Milan: Chinese are not qualified to be discriminated

Chinese are not qualified to be discriminated

Translated by Chen-t'ang 鎮棠, Written by 米蘭 (Milan)
Original: http://www.passiontimes.hk/article/05-26-2014/15486 

(Image source: 浮世繪)

According to international practice, "Discrimination" is a differential treatment towards a special group of people, merely on identity or categorisation but not personal qualities. The earth is a planet owned by all human beings, so everyone ought to receive fair treatment. Rights come with obligations. When your efforts paid are the same as others, but you receive differential treatments because of your look, identity, gender or age - then it's discrimination.

Look! When everyone pays the same effort, contributes the same, or obeys the law in the same way, yet does not receive fair treatment - that's DISCRIMINATION! 

In a civil society, DON'T EVER ABUSE THE WORD 'DISCRIMINATION' TO COVER YOUR MISTAKES when you do not follow the local law and culture, and are blamed and scolded! You gotta know, ONE HAVE TO BE QUALIFIED TO BE DISCRIMINATED in a civilised city!

What? Aren't they victims? Why are we talking about "QUALIFIED" or not? 

Any normal Hong Kong permanent resident (sooner or later) pays taxes and has civic awareness - they won't and dare not urinate/defecate in the hustle-and-bustle area. And many Chinese immigrants came to Hong Kong to be 'New Hongkongers', and apply for dole in the Social Welfare Department blatantly! If you are not able to make a living in Hong Kong, why the hell are you coming? Fine, maybe you are the underprivileged, you cannot survive in a civilised city and want taxpayers to take care of you. So, spending Hong Kong taxpayers' money and breaking the law and order in Hong Kong in an unbridled manner at the same time - what the hell logic is this? You don't learn traditional characters nor Hong Kong Cantonese, and you jump queues and so and so ... you got so many "records", and you still dare to use the word DISCRIMINATION to defend when you are wrong!

Make it clear - those recent new immigrants are not contributing to Hong Kong. Their personal qualities are far different from Hongkongers. People telling you how to do when you are wrong is a way to teach you how can you be qualified to be discriminated. If you spend so many efforts coming to Hong Kong, you shall forget the bad habits in your hometown, and be a good, civilised Hongkonger!

For those Chinese tourists, you do not have to learn merits of Hongkongers if you don't want to be a Hongkonger, but you should understand the meaning of "do as the Romans do" (入鄉隨俗, an equivalent idiom in Chinese).  You dare to wash your feet in the Louvre, sign your name on the Pharaoh Tomb, steal gems in Hokkaido and defecate in Hong Kong - what you do is utterly unacceptable by civilised countries. All these hatred feelings make you, overweening yet offensive people, unhappy because you feel that you are the big spender but you are humiliated, right? Because you INSULT OTHERS' CULTURE BEFORE OTHERS HATE YOU. Such hatred is a kind of despise rather than discrimination. Because YOU ARE NOT QUALIFIED TO BE DISCRIMINATED!

Some Chinese might say "We cannot find a toilet, so we defecate on streets" or "Westerners urinate everywhere too, are their urine especially tasty?".... It's a Chinese logic. But what about this: there are murderers in every countries, but why are there still provisions punishing murders? Wrong behaviours are wrong indeed. It does not make you right even if you point out someone is wrong! If you do not want to respect people from places other than China, then spend your money in China. The world does not want to accommodate parvenu who do not know manners!

Fine, no matter you can understand or not, you are not qualified to be discriminated, mainland Chinese. We will discuss the matter of discrimination on the day you are no longer despised!

Kenneth Cheung: Co-exist with AIDS for two decades

Co-exist with AIDS for two decades

Translated by Chen-t'ang 鎮棠, Spoken by Kenneth Cheung Kam-hung
Original: http://www.vjmedia.com.hk/articles/2014/05/15/72344 

[It is a tapescript of Cheung speaking on a TV programme on Anhui TV, China.]

At the end of 1995, after three months of fever, diarrhoea and pneumonia, I was suffering from breath difficulties. I entered the hospital, and the doctor asked me to do a HIV test. It was positive.

Since working in an AIDS organisation as a volunteer, then starting my own charity, and studying in social work in the last few years, I have gradually 'co-existed with AIDS for nearly two decades'.

Some might say, "There are lots of difficulties out there, why standing out?" 

