Economist.com Cities Guide: Hong Kong Briefing - July 2005

News this month

A good time for Tsang...

Donald Tsang, Hong Kong’s new chief executive, continues to enjoy high popularity ratings. A poll by Hong Kong University released in mid-July showed Mr Tsang’s popularity was at 71.4 points (out of a maximum 100). Meanwhile, the proportion of Hong Kongers giving him a vote of confidence increased to 77%.

Mr Tsang’s popularity was cited as a factor behind the poor turnout at the third-annual democracy march on July 1st, to mark the anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to Chinese rule. Police claimed this year’s march attracted only 11,000 people (down from 500,000 in both 2003 and 2004). The Tsang effect is also helping to improve his colleagues’ popularity. Rafael Hui, the chief secretary for administration, achieved a rating of 60.5, well above the notional pass mark of 50.

...and for sharks

Disney has removed shark’s fin soup from the menu at its Hong Kong theme park, to soothe what had been a patch of bad publicity before its opening in September. Irene Chan, Disney’s Asia-Pacific vice-president for public affairs, said the company had been unable to identify an environmentally sustainable fishing source.

Hong Kong buys 80% of the world’s harvested shark fins, and the soup, seen as a delicacy, is served at weddings and banquets. But conservation groups claim the fins are taken from tens of millions of sharks which are left to die in the ocean. In an earlier arrangement, Disney had agreed to keep the dish off the menu and serve it only upon request, with a pamphlet outlining the environmental issues. The decision to remove it altogether was made after local school students signed a petition, according to campaigners.

All work and no play

Reaffirming Hong Kongers’ reputation for lacklustre sex lives, a fertility service recently claimed that most of its clientele do not know how to make love. Grace Wong of the Family Planning Association said individuals concerned over how to have sex formed the bulk of the 1,578 people who attended the clinic in 2004—up from 1,047 in 2003. “Some married couples are not familiar with their body parts,” said Ms Wong in the South China Morning Post. The problem was attributed to over-protective parents and the Chinese taboo regarding talk about sex.

Hong Kong regularly ranks at the bottom of international surveys of sexual frequency. In October 2004, a 41-nation poll by Durex, a condom maker, found Hong Kongers have sex on average 79 times a year, ahead only of Japan (46 times). The French topped the survey with 137 couplings each year.

What's in a name?

Despite protests from academics and some alumni, the 118-year-old medical faculty at Hong Kong University is to be renamed in honour of Li Ka-shing, the chairman of Hutchison Whampoa, a Hong Kong-based conglomerate.

Mr Li, Asia’s richest man, has donated HK$1 billion ($128.4m) to the medical school. Mr Li said he had declined to attach his name to most projects he has funded, but chose to accept this offer after long reflection. Protesters have criticised the lack of consultation and transparency in this decision, and warn of a potential conflict of interest between the faculty and another of Mr Li’s companies, CK Life Science International Holdings.

Property problems

Hong Kong’s property sector picked up in 2004 but now faces pressure from rising interest rates, according to a report by Standard & Poor's, a ratings agency, released on July 6th. The agency said the flow of capital into the territory has cooled since lending rates rose for the fourth time in as many months. The residential sector is most vulnerable, particularly at the luxury end of the market, where buyers are becoming more cautious. Property companies are expected to respond with conservative financial profiles.

Catch if you can

August 2005

Impressions of the East: The Art of George Chinnery

Until August 29th 2005

To mark the 180th anniversary of the arrival in Macau of George Chinnery (1774-1852), a flamboyant British artist, the Hong Kong Museum of History is displaying some 180 of his works. HSBC, a giant international bank, has contributed 70 paintings by Chinnery from its extensive collection. They will join works from the Peabody Essex Museum in Massachusetts and from privately owned collections.

Chinnery died in 1862, aged 78, after a life of extravagant living, reckless borrowing and opium addiction. His work was shown at London's Royal Academy of Arts when he was 17, after which he fled to India to escape his wife. When she followed him there 15 years later, he moved to Macau, attracted by its cosmopolitan feel. Chinnery spent most of the early 19th century documenting the Portuguese colony, as well as Hong Kong and other parts of the Far East. His oils, watercolours and sketches, remarkable for their draughtsmanship, include portraits and landscapes.

Special Exhibition Gallery, Hong Kong Museum of History, 100 Chatham Rd South, Tsim Sha Tsui. Open: Mon, Wed-Sat 10am-6pm; Sun 10am-7pm. Tel (+852) 2724 9042. For more details, see the museum’s website.

More from the Hong Kong cultural calendar