Hello Kitty Monstrosity of the Day: Hong Kong's Dim Sum Restaurant

My love of dim sum is duking it out with my hatred of Hello Kitty here:

Meet Joshua Wong of the Hong Kong Pro-Democracy Protests

Wong is 17.

Forgetting Tiananmen Square

It's been 25 years, and three new books consider how it has been suppressed.  If you're in a hurry, you can jot down the titles of the books and take a look later:

• The People’s Republic of Amnesia: Tiananmen Revisited, by Louisa Lim, OUP USA
• Tiananmen Exiles: Voices of the Struggle for Democracy in China, by Rowena Xiaoqing He, Palgrave Macmillan
• Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth and Faith in the New China, by Evan Osnos, Bodley Head

Well, here we're not forgetting!  Please take a look at:

• NatGeo's story of two photographers (twin brothers!) who were there
• (still imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize winner) Liu Xiaobo's poem from his collection June 4 Elegies
• Another poem inspired by those events
• How a gangster became a savior: the story of the Triad who helped smuggle 100+ dissidents to safety after the massacre
• Footage of Tiananmen survivors telling their stories at the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee; one is Chai Ling, founder of All Girls Allowed, an organization combatting gendercide in China.
• The world's first Tiananmen museum that has opened in Hong Kong
• Demonstrations in Hong Kong and Taiwan

25 years ago I was only a child watching the news on TV, and from that year I remember two overwhelming feelings that were so intense that they probably shaped my adult take on foreign relations more than I realize: 1989 was defined by the joy of the fall of the Berlin Wall with all its jubilant crowds ... and the absolute, stomach-churning horror of Tiananmen Square.  God, what kind of monstrous, despicable, (what the hell, let's use the word and call a spade a spade) evil government sends its tanks and troops to mow down unarmed students?  And you wonder why I practically have an allergic reaction to people saying that Taiwan should be part of China. 

UPDATE: The Onion nails it again.

Quirky Asia Files: Giant Rubber Ducky in Hong Kong

Rubber ducky, you're the one!

Online Nerd News: Coursera Opens first Asian MOOC

From Hong Kong to the world:

Massive open online courses (MOOCs) have largely been an American innovation thus far. Europe has one or two small programs, but in Asia there are none at all—until now, that is. 

University World News reports that the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) is now offering a class through Coursera, making it the first Asian school to offer its own MOOC coursework. “Society, Technology and Culture in China” is taught in English, and the majority of its 17,000 students are located in the West. Two more Asian universities are planning to follow HKUST’s lead, and Coursera is looking to develop a Chinese-language platform linked to universities in Taiwan and Hong Kong as part of what appears to be a serious push to gain a foothold in the growing Chinese market.

Hong Kong: Protesting Chinese "Patriotism" Classes

Hmmmm.

Hello Kitty Monstrosity of the Day: The Plane, The Plane!

Finally, something in air transport that's more awful than the TSA!

I think I've mentioned this Hello Kitty madness by EVA Air before, but this recent Wall Street Journal story about it refreshes all the horror.  The image gallery is simply ... unspeakable. I am happy to note, however, that the demented masterminds behind this did see fit to stock the plane with Hello Kitty-themed airsick bags.  You're going to need them, pal.

Glorious Gluttony: the Best Dim Sum in Hong Kong

I'm envious.  And now absolutely, raveningly starving and on the verge of taking a bite out of my laptop screen.    You think I'm kidding?

Hong Kong: Less Corruption Under British Rule?

Well, DUH.

Hello Kitty Monstrosity of the Day: A Photo Gallery from Hell

I can't bear to look.  

Happy Year of the Dragon!

Happy Chinese New Year, my lovelies.  Bring on the firecrackers and red paper envelopes!  UPDATE: Check out some lovely photos from celebrations all over Asia.

