Ian Anderson is coming to Hong Kong on Monday, June 24th, in a show billed as Ian Anderson Plays the Best of Jethro Tull.  I’ll be photographing that show and might have back stage access as well, so aside from finally getting to see Anderson live for the first time, I’m excited to have a chance to meet him and photograph him.

Here’s an interview with Anderson in Music Weekly/Asia in which he discusses the upcoming Hong Kong show.

There will be something unique at the Hong Kong show – HKAPA student and flautist Melody Kuen-Kuen Chuang will be performing with Anderson at the show.

If you haven’t purchased tickets yet, the promoters have also given me discount codes that will get you 15% off on A and B tickets or 40% off on C and D tickets. They have asked me to distribute the codes privately – so I can’t post them here or in comments. If any readers would like the discount code, then send an email to hongkietown at gmail dot com and I’ll send you the codes.

Here’s a terrific clip of Anderson in concert from 2008 – you want to stick with it past the 2 minute mark, when he and the band start to heat things up.

Here’s some disturbing facts.  Another 7 million are about to graduate from universities in China. Ten years ago they had 2 million grads a year. This is a big thing. Except, many of these new graduates aren’t going to find jobs, or will find jobs that they are way over-qualified for.

Businesses say they are swamped with job applications but have few positions to offer as economic growth has begun to falter. Twitter-like microblogging sites in China are full of laments from graduates with dim prospects.

Graduating seniors at all but a few of China’s top universities say that very few people they know are finding jobs — and that those who did receive offers over the winter were seeing them rescinded as the economy has weakened in recent weeks.

A national survey released last winter found that in the age bracket of 21- to 25-year-olds, 16 percent of the men and women with college degrees were unemployed.

But only 4 percent of those with an elementary school education were unemployed, a sign of voracious corporate demand persisting for blue-collar workers. Wages for workers who have come in from rural areas to urban factories have surged 70 percent in the last four years; wages for young people in white-collar sectors have barely stayed steady or have even declined.

Relatively slow growth is still creating enough jobs to provide full employment for the country’s blue-collar workers. But much faster growth may be needed to create white-collar jobs for the graduates pouring out of universities.

One response, endorsed by the State Council, is to urge more graduates to take jobs at small, private companies. But a generation of people who grew up under the government’s “one child” policy has proved risk-averse and slow to join or set up new companies.

Chinese students have been gravitating toward majors that are perceived as academically less demanding but likely to lead to careers in banking. Business administration and economics majors have proliferated, partly because the country’s many new private universities find them inexpensive subjects to teach. Programs in engineering and other sciences, with their requirements for costly labs, have grown more slowly.

As in the West in recent years, financial services is an extremely popular field among college graduates, who besiege banks, brokerage firms and other businesses in the sector with job applications. Ministry of Human Resources statistics show that average pay for banking sector employees, at $14,500 a year, is twice the level of pay in sectors like health care and education.

Graduates from the best universities still have a strong chance of finding a job, particularly if they do not set their sights too high. Lin Yinbi, a senior graduating in trade and economics from the prestigious Renmin University in Beijing, said that he had job offers from a heating company and a supermarket chain, but was still applying for a well-paid bank job.

Wang Zhian, a prominent Chinese broadcaster whose microblog has more than 200,000 followers, created a stir this spring by recommending that college graduates take jobs packing and unpacking homes for moving companies.

So, plenty of jobs still for factory works and janitors and waiters. But everyone wants to work in a bank. An educated middle class with high rates of unemployment is probably not going to sit around idly waiting for things to get better. And if there’s one thing the Chinese government fears more than anything else, it’s social instability.

NY Times: China’s Great Uprooting: Moving 250 Million Into Cities. Hit the link for the full article and accompanying slideshows. Some excerpts:

China is pushing ahead with a sweeping plan to move 250 million rural residents into newly constructed towns and cities over the next dozen years — a transformative event that could set off a new wave of growth or saddle the country with problems for generations to come.

“The One True Hooha” is the name that Edward Snowden used on online gaming forums a decade ago.  The New York Times put together something of a profile on Snowden yesterday, painting him as personally ambitious and someone with a great interest in China – he studied Mandarin and martial arts among other things.

The Atlantic has a very interesting comparison between Snowden and one of the people he calls (and I call) a hero, Daniel Ellsberg.  They list several differences but there are two that ring out to me – what Snowden revealed, as troubling as it may be, is legal. And Ellsberg remained in the U.S. to face the consequences of what he did, Snowden fled.

What does it all mean? I don’t know. I don’t think the full story is out there yet. I’m not rushing to judgement.  I have a lot of conflicting thoughts.