True indeed, there are always discrimination. But we have to know why are we standing out here. If we just sit and wait until our families and friends are ready to accept us - will there by such a day? Why will they understand more? Why is the society more and more advanced? That's because some people stood out!

I came to this programme today, because I would like more audience to see a real AIDS patient.

Discrimination is more scary than AIDS itself!

Thus, many patients are not optimistic and active. In these years, I have encountered many sad cases. They carried HIV, and were forced to quit school, jobs, aspirations. They cannot be civil servants, teachers, policemen, lawyers because they cannot pass through the body check. Some of them even run away from home. Some patients had other chronic diseases or had some accidents, and were rejected by hospitals. When their lives were in jeopardy, no doctors are willing to do surgery for them. Some are depressed, and ended their lives.

Through advancement of medicine and regulation of my body, my situation is now quite stable. I had my follow-up consultation every three months now.

My CD4 Index (which reflects my immunity) was 8 in 1995, but after the cocktail therapy was invented, my CD4 remains between 500 to 700 in the past decade, which lies within normal range. The HIV content are way below 20, which is incomparable to millions of HIV back in 1995.

China has promulgated the "Four Frees and One Care Policy" for ten years already. Now the patients receiving free treatment can kill 99.99% of their AIDS virus in their bodies with medicine. When the virus content are below inspection level, their immunity can gradually recover. So now, AIDS is just a chronic disease.

If it is spotted out earlier, patients can co-exist with very little amount of virus, and go to work, study, travel, love, marry and live up to their grey years as commoners!

We should get rid of the spectre of death pyramid and fear of AIDS.

These years, I felt that I am capable of changing something - giving care and hope to others. I feel that I am obliged and responsible in doing this. 

Because I believe changing the world starts from oneself.

Thank God for giving me a special play for my life, a challenging role for me to experience a wonderful life.

In the future, I will continue my charity work, and chase after my Rainbow China dream!

Last but not least, I would like to encourage patients in China, and end this with my talk today:

"You don't insist on things for having seen the hope, but because only if you insist on them can you see the hope."

「我們不是因為看到了希望才去堅持，而是因為堅持了才會看到希望。」

Favabean: Can Chinese Be Not Guilty for Institutional Mistakes?

50% Chinese Are Accomplices: Can They Be Not Guilty for Institutional Mistakes?

Translated by Chen-t'ang 鎮棠, Written by Fava Bean
Original: http://www.vjmedia.com.hk/articles/2014/05/11/72017 

(photo via cc Flickr user Jonathan Kos-Read)

Some people would like to say, CCP and innocent Chinese people shall be separated. I will only ask: A person cannot be responsible for an institution, but what about a group of people? Are they obliged to defend the institution?

Lu Xun decided to write rather than be a doctor a hundred years ago when he witnessed the indifference of Chinese when they saw their compatriots were killed by the Japanese. He then wrote a lot to criticise those flunkeys and morons, and these articles are still valid nowadays. Why? Because Chinese people had not improved over 100 years.

The writer of Frog, a novel about birth planning in China by Mo Yan, said the novel is a confession to his wife. He feared of losing his military position and forced his wife to abort. Is this the wrongs of the institution? Yes it is, but is it that an individual can get rid of all responsibilities when the institution wronged him/her? Quote Mo, "Most people are still in a society where people accuse their society and others. They magnify others' mistakes, and tell how they are suppressed by the society repeatedly . But few will act like Pa Kin (巴金) and Zhou Yang (周揚). They reflect upon themselves whether they had harmed others and themselves. Is it fair to pass the buck to a person when there is such a huge social catastrophe? It isn't. So in my opinion, if everyone does not go through a thorough reflection, if there will be another Cultural Revolution in the future, it will still be prevalent.

The writer of The Evil of Banality, Hannah Arendt once said, "Politically, subordination means support." (translated, cannot find original text) So, when there are people to defend for more than a half of Chinese, and ask people to separate the Chinese society and people, I must say you cannot blame all on the CCP. CCP just know how to take advantages from Chinese (industrious without blaming), and follow the inferiority of Chinese. What is the banality of evil? Not all Chinese are surnamed Lai [Translator's note: in Cantonese when one criticises a person surnamed Lai means the person often blame others]. We must admit that the hegemony of CCP is caused by at least half of the Chinese people, who are the accomplices.

