Gillian Chung makes a public appearance after the Edison Chen scandal, here a brief sample from the article.

Gillian Chung began by saying Happy New Year to those present. She said that this incident has caused great distress and hurt to herself and those around her. She admitted to being very naïve and very stupid before, but she has now grown up. She expressed her gratitude towards the company, her family and her friends for their concern and support. She apologized for the effect of the affair on society at large. In the future, she will continue to work hard and live actively. Finally, she thanked the media for their concern and the fans who never abandoned her.

The Internet forum response has been quite negative. Throughout her statement, there was no description of what the affair was about. The netizens did not take kindly towards her description of being “very naïve, very stupid.” People pointed to the KY jelly in the background of one of her photographs and asked: “If she had been ‘very naïve, very stupid’ at the time when she was using KY jelly in a hotel room, then what is she doing now that she has grown up?”

Why is the Internet forum public so hostile towards Gillian Chung this time? When photographs of her changing in the dressing room appeared in EasyFinder magazine in August 2006, the public was overwhelmingly on her side. But the tide appeared to have swung the other way around. One reason was that her company Emperor Entertainment Group had claimed initially that the photographs were computer modifications. When more photographs appeared, EEG went silent and refused to comment on the grounds that there was an ongoing police investigation. Even at today’s press conference, EEG stated that the company and all its artistes will decline comment in the future in the interest of not causing more social harm. The Internet forum users consider Gillian Chung and EEG evasive.

The whole video of the interview is here:

While my compatriots in China are still in vacation mode, in Hong Kong the holidays are already over, it was just way too short.

-_-

In other news,the fireworks are up at YouTube. What’s also interesting is that the HKTB Hong Kong Tourism Board has started a YouTube promotion.

The videos are promotions, and it’s interesting and has already got quite a few views. What I don’t understand is, why it is all in Chinese? That seems very useless because in Hong Kong we do not need promotion about Hong Kong but outside of Hong Kong it should be promoted in different languages, especially YouTube, it’s not even properly promoting us from the Motherland.

Very strange.

The full text is here.

HONG Kong actor and singer Edison Chen has apologised over images of him partially nude with several starlets which were found in the Internet.

The 1 min 28 second-long apology that was recorded on video was reported by all Chinese dailies – Sin Chew Daily, China Press and Nanyang Siang Pau yesterday.

The apology signalled that Chen, who had been missing since the photos involving six female artistes were widely circulated in the Internet since the end of last month, admitted that he had taken those photos.

Chen provided the media with the video statement through his lawyers.

Previously there was a lot of discussion over the “fake pictures” and how people who owned any of these would be prosecuted according to a police statement, which of course is both favoritism and abuse of a different kind given the recent GOD scandal were the furniture store was raised for T-shirts that were somewhat controversial. If after all this sabre rattling it turns out that they were not fakes what does this all mean?

Over in this article describing this as Hong Kong’s biggest sex photo scandal ever. The interesting bit being this:

According to an informed source close to the person who was the source of the photographs, several months ago Edison Chen sent his pink Apple Powerbook laptop to a Central computer shop for repairs. The technician made the accidental discovery that there were several hundred photographs and videos of Edison Chen and/pr more than a dozen celebrities/artistes and he downloaded them onto his own computer.

Source from Sing Tao.

The story continues.

His apology is below.

UPDATE: follow up articles are here and here.

It’s hard to believe that a whole year has almost passed already, I probably won’t be blogging until next year so incase I don’t, a HAPPY NEW YEAR! Perhaps we should be celebrating it with a bottle of these cute little party offerings! Hello Kitty Wine?!

Anson Chan was slammed in her legco debut in what was an apparent personal attack.

Chan was labeled a "sudden supporter for livelihood" after her maiden Legco speech on an innocuous social enterprise motion debate by the Secretary for Home Affairs Tsang Tak-sing who is also Hong Kong deputy to the National People’s Congress, i.e. very pro China.

Chan won in a landslide victory against pro-Beijing opponent Regina Ip which was an important victory needed for the democratic Camp in Hong Kong and is not without its detractors.

