Current Events

[Randy W]

Last year was a disaster for the country’s once dominant esports teams, from “Dota 2” to “Counter-Strike.” What happened?

from the Sixth Tone on Facebook 
https://www.facebook.com/sixthtone/posts/pfbid021r33qm8MJ4TuGwtEevsrqGREU7S1dCgytP5aSkDF6sbq2k5zLEdbxX9Wd516WZtjl

 

Can China’s Esports Athletes Mount a Comeback?
Last year was a disaster for the country’s once dominant esports teams, from “Dota 2” to “Counter-Strike.” What happened?

Quote

Even the one bright spot, “League of Legends,” is something of a glass-half-full situation as far as many fans are concerned. Although China-based EDG took home the World Championship in 2021, many of the top Chinese teams are increasingly dependent on Korean talent to stay relevant. EDG’s win might have sent delirious fans pouring onto China’s streets and university campuses, but close followers of the sport saw little threat to South Korea’s stranglehold on high-level play: All of EDG’s rivals in the final four were Korea-based teams, and EDG itself featured two Korean players in its championship lineup, including the finals’ most valuable player.

 

[Randy W]

On 2/12/2023 at 5:40 PM, Randy W said:

ChatGPT frenzy sweeps China as firms scramble for homegrown options

from Reuters via CNBC

 

Chinese firms including Baidu and Alibaba are racing to roll out versions of the chatbots taking the tech world by storm https://aje.io/yb7ujd

from Al Jazeera English on Facebook 
https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera/photos/a.10150243828793690/10161483112333690

China wants AI to rival ChatGPT. Censorship makes that tricky
Chinese firms including Baidu and Alibaba are racing to roll out versions of the chatbots taking the tech world by storm.

Quote

 

For a chatbot, the censorship apparatus means a severely limited pool of information to rely on.

Baidu’s ERNIE chatbot is based on information scraped from both inside and outside China’s firewall – which is necessary to obtain an adequate data set – and draws on sources like Wikipedia and the famously unwieldy Reddit.

Assuming their products are technically able to perform at a similar level to ChatGPT, Chinese tech companies may find themselves either choosing between restricting what chatbots can do, like Microsoft’s Bing, or what they can say.

 

 

 

[Randy W]

From the Two Sessions - the Bamboo Curtain is a thing again. Both sides need to step back and look at what they NEED and/or WANT from the other, and how they can best achieve that end. China seems to have an overly long list here.

from China Xinhua News on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/XH.NewsAgency/photos/a.446942328709816/8692456070825026

 

(expand quote box to see English translation)

