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An Unexpected Development

It was the familiar nightmare against which I thought I had prepared myself so well by being hyper scrupulous with the whereabouts of my belongings:

Got off the ferry this morning and skipped lightly to the MTR (“metro”) station to go and teach Cantonese in Causeway Bay. Reached into bag, or rather, started wurzeling in my bag ( new Cockney rhyming slang: Wurzel Gummidge, rummage) – where was my wallet?

Oh no! I had left it on the bloody ferry!

Anybody who has ever left anything on the Lantau ferry knows this: It’s the black hole of belongings. The ferry guys take everything they find, including children’s shoes, books by Ian McEwan and even food, to supplement their meagre incomes.

Knowing that my wallet with a not insignificant amount of money in it was gone forever, I nevertheless started legging it back to the ferry pier with a huge, resounding F word filling up all my brainwaves.

My phone went and an unknown number came up. “Wei, did you just lose your wallet? It’s in the office at the ferry pier.”

There is a god. Or something.

Still, I know it was the ferry guys who took the laptop I accidentally left under some newspapers on the ferry last January, and not some opportunist thieves living in Mui Wo; the opportunist thieves, in fact, on whom the ferry company normally blame all losses. There just can’t be that many thieves living in such a small place.

But I’m happy today, oh yeah. Now I won’t have to sit for a whole day in Immigration Tower waiting to get a new ID card, listening to HK people trying to quack out Filipino names. Yes there is a god.

Cars Are Driving Me Bon-cars

I’ve just come back from what should have been an invigorating walk with Piles; a walk training not only the calf muscles and improving my overall well-being and benevolence, but my arm muscles as well seeing I have to drag Piles the whole way. That boy hates heat and should live in Norway, leaving balmy HK to us amphibians.

Anyway, the walk turned out not to be invigorating at all but a kind of nightmare, the reason being CARS.

Pui O on Lantau Island where I have been living for five years; no, not only Pui O, the whole island actually, has turned into some kind of haven for lazy show-offs. Not only can they not walk five meters, when they get their sacred cars (at least two per household) it has to be enormous, fkuc-off SUVs, covered in stickers saying “Save nature!”

Pui O is the countryside and has country roads. These bastards drive as if they’re on the Tolo Highway, clearly vexed at having impertinent pedestrians like Piles and me being in their personal space which they and only they own. They glower. They stare. they honk their horns.

Here I am saving the world’s resources for their children and I get grief?

Because they can’t be arsed to ride a bike to the bus stop 200 meters away or walk, I won’t have shampoo in ten years’ time. The whole world’s everything is based on oil, but they use it like they have their own personal oil-well which will never run out, tucked away somewhere behind Park’n'Shop.

But the worst thing about cars is they’re so incredibly ugly. Everywhere I go, they are, marring the scenery, making it impossible to take photos or let the eye get a good nature workout.

Now Pui O is being swamped by pilots who, not happy being away from their planes for any amount of time, need cars the size of a Boeing 747, to feel more comfortable as they drive a bottle of laxative home from the shop.

Meanwhile the entire Pui O is looking more and more like the gigantic parking lot outside a mall for people with particularly bad taste.

And the ever helpful government doesn’t have to be asked twice: To ensure that these people and their families will soon lose the use of their legs from atrophy, our civil engineering/transport dept is building more and more roads, widening roads, flattening roads and taking away nasty trees dropping leaves on roads, all for the purpose of letting guys with cars the size of houses feel they’re living back in the States or Oz.I’ve written about this before and no doubt I’ll get back to it again and again.

You really want to do something for your children? Don’t drive!

Human Nature – It’s A Wonder Innit

I’ve never even pretended to have any insight into the human mind and its workings. Everything people say, do and think is a source of constant bafflement for me.

But I know one thing about people: They will always do the opposite of what I tell them. In that they are not unlike my dog Piles. If we’re on the beach and I say for example: “Piles, don’t eat that three day dead fish and puke it up later all over the living room floor,” then that’s exactly what he’ll do.

So I’m not at all surprised, when I tell my helper to take Piles for a one hour walk, that she tidies my underwear drawer instead.

Or that she, when I tell her not to use binliners or plastic bags for rubbish but empty the kitchen rubbish bucket straight into the communal rubbish bin (already with thick black bin liner) thus saving one layer of plastic, takes in binliners from outside, pours the rubbish into it and leaves the whole thing on the kitchen floor.

I’m not at all surprised, when my Canto students ask me what’s the best way to learn Cantonese and I tell them talking to some of the 7 million free teachers milling around Hong Kong, ( the old “talking and listening” technique they used as a child to learn their mother tongue in fact), that they instead get Lonely Planet’s Cantonese glossary and only ever talk English with Chinese people, reserving their Cantonese for me.

And when people congregate on my roof for a Sichuan meal and ask me where the ashtrays are and I tell them just to chuck their cigarette butts on the floor (of the roof) because my roof is the Free State Of China and I’ll sweep up everything the next day and isn’t it lovely to be able to chuck stuff once in a while – then I’m not at all surprised that they don’t chuck a single fag end but instead push them into the soil of my flower pots, poisoning the plants.

