Tiger Head, Snake Tail
Leung doesn't like talking on the phone long distance.
In that way, he reminds me of my mother. She was raised during the
Depression in the U.S.; Leung was raised dirt-poor in the Chai Wan
district of Hong Kong by strangers from his mother's village. It pains
Leung (as it does my mom) to think about money spilling away by the
second as we speak, especially when he knows I'm coming back to Hong
Kong very soon.
So when I ask him to give me his take on the whole brouhaha over the special election to fill Ma Lik's Legislative Council seat, he stops our conversation with a most unsatisfying response: "You will be back in three weeks. We can talk about it later. It's just politics. "
And then he signs off with that distinctive Hong Kong "bye bye", with the first syllable spoken at a higher pitch than the second.
Leaving me to speculate about the strategic shifts and rapidly changing alliances in Hong Kong's fractuous pan-Democratic camp.
I feel funny writing so much here about Hong Kong politics, especially after spending so much time here in New York. I figure a lot of people who read this blog could care less about the inside political baseball of a city that's best known internationally as a financial services Mecca, not as a crucible of fledgling democracy facing a super-power that seems hell-bent on eradicating any trace of people power. But once you've been infected with the passion of the Hong Kong democracy advocates, it's hard to give up on them, even when they screw up or falter. Let's put it this way: some people are Yankees or Mets fans, I'm rooting for the Civic Party and the League of Social Democrats.
The situation with the Legco seat vacated by the death of Ma Lik, as far as I can discern from the Hong Kong newspapers is this: Regina Ip, the former dragon lady in charge of Hong Kong's Security, will probably run for the seat as a pro-Beijing candidate when the elections are held on December 2nd. Regina's been away from Hong Kong long enough for many people to forget about how much they hated her, and what a wicked witch she was when she was pushing for draconian "national security" laws in 2003.
You non-Hong Kongers can imagine Regina Ip as a Chinese version of Condoleeza Rice, a brainy but scary yes-woman who left public service to go to academia rather than the other way 'round. But now, like a Category 5 storm, she's reversing course again. Strangely, Hong Kong people seem to have forgotten Ip's most infamous anti-democracy utterance: "Adolf Hitler was elected by universal suffrage and yet he killed 7 million Jews." What remains in people's minds after her 4 year sojourn in the USA is Ip's name and prestige, which (as in the U.S.) can be enough to swing a tight district election.
Ip's ambitious. Most analysts think she's angling to be the next Chief Executive of Hong Kong. If she wins this contest, it will be an important step forward for her. However if she runs and loses, she's probably dead pork meat, politically speaking.
The opposition, pro-Democracy camp understands this, and so all the various parties have banded together and agreed to field one candidate, their strongest. They are planning to hold a party primary to decide who that will be.
How frustrating it is to watch Democrats squabble, in New York, in America or in Hong Kong! The very attributes that make them admirable from a philosophical perspective seem to be the things that work against them politically. Hong Kong's pan-democrats are now engaged in a messy broil. Some of the veteran party leaders have approached the only Hong Kong lady who can out-dragon the Dragon Ip: Hong Kong's former colonial administrator, Anson Chan (Fong On Saang). She has the respect, the prestige, the name-recognition, and the steely helmet-hairdo to take on Ms. Ip, and send her packing.
But Leung doesn't think Anson should get the nod. Not at all. And yesterday, in one of his marvelous uses of old-school four-character Cantonese aphorisms, he proclaimed to the Hong Kong press:
虎頭蛇尾
"Fu Tauh Seh Meih". Long Hair says Anson Chan has the "head of a tiger, the tail of a snake". She comes in roaring, and slithers out silently. In other words, she's a cop out and doesn't deserve to be the pan-Democrats' standard bearer.
I'm always telling Leung that he's too outspoken, that he's taking the wrong side of things, that he should cooperate more with the other democrats in the interest of pushing their agenda forward. What does it hurt to give a little? He always smiles, ignores me, and goes right on doing what he does (with exceptions. Thank god he scrapped the idea of the eyelid lift.)
But most of the time, Long Hair turns out to be right on the money, politically. I remember doubting his wisdom in attacking Donald Tsang almost as soon as he took office, when the Hong Kong CE had almost 90% approval ratings. Within 3 months, Tsang's honeymoon was over, and Long Hair's ill-timed criticisms were looking prophetic. Within 6 months, Long Hair and his allies had successfully launched their new grassroots opposition party, the LSD.
In this case, I'm with Long Hair. Anson Chan doesn't deserve to be the pan-Democratic candidate for this seat. She's been teasing the democrats for more than a year now, dangling her public popularity like a prize, then slithering back at the last minute, like a 1920s coquette in an Eileen Chang short story. If Anson Chan had real backbone, and a genuine urge to push the cause of univesal suffrage in HK, she would have accepted the role of sacrificial lamb and run for Chief Exec of Hong Kong last winter. Yeah, the game was rigged and she would have lost. But her beautiful, high-profile loss would have been a great gift to the Hong Kong people--and a righteous legacy for her.
