Fcc June July08

THECORRESPONDENTJUNE-JULY 2008

THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE FOREIGN CORRESPONDENTS’ CLUB, HONG KONG

RRESPOA New

PresidentERNST HERBTAKES OVER

THE REINS

1THE CORRESPONDENT JUNE-JULY 2008

FCC Elections 3A new Board, a new Club year

Media 6Kate Webb Award winner announced

Features Sailing: rescue at sea 8

Features The hidden charms of Tsuen Wan 12

Seawise after the event 16

Opinion 20Tibet: the article Hong Kong Lawyer spiked

Travel 28Hoi An, the jewel of Vietnam

Photography 32Then and Now

Books 34Hong Kong Media Law

Obituaries 36David Roads

Alan Thomas

Out of Context 40Annemarie Evans

THECORRESPONDENT

Letter 2Professional Contacts 39

contentsBOB DAVIS

The Seawise saga: lost photos found

Cover photo by Bob Davis

BooksLetters

From Ken Bryan in EnglandI was sorry to read that Jim Biddulph had passed away. I have a particularly fond memory of Jim which occurred when I was treasurer to his presidency of the FCC in 1986.

At that time the finances of the Club were not in good shape. When I looked at the figures, however, it seemed to me that the primary prob-lem was a poor cash flow. A large num-ber of members were in the habit of paying their bills in arrears; in some cases several months in arrears!

I suggested to Jim and the Board that we strictly invoke the Club rules which did, indeed, require members to pay up by a certain date after the receipt of their bills. So, no more free credits and no more chasing up tele-

phone calls and reminders from the manager. If you didn’t pay on time your name would be posted on the Club’s notice board. The Board agreed and we wrote to all members advising them of the change.

More than 100 members didn’t take heed of the warning and were duly posted. One member, quite well known, rang Jim in a fury:

“I have never been so insulted in all my life,” he fumed.

“Oh,” said Jim calmly, “I’m sure you must have been”.

In my career, this is the most sup-portive reaction I have ever experi-enced. So much so that I have used it often, with due accreditation, in talks on management and leadership.

Thank you Jim.

THE FOREIGN CORRESPONDENTS’ CLUB,

HONG KONG2 Lower Albert Road, Central, Hong KongTel: (852) 2521 1511 Fax: (852) 2868 4092

E-mail: <[email protected]>Website: <www.fcchk.org>

President: Ernst Herb First Vice President: Tom MitchellSecond Vice President: Kevin Egan

Correspondent Member GovernorsKeith Bradsher, Bonnie Engel, Anna

Healy Fenton, Jim Laurie, Kees Metselaar, Christopher Slaughter, Stephen Vines,

Douglas Wong

Journalist Member GovernorsFrancis Moriarty, Jake van der Kamp

Associate Member GovernorsAndy Chworowsky, David O’Rear,

David Garcia, Steve Ushiyama

Club SecretaryDavid O’Rear

Finance CommitteeConvener: Jake Van Der Kamp

(Treasurer)

Membership CommitteeConvener: Steve Ushiyama

Professional CommitteeConveners: Tom Mitchell, Keith Bradsher

House/Food & Beverage CommitteeConvener: Stephen VinesWine Sub-Committee:

Chairmain: Bonnie Engel

Charity Fund CommitteeCo-Chairmen: Andy Chworowsky,

Thomas Crampton

Freedom of the Press CommitteeConvener: Francis Moriarty

Constitution CommitteeConvener: Kevin Egan

Wall CommitteeConvener: Chris Slaughter

General ManagerGilbert Cheng

The Correspondent© The Foreign Correspondents’ Club,

Hong Kong

The Correspondent is published six times a year. Opinions expressed in the magazine

are not necessarily those of the Club.

Publications CommitteeConveners: Kees Metselaar, Anna Fenton

Editor: Diane Stormont

Editorial and ProductionHongkongnow.com Ltd

Tel: 2521 2814 E-mail: [email protected]

Printer: Printing Station (2008)

THE CORRESPONDENT JUNE/JULY 20082

From Mark Erder of APVFor the last couple of years while our managing director Chris Slaughter was President of the FCC, some of us from APV – especially Chris – frequented the Club around five days or nights a week. While it was a home away from home on most nights it was pretty uneventful; but every now and then something happened that reminded us of why we’d joined. The other night was one of them.

Friday evening started out as a typ-ical night in Hong Kong. After a long afternoon of internal meetings ending in an office party, a group of us from APV retired to the FCC for a late din-ner. What was anticipated as a quiet couple of hours of drink, dinner and chat turned into one of those “only in Hong Kong” experiences.

More accurately, it was an “only at the FCC” experience.

Shortly after finding table, I told my guests: “My God, there is a guy at the bar that I haven’t seen in 25 years”. A few moments later, “And there is somebody, I haven’t seen in 20 years”. And so it continued, until I was up to five (or was it six?) old friends, acquaintances and colleagues whom I hadn’t seen or talked to – or, in one case, hadn’t thought about – in five to 25 years. For the most part, I was thrilled to see them or sad there wasn’t more time to catch up. (For the guy at the bar I had a different reaction.)

They’ve all moved on in their lives, careers and living situations. Some from

journeymen hacks to famous editors, others from well-known editors or writ-ers to skilled craftsmen or small busi-nessmen/women and one from shop girl to Hollywood producer. Whatever they’ve become or wherever they’ve gone, they come back to the FCC ... how-ever briefly and for whatever purpose

Today, the Club might not have the storied buzz it had during the Vietnam War years or the excitement of the prolonged lead up to the handover. But, at the end of the day, it is still “The FCC” and it is one of a kind. It is legendary for good reason.

And the reaction to the guy at the bar? Around 25 years ago, he was a client of my (now) wife’s small ad agency. He was trying to call her but couldn’t get through. But he had to reach her “urgently”. So he used one of those “only in Hong Kong” tech-niques: he told her secretary this was an emergency call on behalf of her elderly mother in the UK. Of course, she immediately picked up the phone. He laughed; she didn’t. For any of you who have lived overseas for awhile – away from your parents – you can fill in the blanks and understand the exact outcome of the call.

But things like that no longer hap-pen, do they? Twenty-five years ago, running into a guy like that at the bar, there would have been a fist fight, bar stools would have tipped over and Bloody Marys would have hit the wall. But not today. Times have changed (I think).

THE CORRESPONDENT JUNE/JULY 2008 3

Let me start by thanking you for your confidence in making me President of the best Foreign Cor-respondents’ Club in the

world. I’m not sure what it says about your judgement but now that the deed is done, I will do my best to avoid screwing up. If I do, there are good people to point this out to everyone and, once we’ve finished laughing at my expense, to help fix whatever needs fixing.

Tom Mitchell and Kevin Egan, respectively first and second VPs, are well known to many of us through their years in Hong Kong. Among the other Governors are Keith Bradsher, Bonnie Engel, Anna Healy Fenton, Jim Laurie, Kees Metselaar, Christo-pher Slaughter, Stephen Vines and Douglas Wong. Journalists have Fran-cis Moriarty and Jake van der Kamp to look after them. Our Associate Governors are Andrew Chworowsky, Thomas Crampton, David O’Rear and Steve Ushiyama.

All of us owe a special thanks to our 113 staff. I can tell you from my experience in FCCs elsewhere that they make a tremendous difference. It is they who make our Club a “home away from home”.

Gilbert Cheng, the General Man-ager, has been with the FCC for over 30 years. He definitely does not look old enough but he was already with us when we were located in Suther-land House, famous for John Le Carré’s literary references.

Many staff probably know you by name, and may know your member-ship number and favourite beverage as well. They are professionals and their work continues regardless of who sits on the Board from year to

> FROM THE PRESIDENT

Election

The Board of Governors 2008-2009

PRESIDENTErnst Herb

FIRST VICE PRESIDENTTom Mitchell

SECOND VICE PRESIDENTKevin Egan

CORRESPONDENT GOVERNORSKeith Bradsher, Bonnie Engel, Anna Healy Fenton, Jim Laurie,Kees Metselaar, Christopher Slaughter, Stephen Vines, Douglas Wong

JOURNALIST GOVERNORSFrancis Moriarity, Jake van der Kamp

ASSOCIATE GOVERNORSAndrew Chworowsky, Thomas Crampton, David O’Rear,Masaharu (Steve) Ushiyama

FCC Committees 2008-2009(As resolved by the Board of Governors 2008-2009 on May 22, 2008)

Club SecretaryDavid O’RearFinanceConvener – Jake van der Kamp (Treasurer)MembershipConvener – Steve UshiyamaProfessionalConvener – Tom MitchellKeith BradsherPublicationsConvener – Kees MetselaarAnna Healy FentonHouse/Food and BeverageConvener – Stephen VinesWine Sub-committeeChairman – Bonnie EngelFCC Charity FundCo-Chairman – Andrew Chworowsky & Thomas CramptonPress FreedomConvener – Francis MoriartyConstitutionConvener – Kevin EganWallConvener – Christopher Slaughter

All of us owe a special thanks to our 113 staff. I can tell you from my experience in FCCs elsewhere that they make a tremendous difference. It is they who make our Club a “home away from home”.


year. They know guys like me come and go, and what remains, as the soul of the Club is due, in no small part, to their efforts. And, above and beyond the call of duty, they have raised tens of thousands of dollars for earthquake relief. This special effort comes on top of the long hours they put in, on a voluntary basis, to make the annual Charity Ball (September 13 this year) a success.

***

Journalists usually write about other people, but hardly ever about themselves. But sometimes we our-selves become the subject of media interest, as has happened with specu-lation over our lease.

You may have heard the latest in the series of leases we’ve held on the Ice House for 25 years is due to expire in January next year. As always, we raised the issue of renewal with our landlord, the Government Property Agency, and they assure us that they will take our request under consider-ation. As most of our members will know, this is the normal procedure when coming to the end of a fixed-term lease.

