🌊Ding Dong - The Clocks Ring Again!
🌊Ding Dong - The Clocks Ring Again!
Also: protest convictions, kidnappings and Olympics (but without diplomats)
Good morning,
In retrospect, maybe the clock tower ringing again isn’t the most exciting news for today. But really, I’m more of a conservation guy that an action guy, so the clock tower ringing is like wow.
Also here’s something I saw in TST earlier. Thought it’d lighten the mood of today’s otherwise quite grim Tide.
Also, also - I know from feedback that many of you readers like our LoTW and special guest segments. Apologies for not always having them on Friday as promised but rest assured we’ve got some really cool people lined up - may be late, but will be good ~
~ Cyril
On Today’s Tide:
TST Clock Tower Chimes Again!
COVID news
Three Activists Jailed Over Tiananmen Vigil
Events
For Paid Readers
Olympic Boycott Gains Speed
Election Politics
Kidnapper a bit shit at his job
TST Clock Tower Rings Again!
BONNNNNNNNNNNNG!
To mark the centenary of the TST Clock Tower (formally the Former KCR Clock Tower), the clocks started ringing again! Originally part of the Kowloon KCR Terminus, the Clock Tower rang until 1950 when the bell went out of sync with the clock.
In a time before digital clocks were a thing and people actually relied on very loud gongs to know if it was time to catch the ferry, having an unsynchronized clock is pretty bad.
The Station was demolished in the 1970s to make space for the Cultural Centre, following a failed preservation campaign. As a compromise, the government saved a number of pillars from the station were moved to the Centenary Garden at East TST, and the Clock Tower was preserved.
The old bell, which has been on permanent display inside the tower itself, could not be repaired, but a similarly aged bell with similar sound has been installed. The Clock Tower will ring daily from 8am to midnight (at least until someone complains about the noise).
COVID news
Coronavirus in Hong Kong
New cases: 7
Just use your common sense, bro lol - Gov advice for LeaveHomeSafe
LeaveHomeSafe has been mandatory when going to restaurants since uh…literally yesterday. General exemptions have been given to those below 15, or above 65, as well as homeless people with a certificate from an NGO. However, even the exempted have to fill in a paper form.
Worried restaurants queried what to do if they can’t prove the age of a person (after all, restaurants and staff can be fined heavily if they don’t follow Cap. 599F rules).
In response, Diane Wong, an FEHD deputy director literally said “use common sense to handle this”, and that the customer should know their own age and I guess that teenagers never lie about their age to get into a venue. Never.
Three Activists Charged Over Tiananmen Vigil
Gwyneth Ho, Chow Hung-Tang (again) and Jimmy Lai (again again again) have been charged over their participation of the June 4th Vigil at Victoria Park last year. Lai and Chow have been charged for inciting people to join the vigil which was banned on health and safety grounds - Lai was taking an interview outside the park, which Judge Amanda Woodcock argued was a deliberate attempt to rally support, and Chow was handing out candles around the area but not openly stating where the vigil was (since it wasn’t officially happening).
Chow was additionally charged, alongside Ho, with attending an unauthorised assembly.
Events / Exhibitions etc
Planning to attend any events we share? Let us know by tagging us @harbourtimes on Twitter or Instagram or @HarbourTimesHK on Facebook.
Events from our partners
Recovery, Resilience, Resurgence: Photography Exhibition at the Asia Society
From the exhibition website:
“This exhibition’s photos show Hong Kong during consecutive periods, as it was seen around the middle of the last century. The images span some thirty years of great change: from the postwar recovery in 1946 – 1947, through the resilience of the 1950s, to the resurgence of the 1960s – 1970s. The photos were taken by three photographers. In the order of their Hong Kong work they were: Hedda Morrison, Lee Fook Chee and Brian Brake. Each had markedly different life backgrounds and photographic objectives.”
When: 14 December, 2021 - 6 March, 2022
Where: Asia Society Hong Kong Centre, 9 Justice Drive, Admiralty, Hong Kong
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.
Want your events on Tide as well? Let us know!
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to High Tide to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.