Just want to draw your attention to a fabulous blog post over at Hong Wrong – The Heartwarming Kindness of Hong Kong’s Heroes.  It tells the story of Benson Tang, someone who took his HK$6,000 tax rebate and used the money to buy food (only from mom-and-pop stores) and distribute it to the needy.  His actions have inspired others to follow suit.

I hope he won’t mind my quoting the final two paragraphs, they’re important and need to be seen:

At a time of deep cuts and austerity measures in Europe and the US, booming Hong Kong is enjoying such a surplus that the government is offering personal HK$6000 bail-outs to all residents regardless of income. They are also subsidising electricity bills and allowing families in public housing free rent for 2 months.  However, despite producing more millionaires than any other country last year, HK also shares the more dubious accolade of ‘widest poverty gap in Asia’. According to the UN Gini Coefficient, which measures income inequality, Hong Kong society rates as the most unequal amongst all highly developed economies. The wealthiest 10 per cent of the populace control more than a third of the city’s income, whilst the bottom 10 per cent share only 2 per cent.

Our city features the world’s highest per capita ownership of Rolls-Royces – yet luxury cars are almost as common sight as the elderly people forced to rummage through bins in search of items they can sell to recyclers. With little in the way of welfare, these workers, mostly old women, have a median income of just US$40 per month and often labour throughout the intense summer heat.

In some ways, I think it’s even worse than that.  Because it’s not just the poor.  Maybe the middle class don’t have it as bad as the poor, but rising inflation is squeezing the hell out of the majority of the population here.  Donald Tsang and his cronies apparently never cared as long as the billionaires were happy.  Will C.Y. Leung change things in any substantial way?  Color me dubious.

(I always find it a bit odd when someone who hasn’t blogged in awhile comes back with something trivial.  ”They haven’t blogged in days/weeks/months and this is what they decide to share after all that time?”  Mayhaps I’m guilty of that with this post.)

For those who don’t know, 3 is one of the major mobile telecommunications providers in Hong Kong.  It is owned by the richest man in Hong Kong, Li Ka-Shing.  (Incidentally, Li’s son Richard is the owner of PCCW, the major fixed line provider, internet provider and also a player in the mobile field.)

For reasons I won’t go into (but you can probably guess), I needed to pay my gf’s mobile bill.  Okay, fine, there’s a 3 shop that’s right near my office so I went there at lunch time today and told them I needed to pay the bill.

“You can’t do that here,” I was told.  ”But this is a 3 shop – not a reseller – an actual 3 shop, I can’t pay my bill here?”  ”No, you have to go pay it at Watson’s.”

Watson’s is one of the two large chains of pharmacies that sit atop the market in Hong Kong.  Watson’s is also owned by … Li Ka-Shing.

I don’t get it.  I mean, I suppose that Watson’s has more locations in HK than 3 so it’s convenient to be able to pay the bill there.  But why can’t a 3 shop do it?  Is it some nefarious scheme, someone thinking that if I have to go into Watson’s to do it, I might buy some shaving cream or Panadol as long as I’m there, and therefore not buy it from rival chain Mannings or supermarket Wellcome or supermarket Park ‘n Shop (also owned by Li Ka-Shing).

All right, it is what it is and I’m not gonna argue with the poor schlub sitting behind the counter who doesn’t make policy, he just carries it out.  So how about, can I get a copy of the latest bill on this account, because it seemed awfully high to me and I’d like to check it out?

Him – “We can’t do that here. You have to go to the internet to view it.”

Me – “But I have two registered phone numbers with 3 [long story] and every time I go to your web site, I can only see the records for one number, not the other.”

Him – “You forgot your password?”

Me – “No, but your web site is broken, I can’t view both accounts.”

Him – “You forgot your password?”

Me – “Okay, I forgot my password.  Can you help me?”

Him – “No, we can’t do that here.  You have to go online to the internet and reset your password.  Do you know how to do that?”

Me – “You mean go online to the login page and click where it says ‘reset password’?  Yeah, I can figure that out.”

Him – “Anything else I can help you with today?”

Considering you didn’t help me with anything at all, nope.

[I have been posting much more regularly at SpikesPhotos.com so please do feel free to check that site out.  I've had two occasions to go out and shoot the Hong Kong harbor at night with the amazing Nikon D800 and I think I've gotten some fabulous shots so scoot over there and take a look?  Aside from work and photography, I've just been extremely occupied with matters that are not really bloggable.  But I am, I assure you, still around.]