Because of the (largely unfounded) speculation that has emerged in the media recently, we’re caught in a bit of a dilemma. As tenants we want to keep all our options open and not tip our hand during negotiations. But as journalists we staunchly believe any story deserves consideration, regard-

Election

The CountVOTES RECEIVED FROM:

Correspondent members – 97 ballots

5 ballots were ruled void 2 had no inner envelopes

1 was made by a spouse member

1 used the wrong voting envelope

1 had resigned

Journalist members – 24 ballots

2 ballots were ruled void as they were both from a single member

Associate members – 203 ballots

8 ballots were ruled void 1 had no inner envelope

4 were without the member’s name on the outer envelope

1 voter was a Corporate member and not entitled to vote

1 was a Life Absent member and not entitled to vote

1 vote failed to enclose the ballot in the outer envelope.


less of who (or what) it is about. After reports about our negotiations appeared in the press, the rumour mill from whence they arose began to churn in earnest, particularly around our principal political platform, the Main Bar. (By the way, non-journalists can be assured that when correspon-dents find themselves the subject of media reports they react in just the same way as the wider public, ie with a distinct lack of finesse).

That said, everyone should be assured that the Board has, is and will be taking all the necessary steps to do what is best for the Club. The discus-sion has shown how strongly our iden-tity is intertwined with this location, as well as the broader community’s inter-est in the best Club anywhere. And, as you will know from periodic disrup-tions to our facilities, we have invested heavily in maintenance and preserva-tion of this beautiful building.

Personally, I think the old ice stor-age house is put to much better use today, as the best bar in Asia, than when it was a storage bin back in the days before we moved in. The $17 mil-lion or so we’ve spent on our lady in recent years is money well invested, not only for our own enjoyment, but also to preserve an important part of Hong Kong’s heritage. I’m betting we get to keep looking after this place for a few more years to come.

Ernst [email protected]

Election Results for FCC Board of Governors 2008-2009

Votes

President Matthew C. Driskill 35

Ernst Herb 56*

First Vice President Tom Mitchell 75*

Second Vice President Kevin Barry H. Egan 232*

Correspondent Governors Paul G. Bayfield 45

Keith Bradsher 61*

Bonnie E. Engel 50*

Anna Healy Fenton 49*

Jim Laurie 46*

Robin Piers Lynam 37

Kees Metselaar 50*

Colum Murphy 44

Christopher Slaughter 52*

Stephen Vines 65*

Keith Wallis 27

Douglas Wong 50*

Journalist Governors Barclay Crawford 47

Francis Moriarty 82*

Jake Van Der Kamp 73*

Associate Governors John Batten 111

Andrew Paul Chworowsky 140*

Thomas Crampton 132*

Geoffrey William Fawcett 68

David P. Garcia 117

Anthony Nedderman 37

David O’Rear 125*

Simon Twiston Davies 122

Masaharu (Steve) Ushiyama 139*

Election Committee Philip Bowring, V.G. Kulkarni, Diane Stormont

Witness Wendy Kwok, Horwath Hong Kong CPA , Club Auditor

Counters Gilbert Cheng, Rosalia Ho, Chan Hoi-lo

* Denotes winner

THE CORRESPONDENT JUNE-JULY 20086

Media

‘...truly in Kate Webb’s spirit’

T he inaugural Kate Webb Award, established by AFP following Kate’s death in

November last year, was present-ed to Pakistani reporter Mushtaq Yusufzai, based in Peshawar for the English-language daily The News and for NBC News.

As Eric Wishart, AFP’s Asia-Pacific Director, explained at the award ceremony, the Founda-tion and Kate’s family felt it was appropriate that the �5,000 euro annual prize should go to

The Agence France-Presse Foundation has launched a prize honouring the memory of an exceptional reporter and human being, Kate Webb. And the first award was presented at the FCC on 18 June in the presence of another legendary foreign correspondent (and fellow New Zealander), Peter Arnett, reports Jonathan Sharp.

Left to Right: Eric WIshart, Mushtaq Yusufzai, Peter Arnett

THE CORRESPONDENT JUNE-JULY 2008 7

local reporters in Asia who perform exceptional work in dangerous and difficult conditions. Kate, a pioneer for women’s war journalism, spent much of her career in such conditions. She was also renowned for working closely with, and championing the cause of, local reporters.

And as Eric said, Mushtaq cer-tainly fits the bill. The 32-year-old father of two specialises in covering one of the most hazardous environ-ments the world can offer, the wild tribal lands on Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan, where the Taliban and Al-Qaeda operate. As AFP reported in May when the award was announced, Mushtaq has been wounded by the Taliban, arrested by Pakistani forces and his mother has begged him to quit – but still he keeps reporting from the front line.

War reporting has changed in recent years, Eric told the award cer-emony, with increasing reliance on local reporters. The Pakistani bad-lands are a case in point. It’s not a place where foreign journalists go any more. “If it wasn’t for people like Mushtaq we wouldn’t know what was happening. It’s tough, but he does it, and it’s very important. His work is truly in Kate Webb’s spirit.” Six Pakistani journalists have been killed in the past four years in the region where Mushtaq operates.

Kate’s family members Rachel and Jeremy, who have worked closely with the AFP Foundation in establishing the award, sent a moving message, which was read out by AFP’s Chief Editor for Asia, Phil Chetwynd. They said they were thrilled and delighted with the award to Mushtaq. “His initiative and skill in reporting events in Afghani-stan and Pakistan are qualities which would be dear to Kate’s heart.”

Pulitzer-prize winner Peter Arnett, no stranger to danger himself, under-scored the vital role played by local reporters. “(The Afghanistan-Pakistan border region) has become one of the most dangerous in the world to cover, and it’s through the efforts of Mush-taq and other local journalists that

the world is given a glimpse into the extent of the problems there.”

Mushtaq began in journalism as a health reporter. But he says he was always interested in reporting on Pakistan’s tribal areas because they were the most challenging.

In 2002 he was near Afghanistan’s Tora Bora cave complex when it was bombed by US forces who suspected it was the lair of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

In 2005, he was in a convoy of pro-government tribal forces ambushed by the Taliban. His jeep was badly dam-

aged and he suffered minor injuries. The firing was intense and Mush-taq subsequently said he thought his time had come. But this imperturbable, softly spoken professional continued filming the clash and eventually the Taliban fighters were forced to retreat.

With his prize money Mushtaq will continue to investigate the complex story he has risked life and limb for, but in less dangerous circumstances. He wants to travel to the US and Brit-ain to investigate reports that groups in the West are sending converts to Islam into the tribal areas.


All At SeaAfter finishing fourth in class in the 2007 San Fernando Race, the crew of Cloud had high hopes of a place in this year’s Rolex China Sea Race. It was not to be, reports FCC Board member and galley slave Andy Chworowsky.

Feature

Top: Cloud (left) and Strewth (right) at the start of the race. PHOTOS BY CARLO BORLENGHI/ROLEX.


We got off to a beauti-ful start at noon on Thursday, March 20.

The fleet of 24 boats made quite a sight beating up the harbour. We had a good duel with our sister boat, WalaWala, got way ahead of her through the Lei Yue Mun gap, and were well ahead (we think) in our division as we bore away to the southeast.

The winds settled in at about 25 knots and we put two reefs into the main and hoisted the number three headsail.

We started our four-hour watch rota at 8 pm on the first night. Olivier Dechamps, (former FCC President) Paul Bayfield, Bruce (former FCC President) Paul Bayfield, Bruce

Left: L-R: Olivier, Chris and Andy.Right: Shadowing Strewth.


Perkins and Win Kaaka took the first watch. Tristan Stew-art, (former FCC President ) Chris Slaughter, Lucinda Ho and yours truly relieved them at midnight. And so on.

We experienced very rough seas for most of the night. No one lost his din-ner though I must say it was about the closest I have ever come. By early morning, the waters had calmed as we were well past the continental shelf and the South China Sea oil rigs. A pleasant blue-water regular swell and sunshine made us all look forward to a wonderful day at sea.

People were starting to move eas-ily about the boat, putting right equip-ment and gear that had been thrown around during the night. Win hero-ically tackled the head, which was sur-rounded by about six inches of slosh-ing awfulness. We waited patiently for him to finish before venturing in for morning necessities.

Just before 8 am, Olivier, the skip-per, noticed another yacht motoring in the opposite direction, about a mile and a half away from us, with no sails up. We hadn’t heard any-thing on the radio, and were trying to figure out who she was when Chris spotted a parachute flare shot from her stern.

As I (heroically) switched off the kettle, Cloud turned and we struggled into our harnesses and life jackets. As we approached, we made radio contact and found out she was Strewth, a TP52, and that she had lost her keel about four or five hours earlier. TP52s are hi-tech racing machines designed to compete in the Trans-Pacific race from San Diego to Hawaii. They are really fast boats, skittish and light. The amazing thing was that Strewth had not capsized. Someone told me later that 95% of boats of this sort capsize immediately when they lose their keel and when this

happens there is a 99% chance of the crew suffering serious injury or loss of life. So this was no small deal.

When we got close, we indeed saw she was rolling in the waves pretty dramatically. She had 13 crew (the unlucky number did not go un-noted) and they were all on deck looking a bit dishevelled but very happy to see us.

It must have been a very tense night for them. We learned later that when the keel went, they were fairly off the wind and the boat rounded up on her (very wide) stern instead of rolling over. They immediately dropped all the sails, released the boom from the mast and got as much weight as they could down below and in the middle

of the boat to help stabilise it. But the entire crew returned to the deck; they didn’t want to risk being trapped inside if the boat turned turtle.