Quote

【秦刚：遏制打压不会让美国变得伟大，更阻挡不了中国迈向复兴的步伐】
　　外交部长秦刚7日在两会记者会上说，前段时间中美关系发生了无人飞艇事件。这完全是一起因不可抗力导致的偶发意外事件，事实和性质都很清楚，连美方也承认不构成现实威胁。然而，美方却违反国际法精神和国际惯例，有罪推断，过度反应，滥用武力，借题发挥，制造了一场本可以避免的外交危机。
　　秦刚表示，从偶然中可以看到必然，那就是美国对华认知和定位出现了严重偏差，把中国当成最主要对手和最大地缘政治挑战。第一粒纽扣扣错了，导致美国对华政策完全脱离了理性健康的正轨。
　　秦刚说，美方声称要“竞赢”中国但不寻求冲突。但实际上，美方的所谓“竞争”，就是全方位遏制打压，就是你死我活的零和博弈。美方口口声声说要遵守规则，但如同两位运动员在奥运田径场上赛跑，一方不是想着如何跑出自己的最好成绩，而总是要去绊倒对方，甚至想让对方参加残奥会，这不是公平竞争，而是恶意对抗，犯规了！美方所谓“加装护栏”“不冲突”，实际上，就是要中国打不还手，骂不还口，但这办不到！如果美方不踩刹车，继续沿着错误道路狂飙下去，再多的护栏… See more
[Qin Gang: Containing repression will not make America great, nor will it stop China from moving towards rejuvenation]
Foreign Minister Qin Gang said at the press conference of the two sessions on the 7th that an unmanned airship incident occurred in Sino-US relations a This is an accident caused by force majeure. The facts and nature are clear, and even the US side recognizes that it does not pose a real threat. However, the US side has violated the spirit of international law and international practices, guilty inference, overreaction, excessive use of force, and used the subject to play, creating a
Qin Gang said that it is inevitable from chance that the US perception and positioning of China has been seriously biased, treating China as the main opponent and the biggest geopolitical challenge. The first button was wrong, causing the US policy towards China to be completely off the right track of rational health.
Qin Gang said the US claims to "win" China but not seek conflict. But in fact, the so-called "competition" of the US side is to curb and suppress all aspects, which is a zero-sum game of The US side says that it must abide by the rules, but like two athletes running on the Olympic track and field, one side is not thinking about how to run out of its best results, but always trying to tripple the other, even want the other party to participate in the Paralympic Games. This is not fair competition, but a The so-called "installing guardrails" and "no conflict" by the US side actually means that China can't fight back, scolding or repelling, but this If the US side does not step on the brakes and continues to rush down the wrong road, no matter how many guardrails can stop the derailment and overturning, it will inevitably Who will bear its catastrophic consequences?! Such competition is a big bet on the fundamental interests of the two peoples and even the future and destiny of mankind. China is of course firmly opposed. The United States has the pride of making America great again, and it must have the grace to tolerate the development of other countries. Containing repression will not make America great, nor will it stop China from moving towards revival.
Qin Gang said that President Xi Jinping pointed out that whether China and the United States can handle each other's relationship well affects the future and destiny The Sino-US relationship is not a multiple choice question, but a must answer question how to do it well. I have also noticed that more and more people of insight in the US are deeply worried about the current Sino-US relationship, and they have urged the US to pursue a rational and
Qin Gang said that the American people, like the Chinese people, are warm, friendly, and simple, pursuing a happy life and a better world. When I was working in the United States, the dock workers at the Port of Long Beach in Los Angeles told me that the whole family's livelihood depended on freight trade with China, and the Farmers in Iowa tell me there are many hungry people in the world and I want a variety of grain. University principals told me that scientific and technological progress depends on international exchanges, and decoupling of science and technology is a lose-lose and lose-lose The primary school student of Yinghua College in Minnesota won the "Chinese Bridge" world primary school students Chinese show champion. She told me in fluent Chinese that she learned Chinese because she likes China. Whenever I think of them, I think that the relationship between China and the United States should be determined by the common interests, shared responsibilities, and friendship between the two peoples, not by American domestic politics and hysteria of the
Qin Gang said that China will always be committed to promoting the healthy and stable development of China-US relations in accordance with the principles of mutual respect, peaceful co-existence and win-win cooperation proposed by President Xi Jinping. We also hope that the US government will listen carefully to the voices of the two peoples, eliminate the strategic anxiety of the " threat inflation", abandon the cold war mentality of zero-sum game, reject the unprovoked kidnappings of "political correctness", fulfill its promises

 

Edited March 7, 2023 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

From the WSJ on the National People's Conference

Xi Takes Rare Direct Aim at U.S. in Speech 
Leader blames Washington-led ‘containment, encirclement and suppression’ for challenges at home

Quote

 

Chinese leader Xi Jinping issued an unusually blunt rebuke of U.S. policy on Monday, blaming what he termed a Washington-led campaign to suppress China for recent challenges facing his country.

“Western countries—led by the U.S.—have implemented all-round containment, encirclement and suppression against us, bringing unprecedentedly severe challenges to our country’s development,” Mr. Xi was quoted by state media as saying on Monday. 

Mr. Xi’s comments marked an unusual departure for a leader who has generally refrained from directly criticizing the U.S. in public remarks—even as his decadelong leadership has demonstrated a pessimistic view of the bilateral relationship.

The accusation of U.S. suppression of China’s development over the past five years comes as Mr. Xi faces charges from investors that China’s economy has been damaged by his policies, including the emphasis on national security.

The comments were part of a speech to members of China’s top political advisory body during an annual legislative session in Beijing, according to a Chinese-language readout published by the official Xinhua News Agency.

While Mr. Xi has mentioned the U.S. in critical tones during internal speeches, such remarks have often filtered out through subordinates relaying his messages for broader audiences, within the party and beyond. In statements made in public settings or directly reported by state media, Mr. Xi has typically been more measured and vague regarding the U.S. and other Western countries, referring to them as “certain” countries rather than naming them explicitly.

