weehingthong

Singing along with their favourite singer and waving glow sticks, Chinese fans of Taylor Swift turned a normally quiet Beijing cinema into a place of celebration on February 3, 2024. pic.twitter.com/4pEv3jFnzT

— South China Morning Post (@SCMPNews) February 8, 2024

Taylor Swift’s Eras tour concert movie is packing theaters across China, providing a rare outlet for young women rejecting ever-tighter social controls https://t.co/0VZPuMM4gp

— Bloomberg (@business) February 10, 2024

Taylor Swift wows Chinese women tired of Xi’s conservative era #FMTNews #FMTLifestyle https://t.co/3BoNcYfhbm

— Free Malaysia Today (@fmtoday) February 10, 2024

Hong Kong legislator + CCP stooge Regina Ip wrote a rebuttal letter to FT in response to Stephen Roach’s article last week… Ip took a page out of the CCP playbook and blamed everything on foreigners… 🤦🏻

No, the US didn’t curb capital flows into Hong Kong. That’s not why stocks… https://t.co/cU2Z4C2XtT pic.twitter.com/jHZyIpbKKQ

— Byron Wan (@Byron_Wan) February 19, 2024

Hong Kong property prices have fallen more than they did during the Global Financial Crisis, now down 24% from the peak vs 23% in 2008 pic.twitter.com/Om9H6HHsYi

— Matthew Brooker (@mbrookerhk) February 19, 2024

Stephen Roach: “Hong Kong was perfectly positioned as the major beneficiary of what turned into the world’s greatest development miracle. It all worked out brilliantly, for longer than anyone expected. And now it’s over.”https://t.co/6ojB1KRmKL via @ft

— Matthew Brooker (@mbrookerhk) February 12, 2024

To outsiders, @SRoach_econ’s heavy reliance on #HongKong’s stock market as the basis for saying that the city is finished might seem strange. After all, stock markets generally epitomise wider society. But in HK’s case, it is right to look to the stock market. Here’s why. (1/7) https://t.co/e06lHGL0rs

— Kevin Yam 任建峰 (@kevinkfyam) February 12, 2024

… investors” just so that they can get access to complex stock-based investments which in most places would be restricted to hedge funds and the like.

C. Stock analysts in #HongKong are CELEBRITIES in their own rights.

D. Stock trades are used not just as investments, … (3/7)

— Kevin Yam 任建峰 (@kevinkfyam) February 12, 2024

… be shut down, rendering the shares they bought valueless.

E. The #HongKong stock market is so ubiquitous in town that all forms of popular culture are tied to it, ranging from the idea of rinsing one’s mouth with shark fin soup (in the days before shark fin became … (5/7)

— Kevin Yam 任建峰 (@kevinkfyam) February 12, 2024

And what I’ve just mentioned above are just for starters. So yes, the #HongKong stock market is a better indicator of where HK society is at than stock markets in other places might be for their societies. (7/7)

— Kevin Yam 任建峰 (@kevinkfyam) February 12, 2024

Correction to tweet 1 of 7: “generally DON’T epitomise”

— Kevin Yam 任建峰 (@kevinkfyam) February 12, 2024

The “patriots” overseeing Hong Kong’s long slide into darkness:

“The city’s new lawmakers include a crop of young hyper-nationalists who … are fond of obnoxious online banter—cheering on Russia, berating Taiwan—and performative displays of patriotism” https://t.co/7Uey6Z7rhy

— Matthew Brooker (@mbrookerhk) February 10, 2024

“The biggest obstacle to Hong Kong’s future development is its current political elite.”

A bit about Article 23 and the direction of the city under the rule of an admin and lawmakers who care far more about guessing what Beijing wants than running HK.https://t.co/vd45Vpuip0

— Timothy McLaughlin (@TMclaughlin3) February 9, 2024

Jasper Tsang in Ming Pao a few weeks back, which got snipped from the piece: "Being patriotic alone is not enough to be a competent legislator." (The obsession with KPIs is funny, but when you no longer need to campaign you have to do something, I guess)https://t.co/AfT7zn1oB9

— Timothy McLaughlin (@TMclaughlin3) February 10, 2024

Very kind of you to group Regina under ‘young’ 😂😂😂

— Matthieu (@matt_1221_hk) February 10, 2024

🇭🇰🛬

Homg Kong International Airport has fallen to 33rd in the latest Skytrax airport ratings for 2023.

That's down 13 places over 2022, and down 29 places from 4th in 2018.

Shenzhen was named most improved airpprt. https://t.co/foIWfeXfnw

— Aaron Busch (@tripperhead) February 10, 2024

“This month a sweeping new law against foreign interference was invoked for the first time [in Singapore], against a Hong Kong-born Singaporean, Philip Chan.”

“Mr Chan is…a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), an organ of the Chinese…

— Sari Arho Havrén (@SariArhoHavren) February 10, 2024

And finally, let's keep in mind Xi’s messages to his diplomatic envoys in December. He urged his diplomats to “make good use of the *effective instrument of united front* work” and “pass on the CPC Central Committee’s care and concern to every overseas Chinese”. And precisely as…

— Sari Arho Havrén (@SariArhoHavren) February 10, 2024