No Rain and Missing People & Books in Hong Kong

Unlike yesterday, no Hong Kong AMBER signal was needed to warn of heavy rains today in Hong Kong.



The booksellers remain missing though. And more is missing:

English-language-focused Page One, which has a total of eight outlets in the city – six of them at Hong Kong International Airport – is understood to have begun withdrawing sensitive material from sale in late November, around the time the first of five men linked to Causeway Bay Books went missing. . . .

"The manager did not tell us the reason, but said Page One would no longer sell banned [in mainland China] books ever again.”

The Chinese government's role in the booksellers' disappearance remains unclear. But surely they like this result.

An Amber Day in Hong Kong

In the U.S., an AMBER alert indicates an abduction of a child. And that is what first came to mind when I saw an AMBER signal today. Fortunately, the warning in Hong Kong indicated something rather different: heavy rain.

Had I seen the warning prior to going out, I would have probably been less wet today.

Although no American-style Amber alerts were issued today in Hong Kong, the city is reacting to the mysterious disappearance and suspected detention of Lee Bo, the fifth person working for a publisher of works criticizing the Chinese government to go missing. The story has taken some twists and turns, including Lee's wife curiously retracting her claim he had been abducted. The only thing clear at the moment: not everything which has been reported adds up. And there are worries an effort to make those things better add up will only put the booksellers in a worse situation.

The forecast for tomorrow doesn't call for more rain. More important to many Hongkongers, though, is the forecast for their freedoms.

Future Seen Higher at Future Dancehall in Hong Kong

As a result of a good friend's wedding, I spent the New Year holiday in Hong Kong. I won't be here long, so I expect to only do a few HK-themed posts before returning to other topics. In that spirit and on the lighter side, here's some advertising I saw today in Hong Kong:

For a clearer view, here's an online version of the advertisement which caught my eye:

There's just so much going on I don't know where to begin. So I won't. Like the scene of lightsabers during New Year's in Hong Kong, I will leave it to readers to ponder what may have inspired it or find any meaning. If you're interested in digging deeper, the associated event page on Facebook (the source for the 2nd image) is probably a decent place to start. It helped me answer a few of my questions. It also led to new ones. That's often how these things go.

New Year's Lightsabers in Hong Kong

During the recent New Year's celebrations in Hong Kong I didn't notice any pro-democracy yellow umbrellas, but I did see people carrying lightsabers.

Since several rather different possibilities come to mind, readers are free to find any symbolism in the scene on their own. Clearly, though, Captain America was enjoying the "sweet taste of interfering in other countries’ internal affairs" that night.

Xiamen Sunset

Posting will be light as the year closes. In that spirit, a sunset in Xiamen:

A view from halfway up to (or down from) Wulao Peak

Hakka Mijiu in Xiamen

I had another second post in mind for tonight. In mind . . .

But then I sought food for dinner. By the time I arrived at my first destination the finer offerings were gone. So I retraced my routed through some alleys. Or roads. It can sometimes be hard to tell the difference. But I made my way to a hole-in-the-wall seafood restaurant which had earlier caught my eye and settled on some green veggies and octopus.

And then something happened. Sitting next to me was a group of friendly guys.

And before I knew it I was being poured homemade Hakka-style mijiu.

Those who know their Chinese alcohols will know this is a sweet and sometimes rather tasty drink but not especially strong. So I will add that this followed the more typical industry-made baijiu — neither tasty nor weak.

I escaped relatively unharmed. The mijiu was a nice change of pace. The baijiu was your typical passable Jiangxi baijiu. In other words, it didn't burn a hole through my throat, so all is grand.

That post I had in mind, maybe tomorrow.

Mockey Mouse Spirit During Christmas in China

Christmas Eve could have been merrier for Disney in China, despite recent indications it will receive special attention in the government's efforts to reduce the number of imitation goods.

What could be a better name for a mock Mickey Mouse?

Obvious imitations of Disney's trademarks, like the one above seen in Xiamen, are still common in China. A couple of months ago I saw an especially large number of "Mockey" clothing items in Shaoguan.

So when in Xiamen this past Christmas weekend I saw Mickeys, or perhaps Mockeys, at an arcade . . .

. . . on a car . . .

. . . on underwear . . .

. . . and at a pedestrian street . . .

. . . all sights I have seen elsewhere in China as well, it was easy to question whether they brought much holiday joy to Disney.

Police Armed With Something Other Than Rifles in Xiamen

As mentioned in the previous post, I have seen rifle-armed police at shopping areas in both Xining and Shanghai. Last night in Xiamen I saw police patrolling the busy Zhongshan Road Pedestrian Street. None of them carried a rifle, but it can still be said they know how to "speak softly and carry a big stick".

Other topics soon . . .

Thinking Again About Armed Police in Shanghai After a Warning for Westerners in Beijing

In Beijing there is something else for Westerners to be concerned about in addition to the usual pollution. Austin Ramzy described the situation in The New York Times:

Several foreign embassies in Beijing, including the American and British ones, warned on Thursday of possible threats against Westerners in a shopping district on or around Christmas Day, urging their citizens to “exercise heightened vigilance.” . . .

