http://www.hiradio.net/images/action/124_hiradio.html [chinese blood, irish heart] - DEFUNCT: July 2008

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Confirmation of SCMP photographer's non-aggression

In the following footage by Cable TV News, it reveals how the injured police officer was indeed hit by a camera on the head, and not by SCMP photographer Felix Wong. The narrator even confirms this yet he fails to exonerate Felix. Moments later other police officers converge and restrain Felix, someone shouting "Why did you hit him?" While Felix responds "he pushed me!" That police officer now bending down is the same guy who got hit by the camera, so I don't understand why the cops would blame Felix for the incident. Unless they're deliberately trying to frame him? Furthermore, why is that cop being treated for injuries to his groin?? With this strong evidence I doubt those pigs will bring charges against Felix.

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Saturday, July 26, 2008

SCMP photographer detained... and released

It's certainly been a bad few weeks for Hong Kong journalists: Apple Daily's Norman Choy who was denied entry into China; Now TV crew being told to wipe their tapes; Cable TV News 'assaulted' by police; damage to TVB's equipment by police; and today the detention of my colleague Felix Wong, a photographer. (And let's all give a quiet nod to Ching Cheong)
It was quite a tense day at the news room, I called him repeatedly in the afternoon to no avail. So when he walked back into the office - intact - later in the day needless to say we were all breathed a sigh of relief.
The details of his arrest are still sketchy - police allege he injured a police officer during their forceful removal. Apparently the officer is in a serious condition in hospital? The all-towering Xinhua has already come out and fingered the blame on Felix. Although he's scheduled to leave soon, the PSB say they may bring charges against him. I kept playing this scene from ATV News over and over again... it's the incident where police allege Felix 'kicked' a police officer: (In Cantonese)



At 2:07 when a cop drags down the cameraman off his ladder, his giant cam seems to have struck him in the head because for half-a-second maybe you see the cop bend down. Felix then appears on screen behind the fallen cameraman. Follow the cop who's bending over in pain with his hand covering his head. Same guy? For some reason Felix and the wounded cop are pushed towards together like they're telling Felix 'Look what you've done to him!' Fast forward a bit where Felix is being dragged away with a seemingly wounded officer. I can't say for sure if this was the cop Felix allegedly wounded or the one who got struck by the camera. But both are of the same rank (Captain).

I wonder if the Hong Kong Liaison Office will file any complaints against certain police... the Cable TV News reporter got man-handled quite roughly after all by those brutes. But from my experience I know Hong Kong crews have a certain tenacity when reporting back home... perhaps because there's so much competition as well as little room to maneuver, so some crews can get quite aggressive. Judging from the TV news footage I saw, the guys really didn't want to leave the press area and actively filmed their retreat. At the same time the mainland police revealed their usual brutish tactics so therefore a 'scuffle' was certainly going to happen!
But you know what, I'm glad us HK media guys have been getting a lot of attention. It goes to show how paranoid and scared the mainland government is of our media outlets, precisely because we're also Chinese. But we're really not! We can look like them, talk like them, enter China without a visa, blend in, yet free of government shackles - we are foreign media, but in disguise!

Here's a statement released by SCMP:

In regard to the detention of SCMP photographer Felix Wong by the Beijing police, the Editorial Department of the South China Morning Post makes the following statement (July 25, 2008):


Felix was detained this morning after being involved in a scuffle between Beijing policemen and members of the Hong Kong media while covering the sale of Olympic tickets. He was released this afternoon after paying a visit to the police officer he inadvertently hurt during the scuffle to express his regret. He has undertaken to assist the authorities with investigations into the incident.


It is most unfortunate that scuffles broke out between members of the Hong Kong media and Beijing policemen responsible for maintaining order at the points of sale. We believe Felix was just trying to do his job as a photojournalist. Both journalists and policemen, as well as the tens of thousands of Beijingers who queued up for the tickets, were victims of the relevant authorities’ failure to make proper arrangements for the orderly sale of tickets.


In regard to the detention of SCMP photographer Felix Wong by the Beijing police, the Editorial Department of the South China Morning Post makes the following statement (July 25, 2008):


Felix was detained this morning after being involved in a scuffle between Beijing policemen and members of the Hong Kong media while covering the sale of Olympic tickets. He was released this afternoon after paying a visit to the police officer he inadvertently hurt during the scuffle to express his regret. He has undertaken to assist the authorities with investigations into the incident.


It is most unfortunate that scuffles broke out between members of the Hong Kong media and Beijing policemen responsible for maintaining order at the points of sale. We believe Felix was just trying to do his job as a photojournalist. Both journalists and policemen, as well as the tens of thousands of Beijingers who queued up for the tickets, were victims of the relevant authorities’ failure to make proper arrangements for the orderly sale of tickets.




