Central Military Commission chairman Jiang Zemin has warned that Taiwan's return to the mainland must be resolved by 2020 and that the military is capable of stopping an independence bid by the island..."The Taiwan issue cannot be indefinitely dragged on ... The Taiwan leadership is so bold as to initiate the Taiwan independence movement. Our military has the capability and strategy to defeat it."

There's a good chance blogging will finish a little early tomorrow afternoon. Why? Kompasu - looking like a direct hit on the Big Lychee.

Another edition of the various links in Asian blogging:

Hong Kong, Taiwan and China

Dan McCarthy posted an article on Living in China stating China would not attack Taiwan, ever. Joseph had an extensive (and to my mind accurate) response, including the telling aspect that it is the Chinese public that would demand the attack. Chris is on Joe's side on this one and adds some good points. Adam is on Dan's side, saying China would not attack. He also links to this Jamestown Foundation article on the matter which is well worth a read. However it now seems Joe and Adam are sliding into unnecessary sniping. I agree with Adam that airing our differences is a big part of what LiC and blogging is about. However more importantly I agree with Joe's idea that civilised debate, where people actually listen rather than talk past each other, is a rapidly disappearing aspect of modern politics. We're all the poorer for it. It's far better just to agree to disagree and move on. Anyway Wayne has an aspect of the Taiwan/China dispute that is already hurting.

Andres (welcome back) and ESWN have separate looks at the issue of censorship in China (this was originally covered in the previous Asia by Blog on the debate between Richard and Adam).

Wanbro has the skinny on skinny.

Richard has an article on "family values" preventing AIDS in China and another on how China's actions on AIDS are very different to their words.

Tom reports on Singapore's Deputy PM's visit to Taiwan and China's reaction. He also says Tung Che-hwa has admitted he is simply Beijing's messenger boy and that China has just insulted the people of Hong Kong in a massive way.

Single Planet has a picture of a jam session.

Peking Dork has found all the Chinese Classics online.

Finally ESWN has the second of a photo montage of China.

Korea

The Korean censorship of blogs is still going on. Kevin has more on it all here, here on getting media attention, here answering the 'this isn't censorship idea' and here on the disturbing idea that South Korea might ban online petitions. He also points to more interesting stuff here and here. Oranckay also points to Woojay, who wrote an article on this (unfortunately it's in Korean - translations welcomed). Jodi has a post that says this is following a long tradition. Marmot is trying to organise a face-to-face meeting with the Korean Government on the censorship issue.

Kimchee GI says the North Koreans are establishing a new website for the world to have fun with. Add it to your bookmarks now. While you're there, NKZone is also moving to get around the China and Korea blocks.

Marmot notes an amusing anecdote with a simple moral: grass is good for you.

Tony gives an appropriate fisking to an article on North Korea.

SE Asia

Clearly the Philippines hostage issue has been the big one this week. Michelle Malkin is extremely disappointed at her country's response, as is Marc. Marc also has more on the fallout and implications of the decision by the Philippines Government to give in to the terrorists. Ranting Profs thinks there may be more to the story. Stephen lines it up with Spain's earlier similar decision. Others with more include the Captain's Quaters, Belmont's Wretchard with Manila Folder, Michelle again, Philippine Commentary who has an interesting juxta-position here (although they should be careful what they get themselves into, according to ALN), TMV, Jay has a new flag and Conrad. The final word, however, goes to Giles. Lost in much of this was the strong public opinion pushing the Government. However sometimes Governments need to do unpopular things because they are right: in this case all the Philippine Government has done is opened itself up to more potential kidnappings to force more changes in its policy. That's the problem with appeasement: it just encourages more bad behaviour. On the other side of the debate is the Sassy Lawyer, who says many of the views are superficial and the withdrawal was the right thing to do.

Jodi notes the impending release of a Vietnamese cyber-dissident.

Miscellany

Joel points to a survey of Asian bloggers looking for respondents. They've got their own blog following their survey. Help them out and help spread the word.

China's big banks have been selling their bad loans as quickly as possible to clean up their balance sheets in preparation of public listings in the next few years. The problem is while they've dumped HK$1.5 trillion (almost US$200 billion) over the past few years, they have accumulated as much again. The irony is most of these defaulters are state owned enterprises not repaying loans to state owned banks. This constant reshuffling of cards is common in Chinese business. Another reason to never buy shares of a Chinese bank when offered to you.

In other news the SCMP reports on the CCP's latest anti-graft tactic: gossip.

The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and its Central Organisation Committee gave a rare glimpse into their methods this week, publishing an article on the People's Daily website describing the activities of the five investigation teams set up last July to monitor more than 2,000 provincial officials.

The teams aimed to extract information by befriending local officials and then seeing if they could pick up any intelligence from casual conversations, the report said.

They used the "art of conversation" and learned how to create "a harmonious atmosphere" to lead their new friends into giving tips about official misconduct.

The government plans to set up a 600-member middle-class forum to advise it on public issues and policy initiatives. But the group will not meet regularly, communicating instead through e-mail and an internet chat room.

Jim, being in Atlanta your help is needed. Operation Give has a US$30,000 desposit with a shipping company called Atlas Line in Atlanta, Georgia and now they refuse to return it. Operation Give is the blogosphere's effort to send toys to kids in Iraq. It's a charity. This needs fixing, Jim.

For the details see:Dean, Jay, Jeff Quinton, ASV, Weekend Pundit, Daily Pundit and Joe.

UPDATE: looks like this has been sorted. Score one for the Blogosophere.

Wow - no carbs! Look how happy they are.

Obviously Wow.">Sydney's out; bring it to Hong Kong. If they add a kareoke machine to it, you've got a sure-fire winner on your hands.

There's a common saying "my body is a temple". In my case it's more like a Kowloon property development in need of downsizing.

It seems that a common parent "thing to say to kids just because that's how things are" goes along the lines of stop watching so much TV. Fair enough too, because chances are the kiddies will end up working for 10 hours a day 5 days a week for 40 years in front of a computer screen instead. They may as well get out while they can. On the other hand, though, why not give them the practice of staring at something boring yet compelling while their young?

Thanks to Pam for the new funky Showcase button on the sidebar (and over at the Showcase itself. You been there yet? Loads of good stuff awaits...). By the way, Paul remains Reader of the Year...although a donation to Shoefly (with emailed proof) in excess of his will get you that covetted spot. Hell, donate anyway and you'll get a metion.

Finally: when in New York City, do NOT stay at the Tribeca Grand hotel if you are planning to make phone calls from your room. Just trust me. It's a great hotel in a great area, but calls from New York to Australia do NOT cost US$5.70 a minute.

Next time you get a spam letter from Nigeria, keep this link handy. Warning: NSFC*

(via Kottke)

* _{Not Safe for Coffee, unless you want it on your screen}

The Standard reports Tung Che-hwa is fast re-approaching the heights of unpopularity reached in April. He received 44.4 marks out of 100, which means absolutely nothing to me. However 66% reported having no confidence in him, close to the record 67.4%. The favourable column fell from 17% to 16%. This is staggering. Impressively there were people scoring lower: former DAB head Tsang Yok-sing and Leung Chun-ying. That must make Tung feel good - he's not the most hated man in Hong Kong.

Over in Guangzhou, the idea that senior people should be held accountable is "terrifying". The same article reports a petition in HK papers from 1,800 staff in the HA supporting the recently resigned Health Secretary and HA Chairman. This would be the same petition that yesterday the SCMP reported many staff were being pressured into signing by their bosses in the hospitals. Interesting how they forgot to mention that.

Finally the SCMP reports on a Hong Kong University study estimating numbers for the July 1st march:

Only about 112,000 marchers reached the destination in Central during the July 1 march, Hong Kong University declared yesterday, but academics at other universities questioned the figure.

Hong Kong is a city of tourism, with China providing more than half of the visitors each month. However some of these Mainland tourists are not coming to look at the scenery. From the Financial Times:

...one of the dilemmas posed by Hong Kong and southern China's increasingly close relationship: how to police a porous border. Beijing's decision to relax visa restrictions on mainland travellers to Hong Kong, which has brought about 2m Chinese visitors into the city since last summer, and growing business ties with southern China's Pearl River Delta, are putting new pressure on police, courts and the criminal justice system.

"For criminals, there are no boundaries," says Dick Lee, Hong Kong's police commissioner. "Wherever there's money to be made, they will go."...

