Beijing Airport

1 July 2010 - I have blogged about airlines and airplane food, but not about airports. The new Beijing airport Terminal 3 building is probably one of the most beautiful airports in the world (I say probably because I have not been at all airports, so it is a bit difficult to compare). The terminal building by Forster + Partners, who also designed the Hong Kong airport in the 1990s, constructed the world's largest and most advanced airport building. It is a technological masterpiece, but also beautiful in its style, simplicity and efficiency. The single roof canopy is perforated with skylights to bring deep into the building. I love the detailed symbolism, such as its dragon-shaped form and traditional Chinese colors like red and gold. The airport was built for the Beijing Olympics in 2008 - what a way to welcome the world.

1st July March

1 July 2010 - Today it is 13 years since the Hong Kong hand-over. In recent years the 1st July date has been marked by protest marches. This year the turn-out for the match is expected to be relatively low, as the debate on universal suffrage already peaked a few days ago in the Legilsative Council. However, there are still plenty of other topics to be concerned about. A study by the Boston Consulting Group shows that Hong Kong has the world second largest wealth gap after Saudi Arabia. Hong Kong has 205,000 USD millionaires, but this group of rich controls 73% of the city's wealth. Or in other words, the remaining 27% of wealth is shared by more than 7 million people. Hong Kong surpasses even the US, where the millionaires control 56% of the wealth. Now you know whey we have such an angry underclass - and we may see them marching the streets today.

Summer Sale

30 June 2010 - The Summer Sale has started in Hong Kong and Tsim Sha Tsui is buzzing with mainland shoppers emptying Louis Vuiton, Prada and Gucci if they are on Ladies Market in Mongkok. Putonghua is now widely spoken and the money comes from across the border. How things have changed in the last 30 years!!?. In the early 1980s a 250 meters long and just four meters wide Chung Ying Street in the border town of Sha Tau Kok was the only place where mainland shoppers could buy much sought-after products from overseas. At its peak, it attracted 120,000 shoppers per day. Its fortunes changes over the years and the border town is now a sleepy backwater. However, Shenzhen authorities have launched a grand plan to restore some of Chung Ying Street's old glory, however it is unlikely that shopper numbers of the 1980s will ever come back. The good news is that some of the Lingnan style buildings will be restored. Maybe those will attract another type of tourists?

Chocolate Warriors

30 June 2010 - A rare exhibition featuring chocolate terracotta warriors opens at the World Chocolate Wonderland in Taipei this week. The exhibition is a repeat of a similar exhibition in chocolate art earlier this year in Beijing, which drew more than 40,000 visitors. The army of warriors is the centerpiece of the show - with all warriors being 35 cm tall. There are also chocolate versions of Taipei 101 (170 cm. tall!) and the Great Wall on display. The exhibition will last until September but with temperatures rising it is probably recommended to travel the sooner the better. Chocolate melts with temperatures over 20 degrees and it cracks with temperatures below zero. Don't miss it.

Tarzan

29 June 2010 - A man who spent 108 days living in a tree to demand more compensation after his home and shop were demolished went on trial in Chongqing for disturbing public order. Chen Maoguo, also known as 'bird man', had lived in a rough shed in a 12-meters high tree for 3,5 months from August last year. He hung his business license and other certificates on his temporary tree house to prove his shop had been legal. Every morning he dropped a rope down from the tree to which his wife would tie a plastic bag of buns or sweet potatoes. Later he would lower a plastic bag of excrement, which his wife would dispose of. His wife said he lost more than 15 kilos, while living in the tree. He climbed down in November after the Zhuyi town party secretary promised he would receive the RMB 800,000 he demanded, but he was arrested a few hours later.

The High Line

29 June 2010 - The BBC showed a documentary about the New York's High Line. In 1980, soon after the last train had moved over the elevated railway tracks known as The High Line, property developers set their eyes on this valuable piece of real estate on Manhattan's up-and-coming West Side. The High Line was set for demolition. Two New Yorkers had a different vision and lobbied tirelessly for the High Line to be protected and changed into an open space for all. They even went to court to save it. The result is amazing. The new High Line was opened in 2009 and already two million people have visited this new corridor on Manhattan island. Children come to play, morning joggers do their exercise, and tourists reflect here on the city's past. The High Line also brings green and plants into the city. It is a public place for the future of New York City, but it is also a living monument what visionary people can do if they stand up and fight for what they believe in.

Deep Sleep

29 June 2010 - One of the distinct memories about Hong Kong that I will take with me on further adventures in life is that everybody in the morning bus to work seems fast asleep. Hong Kong people are like cats: they easily fall asleep, no matter where and no matter when. I read that three teenagers, aged 14 and 15, were found unconscious at 4 am in a fast food restaurant. Staff suspected that the teens were on drugs and called the police after several failed attempts to awake them. The police and ambulance services arrived with flying colors. The teens woke up and explained that they had watched a World Cup football match and were waiting for the first bus home.

