The Tip of the Iceberg

Chinese media reports say officials from Guangdong Province have gambled away more than $3 million of public money in recent years.

They tend to go to Macau and play the tables like there's no tomorrow, or take a cruise from Hong Kong that goes to international waters to gamble, or bet on football matches.

The reports say some 50 officials have been investigated, and six jailed or punished.

Wu Xingkui got the heaviest sentence. He's the Chinese Communist Party's number two person in the town of Yunfu.

He got a four-year jail term for embezzling thousands of yuan to finance his gambling habit. According to one newspaper article, he was found guilty of losing 520,000 RMB ($76,000) on soccer bets, 70,000 on mahjong, and thousands on a cruise from Hong Kong in 2004.

Ironically Wu had conducted many campaigns against gambling, pornography and drugs.

Other officials found guilty were either jailed, had their CPC membership revoked, or put on probation in what the central government hopes is a clear warning that corruption is not tolerated.

However, if 50 were investigated and only six jailed so far, there could be many more officials in Guangdong who are frittering away public coffers on their own private joyride.

And if this is only in one province, imagine how much public money is misused in the rest of the country?

Double Exposure

Last January Hong Kong was all a twitter about Edison Chan's photographs with many well known female stars in licentious poses.

The trophy pics were leaked on the Internet and tested the SAR's laws on privacy and pornography.

And now almost a year later, actress Zhang Ziyi has found herself in her own storm of controversy.

In the last few days Chinese media have exposed pictures of the Forever Enthralled and Memoirs of a Geisha star sunning on a beach with her fiancee Vivi Nevo.

They show the Hollywood star in a red bikini and makes gymnastic poses that include doing the splits on the sand.

But then without the cover of umbrellas, she takes the top off and does what appears to be push-ups as Nevo watches her. She obviously didn't want tan lines.

The highlight reveals her lying on her stomach, her bikini bottom pulled down to reveal her buttocks and Nevo putting his hand on her right cheek and then bending over and kissing it.

Some Chinese bloggers complained about yet another foreigner seducing a Chinese woman away from her own race, while others critiqued her body.

Zhang was outraged by her cyber exposure in what she felt invaded her privacy and some netizens came to her defense.

One columnist tried to throw cold water on the controversy saying she was with her intended beloved and so it was considered appropriate for them to show their affection for each other in public; but in the Edison Chan case he was not in long-term relationships with those women and so those pictures are less moral.

Trying to split hairs on the distinction of these two cases is ridiculous.

What's interesting is that they test the public's expectations on their favourite stars and reactions to their behaviour.

But it's just another reminder to the stars that the moment they step out of their house, they are subjected to lens of the paparazzi; nothing is private anymore. And that's the life of a celebrity, whether they like it or not.

Poultry-Free Diet

China has reported a 19 year-old woman in Beijing died from avian flu or the H5N1 virus after she bought and gutted ducks from Hebei Province.

Health experts have gone around the Chinese capital as well as Tianjin and Hebei Province, testing for the virus.

And so far, China's agriculture ministry says there have been no other cases of avian flu found. "After tests for the virus and an epidemiological investigation, no trace of the bird flu virus was found in these three areas."

The woman's death is the first in the country in almost a year, the 21st reported to date by China.

However, foreign and domestic have not said whether health authorities have culled any fowl, especially the ones that were where the woman bought the infected ducks.

If this had happened in Hong Kong, there would have been an immediate culling of birds anywhere near the area where the bird flu virus was found. Confirming the presence of the H5N1 virus is only possible through autopsies as far as I know, that there is no way to test live fowl for the virus.

However, the only thing the ministry has done is to ban live poultry from entering Beijing, except those that are certified by the city's animal disease control authorities.

Does Beijing's authorities have sophisticated tests to check every live fowl that enters the city? And how do they determine if live poultry is certified? By showing a piece of paper?

The city should be cooperating with the World Health Organization in this incident to prevent the spread of the virus or further cases from popping up in the near future.

In the meantime, most Beijing residents must be worried about eating poultry, after fears of melamine in milk and eggs.

We're having fewer food options in Beijing these days.

Talk about an incentive for weight loss...

Stamping Out Vulgarity

Some Chinese portals and websites try to increase traffic by posting pictures of scantily-clad young women.

Even some news outlets do this to increase the number of eyeballs on their websites.

However, the government doesn't think these media are setting a good example for Chinese citizens leering at these soft porn images.

And currently the China Internet Illegal Information Reporting Center (CIIIRC)under the Internet Society of China is cracking down on websites that contain "large amounts of low and vulgar content that violates social morality and damages the physical and mental health of youths."

The websites included Google, Baidu, Sina, and Sohu.

The CIIIRC demanded these 19 websites "seriously clean up their unhealthy and vulgar content", and invited netizens, the term used for people online, to report on any "illegal and unhealthy content on the Internet."

Most of the images are of young women wearing skimpy outfits and captured in seductive poses.

Compared to the pictures fallen Hong Kong star Edison Chan, the ones on the Chinese websites are very tame.

But then again, posting these images on websites could lead to a slippery slope...

Milking more Sympathy

Chinese dairy companies are trying to score brownie points with the public by apologizing on text messages via cellphones.

"We are deeply sorry for the harm caused to the children and the society. We sincerely apologize for that and we beg for your forgiveness."

The message added there was a compensation fund set up for the victims, including the families of thousands of babies who have urinary tract problems after drinking powdered milk contaminated with melamine.