Now by directly accusing the U.S. of seeking containment, a term loaded with Cold War meaning, Mr. Xi appears to be associating himself more closely with nationalist rhetoric—widely used by lower-ranking officials and state media—that attacks Washington, at a time when bilateral tensions continue to simmer over trade, technology, geopolitical influence and discordant views on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The English-language version of Mr. Xi’s speech reported by Xinhua didn’t refer to containment or the U.S. Instead, it quoted him telling fellow officials to “have the courage to fight as the country faces profound and complex changes in both the domestic and international landscape.”

President Biden says the U.S. competes with China but doesn’t want conflict, though Beijing worries that an emphasis in his national-security strategy on historic rivalry between democracies and autocracies is a sign Washington seeks regime change in Beijing. “We’re not looking for a new Cold War,” Mr. Biden said last month.

The escalatory spiral makes it hard to cool tensions but both China and the U.S. have room to tame the rhetoric, Jessica Chen Weiss, a Cornell University professor and former State Department adviser, told an online conference hosted by Foreign Policy magazine on Monday. “The current tit-for-tat spiral serves no one,” she said.

The accusations by Mr. Xi against the U.S., delivered to an audience that includes politically connected businesspeople, appeared in part to be an effort by Mr. Xi to shift blame away from his own policymaking, including tough Covid controls that have weakened the economy and pressure on technology companies that cost the industry some of its dynamism.

Chinese leaders often speak in opaque terms but as Mr. Xi continues to consolidate power, he might be searching for new ways to explain the country’s gathering troubles, including on the economy, said Shirley Martey Hargis, a nonresident fellow at the Washington think tank Atlantic Council. “It’s either take the blame or shift it,” she said.

At Monday’s meeting, which included representatives from China’s state-backed national chamber of commerce, Mr. Xi sought to boost confidence within the private sector—a crucial driver of growth and supplier of jobs in the world’s second-largest economy, but also a community shaken by regulatory crackdowns and harsh pandemic lockdowns in recent years.

The Chinese leader insisted that the Communist Party “has always regarded private enterprises and private entrepreneurs as our own people,” and would provide them with support whenever they run into difficulties, Xinhua said.

At the same time, Mr. Xi urged business people to strive for wealth with a sense of responsibility, righteousness and compassion, and to bear in mind his push for “common prosperity”—aimed at redistributing more of China’s wealth, amid concerns that the elite classes had benefited disproportionately from the country’s economic boom.

According to Xinhua, Mr. Xi also defended his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and addressed the growing tensions between China and the West. He also urged the business community to work together with the party to overcome difficulties in an uncertain global environment. 

“In the coming period of time, the risks and challenges that we face will only increase and intensify ever more,” Mr. Xi was quoted as saying by Xinhua. 

Chinese officials have long warned the U.S. against what they call Cold War thinking, and Mr. Xi appeared to make a similar point in his November summit with President Biden, according to China’s official summary of the meeting. It quoted the Chinese leader as saying, “Suppression and containment will only strengthen the will and boost the morale of the Chinese people.”

China’s foreign-policy establishment had already been using the words “suppression and containment” to describe pressure from the U.S., including Mr. Xi’s new top international envoy, Wang Yi ,and foreign minister, Qin Gang. 

Official spokespeople for China’s Foreign Ministry, who speak to foreign reporters at regular briefings, often in strident tones, have also used the terminology. 

In December, Mr. Wang told American banker and co-chair of Asia Society John Thornton, “It is imperative that the U.S. abandon its unreasonable acts of containment and suppression of China, earnestly put President Biden’s positive remarks into action, and return to the more positive and practical China policy,” according to a Chinese Foreign Ministry summary of the meeting. 

When Mr. Xi sent a dark message to fellow Communist Party leaders at a conference last October, he didn’t name the U.S. when warning of threats: “External attempts to suppress and contain China may escalate at any time.”