Mr. Tsang’s comments would have perhaps been better received if it wasn’t so obvious that he represented an opinion that was pro-Beijing and therefore labelled anti-democractic. This is a tactical and infantile blunder if the intent was to discredit Anson Chan because all it did was create more support for the need of a stronger democractic voice, most likely because Hong Kong Government that is very pro-Beijing fears the influence Ms. Chan has, and her landslide victory is a surprise for them.

It is hard to not imagine this as a concerted attempt by the Government to attack an influential pro-democrat, how silly.

A pregnant woman has complained to the Department of Health after being told she won’t be able to have her baby at Adventist Hospital in Hong Kong even though she had earlier been assured of a bed.

"The hospital had told my doctor that my booking was no problem," Ms Ip said. "That is why I had not booked with another hospital. I was shocked that the hospital turned me away."

She said the news had caused her and her family a great deal of stress.

"I’ve had insomnia since receiving the bad news. I had three weeks of depression when my daughter was born last year, now I am so worried that I can’t sleep well. I don’t know how to handle it," she said.

"It is a complete black-box operation. We don’t know why suddenly there is no place for local mothers. I suspect some of the places have been given to mainland mothers, because hospitals can earn more from them."

Ms Ip, 33, said she had saved for the past year to cover the HK$60,000 to HK$80,000 cost of having her baby at a private hospital.

She gave birth to a daughter last year at Adventist Hospital and said she preferred private hospitals because of better service and privacy.

"Some of my friends have had very bad experiences in public hospitals. There are no doctors to do the deliveries and when they were breastfeeding, several men just peeped through the curtains. They were very scared."

Ms Ip said the department had responded to her complaint, saying the hospital denied passing maternity bed places to mainland mothers.

"But I think it is an issue which demands serious concern," she said.

"I wonder why there is no policy in Hong Kong that hospitals should give priority to local mothers.

"It is our home and yet we cannot enjoy good services."

Get used to it, last I heard Hong Kong was part of China not the other way round. Local media reports this case as a concern and the whispers in town are that "Mainland mothers" are taking away space for local mothers. If Mainland mothers will pay more, then why is that a problem? I didn’t hear anyone complaining coming to Hong Kong and spending "Mainland money" in Hong Kong a few years ago. Mainland tourism is fueling the Hong Kong economy, you don’t get to pick and choose, without China would Hong Kong be as prosperous as they are today? This type of xenophobia is the reason why Hong Kong will not become an open society if we cannot even open our doors to our own!

It is amazing how one can smuggle billions of dollars from China into Hong Kong, illegally so that people from China can move their money outside, how much of this has been fueling Hong Kong’s stock market?

CCTV reported that Guangdong authorities had shut down an underground bank in Shenzhen run by a Hong Kong woman, which over the past 18 months had handled at least 4.3 billion yuan. It said the bank had operated out of a Shenzhen flat for at least seven years, with clients in 31 provinces and cities.

The Shenzhen branch of the People’s Bank of China told banks to limit withdrawals over-the-counter and from automated teller machines to stem the billions of illicit yuan being pumped into the Hong Kong market, the China Securities Journal reported on Thursday.

CCTV said a 43-year-old Hong Kong woman, To Ling, ran the money exchange business, with turnover reaching 1.5 billion yuan in the first five months of the year.

At least 235 million yuan was wired into the Hong Kong stock and property markets through To’s operation over the past year, the state-run broadcaster reported.

The report said To needed just three minutes to finish a deal, and almost all the money was moved through internet banking services. Among her clients were retail investors, owners of small companies and even officials from state-owned enterprises.

"To was a very shrewd and careful woman," a spokesman at the State Administration of Foreign Exchange in Shenzhen was quoted as saying. "She only served frequent customers and never dealt with strangers."

The crackdown on illicit funds from Shenzhen adds to investor fears the Hong Kong market’s bull run is coming to an end.

The Hang Seng lost 1,136.78 points to close at 27,614.43, ending the week down 4.1 per cent. The H-share index slid 747.73 points, or 4.28 per cent, to 16,737.73. Also weighing on markets were concerns the US subprime crisis is worsening and that the mainland will raise interest rates.

Joseph Yam Chi-kwong, chief executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, said it was understandable that Shenzhen lenders limited their customers’ cash withdrawals as they had the responsibility to combat money laundering and financial activities channelled through underground avenues. However, after a meeting with central bank officials yesterday, Mr Yam denied it was a PBOC policy to curb capital flows seeking to punt on Hong Kong stocks.

