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psitrend · 5 years

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Interview with Man-kei Tam, director of Amnesty International Hong Kong: what will happen next in Hong Kong?

New Post has been published on https://china-underground.com/2019/06/18/man-kei-tam-what-will-happen-next-in-hong-kong/

Interview with Man-kei Tam, director of Amnesty International Hong Kong: what will happen next in Hong Kong?

We interviewed Dr. Mankei Tam (MK), director of Amnesty International Hong Kong about the recent protests against the extradition bill in China: what are the requests of the protestors, what are the political consequences of the demonstrations, what will happen in the near future.

Since 2005, Dr. Mankei Tam (MK) has held leadership roles at international environmental organizations Greenpeace and Earthwatch.

Dr. Man-kei Tam

He joined Amnesty International to become the director of the Hong Kong Section in November 2018.

MK gained his Ph.D. in anthropology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, with a focus on citizenship and rebuilding livelihoods after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan.

– Do you think China is happy with Carrie Lam’s handling of the situation in Hong Kong? What will China do?

It was her own initiative in pushing the legislation ahead. But during the whole process, we saw Chinese authorities and their agents everywhere.

For example, we saw the foreign ministry and also other major Chinese officials responding to Hong Kong affairs.

They openly came out and responded to the media and they tried very hard to solicit support from the pro-establishment camp in Hong Kong, and some of the agents of the Chinese government in Hong Kong, for example in the people’s Congress.

They talk a lot about and show a lot of support to Carrie Lam’s pushing forward of the legislation.

So we can see that.

The Chinese authorities were everywhere despite Carrie Lam said that it is only her initiated.

– Will Carrie Lam resign?

Well, this is obviously a people’s request because throughout the whole process I think she has already put herself and also the whole government into a legitimacy crisis and it also creates a level of moral crisis for her leadership so this is probably the motivation for these protests of the last days.

One of the major requests is to have somebody have being held accountable.

And Carol Lam and his office were obviously one of the targets, but not only Carrie Lam, but also the major office responding for the legislation which includes the secretary of justice and the secretary of security.

And last Wednesday because of the police unnecessary and excessive use of force against peaceful protesters and they added also people at the command of the commission of the police into these lists of being held accountable or being asked to step down.

– What will be the consequences of the protests in Hong Kong? What the Hong Kong government will do next?

Well, the whole situation is still unfolding.

So I think what we cannot predict what the government will do but obviously, there is the voice of the people to ask to call for Carol Lam to withdraw that bill and to withdraw to claim that last Wednesday’s protest was a riot.

But with reference to the past we saw since the Umbrella Movement, the government selectively persecute some of the political activists and also people in opposition using arbitrary and vaguely defined law, for example, using alleging them committing riots or public nuisance and these are all very vague charges, and the government has succeeded to put some of the major activists and major movement leaders into jail or at least have them sentenced.

So, for example, Benny Tai and also some pro-independence advocates so this also might be a possibility that the government will start targeting some of the activists involved in the protests.

So that’s why I think one of the people’s call is to protect the protesters, those students, mainly young people.

So this is a big ask from last Sunday’s peaceful protests.

– Do we need to expect more protest on 1 July, the anniversary of the city’s handover from British to Chinese rule?

I think first of all it depends really on Carrie Lam’s response to the people’s demands and also on her response to how to define, how to frame last Wednesday’s clashes between the police and protesters.

So if they still say it was a riot and try to shift the focus from the police excessive use of force to naming and blaming some of the people as rioters., if they do not face these challenges directly and give the people a satisfactory answer, I think people will still come out to retake the street in the coming two weeks.

The government is suffering right now a big legitimacy crisis. And one of the uncertainties that trigger such a huge turnout on the street is the people’s uncertainty on the “one country two systems”.

And so in the mid-long term, the government has to do something to make the people feel that.

Both the Chinese and Hong Kong governments are delivering the promise of “one country, two systems” and it has to be seen to be done just like justice to the students and other peaceful protesters involved in the whole process.

– “One Country, Two Systems” will Survive? 2047, the year in which Hong Kong will officially return to China, is no longer far away. What will happen after 2047 to Hong Kong and Macau (2049)?

The bigger context of “one country two systems” is an experiment created by Deng Xiaoping so that Hong Kong could become part of China again, and it is an evolving process.