Some Ukrainian protesters once said, "It is inborn for everyone in a democratic country to defend democracy." East European countries eventually get back their land after long time of authoritarian rule; Taiwanese can also fight for democracy beside the 'unificationist' KMT. Although the democratic institution is rather young in Taiwan with lots of rooms of improvement, but they are still improving. And Chinese, I hate people tarring with the same brush. Those who feel excited when they see Chinese activists, and say Chinese do also response actively, listen: Let me say there are ten thousand activists in China. How about other 1.39999 billion Chinese? Do they concern, or mock them?

At the end of the day, if they're happy, that's fine. Your democracy is by no means 'higher class' than the lifestyle they choose. Why bother seeking excuses for them?

Ching's Diatribe to Hong Kong: Officials and Whores

Ching's Diatribe to Hong Kong: Officials and Whores

Translated by Chen-t'ang 鎮棠, Written by Ching Tip-yi (程蝶衣)
Original: Press here  

(Image by Tomas Castelazo via Wikimedia Commons)

What are the differences between high-ranking officials and whores?

Whores earn a living by using the mouth below. If it doesn't work, then they'll have to sell their behind.
Officials earn a living by using the mouth above. Whether it works or not, they'll have to sell their behinds.
Whores take personal things for public's use.
Officials take public things for personal use.
Whores definitely charge when they work.
Officials definitely charge no matter they work or not.
Whores won't reject mainlander patrons, as long as they pay enough money.
Officials won't treat Hongkongers as patrons, even though you pay all taxes.

高官同妓女既分別喺邊？
妓女用下面把口搵食，下面把口唔得就先要賣埋後面。
高官用上面把口搵食，上面把口得唔得都要賣埋後面。
妓女私器公用。
高官公器私用。
妓女做野一定要收錢。
高官做唔做野都一定要收錢。
妓女唔會唔做大陸人生意，只要你比足錢。
高官唔會做香港人生意，就算你交足税。

"Dev't of Tourism Shall Not Make Locals Feel Repulsive": LegCo brief

Development of Tourism Shall Not Make Locals Feel Repulsive

Translated by Chen-t'ang 鎮棠, Written by Passion Times Editorial Team
Original: http://www.passiontimes.hk/article/05-08-2014/14886 

(Source: Passion Times and LegCo Brief)

The LegCo Secretariat disclosed the Research Brief on Individual Visit Scheme (IVS) of Chinese Tourists yesterday (7th May). It pointed out that the number of mainland tourists sky-rocketed since the announcement of the scheme in July, 2003, with total number of visitors surpassing the UK, South Korea and Japan.

Hong Kong received 54.3 million visitors in 2013 which exceeded the amount received by the United Kingdom (31.1 million), South Korea (12.2 million), Japan (10.4 million) and Australia (6.5 million).

54.3 million visitors were received in 2013, with three quarters being mainland tourists - more than double than the figure back in 2002, where only 16.6 million were received and 41.2% being mainland tourists.

The brief also said IVS brought a robust growth to the retail industry of Hong Kong. The proportion of mainland tourists' spending to the total revenue of retail industry in HK surged from 4.5% in 2004, to 22.2% in 2013. Not only do IVS tourists come Hong Kong more frequently, but also they have higher purchasing power. For example, they spend HKD$3593 per day, far higher than non-mainland tourists ($1970).

But the research also pointed out that IVS has raised concerns over the impact of mainland visitors' influx to locals. Tsuen Wan Line, Island Line and Kwun Tong Line have reached their fullest capacities; the retail shop rental levels surged for nearly 70% since 2004, and the number of cosmetics and personal care products shops escalated by 1500%, but the number of groceries selling household goods falled for nearly 30%. Shops are getting less varieties than before.

Lastly, it says that when the government assesses the carrying capacity (CC) of the HK Tourism, it is not sufficient to merely look at the CC of tourist attractions, but also to make references to one of the factor suggested by the EU - "Social Carrying Capacity". That means, the development extent of tourism shall not make locals feel repulsive, affect their identity recognition and hinder them from using public service or facilities.

CK: Most Pathetic Thing for Hongkongers is Giving Ourselves Up

Most Pathetic Thing for Hongkongers is Giving Ourselves Up

Translated by Chen-t'ang 鎮棠, Written by CK
Original: http://www.passiontimes.hk/article/05-07-2014/14877

This "Golden Week" of May 1st, there were less mainland visitors. The streets are more cosy. It has been a long time since our last comfortable moment on streets.