The current ish of Rolling Stone has an extended interview with President Obama conducted by RS publisher Jann Wenner.  In responding to a question relatively early in the interview, Obama is quoted as saying, “I’m not going to make news in this publication.”  That in response to a question on marriage equality.  Nevertheless, he has some interesting things to say, as always.  Here’s the bit that caught my eye:

The free market is the greatest generator of wealth in history. I’m a firm believer in the free market, and the capacity of Americans to start a business, pursue their dreams and strike it rich. But when you look at the history of how we became an economic superpower, that rugged individualism and private-sector dynamism was always coupled with government creating a platform so that everybody could succeed, so that consumers weren’t taken advantage of, so that the byproducts of capitalism, like pollution or worker injuries, were regulated. Creating that social safety net has not made us weaker – it’s made us stronger. It liberated people to say, “I can move to another state, but if I don’t find a job right away, my kids aren’t going to go hungry. I can start a business, but if it doesn’t work out, I’m going to be able to land on my feet.” Making those kinds of commitments to each other – to create safety nets, to invest in infrastructure and schools and basic research – is just like our collective investment in national security or fire departments or police. It has facilitated the kind of risk-taking that has made our economy so dynamic. This is what it means for us to live in a thriving, modern democracy.

Now that made me stop and think about many things, Hong Kong included.  After all, Hong Kong always gets voted the freest market or economy or whatever by some conservative think tank.  HK is the free market economy taken to its furthest extreme.  And yet ….

Is it really possible for HKer’s to start businesses these days?  Yes and no.  We have a large group of (mostly) young people trying to do things in the internet space.  Very few if any will ever succeed on a global scale but plenty of people are earning a living and getting ahead.

But for those trying a more traditional path, I believe the doors are increasingly closed.  Anything that has any requirement for real estate – shops or offices – seems doomed from the start.  The balance of power has tipped in the favor of the landlords and in particular those few companies that basically own everything else worth owning.  We don’t have a real free market any more because these people have locked up everything.  Why are there only two major supermarket chains, and both are owned by real estate companies?  Why are all the mobile phone companies owned by real estate companies?  Why don’t we have Wal*Mart or Costco or Carrefour in Hong Kong?

The answer is because the doors aren’t really open, even for major global corporations like those, unless they’re willing to join forces with the local moguls and let them take their cut.

I’ve seen what’s happened to my weekly supermarket bill in the past year.  I’ve seen how the price of the crap I buy at 7-11 every day has gone up by 50% or more in the past year.

I heard a story the other day about a retail company, they’ve got 5 branches in HK.  Their branch in TST is all of 200 square feet.  Their rent was $50,000 per month or 10% of their revenue (not sure if gross or net), whichever is higher.  Now their “rent” has increased to 20% of revenue.

It takes million of dollars these days to start something up, at least in the bricks and mortar arena.  Innovation is discouraged because it’s too expensive to take risks – it’s safer to copy others’ success than to try something really new.

Let’s not even get into the bit about the “social safety net” because Hong Kong doesn’t really have that.

Here’s a photo I took of the HK skyline yesterday (posted over at Spike’s Photos).  I’m not sharing this with you because of the photo (though I think it’s pretty darned good, if I say so myself, do view it full size to get the full effect).

I’m sharing it because I also posted it on Facebook and here’s one of the comments it received:  ”Really good one, showing the mood of people towards the future of HK….”

For those of you who might care.  Here’s a shot of her outside the Ritz Carlton (not taken by me, btw).

Here’s a pic she tweeted, a rare natural look:

Along with the above image she wrote, “Exhausted after Hong Kong spin class! I love this city, you can work out & buy a fake Birkin on the same street.”  (Note that someone commented on that tweet by asking, “Is it clean? Do they spit all over?”

We still don’t have tickets, still kind of tempted to go.  Would be a no-brainer if I could bring the D800 with me.

We saw The Avengers on Sunday night. 3D Imax version over at Megabox. I’ll get to the movie in a second.