The idea and the goal are to make Hong Kong a unique city in mainland China. So after 2017, I think right now lots of people still want to see Hong Kong as a unique city in China. As you said 2047 is still far but is less than 30 years, it’s still some time.

So it really depends on both sides, Hong Kong and the Chinese government, and also on the people of Hong Kong, how they interact with each other to create the future.

– How many Hong Kong citizens really support Hong Kong government policies?

I think that after the extradition bill, both Carrie Lam and the Hong Kong government came out defeated in terms of legitimacy.

So the government has the fear they will suffer a landslide defeat in the coming elections because of this extradition saga. While there is a lot to do by the Hong Kong government but I think in the immediate term they need to address the people’s very clear and very consistent demand which is the withdrawal of the bill and also the withdrawal of the statement saying some of the protesters were rioters.

– How the news about the protests in Hong Kong was handled in China? What do Chinese netizens think?

I’m not sure where heard how many people in mainland China know about what’s happening in Hong Kong and also whether their understanding will be distorted by the state media, I really don’t know, but what I observe in Hong Kong during the protests is that there were mainland people joining the protest and some of them wore a mask so that they can escape from being recognized.

Whether it is true or not that Chinese surveillance has already extended to Hong Kong, I don’t know. But obviously, this is there is a chilling effect there.

#CarrieLam, #HongKong, #HongKongActivists, #HongKongProtests

#Carrie Lam #hong kong #Hong Kong activists #hong kong protests

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dcoglobalnews · 2 years

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CARRIE LAM SAYS HONG KONG'S NOW ON A NEW START OF THE RIGHT TRACK, SAYS 'NOT ASHAMED' IN HER TERM

CARRIE LAM SAYS HONG KONG’S NOW ON A NEW START OF THE RIGHT TRACK, SAYS ‘NOT ASHAMED’ IN HER TERM

Outgoing Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Carrie Lam said on Thursday Hong Kong is now on a new start of the right track in her final question and answer session in the Legislative Council.Lam’s five-year tenure is set to end on July 1, when the newly appointed John Lee will take over.“Although the society has different evaluation of my work, I can say boldly…

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#Carrie Lam #China #Hong kong #John Lee

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cathnews · 2 years

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Arrest of Hong Kong Cardinal a signal of worse to come

Catholics from mainland China fear the arrest of Cardinal Joseph Zen in Hong Kong is an act of intimidation and a sign of hardening attitudes by authorities. Cardinal Zen, 90, is one of four people detained for being associated with a now-defunct fund that helped protesters in financial need. The fund was set up to offer legal advice, psychological counselling and emergency financial aid to those…

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#Cardinal Joseph Zen #Carrie Lam #Catholic Church in Hong Kong #John Lee

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cptrs · 1 year

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#city on fire #city on fire 1987 #ringo lam #filmedit #chow yun-fat #carrie ng #danny lee

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ofgentleresolve · 2 years

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@bledwaves sent in: “You can tell me.” Lam? 🥺 || new blog but they all still hate vulnerability 🙃 ( you can tell me prompt. )

The visits are monthly, always at 4 PM on the third Wednesday of the month.

Lam would know; it’s always noted in his planner, penned at the bottom of the date with the abbreviations: ‘VRC’, short for visit Robin Choi. He’s always been like that, or at least he would like to be that kind of person, someone who likes to adhere to a schedule, a plan.

Ray does it seamlessly.

And Robin, for all the recklessness she might have displayed (with her body, with a car), relies on it. Surprises, she told him once, are never happy ones- it comes with being raised by an abusive father. He’s lucky, she told him once too, that he was raised by a loving family, that he grew up with a stable rooftop over his head, that he doesn’t have to actually worry about upsetting his parents, because at least they won’t hit him with a broken glass bottle, that he doesn’t have to deal with nightmares or PTSD, that he doesn’t suffer the way she does-

He wonders if she would call him lucky now. Oh wait, this past hour she already did- didn’t she call him he’s lucky now that he gets to walk around freely? That he has friends and a job, not like her, stuck in this cell where she can’t even smoke for free, that he got out of it more or less in one piece-

He’s lucky, lucky, lucky, she tells him with a voice that is both honeyed and bitter.

It rings in his head, incessant like a sledgehammer to an anvil over and over again. It makes him want to go back home to his closet, so he can drown out her voice. Someway, somehow.