Mainland Chinese immigrants steal wild turtles and herbs, honey and "fragrant trees" from parks in Sai Kung, eastern Hong Kong, according to Mark Johnson, divisional commander for the police in that area. So many drain covers have been stolen from one Sai Kung road that workers have stopped replacing them. They are sold to scrap metal dealers on the mainland...

Hong Kong police have no jurisdiction in mainland China. Instead they must work through public security bureaux in individual provinces, adding a time-consuming layer of bureaucracy.

"They are constrained by process, as all police officers are when they get out of their own zone," says Steve Vickers, a retired Hong Kong policeman who now runs the consultancy International Risk...

Not everyone slips through the net. Mainlanders make up a third of the city's prison population - 4,400 out of 13,300 inmates, according to the government.

And some people want to get rid of the House of Lords in the UK. Then we'd miss out on gems like this debate from January 2003 on the subject of club memberships. Some select quotes (although I heartily recommend reading the whole thing):

Viscount Falkland: [Ed. - not to be confused with Viscount Malvinas] ...I do not want his remarks to leave the Committee with the suspicion that I am, in any way, a chauvinist pig, in taking that line...

The Earl of Onslow: It has something to do with English culture, in which we have men-only clubs. The idea that the French should have men-only clubs would be laughed out of court....I know that there was a frightful row in the Oxford and Cambridge Club, although I am too stupid to have gone to university. They said that women could not join the Oxford and Cambridge Club. That is silly, if the condition for membership of a club is that one must have a degree from Oxford or have served in a cavalry regiment. A woman who has served in a cavalry regiment—an Amazon—or a woman who holds a degree from Oxford or Cambridge should be entitled to be a member of the relevant club...We old-fashioned, Neanderthal male chauvinist piggies should be allowed occasionally to get together and enjoy the company of the noble and learned Lord the Lord Chancellor.

(via avid reader Richard)

Our house guest is leaving today, having spent a week at our place. In that time he's managed to plow though his body weight in Coke (I call it compulsive Coking: he doesn't actually finish one can before starting the next); he's discovered every chocolate hiding place; he's broken a glass table; he's managed to create a clunking sound in the air conditioning in his room; he woke us at 5:30am both on Saturday and Sunday mornings when he returned from big nights out; and he managed to work JC and PB into a frenzy just prior to their bedtime each night.

Now Mrs M rings me to tell me that as a final leaving present he's managed to block not one, but two toilets at home that yours truly will have to unblock tonight.

It's great having guests; but sometimes it's great to see them leave. We'll miss you, Dean, but I'm not sure we could afford to have you stay with us much longer.

My weekly link of some of my favourite posts for the New Blog Showcase:

1. The Nomad Tavern's Things I have to do before they become illegal is an entertaining list of how to be un-PC.

2. Shades of Gray talks about The Blogger, the Pamphleteer and Mixed Blessings. This is an interesting and thoughtful piece on the nature of blogging, comparing it to the pamphleteers of the 18th Century. He then goes on to list some simple rules, divides the blogosphere up into Information storehouses, Commentary Mandarins and the Great Periphery. A good post and a blog to watch.

3. The Dumb Plumber's List of Irritations is, in the words of Homer, funny coz it's true. REad the whole thing...you might even learn something. Here's another example from June 21: Tired of those loose subscription postcards falling out of magazines onto the floor in the post office, the store, in your house or car? Do what I do, put them in the mailbox at the post office without filling them out. They will be returned to the sender and postage will be charged to them. Maybe if they receive a few million of these things and pay the postage, they will stop sending them out loose in the magazines. You can do the same thing with many of the “pre-approved” credit card applications. Another one to watch.

Again via Kolya comes a report of a new product from Japan: Nursery 'Home Theaters'. From the entry:

This is the Disney O-yasumi Ho-mu She-a-tah, which translates as "Good Night, I'm going to project giant cartoon images on the ceiling over your crib and play 'It's a Small World' until you go asleep or insane, whichever comes first."

Through a highly effective combination of sensory stimulation and sleep deprivation, you will turn your child into a lifelong Disney consumer before she's able to roll over. Makes me wonder if Disney isn't behind this whole "sleep on their back" thing, too.

It's available for ￥5299 at Toys R Us Japan, less a ￥1200 rebate for signing over your kid's soul to The Mouse.

Xinhua reports on PLA exercises on Dongshan Island, "just 150 nautical miles away from Taiwan's Penghu Islands". This is where all arms of the PLA unleash their newest and best toys along with 100,000 troops in a mock invasion of Taiwan. The article goes through the details, but leaves little doubt as to the intent of the exercise:

If the exercise in 1996 is targeted at Lee Teng-hui's proclamation "ROC in Taiwan"; the exercise of 2000 is directed against Chen Shuibian's substantive "Taiwan Independence" policy, the exercise of 2001 is an explicit warning to Taiwan authorities and the foreign country that attempts to interfere in the Taiwan Issue not to "play with fire". Then the exercise this year is a substantial warning to "Taiwan independence" elements.

In Hong Kong, what doesn't kill you is good for eating. So when some namby-pamby Government study says barbecued meat might be bad for you, most are going to ignore it. Apparently charcoal grilled meat contains a bunch of chemicals with names like benzo[a]pyrene, benz[a]anthracene and dibenz[a,h]anthracene in toxic concerntrations. Who comes up with these snappy names? It's high time chemistry got savvy and started calling these things more approriate names like "death-start cancer causer" and "explode on impact with DNA" - names that really strike a chord with the man in the street. It's no wonder chemists have the reputation they have...

Now where was I? Oh, that's right - BBQ meat. Our cavemen (and women) ancestors managed to live to a ripe-old age of 30 eating BBQ meat. If it was good enough for them, it's good enough for me. The food industry already has it tough in Hong Kong. McDonald's is caving in to pressure and changing its cooking oil leaving hundreds of small food shops that buy second-hand oil from McD's forced to actually use this healthier oil too. Why was there no public consultation? Where is LegCo? If I want to eat McDonalds, I want it to be as bad for me as possible. That's why many eat Mickey Ds - because it's a treat, a walk on the wild side of the food train tracks*. Bring back the beef tallow. Otherwise the hoardes of tourists won't be coming back.

While on this random rant China is yet again under threat, this time by India. China's one child policy is working to contain its population, but at a cost. The SCMP reports:

Maintaining a sex-ratio balance should become one of Beijing's social planning priorities, a think-tank has warned, saying the nation's growing shortage of women could spiral out of control.
Xie Zhenming , deputy director of the State Family Planning Commission's state population and development research centre, said China had entered a critical stage where it needed to prevent the disproportionate number of male babies being born from getting worse...

China has the highest sex-ratio imbalance in the world, with 100 females for every 120 males nationwide, according to the 2000 census. The world average is 100 girls against 107 boys.

* _{The intention to mangle as many cliches as possible is deliberate.}

Before I begin today's edition a simple request: if you come across an entry (or you've got an entry on your blog) that you think should appear here, please send it to me. Also if you have any feedback on the current format or other likes and dislikes please let me know.

And now for the links of what's going on in Asia blogging:

Hong Kong, Taiwan and China

Tom at DTL follows up on allegations of push-polling in Hong Kong in the lead-up to September's LegCo elections.

ALN compares China's reported coal mine accidents with his running tally and finds some interesting results. Also, via Fons, Stephen reports on China's job losses in manufacturing. George W. Bush should be thankful he doesn't have problems like this! So much for the "China's stealing our jobs" line you hear in the USA.

ESWN shows Hong Kong's boys in blue are sharper than they appear.

Shanghai Eye says there is one kind of protest that's permissible in China.

Chris reports the HK Jockey Club's profits are up even though turnover is down, thanks to the mug punters who ply their hard-earned cash into the monolithic "charity".

Conrad has an alternative suggestion on HK's accountability system.

Richard has received a great piece of publicity in the China Daily (even if it doesn't make sense), in response to his berating of a clearly anti-Western China Daily piece. Typically the article attacks Richard's blog name without actually addressing any of the issues he brought up.

Richard notes the banning of an important report on the state of China's peasants. Adam has a strong response on the banning of the book. He argues that in reality the censors are too slow to be effective in China.

Richard also has a post on a book talking about advertising to kids in China.

