I guess I've just had far too many experiences with the mainland Chinese. Some of them have been bad. Call me jaded and cynical. I think it more along the lines of "wisdom".
Two recent newspaper articles from the International Herald struck me recently. I quote them here, as they have some very relevant, though hidden, appropriate comments when it comes to dealing with mainland Chinese.
Two recent newspaper articles from the International Herald struck me recently. I quote them here, as they have some very relevant, though hidden, appropriate comments when it comes to dealing with mainland Chinese.
In Hong Kong, no looking back at Britain
By Keith Bradsher
Thursday, April 26, 2007
HONG KONG: The Hong Kong government on Thursday closed the pier through which British governors had arrived and departed for decades, as a British diplomat said a few blocks away that although his country remained committed to its former colony, relations with Hong Kong had become "just another foreign relationship."
No senior Hong Kong officials showed up for the speech by Stephen Bradley, the British consul general. Some went instead to the airport to greet the arrival of two pandas, donated by the Chinese government to live at a Hong Kong amusement park. Donald Tsang, Hong Kong's chief executive, was off visiting a trade show in central China.
With the approach of the 10th anniversary, on July 1, of Britain's return of Hong Kong to Chinese rule, three more indicators of dwindling British influence and increasingly pervasive Chinese sway came together on one day: the closing of Queen's Pier, the British diplomat's speech and the arrival of the pandas.
Hong Kong is still home to 265,000 holders of British passports.
Annual trade between Hong Kong and Britain has quadrupled in the past two decades, to $13.5 billion. British companies still control the dominant airline here, Cathay Pacific, and much of the pricey downtown real estate that is occupied by shops offering international brands like Tiffany and Chanel.
But while Prince Charles came for the return of Hong Kong in 1997, the Chinese government has pointedly not invited leaders from Britain or any other country to attend the 10th anniversary celebrations.
President Hu Jintao of China is expected to preside instead over a ceremony that will emphasize Hong Kong's Chinese heritage and permanence as part of what Chinese officials like to describe as the motherland.
In a rare speech examining Hong Kong's progress since its return to Chinese rule, Bradley ticked off a series of British cultural events to be held here this year, including an exhibition of treasures from the British Museum. But except for the release of a commemorative book, all of the events are to be held in August or later. The government-run museums and concert halls of Hong Kong are booked solid with shows of Chinese art, Chinese archaeological finds and Chinese music during the weeks before and after July 1.
"The colonial relationship is far behind us," Bradley said at the Foreign Correspondents' Club. "For us, Hong Kong is just another foreign relationship now, just as for Hong Kong we are another country - though of course we retain a special affection for and a special interest in Hong Kong, which I like to think is reciprocated, at least by some."
Hong Kong's economy is now closely intertwined with mainland China's, not Britain's. Investment banks, shipping lines and insurance companies that used to see Hong Kong as a base for doing business across Southeast Asia now use it as their headquarters for operations focused on China.
Queen's Pier will be dismantled - and later rebuilt at an undetermined location - as part of a land reclamation project for the construction of a harborfront highway with a shopping mall on top. The project will partly block the harbor views of another British institution, the Asian headquarters of HSBC, which in any case has already been literally overshadowed by a much taller Bank of China tower nearby, designed by I.M. Pei.
Some residents are still nostalgic for Britain's 157-year rule of Hong Kong. A retired Hong Kong Chinese couple came to Queen's Pier on Wednesday afternoon and spoke fondly of the days when British governors still used it.
"I miss the British very much - the British government contributed a lot to the development of Hong Kong," said the husband, a retired building manager. He initially gave his name but later asked that it not be used, an increasingly common occurrence in Hong Kong as many grow nervous about the extent to which mainland China may someday tighten control.
The couple was the exception in coming to say farewell to the pier, which was largely deserted except for a group of older men who had taken over the benches for chess matches, and showed no interest in discussing history or politics.
By contrast, the demolition of the downtown Star Ferry terminal last December, to make way for the same land reclamation project, triggered scuffles that pitted the police against protesters, who saw the building as a part of Hong Kong's own heritage.
Near the end of his speech, Bradley held up a small white porcelain pot decorated with a blue image of a pavilion with weeping willows by a lake. He explained that it was made in China around 1790, filled with tea leaves and sent to Britain, where a later owner had an English artist apply a layer of gilt to the corners.