Which is why, bumping into Taiyang is less of a pleasantry ( however much he can be- between Lam and Ray, Ray’s probably the more ecstatic one- Tai coming around can only guarantee a stomachache on Lam’s end ) and more of AN OBSTACLE. Great, how is Lam supposed to explain this one- him coming back from the penitentiary with a headache that will not loosen its claws? It makes his head spin.

Not even Ray knows the full extent of what happens there.

Lamon grumbles, stumbling forward before regaining some form of balance. It’s probably not convincing Tai, let alone himself. “Go away- I don’t wanna talk to anyone.”

#emotional abuse cw #abuse cw #gaslighting cw #bledwaves #answered ( lamon. )#everything changes everybody changes ( answered. )#( verse: cull the shame. )#carry you to places you'll never see ( lamon & robin. )#well 🙃🙃🙃#so that's how their friendship was back then...and now #and now lam's grumpy bc he has a headache to recover from #will probably take a few days to get over 🙃#hahahaha robin is...a pain #and yet he can't abandon her and i hate that for him #i believe in a precious world ( queue. )

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drowninginredink · 4 months

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The one detail in Penultimate Peril that I will never, ever get over is that Lemony Snicket smokes. He shows up and offers to take away the Baudelaires, and he's smoking a cigarette.

All through the series, fire is the ultimate Bad Thing. The good guys are firefighters and the bad guys are firestarters. Arson is the worst crime. And the Baudelaires' descent into moral ambiguity is shown through them starting multiple fires.

Lemony Snicket might as well be the poster boy for VFD. He was raised in it since infancy. He lost Beatrice because of the consequences of being a volunteer. He has been on the lam for at least fifteen years because of his dedication to it. He lost both of his siblings to it. There are plenty of people in the series who question VFD and its motives, but for all it's done to hurt him, Snicket is very loyal. He does point out some flaws, but not as many as you'd expect.

And yet Lemony smokes. Lemony starts fires every day to feed his own addiction. He carries a lighter or matches with him at all times, just like the villains do. He regularly engages in a massive fire hazard. He says himself that a man who smokes cigarettes is somewhere in between wicked and noble. I want to know how someone so deep in VFD even started smoking.

I think the one thing I am the saltiest about Netflix not including is that. Truly Lemony being a smoker is everything to me.

#a series of unfortunate events #lemony snicket #asoue #snicketverse

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philsmeatylegss · 5 months

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I’ve seen a few people, mostly non-American, who don’t know who Henry Kissinger is or what he did. So your local history student and nerd is going to try to give a quick summary of the main atrocities he committed.

-Role in the Vietnam War: this is the first and biggest reason most people have for hating Kissinger. He unnecessarily extended and expanded the war prolonging the already frivolous conflict. He purposefully delayed negotiations. He approved large scale carpet bombings done with the use of B-52 bombs killed thousands to millions of innocent civilians. The Christmas Bombing was an intense, focused bombing that caused large civilian deaths in a short period of time. He engaged in negotiations with the North Vietnamese often without permission or knowledge from the US government. He was the National Security Advisor and overall had much knowledge about 1) how useless the war was 2) the travesties happening to both the North Vietnamese and South, as well as America’s own soldiers.

-Secret Bombing and Invasion in Cambodia: Kissinger (and Nixon) lead secret bombing campaigns in Cambodia aimed to destroy North Vietnamese trails and routes that ran through the country. Cambodia originally pursued neutrality in the war. Its citizens were not involved.

-Invasion and Bombing of Laos: Laos also held North Vietnamese routes, so Kissinger led Operation Lam Son which was a full scale invasion supplied with American air power and weapons. Not that it would matter, but this invasion did little to interrupt the trade routes. The North Vietnamese, made up of people who lived and knew the landscape of Vietnam, were able to adapt and find new routes. There was also secret bombings carried out in Laos, authorized by Kissinger, aimed to destroy the Ho Chi Minh trail, which, once again, wasn’t disrupted and just took innocent civilian lives in Laos. Laos also remained neutral in the Vietnam War. They were not involved, yet they were punished.

-Involvement in the Bangladesh Liberation War: this was a war between Bangladesh and Pakistan. Kissinger remained in a close relationship with Pakistan which, by now, was known to be committing horrendous human rights abuses, including large scale killings of the Bangladeshis. In fact, Kissinger and America provided funding for them. America was aligned in the first place because of bullshit Cold War alliances.