Strewth made contact with the Yacht Club in Hong Kong and the Marine Rescue Com-mand Centre there, too. After looking at all the options (we were about 140 miles from Hong Kong at this point – which was the closest land-fall) Strewth’s crew decided to continue motoring towards Hong Kong and we were

asked to accompany them, standing by in case of an emergency.

This meant us giving up the race, but, of course, there is no other choice than to render assistance – they cer-tainly would have done the same for us were the situation reversed.

Chris, Lucinda and I had sailed on Strewth a few times, and are good friends with her skipper, Ben Johnson. We did remark a little wryly that we were glad it was someone we liked!

So, we fell in behind Strewth and sailed north. The day turned out to be gorgeous. Very calm seas, with eight to 10 knots of breeze. We put up our mainsail, which was enough to keep us at about four to five knots – Strewth’s motoring speed.

We fell into a fairly relaxed day. We put a fishing line in the water – some-thing we would never do during a

race because of the drag – but man-aged to catch nothing. We tried to practise splicing lines and showing off techniques for tying bowlines one-handed and such.

In the afternoon, Strewth’s crew said they were worried about their fuel situation. It looked like they might not have enough to make the entire trip back. It was decided we had better transfer some fuel to them while the seas were calm, the winds were light and the sun was shining.

We didn’t have any jerry cans, so they emptied two of their spare water cans, tied them to a

As I (heroically) switched off the

had not capsized. Someone told me later that 95% of boats of this sort capsize immediately when they lose their keel and when this

could down below and in the middle thing we would never do during a race because of the drag – but man-aged to catch nothing. We tried to practise splicing lines and showing off techniques for tying bowlines one-handed and such.

said they were worried about their fuel situation. It looked like they might not have enough to make the entire trip back. It was decided we had better transfer some fuel to them while the seas were calm, the winds were light and the sun was shining.

so they emptied two of their spare water cans, tied them to a

waters had calmed as we were well past the continental shelf and the South China Sea oil rigs. A pleasant blue-water regular swell and sunshine made us

of the boat to help stabilise it. But the entire crew returned to the deck; they didn’t want to risk being trapped inside if the boat turned turtle.

the Yacht Club in Hong Kong and the Marine Rescue Com-mand Centre there, too. After looking at all the options (we were about 140 miles from Hong Kong at this point – which was the closest land-fall) continue motoring towards Hong Kong and we were

asked to accompany them, standing

Feature

Chris inadvertently deployed his life-jacket for which we mocked him not.


line and trailed them back to us. Siphoning diesel out of our tank into the cans was the subject of much debate and failed experi-mentation.

Siphoning was impossible, because the tanks were located at the lowest point on the boat and the target of a siphon has to be lower than the source. We then tried sticking one hose down into the tank, and anoth-er right next to it, sealing the opening and blowing air into the tank in the hopes of forcing the fuel out. Nope. No one has that sort of lung power.

Finally we accessed the fuel sump below the engine and using one of those cheap plastic hand siphons, pumped them out 40 litres, one hand-ful at a time. Then we tied the cans to their line and sent them back. That was pretty much the excitement of the day.

As dusk approached, things got back to a more serious tone. The fore-cast for the evening did not bode well. We could expect the winds to kick back up to 20-25 knots, and, as we approached shallower water, a much bigger chop.

We readied the boat for a possible emergency during the night. We tied throwing lines attached to floating fenders around the rail of our boat. Flashlights were positioned at vari-ous stations, and the gates on the rail were un-taped in case we had to pull anyone aboard. We talked through what we would all do in the event they went over and we found our-selves in a rescue situation.

Strewth’s crew in the meantime prepared all their safety gear and life rafts at the stern. They were ready to hoist a fender up the mast, which was hoped would prevent the boat turning right over, at least for a little while. We agreed with them that should they capsize that all hands would first try to get into the rafts and then we would take them on board from the rafts. Also that we would approach their boat from the hull side, perpendicular to them.

We then settled in for the night. We stayed as close to her stern as we could without risking collision. The seas did indeed kick up and count-less times we watched her mast light swing wildly in huge arcs above the horizon and thought, uh-oh, this is it.

But she remained upright. We learned later that through the rougher parts the crew shifted from side to side to help stabilise her. But again we were blessed. The seas never got too bad, and though we went through a few rain patches where we had to keep very close to maintain visual contact, we made it through the night without incident. By dawn, we were pretty confident we would make it all the way home without drama.

It was calm enough for me to put on a full cholesterol-bomb breakfast of home fries, bacon and scrambled eggs. Tristan, in a bit of devilishness, moved us upwind of Strewth so they

could smell the bacon frying. They certainly were not going to have anyone below cooking for them.

Around 10 am we approached Hong Kong waters and just south of the Lemur Islands, we met the Yacht Club launch, Kellett VI. She deployed a rigid inflatable boat (RIB) to transfer about eight 30-litre jerry cans of water to Strewth to serve as ballast. Six of the crew transhipped to the launch and we proceeded towards the harbour mouth. Strewth wasn’t

totally out of danger yet as swells can be rough outside the Lei Yue Mun gap and the wake in the harbour can often be troublesome.

We did relax enough to mix up a jug of rum and coke and toast our-selves for making it back without trouble. As we entered the harbour, the RIB was deployed again to run ahead and challenge boats breaking the speed limit. We were impressed when it stared down an 80-foot Immi-gration Department launch and were looking forward to it challenging a cruise liner following close behind. But the ship was keeping to the speed limit.

We made it back to the Yacht Club at about 2 pm to a table of beer, rum and coke, and hot soup – all consumed in about equal proportions.

The boatyard quickly removed Strewth’s mast and lifted her out of the water. We had a look at where

the keel had been. It was a clean break. The bolts had sheered. Then it was off for hot show-ers and up to the bar where everyone took the opportunity to recount their stories, over and over, and louder and louder .... well into the night.

anyone aboard. We talked through

on board from the rafts. Also that we would approach their boat from the

moved us upwind of so they the keel had been. It was a clean break. The bolts had sheered. Then it was off for hot show-ers and up to the bar where everyone took the opportunity to recount their stories, over and over, and louder and louder .... well into the night.

line and trailed them back to us.

into the cans was the subject of

the tank in the hopes of forcing the We then settled in for the night.

could smell the bacon frying. They certainly were not going to have anyone below cooking for them.

Hong Kong waters and just south of the Lemur Islands, we met the Yacht Club launch, Kellett VI. She deployed a rigid inflatable boat (RIB) to transfer about eight 30-litre jerry cans of water to to serve as ballast. Six of the crew transhipped to the launch and we proceeded towards the harbour mouth.

Bottom Left: The galley slave emerges. Top: Bowline or granny knot? Bottom: Misguided attempt to blow enough air into tank to force fuel out.

PHOTOS BY LUCINDA HO.


Photography


T he first thing I notice when I arrive in Tsuen Wan (Fragrant Herb Bay) one morning is the

number of spitting men. Or men spit-ting.

Spitting in the street right in front of other people’s feet is something you see less of in today’s Hong Kong, but here they are, middle-aged to early geriatric men gobbing up with panache and flair, wiping the spittle nonchalantly with the sole of their shoe as they walk on, probably to eliminate germs.

I get all warm and fuzzy inside as this reminds me more than anything of my closest holiday destination, that dear country to the north. I’m pre-pared to love Tsuen Wan if only for the spitting.

But will Tsuen Wan love me? An early indicator says no. I’m trying to photograph some sugar canes at close range because I think it will look rather artistic, bottle green and stuck in a white bucket as they are.

“What the hell do you think you are doing?” It’s the owner of the sugar cane shop and he is vexed.

“Er ... taking a photo of these sugar canes.”

“Without permission? You can’t just come here and take photos with-out permission. Those are my sugar canes. You want to take photos, you ask ME.”

Moving swiftly on I find a little back alley where men are having their faces and heads shaved for $10. It is with not a little envy I remember that

my last haircut and tinting cost about 200 times that. The difference in price probably reflects the difference in rent between a salon in Prince’s Building and downtown Tsuen Wan, but still.

These guys have been at it for 30 years but they will soon have to find another shaving venue as the whole neighbourhood is coming down to make way for yet another unimagina-tive 40-storey mall with shiny tiles and mirrors. They might also retire. But given the prices they charge, what the hell on?

They don’t mind being photo-graphed and neither does the man sitting incongruously among plas-tic toys and a photocopier, playing haunting melodies on his erhu. But it has to be said that in Tsuen Wan I

Our intrepid traveller gets off the beaten track to explore downtown Tsuen Wan. Words and photographs by Cecily Gamst Berg.

T H E W E L L - H I D D E N C H A R M S O F

TSUEN WAN


encounter more opposition to being photographed than anywhere else.

Tsuen Wan sports possibly the most beautiful museum in Hong Kong: the Saam Tong Uk Walled Hakka Village.

Climbing over the high thresh-old of its perfectly re-created gate, my first thought is why haven’t the powers that be (property developers) kept more of this instead of casting it all away on the altar of soul-kill-ing malls and 60-floor luxury apart-ments? Because then they wouldn’t be property developers but property protectors and Hong Kong would be the most beautiful city in Asia instead of a mere “world city”.

Here is Chinese architecture at its best. Whitewashed walls and black tiles, room after room of high ceil-ings, mezzanine sleeping quarters complete with artefacts such as ant-proof food containers, wooden clogs, wedding paraphernalia and furniture sourced from all over China. But not much was found here − the Hakkas of Tsuen Wan, formerly known as Tsin Wan (Shallow Bay), threw away absolutely everything old as various industries moved into the area, tradi-tional houses were razed and people moved into government flats.

And were those people short! The doors of most of the rooms in the walled village, apart from the village communal halls, came up only to my lower forehead. The kitchen work surfaces hovered somewhere around my kneecaps.

