Desperate Housewives Strike Back

Twice a year, during the White Tiger Festival in March and the Hungry Ghosts Festival in August, "devil beaters" gather in Wan Chai (a really neat area on Hong Kong Island that has lots of bars) to “Beat the Devil”. People hire the devil beaters to "bedevil" their enemies. As the practitioners loudly curse, they may beat a paper effigy that is in the shape of a tiger or plummet an image or representation of the patron's enemy with shoes.

While this is fascinating enough, wealth has brought changes to this ancient ritual as well. It used to be that most people's devils were bosses and co-workers. This year, there were more desperate housewives wanting to take revenge on their husbands' mainland mistresses. It seems that having a mainland girlfriend is as necessary for status as owning a big BMW or Mercedes for wealthy Chinese men.

All of this took place Tuesday, March 6th, as hundreds of people of all ages lined up on Canal Road to pay HK$50.00 (US$6.50). Really cheap and I guess better than what I would have in mind for the mistress.

I’m sorry I missed it. But if you wish to have your devils beaten, you have another opportunity August 26th, 2007 during the lunar month long Hungry Ghosts festival.

China closer to becoming world top tourism draw

China is predicted to be the most popular tourist destination in the world by 2020. Of course that is a long way off, but for those of you who make that long flight over here– you will be trend setters!!

Many travelers want something different. Although it is a long way to fly, China is very cheap for people in the west. Places like France and Spain are no longer inexpensive. Right now, France is the world’s favorite holiday destination, followed by Spain. Third place goes to the US, but fourth is China. And China had the biggest increase in tourism over everyone last year.

The biggest problem is the language barrier, both written and spoken. Most tourists to China breathe a sign of relief when they arrive in Hong Kong. Believe you me, I can understand that. But China has built a huge infrastructure of hotels and airports and have an abundance of people to tap for tour guides and hosts. It looks like a rosy future for all those Holiday Inns and Starbucks. With the Winter Olympics in 2008 and the Shanghai World Exhibition in 2010, China also will have great advertisement.

So beat the hordes, be the first on on your block and come over and tour China...there's lots of room! I do, however, recommend that your final destination be Hong Kong. By that time, you will be so happy to see real Western food, and RL and I can show you the sights... Hope to see you soon! Mart

What is the future for Hong Kong?

After being here 6 months, I can tell you that I like Hong Kong... I mean..... really like Hong Kong. I also believe that we are very lucky to be here, as the future of Hong Kong may not be so welcoming to anyone who is not Chinese.

Basically, the whole problem is that Hong Kong can not do anything without Beijing’s approval and the result is Hong Kong in falling behind other Asian cities. Hong Kong "elects" a Chief Executive every 5 years. The electorate college equivalent is so stacked in Beijing’s favor, that the election is pretty much a farce. I have been fortunate to be here during this time, as ths body will soon meet and "vote". All just for show, and no one is fooled.

What prompted this entry was a recent survey that showed that the number of Caucasians in Hong Kong has dropped 20% over the past five years. Fifteen years ago, this would have prompted alarm, as those expats and their big housing packages were very welcomed– they kept the big end of the property market inflated. Now, mainland Chinese are showing up and doing the same thing. Mainlanders don’t care about the staggering pollution. They don’t care that English usage is declining. They don’t care if there is a lack of leadership or vision. Those traits are what created a Hong Kong that was so attractive to world-wide business.

In the not so distant future, Singapore may be where companies base their Asian interests. Now those guys are working the deals to welcome and attract foreign talent and interests. They speak English there, too. The location is not ideal but it looks like Hong Kong (or more accuratley, Beiing) , does not care. Hong Kong used to be the Asian City of the world. That is questionable now.

Guessing Game

Today we have a guessing game...no cheating...

Before spacing down, what is in the following picture?

OK, so it's in Chinese and there's a glare in the picture... I did not want to make this too easy...

Answer: This is a picture of a Chinese beer bottle, Harbin beer.

Bonus question: Is that clear liquid in the bottle "Harbin" beer, or is it something else?

Answer: Turpentine - anyone for a cold one?

So here's the story---There are several windows in our flat I just cannot get clean. I have tried everything, except for ammonia, which you cannot buy here. So, at my wits end, I found a cleaning site that suggested turpentine. One day RL and I were walking around Monk Kok and we ran up on a paint store. (Remember, stores like Lowe's do not exist here, much to RL's dismay.) We approached the woman standing behind the counter and asked her if we could buy a small bottle of turpentine. She yells out to someone in Chinese, and a guy comes from around the corner carrying the bottle shown above full of turpentine. I thought it looked strange, but I can't read Chinese and neither do I drink beer. RL, on the other hand, took one look at the bottle and was floored. He has had Harbin beer, and real Harbin beer is not clear.

Guys, seriously, someone could drink this stuff and die!

Sadly, it did not fix my window problem, we figure they are etched from something used in construction of this place. But now I have an addtional problem as we are stuck with a beer bottle that doesn't contain beer, but a highly toxic liquid, if ingested, and I have no way of explaining this is not beer but turpentine to the Chinese that run our complex so that they can dispose of it. Whew!

This is the kind of thing that causes accidental poisinings. I think it raises the bar on "mis-branding". Hong Kong SAR is not a "nanny state", that's for sure. Perhaps I should introduce these folks to the FDA. Or maybe this would be a great place to send Ralph Nader... anyone raise a toast to that?

Updates on Chinese Last Names

Just read this in a China newspaper:

"It's been discovered that only 4,100 Chinese surnames are now in use out of a sample of the country's 300 million people, according to a survey by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). It means more than 80 percent of Chinese surnames have disappeared over the past 6,000 years when over 24,000 surnames were in use.

Many surnames of people from ethnic minorities have been lost over time as a lot of people have adopted surnames of Han origin. Some two-character surnames have gradually been reduced to one character. For example, Wangzi and Wangsun have both been shortened to Wang. In some areas it's traditional that only male offspring can inherit the family surname, so some rare surnames disappeared when no son was born.

However, despite the decline new surnames are also emerging. The survey shows that some parents have given their children completely new names by combining their own surnames. This practice is particularly popular in south China's Guangdong and Fujian provinces. The surname "Liwang" comes from the father's surname of Li and the mother's of Wang.

Some parents have plumped for unique surnames for their children, which have no connection with either of their own surnames. A family in Suzhou, east China's Jiangsu Province, gave their son a newly coined surname of 'Dian' after his parents and grandparents, all wanting the boy to have their own surname, could not reach agreement. "

Whew! And then they have to agree on the first name...which has to be unique! I can't imagine the problems this would cause in the US. Glad we don't have these added worries.....