My Hong Kong Family having dinner. We are missing several members; Helen, who had to work late, Joshua, who took the picture and Sze Wan (Grace) and her husband, Tony.
Note: The picture includes the writer, my wife,Jenny and our daughter Peggy, who lives in LA
__________________________________________________
Yesterday we went to Mongkok to get a visa for China. We are planning to go to Sister’s second home in China for a few days. In addition, we plan to do some touring around the area. We’ll give you more details later.
Land-use rights for farmers in China have been a big issue for many years. It seems that farmers cannot own their land, but they can lease it for thirty years. What has happened to so many farmers is that many high-ranking local politicians would not issue certificates to the farmers so they were unable to prove their rights to live on the land. So, the politicians would simply take their land away from them. I’m sure that many of you have read about riots by farmers because of this issue.
So in order to eliminate this issued, Beijing is issuing these Certificates in order to ensure the farmers’ rights will not be violated. Good luck! However, it seems to be a step in the right directions.
The Chinese Central Government has set as a target to try to double the annual income of farmers from HK$4550 to HK$10,000 by year 2020. As most of you know, the Central Government has been concerned with the disparity of income of those living in the central part of China versus those living on the coast.
After applying for our visas to China, we went to Kowloon Bay for Dinner with the family, but before dinner, Jenny and I went early to walk around the area. Kowloon Bay is located north of Tsim Sha Tsui and adjacent to the old Kai Tak Airport. It is an industrial area and very little to see, so Jenny spent her time in a shopping center doing what she loves best!
A little blast of the past! When I worked in Hong Kong, more years than I care to think about, our factory was located in San Po Kong, a district in the same area as Kowloon Bay. The area has really change a lot, but still the area around the old airport is still more commercial than some of the other areas we enjoy visiting.
So the question is what do the Hong Kong people think about Taiwan and China meeting and improving their relations? South China Morning Post (SCMP), the largest English language newspaper in Hong Kong, was very positive in an editorial about the improving relations. There are some locals who don’t care, some who want closer relations and some who do not. Since I had a question about this matter I will kind of follow it and let you know what I find out.
November 9th -Today is Sunday and with Sunday everyone in Hong Kong gets out of their small flats and hits the streets and stores. So we have decided to stay in and try it another day.
Yesterday I saw a CX-7 Mazda in a showroom with a price tag of HK$310,000. So that you do not have to get your calculators out: that is about US$40,000. I think in the States you can buy this car all day for about, what US$27,000? The big different in the two prices is import tax on all auto’s. This tax was imposed years ago to reduce the number of cars registered in HK, but by observing the traffic in HK it is hard to believe that it has worked!
Speaking of automobiles: I noticed in the HK Standard, another local English newspaper, that China has implemented a no-drive rule in Beijing effective October 11th. It works like this: if your license plate ends in a number 1 or 6, you cannot drive on Monday; if your license plates number ends in a 2 or 7, you cannot drive on Tuesday; and so on, with weekends exempt from the rule. How difficult would that be to follow? I can’t remember what day it is never mind the last number on my license plate!
November 10th -The weather has finally turned cooler; yesterday the high was only 21C, about 70F with the winds around 10-20 kph. It was nice!
Many of you might haves seen the article about a middle-rankling Chinese official, Yang Xianghong, who slipped away from the Chinese delegation in Paris (I know Judd did since he had a question about it). At the time of the question I had not seen anything in the papers about the incident. And for good reason; they don’t report this type of information often. Yesterday I did see an article in the SCMP about, not only that incident but also the whole issue of corrupt officials fleeing before they can be prosecuted. Are you ready for this? The article said that over the past decade more than 10,000 corrupt Chinese Official have fled China, mostly for Europe, Canada and US because of extradition treaties, and left with over US$100 billon dollars. That’s a lot of gravy!
November 11th -Jenny had to do run some errands with her sister, so I stayed home (which is anywhere I take my shoes off!) and started reviewing tax information for next tax season. Yes, it is coming! I have to re-qualify each year as a volunter tax counselor, which means taking a test each year. This year’s changes are minimal so it is basically reviewing. One can forget a lot in a year. Also next year, I have volunteered to serve one day a week as counselor for VITA in Warrensburg. VITA serves mainly lower income clients versus senior citizens, which is mostly what we do at the Senior Center in Glens Falls.
Last night we had dinner at Sister’s house with her family, again. It is always a joy to be with them, even though I don’t understand most of what is happening. Jenny’s niece, Helen a schoolteacher and graduate of a school in Canada, speaks about as much English at dinner as Cantonese; this is not just for my benefit, but also forcing the three grandnieces to learn more English.
No comments:
Post a Comment