In the well-laid out museum, com-plete with traditional Hakka sing-ing piped through speakers and vid-eoed interviews with old-timers, one poster caught my attention: that of “Tsuen Wan then and now.”

“... at the time there was no such thing as comprehensive city planning ...”

They mean there is one now?If there is, Tsuen Wan surely can’t

be a shining example. There are more motorways running through the place than in the whole of Germany put together, and with the Hong Kong government’s scrupulous attention to

Travel


that old chestnut “your own safety”, there are more kilometres of pavement railings than there are grains of sand in the Gobi Desert. All right, not a good example as the Gobi is largely made up of rocks, but you know what I mean.

An intricate system of overhead walkways sort of ties the various pockets of ground-level human activ-ity together, but you have to spend a fair amount of time trawling through shopping centres, MTR-owned, natu-rally, and “hygienic indoor wet mar-kets” to make it onto one of them.

If you, like I do, prefer to stay on the ground, you might have to walk up to 500 metres in some places to even be able to cross the road, if you don’t want to fly in the face of all convention and personal safety and climb over the bastards (railings).

No, Tsuen Wan is a perfect example of how our civic-minded and town-planning government wants our city future to be: a place created primarily for cars and with pedestrian needs thrown in as an afterthought: hun-dreds of steps up and down stairs just to get across the road.

A place for old and/or decrepit people this ain’t as they surely don’t have the energy to traverse all those steps. And yet, amid all this industri-al-strength concrete and metal, there exists a stubborn humanity which seems to prefer milling around on the ground, mostly in the two streets in the entire town where you can still find buildings of normal height and privately owned open-front shops.

Trees in full spring bloom give these streets a village-like feel and, like so many times before, I wish I could be transported to the past just for a day − or even an hour − to get a glimpse of what Hong Kong was like when it was beautiful.

For even in the late 1970s Tsuen Wan was little more than a village with one-storey houses crammed together surrounded by fields, as documented in the helpful films and brochures in the museum.

But large-scale textile manufactur-ing which began after World War II,

sparked the inevitable. By 1962, there were 108 textile mills in Tsuen Wan. By the mid-1970s, there were nearly one thousand. This could lead only to one thing: a massive influx of people, first living in shanty towns and then, increasingly, in public housing.

Another huge industry in Tsuen Wan was enamelware. I love enamel

utensils, especially bowls and trays, but can stand a spittoon if well made. What happened to the I-Feng enamel factory with its 100,000 square feet of floor area? Gone to the great plastic bucket in the sky I suppose. I mean – enamel bowl versus plastic bowl? No contest!

Contemplating the sad fact of life that everything grows old and ugly, except in Hong Kong where everything grows new and super ugly, I stumble upon a park full of old geezers playing dominoes and cards. It’s a lovely park laid out in a typical Chinese pattern with little curved bridges, waterfalls and rock arrangements. It just needs to be 16 times bigger to be a real park, but hey.

On a bridge I meet a retired guy who speaks through a hole in his throat. Having his larynx

ripped out in the early 1980s had been the making of him apparently – he had toured both Japan and Korea talking in his throaty animal monotone about the dangers of smoking. For a man without a voicebox he certainly can hold his own, not drawing breath for about 20 minutes as he clutches my arm with one hand and holds his speaking tube, which he had designed himself, on his Adam’s apple with the other.

So that proves once and for all my theory about the tones in Cantonese not being as important as people say – in fact not important at all. This guy has ONE tone and it’s not even very good ... but I understand everything he says.

Talking of one tone: in one of those little pavement stalls where every-thing costs less than $30, I finally find the object of my dreams: a little machine the size of a packet of fags which screams in a voice that’s a cross between Minnie Mouse, a 200 kg fishwife and an air raid siren: “Hello! Welllll-coooome”!

It’s set off by people, or rather, any kind of movement, near it. It’s the burglar alarm I’ve always wanted. Yes, I love this Tsuen Wan despite its crap town planning and visual offensive-ness.


A F T E R T H E E V E N TSEAWISE

Feature


For photographer Bob Davis, Seaw-ise University had promised to be a nice little earner. The ship, so

re-named as a play on the initials of its new owner, tycoon C.Y.Tung, had been anchored in Hong Kong’s outer harbour for six months. It was being converted into a university for the World Campus Afloat programme, a suitably dignified final career for the former empress of the Atlantic crossing.

Seawise University had received a regal recep-tion when she steamed into Hong Kong, includ-ing a salute from the spray of a local fireboat.

SCMP

There was no shortage of news on January 9, 1972. In the UK, coal miners were launching

their first national strike in decades, Howard Hughes said a purported biography of him

by Clifford Irving was a fake, and newspapers were feverishly anticipating Richard Nixon’s

forthcoming visit to China. But then a story from Hong Kong popped into the headlines: fire

had broken out on board the Seawise University, formerly the iconic liner Queen Elizabeth.

Jonathan Sharp, who covered the saga for Reuters, talked to FCC members who have

vivid memories of the blaze – the inferno that launched a thousand conspiracy theories.

Unless indicated, photos by Bob Davis.

SEAWISELeft: Seawise anchored off Tsing Yi. Top: Seawise Ablaze. Bottom: First Class cabin.


That same craft, the Alex-ander Grantham, would be used for a more serious, and futile, purpose six months later.

As the refit neared com-pletion, Bob was commis-sioned by the Tung family to document the liner’s new incarnation.

Recalling his conversation with the Tung family repre-sentative about the proposed deal, Bob said recently: “I said OK, I’ll have to go out and do a recce and then I will give a quote, because I will have to find out how much time I’ll need.”

At this stage, nothing about his commission had been signed or sealed.

“So I duly went out there on one of their boats with a whole bunch of labourers. I immediately realised this was going to be an enormous job. I looked around various places on the ship and thought, maybe I should go back to them and ask how many days

have you got and what do you want me to shoot. I could see it running into weeks.”

Bob spent about three or four hours on board, shooting what turned out to be probably the last photographs taken of the ship’s inte-rior before the disaster struck. One image that has stuck in his memory was of an alcove where the wall was covered in messages of the “I love Susie” type, scribbled by some of the tens of thousand of GIs transported to Europe by the liner-turned-troop-

ship during World War Two. Completed as the war began, the Queen Elizabeth was sur-rounded with such secrecy that, on her maiden voyage to New York, not even her captain was told what course to set until the ship had left harbour.

The day after his explor-atory visit, Bob called the Tung representative and said he aimed to start the shoot the following week. He was then told that the job would

have to be postponed as it would be “an inconvenient time to go next week”.

Inconvenient, indeed. January 9, 1972 found some 2,000 workmen plus their wives and children on board sightseeing. A cocktail party was planned by the owner for that after-noon just prior to the ship sailing to Japan for dry-docking preparatory to a March 28 maiden voyage as Seawise University. At approximately 10:30 am fire seemed to erupt everywhere at

Top: Once refitted, the ship was due to sail to Japan for dry-docking. Bottom: Shipyard workers departing.

Feature


once and spread with great speed.

The following day the stricken vessel rolled over on to its side and came to rest in the shallow water, most of its bulk still visible. Remark-ably, no one was killed. Sent by Reuters to have a look, I hired a walla walla – for HK$40 – and was able to get quite close to the mighty, buckled flanks of the wreck, still smoking.

Bob also had a good view of the fire. He was enjoying a bar-beque on a friend’s roof top in Central and he was able, as his lunch sizzled pleasantly, to watch his commission go literally up in smoke.

Another witness was the BBC’s Anthony Lawrence, who says he was talking to his office in London about doing a story about the Seawise Univer-sity − as a floating educational estab-lishment. Suddenly, the man in Lon-don, presumably reading news agency copy, exclaimed: “The bloody thing’s

on fire.” Anthony says he looked out of his Mid-Levels window and could confirm first hand that the vessel was ablaze.

Anthony says he felt slightly embarrassed that London had had to inform him about a major story that was unfolding in front of his own eyes. But he was able to recoup. Thanks to the time difference between Hong Kong and Britain, his report was broadcast in the BBC’s breakfast news bulletins.

The ex-Queen Elizabeth’s final, ignominious bow was in 1974 when the wreck was featured in the James Bond movie The Man with the Gold-en Gun as a covert headquar-ters for MI6.

So who was responsible for destroying the former pride of the Cunard Line? A court of inquiry, stating the fairly obvious, concluded that several fires were set simultaneously using highly inflammable substances. It

was a “deliberate act by persons or persons unknown”. There were no arrests.

There was also mystery about Bob’s pre-blaze photographs, which he mislaid but then re-discovered about eight years ago in his agent’s office in London. They were found with many more images taken in Hong Kong that he had not seen since 1972. He intends to incorporate some of these pictures in a book on Hong Kong he is preparing.

Top: Almost complete - the Cafe Deck. Bottom: A walla walla journey to the ship cost $40.

Opinion

20 THE CORRESPONDENT JUNE-JULY 2008

Tibetan protesters shout anti-Chinese slogans during a protest in New Delhi.


BY PAUL HARRIS S.C.

The purpose of this article is to explore whether Tibet can be said to have a right to self-determination under international law.

2. The official position of the Chinese Government on this issue is that Tibet is an inalienable part of the People’s Republic of China (just as France once claimed that Algeria was an inalienable part of Met-ropolitan France). Those who question this are regu-larly attacked in the official Chinese media in vitri-olic terms as “splittists”[1], and anti-China. If they are themselves Chinese and live in China they are liable to be imprisoned. Wei Jingsheng and more recently Hua Jia are well-known Mainland Chinese dissidents imprisoned for calling for a new Chinese government attitude towards Tibet.

3. Questioners about Tibet from outside China are also habitually criticized by China for “interfering in China’s internal affairs”. However to the Tibetans and most people in the world outside China who are familiar

with Tibet’s situation, it is an international problem crying out for a solution.