British influence in Hong Kong might prove like the gilt, eventually wearing off with the passage of time, Bradley said.
But he added his hope that, "Hong Kong is not like this container at all, but is a real amalgam from which the non-Chinese elements simply cannot be extracted but are integral, and have become part of the Chinese clay from which the pot is made."
By Keith Bradsher
Thursday, April 26, 2007
HONG KONG: The Hong Kong government on Thursday closed the pier through which British governors had arrived and departed for decades, as a British diplomat said a few blocks away that although his country remained committed to its former colony, relations with Hong Kong had become "just another foreign relationship."
No senior Hong Kong officials showed up for the speech by Stephen Bradley, the British consul general. Some went instead to the airport to greet the arrival of two pandas, donated by the Chinese government to live at a Hong Kong amusement park. Donald Tsang, Hong Kong's chief executive, was off visiting a trade show in central China.
With the approach of the 10th anniversary, on July 1, of Britain's return of Hong Kong to Chinese rule, three more indicators of dwindling British influence and increasingly pervasive Chinese sway came together on one day: the closing of Queen's Pier, the British diplomat's speech and the arrival of the pandas.
Hong Kong is still home to 265,000 holders of British passports.
Annual trade between Hong Kong and Britain has quadrupled in the past two decades, to $13.5 billion. British companies still control the dominant airline here, Cathay Pacific, and much of the pricey downtown real estate that is occupied by shops offering international brands like Tiffany and Chanel.
But while Prince Charles came for the return of Hong Kong in 1997, the Chinese government has pointedly not invited leaders from Britain or any other country to attend the 10th anniversary celebrations.
President Hu Jintao of China is expected to preside instead over a ceremony that will emphasize Hong Kong's Chinese heritage and permanence as part of what Chinese officials like to describe as the motherland.
In a rare speech examining Hong Kong's progress since its return to Chinese rule, Bradley ticked off a series of British cultural events to be held here this year, including an exhibition of treasures from the British Museum. But except for the release of a commemorative book, all of the events are to be held in August or later. The government-run museums and concert halls of Hong Kong are booked solid with shows of Chinese art, Chinese archaeological finds and Chinese music during the weeks before and after July 1.
"The colonial relationship is far behind us," Bradley said at the Foreign Correspondents' Club. "For us, Hong Kong is just another foreign relationship now, just as for Hong Kong we are another country - though of course we retain a special affection for and a special interest in Hong Kong, which I like to think is reciprocated, at least by some."
Hong Kong's economy is now closely intertwined with mainland China's, not Britain's. Investment banks, shipping lines and insurance companies that used to see Hong Kong as a base for doing business across Southeast Asia now use it as their headquarters for operations focused on China.
Queen's Pier will be dismantled - and later rebuilt at an undetermined location - as part of a land reclamation project for the construction of a harborfront highway with a shopping mall on top. The project will partly block the harbor views of another British institution, the Asian headquarters of HSBC, which in any case has already been literally overshadowed by a much taller Bank of China tower nearby, designed by I.M. Pei.
Some residents are still nostalgic for Britain's 157-year rule of Hong Kong. A retired Hong Kong Chinese couple came to Queen's Pier on Wednesday afternoon and spoke fondly of the days when British governors still used it.
"I miss the British very much - the British government contributed a lot to the development of Hong Kong," said the husband, a retired building manager. He initially gave his name but later asked that it not be used, an increasingly common occurrence in Hong Kong as many grow nervous about the extent to which mainland China may someday tighten control.
The couple was the exception in coming to say farewell to the pier, which was largely deserted except for a group of older men who had taken over the benches for chess matches, and showed no interest in discussing history or politics.
By contrast, the demolition of the downtown Star Ferry terminal last December, to make way for the same land reclamation project, triggered scuffles that pitted the police against protesters, who saw the building as a part of Hong Kong's own heritage.
Near the end of his speech, Bradley held up a small white porcelain pot decorated with a blue image of a pavilion with weeping willows by a lake. He explained that it was made in China around 1790, filled with tea leaves and sent to Britain, where a later owner had an English artist apply a layer of gilt to the corners.
British influence in Hong Kong might prove like the gilt, eventually wearing off with the passage of time, Bradley said.
But he added his hope that, "Hong Kong is not like this container at all, but is a real amalgam from which the non-Chinese elements simply cannot be extracted but are integral, and have become part of the Chinese clay from which the pot is made."
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