However, many of the families were not impressed after finding out the financial compensation only amounted to about 2,000RMB or $292.64 each.

How does less than $300 per family even begin to help them pay for medical bills that are over 10 times that amount, let alone those parents who have lost their only child after drinking milk they thought would help them become healthy and strong?

Some of the families outraged by the pitiful amount are pushing for a class action lawsuit, but it's still not sure if the courts, who are under the central government, will listen to the case which would be unprecedented.

Meanwhile, the government is trying to look like it's taking control of the scandal by arresting and putting on trial those they claim are responsible for putting melamine, or know about the chemical being added to the milk.

The chairwoman of Sanlu, Tian Wenhua pleaded guilty to selling fake or substandard products at a trial in Hebei Province.

There was speculation that she would be executed for her part in the scandal, but now the court is mulling over giving her a life sentence instead.

Seventeen other people involved in producing, buying, selling and adding melamine to milk have also gone to trial.

The government can try to do all it can to give the appearance of punishing the guilty, but why not give parents justice rather than trying to hush them up?

They like the parents of children who died in the Sichuan earthquake want more. They don't just want compensation. They want the truth.

There is no price for that.

The Whole Gamut

During my trip to Hong Kong I talked to friends and family who have lost jobs because of the financial crisis.

One works for a bank and the financial institution has its hands tied not being able to do its job of lending and borrowing money.

Another works for a graphics design company and since he's been there for eight years, his compensation package should be big, but he doesn't expect to get the whole amount.

And another who is still chasing her old boss for back pay, couldn't even give her HK$1,000 last month for her to pay the rent. She had to call her landlord and explain the situation, who was luckily understanding.

However, there are other landlords who think they can get even more money in these tough times. A popular bakery in Hong Kong closed about a week ago after the landlord raised the rent to over HK$300,000 ($38,700) a month. How can the eatery pay that amount despite being busy all day? Imagine how many buns and tarts they'd have to sell?

In these lean times, one would think a landlord would prefer to have his or her space occupied than empty. Some people are just too greedy.

And then there are those who have had to downsize big time.

I heard about a woman who had a good job, lived in the tony Mid-Levels area with her two children who went to international schools where tuition is HK$10,000 ($1,290) a month. She also had a maid and a chauffeur.

But then this woman recently lost her job and has now been reduced to moving her family to a small apartment in Sha Tin in the New Territories minus the maid, chauffeur and car.

Meanwhile, a well-known clothing chain is trying to keep sales afloat with an interesting sales promotion.

Bossini, which produces casualwear, invites visitors to Hong Kong to enjoy a 20 percent on HK$800 or more on clothing provided they present their passport at the till.

Sales were pretty brisk at the Tsim Sha Tsui store even though many customers didn't reach the quota.

So 2009 will definitely be a test of who is most financially fit to weather the economic slowdown.

While things in Hong Kong appeared to be buoyant with the Christmas and New Year holidays, it will definitely be after Chinese New Year when things will become more apparent of how things will play out in the Special Administrative Region.

People are still buying, but being more careful with their consumer choices. They are demanding more for their buck and time is on their side.

Retailers, restaurants and other service-oriented industries are going to see it tough. But just like the 1997 financial crisis, Hong Kong will figure a way out and its people are resilient to keep going, somehow.

While service in this town is already much improved and visitor-friendly, the current economic slowdown will only result in even better service to cater to anyone willing to open their wallets.

Green Sanctuary

I have visited the Chi Lin Nunnery in Diamond Hill, Kowloon a few times before and it's a beautiful contrast to the fast pace of Hong Kong.

Nestled among tall apartment blocks, busy highways and shopping malls is a Buddhist temple built in Tang Dynasty architecture.

It cost billions of Hong Kong dollars to build, mostly raised by the help of Canto-pop stars and not a single nail was used in its construction.

It consists of a series of buildings, and inside are statues of Sakyamuni Buddha, the goddess of Mercy Guanyin and several other bodhisattvas.

We managed to go into the area where Sakyamuni sits in gold leaf before it closed for the day.

And if the statues and buildings can't create a tranquil atmosphere, the surrounding greenery does.

The pine trees and bonsai are lovingly manicured, flowers blooming at their best and not a weed in sight.

But even more impressive is the giant garden north of the nunnery. A winding path leads visitors to a pond with perhaps hundreds of Japanese koi over a foot long each, more pine trees, and flowers coaxed to bloom in Hong Kong's winter.

We all can't help but take lots of pictures. It's the ideal place for wedding pictures, but I was told later that even though the gardens are public land -- the Hong Kong government leases the land to the nunnery for HK$1 per year -- the nunnery runs the gardens and has strict rules when it comes to capturing the gardens on film, or digitally.

No wedding pictures are allowed or posing with toys or signs that may taint the garden's prisitine look. At one point, my cousin was thirsty and drank from a box drink, but was politely warned by a security guy that no eating or drinking was allowed.

In the middle of the park is a teahouse that offers expensive pots of tea (around HK$300) for visitors to sip while savouring the view.

I was told that while the garden was being constructed, trees from parts of China were used, but were taken first to Guangdong for acclimatization before they were planted in Hong Kong.

Despite the garden's stern rules, it's a wonderful, tranquil place in busy Kowloon that makes you stop and appreciate the natural things in life that are, naturally beautiful.