Megabox.  Jeez.  First of all, on a weekend, the place is mobbed.  There was a two block line-up of cars waiting to get into the parking lot there (and due to the odd design of the building, you often end up having to park on the 16th floor).  The outside lot across the street was almost full, to the point where they were taking car keys and stacking cars in the aisles (so to speak).  For where we live, it would almost be better to call a taxi to go there.  Public transportation is out for us – I figured it would be two buses then two trains and then another bus vs. a 20 minute drive, go figure that one.  There’s mammoth branches of Ikea, Pricerite, Jusco, Suning (they had one Nikon D800E in stock!), H&M, some of the other stuff.  The ice rink is great for families and kids.  The outdoor observation deck is super nice, when it’s open.  Although honestly, we’ve never had a good meal there.  Perhaps the huge Cantonese places on the upper floors are okay but we’ve never tried those and any other place we’ve eaten there has ranged from barely acceptable to horrible.  (Of course we haven’t tried every restaurant in there so if you’ve got one you like, please share it with me.)  Also, I was looking to buy a USB card reader that could do CF cards and I couldn’t find it there.  (Maybe in Jusco? Suning didn’t have one and the Apple-ish shop closed down.)

Okay, now the movie, thanks for bearing with me.  If you like comic book movies, this is as good as it gets.  Really.  Joss Whedon and his team came up with a script that gave each main character plenty of screen time (and what passes for character development in this type of film) and even some of the “side” characters (Clark Gregg, Stellan Skarsgard, Cobie Smulders) had their moments.  Look sharp and you’ll see Powers Boothe and Jenny Agutter, too, but I completely missed Harry Dean Stanton.  Oh, and you’ll have to wait until almost the end for Stan Lee’s obligatory cameo.

I really admired the way the end mega-battle was shot and cut, the way it seamlessly moved from character to character, giving each one their moments.  About the only thing I could complain about is I’m so tired of some super villain or alien flying over the streets of some American city and seeing cars blowing up.  Really.  It’s been done.  To death.  It’s become the modern day equivalent of the car chases where a car always plows into a fruit stand.

And I gotta say, those alien invaders are pretty weak.  (Possible spoiler coming up.)  First of all, they hardly seem like an army, maybe there’s a hundred or two of them.  And then they’ve got these huge anthropomorphic ships that seem terrifying but Hulk can kill an entire ship with just one punch?  Let’s face it, this invasion didn’t really need a bunch of super heroes to stop it.  A few F-16s probably could have taken care of business.

Of course Robert Downey Jr. is the star and he gets his share of moments.  But a large round of applause to Mark Ruffalo, finally someone gets The Hulk right (if that matters to you).  And damn if Whedon doesn’t succeed in making Gwyneth Paltrow sexy and appealing (apparently not an easy task).

In other words, if this is the kind of thing you like, you’ll really like this.

Now, the 3D.  It sucks.  And keep in mind that I’m a fan of 3D, at least when it’s done right.  The 3D in Hugo is amazing and as necessary as 3D can be in a film.  But here?  I don’t know, there’s nothing that Whedon does that takes advantage of it.  The best 3D we saw the entire night was in the Imax trailer before the start of the film.  Was this even shot in real 3D or was it converted in post production?  Not even any of Hawkeye’s arrows shooting out into the audience – and really, what more obvious candidate for a 3D effect could there have been?  So let’s leave aside the technical issues of how 3D darkens the image and takes away resolution.  It’s just completely unnecessary to see this in 3D.  On the other hand, the super large Imax screen is always nice, especially in Hong Kong where most movie theaters are tiny little shitboxes.   Go see it in 2D.  You won’t miss anything and you can take the money you save and spend it on movie snacks.

I was thinking afterwards – I wonder if the film is meant as a metaphor for the state of the U.S.A. today?  Think about it.  You’ve got a handful of “heroes” who can’t stand each other.  They spend much of the movie arguing and pushing each other out of the way while a Norse god and a bunch of crappy aliens are chewing up the planet.  They don’t succeed in saving the planet until they can put aside their differences and work together for the common good (or at least to attack the common evil).

That being the case, there’s probably a game or two to be played of guessing which Avenger is which current politician.  Except I think that’s already been done better with Game of Thrones!

My gf and I greeted the news that Mario Batali and partners would be opening a restaurant in Hong Kong with glee.  Batali is a celebrity chef in the US and we’ve been watching him on TV for years.  He’s got a bunch of restaurants, mostly in New York (he has two outposts in Singapore).  We’re big fans of the Spain …. On the Road Again show that he did with Mark Bittman a few years ago.  Batali’s as famous for his look – red hair and beard, plaid shorts, orange Crocs – as he is for his food, maybe even more so.  I know the whole celebrity chef deal, we had no expectation of him being in the kitchen, standing at the pass, personally supervising our food.  But we figured on an enjoyable evening and that’s very much what it was although the food itself was uneven.