I mean, is anyone really surprised that the U.S. government is doing this? And while I’d like to say that I’m disappointed that Obama continued this program that Bush started, how many times has he promised to shut Guantanamo?

Maybe I’m less shocked because I’ve become inured to it. My family was investigated by the FBI in the 1960s – they went door to door in the building we lived in asking our neighbors about us.  I did stuff as a teenager that I’m convinced led to the KGB having a file on me. And as someone who works in IT, I know full well that anything I type on the Internet, anything I put on Facebook or search on Google, is available to anyone in the world, regardless of what “privacy settings” I’ve selected. Anything I buy from any online shop or any store with a “member card” goes into a database that can be mined.

And why did Snowden choose Hong Kong? I still don’t get this. If he thinks he will eventually receive asylum in Iceland, why didn’t he just go there? Why choose a place that has never known democracy and that is part of a country that has ruthlessly oppressed its citizens for 5,000 years, a country that is famous for spying on its citizens and jails dissidents without trial?

Snowden may be a hero. Maybe. But I see no basis for Hong Kong to deny extradition, if the U.S. should request that, which it likely will.

I try to put myself into his shoes. I work in IT. I’ve worked as a contractor. I could have easily been placed in a position with a company with values opposed to my own. Snowden signed all sorts of papers pledging to keep his mouth shut about what he was doing. I suppose one could argue that he signed those papers before he got the access he got and that he was so shocked by what he discovered that he decided this took precedence over whatever he signed.

But why did he choose to allow himself to work for U.S. intelligence agencies? Why not banks? Why not Wal*Mart?  He went where the money was. I’ve seen reports saying he was earning anywhere from $120,000 to $200,000 a year – not bad for a high school dropout with a GED.

And what about Booz Allen Hamilton? What guilt do they have in this? I would say that they’re so anxious to fill these positions, which are tremendously profitable to them, that they’re not properly vetting candidates.  ”Okay, this guy can spell UNIX, we can bill him out to the NSA at a 300% mark-up, what more do we need to know?”

From the Times article:

His disclosures have renewed a longstanding concern: that young Internet aficionados whose skills the agencies need for counterterrorism and cyberdefense sometimes bring an anti-authority spirit that does not fit the security bureaucracy.

“There were lots of discussions at N.S.A. and in the intelligence community in general about the acculturation process,” said Joel F. Brenner, a former inspector general of the agency. “They were aware that they were bringing in young people who had to adjust to the culture — and who would change the culture.”

Mr. Brenner said that with such a buildup after the Sept. 11 attacks, “you’re going to have some sloppiness and some mistakes.” It is remarkable, he said, that “disloyalty” of Mr. Snowden’s variety is so rare.

I think it took a lot of courage for Snowden to do what he did. But I think he did it wrong. I think if he truly wants to be a martyr then he should go to the airport today, get on a plane to Los Angeles, surrender to the authorities and get the trial started. Let’s get this all out in open courts.

Let’s let the rule of law decide and not the rule of mobs.

(I reserve the option to change my mind on this 62 more times in the coming days.)

Regarding the post on the prosecutor who appeared to be soft on sex offenders, the prosecutor involved, Kevin Zervos, has a letter in the SCMP yesterday. It’s no surprise that he’s claiming that the SCMP quoted him out of context.  But what he writes in this letter is convincing.

At no time was I urging compassion for sex offenders. Nor was I responding to complaints that the city’s prosecutors and judges were overly lenient with sex offenders.

I was generally commenting on the use of the bind-over procedure and was asked for my comments about one specific case which involved a young female reporter who was hugged from behind by a man in costume at the Rugby Sevens. It appeared that the man was drunk.

He later wrote a letter of apology to the woman. In that case, after anxious scrutiny, and having considered all the circumstances of the case, including the seriousness of the offence, the woman’s views and the man’s remorse, it was decided that he should be given a bind over.

The woman fully understood the bind-over procedure after it was explained to her. She was keen to ensure that the man did not repeat his conduct and showed respect towards women in the future. This was stressed in our letter to the man’s lawyers.

I did not and am not advocating compassion for first-time sex offenders regardless of the offence and its severity. Last year, only 16 out of 646 indecent assault cases in the Magistrates’ Courts were dealt with by way of bind over.

Offences such as rape, sexual violence cases, sexual offences against those aged under 16 are dealt with with the full force of the law.

I am strongly committed to protecting victims of sexual offences, especially of sexual violence, and I have initiated a programme to address human exploitation cases.