A Security Bureau spokeswoman in Hong Kong said all remittance agents and money changers were required to register with the police. In order to combat money laundering, they must also verify a customer’s identity and keep records of transactions above HK$8,000.

Financial analysts said the crackdown wouldn’t stop mainlanders wiring money through illegal channels and reflected the mainland’s immature financial system.

"Lack of investment products, low interest rates and the price gap between mainland-traded A shares and H shares should be blamed for the rampant underground money flows from the mainland," said Stephen Tsui, director of Hong Kong-based Taiwan Concord Capital Securities.

Yi Xianrong , an economist with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said underground money remittance would be stopped only when Beijing lifted its foreign currency limitations and let the yuan integrate into the world economy.

G.O.D. Boss Douglas Young along with 17 store employees were arrested for selling T-shirts and postcards with the design "14k" which was meant to a cultural reference to China and Jewelry, afterall, the K is used to measure value and purity in items like Gold or other Jewelry.

14K is also a reference to a notorious and major Triad Gang and they were arrested for that reason. No warning was given, no "cease & desist", they were simply arrested, as if they had already committed a grave crime. As expected, after the arrest many people now want that T-shirt, but more important at stake is Hong Kong’s reputation as a creative center where freedom of speech is more affected. On one hand you have West Kowloon and an attempt to bring the Venice Biennale to Hong Kong to promote creativity and push the boundaries of art and then you get people sent to Jail for printing T-shirts without even a warning! They were just arrested!!

 I haven’t seen the T-shirt but this is a guilty before proven approach, to make matters even more ridiculous, there were no complaints either. I am sure you can buy T-Shirts in America with Al Capone, and what about all those Triad Movies and stories you can buy everywher ein Hong Kong with Traids hacking each other up? Selling an innocent T-shirt that was evidently a misunderstanding warrants an arrest?

What is happening to Hong Kong?

A piglet swims during a performance at a park in Hefei, east China’s Anhui province, on National Day. This is the Year of the Pig, which is also supposed to be a very "fat" and prosperous year, and swimming in Water will have a very prosperous and smooth year.

At least one other school has cancelled an outdoor sports event because of fears that poor air quality could harm students’ health.

An inter-house cross-country event by South Island School, scheduled for yesterday afternoon, had to be postponed to October 5.

The secondary school in Southern District, run by the English Schools Foundation, attributed the postponement to poor air quality.

A message on the school’s website read: "Today’s [September 21] inter-house cross-country is postponed due to the high pollution."

Hong Kong has been veiled behind thick smog this week, with the Air Pollution Index at high levels.

On Wednesday the Chinese International School cancelled its annual swimming gala in Victoria Park because of smog. The event was relocated from the public swimming pool to the school’s indoor pool, making it impossible for hundreds of students to attend

.

The pollution index at the Causeway Bay roadside station on that day remained around the "very high" level of 110 throughout the morning and early afternoon.

On Monday primary pupils at the Kennedy School in Pok Fu Lam were asked to stay indoors to have lunch, also because of poor air quality and high temperatures. And the West Island School in Pok Fu Lam relocated a physical education class to the school’s indoor sports ground.

There was no sign of significant improvement in air quality yesterday. The pollution index at the Central roadside station hit the "very high" level of 106 at 7am and only dropped to "high" at 96 by 7pm.

But the Canadian International School’s cross-country run was given the go-ahead yesterday.

A spokesman for the school said it was satisfied with the air quality in the area and had decided to run the race in Aberdeen Country Park.

"The event went ahead as scheduled. We have taken into consideration the air pollution and the sky was clear," the spokesman said.

"The pollution levels on this side of the island are very different from those in Central, partly because there is not so much traffic."

He also said the secondary school had received no complaints from students or parents.

In June the Council for Sustainable Development released a report on possible solutions to air pollution in Hong Kong. Among the key proposals were adopting road pricing and letting schools suspend classes on heavily polluted days.

The consultation is expected to end on October 15.

An Education Bureau circular issued in 1998 advised that sports days or swimming galas in affected areas be cancelled when the air pollution index reached 201.