-Supporting and funding a dictator over an elected president: Chile had elected a *gasp* socialist president that really made Kissinger piss his pants. Project FUBELT, directly under Kissinger’s guidance, initiated covert actions to undermine and prevent the socialist President, Salvador Allende, from rising to power. Financial support was provided to anti-Allende groups and would eventually provided support to a military coup who would kill Allende. The leader of the coup, Augusto Pinochet, would then assume power and take rule an authoritarian government and become a dictator for 17 years. Under his rule, torture and executions were carried out against political dissidents and others. This wasn’t a secret.

-Supported the brutal invasion of East Timor: Indonesia would invade and occupy East Timor in 1975. Kissinger and Nixon had knowledge of the invasion beforehand and provided military support despite the knowledge of human rights abuses already taking place in East Timor by the Indonesians, abuses often using US weapons. Massacres, forced displacement, suppression of political dissents, torture, sexual abuse, restrictions of religious and cultural practices, and scorched earth policies are just some examples.

To my knowledge, these are usually the largest reasons cited, but please add more if I’m wrong. There are also lesser known atrocities either supported or funded by Kissinger, many taking place in Africa, that I thoroughly implore you to read about. Please correct any inaccurate things I said.

#rae’s rambles #Henry Kissinger #us politics

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panicinthestudio · 2 years

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Further reading:

HKFP: Policy Address 2020: Southern Hong Kong Island to become arts and tourism hub, as Ocean Park acquires Jumbo Restaurant, November 25, 2020

RTHK: Imperial-style Jumbo to vanish from Aberdeen waters, May 30, 2022

RTHK: 珍寶海鮮舫旁廚房船傾側　消防固定船身無人被困 (Jumbo [Kingdom’s] attached kitchen barge has tipped. Fire Services has secured the ship, no one is trapped), June 1, 2022

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reportwire · 2 years

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Xi Jinping defends vision of Hong Kong as 25-year anniversary marked

HONG KONG: China’s leader Xi Jinping marked the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong’s return in a speech on Friday emphasizing Beijing’s comprehensive control over the once-British colony under his vision of the “one country, two systems” framework – countering criticism that the political and civic freedoms promised for the next quarter-century have been all but erased under Chinese rule. Xi praised…

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#Beijing #carrie lam #Hong Kong #john lee #lee #Xi Jinping

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jackhues · 6 months

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overly affectionate devon levi when he hasn’t seen his gf in a while and he comes back home from a super long roadie and his gf loves it 🥰🥰🥰

aww this is so cute!! and i absolutely LOVE devon!! (not my gif)

likes are good, reblogs are better

like it very much - devon levi

"hey, some of us are heading to the pizza place downtown," owen nudged his teammate. "wanna come?"

devon looked up at his teammate, his answer clear in his impatient expression.

"i was just asking," owen laughed, putting his hands in the air.

"thanks for asking," devon tried again, smiling lightly. "but i'm good. tired. i just wanna go home and sleep."

owen smiled to himself, knowing the real reason devon was excited to get back home.

"whatever you say, bud," he patted his shoulder. "if you change you'll mind, we'll probably be there for a few hours."

"uh huh, okay," devon nodded, grabbing his bag and barely paying attention to what owen was saying. his bags were here, and he was ready to leave.

the second owen waved him off, devon was rushing away to load his bags and catch a taxi. the only thing that was on his mind was getting home to you.

"welcome home," you smiled, opening the door to usher devon in.

he stepped through the door, dropping his bags to the floor and melting in your arms. you laughed to yourself, catching yourself before you could fall.

"i missed you," devon mumbled into your hair, refusing to leave your arms.

"i can see that," you smiled to yourself, running your fingers through his hair.

devon pulled away, only to grab your waist and lift you up into his arms. you gasped, but devon simple carried you to the couch, laying on top of you.

he peppered kisses across your face, holding you close.

"devon, devon," you laughed, trying to escape. "stop, you're so heavy."

"no thank you," he answered simply, flopping back down onto you. "i like this very much."

you hummed, running your fingers through his hair as he held you close to him.

you liked it very much too.