4. Most countries recognize China’s sovereignty over Tibet. The one notable exception is the United Kingdom which traditionally recognizes “suzerainty” of China with autonomy for Tibet, a subtle evasion which hap-pens to be fairly close to the actual situation of Tibet in relation to China during the last years of the Ching dynasty (1644-1911). The United States has officially recognized China’s sovereignty over Tibet since 1966. Many states have glossed over or deliberately left unde-fined the question of whether their recognition is de jure or de facto i.e. recognizing China as having a legal title, or merely recognizing the fact that it is in reality ruling Tibet.

5. Notwithstanding these ambiguities, overwhelming state recognition for a given territorial status is itself usually powerful or even conclusive evidence of that status in international law. The question therefore aris-es as to why Tibet should be different. To answer this it is necessary to consider the meaning of sovereignty

ENTITLED TO SELF DETERMINATION?

IS

This article was originally commissioned by Hong Kong Lawyer, the journal of the Law Society, which then declined to publish it. It is reproduced here with the permission of the author.

TIBET

PHOTOGRAPHS BY AFP


Opinion

and of self-determination in international law and the facts of China’s involvement with Tibet.

What is sovereignty?

6. Under the traditional theory of state sovereignty which underpinned international law for three hundred years, it was for the rulers of states to determine by agreement between themselves which territories they would rule over. This system, formalized by the Treaty of Westpha-lia in 1648, did not give any role to subjects in choosing their ruler. If sovereignty was not determined by con-quest, it was decided by mutually agreed cession. No one consulted the inhabitants of the island of Minorca before it was ceded by Spain to Britain by the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, or before it was ceded to Britain a second time, after capture by the French, by the Treaty of Paris in 1763, or before it was ceded back to Spain by the Treaty of Amiens in 1802. Minorca’s experience was typical of many small European territories which hap-pened to be coveted by more than one European power. Similar cession with complete disregard for the views of the inhabitants was also the fate of overseas colo-nial territories. Bombay became British in 1662 because it was ceded to England by Portugal as the dowry of Charles II’s Portuguese bride, Catherine of Braganza.

7. Modern international law, although now applied at least to some extent by every country in the world, is largely a European invention[2]. This applies par-ticularly to the doctrine of state sovereignty, under which China claims sovereignty over Tibet. It has been cogently argued[3] that by appropriating this European concept to claim sovereignty over Tibet, China is dis-torting a traditional historic relationship between the Ching dynasty emperors and the Dalai Lama of Tibet, which was that of a patron and a religious leader, and not that of a sovereign and a subject. If this is right, all China’s claims to sovereignty based on the Ching-Dalai Lama relationship (and its more recent claims based on the earlier relationship between the Mongol (Yuan dynasty) emperors and Tibet) are misconceived. However I argue below that, misconceived or not, these claims are in any case irrelevant to whether Tibet now has a right to self-determination.

Self-determination

8. The Westphalia concept of state sovereignty came into conflict with nationalist aspirations for statehood in nineteenth century Europe. Polish nationalists did not like Poland being partitioned between the German and Russian Empires. Czechs did not like being part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Britain supported the cause of Greek independence against the Ottoman Empire,

and the European powers generally supported the cause of independence of the Serbs, Romanians and Bulgarians.

9. At the Paris Peace Conference after World War I US President Woodrow Wilson pushed for the peace settle-ment to be based on the principle that “every territorial settlement in this war must be made in the interest and for the benefit of the populations concerned, and not as a part of any mere adjustment or compromise of claims amongst rival states”. Despite this, the principle was only selectively applied, where it coincided with the interests of the major players at the conference. In other cases it was flagrantly ignored, most notably in the transfer of the former German Chinese treaty port of Tsingtao to Japan against the wishes of its inhabit-ants.

10. By the time the United Nations was set up after World War II, it was generally recognized that peoples had the right of self-determination. Article 1.2 of the United Nations Charter states that the purposes of the United Nations include the development of friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of self-determination of peoples. It can therefore be said that all states which have become members of the United Nations by ratifying the United Nations Char-ter – including China – have accepted the principle of respect for the self-determination of peoples.

11. The United Nations Charter was followed by the Uni-versal Declaration of Human Rights. The rights in the Universal Declaration were elaborated in two more detailed international covenants which, unlike the Declaration itself, are treaties intended to have legal force. Article 1 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) states that “All peoples have the right to self determination. By virtue of that right they may freely determine their political status”. The ICCPR has been ratified by 161[4] of 192 United Nations member countries. Five other countries, including China, have signed but not ratified. A nation which is a signatory of an international treaty, such as the ICCPR, is obliged under international law to “refrain from acts which would defeat the purpose and object of the trea-ty” (Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, Article 18, codifying earlier customary international law).

12. China is therefore bound, both by its adherence to the United Nations Charter and by its signature of the ICCPR to respect the principle of self-determination of peoples.

What does the right of peoples to self-determination actually

mean?


13. There was no consensus about what the right to self-determination meant when it was included in the ICCPR. Western countries were generally reluctant to include it, but felt obliged to do so in response to the aspirations of recently independent countries to end European colonialism in those places were it still existed. Communist and Soviet influenced countries generally interpreted self-determination as meaning the right to choose a socialist form of government.

14. Since the ICCPR came into effect in 1976 there has been widespread concern that if the right to self-determina-tion in Article 1 is applied literally this could lead to the break-up of many existing states. This applies particu-larly to Africa, whose national boundaries are mostly colonial era constructs, but also to numerous other states with ethnic minority populations who form a majority in particular regions.

15. The consensus which has emerged is that the right to self-determination for the purposes of ICCPR Article 1 applies only to the following: (1) entire populations liv-ing in independent states, (2) entire populations of ter-ritories yet to receive independence, and (3) territories under foreign military occupation[5].

16. This is a restrictive definition which excludes numerous groups who would in ordinary language be regarded as

“peoples”. It excludes African tribes whose populations may be concentrated in one part of a state, or parts of more than one state. It therefore gives no encourage-ment to the destructive tendency to fragmentation of African states which was seen in the Biafran War in Nigeria and which has recently been evident in Kenya. More controversially it excludes some peoples with a long history of struggle for independence, such as the Kurds (spread across parts of Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria).

17. The issue of self-determination was considered in the context of colonial territories in the United Nations General Assembly Declaration on the Granting of Inde-pendence to Colonial Countries and Peoples (General Assembly Resolution 1514 (XV)) of 14 December 1960. Article 1 of this Declaration states that “The subjection of peoples to alien subjugation, domination and exploi-tation constitutes a denial of fundamental human rights, is contrary to the Charter of the United Nations and is an impediment to the promotion of world peace and co-operation.” A further General Assembly resolu-tion, the Declaration on Principles of International Law, Friendly Relations and Co-operation among states in accordance with the charter of the United Nations, of 1970, again states that “alien subjugation, domination and exploitation are a violation of the principle” [of self-determination], as well as a denial of fundamental

Tibetan activists-in-exile demanding independence

stage a torch relay in the streets of Dharamsala, India.


Opinion

human rights, and is contrary to the [United Nations] Charter”.

18. These two United Nations General Assembly Resolu-tions have been extensively applied. The concept of alien domination has been treated by the UN as appli-cable to the Russian invasion of Afghanistan; the Viet-namese invasion of Cambodia; the occupation of Arab territories by Israel; of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania by the former Soviet Union; of Grenada by the United States; of East Timor by Indonesia; and of Kuwait by Iraq[6]. It is strongly arguable that the rule that alien subjugation, domination and exploitation breach a people’s right to self-determination now forms part of international customary law i.e. international law established not by treaties but by the customs of nations.

The history of China’s relations with Tibet

19. China’s present control over Tibet dates from 1950 when the People’s Liberation Army invaded Tibet and defeated the Tibetan Army at Chamdo. China claims that Tibet was already part of China when it invaded.

20. This claim is based on a claim to sovereignty over Tibet by the Ching Imperial dynasty dating from the eigh-teenth century. More recently China has claimed that its rule over Tibet can be traced to the rule of Tibet by the Mongols – known in China as the Yuan dynasty.

21. There are at least three major historical difficulties with China’s claim. Firstly, as indicated above, it is doubtful whether the relationship between the Ching and the Yuan on the one hand, and Tibet on the other,was real-ly one of sovereign and subject. The Kanghsi Emperor occupied Tibet in 1720. After his death in 1722 this occupation continued under his successor the Yong-zheng Emperor until 1728, and there were further Chi-nese invasions in 1750 and 1792. However after the end of the occupation in 1728, and after each of the later invasions, the Chinese armies withdrew and Tibet had virtually complete independence in practice [7].

22. Secondly, it was never suggested under either dynasty that the relationship made Tibet a part of metropolitan China. If it was a political relationship at all, it was one of dependency which translated into modern language was a colonial relationship. It is therefore a basis for concluding that Tibet is a colony and so entitled to self-determination.

23. Thirdly, and most importantly, there was no relation-ship – either similar to that between Tibet and the Ching dynasty, or similar to the modern concept of

sovereignty – between Tibet and the Chinese Republic which succeeded the Ching dynasty in 1911. In 1912 the Thirteenth Dalai Lama made a formal declaration of Tibetan independence. Although the Chinese Republic responded by laying claim to Tibet, it never exercised any control over it, save for certain far eastern regions, where there had always been an ill-defined borderland, which it invaded and occupied. Tibet was entirely inde-pendent of foreign control between 1911 and 1950.

24. Even if China’s historical claim was much stronger than it is, this would not provide a justification for invasion of an independent country. Most countries were at one time under alien rule. In 1911 Ireland was under Brit-ish rule as it had been for centuries, Finland was ruled by Russia, and Korea was ruled by Japan. The setting up of the United Nations was expressly intended to prevent the kind of aggressive wars, based on spurious or doubtful claims to historical rule or cultural identity, which had been the practice of both Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan.