Not suprised at all. But maybe a little bit baffled.

Then again I don’t listen to what people tell me either.

Beautiful Dudes: Modesty Is Very Becoming

This dude was sitting behind me as I gave a lecture on quacked out a few words in Cantonese in Ye Olde Teaee Shoppee last night. That place is highly recommended by the way.

Smack in the middle of Central, in Wellington street to be exact, the 欒 香 園 咖 啡 室 (Happy Fragrant Garden Coffee parlour) (which isn’t a coffee parlour at all but a greasy spoon, ) features ridiculously low prices, fairly insane staff (one drunk from 10 am) and a laid-back atmosphere.

That’s where I build up my secret guerrilla force to fight back against the evil hegemony of Mandarin.

Anyway, this beautiful guy was sitting behind me, blogworthy. I said “You’re so handsome, can I take your photograph?” but the poor guy kept ducking from side to side – he thought I wanted to immortalise the tiles behind him.

How modest can you get?

My Beautiful Sichuan

The first time I went to Sichuan was in 2002. I spent a month teaching English in a village school, the kind of school that would have collapsed and all its students buried under rubble, if it had been situated a bit further north.

I fell in love with the province as soon as I arrived, and have been back at least once a year ever since; to visit my old teacher colleagues and students, and to explore other parts of this beautiful, wild frontier of yaks, horses, mountains and rivers, Sichuan peppercorns and Ma Po Doufu.

Just thought I would show you these images of Sichuan before disaster struck. Please give generously.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sichuan

Forget about all that. forget about our middle class sentiments.

How can people spend time arguing about whether or not to show photos of dead children when a whole province is being wiped out?

Here’s what i got from the three gorges website:

1. China earthquakes. More peril: Dam and reservoir collapse (ChinaStakes 17/05/08)

The 7.8 earthquake that shook Sichuan Province in the afternoon of May 12, killing an estimated 50,000, is posing a continuing threat as the untold damage to hydropower stations and reservoir dams upstream on the Min River (the Minjiang) becomes apparent. The Minjiang is a tributary of the Yangtze River.

“We’re ready to go to the earthquake affected areas. The Ministry of Water may summon us at any time,” Li Lei, professor at the Nanjing Hydraulic Research Institute, said to a China Business News reporter.

The National Development and Reform Commission has revealed the destruction caused to water facilities by the earthquake. By 5pm, May 13, safety problems had been discovered at 391 reservoirs, including two big ones, 28 medium ones and 361 small ones, in Sichuan and other four provinces.

The quake and its aftershocks were strong enough to cause damage to the foundation and body of the dams and reduce their bearing capacity. “Judging from the number of the dams destroyed, the damage is very serious,” said Professor Li Lei.

Sichuan has about 7,000 dams in its system, 70% of which were built in 1950s or 1960s, which now needs to be consolidated.

The 340 km upstream of the Minjiang rises in northwest Sichuan Province and flows down to Dujiangyan, a city close to the epicenter. The river runs between mountains along the transitional area between the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and the Sichuan Basin.

Han Zhengjiang, Vice-Director of the Chongqing Water Bureau, said at the press briefing yesterday that as of 9am, May 13, 19 reservoirs and 125 cisterns were in danger.

The Ministry of Water quickly established an earthquake headquarters and has sent workgroups and experts directly to the affected areas. A Sichuan Water Conservancy Station issued an urgent alert on the security of water conservancy projects on May 13 after the earthquake.

With its plentiful rivers, Sichuan (which in Mandarin means “four rivers") has a slew of hydropower stations. The drainage basins of the Jinsha, Yalong and Dadu Rivers are all important hydropower bases. At the end of 2007, the capacity of Sichuan hydropower stations amounted to 18.8 million kw, about 62% of Sichuan total electricity production capacity, and 13% of China’s hydropower capacity. In 2007 hydropower stations generated about 63% of Sichuan’s total generated power, a highest such percentage in China.

On May 13, several dams holding reservoirs upstream of Wenchuan were in extreme danger, and the dam in front of the Tulong Reservoir on the Minjiang could have collapsed at any time. Had this happened, several hydropower stations downstream would have been in peril.

That danger has been relieved by reducing the reservoir’s water level. Other reservoir dams have also been affected by the earthquakes, but due to low water levels, they are now relatively safe.

“We’re very concerned about reservoirs, especially the big ones,” said Hu Xianming, an expert on earthquake and reservoir.

A survivor in Wenchuan said, “During the earthquake, I saw the Zipingpu Reservoir water level leap, and villages in the mountains disappeared in the debris flow in a second. It was terrible.”

A Ministry of Water spokesman said the earthquake cracked the fish-gate of the hydro project in Dujianyan, and a backup generator room had collapsed, but this did not affect the safe operation of the project.

The Ministry of Water has made plans to ensure the safety of the Zipingpu Dam, Dujiangyan City, and the Chengdu Plain. “We have gotten though the drainage channel of the Zipingpu Reservoir to reduce the water level. Now the water is draining at 700 cubic meters a second.
 