Danwei notes the very same Government that is clamping down on China's "spiritual pollution" is also the owner of Xinhua, which publishes stuff like this.

Who knew? Ellen finds a couple of Chinese farmers who get caught with their mouths' full.

Mad Minerva covers Condi Rice's visit to Beijing.

Gut Rumbles has something to say about people in glass houses...

Korea

Blinger has started a forum covering the Korean censorship issue. As always Kevin has lots on this: here, here, here where the Government blames it on Blogger and Typepad, here on the legal basis and worrying extent Korea can censor the net, and here on more of the various efforts to fight the ban. Joel has thoughts on the name issue and the general apathy over the censorship issue. Unfortunately the Korean bloggers are fast discovering what has been a fact of life for Chinese bloggers. The hope is the South Korean Government may be more responsive to pressure and lobbying than the CCP.

Oranckay notes a newspaper article about foreigners blogging in Korea. Marmot notes a rare form of positive discrimination for foreigners in Korea. It's just the venue isn't the best.

FY comments on the visit to Seoul of Condoleezza Rice and thinks South Korea is moving towards a more equal relationship with the US.

Marmot talks about the re-union of a North Korean family and why he couldn't care less.

SE Asia

The Sassy Lawyer's Philippines according to Blogs site is going strong.

Cranial Cavity follows the ongoing debacle with the Philippine Government handling of the Iraq hostage.

The Swanker has more analysis on the aftermath of the first round of Indonesia's Presidential election.

Jodi is covering the Global AIDS conference in Bangkok.

Miscellany

Paul finds a motto to live by...and with that, I'm hungry. Pizza, anyone?

Following the ICJ's decision in the case of Israel's West Bank well, Arthur Chrenkoff notes another pending case against the "Italian occupiers" and Tom Paine mentions an upcoming one against the Chinese versus the Huns.

There's also the upcoming case based on the Berlin Wall. There's a solid case against France, even if it didn't prove too effective.

In a world without walls there's nothing to hold the roof up.

Hong Kong has been crappling with the idea of accountability of ministers. It looks like the trend is catching:

North Korea has appointed a new public security minister after his predecessor was apparently fired due to a train blast in April that killed 161 people and razed much of a small town.

We have a guest staying with us for his last few days in Hong Kong before he returns forever to Australia and familyhood. He is squeezing every last drop of temporary bachelor-ness out of Hong Kong while he can and each evening he undegoes a meticulous process to prepare for each night's festivities. He is man who takes extreme care with his appearance. Let's, for the sake of this, call him Dean.

On Friday evening he asked to borrow some hair gel. I told him there was some on the shelf in our bathroom. A couple of minutes later he emerges:

Dean: "Mate, is this hair gel?"
Simon (with rapidly growing smile): "No, that's shaving cream."
Dean: "Oh."
Simon (getting Mrs M to have a look and bordering on laughter): "Have you already put that in your hair?"
Dean (rapidly realising this will end badly): "Maybe."
Simon (in tears): "Try the stuff the next shelf down."
Dean: "But this said gel..."
Simon: "Yep, right under Gillette Shaving..."
Dean: "Oh."

It almost beats JC, who watched about an hour of Sleeping Beauty in Mandarin before her Dad walked in and realised she couldn't understand a word being said. When I asked her, she gave the perfectly reasonable response of "it doesn't matter". I think she might have had too much sun this weekend.

The SCMP reports on the remarkable survey of Hong Kong women that finds 11.5% of them are able to resist the constant barrage of TV, news and magazine advertisements and articles telling they are all fat beasts instead of the skinny rakes most of them really are:

Eighty-eight per cent of the respondents, aged 12 to 55, said they were so chubby that they needed to lose weight and avoid being called "pork chop" or "dinosaur"...Seventy-six per cent of the 2,206 respondents said they wanted to make themselves pretty by losing weight, and 75 per cent believed a slim figure could help boost their confidence. Half of those questioned said they wanted to be more attractive to men.

"The women we interviewed are not suffering from any overweight problem according to the standard set by the World Health Organisation. They are not fat at all."

UPDATE: It turns out that South Koreans are even worse.

It's worth waiting for; John Kerry and George W. Bush set out their rival cases for why each should be President, all in 2 minutes and with guest appearances galore: Arnie, Bill and Hillary, Dick Cheney, John Edwards. See if you can spot Condi and Howard Dean.

EVen better is these guys have just started an excellent blog. For example: Really, you ask, why pollute the WWW with one more stupid blog? Because we can. And because we love you. Straight onto the roll with you.

(Via long lost but newly rediscovered Kolya)

Checking the links for another week:

Blogs

The Showcase continues to gather great entries. To help expand readership (especially repeat readers) I am thinking of changing it into a weekly contest based on links. Let me know what you think.

There's plenty of blogiversaries to celebrate:
Kevin turns one.
Frank J turns two.
Rob from Crab Apple Lane turns four.
Rob from Xset turns one.

Via Ace comes Banterist's new Paris Hilton game for X-box.

Allah has a proposed new Munuvian...although I just don't think he's going to make the cut (via Jen).

Harvey has a tool to help bloggers, particularly the Blogspotted. I think it's time for another Operation Blogsplat to get bloggers away from Blogger.

Conrad finds the UN titling at cyberspace's greatest windmill: spam.

Patterico scores another hit on the LA Times, again proving bloggers act both as great watchers of media and alternative sources of news. In his words: Moral: someone at every major paper should be reading blogs. If they did, the papers might learn different points of view. They might pick up stories that are "not publicized to the Western news media." Tim Blair caught out the Washington Post on the exact some error, but they are yet to make a correction.

The World

Via Dean comes the Smarter Cop's collection of lies, mistruths and exaggerations in Mike Moore's film. It's an impressively long list.

Michele has an interesting discussion ranging from comments policies on blogs to how it reflects the wider political debate. It's a matter of drawing the line between civil discourse and hateful argument. Plenty of others have thoughts on the topic, including Smash and Ryan.

Ilyka is asking for definitions of centrist and what positions a centrist holds these days. It's a fascinating discussion on a position that many claim but few hold.

Frank J, via Blackfive, reports on the latest request for UN election monitors: in the USA!

Arthur Chrenkoff's impressive Good News in Iraq series continues.

One of the most impressive and well-written blogs is Belmont Club. This week he has a summary of Waterloo and the forces at work in Europe and Islam; an analysis of naval power that's interesting even to the least nautical among us; and an explanation why the new hassles of travel are worth putting up with.

The Personal

Via Miss Apropos comes a tear-jerker of a story about love in a time of danger.

Victoria has another great story about ice-cream for the soul.

Tony Pierce has a fantastic photo essay on his July 4th, although Shaky has the photo of the week.

Bill has a finger up his backside.

Ace is sorry and clears a few things up.

Miscellany

Michele is celebrating the best of the 90s. Firstly it was album of the 90s, with the winner Pearljam's Ten. Now it's the best movie of the 90s. At the risk of sounding like my folks, damn they were good years. Happy, happy times.

Giles finds that email follows you everywhere, even beyond the grave. Plus he's got the latest in tombstones.

Laurence adds another to the list of reasons why I am happy to stick with glasses.

Kevin reports on the revival of one of the worst movie series ever. My prediction: record box office takings and lots of self-parody and irony...even that sooooo 90s.

In the "I didn't know that" file, Harry has the lowdown on Fidel Castro.

Tim Blair is going for Nobel Peace Prize and humanitarian of the year with his Great Vegemite Export Drive. Buy Kraft stock now, before Vegemite takes America by storm.

Unsurprisingly the US has warned of potential Al-Qaeda attacks to disrupt the upcoming US Presidential elections. The warning is necessarily vague and is to be expected. However for al-Qaeda there is a big problem: any such attack (and God willing it will never happen and this is all hypothetical) is unlikely to have much influence on the result of the US election.

Why? The reason is simple: it appears that the US polity is particularly polarised at the moment. The gulf between the left and right is wide and growing; there is no interest in the centre, whatever that is. Such a terror attack will merely re-enforce the views of both sides of politics. For the left it will be another demonstration that Bush has brough this upon Americans by waging the war in Iraq and being antagonistic. The right will see it as further proof of the justification of this war and the need to carry on the battle until it is won. Whereas once such an event would see the nation rally to the flag and President, now half the country will see the flag and the President as the very cause and problem. This would not be a Spain. I fear such thought does not pervade the minds of al-Qaeda, where the PR coup of such a hit would outweigh rational analysis of the longer term consequences.