Quirky Asia Files: Bamboo Scaffolding in Hong Kong

Yup, folks are still using bamboo for construction projects as they've done for ages.  Why not?  If it ain't broke, don't fix it!  Here's a little video:

The 2012 Index of Economic Freedom Is Out

We're not doing so well?  The US is out of the top tier at #10. What would Milton Friedman say?  By the way, the top tier rated "Free" consists of Hong Kong at #1, followed by Singapore,  Australia, New Zealand, and (the first non-Asian country on the list) Switzerland.  Taiwan is #18.  C'mon, guys, we can do better than that.

Nerd News: the Celebrity Tutors of Hong Kong

Hmmmmmm ... Career opportunity?  I'd be lying if I said I had never thought about going over to Asia to take a stab at making a living there as a teacher of English and/or history and/or Western literature.  I think I'd prefer Taiwan, though ...

The 2011 Index of Economic Freedom

Here are the top 3 nations in this year's Index of Economic Freedom:

1. Hong Kong
2. Singapore
3. Australia

You notice who's not up there?  Ummm ... yeah.  The U.S. finished barely in the top 10 at #9.  What would Milton Friedman say?  Here is some commentary.

Kissinger on Taiwan

Here's a bit from a recent interview with Henry Kissinger:

Inevitably—at least from my point of view—this raises the subject of Taiwan. On the matter of arms sales to the island, Mr. Kissinger says he isn't opposed to them per se, but that "over an extended period of time it will lead to a confrontation." So what, in the long term, is Taiwan's fate? Mr. Kissinger suggests negotiations with the mainland "in which the de facto autonomy of Taiwan is preserved." On the model of Hong Kong? "Certainly beyond the Hong Kong pattern," he says.

Well, that's just freaking fantastic.  How many times have I said that my family and I specifically do NOT want to be a second Hong Kong?  Anyway, whatever the shenanigans in Taiwan itself about self-defense and whatnot, we can't have the US willing to throw the whole island under the bus in order to cozy up to Beijing.  But I would not be in the least surprised if this hapless, clueless White House did just that.  Oh, and check this out too.

Quirky Asia Files: McDonald's Wedding Packages in Hong Kong

I swear I'm not making this up!  Talk about Happy Meals, eh?

Chinese Politics Then and Now: Rule by the Emperor and His Top Minister

Here is an interesting link sent by gentle reader Pursuit of Serenity!  More here. The book, newly released in Hong Kong, is written by Chinese dissident Yu Jie.

Movie Review: the Cine-Sib Reviews "Red Cliff"

The Cinema-Mad Sibling LOVED this flick. Here's his review:

Red Cliff is a return to form for Hong Kong director John Woo, exemplifying the art of war vividly in this historical epic centering on the decisive Battle of Red Cliffs in 208 AD Han-Dynasty China where outnumbered allied rebels with Spartan odds outsmart the near-unstoppable imperial army. The most expensive Asian film ever, it shows onscreen with grand-scale elaborate land/sea battles, unmatched in ANY film. Period.

Dude, that was awesome
Hollywood can't do this stuff
Dude, that was awesome

Well, that sounds like unqualified praise, all right!

He also suggests this trailer:

The 2010 Index of Economic Freedom

The new rankings are now available. (Insert here my usual caveat that all rankings are a bit subjective and methodologies open to scrutiny and debate, but this is a useful rough sketch of different nations' economic freedom status.)

The US is still in the top 10, but we've slipped in the rankings. (Technically the US ranking is no longer fully "Free" but "Mostly Free," and Canada's ahead of us now. Really?! HopeChange!)

Number 1 in the world for economic freedom? Hong Kong.

In fact, Asian/Pacific nations rule supreme: HK, followed by Singapore, then Australia and New Zealand.

Dead last in the list is also an Asian nation. North Korea, natch. I do mean DEAD last. It's even worse than Zimbabwe.

The survey has this useful little definition of "economic freedom":

Economic freedom is the fundamental right of every human to control his or her own labor and property. In an economically free society, individuals are free to work, produce, consume, and invest in any way they please, with that freedom both protected by the state and unconstrained by the state. In economically free societies, governments allow labor, capital and goods to move freely, and refrain from coercion or constraint of liberty beyond the extent necessary to protect and maintain liberty itself.

Oh, yes.