I mentioned to a cousin of mine that we’d be going.  This cousin used to work for Batali in New York and dismissed Lupa as “pasta and peasant food.”  (One might accuse him of sour grapes but I’m proud to say that he won a James Beard award this year.)  At any rate, I told him that he didn’t know the Hong Kong market, that Batali’s approach would be somewhat unique here and we were looking forward to trying it.

So I booked Lupa for my gf’s birthday dinner.  I knew in advance that this was coming less than one week after their official opening and I’d heard there were some rough patches during their soft opening phase but it was her birthday so I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best.

If you look at Lupa’s menu, the first thing that will probably strike you is how reasonable their prices are, if you take into account celebrity chef, “fine dining,” Central location.  Many of the main courses are in the HK$200 range, more or less.  I spoke with one of the managers there, a local Hong Kong guy who has worked in many restaurants in town and he told me that when he first looked at the menu, he had to ask if there was some mistake, that the prices seemed too low.

(In case you’re wondering, there are no photos to accompany this review.  I don’t believe that taking food photos in restaurants is appropriate at times and this was one of those times.)

So we arrived at the restaurant, which is on the 3rd floor of the new LHT Tower on Queens Road.  You walk in and are greeted by this giant bronze statue of a wolf (“lupa”) suckling Romulus and Remus.  It’s dramatic but a little odd.  The room itself is nicely designed, not too formal, wood where it needs to be, kind of a classic but modern feel to it.  Despite having booked 3 weeks in advance, we were given a small table near the bar.  We asked if we could get switched to a larger table (the place was more than half empty at 7:30 but did fill up later) and were told we could be moved to a different location but same size table.  We decided to stay put.

The sommelier helped us select a wine and came up with something we liked at HK$380 – wines start at HK$300 and ascend into the stratosphere, as you might expect.  And then onto the food.

The bread basket came by and the guy put one slice of bread onto each of our plates.  One small slice of bread.  All by itself.  We had to ask the waiter if there was any butter or vinegar and then he offered up a small bowl of olive oil and balsamic.  Throughout the night we’d see waiters bringing these little white bowls to tables and had to wonder why it didn’t come at the same time as the bread – or at least get offered?

I ordered the “Selection of Carne Grande”, a selection of meats that included prosciutto, lingua, salame, coppa and testa for HK$188.  I wanted to get this because Batali’s parents are famous for their artisan salumi – I doubted that this would be sourced from them but figured that some care and attention went into the selection.  Served on a wooden carving block and drizzled with olive oil and that was all.  The various meats were nice but … just some pieces of various cured pork sausages on a block of wood to be eaten by itself?  It was a bit of a letdown.  I felt, rightly or wrongly, that they should have gone further, perhaps paired this with different cheeses, put a pickle or some sort of garnish on there (there was a tiny bit of green with the lingua), maybe a biscuit or something?

We wanted to share a salad and went with grilled radicchio with scamorza (HK$98) – grilled lettuce dressed with balsamic vinaigrette and with a layer of smoked mozzarella cheese melted on top.  I didn’t feel that the flavors were well balanced here and the cheese seemed lacking in taste.

On to the mains.  I had been staring at the hanger steak for a long time but at the last moment switched and ordered the veal saltimbocca (HK$298) because I couldn’t remember the last time I had veal and the menu said it was Dutch veal, which many will tell you is the best.  The menu said prosciutto, sage and spinach.  Honestly, I got no prosciutto taste from this at all and while the veal was pounded thin I think it could have been a bit more tender.

On the other hand, my gf ordered the braised pork shoulder with averna and cucumber (HK$208 – glazed in apple and Sicilian bitter liquor) and this was a home run.  We were told that it was braised for at least 4 hours.  It was fall-apart tender and had a beautiful char on the outside, and all of the flavors really came together well on this one.  My gf only allowed me to have one small bite and then she practically inhaled the rest.

We did have room for dessert and wanted to order the lupa tartufo but they told us they were out of it – and had been out of it for two days.   So we went with the peanut chocolate bar (HK$108), drizzled with chocolate sauce and a small scoop of gelato on the side.  My gf had previously told one of the managers that this was her birthday dinner and there was a candle on the plate and they’d written “happy birthday” in chocolate as well.  This dessert was also a winner.

We followed that up with a latte for my gf and an espresso for me.  The bill, including a bottle of wine and the 10% service charge, came in at around HK$1500.