But the enemy in this war is not a rational one.

UPDATE: The Belgravia Dispatch and Dan Drezner also have some thoughts.

The very same Hello Kitty wearing, hamster and chicken photo woman, actually has the hamster here in a designer, well, hamster bag. A real, live hamster here in a place of work. In it's own bag with a grill. A nice bag, with check pattern and leather.

I'd take a photo but I don't want to catch anything.

No matter how much pizza you order to be delivered to your workplace at lunchtime, it will not be enough.

EastSouthWestNorth reports on at least one small area of HK where democracy has started to take hold: marking of 3rd grade examinations.

Hong Kong: voting on hearts since 2004.

The SCMP reports:

Shanghai's loan sharks have upped the ante in the repayment game, demanding their customers sell off body parts to raise money. The city is now prosecuting a moneylender who tried to force a man to sell a kidney to pay off a gambling debt, a local newspaper and a court official said yesterday.

Gambler Lu Rongfeng was held hostage for more than 10 days by two men after he was unable to pay back a 10,000-yuan loan, which carried interest of 500 yuan per day. "This was the beginning of his nightmare," the Shanghai Daily quoted a prosecutor as saying. A court official confirmed that the case, which opened on Wednesday, was under way but declined to comment further.

Li Shenghe and an accomplice who is still at large allegedly took Mr Lu to a local hospital late last year to collect the debt. Doctors refused to perform the operation and Mr Lu managed to escape. Earlier this year, Shanghai media reported about alleged illegal organ sales, based on advertisements in local hospitals looking for people to sell their organs.

Even if they were collecting organs their may not be anyone left to take them: Strike 2.

Today marks the 10th anniversary of the passing of North Korea's orginal dictator, Kim Il Sung. He's dead, but he's still North Korea's Supreme Eternal Leader and main focus of propoganda. Not bad for a dead guy. His son, Kim Jong Il, has done the seemingly impossible and actually made his father look relatively good. Since his father's demise he's managed quite a lot.

North Korea has suffered a decade of economic decline, lost at least a million people to famine and is diplomatically isolated as a result of its attempts to build nuclear weapons.

Kim leads the North as the chairman of the National Defense Commission and the supreme commander of the 1.1-million-strong Korean People's Army. He uses the ideology "Songun" -- or military first -- to justify the army's domination of the state...

South Korean Defense Minister Cho Young-gil told parliament on Wednesday that the North has been building and deploying ballistic missiles with a range of 2,400 miles -- capable of reaching U.S. military targets in Hawaii and Guam. He said it was also testing engines for longer-range missiles...

Kim Jong-il, 62, inherited power from his father in the first communist dynastic succession. The elder Kim has been named "Eternal President" and all adults in the country of 23 million people wear a mandatory Kim Il-sung or Kim Jong-il lapel badge.

The regular link-fest returns with news and views from blogs across Asia:

Hong Kong, Taiwan and China

ALN reminds you why your job will never be worse than a coal miner's in China.

In Hong Kong Health Secretary Yeoh's (yes, Michelle's cousin) resignation has met with varying responses. Fumier believes he gave into media hype. Chris sees him as a scapegoat, although he recognises the political inevitability of the resignation. My own thoughts, on the contrary, are here.

Richard notes Amnesty's report on China using the war on terror as a cover for persecution of Uygers.

Mad Minerva says China is now hunting down Falun Dafa as far as South Africa, according to an allegation made by, well, the Taiwanese branch of Falun Dafa.

Tom reports on CCP corruption 101 with an example in his very next post. He also has an interesting post on the crackdown on software "pirates" in Hong Kong and the vested interests involved in intellectual property.

The numbers game from last week's HK march continues. Tom thinks the number was close to the organisers' guess and has more here, while ESWN has been compiling a massive post on the subject. I recommend moving straight to his comments on the bottom for why the numbers matter and what it all means.

ESWN also has a great photo collection of life in China.

Glutter notes it was the Dalai Llama's birthday. I'm looking forward to her article on the question of why only a Free Tibet, not a Free China?

Shanghai Eye talks about China's media morality campaign. The Eye also talks about one hell of a gambling binge in Macau and how it can kill you, literally.

Danwei reports on the latest area for Western business to lose money in China: the media.

Durian fisks an article on Hanjian - Chinese traitors.

Peking Dork thinks the Taipei Times is turning against the DPP.

Prince Roy has the story of an American who joined Taiwan's army.

Korea

Ace has a top 10 list of North Korea leader Kim Jong-Il's lesser reporter achievements. Conrad notes a small breach in North Korea's wall against American imperialism: hegemony of the hamburger.

Kevin has even more on the ongoing Korean censorship issue, including a realisation that this is exactly the same as what Chinese bloggers deal with. It might be starting to get some more notice (via Jin). Jeff has found a good proxy server to get around it.

Not to be outdone Oranckay has a link to some photos of life in Korea.

Kimchee GI sees another example of how Korea does not foreigner's money and makes a mockery of being the "IT hub of Asia".

SE Asia

Conrad thinks he knows why Hamzah Haz didn't do so well in the recent Indonesian Presidential elections. Macam-Macam has more on the Indonesian elections. He also looks at how Indonesia is being portrayed in the Australian press over the election period.

The Sassy Lawyer has the story of a beneficiary of Ferdinand Marco's generosity. It's a great tale that includes my home town of Sydney. Like Mel Brooks said in "History of the World, Part 1": "It's good to be the king."

Jodi reports the Philippines will delay troop deployments to Iraq due to a hostage video.

Adri has a comprehensive and impressive post on being gay and defending it against "Asia values".

Miscellany

The Argus and Jodi have differing views of George Soros and his impact in Central Asia.

Henry has some driving tips for those in HK.

The South China Morning Post had a full page article by Dr. Matthias Rath that made less sense than usual, with the snappy headline "The United Nations Committed Suicide".

I fully expect to see Dr. Rath become a weekly feature of the SCMP's op-ed pages soon. Hell, if he keeps paying for full page ads they may have to put a statue of him outside their HQ.

The baby poll and naming contest have been taken down. 9 months is a long time on a blog and they had outlived their usefulness. Thank you to everyone who participated in both. The names came in handy (some for humour, some for consideration and some for just plain wonder). The results of the guessing competition were:

Boy/Early 28.7%
Boy/Late 22.2%
Girl/Early 35.2%
Girl/Late 13.9%

Which is kind of funny, given the first two were late girls. If Mrs M had her way there would be a fifth category: "I don't care what sex it is* I just want this thing out of me already". Have to remember that for next time. We've got a month to go and Mrs M has been warned that if this isn't a boy we're going back for one last try.

In other small stuff I've created a seperate blogroll for some of the HK blogs. It felt wrong leaving some of them stuck in the Asian blogs pile. Go read them all - they are quality offerings.

Now for the really bad news. My tax bill just arrived. In Hong Kong you pay your tax all as a lump sum and due to some fortituous timing I just missed the cut-off for last year. So now I have to pay for last year, this year and provisional tax for next year all in one hit. I'm tempted to put a Paypal button up and hoist a banner saying "Will blog for money". If it gets really bad we'll just sell the kids for some scientific experiments. And I've got a kidney in reasonable shape. Any offers?

* _{Like all women, she really only wants girls, girls and girls.}

This blog has claimed its first political victim. I can't take all the credit, but I can take most of it. The resignation of Health Secretary Yeoh is the natural consequence of the "acountability" system set up by Tung Che-hwa in 2002, following Regina Ip's Article 23 debacle and Antony Leung's "I bought a luxury car just before I jacked up new car taxes". While it will not solve the problems brought up over the SARS disaster, it will act to sharpen ministers' minds in performing their duties. Indeed they will be even more mindful of their responsibilities. I am not in favour of constant pandering to public opinion, but I am in favour of people resigning when clearly being found wanting in their jobs. This has been such a case, although funnily enough Xinhua forgets to mention the public pressure in its coverage of the resignation. Wouldn't want people getting the wrong idea on the Mainland. That the Hostpial Authority Chairman and CEO remain in their jobs is still a scandal and it may have the counter-productive effect of making the civil service seeing Ministers take the fall for their mistakes. There needs to be more resignations.