Often I hear people say, "Hong Kong will die without individual visit scheme (IVS) visitors." I always doubt: Does this mean Hong Kong has no abilities to do other business besides IVS tourists?

I actually feel, after 2003, the Chinese central government started the IVS, which has become the 'most comfortable' option. The city puts a lot of resources on the most 'comfortable' option, which makes people lazy to think of other alternatives - until this option 'backfires'.

I do not believe Hong Kong will die without IVS. Hong Kong is an international city at the end of the day. We do not survive only on earning money from a region/country. But when the most 'comfortable' option is at hand, there is a fat chance that the merchants of this city will transform themselves with determination.

So, people put all eggs into one basket without consciousness, allowing our economy gradually depending on a single nation, which makes us forget our survival skills. And some smart asses keeps on popping out: "We will die without XX."

We don't like some mainlanders having "almsgiver attitude" towards Hongkongers, but among Hongkongers, we can also hear some pathetic voices saying that we are becoming a sunset city that can only survive on alms. Every time I hear our people saying things like that, I always feel: Why are we so dejected and dispirited? Are we giving ourselves up already?

Wing: Overseas study tour? Disneyland? Until you fit the 'poor' title

Overseas study tour? Disneyland? Until you fit the 'poor' title

Translated by Karen L., Written by 翼雙飛 (Wing Wing)
Original:http://www.passiontimes.hk/article/05-04-2014/14654 



“Hey, Bighead, why are you so late? Come in!” Ah Wah opened the metal gate of his flat.

“Wow, Ah Wah, your place is not bad.”

“Yea. The intake was launched last year. How about some PES time first?” Ah Wah switched on the game console next to the television right after he closed the metal gate of his flat. “Sure. By the way, where’d you been in Summer?” asked Ah Wah.

“My father took me to Wetland Park. What about you? Did you go to Disneyland?” Bighead pointed at a Mickey Mouse cap on a side table.

“Yea. Disneyland gave us free tickets. We didn't have to pay for a cent.”

“Eh? I've never been to Disneyland...it takes four hundreds something for one...” annoyed Bighead.

Ah Wah resumed, “I also joined an overseas study tour to Germany! Do you still remember that I went to the Lunar New Year Cup early this year for free? I really wanted to watch a soccer game when I was in Germany, but all of them were sold out. Can’t have one even I was willing to pay.”

Ah Wah's mother took out two cans of cola from the kitchen and asked Bighead, “Boy, do you want a cola?” Then she went, “Ah Wah, have you handed in the 'exemption form' to your teacher?”

“Oops, I forgot to.”

“Games, games, games...Then do it tomorrow! Otherwise, you won’t have the school textbook assistance and the subsidy for Internet access charges!”

Bighead stayed till 6 in Ah Wah’s apartment in the public housing estate and went home, an old tenement building in Yau Ma Tei with no elevators. He climbed 7-floor stairs and got home with sweat running down his back as usual. He opened the metal gate of a flat and came to a small butchered room through a crooked corridor.

He got no air con at “home”, so he was going to take a shower to cool himself down. But somehow it happened to run out of water, so he had no choice but to leave the washroom. And then he ran into Mr. Chan, one of his flatmates, who lived in the butchered room next to his. 

“Boy, no water for the whole building today. Gotta clean the water storage tank. Hey, excuse me, I gotta take a leak.” Mr. Chan told Bighead and then rushed in the washroom.

The blues filled in his mind. He lied on bed. Soon later, his father was back, with one hand taking two bags of takeaways for tonight and another hand holding several clumsy thick folders. “Pa, what are these?” said Bighead.

His father replied, “these are some reading materials of the accountant examination,” and handed Bighead one of the takeaways.

After a few bites of meal, Bighead can’t help to ask, “Pa, I wanna go to Disneyland and I wanna watch soccer games in Europe.”

“My boy, If you want to be there, you’ll have to study harder, okay? I've never been to Europe, and I’m still studying to add value to myself, just for a better future.”

“Pa, you have worked day and night, and I have always stayed top 3 in the form. I’m better than Ah Wah, way better! But because his parents got no jobs and enjoyed CSSA, all they need to do is to say it out loud ’We are poor’, and they can have everything. New flat, soccer games for free, Disneyland tickets for free and Community Care Fund to overseas study tour in Europe. All the luxuries you and I would never have, just because of that identity! Why do I have to study harder and harder? All I know is, they've got better lives than we do. Tell me, how can I hope for a ‘better future’ of hard work?”