Week 10 of Occupy Central: Updates & Discussions

[Cho-man]

Hardly a surprise, he has no intention of ever doing so anyway from the outset. CY, in his arrogance, thinks he has the "upper" hand, and is just waiting for the police to clear the remaining protest sites and get things back to normal as if nothing happened.

But sorry CY, you can remove the students from the streets, but things will never be "back to normal" now...

[Zero Gravitas]

Can't decide whether CCTV News didn't get the memo or CY didin't get the memo from Beijing.

[Mat]

Interesting piece, check out the pictures at the bottom

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/6265190



Sent from my iPad using GeoClicks

[Mefisto]

Meanwhile in Beijing...
The Guardian:
China bans wordplay in attempt at pun control (partially reproduced)

From online discussions to adverts, Chinese culture is full of puns. But the country’s print and broadcast watchdog has ruled that there is nothing funny about them.

It has banned wordplay on the grounds that it breaches the law on standard spoken and written Chinese, makes promoting cultural heritage harder and may mislead the public – especially children.

The casual alteration of idioms risks nothing less than “cultural and linguistic chaos”, it warns.

Chinese is perfectly suited to puns because it has so many homophones. Popular sayings and even customs, as well as jokes, rely on wordplay.

But the order from the State Administration for Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television says: “Radio and television authorities at all levels must tighten up their regulations and crack down on the irregular and inaccurate use of the Chinese language, especially the misuse of idioms.”


“It could just be a small group of people, or even one person, who are conservative, humourless, priggish and arbitrarily purist, so that everyone has to fall in line,” said Moser.

“But I wonder if this is not a preemptive move, an excuse to crack down for supposed ‘linguistic purity reasons’ on the cute language people use to crack jokes about the leadership or policies. It sounds too convenient.”

And in Hong Kong the punless tycoons are still laughing all the way to the banks they probably already own.

This communist party edict obviously covers the still largely cantonese-speaking Guangdong, but will they dare to try it here in the fiefdom of 689 & Co?

[TheBrit]

Wow, a real life Newspeak. Only 30 years after Orwell's book was set.

[usehername]

Joshua's eating. Good. He's no use to anyone in a wheelchair.

[Cho-man]

This is precisely the issue facing Beijing's version of HK democracy and what the students have been fighting against, a "pre-determined race" of who will be the next CE:

Rita Fan tips Regina Ip and Antony Leung as 2017 election candidates | South China Morning Post

A Beijing-loyalist heavyweight has become the latest - and most significantly connected - voice to tip two former senior government officials as contenders for the city's top job in 2017, sparking claims a campaign was under way to create the appearance of democratic choice.
As the city grapples with the unprecedented Occupy Central protests - now into their third month - and rancour over what constitutes true democracy, Rita Fan Hsu Lai-tai tipped ex-financial secretary Antony Leung Kam-chung and lawmaker Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee as candidates for chief executive in 2017.
While their names are not new to the political rumour mill, some have interpreted the intervention by Fan - a former president of the Legislative Council and now Hong Kong's sole representative on the powerful National People's Congress Standing Committee - as an indication that a strategy is being deployed to give the perception of a race with many runners.
Fan's remarks were also criticised as they seemed to rule out the chance of a pan-democratic candidate joining the first chief executive election to be voted by the whole population.
Leung was financial secretary and Ip the secretary for security in chief executive Tung Chee-hwa's administration. The former resigned amid a conflict-of-interest row when he bought a car before a tax rise, and the latter quit amid the controversy about a national security bill under the Basic Law's Article 23 which prompted a 500,000-strong protest.
"As I can see now, those possible to throw their hat in the ring include, one, Mrs Regina Ip and, two, Mr Antony Leung," Fan said in an interview with RTHK. And if incumbent Leung Chun-ying ran again, "among these three people, I think I do have a choice".
In 2012, Fan supported Leung's arch-rival Henry Tang Ying-yen.
Ip, an Executive Council member, tried to run for the top job in 2012 but failed to get enough nominations. She thanked Fan, adding: "She's my mentor ... I'm grateful for her high regard for me."
She said the lack of a pan-democratic candidate would not compromise the legitimacy of the poll, as an election by universal suffrage would generate enough differentials to justify an election of a choice.
Political commentator Ma Ngok said Beijing seemed to be "establishing some sort of expectation" of competition.
"That expectation was ... like the rivalry between Leung and Tang in 2012," said Ma, a Chinese University politicial scientist.
"What's interesting is that [Beijing] is telling Hongkongers in 2014 who they will be voting for in 2017. The plot seems to have been written. And that's not what a truly democratic race is like."

[Philip101]

Out of the three I would choose Anthony Leung.
Comes from a working class background, rose to the top of the banking sector and maintained good fiscal budget which Mr. Pringles took credit for. Seems less hardliner than the other 2.

[hullexile]

Meanwhile in Beijing...
The Guardian:
China bans wordplay in attempt at pun control (partially reproduced)


And in Hong Kong the punless tycoons are still laughing all the way to the banks they probably already own.

This communist party edict obviously covers the still largely cantonese-speaking Guangdong, but will they dare to try it here in the fiefdom of 689 & Co?

I wish this ban had come in a few years ago, I had to sit through three hours of a comedy show which seemed to be based entirely on puns. As a non-Chinese speaker it was hell.

Seriously though, it seems the act of a powerful elite realising they are losing control of the hearts and minds.

[Mefisto]

The point is that anyone who is allowed by the CCP to partake in such a pre-determined "race" is also guaranteed to be owned by the CCP.

There are no lesser evils here, even if that might be nominal presentation if the luxury car-loving A. Leung was to be lined up with the known nasties.