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Friday, July 25, 2008

Clever spamming technique...

Being interested in worldly news, and helped some what by my profession, I spotted a rather peculiar email titled "Cambodia declares war on Thailand". I was like, shit! I clicked it and guess what it read inside: 'Pictures of your wife cheating you click here'. Fuckin' hell. It's SPAM!!!
I browsed my bulk folder for similar titles and here's another few I unearthed:

'Hilary Clinton Sex Tape Shocker'
'Breaking News Headlines and Video'
'Horse kicks Harrison Ford in Stomach'
'JFK memoirs reveal affair'
'Pope shot in attack in Australia'
'Oil found in California - millions promised'

I admit I would've fallen for some of these headlines but it just goes to show how clever (or desperate?) SPAM techniques have become. Some of these losers actually pay attention to current affairs to make up enticing titles! Possibly one of the worst jobs ever huh?

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Thursday, July 24, 2008

Naadam: The Mongolian Olympics

At first I riled myself for working during my holiday in Mongolia, but alas it's labour of love that led me to produce a video on Naadam. It was all thanks to a rather knowledgeable Mongolian wrestler whom I proceeded to interview and hence produce something out of it.


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Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Just a quick post to stroke my ego...

Nah, not really. One of my haphazard photos splashed the front page of the SCMP today. It is ironic however that I didn't use (or bring) my awesome Nikon DSLR with me that fateful day I took the new Airport Express. It was the one time I didn't bring it because I feared security might think I was with the press what with all the equipment so I just brought the camcorder. Ah well, just my own little complaint. Just so you know us guys in multimedia almost never get a byline in the paper so I'll relish this! (I even got three!) Go team!!

Once again the designers didn't have enough room for a video logo so I'll be a dear and post it here:

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Sunday, July 20, 2008

ARGH!!!

Why oh why I ask that two of my favourite bands which had previously broken up and reunited since played in Dublin in the past year??? I really do want to cry. Seriously.

Here's a clip of the mighty newly reformed Rage Against the Machine hammering it up at Oxygen:

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Friday, July 18, 2008

Racial damnation!

A colleague of mine broke a story yesterday about certain bars in 'Sanlitun' being ordered not to serve black people and Mongolians during the Olympics. It's caused quite a stir among our circles and the blogosphere with people desperately trying to confirm it.
The thing with black people is that police raided a bar earlier this year to clamp down on vice, but they seemingly only targeted black people. They even arrested the son of the Grenadian ambassador. Apparently, some blacks in the neighbourhood of Sanlitun are known to deal drugs.
Now, news of this is certainly going to rattle some cages. Although I'm sure my colleague is confident in his source, I really don't believe the Central Government would give such an audacious and racially discriminative order during such a multicultural and international event. Think of the backlash!! It would certainly put a dampener on China's 'coming out' party. (No, I don't mean China's gay)
As for the Mongolians? Perhaps because of many Mongolian prostitutes making their way here to earn some cash. They're kind of renowned in the vice circles in Beijing.


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Sunday, July 13, 2008

"From Super Power to Soviet Satellite"


The title of a book about Mongolian history. Quite fascinating. Hard to believe this country of 3 million so high up almost conquered the known world. And they threw it all away over some ritual of returning to Mongolia due to the death of Khaan.
I went there mainly to get away from the drudgery of work in Beijing and man, once I got to Camp Toilogt in Muren I fully realised how much I needed a vacation! The air was so crisp and clean, the water so fresh and clear. And the scenery! Wow! Literally takes the air out of your lungs. It would probably be a developer's dream since there are huge tracts of virgin land... waiting to be turned into concrete. Good thing I doubt that'll happen on a mass scale in my life time! Which of course definitely warrants a few more visits in the near future. One aspect I'll also miss are the spectacular starry nights. Because Mongolia is so high up above sea level, the stars even seemed a little closer. I only noticed this after going out for a noctural pee, and I stood staring up at the sky for almost 20 minutes. I had then realised how much I missed this feeling of feeling so humble and mesmerised about how small and insignificant I am. (In a good way)


Don't recommend Ulaanbatar though, what a dump. I guess it's hard for a nomadic race to get used to city life, which pretty much explains why everything's so haphazard and dirty. You got to respect the Mongolians though, their history certainly demands respect of them.

Pics of Muren & Ulaanbatar and a secondary set of the crazy runners who did the Mongolia Sunrise to Sunset 100km marathon which was the main reason my friend invited me to go. Photographing the runners really inspired me to try a marathon. Although I like running and jogging, the idea of a marathon never crossed my mind. But seeing them how happy and fulfilled they were after completing the gruelling course really inspired me to try... not 100km of course, a half-marathon first at least! Check out www.ultramongolia.com for details of their next race.