Briefly on democracy and China, the Christian Science Monitor has a good article on the attitude of Beijing to both Taiwan and Hong Kong's democratic tendencies. At the same time Tung Che-hwa, in what was a busy birthday, met with HK's democracts and told them there was nothing he could do. In fact he finally admitted what everyone already knew: he has no power to affect Beijing's decisions.

``I understand a lot of people are disappointed,'' Tung said after the meeting with democrats. ``I explained to them that the chief executive has no power to ask the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress to amend a decision that has already been made. But I will reflect some of their views to relevant departments of the central government.''

Tung told the democrats during the one-hour meeting, according to a source, that he had telephoned Beijing in the morning regarding their demands and had been told that a request for a review of the universal suffrage issue was off the table.

The re-emergence of bird flu in China is a worry, especially given scientists think it is still evolving. When you see the words "super-fit mutant" you know it's not good, although apparently it's the ducks that are to blame. It's even worse when you see China's press calling the new cases an "isolated incident". It seems ironic this has happened literally a couple of weeks after Hong Kong started re-importing chickens from the Mainland. Nevertheless I'll be exacting my revenge: Mrs M, duck for dinner thanks.

China has also decided to overturn Pfizer's Viagra patent, meaning millions of Chinese men can carry on buying fake Viagra knowing they aren't breaching China's intellectual property laws. From the article:

Viagra was introduced in China in 2000, and after six months on the market, the official Xinhua News Agency reported that some 90 percent of Viagra pills sold in Shanghai, the country's largest city, were fake.

The Standard reports on a poll that in the days following the July 1st march 67% of Hong Kongers want Beijing to reconsider universal suffrage in 2007/8, and 75% think HK Chief Executive should represent the city's democractic aspirations to Beijing. The democrat camp has a meeting with Tung today, as Tung finally shows some political nouce.

There are several issues at play here. Firstly the 530,000 figure for marchers is rapidly becoming gospel for the media. ESWN has been tracking this issue and the true number appears to be around 220,000 (at the bottom of the post). It is still a large number of people but the organisers do not do themselves credit by over-estimating the turnout.

Secondly Hong Kong's democrats are now looking for a triumph of hope over experience. Beijing will not change its mind over the 2007/8 elections. They are not in the habit of giving in to people power and aren't going to start now. Again ESWN has a great article on the issue. His basic argument is HK's democrats need to prove they are better than just rally organisers - they need to prove to Beijing they can actually govern China's richest city properly. He argues that communication directly with Beijing is the key.

I'll go further. The democrats need to realise they've lost this battle if they want to win the war. It is time to accept that 2007/8 elections will not happen. What can happen is elections based on universal suffrage in 2012. It seems a long time, but the groundwork can be laid now. In politics expectations are a key part of the game, so the democrats need to start creating the expectation of direct elections in 2012. And not just with the HK public. They need to directly engage and negotiate with the Central Government.

This leads to my last point. Tung Che-hwa is not Hong Kong's representative with the Beijing authorities. He is their appointee; he is their representative in Hong Kong. His mandate comes from Beijing and he is answerable to them. He can act as a conduit and is seemingly moving in that direction. But he will never be Hong Kong's champion amongst the Beijing authorities. He is and will remain the middleman. That is his role and Hong Kong should realise that.

The conclusion is simple: Hong Kong can still strive for democracy. But the game of politics requires knowing when to cut your losses for the greater good. Now is that time. Start aiming at 2012 and forget about the done deal that is 2007/8.

As part of a complicated international finance deal, Mrs M and I have a set of bank documents that need signing. These documents are from Australian bank and usually require witnessing by some kind of notary. However, despite being an Australian citizen, those living overseas require a higher being to witness the signature. The list includes the mayor of the city, any judge in the High Court or Member of Parliament. Failing that it must be a Consular official.

So I ring the Australian Consulate in Hong Kong, a well-staffed operation. I am told that the only time someone can witness my signature is between 9am and 1pm on Wednesdays. At first I thought they were joking. But it turns out the person who does the "witnessing" only works those hours for this duty. I have no idea what else Consular staff do, but is taking 30 seconds (and HK$109) to watch two people sign a piece of paper considered such a difficult task that a particular member of staff must set aside only 4 hours every Wednesday for the task? Are Australia's public servants really not up to these onerous duties?

Actually, don't answer that.

UPDATE: Having just returned I must admit the visit to the little bit of Hong Kong that is called Australia was enough to stir some deeply patriotic feelings. After clearing the airport-style security barrier, we made our way into the drab office. We took a ticket and sat on the bland and uncomfortable furniture, waiting our turn. Just like in the RTA, eventually our number was called, once in Cantonese and once in the broadest Australian accent this side of Ramsey St. We took precisely 30 seconds to complete the formalities while the Consul gouged us HK$109 for the pleasure.

If only they had some musak playing I would have felt like I was back in Oz.

Summer in Hong Kong presents a particular problem for a particular group of people. The combination of hot and humid conditions with air conditioned buildings, taxis, busses and the like means whenever your mild-mannered blogger exits or alights, his glasses immediately fog over. It is not uncommon to see legions of glasses wearers wiping the condensation away from their bifocals. It's not fair and we're not going to take it anymore.

I'm thinking of shifting to contact lenses. But I'm not sure how I'd clean the condensation off them each time, either.

It seems like he's destined for Beijing soon, but until then we'll claim Wanbro as one of the Big Lychee Blogging Brigade. Along with Mia, welcome to our happy corner of cyber-space.

Following the discussion at Tim Blair's on Vegemite, Australia's national spread, I humbly present Simon's special recipie, passed down from generation to generation*, using the magical spread.

Ingredients:
4 pieces of bread (can be white or wholemeal, but who are you kidding with that wholemeal cr@p?)
2 Cheddar cheese singles (must be individually wrapped in plastic to prevent goodness getting in)
1 knife
1 Breville Sandwich Press (I always just called it a Breville. Who knew they made other stuff?)
1 jar of Vegemite (perfection in a jar)
1 block of butter (or marge, but again, who are you kidding the chemicals are better?)

Lightly spread a smattering of Vegemite on one side only of two pieces of the bread. Gently lay one slice of cheese on each of these Vegemite-d slices. Now smatter the two remaining piece with Vegemite, making sure it is not too thick. Place the two pieces without the cheese on top, making two "sandwiches". Next lightly butter the exterior of both sides of the sandwiches. Place the sandwiches into the Breville. Wait. Wait some more. When the sandwich is golden brown and/or once your smoke alarm goes off, the sandwich is ready. With your knife gently each it out of the Breville, trying to capture as much of the melted cheese as possible.

Eat immediately.

Goes well with any carbonated soft-drink or beer. Does not agree with wine or spirits.

Serves one comfortably. Should be watched in front of p0rn sport.

IMPORTANT: cleaning the Breville afterwards is a thankless and ungratifying task. Leave it for someone who cares about hygiene.

* _{of fruit flies.}

Delayed by a day but just as good, here's the slightly revamped Asia by Blog.

Hong Kong, Taiwan and China

Peaktalk looks at the fallacy in arguments that HK doesn't need democracy. ACB reports that China is indifferent to the protests of last week, as is to be expected. DTL follows the fall-out from the marches here, here and here. You can also follow the numbers guessing game at ESWN - although as expected most media will go along with the organisers' over-estimate of 530,000. ESWN also addresses the question of opinion polls in HK.

HK Reporter has a question and request for the Chinese spies in Hong Kong.

Conrad gives three different examples how the abuses of the Cultural revolution "don't happen anymore" in China. He also follows a report, now corrected, that most of the US Navy was going to engage in exercises off China.

Richard has a review of a book that argues China will become more authoritarian because of its looming demographic time-bomb: the gender imbalance. At least HK is doing its bit to help the Motherland, as Mia laments. Richard also covers China's plan to monitor SMS messages. Fons has an alternative view and is even running an experiment. If he stops blogging we'll know what happened. ACB also has some thoughts.

While on censorship, Wayne tells us Taiwan isn't necessarily any better than China.

ALN has a story demonstrating why being an auditor in China is a sh!t job. On the other hand Danwei shows you how easy it is to be a newspaper in China.

DTL follows the detention of SARS whistle-blower Dr. Jiang Yanyong. Adam has more, and Yan at Glutter has the whole article. Gut Rumbles has thoughts on this too.

