Good morning,

No I didn’t take a week off, I was at BEC live tweeting stuff about sustainable water. If you didn’t get a chance to join (why not?? I’ve been posting the event for a week?? and the online tickets were free??):

Harbour Times @harbourtimes

Keynote speech from Ms. Majorie Yang of @EsquelGroup on deep water treatment after clothing production to reduce wastewater "I've actually drank this deep treated water" Might try some myself 😎 @bec_hk #sustainability #watertreatment #greentech

6:10 AM ∙ Dec 1, 2021

Maggie - if you’re reading this - please send me some treated water.

~ Cyril

On Today’s Tide:

1. WTA leaves China (including Hong Kong)

2. COVID news

3. Train door off the rails

4. Events

For Paid Subscribers

1. Government “review of AIDS”

2. Apple Daily wins press freedom prize & other media news

WTA Leaves China

The Women’s Tennis Association has announced a complete boycott of the Chinese market (including Hong Kong - special mention) due to complications with the Peng Shuai case.

wta @WTA

"With the full support of the WTA Board of Directors, I am announcing the immediate suspension of all WTA tournaments in China, including Hong Kong."

7:14 PM ∙ Dec 1, 2021

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Peng, one of China’s top tennis players, said in early November on a weibo post that she was coerced into sex by former vice-premier Zhang Gaoli. The post was deleted and she then disappeared for two weeks, after which an email saying the rumours were false surfaced; followed by pictures (posted by a state affiliated journalist on his twitter) of Peng playing with stuffed toys and her cat; followed by a video of her playing tennis with some kids; followed by a video of her having dinner with friends; followed by a video call with the International Olympic Committee - which has continued to support operations in China.

Shen Shiwei沈诗伟 @shen_shiwei

Peng Shuai’s WeChat moments just posted three latest photos and said “Happy weekend”. Her friend shared the three photos and the screenshot of Peng’s WeChat moments.

3:18 PM ∙ Nov 19, 2021

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Steve Simon, chairman of the WTA, says that the decision to pull out of China and Hong Kong was difficult but that the lack of independently verifiable evidence for Peng’s freedom led the organisation to worry about what might happen to other tennis players - many of which have been outspoken about Peng’s situation.

COVID news

Hong Kong SAR Government News @newsgovhk

The Centre for Health Protection says it is investigating six additional #COVID19 cases, all of which are imported and carry the #L452R mutant strain

news.gov.hk6 imported virus cases foundThe Centre for Health Protection says it is investigating six additional COVID-19 cases, all of which are imported and carry the L452R mutant strain.

8:21 AM ∙ Dec 2, 2021

Coronavirus in Hong Kong

• New cases: 6

Omicron spread a’la ‘The Terminal’, transit rules tightened

Authorites on Wednesday found that a man who had been stuck inside HK Airport Terminal 1 for three days (24 Nov - 27 Nov) due to visa issues had the omicron variant.

The case has been linked to Nigeria, his last main location. Nigerian authorities were like oh whaaat and found that they had data of cases in October which predate the announcement of omicron from Southern Africa by two weeks.

16 airport staff have been put into quarantine over the unfortunate airport lodger and the airline he travelled with is under investigation (transits must be completed within 24 hours under normal circumstances).

Transiting passengers are also now under more scrutiny, having to now produce a negative COVID result 72 hours before arriving in Hong Kong, even if Hong Kong is not the final destination.

Train door off the rails

An MTR carriage door disloged at Causeway Bay station around 6pm leading to services between Wanchai and Quarry Bay to stop for three hours. Preliminary investigations point to the door having hit an advertising panel that had come loose. There were no injuries but everyone got super very confused about how to travel without the MTR.

Actual interview from RTHK from a man surnamed Fong:

“I mean it’s not their first time, so what more can you expect from the MTR. Is it last year or the year before, the MTR [train] kind of went off-track, so of course, I have safety concerns. Normally it takes me 10 minutes or so to travel from Admiralty to Causeway Bay, but now… my friend suggested me: you’re better off just walk there”

Let’s look at a map

Speaking with Transit Jam, Former Tuen Mun district councilor Michael Mo argued that an incident like this shutting down the city was unacceptable and points to issues with MTR’s monopoly over Hongkongers view of transport:

“The railroad as core public transport strategy effectively made a single-point-of-failure for the city’s commute system. We’ve experienced for so many times that train breakdowns would put the city into a halt. Too many lines/extension have been delayed… which should supposed to serve as redundancy. If there’s a Northern Island line now, the impact won’t be that chaotic,”

Michael ‘no mo MTR’ Mo

Wanchai Ferry, normally quite an empty ride despite upgrades to the precint, also saw massive crowds as a result. So…maybe that’s a bonus? Idk lol I’m stuck on the train.

Events / Exhibitions etc

We want to make sure that what we advertise is interesting for our readers, so if you go to an event that you saw here, let us know by taking a selfie and tagging us on Twitter or Instagram ( both @harbourtimes ).

We’ll throw in a free month of Paid High Tide for yourself or a friend!

Events from the Diplomatic Community

• Jewish Life in Germany and Escape Destination Hong Kong

For the next month, the German CG and the Goethe-Institute are hosting a group of and events detailing the lives of Holocaust refugees who fled to Hong Kong. The gallery itself shows images from the Center for Persecuted Arts in Solingen and the United Nations Outreach Program. In the Art Centre’s Black Box studio, a multimedia performance QING explores the relationship between dance and the ‘body luggage’ of forced migration.

Where: Goethe-Gallery & Black Box Studio. 14/F Hong Kong Arts Centre. Wanchai
When: 11/11 to 11/12 // 9:00am - 8:30pm (Mon - Fri) 9:30am - 6:00pm (Sat)

Events from our partners

• Humour along my Hairline - Vivek Mahbubani's solo English show

Looking for something funny and fishy this Christmas? Bilingual comedian Vivek Mahbubani’s latest show at Ocean Park is sure to drown you with laughter. Also he may run out of hair half way.

“It's the same venue that big names like Jim Jeffries have performed in and this time I'm using the ticking timebomb that is my receding hairline as a reason to do my solo show so people can at least one day say "I saw him when he was still hairy!"

Vivek ‘yeah I guess that’s pretty funny’ Mahbubani

Tickets available here.

Paid readers have access to an exclusive 20% off discount code.

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