She didn't have anything to lose, personally or politically by playing the Democrat's tiger--at 70, she's too old to run for CE in 2012, and the Beijing government would never back her anyway. But she didn't have the guts to do it. Anson Chan is too calculating to throw herself on the fire. I doubt she'll change her stripes and be moved by the entreaties of the old-line democratic leaders Martin Lee and Yeung Sam. She'll just tease for a while, then slip back into her nest.
The other evening here in New York, some of my Cantonese (well, and one Toisanese) friends arranged a going away treat for me. Yes, I have finally learned how to play mah johng. We played from 7 in the evening until 12 midnight, long enough for me to realize I will need at least a year, perhaps more, to even get respectable at this. Play one round of mah johng, and it seems easy, just like gin rummy only with cute tiles. But play any longer, and as your bank account diminishes and your pride is chewed to ribbons, you understand that the goal of this game is not simply to win. The goal of mah johng is to win while making everyone else lose.
Anson Chan is one of those mah johng players who cautiously saves up her tiles for the big, big win--only to be defeated by the player who "eats" (goes out) first.
And that could be Regina Ip. I hope it isn't. In any case, the winds are bound to blow in many different directions between now and election time.
I can't wait to get back to Hong Kong.
So when I ask him to give me his take on the whole brouhaha over the special election to fill Ma Lik's Legislative Council seat, he stops our conversation with a most unsatisfying response: "You will be back in three weeks. We can talk about it later. It's just politics. "
And then he signs off with that distinctive Hong Kong "bye bye", with the first syllable spoken at a higher pitch than the second.
Leaving me to speculate about the strategic shifts and rapidly changing alliances in Hong Kong's fractuous pan-Democratic camp.
I feel funny writing so much here about Hong Kong politics, especially after spending so much time here in New York. I figure a lot of people who read this blog could care less about the inside political baseball of a city that's best known internationally as a financial services Mecca, not as a crucible of fledgling democracy facing a super-power that seems hell-bent on eradicating any trace of people power. But once you've been infected with the passion of the Hong Kong democracy advocates, it's hard to give up on them, even when they screw up or falter. Let's put it this way: some people are Yankees or Mets fans, I'm rooting for the Civic Party and the League of Social Democrats.
The situation with the Legco seat vacated by the death of Ma Lik, as far as I can discern from the Hong Kong newspapers is this: Regina Ip, the former dragon lady in charge of Hong Kong's Security, will probably run for the seat as a pro-Beijing candidate when the elections are held on December 2nd. Regina's been away from Hong Kong long enough for many people to forget about how much they hated her, and what a wicked witch she was when she was pushing for draconian "national security" laws in 2003.
You non-Hong Kongers can imagine Regina Ip as a Chinese version of Condoleeza Rice, a brainy but scary yes-woman who left public service to go to academia rather than the other way 'round. But now, like a Category 5 storm, she's reversing course again. Strangely, Hong Kong people seem to have forgotten Ip's most infamous anti-democracy utterance: "Adolf Hitler was elected by universal suffrage and yet he killed 7 million Jews." What remains in people's minds after her 4 year sojourn in the USA is Ip's name and prestige, which (as in the U.S.) can be enough to swing a tight district election.
Ip's ambitious. Most analysts think she's angling to be the next Chief Executive of Hong Kong. If she wins this contest, it will be an important step forward for her. However if she runs and loses, she's probably dead pork meat, politically speaking.
The opposition, pro-Democracy camp understands this, and so all the various parties have banded together and agreed to field one candidate, their strongest. They are planning to hold a party primary to decide who that will be.
How frustrating it is to watch Democrats squabble, in New York, in America or in Hong Kong! The very attributes that make them admirable from a philosophical perspective seem to be the things that work against them politically. Hong Kong's pan-democrats are now engaged in a messy broil. Some of the veteran party leaders have approached the only Hong Kong lady who can out-dragon the Dragon Ip: Hong Kong's former colonial administrator, Anson Chan (Fong On Saang). She has the respect, the prestige, the name-recognition, and the steely helmet-hairdo to take on Ms. Ip, and send her packing.
But Leung doesn't think Anson should get the nod. Not at all. And yesterday, in one of his marvelous uses of old-school four-character Cantonese aphorisms, he proclaimed to the Hong Kong press:
虎頭蛇尾
"Fu Tauh Seh Meih". Long Hair says Anson Chan has the "head of a tiger, the tail of a snake". She comes in roaring, and slithers out silently. In other words, she's a cop out and doesn't deserve to be the pan-Democrats' standard bearer.
I'm always telling Leung that he's too outspoken, that he's taking the wrong side of things, that he should cooperate more with the other democrats in the interest of pushing their agenda forward. What does it hurt to give a little? He always smiles, ignores me, and goes right on doing what he does (with exceptions. Thank god he scrapped the idea of the eyelid lift.)
But most of the time, Long Hair turns out to be right on the money, politically. I remember doubting his wisdom in attacking Donald Tsang almost as soon as he took office, when the Hong Kong CE had almost 90% approval ratings. Within 3 months, Tsang's honeymoon was over, and Long Hair's ill-timed criticisms were looking prophetic. Within 6 months, Long Hair and his allies had successfully launched their new grassroots opposition party, the LSD.