Mad Minerva reports on Taiwan's newest political party.

Philip Sen goes through one of China's most efficient production lines and makes an accurate prediction.

Chris has found a way to beat the HK Harbour Tunnel toll increase and marvels at the efficiency of the HK Observatory.

Korea

Via Kevin comes this update on the family of Korean beheading victim Kim Sun-il. Kevin also has more on the ongoing Korean censorship of blogs.

Kimchee GI says that even Japanese terrorists are trying to get out of North Korea now. Flying Yangban says the North Koreans are trying out fake Viagra now.

FY also sees the silver lining in the Kim beheading.

Asia Pages reports on North Korea's upmarket hotels.

Mr. Ruck has a post on a US Congressman who watched the "coronation" of chief Moonie-bat Sun Myung-Moon.

SE Asia

Sassy Lawyer talks about Philippines' growing population and its pressures.

Nick has a great fisking. It finishes with "You know, ma'am, that itching in your rear is not Satan tempting you with foulness. It's a stick insect trying to get out. " With a line like that, you've got to read the whole thing.

The Swanker is following Indonesia's Presidential election results for you.

Miscellany

Stephen reminds us of someone's birthday and charts his long career.

Paul tells us about a man clubbing his way across Mongolia. While on Mongolia the Marmot (in his new digs) reports on the Mongolian election. He also follows this guy across Mongolia, plus news on land-locked Mongolia's shipping industry. Who knew?

I've got two particular favourites from the past weeks' Showcase entries. Firstly comes The Stages of Moving by Red Said. It's an enjoyable rant comparing the stages of moving to those of grieving. They are disturbingly similar. It's well worth a read.

The second was The Tao of the Cube by Idle Process. "For many, the office enviroment is a place of godless toil, of torment by paperwork and uncaring pointy-haired bosses. However, some have learned to cope and even thrive in spite of the existenial tumult created by these modern cubical palaces." Again enjoyable and something to bring the smile to the face of many a cubicle-dweller.

Go visit them both.

Accountability: Liable to being called to account; answerable. See Synonyms at responsible.

Another helpful service provided by me to Tung Che-hwa and his "accountable" Government. While the Health Secretary, Hospital Authority chairman and CEO, not to mention Margaret Chan, can say sorry about their mis-handling of the SARS, if they were truly sorry they would resign and accept that fundamental aspect of accountable Government. If Tung Che-hwa had even a single cell of political acumen in his brain he'd be asking these men to resign. Instead it looks like he'll fight it out and damage his own discredited adminstration further. It is impossible to sympathise with politicians who constantly score so many "own goals".

On the subject of listening to people, Beijing has politely told Hong Kong to f**k off after last week's march. As predicted, the media are accepting the 530,000 level as accurate despite evidence the numbers were lower.

Drought is not funny. But the lads in Nepal are making do as best they can. What hasn't been reported is a massive fall in productivity.

(via new woman on the HK blog scene, Mia)

It was like the old morality question: if you see money on the ground do you pick it up?

Of course the answer is yes. I was in the car park of Pacific Place, amongst HK's most expensive shopping centres. Betwitx my humble family car and the gleaming new 7 series BMW was a red note. I quickly glanced around to make sure I was alone as I have a phobia of being caught on a "Candid Camera" style show. Without a second glance I picked up and stuffed it in my pocket, thinking about the nice lunch I'll be shouting Mrs M with our new found wealth.

Once safely out of the car park I retrieved the note from my pocket to glance at my serendipity. It was 100 Renminbi, not 100 Hong Kong dollars. The notes look nearly the same and have almost identical value but are useless in Hong Kong. Damn the colour red and the unimaginative skills of Hong Kong's currency printers. Just another reason to hate banks. "May you all rot."

I often get asked how can someone crack the elite "Good stuff" or "Look at" blogrolls*. Well, Michele's given you some handy tips. Courtseying Americans. Heh. Indeed.

To my sepo** friends, very happy Independence Day.

* _{like much on this blog, this is a complete lie.}

** _{sepo = septic tank = Yank. You won't be reminded again.}

The expression "when it rains, it pours" was obviously coined by someone who enjoyed a day like last Friday. Firstly PB was diagnosed with Head, shoulders, knees and toes disease, a not uncommon infection in HK. For the most part she has remained her usual cheery self but with the doctor's instructions of no swimming and a looming 34 degree weekend the omens weren't good. Luckily the inclement weather and a rapid recovery meant Sunday afternoon was spent in chlorine-soaked Romanesque indoor pool in the Disneyland complex where we live. With its imposing mural of the Palace of Versailles remains PB's favourite picture. And she's not yet 2. I feel very sorry for the poor man who one day will need to keep her in the comfort she's expecting because her Daddy keeps telling her that will be her house one day. Serves the bast@rd right for thinking dirty thoughts about my little girl.

Next my attache case, all of 2 weeks old, broke. Purchased at a reputable retailer for a significant amount of silver and gold this customer was not happy. The ensuing discussion with store staff approriately conveyed my strong feelings on the matter.

Thirdly our helper, Jackie, announced she wants to return to the Philippines forthwith. With Mrs M expecting Ubul in around a month, JC moving to a new school and PB to start school, the timing is inopportune to say the least. On top of that it has taken the better part of 12 months for Jackie to pick up on Mrs M's reasonable but comprehensive methods of doing things. Having taken Jackie up that steep learning curve, she has peered over the horizon and decided it wasn't for her. Because we are hands-on parents Jackie has not had a huge amount to do with the kids but JC is certainly old enough to be aware of what's going on. It will be interesting to see how she copes with Jackie's leaving. I have a feeling there's a Barbie or two in JC's near future.

In searching for a new helper we go through the usual channels: word-of-mouth, supermarket postings, online meat markets and the like. It will hearten Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo how solid the employment situation is for her fellow countrywomen in Hong Kong. Only half the women we had rung for interviews even showed up. One particularly good one (on paper, at least), when asked by yours truly why she decided not to come to an appointment she herself made not 24 hours previously, told me she had already been offered another job and she had taken it.

What is funny about this process is even though we are the employers, the good helpers tend to get a preponderence of offers and can choose who they wish to work for. We have a fairly strict set of criteria but once we decide we like one they have to decide if they like us. This is fair enough given they live under your roof for 6 days of their week. However so far the main issues seem to revolve around how "out-of-the-way" we are, because we are 20 minutes bus ride from Central. These are the same people who tend to endure 24 hour odyssey to return to their villages. Most of these women are also extremely savvy negotiators and know exactly what to ask for. The UN could learn a thing or two from these people. It's a cut-throat world in the amah game in Hong Kong.

What is disturbing is whereas we think it is a luxury having a helper at all, there are several people we know in the process of hiring their second. Their reasoning revolves around the same basic premise of why not given it is so relatively inexpensive (monthly wages are roughly US$500-600). It's hard to find an answer to that except I have no idea what a second helper would actually do. It's not like kids need an adult/child ratio any greater than 1:1 at the very best of times, and many seem to grow up perfectly normal with far worse ratios. Maybe if I can convince Mrs M to go for child number 4 our tune might change. Until then we are still hunting for a replacement. If you know of anyone, let us know.

Still, it all could be worse: I could be enduring the ritualistic humiliation of senior politicians that seems to mark the end of every ASEAN meeting. What are they thinking with yellow hardhats?

Today the HK Government is expected to release a report looking into the handling of the SARS crisis. Already the head of the Hospital Authority has accepted the blame but strangely hasn't seen fit to resign. This is despite presiding over the worst public health crisis in modern HK history. Amongst the others who will receive blame are the Secretary for Helath Yeoh Eng-kiong (still in the job) and Margaret Chan, who is now safely ensconced in the WHO in Geneva. While we need to wait for the report for the details it seems unlikely it will contain a definition of accountability.

In better news, Hong Kong is estimated to have the fewest Chinese spies of any major city in the country:

Mainland intelligence agencies have more than 100 staff stationed in Hong Kong, a former official with a foreign intelligence agency claims...He claimed to have met a number of mainland agents who, he said, are assigned to various duties, including investigating corruption and smuggling, as well as other intelligence-gathering work.

In other news it turns out the Communist Party of China has a history of spying on its people and uses secret police to maintain its hold on power. (/sarcasm)

Firstly it was mobile phones, now it is Hong Kong's most popular footwear: flip-flops. No wonder Hong Kong's population is declining.