I am removing him from my list of idiots in charge here.

An update on Hong Kong’s useless new cruise ship terminal, which hosted its first ship this week – and now goes dark until the next ship arrives in November.

Tourists who arrived with the first cruise vessel to dock at the new Kai Tak terminal gave a mixed review of their experience in the city, with some complaining of transportation confusion, taxi overcharging and too little time to take in the attractions.

The one-day stay of Mariner of the Seas was expected to deliver a bump in retail revenue, but it turns out not all the visitors were big spenders.

Aileen Webber, 62, from Australia, went to the Megabox mall on Wednesday night. “We were told it’s a good one, but there wasn’t much to see,” said “There was not enough transportation information. We wasted a lot of time at The Peak looking for a bus back.”

Sandra Cooper, 62, from Britain said she had a good experience yesterday but Wednesday night “was chaos”. She and her husband waited 30 minutes on Wednesday night for other passengers to board a shuttle bus leaving the cruise terminal. The bus was arranged by the terminal operator.

There were grumbles about the taxi service that night. Taxis were not allowed into the terminal at a point and a long queue formed.

Lai Ming-hung, chairman of the Taxi and Public Light Bus Concern Group, said he took a taxi and arrived at the terminal at 7.20pm, but security guards informed him taxis were not allowed inside. He made an enquiry with a Transport Department officer, and was told at 8.10pm that taxis could enter.

The terminal operator said many taxis were unwilling to enter the terminal with an empty car, but later admitted that the staff of one of the security companies wrongly thought taxis needed a permit to enter the terminal.

One British tourist said she was charged HK$400 by a taxi driver for a journey she later learned should cost around HK$70. “It’s very, very disgusting,” she said.

Lai suggested terminal staff could assist tourists taking taxis, as occurs at the airport. They would record taxi plate numbers and give tourists an idea how much their journey should cost.

They didn’t already know they would need to do that? They thought, oh sure, people coming off a boat who have never been here before and have just 12 hours here and are being dropped off in the middle of nowhere are gonna be fine on their own?

From today’s SCMP:

Beijing reserves the right not to accept the person chosen by universal suffrage to govern Hong Kong, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying has warned.

“The possibility exists for Beijing and Hong Kong people not seeing eye-to-eye on the best candidate to lead Hong Kong. This is another issue we need to tackle under ‘one country, two systems’,” he said.

He noted that Beijing had occasionally declined to accept officials nominated by the city’s leader, indicating that “it reserves the same right over the chief executive position”.

Former chief secretary Anson Chan Fang On-sang took issue with Leung’s comments.

“There is no justification for [Leung] to paint such a negative and alarmist picture to an overseas audience,” she said. “It is his job to ensure that the necessary changes to Hong Kong’s electoral arrangements are in place … As long as [changes to electoral] arrangements provide for an election that is free and fair, Hong Kong people can be trusted to use their votes wisely.”

People. Hong Kong is part of China. The notion that Hong Kong will get true universal suffrage without there being massive internal changes in China first is a myth.  ”One country two systems” is a fairy tale to read to your kids at bed time.

Finally found. For those who recall this post where I wrote about being a NYC taxi driver and Springsteen being one of my celebrity fares, here’s the autograph from that day.

It would have been a few days before Springsteen played Central Park, June 12 1982, as part of the Rally for Disarmament.  The numbers down the right hand side are a running tally of my tips that day, the last one ($6) from Springsteen.

Yeah, I know what some of you are thinking. I did run the meter on Bruce. I did hesitate – but then I figured, idol or not, he was a millionaire and I was struggling to pay the rent, not to mention that I could have faced a big fine and suspension if I was caught driving someone in the taxi without popping the meter.  I did tell Bruce, “you don’t gotta tip me but you do gotta give me your autograph.”  He signed it, handed me $10 (the meter was showing $4) and told me to keep the change.

The latest example, from today’s SCMP:

The city’s chief prosecutor says victims of indecent assault in some cases should show their attackers compassion if it is their first offence.

“Men will actually respect women more if they see women showing compassion to them and realising they are better off without a conviction,” Director of Public Prosecutions Kevin Zervos said in an exclusive interview with the Sunday Morning Post.

“There’s this boy-girl thing in life,” he said. “You have young men and women out there interacting socially. And when an incident happens and a man gets carried away … is it social misbehaviour or is it a crime?

Zervos was responding to complaints to the Post that the city’s prosecutors and judges were overly lenient with sex offenders. His comment also follows Secretary for Security Lai Tung-kwok’s remark last month that women should drink less alcohol to avoid being raped.

