Strangers at the Book Fair
By Chip Tsao | published Jul 22, 2010
British comedian and writer Stephen Fry, spy thriller master Frederick Forsyth, children’s thriller writer Anthony Horowitz, historian Andrew Roberts and poet James Fenton are all gathering in Hong Kong this week to host talks or appear at the local Book Fair. Like a Mongkok fishball hawker accidentally stepping into the Ritz Hotel in Paris and given a menu and a wine-list, this dazzling cast of top-class intellectual elites might prove a bit too heavy for Hong Kong.
When Alfred Hitchcock came to the territory to promote his new film “Psycho” in 1960, he was invited to dinner by the then-governor Sir Robert Black. When Kevin Costner transited in Hong Kong on a far eastern tour, he had afternoon tea with Chris Patten at Government House—even at a time when the leading Hollywood star’s career was on the wane after the big flop of “Waterworld.” If the Hong Kong SAR government is planning to squander another HK$30 billion to host the Asia Games in an attempt to cajole the world into believing that Hong Kong is still an “international city,” they should consider this Book Fair a golden moment for a grinning Donald Tsang to seize a ribbon-cutting photo op with a pair of golden scissors and a British literary entourage flanking him (although he’d be very much dwarfed by someone like Stephen Fry). And it would cost nothing, as they are all the guests of honor of either the British Council or Sir David Tang.
The government’s low profile is perhaps normal. After all, this is a visit from intellectuals from Britain, rather than a delegation from the province of Heilongjiang on an investment promotion tour. Some of them are politically dangerous. Stephen Fry has recently been openly critical of cruelty against animals in China, angering the Chinese ambassador in London. Roberts is an adviser to an institution called The Freedom Association, and we know that the word freedom, together with democracy, is abhorred by Beijing, thus increasingly disliked by Hong Kong. Horowitz has written a lot of sensitive stuff too, among them creating an international criminal gang named Scorpia which features a middle-aged Chinese man called Dr. Three (“with waxed and dyed black hair”) on the executive board, a figure familiar to anyone whose seen enough CCTV news.
This is only to assume the erudition of our English-speaking and wine-drinking leaders. It is more likely that they haven’t read any of their books or heard of these names. Summer is a holiday season for government officials and legislators to visit their children at Winchester or Harrow in the UK and get in some shopping time on New Bond Street. Those who can’t afford this luxury will flock to the Book Fair. The half-naked teen models have been banned. Instead, we have a group of odd-looking Englishmen talking on topics that have nothing to do with the stock market, finance or forecasting future global investment opportunities. What a change.
British comedian and writer Stephen Fry, spy thriller master Frederick Forsyth, children’s thriller writer Anthony Horowitz, historian Andrew Roberts and poet James Fenton are all gathering in Hong Kong this week to host talks or appear at the local Book Fair. Like a Mongkok fishball hawker accidentally stepping into the Ritz Hotel in Paris and given a menu and a wine-list, this dazzling cast of top-class intellectual elites might prove a bit too heavy for Hong Kong.
When Alfred Hitchcock came to the territory to promote his new film “Psycho” in 1960, he was invited to dinner by the then-governor Sir Robert Black. When Kevin Costner transited in Hong Kong on a far eastern tour, he had afternoon tea with Chris Patten at Government House—even at a time when the leading Hollywood star’s career was on the wane after the big flop of “Waterworld.” If the Hong Kong SAR government is planning to squander another HK$30 billion to host the Asia Games in an attempt to cajole the world into believing that Hong Kong is still an “international city,” they should consider this Book Fair a golden moment for a grinning Donald Tsang to seize a ribbon-cutting photo op with a pair of golden scissors and a British literary entourage flanking him (although he’d be very much dwarfed by someone like Stephen Fry). And it would cost nothing, as they are all the guests of honor of either the British Council or Sir David Tang.
The government’s low profile is perhaps normal. After all, this is a visit from intellectuals from Britain, rather than a delegation from the province of Heilongjiang on an investment promotion tour. Some of them are politically dangerous. Stephen Fry has recently been openly critical of cruelty against animals in China, angering the Chinese ambassador in London. Roberts is an adviser to an institution called The Freedom Association, and we know that the word freedom, together with democracy, is abhorred by Beijing, thus increasingly disliked by Hong Kong. Horowitz has written a lot of sensitive stuff too, among them creating an international criminal gang named Scorpia which features a middle-aged Chinese man called Dr. Three (“with waxed and dyed black hair”) on the executive board, a figure familiar to anyone whose seen enough CCTV news.
This is only to assume the erudition of our English-speaking and wine-drinking leaders. It is more likely that they haven’t read any of their books or heard of these names. Summer is a holiday season for government officials and legislators to visit their children at Winchester or Harrow in the UK and get in some shopping time on New Bond Street. Those who can’t afford this luxury will flock to the Book Fair. The half-naked teen models have been banned. Instead, we have a group of odd-looking Englishmen talking on topics that have nothing to do with the stock market, finance or forecasting future global investment opportunities. What a change.
Labels: Politically Incorrect, 陶傑
posted by Gemini Saga at 12:00 AM
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