Still, China's found a new way to employ 30,000 more censors. People often underestimate the extent the CCP is prepared to go to watch its populace. You don't stay in power for 60 plus years in the world's biggest country without watching what people are saying. While some are amazed, it is business as usual for China. The CCP will devote as many resources as it takes to keep an eye on what its people are saying about it. It's a matter of life and death for them.

Still, it's a pleasant thought that hundreds of Chinese censors will be wading through mounds of UR SO 6Y or CU @ 8 to protect Communism.

The weekly blog wrap-up in a new format:

War and Politics

The week started with the historic and early handover in Iraq. Michael King has the photo montage of Bush and Blair during this week's Iraq handover. Later in the week Saddam's Iraqi trial started. Chrenkoff covers the trial and the media's mis-reporting of it. Joe talks about what is at stake in this trial. There are also some great entries in the various caption contests on the trial, including Michele, Allah and Jeff.

Via Ace comes yet another reason not to believe everything you read in Big Media AND another tick for blogs as fact-checkers.

Belmont has an article on this week's NATO meeting (it should have been called "The Search for Meaning"), plus a pointer to this OxBlog entry on the issues facing NATO. Wretchard also looks at France's objections to sending NATO forces to Afghanistan, despite Afghanistan requesting them.

Chrenkoff presents a round-up of all the good news out of Afghanistan. He also takes a close look at the other topical documentary of the moment: Supersize Me.

Wind Rider on Abu Graihb being the exception, not the rule. DaGoddess, in the meantime, confronts some moonbats first-hand.

Mike Moore's movie is at least providing plenty of blog fodder. Via Harvey comes an entire blog pointing out factual errors.

Via Dean comes the only wrap-up of this week's Canadian election you need.

Blogs

The Showcase is going strong (more on that later). However it also lead to an example of the insanity that sometimes overtakes people when it comes to politics. Michele posted a interesting entry on how she changed her views from left to right at the Showcase. It won a lot of fans and was well-received, but not by everyone. Harvey documented an ill-conceived attempt by some of Michele's erstwhile friends to hijack her site (and read the comments too). Michele started again at her new site rather than fold in the face of this vandalism. Hopefully she will reconsider the offer to move to Munu because no-one should have to go through this juvenile insanity.

Kevin reports on the inevitable book deal at the end of the Washingtonienne saga. Wonkette says she's getting $300,000 for it. Who says blogs can't make money?

Ace also has reports from the hottest new blog in town.

In blogiversaries Jen and Dana both turn one.

Rusty commits all seven deadly blogging sins in a single post.

Living Room is looking for Underbloggers, those blogs whose readership should be a vast multiple of its current numbers. Like this one, for instance. Being the humble type, I've nominated a couple myself, but it wouldn't hurt at least one of you to nominate your favourite Hong Kong blog written by an Aussie (**HINT: I'm referring to me. Just making sure it's not too subtle, people.**)

You must go and check the Showcase. There's lots of good entries again this week. And I finally managed my first Instalanche. No more need for Harry's special walking stick. That gets crossed of the New Year Resolution list. Now its just my weight and world peace to go.

Miscellany

Tim Blair documents an outrage against my fellow Australian Jews. I'd just give up being kosher, if I hadn't already. And via Jim it turns out Australians are slowly taking over the world*.

Bre neatly summarises how to win arguments.

LeeAnn finds someone having even more trouble than us with names.

Via TMATBATB comes Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen's previously unpublished letters.

Finally Fumier has a darn fine idea for improving Wimbledon.

* _{of Barbie}

Some other blogs have also been covering yesterday's march in Hong Kong.

EastSouthWestNorth has a great post with pictures, a crowd estimate (around 450,000 is his guess) and plenty of links to various articles. He also links to an article about Hong Kong "independence". There was virtually no-one marching for HK independence yesterday; almost everyone accepts HK is part of sovereign China. People were marching for plenty of other reasons instead - there's no point throwing in non-issues.

Daai Tou Laam has some personal photos taken from the march itself.

Madame Shutterfly also has some personal photos from the march.

Chris also talks about the numbers game and his memories from last year.

I got up has more photos.

The esteemed Hemlock was there and gives his first-hand account.

Conrad sums up the reaction from Xinhua and Tung Che-Hwa.

Asia Times has an interesting commentary. I disagree with the conclusion that "Hong Kong people can only protect themselves by defining what kind of China they want and by going into China to educate the new middle class about the benefits of the Hong Kong way" in HK people cannot define China. No one can. HK's people can only hope that slowly word leaks out to China's growing middle class of HK's way and that it slowly chips away at the CCP.

UPDATE: Some more over at DTL on the numbers game. Also there's additional commentary from Wrong Place Right Time from the march yesterday, more impressions here and more post-march commentary here.

Saddam to face death penalty.

The bad news: it is being taken by Beckham.

(via Charles)

Yesterday was 34.6 degrees Centigrade (about 93 Fahrenheit), humidity was 90% and the pollution index was 114, the level where they advise those with respiratory problems to stay indoors. Nevertheless several hundred thousand people turned up to march. The estimates vary wildly. The cops are saying around 200,000, other 350,000 while the organisers are claiming as many as 530,000. Personally the true number seemed to be somewhere in the middle, perhaps as much as the 300,000 originally targeted. However it seems the media tends to accept the organisers' estimates as truth so I expect the 530,000 figure to become accepted as the true number. Some are already saying this could become a new Hong Kong tourist draw...if the Mainland would let people come and visit.

There are follow up articles everywhere, including:

WaPo: HK Residents Push for Democracy
AP: HK Stages Massive Democracy March
CSM: HK reasserts its 'people power'
AFP: Defiant call for democracy as hundreds of thousands march through Hong Kong
Reuters: Hundreds of Thousands March in Hong Kong*

Most impressive was Xinhua's coverage. Despite expectations they actually reported the event...in a manner.

A demonstration took place at the Victoria Park in Hong Kong Thursday afternoon, as the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government and local people celebrated the 7th anniversary of the establishment of the HKSAR. On Thursday morning, over 3,000 people attended the national flag and the regional flag raising ceremony to celebrate the festival. The Hong Kong Garrison of the People's Liberation Army opened its barracks in Stanley to the pubic. More than 43,000 Hong Kong people, including kids and the elderly in their 70s, visited the camps...

Meanwhile, demonstrators gathered at the Victoria Park on Hong Kong Island at 2:30 p.m. to hold a protest. They marched into the streets and caused traffic jams.

The Chinese central government has made various efforts to maintain Hong Kong's stability and prosperity, including signing the closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) with Hong Kong and opening to the public the barracks of the Hong Kong Garrison of the People's Liberation Army.

In addition, the central government allowed the banks of Hong Kong to run Renminbi service and eased the restrictions on the mainland travelers to Hong Kong. It also promoted to establish the Pan-Pearl River Delta cooperation framework, which was signed by Hong Kong, Macao and eight provincial areas of the mainland earlier last month.

All these moves received welcome and support by Hong Kong residents.

The Economist covers the CCP's better political preparations for the march this time and notes the comparative success of China's carrot-and-stick approach to Hong Kong. It ends with the following provocative but good question:

After recent setbacks for its policies in Hong Kong—including a disastrous performance by its sympathisers in district elections last November—the Beijing leadership has stepped up its efforts to keep an eye on the territory's politics. A Hong Kong research institute was set up late last year in Beijing. Its well-connected director, Zhu Yucheng, has warned that, if the dispute over democratic reform continues, Hong Kong's social stability and economic revival could be jeopardised. He is right. But whose fault would that be?

My $0.02

The marches themselves have achieved nothing. Beijing's decisions have been made and, as always, are irreversible. I am surprised that Xinhua and others in China covered the event at all. As I've noted previously Beijing was much better prepared this time, getting the decisions made early and then offering the olive branch to take the sting out. That so many chose to march demonstrates the Hong Kong's populace is politically active and will continue to maintain pressure on Beijing. Attention will now swing to September's LegCo elections, where democrats are expected to beat Government and pro-Beijing parties in the geographical seats and even in some functional seats.

For the CCP they are trying something new. Last time they faced such a public and open protest they rolled tanks through the middle of them. This time that is not an option. They are developing new political and other tools instead to achieve their aims. This includes the intimidation of the media and key political figures as well as offering concessions on minor points. But a party isn't in power for 60 years without knowing most of the tricks in the game of politics.

