Visions of AsiaSeeing things differently.
The journal / Visions of Asia
Since a couple of weeks, and after the emergence of prohibitions of protests by the Hong Kong Police, the protesters have switched to another form of protests: flash mobs in malls, creating mall singalongs for their new “National Anthem”, “Glory to Hong Kong. A mall as a place to live Part of the reason for […]
At long last, after 14 weeks of turmoil in Hong Kong “The Withdrawal” finally came. As recounted earlier, massive protests were sparked in the month of June by the introduction of a bill allowing the extradition of suspects to China. The attempt of the Chief Executive, Carrie Lam to force the bill through the HK […]
As we entered another 11th week-end of protests in Hong Kong, on 17 August, the police prohibited or severely restricted all the protests taking place on Saturday and Sunday. Once again, it seemed that I would be reporting from the Hong Kong frontlines, instead of enjoying a peaceful week-end relaxation. Another “long march” A recurring […]
Although I live in Hong Kong, somehow I never got personally affected by the protests (except when I went to cover them). This time however, the blockage of all the operations on 12th August at the HK airport got me stranded abroad in Cebu. A sudden decision While everyone was aware of the trouble the […]
In shocking developments, on July 22, 2019, suspected triad gang members attacked and beat up protesters, people clad in black or even passerbys at Yuen Long MTR station, in the New Territories. As a response, on 27 July, protesters decided to go to Yuen Long to protest against the violence by triads. It was there […]
An interesting article published in the South China Morning Post this morning talks about the reaction in China to the Hong Kong Protests. What emerges from the account is a tale of how Beijing lost sight of the reality on the ground in Hong Kong. Deficient “intelligence gathering” It seems that the intelligence apparatus of […]
The Hong Kong protests took a familiar but delicate turn on Sunday 14 July, when I covered the protests of Shatin. Everything went fine, until the moment that one masked woman asked me if I was “press” as I was flying my drone. As I confirmed I was not she became aggressive and said “no […]
As the Hong Kong government has been gradually giving ground as the mobilization continued, protests have not weakened. Despite Carrie Lam, the Chief Executive vowing that the Extradition Bill was “dead”, it appears that legally, it can be brought back before the Legislative Council (LegCo) in a matter of days. Hence, the moving on to […]
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the Lion’s spirit which animated Hong Kong. Today, it would seem that the (young) Lions’ roar was heard until Beijing. On Monday 1st July, anniversary of the retrocession of Hong Kong to Beijing, a certain number of young protesters took the Legislative Council by assault and defaced […]
Hong Kong is one of the biggest world harbours. As such, it is one of the huge transiting places for container ships. On the way, these ships need to refuel. It was thus that I had the opportunity of sharing the life of the crew of a refueling ship for a few hours, during one […]