 

 

Edited March 7, 2023 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

The Asian-led multiverse adventure Everything Everywhere All at Once turned out to be a big winner Sunday night at the 95th Academy Awards, held at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, with seven trophies.
The film, a hilarious and big-hearted sci-fi action adventure about an exhausted Chinese American woman who can't seem to finish her taxes, took home Best Picture.
The film's Chinese-Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh took home Best Actress in a Leading Role for her performance, becoming the first Asian woman to win an Oscar in the category.

from China Pictorial on Facebook 
https://www.facebook.com/ChinaPic/posts/pfbid02Eq3cNSypA7hyxNEZ3nQiSTSRTBnJchNMA5X2QQjEAR8v31Q8TYEaibzRoVB5cpcrl

 

 

[Randy W]

‘I married her for her cows’: woman in China who tied the knot with man shortly after first date calls police and claims he used her for cattle wealth

• A naive woman who desperately wanted to believe her new husband truly loved her was taken for all that she had in a horrific wedding scam
• The shocking details of how he fleeced her of her two cows for the cash then abandoned her in a strange city have gone viral

from the SCMP

The woman says she realised something was wrong when the man never went to work and was clearly addicted to buying lottery tickets. Photo: SCMP composite

Quote

 

Hongjuan met Dacheng online and soon fell in love with him, believing his claim that he was independently wealthy with his own company, three properties and savings of 1.1 million yuan (US$160,000).

Around 20 days after meeting online and going on a single date, the pair married. On their wedding day, Dacheng convinced Hongjuan to sell her two cows to pay for a better life in the city. Hongjuan agreed and sold her cows for 17,000 yuan (US$2,500). The report did not mention where the city was.

However, Hongjuan quickly realised the new life she was looking forward to in the city was a fantasy after she learned that the property Dacheng had “bought” her was a daily rental flat.

She also realised something was wrong when Dacheng never went to work and was clearly addicted to buying lottery tickets, which he had already spent the cow money on.

After the cash had run out Dacheng told her to return to her rural home alone for Lunar New Year in January, saying he had to go on a business trip and left her in the city alone.

Despite all that had happened, Hongjuan still trusted her new husband. But with no money left, she asked Dacheng to help pay for the trip. She then discovered he had changed his phone number, deleted his social media accounts and vanished.

Even after this deception, she still could not believe she had been taken for a ride by her husband until the bank confirmed that their joint account did not have 1.1 million yuan in deposits and was empty.

 

 

[Randy W]

Diaoyucheng, is a fortress located in the Hechuan district, Chongqing. It is known for its resistance to the Mongol armies in the latter half of the Song dynasty. An ancient architect group from the Southern Song dynasty was recently excavated here. Experts believe that the size and high level of architectural specifications of this newly discovered site are unprecedented.

from iChongqing on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/iChongqing/posts/pfbid031ztbx8S9XpWo5GnBi5gdFwMVPP2pSFbSe9EPoaMM8W7YngbXwo4V9tNwYe5wVN2dl

 

 

[Randy W]

Vintage motorcycles in Shanghai have become a niche toy that are difficult to own because of the sky-high price of motorcycle license plates in the city.

Check out more Daily Tones: http://ow.ly/YEjH50NoCKJ

from the Sixth Tone on Facebook 
https://www.facebook.com/sixthtone/videos/662377788751477/

 

 

Skyrocketing License Plate Prices Mean Motorcycles Are Niche Toys for Shanghai’s Motorheads

Vintage motorcycles in Shanghai have become a niche toy that are difficult to own because of the sky-high price of motorcycle license plates in the city. Check out more Daily Tones: http://ow.ly/YEjH50NoCKJ

Posted by Sixth Tone on Tuesday, March 21, 2023

 

a Victory Vision - an American V-twin motorcycle, 1731 cc, rated at 92 hp - licensed in Beijing - that I photographed in front of our complex six years ago

http://candleforlove.com/forums/topic/45352-from-yulin/page/30/#comment-629574

[Randy W]

@TimCook, CEO of @Apple, made a visit to the company's Apple Store in Sanlitun, #Beijing on Friday, kicking off the senior executive's first trip to #China in three years.

from iChongqing on Facebook 
https://www.facebook.com/iChongqing/videos/616256637190205/

 

 

@TimCook, CEO of @Apple, made a visit to the company's Apple Store in Sanlitun, #Beijing on Friday, kicking off the senior executive's first trip to #China in three years.

Posted by iChongqing on Friday, March 24, 2023

 

[Randy W]

Chinese Authorities Raid Office of U.S. Investigations Firm Mintz Group
Company says staff members in Beijing were detained days before multinational executives gather for economic conference in the Chinese capital

from the WSJ (paywalled)

The closed office of the Mintz Group in a Beijing office building on Friday. The due diligence firm said five Chinese nationals employed in the office were detained without notice
greg baker/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

Quote

 

Authorities this week raided the Beijing offices of Mintz Group, detaining all five of the New York-based due diligence firm’s staff members in mainland China, the company said—an incident likely to unnerve global businesses operating in the country.