In the end there are two significant factors at play. Firstly the CCP has the sense to realise that Hong Kong is different. Despite their best wishes to the contrary, China needs Hong Kong as much as Hong Kong needs China. HK represents a potential (albeit discredited) model for eventual re-unification with Taiwan. HK is by far the richest city in China and has massive resources and reserves. It is a truly world city with first world law, infrastructure, financial markets, transport links and contacts. It is the city that Shanghai aspires to be. The world is watching and China knows it, hence the kid-glove approach to Hong Kong. Historically Guandong (Canton) has been a difficult province for the powers of Northern China to deal with and comprehend. Hong Kong is maintaining that tradition.

However the second point is they key result of the march: that it happened at all. Hong Kong, for all its faults, remains relatively politically free compared to the Mainland. That 300,000 people can freely walk through the streets in a peaceful march without fear of reprisals is a solid endorsement that HK's democratic foundations exist. The fight for universal suffrage is another part of this battle. But Hong Kong can be proud of its show of force and people power and that it may, in a small way, be an example for the eventual opening up of all China.

That is the key lesson of yesterday's march. That there was a march at all.

* _{I always had thought 'hundreds and thousands' as those tiny little coloured sugar bits that get sprinkled on chocolate freckles and fairy bread. Yumm, fairy bread. If they had been marching, instead of people, I would have been out there for sure.}

I expect there will be updates on this post through the afternoon.

It is another typical HK summer day: hot and humid. However the anticipated bad weather has not arrived and shouldn't impact the numbers turning up for the march. Interestingly this morning's SAR Handover ceremony was quiet, with Tung Che-hwa saying ""According to the Basic Law (Hong Kong's mini-constitution), to achieve universal suffrage gradually is our common goal." There were no major Chinese dignitaries, partly to avoid confronting this afternoon's protest and partly to keep the Mainland Chinese media away from HK today.

Some of the news services have lead-up articles:

Reuters: HK Readies for Huge Democracy March
Bloomberg: HK Protesters to Begin Pro-Democracy March at 3pm
Associated Press: HK rally expects big crowd
AFP: Tens of thousands expected at HK democracy rally
CNN: HK braces for massive protest

As a contrast the China papers:

China Daily: Flag ceremony kicks off SAR Birthday party
Xinhua: HK Post issues PLA (HK) special stamps

Certainly despite being a public holiday the streets seem unusually quiet today.

One interesting article is in the Taipei Times: Hong Kong 'no model for Taiwan'. China did itself no favours with Taiwan in its handling the HK democracy issue and Taiwan will be closely watching how events progress. However talk of HK being a successful template for an eventual re-unification with China has been replaced by suspicion and distrust. China's actions to date have spoken louder than their words.

UPDATE: Here's an interesting article in Business Day:

Hong Kong people treasure their personal liberties and they expect their local government to protect their freedoms vigorously. What is new is that Hong Kong's citizens are prepared to do something about their political concerns.

This Guardian article looks at some of the intimidation tactics used against HK democrats recently and summarises the changing politics of the democracy situation.

ABC Australia reports hackers have tried to disrupt the event by sending hoax emails saying the event has been cancelled.

UPDATE 2:Xinhua have a story on the handover day celebrations. It is a report of Tung Che-Hwa's remarks at the ceremony today and includes:

Tung said the government has indeed improved its governance though there are still inadequacies that need further improvement...He said that Hong Kong is blessed to be back with the motherland as the Chinese mainland takes off.

A flag raising ceremony was held earlier Thursday morning as one of the special programs for marking the seventh anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the motherland. Over 3,000 people attended the national flag and HKSAR flag raising ceremony.

UPDATE 3: The march has actually started half an hour early at around 2:30pm and while it is hard to tell, at this stage it looks like the 300,000 target will be met and perhaps exceeded.

Reuters has a report from the march.

Tens of thousands of Hong Kong people dressed in white poured onto the streets on Thursday to vent their frustration at Chinese rule and challenge Beijing's refusal to allow them to elect their own leaders.

Waving green and black banners and sheltering under umbrellas from the searing sun, protesters chanting "Return power to the people, fight for democracy" streamed from a park to government offices in the heart of the city several kilometers (miles) away. Organizers said tens of thousands of people had gathered by mid-afternoon and estimated that as many as 300,000 people would join the march on the seventh anniversary of the former British colony's return to China, a public holiday.

UPDATE 4: Word is numbers are looking more like the 200,000 to 250,000 mark instead of 300,000 but no official word.

Some photos coming through:
Number 1
Number 2
Number 3
Number 4
Number 5

Click to embiggen.

Other pictures in the extended entry.

UPDATE 5:Even Al-Jazeera is covering this.

Channel News Asia is putting the numbers at around 250,000. Hong Kong has a population of about 7.5 million, so that is 3.33% of the city turning up to march.

Bloomberg and AFP are also reporting the 250,000 figure. The Singapore Straits Times is estimating the numbers as more than 200,000. The Guardian has a PA report with numbers at only 60,000 - clearly the wrong number. Was the reporter actually their today? Obviously not.

AFP has a good photo here.

With that it's time for me to go and join the masses. The interesting part will be Beijing's reaction. Does the more moderate tone end now the march is over or do they continue with their carrot-and-stick approach?

Some images from AP:

It's has been a busy few days in Asia's blogosphere:

Hong Kong has its big democracy march today. HK reporter has some thoughts on HK and democracy and Richard has excerpts from a WaPo editorial on the protest. He also notes, as expected, that China is trying to prevent news of the march leaking over the border to the Mainland. DTL has an excellent piece too, as does ESWN. ESWN also has two articles from Newsweek and Time on HK's demonstrations and what they mean. ACB also has a comprehensive look at the issues.

The Korean censorship debacle continues. Joel has now posted an online petition that I strongly encourage you to sign. Kevin set up the Folks Undermining Censorship in Korea and finally got an Instalanche and some recognition of the problem. Some others helping are listed here. Kimcheegi questions whether only 39 sites are blocked.

In other Korea news Flying Yangban posts about the 6 party North Korea nuclear talks. Kimcheegi points to this more serious look inside North Korea.

Conrad reports that the new Singapore to New York non-stop flights are fully-equipped. As an alternative Tom offers some travel tips for visiting North Korea. I Got Up has some amusing photos from the Big Lychee. Hemlock is ready for the march, especially with his Taser gun "so I can leap to the defence of any voluptuous pro-democracy protester I see being molested by maloderous, gap-toothed, demented ‘patriots’."

Giles is back and has perhaps the most disgusting story ever told. Adam has a notice from his elevator that is a mix of comedy and Communist speak at the same time.

Fons sees the first signs of the end of Shanghai's real estate bubble. He also reports on the EU's denial of market economy status for China. After my report on Hong Kong's gender problem, Stephen reports on the opposite imbalance on the Mainland (as some already lament). Danwei says some are working to get Mike Moore's film released in China.

Mongolia had elections this week, but with the news in Iraq and Canada many missed what could be a massive change. Marmot reports on the potential toppling of a Communist regime via the ballot box.

The Argus has a Central Asia round-up. The Asia Pages talks about a common problem in Central Asia: drugs.

ESWN has a post on Hong Kong's drug of choice: gambling.

ALN has a story from Singapore of another maid employer being punished for abuse. It seems the tide is starting to turn in favour of these exploited women.

The Swanker talks about an upcoming Indonesian Presidential debate.

After another typhoon hits the Philippines, the Sassy Lawyer wonders why some parents let their kids play in flood waters?

Travel can be expensive. So it's lucky there's a handy website with the Guide to Sleeping in Airports. There's some great stories on Indian airports and even handy personal grooming tips in Amsterdam.

Hong Kong tourism needs to change their slogan to "Hong Kong, City of Women". The SCMP reports:

The proportion of men to 1,000 women is projected to fall dramatically, from 939 last year to 698 in 2033. Two years ago, the prediction was 771 males to 1,000 females in 2031.

Frederick Ho Wing-huen, commissioner for census and statistics, offered three explanations for the drop in the ratio of men to women.

"One, many domestic helpers are coming to Hong Kong. Two, and this is the major reason, more mainland wives are joining their husbands in Hong Kong. Three, women live longer than men," Dr Ho said.