25. China has frequently attempted to justify the invasion by the claim that Tibetan society was feudal and back-ward, and that China therefore brought liberation to the Tibetan peasantry from feudal domination.

26. Scholars agree that the pre-1950 Tibetan regime was feudal and backward[8]. One aspect of its backward-ness was its failure to appoint ambassadors to other countries or to apply to join the United Nations until invasion by China was imminent. However this failure was not due to lack of independence but due to the absence, in Tibet’s intensely traditional and isolated government, of a clear sense of the need for a modern state to maintain relations with other states.

27. At the risk of stating the obvious, the fact that a country is backward cannot justify invading it. Backwardness was often advanced as a justification for nineteenth century colonialism, what Kipling called “The White Man’s burden” when he encouraged the United States to colonise the supposedly backward Philippines. The fact that China relies on the “backwardness” argu-ment[9] to support its occupation of Tibet is a further indication of a classic colonial occupation.

China/Tibet relations since 1950

28. China invaded Tibet on 7 October 1950. On 7 November 1950 the Tibetan Government appealed for help to the United Nations but no assistance was forthcoming. Tibetan forces were easily overwhelmed by the much stronger Chinese forces, with the bulk of the Tibetan Army being surrounded and surrendering at Chamdo.


29. After the surrender the Chinese Government embarked on what would now be called a “charm offensive” in Tibet. Tibetans were given money by People’s Libera-tion Army representatives, and encouraged to accept Chinese occupation on the understanding that their traditional way of life would be unchanged and that Tibet would enjoy a high degree of autonomy.

30. In 1951 China and representatives of the Dalai Lama signed the “17 point agreement for the Peaceful Lib-eration of Tibet”. The drafting phraseology of this document shows that someone was looking at it when drafting Hong Kong’s Basic Law. It provides that “the Tibetan people have the right of exercising national regional autonomy under the unified leadership of the Central People’s Government’(Article 3); that “ the Central People’s Government will not alter the existing political system in Tibet”(Article 4), and “will not alter the established status, functions and powers of the Dalai Lama”(Article 4).

31. These autonomy provisions were never observed. The Chinese Communist Party ruled Tibet, as it rules China, by way of a centralized party organization based on classic communist doctrine, whereby each organ of government is shadowed by an organ of the party. These party organs are accountable to the Chi-

nese Communist Party and do not function in accor-dance with concepts of autonomy. In Tibet the new Chinese authorities insisted on taking all important decisions and interfered on an increasing scale with the daily life of Tibetans. In response to the harshness of Chinese rule, the Tibetans rose in revolt in 1958. The revolt was easily crushed by China, and in 1959 the Fourteenth Dalai Lama and some 80,000 other Tibetans fled into exile in India.

32. The severity of Chinese repression in Tibet since that date is well-documented [10]. There is severe repression of Tibetan Buddhism, which in 1997 was labelled as a “foreign culture”. Virtually all classes in secondary and higher education in Tibet are taught in Chinese not Tibetan, resulting in a high drop-out rate among Tibetans. Urban development has gener-ally benefited Chinese immigrants, large numbers of whom have moved to Tibet and who are now about 12% of the population in the Tibet Administra-tive Region. Tibetans are routinely detained for long periods without charge or sentenced to long prison sentences for peacefully advocating independence or maintaining links with the Dalai Lama. Torture and ill-treatment in detention are widespread. Freedom of expression is severely restricted. Peaceful political demonstrations are invariably broken up and their

Monks demonstrate against China’s crackdown in Tibet outside the Chinese embassy in Rome.


Opinion

participants arrested. Tibetan culture is treated as inferior to Chinese culture, and most key posts in the government and the economy are held by Chinese. Those few Tibetans who are able to enter Chinese government service do so at the cost of alienation from their own people and culture. Tibet’s environ-ment and natural resources are ruthlessly exploited in the interests of China. Overall the situation bears marked similarities in all these respects to the situa-tion of Algeria under the French or of Uzbekistan and Kirgizstan under Soviet Russian rule.

The case for self-determination

33. No-one disputes that the Tibetans are a distinct people with their own language and culture, who form a large majority of the population of Tibet. They do not control their own destiny. Tibet is controlled by the Chinese Government by means of military occupation for the benefit of the Chinese state. Tibet is a country under foreign military occupation, and its people are subject to “alien subjugation, domination and exploitation” within the meaning of the UN Resolutions on Colonial Peoples and on Friendly Relations.

34. The severity of the repression the Tibetans have under-gone at China’s hands, combined with the threadbare

nature of China’s territorial claim to Tibet, mean that if the universal right of peoples to self-determination has any meaning it must extend to Tibet.

35. Tibet’s status has been given renewed topicality by the recent independence of Kosovo. Kosovo was an autonomous region of Serbia dating from when Serbia was a state within Federal Yugoslavia. About 90% of its population are ethnically Albanian, and so distinct

from the Serbs who form the remaining 10% and the large majority of the population of Serbia as a whole. Kosovo had enjoyed some real autonomy in Yugoslavia but in the 1990s this was progressively reduced. In 1996 guerilla warfare broke out as Albanians rose in revolt against Serbian rule. In 1999 as a result of a NATO air campaign against Serbia, the Serbian Army withdrew from Kosovo and a United Nations administration was set up. Following a recommendation from the United Nations Special Representative, Martti Ahtisaari, a plan was devised for Kosovo’s independence, which was bit-terly opposed by Serbia. Kosovo nevertheless declared independence on 17 February 2008. This has so far been recognized by 38 countries, including all of the Group of Seven industrialized countries. It has not been rec-ognized by countries such as Russia, China and Spain which face their own separatist issues (although it has been recognized by Turkey).

36. The recognition of Kosovo would seem to extend the right of self-determination beyond the traditional colo-nial or foreign occupation situation. Kosovo was never a colony, and the Serbian Army had withdrawn long before the independence issue was determined. The only coherent legal basis for recognizing the exercise of self-determination by the Kosovo people in the form of an independent state is that, prior to that indepen-dence, while under Serbian rule, the Kosovar Albanians were subject to “alien subjugation, domination and exploitation”.

37. The Kosovars and the Serbs were historic enemies. Who was exploiting whom varied at different times in history. However a convincing case can be made that in the later years of Slobodan Milosovic’s rule in Serbia, the Kosovars were being persecuted by the Serbian authorities, and were indeed in that sense subject to subjugation, domination and exploitation by people, who although long part of the same country, were cul-turally different and could in that sense arguably be described as alien.

38. If Kosovo has a right to self-determination, the right of Tibet is infinitely stronger. The catalogue of gross oppression, the second class citizen status of Tibetans under Chinese rule, and the identity of Tibet as a coun-try are all much clearer than in Kosovo’s case.

Self-determination, autonomy and independence

39. Self-determination need not mean independence. In many situations, autonomy within a larger nation state offers the best of both worlds, combining the benefits of being part of a large state in terms of defence, for-eign relations and economic opportunity, with preser-


vation of local laws, customs and culture from outside interference. Hong Kong is a good example.

40. The Dalai Lama has repeatedly said that he favours autonomy for Tibet within China, provided that it is meaningful autonomy. Such is his authority with the Tibetan people that they would probably support autonomy in any referendum in which he expressed support for it.

41. However unless there is a change in Chinese govern-ment thinking, real autonomy does not appear to be on offer. This is shown by the continuing aggressive denunciation and misrepresentation of the Dalai Lama by Chinese official spokespersons.

42. Unless real autonomy is offered, self-determination in Tibet is bound to mean independence. China may hold down the Tibetans by force for a long time, but, as the example of Ukraine and Russia shows, even hundreds of years of repression is unlikely to extinguish the long-ing for self-determination among what are, incontro-vertibly, a people.

Paul Harris is a Senior Counsel known for his expertise in constitutional and administrative law.

Footnotes:

[1] For a typical statement see Chinese Government opposes the collusion of Taiwan and Tibet splittists, People’s Daily On-line, 15 March 2001.

[2] Often attributed to the Dutch seventeenth century writer Hugo Gro-tius, although many international law concepts are older.

[3] See e.g. Dibyesh Anand, Tibet, China and the West, Empires of the Mind, Open Democracy, 2 April 2008.

[4] The most recent ratification is Samoa (February, 2008).

[5] See e.g. Antonio Cassese, Self-determination of Peoples”, p. 59

[6] See list in Cassese, op.cit, p. 94.

[7] There was a further invasion shortly before the end of the Ching dynasty, in 1910, by way of delayed reaction to the brief British invasion of Tibet in 1904. Unlike China’s eighteenth century invasions, where in each case a faction in Tibet had encouraged Chinese intervention, the 1910 invasion was a full-frontal assault against united Tibetan opposi-tion. After the 1910 Chinese occupation of Lhasa the Thirteenth Dalai Lama fled to British India, and fighting continued until the 1911 Revo-lution in China. In 1912 Chinese forces in Tibet surrendered and were repatriated through India with British assistance, and the Thirteenth Dalai Lama returned from exile.

[8] See the catalogue of obscurantism, rigid traditionalism and wholesale rejection of modernity in Melvyn C. Goldstein, A modern history of Tibet, 1913-1951, University of California Press, 1989.

[9] For a very recent speech highlighting how China’s rule has benefited Tibet’s development, see Qiangba Puncog, chairman, Tibet Autono-mous Region Council, Xinhua, 9 April 2008

[10] See e.g. the 1997 International Commission of Jurists report Tibet:Human Rights and the Rule of Law

The Dalai Lama in London where he lobbied UK MPs.

The Charms of Hoi An

This small port on central Vietnam’s Thu Bon River began attracting big money in the 15th century, when East Asia’s ships came to trade

and procure fresh supplies. By the 17th and 18th centu-ries, Hoi An was booming, luring British, French, Dutch, Portuguese, Chinese, Thai and Japanese vessels.