 . . .

In a statement Friday, Mintz said that five Chinese nationals employed in its Beijing office were detained without notice, and that the office is now closed. “Our top priority is the safety and well-being of our colleagues in China, where we have retained legal counsel to engage with the authorities and support our people and their families,” the company said.

Mintz said that it is licensed to do business in China and operates transparently and within the law. “Mintz Group hasn’t received any official legal notice regarding a case against the company and has requested that the authorities release its employees,” the statement said. “We are ready to work with the Chinese authorities to resolve any misunderstanding that may have led to these events.” 

In mid-January, a Singapore national working in Mintz’s Beijing office was blocked from leaving China, but given no reason, the executive said. The person, whom the company isn’t identifying, wasn’t arrested or alleged to have committed a crime, the executive said.

The employee had planned to leave the country for Lunar New Year but was stopped at the border, the executive said. Some weeks later, with the help of Singapore’s embassy, she was permitted to leave, the executive said. It couldn’t be determined whether that event is connected with this week’s raid.

The corporate investigations business is tolerated by Chinese authorities but has been targeted for crackdowns during leader Xi Jinping’s decade in office. In addition to tightly controlling media and the internet, Chinese authorities increasingly limit access to business data, including by labeling it private information or national property. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Randy W]

On 8/13/2022 at 6:58 PM, Randy W said:

Portray Another You in the Metaverse with a Virtual Avatar Creator

With the increase in popularity of the metaverse in China, a raft of new occupations has come to the fore to satisfy users’ individual needs. A virtual avatar creator, or “nielianshi,” is one of them. A search on Taobao shows results for products with prices ranging from 20 yuan ($2.96) to 1,000 yuan, and an avatar of a celebrity can cost up to 2,000 yuan.

Learn more: http://ow.ly/pZlz50KiAYM

from the Sixth Tone on Facebook 
https://www.facebook.com/sixthtone/videos/772241484091439/

Because I guess they haven't yet realized that Mark Zuckerberg gave up on the idea.

As a widely recognized form of next generation internet, the metaverse will open a new digital world beyond the physical one that fuses virtuality and reality and accelerates the flow of people, objects, and spaces between the two worlds, said Ma Hongbing, general manager of the technology innovation department of China Unicom, adding that the metaverse will also enhance integration of the industrial internet and the consumer internet, forming a new economic and social paradigm.

from China Pictorial on Facebook 
https://www.facebook.com/ChinaPic/posts/pfbid0r862f1E6YWqZNHv6a87ifVLnz8s7bd1ADNKLwHsxbPLq3P1KAh1s4cmbAjybzu68l

 

[Randy W]

Chinese farmers give up on making a living from the land despite government focus on food security

Fewer and fewer people in China are willing to farm for a living, posing a threat to the food security of the world’s most populous nation. The Chinese central government has stressed the issue as a top priority for many years to avoid a potential food crisis. The Post visited one of the major grain-producing areas in central China and asked village residents why they have grown reluctant to continue with farming.
 

 

[Randy W]

A bizarre rumor that a famous bar in Bangkok is being used to lure Chinese tourists into abduction and prostitution has spread like wildfire on Chinese social media in recent weeks, forcing the Thai government to repeatedly deny the story.

Read more: http://ow.ly/TgXg50NwRxV

from the Sixth Tone on Facebook 
https://www.facebook.com/sixthtone/photos/a.1604152706570250/3489119214740247

 

Dark Rumors on Chinese Social Media Alarm the Thai Gov’t
Rumors that Chinese tourists are being kidnapped and trafficked in Bangkok have spread like wildfire on Chinese social media in recent days. Thai authorities are scrambling to contain the fallout.

Quote

 

But the story took a darker turn in early March, when a Chinese blogger began spreading rumors about supposed new threats to Chinese tourists in Thailand via his channel Xin Yi Lin Lin on the video platforms Douyin and Bilibili.

In the video, the man claimed that criminal gangs had moved their bases from Myanmar and Cambodia to Thailand, and had joined forces with anti-Chinese Western forces to target Chinese people.

The conspiracy, the man said, centered around Bangkok’s 76 Garage bar, a popular destination for Chinese tourists that is famous for using attractive male models to serve and entertain customers.

The gangs were using these hot Thai men to lure Chinese women into prostitution, the man claimed. They would then use the women to lure Chinese men to Thailand, where they would be kidnapped and murdered, before having their organs harvested, he added.