So, what did we like?  We liked the pork shoulder and the dessert and the wine.  We liked the look and feel of the place and felt that the staff worked really hard to make us comfortable.

What didn’t we like?  I wouldn’t rush to order the same starter or salad or main dish again.  I might go for the hanger steak or one of the pastas next time.

Yes, there will be a next time, we think the place has promise.  One of the managers there, someone who has worked for Batali for a long time, told me he thought that a restaurant can open as a good restaurant but needs 6 or 7 months to develop into a great one.  It was the staff there more than anything else that won us over – friendly and helpful to the extreme.

By the way, Lupa also features a large outdoor terrace.  There’s no view to speak of from this terrace but it’s well-designed and comfortable.  The menu is slightly different – same starters and salads, no pasta or main courses, but adds 6 different types of pizza.  It strikes me as an alternative spot to stop for a drink after work if I’m feeling so inclined.  Next time we go together we’ll probably try the terrace and the pizza.

Frequent visitors to this space know that I love food.  I love to try new food and new restaurants.  I don’t do it that often because of the cost (since food blogging is just a small percentage of what I do, I don’t receive the invites and freebies given to those who have dedicated food blogs) and the distance of most of these “hot spots” from where I live.

Yesterday we were walking around the Hollywood Road area so we went for lunch at Brat (“purveyors of awesome sausages”).  We love sausages in all varieties and I’d heard good things about this place.  After trying it, I’d say that the sausages were indeed pretty awesome.  My gf had one that was loaded with a variety of different chiles and I went for one that listed bourbon as one of its ingredients.  The dogs were nice, the casings had snap, the buns were good too.  Our waiter forgot to punch our order for sweet potato fries into the computer so we didn’t get those until I asked and we were almost finished with our dogs.

The sausages seemed pretty unique for Hong Kong and we enjoyed them.  I doubt I would ever make a special trip to this place but if I’m in the neighborhood, I’d consider returning.

Even so, when I got the check, I had to pause for a moment.  Reduced to its bare minimum, we had two hot dogs, one order of fries, two soft drinks.  The bill came out to HK$319.  That’s roughly US$41.  Seriously.

Of course we all know why the price is so high.  The restaurant is on Elgin Street.  Who knows what kind of rent they’re paying to be there?  What percentage of the bill went just to cover that rent?

Yes, I know, before you say it, we could have gone to the dai pai dong just across the street and had a couple of bowls of noodles in soup and some tea for well under US$10 and sometimes that’s fine and dandy for us, sometimes it’s not.  We chose to go to this place, I saw the prices on the menu before I went in, I’m not blaming the (presumably) good people behind Brat who are trying something a little different (and apparently succeeding).

On a similar note, a friend and I went to Hard Rock Cafe for lunch one day this week.  She suggested it, I agreed because they do make a relatively decent burger there.  I ordered a 6 ounce burger (the menu pushes the 10 ounce burgers, which is just ridiculous; the six ounce ones are buried in small print at the bottom of the page) with bacon and cheese and an iced lemon tea.  She ordered a veggie burger and an iced lemon tea.  Our bill for that came out to just under HK$400.  Hard Rock’s rent in LKF is HK$1.4 million per month.

Delaney’s in Wanchai is rumored to be closing or moving because their landlord just doubled their rent (I have this as second-hand info).  Like ‘em or hate ‘em, they’ve been there for years and it’s a popular destination for many.

I’m just thinking that if the big landlords don’t like C.Y. Leung, that’s not necessarily a bad thing for the 7 million other people in Hong Kong.

Had it not been such a rainy night last night, I might have tried to get some outdoor photos to show a bit of Tseung Kwan O, one of HK’s so-called “new towns”.  In this case, the new town consists almost completely of huge blocks of apartment towers sitting above interconnected shopping malls.  I lost count of how many malls are there.  The newest one opened just last week.  It’s called Popcorn.  Apparently that’s the best name that some marketing genius could come up with, possibly to facilitate the heavy marketing they were doing all over HK with semi-celebrities and pseudo-models handing out free popcorn to draw attention to this spot.  All the marketing worked – last night, a rainy Good Friday evening, the mall was pretty busy.  One promotion right now is free parking – so there was even a line-up to get into the car park.