The Minjiang water system is rich in power resources. There are 396 hydropower stations in this area, with the total installed capacity of 112×105 kW, and the annual power generation of 46.89×109 kWh.
 
There several fault zones in the Aba area. These fault zones affect the geological development and crustal stability of the area.

Chai Hejun, a researcher in Chongqing Transportation Research and Design Institute has investigated the Minjiang upstream many times. He says special attention must be paid to the situation of upstream waters

“The earthquake created blockages that will form many new lakes and streams. When water accumulates these may collapse and greatly threaten downstream people and hydro projects,” said Chai Hejun.

Chinastakes.com is the first online English publication dedicated to reviewing China’s finance/economy/business.

2. China sends experts to assess reservoir damage in quake-hit Sichuan (Xinhua 16/05/08)


BEIJING -- China's Ministry of Water Resources on Friday dispatched nine emergency repair teams to Sichuan to assess the conditions of reservoirs after Monday's massive earthquake.

The teams, with more than 100 experts, would be sent to six hard-hit regions, including Mianyang, Deyang and Aba, to check the situation of dikes, reservoirs and hydropower plants.

They would assess the damage and draw up plans to prevent secondary disasters or evacuations, if necessary, the ministry said.

The ministry had set up a command center for disaster rescue and relief operations and sent 71 water resource experts to seven quake-stricken provincial regions amid concerns that the weakened dams might collapse.

Minister Chen Lei warned Thursday that Sichuan, where the epicenter is located, has a large number of reservoirs, many of which have sustained significant but still unknown damage.

According to the ministry, the Zipingpu dam, near the quake epicenter in Wenchuan County, is structurally stable and safe despite some minor damages.

Other key water projects in Sichuan, including the more than 2,000-year-old Dujiangyan irrigation system, the south-to-north water diversion project and the Three Gorges Dam are all reported safe.


A Sigh Of Relief

Last night as I staggered down to Pier 6 a few sheets to the wind after a harrowing night in Wan Chai (following two hours at the absolutely superb Art 08 – you can still go, and should) and noticed “something coffee” out of the corner of my eye.

Where the poster was, there used to be an excellent institution called Beer Bay famous for its gin and tonics – the relationship between the ingredients being GIN GIN GIN GIN GIN GIN GIN GIN/ tonic. The tonic was a mere splash, an afterthought. And cheap? Don’t know how that company made a living. Anyway, like all good HK institutions it had to go to the big rent-collecting hell-hole in the sky, and for ages there was just a metal gate where the g&t used to be.

But now – another bloody Pacific Coffee, I thought in my drunken state and gnashed my teeth in disgust. Walking closer however, I saw that it was in fact Uncle Russ coffee that is to replace every island dweller’s favourite watering hole.

So that’s okay then.

Dead Children II

I keep thinking about the photo of dead children from the earthquake in Sichuan which South China Morning Post showed – now all of three days ago; meaning it’s more or less forgotten in our fast-moving world.

For me the most moving and tear-inducing image was not the dead children – they looked so peaceful and there was no blood – but that of a father doubled up with grief, holding the blue hand of his dead son. I cried and cried. Not because I, in any Bill Clinton kind of way could “feel his pain” (“Clinton feels nation’s pain, breasts”) – nobody could – but because I felt so sad about this fellow human looking so terribly alone and that his son’s face was covered up by a magazine.

Meanwhile a debate has been going on in Women In Publishing, a society of “writing women”, not about ” how could this happen and how can we help?” but “how could they let us see this happen, and that on the front page of a newspaper, and over my breakfast!”

They are the kind of people who gladly eat chicken breast but are up in arms about slaughter houses.

Dead Children

Yesterday’s South China Morning Post’s cover bore a large photo of dead children being taken out of the rubble of a collapsed school in Sichuan.

Today there was the expected rush of letters to the editor of same paper – people morally indignant at having had to suffer such a shocking and distasteful image over breakfast. One imagines some people having to fight their toast down.

I also thought the photo fairly disturbing, but then I started reading the articles accompanying it. You know what? I don’t think SCMP printing that photo is reprehensible, disgusting and outrageous. What is, though, and more, is that the collapsed schools (and there were many) were found to be built with inferior building materials in a shoddy manner; hastily put up and without any thoughts of students’ safety.

Ultimately it’s the Chinese government and its failure to rein in corrupt officials that has to bear responsibility for this. In this culture of corner-cutting, kickbacks and graft, where 40 companies can get together to produce infant milk powder without nutrition, killing dozens of babies, are we really surprised to see that construction companies don’t mind putting a whole school at risk to make a few thousand yuan?

But wait, there’s more. Now scientists are saying the earthquake could have been caused to a large degree by the Three Gorges Dam; its massive weight of water influencing the geology around it.

Earthquakes, landslips and other “natural” disasters – exactly the type of thing knowledgable geologists and scientists warned against before the dam was built.

Another feather in the cap for our great omniscients up north.