Happy Chinese new year!  Since it is Chinese new year, we will talk about Hong Kong today.  As you know it had been a year of turmoil in HK.  A long protest called the umbrella movement put light on Beijing's rule of HK.  Although the street occupation by protesters have been stopped, I think we will be revisiting the same in the near future.  So it is interesting that the very unpopular chief executive of HK, C,Y. Leung came out with a statement asking the people of HK to behave more like sheep in this the year of the sheep.  Sheep are considered to mild and gentle and live in groups without fighting.  Of course, Leung is called the wolf by his critics.  So this is not lost on the people of HK and all kinds of jokes or serious discussion will come out of this.  The word for sheep, goat or ram are all the same in Chinese.  Since I am born under this sign, I will prefer to say its is the year of the ram since I think the ram is tougher than goats or sheep.  I mean the LA Rams sound a lot better than LA Sheep or Goats.

Also from HK, a Filipino domestic worker recently won a scholarship to NYU to study photography after her photos of Filipino domestic workers in a shelter for abused migrant workers in HK came to light.  There are 320,000 foreign domestic workers in HK.  When I was there in 2007 I walked into a park on a Sunday where many of these women were congregating.  This was the one day off they had and since they can't afford other entertainment, they gathered there to visit with each other.  I felt a little uncomfortable then even without knowing that some of them were abused.  As a land that was colonized for much of recent history and now being governed by a communist government, I would think the people of the land I was born, would be very cognizant of human rights.  I think now that HK people are well off financially, they should be treating others as well as they wanted to be treated when they were under British rule.  Now that they are demanding more human rights from Beijing, they should be giving more rights to their foreign workers.  I see some abuses are being tried in court and there are calls for laws improving the lives of foreign workers.  I hope HK will continue to make improvements in this sad situation.

The chief executive of HK is putting tomorrow as the deadline for the demonstrators to move out of the streets.   Exactly what he would do if the demonstrators don't move is unknown.  But this is a fight that the protestors cannot win.  As I said before, there is no international pressure on China.  China can shut off the water supply to HK and blockade its port and that will bring HK to its knees.  Of course, China would not want to go this far.  But the average people in HK is not going to put up with the financial costs of the demonstrations either.  Already the demonstrations have cost millions to the economy and fights between people in HK have broken out.  So I think it is time to pull back.

Frankly I am disappointed in the silence from the UK.  Having negotiated the agreement with China to return HK to control of China, the UK can and should voice its displeasure over China going back on its word of letting HK govern itself.  I understand that since the UK was HK's colonial master, it is hard to complain about another country denying political freedom for HK.  But having negotiated the treaty on behalf of HK, the UK certainly can complain about China's deviation from the freedom that it promised to give HK for 50 years.

Bad week for Detroit sports.   The Tigers got swept by the Orioles even though they should have won 2 out 3 games.  The incompetent Lions lose to the terrible Bills at home after a 14-0 lead.  How do you explain sports.  The Angels, with the best record, got swept by KC.  Clayton Kershaw losing a 6-1 lead!  I guess sports is thrilling and heartbreaking.  I learned a long time ago not to get to involved since at the end only the fans of one team is totally happy!  That is a lesson I only learned as I got old.  It comes in handy especially after this weekend!

College and high school students in Hong Kong are occupying the Central district to demand greater freedom in this territory controlled by China.  I have mixed feelings about this.  On the one hand it is good to know there are idealistic young people in Hong Kong who are risking everything to advance democracy, not only in HK but perhaps in China.  On the other hand, if someone gets seriously injured or even die from this, I don't think this fight is worth it at this time.

First, the issue at hand is the election of the chief executive of HK.  Since China took over HK, the CE  has been elected by committee, in other words by those loyal to China.  There was no direct vote by the people.  By 2017, there is supposed to be direct election by citizens of HK for CE.  But word came out recently that the candidates have to be vetted by a committee.  This means that candidates hostile to Beijing will probably not be on the ballot.  This sparks the protest.  The problem as I see it, is that being a communist country, Beijing will not meet the demand of the protestors and will use force if needed.  The timing is also bad as the U.S. and the UK are all occupied with ISIS and Ukraine.  They need China, if not for support, at least do not veto any resolutions in the UN.  So far there is no words of support from the western powers to the protestors.  Given no international support, this is a road that lead to nowhere.  There are reports of injuries already, and given that any change of the mind of Beijing is extremely unlikely, it certainly do not seem worth the risk of life at this time.  At the very least, this election in 2017 is not a backward step.  People of HK can choose the less of 2 or 3 evils rather than have the evil handed to them by Beijing.

Interestingly, at the same time, Beijing was making overture to Taiwan about negotiation for reunification!  President Xi is promising the same one country two system of HK to Taiwan.  Not that Taiwan would have said yes anyway, but the timing of this with the protest in HK is peculiar.  Certainly Xi would not think that what is happening in HK would in anyway encourage Taiwan to come back to China!