The police presence in Beijing was increased on Thursday, with armed officers stationed in front of a main shopping complex in Sanlitun, Taikoo Li Sanlitun, and other intersections in the area.

Fortunately, no attacks have been reported so far. Whether or not the increased police presence has made a difference, it has already left its mark and not gone unnoticed:

Never seen rifle toting armed forces in Taikooli before #sanlitun #beijing pic.twitter.com/aG2t7xPA1h

— Tom Phillips (@tomphillipsin) December 24, 2015

Some people were reminded of scenes elsewhere in China:

Rifle-armed China security forces in strange places these days. I saw some at Dali airport entrance in late Nov. https://t.co/k1jNDR68ZO

— Edward Wong (@comradewong) December 24, 2015

I too was reminded of scenes in China including similarly armed police. One was over three years ago in Xining, Qinghai. It too was at a popular shopping district. I hadn't noticed the police there on previous days, and it occurred on a sensitive date in China — June 4, the anniversary of the violent crackdown at the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989.

The other scene occurred more recently over five months ago in Shanghai. One day as I walked down the Nanjing Road Pedestrian Street I unexpectedly saw rifle-armed police.

Like Sanlitun, the street is a popular destination for foreigners, though perhaps more for tourists than those living in Shanghai. Seeing the police made me think of the immense police presence I had seen earlier in the year at the nearby Bund after the deadly New Year's Eve stampede. I didn't know if armed police had appeared at the pedestrian street on earlier days or during previous months when I was elsewhere in China. I wondered what led to the increased security and whether there was any knowledge about a specific threat.

After I dug up the above photo this evening, my attention was quickly drawn to another detail — one I don't think I considered much on that summer day and probably wouldn't now without knowing the details of the current warnings for Westerners in Beijing. I won't soon again forget the date of when I first saw rifle-armed police on a Shanghai street. It wasn't June 4 or Christmas. It wasn't even a day of particular note for most people in China. But it was a notable day for Americans. It was the 4th of July.

Now I wonder if that wasn't a coincidence.

Pedestrians on Two Roads in China

I am now far away from the pedestrian street in Shanghai which appeared in the previous post, but China has many pedestrian streets. So here are two happy girls I saw today at Xiamen's Zhongshan Road Pedestrian Street.

Yet Xiamen isn't the city where I took the photo of the earlier mystery scene I shared after departing Shanghai. I left that city this morning on a high-speed train which a regular announcement identified as "Harmony". Fortunately, Harmony didn't present an endlessly repeating promotional video like the train from Shanghai.

Nobody correctly identified the location of the earlier scene, although there were some reasonable guesses. Keeping with the pedestrian street theme, I will share another scene from the city.

As a close examination of the photo will reveal, it isn't exactly a pedestrian street. People on motorbikes often made their way on the narrow roadway past the street vendors and through the crowds. It all seemed to work, perhaps even harmoniously, like many other aspects of life in Ningde.

Ningde and Xiamen both differ significantly from Shanghai. And they differ significantly from each other as well, although they are both on China's southeastern coast in Fujian province. So Fujian flavors are on the way (amongst others), including those found on pedestrian streets.

Two More Shanghai Scenes

I was tempted to included two more photos in the previous post "Twenty Shanghai Scenes Not Featuring Luxury Malls or Skyscrapers", but they didn't quite fit the theme which emerged. So I will share them separately here.

One photo captures a portion of a destination especially popular for tourists and shoppers: the Nanjing Road Pedestrian Street.

The other photo includes tall buildings in the background.

In front of the buildings is a collaborative creation (link in Chinese) by Yu Jiyong (余积勇) and Shen Tingting (沈婷婷): the May Thirtieth Movement Monument in People's Park.

The locations where these photos were taken are just minutes away from each other by foot. And I have stories for both. Another day . . .

Twenty Shanghai Scenes Not Featuring Luxury Malls or Skyscrapers

Despite all of the attention Shanghai receives from the outside world, many aspects of the city's life and environment remain relatively underexposed. As in earlier posts covering areas of Shanghai such as Dachang Town, Xuhui district, and Hongkou, I will share a set of photos to offer a bit more balance. The ones below were taken where my activities brought me in central areas of Shanghai west of the Huangpu River during the past couple of weeks. Like photos of Shanghai's luxury malls and modern skyscrapers, they all capture a part of the city's story.

Small park next to Qinghai Road

Shaanxi North Road

Changping Road

Facing away from an entrance to the underground Hong Kong Shopping Centre

Fengxian Road

Lane south of Nanjing West Road

Lane north of Tianshan Road

Sweet potatoes for sale at intersection of Shaanxi North Road and Xinhui Road

A small bear

Construction site next to Puji Road and Guangfu Road

Hongxin Fashion Plaza

Wujiang Road Pedestrian Street

Qipu Road next to the Shanghai Xingwang International Finery City

In front of a shop at the Xingwang International Finery City

Shanghai Railway Station

Crossing Huashan Road

Window at a wine bar & bistro on Jiaozhou Road

Restaurants on Shaanxi North Road just south of Xinhui Road

In front of the Tianshan Commercial Building

Julu Road