It was also good timing since the trip included a visit to Mongolia's Naadam festival, an annual sports event featuring the 'Three Manly Sports': Horse racing, archery and wrestling. The wrestling is well-known - big half-naked guys wearing speedos... manly indeed.

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Friday, July 04, 2008

Unusually clear day yesterday... and sweltering

Once again BOCOG herded us journos like sheep for an excursion to the yet opened Olympic Forest Park. But yesterday was by far the worst co-ordinated. Before I begin complaining bear in mind it was almost 40 degrees Celsius under a blaring sun. Firstly the timing was tight as it took quite a while to get to the Park from the Media Centre. There would be a presser at the centre 1.5 hours later, giving us little time to do our work at the Park. As the PR lackey conveyed on the coach telling us we'd only have 20 minutes... so it begs me wondering why they picked such a tight schedule??
Anyway, once we got there it was chaos. The cops kept us outside for 10 minutes, blocking other visitors and leaving us baking in the sun. OK, then we pack the parking lot when they realise there's not enough carts for all of us. There was no queue, every one was for the themselves clamouring onto them. And then they got delayed, we were waiting here and there with no air con.
We took the carts to the highest point known as 'Tian Jin' or heavenly view. It was quite impressive. Even more so since we could see Bird's Nest almost a mile away on an actual clear day!! The last batch of journos returned to the Media Centre and the presser was delayed by over an hour. If that day wasn't hard enough, I had to do an all-nighter to edit two videos for today. I literally collapsed when I got home. Enjoy.








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Not a pro or anti-China comment...

I'm starting to think there's a subconscious conspiracy against China, especially from western intellectuals/writers (yes, like me). It's like some they view China with scorn, jealousy and a bit of snobiness (spotted some colleagues already). They deliberately poke holes at China for the sake of it. It's like okay, the Olympics are coming up, it's prime time to make them look bad to the world... Where does it come from? Is it because they're jealous of China's rising dominance? They don't like the idea of a powerful non-white, non-democratic country? They feel their notions of democracy and civil rights gives them the authority to lambast? Most wire and foreign stories I read tinge with criticism. And sure, articles ought to criticise but I really wonder how their ideology and mentality leans. I really doubt if they go out there and fetch news with a purely 'objective' nature. I should start questioning another foreign journos next time on it. You find me a purely objective journalist!

Although I don't approve of many things the central government does, but if over a billion of its inhabitants are complacent and not too fussed about their apparent harsh policies, who am I to judge? Oh, and you might say that's because they've been brainwashed and lack the critical thinking needed... Really?? You think they're too dumb to know they're being oppressed? Pah, even if some do feel that way I won't be surprised if they're still complacent. With the permeation of western values you'd think lay people already know what democracy is? Or have you thought they actually don't want that? They know how their country is run.

An old Chinese-saying goes: 'Every family has its own rules'. I'm sick of foreign journos riding high on a pedestal like they're fucking saviours and bastions of democracy. Why don't you go home and fix your own country's problems first... because YES! No country's perfect!! Even democracies!!!

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Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Curse of the Olympic fuwas: Omens or pure coincidences?

Either way, the fuwas' connection to a string of disasters this year in China is too intriguing to ignore. First off I don't believe in omens since they attribute beliefs in a god/gods or supreme beings. But I will still analyse the facts from different sources...


Jingjing: a panda connected to Sichuan, the site of the Woolong panda preservation facility = Sichuan earthquake

The panda is the national symbol of China as well as an international symbol of environmentalism. Could China's massive cosumption of filthy coal and other environmental degredations be connected? On another note, a Chinese seismologist, Li Shihui from the Chinese Academy of Sciences said he had earlier predicted the earthquake would occur but American scientists described it as an 'oddity', saying they had been monitoring seismic activity in the region for over a year without any hints.


Huanhuan: a fire-bearing creature = Controversy over Olympic torch relay

The character's head piece comes from a design in the Mogao Caves of the famous Chinese Buddhist grottoes. Which begs the connection to Tibet since most protesters of the relay were so-called 'pro-Tibetan'.


Yingying: a rare antelope species originating from Tibet = Tibetan riots


Nini: a kite referencing to the Kite City of Weifang = train collision that killed 70 and injured 436


Beibei: a rare sturgeon fish originating from the Yangtze river = floods in Southern China and the death of one of five sturgeon fish which were presented as 'Olympic gifts' to Hong Kong.

The sturgeon fish was eaten by a barracuda only 2 days after they were given to Hong Kong. Baffled officials at Ocean Park say in the 10 years the barracudas had been kept there, they've never shown any aggression before.

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