Linda Wong Sau-yung, the director of the Association Concerning Sexual Violence Against Women, is concerned that if victims think prosecutors are going to be lenient towards sexual offenders they will not bother going to the police. Only 50 per cent of victims report assaults and rapes, according to the association.

Obviously it’s not as dire a situation here as in India or South Africa. Even so, it’s distressing to read something like this.

Now that I’m working in Wanchai every day, I’m certainly spoiled for choice when it comes to lunch.  I don’t find the variety as interesting as it was in my year in Sheung Wan, but anything is better than that miserable year I spent out at Cyberport.  Here’s my rundown of lunch spots – keeping in mind that my office is on the corner of Lockhart & Fleming and I don’t want to walk more than a couple of blocks at lunchtime.  The order of places listed is the order in which they are listed on Open Rice, which lists almost 1,800 places in the district.

I should also mention that while I enjoy cha chaan teng places, I don’t frequent them that often. The reason is pretty simple.  At lunch time I want a real chair, not a plastic stool, and I want to sit and take my time and read. I don’t want to be made to feel that I have 10 minutes to eat and get the hell out. (As a friend of mine has said, in these places at lunch time, all the waitress are bat por – bitches (excuse me if I didn’t get the pinyin correct, you know what I mean))

For some reason, Open Rice is only displaying the first 500 restaurants and won’t let me browse beyond that.  Well, this wasn’t meant to be comprehensive anyway.

But one reason I’m posting this is because I’d like to get your recommendations. What places in the area that I haven’t listed are ones I should be trying?

Joy Hing – As most people know, they do some of the best roasted meats in Hong Kong.

Sabah – I like this place at dinner time but their lunch set menus bear little relation to their regular menu and aren’t worth the price.

The Pawn – Very good lunch sets but really too expensive for me and too long a walk.

Paisano – When I am in the mood for a quick, cheap lunch, pizza hits the spot.

Oh Food Arabic Halal Cuisine – A cramped place on the 11th floor of an office building. Once was enough.

Canny Man – In the basement of the Wharney Hotel, their $88 set lunches are consistently good. The place is comfortable and quiet – but it’s a long walk if you wanna grab a smoke.

Delaney’s – They do a “Sunday roast” every day. Quality is consistently good. Friday, when I was super hungry, the roast that day was turkey and it really hit the spot. Expensive but good quality and a lot of food for the money.

Queen Victoria – $58 for a set lunch makes them the cheapest of the western pubs along Lockhart.

Coyote – I know people who swear by this place. The set lunches are all over $100 and I’ve never really enjoyed it.

Ebeneezers – With 2 locations and open all night, this place used to be great – 10 years ago. Now I can’t bring myself to eat there.

Agave – I actually prefer the fake Mexican here to the fake Mexican at Coyote. Much cheaper, too. But as a friend noted, their lunch menu hasn’t changed in years.

Triple O’s – I’m a burger fan and consider this place quite okay, though it’s just slightly too long a walk for me at lunch time.

Flame – A rotisserie chicken place from the owners of Thai Hut. A bit shaky when they opened but pretty good these days.

Tack Hsin – Large chain cantonese sea food place that does fairly average dim sum at lunch time.

New Star Seafood Restaurant – Another huge chain cantonese seafood place. I think it’s slightly better than Tack Hsin.

Dog House – When they first opened I thought the food was quite okay. But I don’t think it’s been as good in recent years.

Carnegie’s – Been here once at lunch time, fish & chips set lunch, wasn’t bad.

Old China Hand – The food has actually improved slightly in the past year. My gf swears by their “fried chicken in a basket” – which isn’t served in a basket.

White Stag – Of all the British style pubs along Lockhart, I’d say their $80 set lunch is the best.

Thai Hut – Some of the most authentic Thai food you’ll find in Wanchai. But this is primarily a take-away place and just has 3 small tables.

Spicy Fingers – I’ve been here a lot. It’s a terrific bar. And I’m a friend of one of the owners. But the food leaves a lot to be desired.

Hop House – At Brim 28, from the folks who own Hong Kong Brew House and Inside Out (and Grappas). Good burger. No free refill on ice tea.

Other notable places – but haven’t had lunch at these:

Passion - The pastries and bread here are fabulous.

Flying Pan - I’ve done weekend brunch here and think it’s quite okay, just never been in the mood for pancakes at lunch time (and, dark confession, I don’t eat eggs).

BO Innovation – I’ve only had dinner here once – and it was free. I know the place is controversial but I enjoyed it.

Yuyu Sushi – prices are in the middle range for sushi places in HK, quality in the middle range as well.