People are going on and on about how this is an upscale mall – too upscale for the area.  Perhaps those people have never been to IFC or Elements. I’d say it was vaguely mid-scale and that was more because of what isn’t there – no fast food chains like McDonald’s (though there are branches within 20 feet of the mall in every direction), no supermarket or other obvious anchor store.  While I did spot a Rolex-branded shop, mostly it was chains like Royal Sporting House, Optical 88, Mannings, blah blah blah.

Over at Optical 88, they were having a sale on choosy frames.

There’s no Broadway or Fortress but a few smaller scale electronics shops.  There’s a New Vision selling Apple stuff and this place which had signs for the Nikon D4 (but none on display) and the new Fuji X-Pro1 in stock.

While the mall has a multiplex cinema, one other thing it seems to be missing is the usual over-sized Cantonese seafood restaurant.  The two largest restaurants here appear to be California Pizza Kitchen and Crystal Jade, both of which had huge crowds waiting for tables.

Crystal Jade was the draw for us.  Having a branch of this Singapore-owned chain just 20 minutes from where we live was irresistible.  I love the food here – mostly Shanghainese and bits of Sichuan and other Chinese cuisines represented.  It’s fresh, it’s relatively cheap and always quite tasty.  But with the line-up to get into the car park (parking garages at the surrounding malls were also full) plus the 30+ minute wait for a table, I told my gf it would have been quicker for us to drive out to the airport and eat at the branch of Crystal Jade there.  We weren’t the only ones tired from the long wait.

Eventually we did get a table and we did get an enjoyable meal (6 dishes for HK$385) but something went wrong with their normally world class xiao long bao (or “soup buns” as Americans call them).  The wrapper was a bit thicker then usual and all four of them fell apart when we tried to pick them up.  On the other hand, their Sichuan style hacked chicken bits with cashews had a sweet smoky flavor and just a little bit of heat (could have used more actually).  The winner was a huge bowl of sliced beef and noodles (I think these were made from potato flour – broad, translucent, slightly yellow in color) that was middle-of-the-range spicy and tasty as all hell.

What strikes me as really odd is that there are going to be two hotels attached to this mall.  Two hotels?  In Tseung Kwan O?  Whatever for?  It’s not a business district and it’s not a tourist area.  The closest thing to a reason for staying here would be that it’s convenient to the MTR for getting the hell out of Tseung Kwan O and going some place else.  I can only guess that these hotels are going to be pitched at mainland tour groups.

And that’s where things get a little funny, Hong Kong style.  There is a significant segment of the population that is concerned about the growing “China-ization” of Hong Kong and takes very vocal offense to any perceived slight against local HKers.  When Popcorn opened up last week, the mall’s branch of Agnes B Cafe had signs in English and Simplified Chinese, but not in Traditional Chinese, and people took to the internet to voice their discontent.

agnès b. café uses simplified Chinese in residential area, which is humiliating the dignity of Hong Kong culture. Everyone please don’t tolerate. Take action to defend the dignity of Hong Kong. We all have been humiliated enough. It’s time to act now. Fellow Hongkongers, let’s shout, “agnès b., brand of shame!”

And sure enough, while almost every restaurant and shop in the mall was crowded, there were only two customers seated at Agnes B.

Verdict?  We’d go there again for Crystal Jade but I don’t see any other reason to return.

At this point, anyone surprised?

Click here to hear the Mel Brooks song “Hope for the Best, Expect the Worst” from the soundtrack to The Twelve Chairs.

While we await the outcome of the fake election for the next Chief Executive of Hong Kong, Inc., the University of Hong Kong conducted an election of their own, allowing HKers themselves to vote for whom they’d like to see as the next Big Cheese.  Dr. Robert Chung Ting-yiu said he expected that there would be around 50,000 votes – instead there was just under 223,000.  This number would in fact have been higher except that the voting website was brought down by a DDOS attack launched from the Death Star “motherland”.   So while one might argue that 223,000 votes out of a population of 7 million means little, I would argue that this is probably as good a representative poll as any, that it was “important” enough to get China scared, and that a large number of people cared so much about voting that they went to 1 of 17 polling stations and waited on long lines to cast their votes in person after the web site came down.

The South China Morning Post reports on the “election” results.  The winner?  54.6% of those voting submitted a blank ballot.  In other words, “none of the above.”  C.Y. “Commie” Leung came in second with a puny 17.8%, Henry “Nancy Boy” Tang got 16.3% and Albert Ho got 11.4%.

“The people have lost the confidence of the government; the government has decided to dissolve the people, and to appoint another one.” – Bertolt Brecht