International merchants erected expensive, teak wood homes graced with mother-of-pearl panels, porcelain,

private courtyards, backyard docks, balconies and lattice-carved windows. Foreigners also built pagodas, temples, shrines and a legendary Japanese bridge.

Their opulent lifestyle, however, collapsed more than 100 years ago, when bigger and better port facilities opened in nearby deep-water Danang. Tiny Hoi An began decaying.

Its illustrious architecture suffered a lack of mainte-

The exquisite Vietnamese town of Hoi An, which became dilapidated after wealthy shipowners and merchants abandoned it more than 100 years ago, is enjoying a renaissance, writes Richard S. Ehrlich.

Feature

PHOTOGRAPHED BY RICHARD EHRLICH

28 THE CORRESPONDENT JUNE-JULY 2008

The Charms of Hoi An

nance against seasonal typhoons, relentless heat, fun-gus-friendly humidity and poverty.

Danang became a major US military base after American troops splashed ashore in 1965 at the start of America’s failed 10-year crusade to crush communism in Vietnam. But Hoi An was never seriously damaged during the war, despite its proximity.

In the early 1990s, Vietnam allowed foreign tourists to return to Hoi An. Since then, the town has emerged from ruin and is increasingly being regarded as an ele-gant, romantic destination.

“South of Hanoi, it’s probably the most visited city by Lonely Planet readers travelling in Vietnam,” said Josh Krist, who recently stayed in Hoi An to update the Vietnam chapter of Lonely Planet’s Southeast Asia on a Shoestringguidebook. “There’s something about walking through the old city when it’s lit up at night, with the bars in restored antique houses,” he said in an e-mail interview.

“Hoi An attracts older [foreign] people too, and cou-ples, because it’s a very romantic city, so there’s not that bar girl thing you get in other cities in Vietnam.”

Hoi An’s renaissance could falter if the global economy slumps. “When the tourists stop coming, the locals are screwed. Like the bitch-goddess, ‘success’, ‘tourism’ is a fickle thing,” Krist said. “The town is one [major] bird flu scare away from emptying out.”

Many of Hoi An’s more than 60,000 residents have profited from the influx of tourists. Others complain that the swarms of visitors have fuelled inflation. Prices of food, services and real estate have soared as investors build more hotels, restaurants and other facilities.

Hoi An’s original main street, Le Loi, forms a charm-ing vein through cramped neighbourhoods lined with quaint but surprisingly hip cafes alongside traditional restaurants. Dogs occasionally wander through some of Le Loi’s restaurants, which serve a delicious tradi-



tional dish called white rose, made of steamed white dumplings stuffed with tiny shrimps, cooked on wood-burning stoves.

Art galleries, and trendy show-rooms offering Paris-inspired, hand-tailored silk fashions, stand shoulder to shoulder. Nearby, craftsmen and women fashion Hoi An’s ubiquitous, hand-glued, silk-on-bamboo, hanging lanterns.

“Hoi An Ancient Town is an excep-tionally well-preserved example of a Southeast Asian trading port dating from the 15th to the 19th century,” the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) said after listing it in 1999 as a World Heritage site.

“Its buildings and its street plan reflect the influences, both indige-nous and foreign, that have combined to produce this unique heritage site,” UNESCO said. UNESCO earlier list-ed central Vietnam’s nearby former imperial city, Hue, and also the north-east coastal region of Ha Long Bay, as world heritage sites.

Hoi An’s best surviving treasure, UNESCO noted, was its photogenic bridge. The small covered Japanese bridge was constructed in the 17th century across a thin tributary in Hoi An’s then-prosperous Japanese quarter.

Wood beams support the stone bridge’s roof which is decorated with porcelain plates. The bridge was built wide enough for a person to walk through while carrying a shoulder-balanced bamboo pole from which two wicker baskets dangle – once the traditional way that coolies moved goods.

The bridge also appeased a super-stition which described the site as weak vertebrae in the spine of a dragon-like beast which stretched

across Asia, with its head in India and tail forming Japan. It is said that the small but heavy bridge trapped the thrashing monster, preventing it from causing natural disasters in Hoi An.

Richard S. Ehrlich is the Bangkok-based special correspondent for The Washington Times and international media, and has reported news from Asia since 1978. His website is http://www.geocities.com/asia_correspondent

Feature

31

Travel

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Yes! There is such a thing as a free lunch!

The reward? Your lunch/dinner fee refunded AND a food and beverage credit calculated on a per-word basis.

For more details contact the editor at [email protected] (no phonecalls please)


Media

NowThen

Photography


The changing face of Hong Kong Central in 1973 and today.

Left: Looking south towards Pedder Street. On the left is Swire House, now Chater House. Gloucester House with clock is now The Landmark. On the right is the old Post Office.

Right: Connaught Road looking west. The construction site on the right became the Exchange Square complex. Rickshaw men often made deliveries. Today, that’s done by “logistics specialists” such as Crown Relocations.

© Bob Davis. Web: www.bobdavisphotographer.com. E-mail: [email protected]


Books

BY CHRIS DILLON

A s director of the Media Law Project at the Journalism and Media Studies Centre

at the University of Hong Kong, a former prosecutor and former city editor of The New York Times, Doreen Weisenhaus knows something about courtrooms and newsrooms. With contributors Jill Cottrell of HKU and Yan Mei Ning of Baptist University, Weisenhaus has used that expertise to write an accessible guide to media law in Hong Kong and China.

Hong Kong Media Law begins with an introduction to fundamental con-cepts such as common law and then outlines Hong Kong’s Basic Law and describes the structure and opera-tion of the courts. This is followed by chapters on defamation, court reporting, access to information, privacy, official secrets, restrictions on news gathering, reporting on the mainland, copyright, print and online regulation and broadcast regulations. Several chapters include checklists for journalists and the book ends with excerpts from key Hong Kong statutes and other useful reference materials. There is also a website, http://hong-k o n g m e d i a l aw. n e t , which includes regular updates to the cases described in the book.

In addition to addressing contempo-rary legal issues such as digital broadcasting, Weisenhaus explains how our current media laws evolved, pointing out, for example, that the first freedom of infor-mation (FOI) law was

passed in Sweden in 1766. She con-trasts Hong Kong’s Code on Access to Information with more effective FOI laws in other jurisdictions, not-ing that journalists can’t use a judi-cial review to force the Hong Kong government to reveal information. Weisenhaus also observes that our lack of FOI laws often forces journal-ists to rely on anonymous sources, resulting in stories that are distorted or incomplete.

The Hong Kong government plays a central role in Hong Kong Media Law, both as a source of information for journalists and because of its fondness for closed-door proceed-ings. Weisenhaus and her contribu-tors devote considerable space to explaining the structure and oper-ations of government bodies and departments. They don’t sugarcoat the government’s weaknesses and shortcomings.

On the other side of the coin, the account of stories published in December 1997 and January 1998 in the Oriental Daily News — in which Hong Kong judges and members of the Obscene Articles Tribunal were described as suffering from syphilis,

scabies and congeni-tal mental retardation − make for interesting reading. This episode and others in the book highlight the need for laws that protect the rights of both journal-ists and society as a whole.

Perhaps Hong Kong Media Law’s most interesting chapter is about China’s media laws and the pitfalls facing journalists

Hong Kong Media Law

EXPLAINED

Hong Kong Media Law

includes guidelines to

help journalists who

have been arrested

on the mainland

make sense of their

predicament.

http://hongkongmedialaw.net/

http://hongkongmedialaw.net/


Hong Kong Media Law

EXPLAINEDworking on the mainland. Weisen-haus points out that information that has been published in newspa-pers inside China can be classified as a state secret. She also notes that it can be difficult to accurately determine when data is sensitive, because the authorities can retroac-tively have documents classified as secret. Hong Kong Media Law includes guidelines to help journalists who have been arrested on the mainland make sense of their predicament.

While Hong Kong Media Law is sub-titled A Guide for Journalists and Media Professionals, there is a lot here that will be of interest to non-journalists, whether they are citizens trying to understand the peculiarities of Hong Kong’s copyright laws, public figures confronting paparazzi or just people who are curious about the mechan-ics of Hong Kong’s broadcast regula-tions.

Hong Kong Media Law will be partic-ularly useful for correspondents who have recently arrived in Hong Kong or China and are trying to get their bear-ings. It will also be a useful “before you call the solicitor” reference for anyone involved with the media here or on the mainland.

Hong Kong Media Law - A Guide for Journalists and Media Professionals By Doreen Weisenhaus, with contributions by Jill Cottrell and Yan Mei NingHong Kong University Press, 2007, ISBN 978-962-209-808-4PB, 408 pages, HK$225. Available from www.hkupress.org.

Chris Dillon is the author of Landed: The expatriate’s guide to buying and renovating property in Hong Kong (www.landed.hk)

1. If Hong Kong’s Obscene Articles Tribunal classifies an item

as obscene, that item “is not suitable to be published to any

person.” (page 210)

True ❏ False ❏

2. China’s divorce statistics have been classified as a state

secret. (p. 178)

True ❏ False ❏

3. In China, a grandmother can bring a defamation action on

behalf of her deceased grandson. (p. 185)

True ❏ False ❏

4. In Hong Kong, the copyright for a film made after 1997 is

owned by the film’s producer. (p. 193)

True ❏ False ❏

5. Scandalizing the court is no longer an offence In Hong Kong.

(p. 76-8)

True ❏ False ❏

Key 1: True; 2: True; 3: True; 4: False; 5: False.

How well do you know the law?


