Another bad couple of days for Hong Kong, and not just because of the Wuhan coronavirus :(

"Together, we fight the virus!" in disunited Hong Kong

I thought this was a sketch of Winnie the Pooh;

while a friend thought it was a depiction of a dog!

 

About the best news that'll be appearing in today's blog post is that no new record number of daily Wuhan coronavirus cases -- and, for that matter, deaths -- were set in Hong Kong yesterday and today.  At the same time, the number of daily new cases remain in the triple digits: with there being 106 new infections yesterday and 118 reported for today (bringing the overall total past the 3,000 mark to 3,002).  Also, there being one more coronavirus fatality recorded yesterday and today means that Hong Kong's number of coronavirus deaths has now gone up to 24 (with 17 of them having taken place since July came along).   

 

Yesterday, Food and Health Secretary Sophia Chan said she believes the number of locally-transmitted coronavirus cases will decrease over the next week or two, pointing to statistics showing that the transmission rate for it has already come down.  She also (finally) admitted that the evidence shows that Hong Kong's third Wuhan coronavirus wave has come by way of some of the more than 290,000 visitors to the city over the past few months who the government exempted from testing and quarantine.

 

All this not withstanding, Hong Kong's toughest anti-Wuhan coronavirus measures began being enacted today.  And, already, it has brought misery to a good number of people.  You've got the running enthusiasts who now have a better idea of what waterboarding feels like (by way of their masks getting drenched with sweat and their finding it torturous to try to breathe through its increasingly damp material) since mask-wearing is required in public spaces even when one's exercising.  

 

You've also got the restauranteurs fearing that their establishments will be driven to close because of the dining ban.  And more heartwrenching still has been the sight of the likes of construction workers and a good number of blue-collar folks forced to have their lunch under the burning sun or pelting rain (Hong Kong had both today) since eateries can only sell takeout food under the latest rulings.

 

And amidst all this, the political persecutions are continuing.  A Tweet about this by Quartz writer Mary Hui is worth quoting in its entirety:  "Where[as] last year's defining moments were of the viscerally brutish kind—police violence, thugs beating up civilians, etc—this year's are of the "banal" flavour: academics fired for their politics, elections reportedly 'postponed,' a sweeping law signed into force late at night."

 

With regards to the "academics fired for their politics" part: Two days ago, it was announced that social welfare sector legislative representative Shui Ka-shun -- who shared his thoughts so movingly in Evans Chan's We Have Boots -- has lost his social work lectureship at Hong Kong Baptist University.  Then yesterday, it was legal scholar Benny Tai's turn to be sacked -- despite his holding a tenured position at the University of Hong Kong.   

 

If truth be told, the punitive actions taken against Shui and Tai by their erstwhile employers were ones many of us saw coming for some time; this on account of their having incurred the ire of the powers that be by way of their having played prominent parts in the Occupy phase of the Umbrella Movement back in 2014.  It doesn't mean that it's not upsetting though; this not least because of what they represent -- particularly that against Tai by the alma mater of Sun Yat-sen.  (More than incidentally, that the Liaison Office decided to issue a statement about it underlies how big a deal this is -- and the fact that it did it so quickly points to the decision having been ordered by it.)

Still the recent blow that's hit me harder is the announcement last week by filmmaker Jevons Au (Ten Years; Trivisa; Distinction) that he's felt obliged to leave Hong Kong for Canada.  Like with Nathan Law, I don't begrudge him for deciding that the coming into being of China's security legislation for Hong Kong has made this part of the world no longer a safe place for him to be.  (As exhibit A, witness the arrest -- on the suspicion of inciting secession under the new national security law -- of the 19-year-old former convenor of the disbanded Studentlocalism group, Tony Chung, this evening.)  

 

Rather, what pains me is that Hong Kong cinema's lost one of those individuals who I was hoping would be still be making (distinctively) Hong Kong movies after the more senior likes of Ann Hui, Tsui Hark and Johnnie To decide to call it a day.  And, this even more so: that his decision to leave is a strong sign that Jevons Au is no longer the optimistic revolutionary he was just two years ago.  And should it not be clear: he's probably still a revolutionary; just not optimistic about our beloved Hong Kong's prospects anymore. :(