In this case, I'm with Long Hair. Anson Chan doesn't deserve to be the pan-Democratic candidate for this seat. She's been teasing the democrats for more than a year now, dangling her public popularity like a prize, then slithering back at the last minute, like a 1920s coquette in an Eileen Chang short story. If Anson Chan had real backbone, and a genuine urge to push the cause of univesal suffrage in HK, she would have accepted the role of sacrificial lamb and run for Chief Exec of Hong Kong last winter. Yeah, the game was rigged and she would have lost. But her beautiful, high-profile loss would have been a great gift to the Hong Kong people--and a righteous legacy for her.
She didn't have anything to lose, personally or politically by playing the Democrat's tiger--at 70, she's too old to run for CE in 2012, and the Beijing government would never back her anyway. But she didn't have the guts to do it. Anson Chan is too calculating to throw herself on the fire. I doubt she'll change her stripes and be moved by the entreaties of the old-line democratic leaders Martin Lee and Yeung Sam. She'll just tease for a while, then slip back into her nest.
The other evening here in New York, some of my Cantonese (well, and one Toisanese) friends arranged a going away treat for me. Yes, I have finally learned how to play mah johng. We played from 7 in the evening until 12 midnight, long enough for me to realize I will need at least a year, perhaps more, to even get respectable at this. Play one round of mah johng, and it seems easy, just like gin rummy only with cute tiles. But play any longer, and as your bank account diminishes and your pride is chewed to ribbons, you understand that the goal of this game is not simply to win. The goal of mah johng is to win while making everyone else lose.
Anson Chan is one of those mah johng players who cautiously saves up her tiles for the big, big win--only to be defeated by the player who "eats" (goes out) first.
And that could be Regina Ip. I hope it isn't. In any case, the winds are bound to blow in many different directions between now and election time.
I can't wait to get back to Hong Kong.
The strange thing is that the DAB and the LP are not going to nominate their own party members to stand for the by-election. Have they been instructed by Beijing to support Ms. Ip? If you use 虎頭蛇尾 to decribe Anson Chan, maybe we can also use 蛇鼠一窩 to describe the DAB, the LP and Ms. Ip.
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Ha! That's a good four character one that I've never heard. Does it mean: "Snakes and Rats live in One Nest"?
In English we say "Politics Makes Strange Bedfellows." But it doesn't have quite the same delicious tang as 蛇鼠一窩
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Oh, give the old lady a break...
In all likelihood, Mrs. Chan will not run; rather, she will yield to and back someone not from any of the Pan-Dems...
Say, Lily Yam (任關佩英)...?
Wouldn't be a bad move, I'd say; a sad one though. I can never understand Hong Kong's fetish and blind-faith in colonial bureaucrats...
When are you going "home"?
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I would like to recommend this weeks's RTHK's TV programme, 頭條新聞(Sept 7, available on RTHK's website) to you; part two of it has lots of 諷刺 and overtones about the election for the vacant seat left by Ma Lik; it's very relevant to this current entry in your blog - in particular, the interrelated suggestions between mahjong, Anson Chan and 四萬.
As for mahjong, there is another Sam Hui's mahjong song (麻雀耍樂 or 打雀英雄傳續集) adapted from Elvis Presley's song, "A little bit of soap" - also full of fun, but unfortunately not available on YouTube.
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Thanks for the link...I LOVE Tauh Tiuh San Man ("Headline News"), even though I only get about 25% of the jokes! For those of you who don't know the RTHK TV program, it is like Hong Kong's answer to Saturday Night Live or Stephen Colbert. Wacky and smart political satire.
Actually, I'm amazed that Tauh Tiuh San Man hasn't been shut down by The Donald yet. I'm sure he'd love to do it.
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why don't you use skype or voipbuster.com for your international phone calls ... much cheaper la!
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I do! I use a Vonage account and my calls to Hong Kong come out to about 1 cent a minute.
I have tried explaining this to Leung Kwok Hung, and to my mother...but neither of them get it. They think that long distance= expensive.
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Hi Daisann, I love your blog and your spirit but it now looks like you underestimated Anson Chan, at least on the issue of whether she would step up instead of "slithering back into her nest". What do you think the chances are that Ip will turn up for the fight now that Chan's declared? And what do you think about Kam Na-Wai's withdrawal to make way for her?
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Hi there! All your questions are answered, I hope, in the following entry, "Sik Wu"....
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Hi Daisann, got to know your blog after reading your articles on Nat Geo Traveller. Really like the one where you talked about the Po Chai pills. This medicine is also very popular in South-East Asia. When I was younger, I used to marvel at how ppl can swallow that bunch of small balls all in 1 gulp. Anyway, my mother-tongue is Cantonese. Your title above reminded me of another phrase in Cantonese that was used in one of those HK drama series: "Seh Tauu Syu Ngan" (Snake Head, Mouse Eyes). I find it a hilarious way to describe the appearance of a person one doesn't particularly like. Lol.
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Snake Head, mouse eyes....that is a good one! Thanks for adding it to my vocabulary. And welcome to the Learning Cantonese blog.
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