The video went viral across Chinese social media, before being scrubbed from the platforms a few days later. However, content from the video shared by other users has remained online, and continues to circulate widely.

 

 

 

[Randy W]

Hong Kong struggles to win back tourists, ‘World City’ crown
Chinese territory welcomed just 500,000 visitors in January, compared to 6.8 million arrivals in 2019.

from Al Jazeera

Quote

 

Like Bruce, thousands of other Hong Kong residents left the semi-autonomous Chinese territory during the peak of the pandemic – some temporarily, others permanently – as the government’s tough restrictions took their toll on both expats and locals who were able to relocate overseas.

Last year, the city’s population declined for the third consecutive year – down 0.9 percent to 7.3 million – as tens of thousands of residents moved away permanently. As well as frustration over pandemic measures, many residents were driven to leave by a sweeping national security law that was implemented after pro-democracy protests in 2019 that often turned violent.

Hong Kong officials have openly expressed concern about the brain drain from the city, which for decades has had a reputation as one of Asia’s most cosmopolitan urban centres. Foreign visitors, meanwhile, were mostly barred from entering Hong Kong during the pandemic.

Now, the city long marketed as “Asia’s World City” is making an all-out effort to lure business people and tourists back, after being largely closed off to the world for nearly three years.

 

 

[Randy W]

BEHIND THE HEADLINES
Sunday 9th April, 2023

The girl says she got the idea after seeing something similar on television, police said. Photo: SCMP composite/Baidu

Dear reader,

More than 100 million people across China were shocked to read about a seven-year-old girl who threw a four-year-old boy down a well then tried to excuse her actions by saying she was mimicking a scene from TV. While the boy was rescued relatively unharmed from the watery hole, many online readers were stunned by the girl’s actions. One said: “Not only is it horrific that she threw the boy into the well, but that she pulled his hands away from the well edge when he was trying to hang on...This girl is really bad to the bone.”

Talking of near-death experiences, the story of a young man who received a posthumous reply after sending his late father a frustration-filled text message on failing an important examination has warmed the heart of Chinese social media. The 22-year-old from northwestern China sent a message to the mobile number previously used by his father who died three years ago. Another man who had taken up the number felt the young man’s pain and replied in a soothing manner to help him.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in China, a lovesick man who spent a whole night on his knees in the rain outside his former girlfriend’s workplace begging her to take him back has received a backlash of online criticism. The jilted boyfriend knelt outside the entrance of the woman’s office building in Sichuan province for almost 24 hours. However, his antics got short shrift from the more than 150 million people who viewed the story on social media, with many telling him: “Love doesn’t come from begging”.

However, it was plaudits all round for a Chinese woman with a master’s degree from a top university who quit her high-paying job to become a farmer. The highly-educated watermelon farmer from eastern China said she wanted to “please” herself. Having chopped and changed jobs in the lucrative online game development industry over a five-year period she decided she had had enough and quit completely.

In Hong Kong, not for the first time, it is a movie story which is creating waves. Current Hollywood blockbuster John Wick: Chapter 4 featuring Hong Kong actor Donnie Yen which has catapulted the city back into the international spotlight and has put the focus on the Cantonese language. 

Just like in the movies, everyone likes a happy ending, and so it was with the news that the Hong Kong courts have decided to give a 90-year-old licenced street vendor her roast chestnut cart back after a man arrested for looking after the stall without a licence pleaded guilty to illegal hawking. Elderly hawker, Chan Tak-ching, has been told by apologetic officials that she should have her cart returned by the end of this week.

In not so happy news, a humiliating – and violent – “motivational” strategy employed by a Hong Kong company has shocked many on social media. An anonymous online poster revealed to surprised readers that the insurance company he worked for had a “unique” manner of motivating staff. He tells how, at the firm’s annual dinner, bosses ordered underperforming employees to slap each other in the face. The revelation prompted many on social media to call for the authorities to investigate.

And finally, arguably Hong Kong’s most high-profile international event returned with a rain-soaked bang following three years in the doldrums as a result of the global pandemic. A thrilling 2023 Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens, featuring both womens’ and mens’ events had the Hong Kong Stadium stands rocking. By all accounts, the final day of competition was epic and the fans, who turned out in healthy numbers, did their bit as always.
 

Luisa Tam
People & Society Editor