Great Picture (3)

28 June 2010 - In 1997/98 I worked in Afghanistan, and often went to Oruzgan. Who would have known that Dutch military forces would set up their regimen in Tarin Kowt - a place I have been many, many times - about 10 years later? It is rough terrain and the military would probably describe this area as "hostile environment". I loved my time there, and I remember the lively bazar, the mud houses, the poppy fields and the clear starry nights. I like this picture by Christopher Sneed, because I wonder what is going on? The men belong obviously to opposite parties, but they feel at ease with the situation. What is being said here? Are they negotiating? Will the Afghans be considered traitors?.Could these men kill each other?

Guanyin

28 June 2010 - More than 300 young beautiful Chinese girls have been competing since April for three places as image representatives of Guanyin, an East Asian Buddhist figure known for her compassion. Literally 'Guanyin' means 'observing the sounds', which means that Guanyin will always observe all sounds from the world and listen to requests from her worshippers. She is usually depicted wearing a white flowing robe and wearing necklaces of royalty. In the right hand there may be a water jar containing pure water, and in the left she holds a willow branch. The legend of Guanyin, known as the Bodhisattva, has led Sichuan, Henan and Xinjiang provinces to spend billions of yuan developing tourism programmes, with each province claiming to be her home province. It will be interesting to follow who will finally be the winner of the image competition, because - if I am well informed - it was not clear if Guanyin was male or female.

Hong Kong Millionaires

28 June 2010 - It was reported that Hong Kong saw the largest increase in millionaires in the world last year, while the net worth of Asian milionaires overtook their European counterparts. The rise was mainly caused by the recovery of Asian asset prices. The annual World Wealth Report - as produced by Merrill Lynch - found that the number of millionaires in Hong Kong soared with a whopping 104, 4%, the highest increase in the world. To be clear: we are talking about USD millionaires here. Hong Kong millionaires are still among the relatively "poor" ones, as they can mainly be found in the USD 1 mio - USD 5 mio band. The majority of millionaires are still concentrated in USA, Germany and Japan, but the mainland is now firmly in fourth place with 477,000 millionaires (up 31% from the year before). The fundraising market in Hong Kong is getting more competitive in recent years, as it seems an increasing number of NGOs have discovered that Hong Kong is a rich pond to fish in. Ding Ding Dollars!

Wu Guanzhong

27 June 2010 - I have admired the work of Wu Guanzhong before I knew his name. A few years ago I saw his work for the first time in the Hong Kong Museum of Art. I remember how I loved seeing his originality, his skill and his ability to give traditional themes and style a nowadays twist. It was only later that I learned more about this Chinese painter - one of the most famous of his generation - and his amazing life. After being born in Jiangsu province in 1919, he won a scholarship for the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux Arts in Paris in 1946. Wu returned  to China and endured the hardship of the Cultural Revolution, when he was sent to labor camp. He only held his first solo exhibition at the age of 59 and shot to fame. He was the first living Chinese artist to exhibit at the British Museum. Wu Guanzhong died earlier this week. One of his last acts was donating his last works to the Hong Kong Museum of Art.

Chocolate City

27 June 2010 - The area around Guangzhou's Deng Feng Hotel in Yuexiu district is known as "chocolate city". It is an area full with African and Arabic shops, bars and restaurants, and is frequently visited by the African community in town. These days all Africans in the mainland unite behind the football team of Ghana. Most African bars stay open until late as the matches only start at 2h30 am local time. The audience, from all corners of the African continent and speaking a mix of English, French and Chinese, are glued to the TV screens and don't mind the Chinese commentators, as football is football. "It's a bit like watching an Indian movie," says one spectators from Ghana, who is watching with her Ethiopian boyfriend. Fufu and beef curry are flushed down with cheap beer. All the cheering helped, because Ghana beat the USA by 2 - 1..

Body-bags

27 June 2010 - I missed this story, but luckily HK Magazine picked it up. Sadly, there is an increase of suicides among youngsters in Hong Kong. Students have repeatedly jumped off the roofs in schools and apartment blocks, and one would think the Government is concerned about the cause for such desperate behavior. Not the Hong Kong Government. The Education Bureau decided to take action in a different way. Not by offering support or by reducing academic pressure on the students, but by distributing body-bags to every Government school in the city. The argument goes that children will be traumatized by the scene, and that it is better to immediately cover the body up. No further talk about emotional support or counselling, but a quick and very dirty solution. Parents better think twice before sending their children to these schools.

Quote of the Day (21)

27 June 2010 - In an interview with a local teen he talked about his love for exotic pets: "I would prefer to have a dog or a cat, but I live in a public housing estate and it's really hard to keep those kinds of animals as the neighbors make a big fuss. So I went for something different. Now I have lizards, turtles, rats, spiders, scorpions - you name it! I have five huge snakes too, which I keep in a big tank in the living room. I don't name my animals because they dont respond to me anyway. It's like they live in a completely different universe. The good things about these animals is that I don't need to spend a lot of time looking after them. I just need around one hour after I get home every night. I usually get their food once a week in Mong Kok's fish market, which cost me around HKD 300 - 400 a month. By now I can identify different species and what they eat - I just bought some white mice to feed my snakes. And cockroaches? I have tons of them because they are considered a good dinner for most of my pets."