American Restaurant – This place is so old school the sign reads “Peking Food.” The food ain’t so great, the service can be slow, yet I love this place.

Katong Laksa Prawn Mee – I went to their Sheung Wan branch once and never returned. Is the Wanchai branch any better?

3 6 9 – Old school Shanghainese food.

Himalaya – Pretty decent Nepalese and Indian food

Crystal Jade – I’m a Crystal Jade fan but I assume this place is too busy at lunch time.

Chili Club – Awful fake Thai food.

California Vintage – 90 wines by the glass and pretty decent tacos and sliders. 50% off wine and oysters from 3 PM to 8 PM.  But Brim 28 is depressingly dead at night.

Peking Dumpling Wong – I always enjoy this place.

Istanbul Express – Very inconsistent. Some times it’s been quite good, other times the opposite.

Cinta J – Stick with the Filipino food and it’s quite okay. They’ve opened a “Cinta Express” take-out only spot that oddly isn’t open at lunch time.

Spice House – Cheap & cheerful Thai food.

Curry Pot – I keep meaning to try their lunch buffet but haven’t gotten around to it yet.

 Gold Coast – Above Spicy Fingers, been here a few times for late night hot pot. The tables are jammed too close together and it’s not great but it’s not bad either.

Thai Farmer – Authentic Thai food just steps away from the crappy Chili Club. Always a line for their set lunch, one of these days ….

All the way back in 2009, I wrote this post about the government’s plans to build a new ocean terminal at Kai Tak. The key point there, one that seems all but forgotten now, was that the government originally asked the cruise lines to pay for it but after they ran the numbers, they backed off because they didn’t think it would be profitable. So our fearless leaders went ahead and built the useless thing anyway.

So now we’re stuck with this ugly thing taking up a huge chunk of the harbor.

(The only photo I have of this thing is this one from March, taken from the window of a speeding bus on a hazy day. Three months later, it doesn’t look all that much different except at night, when they make it even uglier by lighting it up like a manic depressive Christmas tree.)

It’s about to open. And guess what?  300 days out of 365, it’s going to be empty.

The Standard reports:

The Kai Tak cruise terminal will be deserted for more than 300 days in its first year of operation unless the government can get more operators to divert their ships to Hong Kong or arrange a host of special events.

Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Gregory So Kam-leung said projections show that only 20 liners will call at Kai Tak from its soft opening next week to the middle of 2014, for a total of 37 berthing days.

The terminal will have its soft opening on Wednesday to welcome the first ocean liner, Mariner of the Seas, which is carrying more than 3,000 passengers.

The next berthing at the terminal will be at the end of October and early November as a result of a joint promotion by the Hong Kong Tourism Board and Taiwan’s tourism authorities for the Mariner to ferry passengers between the two.

Oh, by the way, not only is the building ugly, it’s leaking.

However, construction is continuing in many parts of the terminal and leaks can frequently be found within the building.

So said the terminal was affected by the heavy rains on May 22 when the black rainstorm warning was hoisted.

Yeah, it rained, which it never does in Hong Kong, and I guess caught them by surprise. “You wanted it big, ugly and waterproof?”

By the way, “So” is Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Gregory So Kam-leung. So’s qualifications for the position seem to come down to the fact that he’s a lawyer and a member of the pro-Beijing DAB party. I wonder if he ever staged any horse shows?

So estimates the economic benefits from the terminal could range from HK$1.5 billion to HK$2.6 billion a year.

How to realize these benefits?

So said the building can be used to provide spacious areas for exhibitions, conventions, conferences or even wedding receptions.

Because between HKCEC, KITEC and Asiaworld, plus the dozens of ballrooms and function rooms in hotels, we don’t have any convention or conference space.  And certainly there’s a desperate lack of spaces where one could hold a wedding with 10,000 guests.

I’d appreciate some of whatever it is he’s smoking.

The cruise terminal cost at least HK$8 billion to build. The “consortium” running the operation will pay the government rent of HK$13 million (plus a percentage of the operator’s gross receipts as variable rent) for ten years. How one gets from that to $2.6 billion per year is a mystery to me. How this “consortium” got this for an annual rent that is less than jewelry stores pay for 1 month’s rent on Canton Road is a mystery as well.

Said consortium is made up 60% by Worldwide Flight Services (owned by French company Vinci Group), 20% by Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., and 20% by a subsidiary of Shun Tak Holdings Limited.  Ah, Shun Tak. Good ole Stanley Ho.

As usual, no one will be held accountable for this boondoggle, which has cost billions of tax payer dollars.