BooksLives Remembered

David Roads, the longest serving member of the FCC, passed away on May 21 aged 86. He was a marine, a journalist, an FCC Presi-

dent and a very long-time resident of Hong Kong. Although not of the 1943 founding generation of journos (as has been repeatedly misstated), David was a member since before the famous mansion on Conduit Road was our home, and probably was as responsible for moving the Club into those premises as anyone else.

There are two ways younger members might have encountered David around Ice House Street, both of which showed the respect the man was due. Some would have seen his picture on the stairwell wall, with the warning that “Iron Man” Roads was taking over as president. Others, myself included, would recall a near-whispered, “Him? That’s David Roads; he’s number 003.”

David was one of the last of the legendary single-digit men, old-timers who were around when the Club was re-established in Hong Kong and someone said they ought to keep better track of who was let in the door (more likely, who hadn’t paid their bar bill). As a board member, David was third in line when the membership numbers were assigned well over half a century ago. Over the years, the man became living, walking FCC his-tory.

David was born in Pawnee, Nebraska, in 1921, about three months after the founding of the Chinese Communist Party and well before that other famous Nebraska product, Kool-aid, saw the light of day in 1927. He grew up in Denver, Colorado and got his first taste of journalism on the high school newspaper. In late 1941, and like most of his generation, David enlisted in the armed forces.

Life Absent Member Mark Bayuk relates the story of David’s World War II service with the US Marines 29th Regiment, 6th Division. The unit fought its way across the Pacific, through islands later made famous by Hollywood including Gua-dalcanal, Saipan and Guam. It was at Okinawa that David was wounded by a grenade, and evacu-ated. If circumstances had turned out different, he would have recovered just about in time for the

(1921-2008)

never-needed invasion of Japan.At war’s end, David landed in Tientsin (Tian-

jin) and with his unit headed north to disarm Japanese Imperial Army soldiers in Manchuria. It was at this time that he wrote the first-ever report (a copy of which was seen by Mark Bayuk) of atrocities committed near Harbin against civil-ians by what was later identified as Unit 731. The report, however, didn’t officially surface until decades later.

David’s first great scoop was thus spiked, but his interest in Asia was just warming up. After being discharged in 1946, he earned a journalism degree at the University of Denver, before return-ing to Asia as correspondent for the New York Her-ald Tribune. He went on become Far East editor of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, editor and publisher of Modern Asia business magazine, television mod-erator on Meet the Press and a news commentator with CBS television.

After working for the Associated Press, David took a post with the Hong Kong Government’s new Overseas Public Relations Section, where he and current Labour Commissioner Matthew Cheung shared responsibility for the results. David was also responsible (being FCC President at the time) for the membership of one Peter PF Chan. Peter, a former Board Governor, has the distinction of hav-ing won an appeal on behalf of the Club against the Inland Revenue, thus earning a rare honorary membership.

A regular attendee at ceremonies honouring fallen servicemen, and well known as the oldest marine in town to the US Consulate guards and staff, David is survived by his wife of 51 years, Pacita Francisco Roads.

– David O’Rear

David Roads: Soldier and Scribe


Alan Thomas, who died sud-denly in April, worked for Reu-ters from university to retire-

ment and in those 32 years earned the admiration and affection of everyone fortunate enough to be counted a col-league.

He was a lovely, modest man, whose integrity you sensed in an instant; whose humanity was palpable and whose gently-expressed but sharply-aimed humour would hush a bar full of friends anxious to tune in to his Welsh-toned wit.

He joined Reuters as a graduate journalist in 1965. After establishing his credentials on a trainee assign-ment in Singapore, Alan had a series of testing postings; first to Moscow (deciphering the Cold War politics of the Soviet Union), then to Tanzania (African border conflicts and coups) and later Hong Kong (then Reuters’ listening post for a region stretching from Hanoi to Pyongyang and Beijing − or Peking as it was known in the 1970s).

His Cantonese secretary there had her own way of showing her loyalty to him. “I’m pleased to meet you but you’re not as handsome as Alan,” was the greeting for more than one of us.

Alan, his wife Mary and two sons lived in the most enviable address in Hong Kong − the aptly-named Peak House. The highest-placed, and one of the oldest buildings on the island, it was chosen by Reuters because it was the best location to set up the aerials and receivers then needed to monitor a largely secretive region’s radio stations and news agencies. On mist-shrouded nights as you walked Peak House’s draughty corridors you could hear the radio traffic coming in

from Asia’s communist capitals. His versatility meant he moved on

to other roles ... Chief Representative ... Staff Executive ... and as News Editor, in Hong Kong, London and the Middle East, and during those assignments he touched so many colleagues’ working lives. In an era when a well-drafted “service message” − a request from Head Office for coverage, a tip-off on how the competition was faring, an admonition of some sort − was the lifeblood of editorial operations, Alan was a master. He was meticulous, delicately insistent but always aware of the difficulties facing the frontline journalist.

He got the best from the corre-spondent in the field because he was fair, set standards, and showed an appreciation that never bordered on the patronising. And he was fun to be with when you next met at the Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents’ Club or some other journalists’ watering hole.

He and Mary had more tragedy than any couple could expect. First their younger son, Luke, died while at university and then only a few years later, James, the older, also died. In their anguish, Alan and Mary found some extraordinary strength. While friends would rage at the injustice of two great parents suffering so much, they reminded them how lucky they had been to have their sons, even for such a short time.

An apparently healthy 65, Alan died without warning at his home in the Cornish seaside village of Pol-ruan. We pray it will be some comfort for Mary that so many friends and colleagues share her grief. He was a lovely bloke.

– David Rogers

He got the best from the correspondent in the field because he was fair, set standards, and showed an appreciation that never bordered on the patronising

Alan Thomas: Modest Correspondent

(1942-2008)

39

Around the Club


Beijing-based members Angelica Cheung and Mark Graham and year-old daughter Hayley joined a gang of familiar FCC suspects for beers at Shek O. Pictured are Ewen Campbell, Teri Fitsell and son Hamish; Jon Marsh, wife Annie Park and daughters Michelle and Isabelle. At the centre of the picture is sports PR guru Simon Wait and partner Cat Tang.

Richard Hughes Jr. and his daughter Christa performed at Bert’s as part of an Australian TV documentary on the life of legendary correspondent, Richard Hughes.

FCC President Ernst Herb and Betty Tung, Director of the Hong Kong Government’s Information Services Department, make a toast at an ISD-FCC Board lunch.

WWW.THOMASCRAMPTON.COM

Students awarded scholarships by the FCC Charity Fund gather for a celebratory lunch at the Club.

HUGH VAN ES

40

What members get up to when away from the

ClubPast Perfect

Out of Context

FCC member Anne-marie Evans celebrat-ed 10 years of host-

ing the popular Hong Kong Heritage programme on RTHK in June with a party at the Club.

She was modestly sur-prised that so many of Hong Kong’s great and good were willing to come and toast her, and her programme. She shouldn’t be.

At the party was Berry Silverio Yaneza, 81, trum-peter with the Colin Aitchi-son and the China Coast Jazzmen band, which plays every night at Ned Kelly’s Last Stand. Indeed, he brought the whole band. Yaneza has been playing in Hong Kong since 1949. Prior to that he was entertaining the US forces and flew over Hiroshima shortly after the bomb was dropped.

Alongside senior RTHK figures, top tycoons and a couple of knights of the realm, Evans was also attended by Reverend Peter Ellis, chaplain to the Mission to Seafarers, Imam Yeung of the Wan Chai Mosque, and Father Harold Naylor of Wah Yan College.

The same modesty crops up when the engaged and professional inter-viewer Ms Evans has the tables turned and becomes the interviewee.

It emerges that Evans lived in a Hakka village for five years, and spent her first years in Hong Kong lodging with a Chinese family.

“They used to watch television in the living room and the mother and elder daughter would be sitting at the button machine, so as well as their jobs during the day, they would make buttons in the evening,” she recalled.

Her introduction to journalism − her “epiphany” she calls it – came

from the now defunct Eastern Express. Early teething problems – she learned the hard way of the penalties for turning off her mobile phone − were quickly overcome and she’s never looked back. Today, in addition to her radio work, she writes for the South China Morning Post.

Laughter infects most conversa-tions with Evans. It has helped her connect to people as varied as the Hakka villager who explained how he keeps the light shining on his ances-tors’ altar to former prisoners of war; from Shanghai-born beauty Anne Marden to the late David Lam, a war-time underground resistance leader. And even a bunch of macaques.

“There was one taxi driver, and it’s interesting how many people have referred back to that, even years later, saying, ‘Oh I did enjoy that interview’. He was telling me how as a three-year old he was carried on his father’s shoulders from Hong Kong to Guang-

dong for three days, how they lost their property in the revolution”.

Or there’s the museum curator, Terence Ng, who confessed to a passion for karaoke of Roman Tam, and so burst into song. She has also been the lucky recipient of the immortal line: “Meet me on my tug-boat”.

Evans, a Masters gradu-ate in European studies, fluent in German, turned up in Hong Kong 15 years ago.

Born in Romsey, south-ern England, she had two friends who didn’t know one another who hap-pened to live here. “So I came here and loved it.”

She’d never been to Asia before. “When I actually flew into Hong Kong I remember looking at these buildings and thinking gosh, they don’t do a very good paint job do they, then realising that that was the humidity.”

She kept a diary for her first 18 months, tracking her eye-opening experiences day by day.

“As you begin to uncover things, there’s so much more that is there. You have this whole variety of experi-ences in a very, very confined space. I think Hong Kong is very rich from that perspective.”

While Evans has learned a lot here, so too have Hong Kong people.

“You don’t have to explain the word heritage any more, in any lan-guage. People are really into the idea of preserving what’s around them. There has been a sea change in that many, many more Hong Kongers are regarding Hong Kong as their home, as I do.”

BOB DAVIS


Annemarie Evans talks to Vaudine England.

Fcc June July08

Documents

Transcript of Fcc June July08