---

tags : @woodruff-edwards , @austinbutlerscaresme , @svechnikovvv , @hockeyboysarehot , @emptyflowerpots , @mysticaldonkey , @lam-ila , @babydollmarauders , @starjoyyy , @kjohnson-91 , @gavinbrindley, @hischierdevils , @jackhughesily , @panarin10 , @equallyshaw , @power2myheart , @lynnismypseudonym , @beccaiscold , @akengii , @nowandkei , @cinnamonpancakes , @mitchymainer , @lifeofpriya , @marshmallow-babe, @hughesx3 , @emsully2002 , @starsandhughes , @huggy-hischier73 , @doglady5678 , @thatoneblog , @exonct07 @hughesmedicine , @qwanelledingele , @mindless-rock , @ireadthensuetheauthors , @huggy-hischier94, @slaythehousedownboots , @diary-of-jj

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dcoglobalnews · 2 years

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PRESIDENT XI JINPING HAILS HONG KONG'S INNOVATION, TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT

PRESIDENT XI JINPING HAILS HONG KONG’S INNOVATION, TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT

Thanks to the support of the central government, Hong Kong has leveraged its own advantages to make remarkable achievements in basic research, talent cultivation, and development in the innovation and technology sector in recent years, President Xi Jinping said Thursday.President Xi made the remarks during an inspection tour of the Hong Kong Science Park, accompanied by Carrie Lam, chief…

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#Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases #Chief Executive Carrie Lam #China #Hong kong #Hong Kong Science Park #John Lee #President Xi

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dailyadventureprompts · 1 year

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Adventure: The Wreck Of the Jelziid Pirates

Though the pirate wars are long over, the scars of the conflict linger on, with the skeletal wrecks of vessels still lost in the kingdom’s waterways and the scattered dozens of villages reduced to ash during the raids. Worse yet are the pirates themselves, hundreds of foreign sailors left stranded after their fleet was shattered and the crown took back the great river, forced to linger on in the wilderness as scavengers and bandits, forever outcast from the people they victimized.

Hooks:

An important figure is kidnapped in the night while travelling, their carriage ambushed, their guard slaughtered and the bodies left behind by the attackers clearly indicate the pirates were behind it. That is until the party investigates, and realizes that a number of the bodies left behind are days older than the incident, and those that aren't don’t might wear the right armour but don’t bear any of the tattoos or cultural markings associated with the Jelziid . Clearly someone is trying to shift the blame here, but finding out who it was who staged the attack may require the party to seek out the pirate stronghold in the high wilderness and ask around for witnesses.

A local merchant is found strung up in the market, his body disfigured in a way that was common for those found guilty by military tribunal to be capitulating with the pirates during the war. The only problems ( other than the brutal death of a well loved member of the community) is that this is well over a decade from the end of martial law, and the local magistrate has been given a tip that it was the party that was responsible. Perhaps they can argue their innocence, or stay on the lam long enough to investigate the charges themselves.

Every year the crown helps fund a grand festival to celebrate the queen’s birthday, a tradition that originally started to celebrate the arrival of a long awaited heir, but revived in modern years as the then crown-princess proved herself a hero during the pirate wars, leading the defence of numerous settlements and playing a key part in the battle that broke the invading fleet once and for all. This year however a shipment of gold was stolen from the provincial governor by a group of pirates who’ve taken off into the deep wilderness, putting the celebration in jeopardy. Should the party manage to find and return this small fortune (after perhaps skimming a little off the top) they can expect a major finder’s fee, the thanks of the governor, and guest of honour invitations to the festival in a few weeks.

Background: For generations the raiders of the Jelziid fleet plundered their way across the world’s oceans in a force that only an empire could hope to challenge, raiding entire coastlines in a single night and then moving on to offload their loot and captives at ports willing to trek with such ruthless acquisition. This all changed with the infamous captain Talalan who fought his way to leadership after the, were chased out of their previous hunting grounds by a newly emergent coalition. Seeing that his bloodthisty brethren had perhaps grown too large, too infamous, to carry on as they had, he rallied the fleet with the idea that they’d become fierce enough to claim a territory for their own, settling on the kingdom of the great river as the place they could turn their mastery of water into a dominion of those who worked the land.

Further adventures:

The pirates who stole the gold are hiding out in the wreck of one of their great warships, a mouldering fortress of sloped decks and rotten wood half submerged in the silt of a nearby river. They were expecting to be picked up by some criminal contacts who helped set the heist up, but they’ve been delayed on the river. As the party infiltrates the dungeon and tries not to get ambushed, consider having a clock run down for when reinforcements arrive, potentially losing the party their prize and chance at making inroads with the court.

Either clearing their names through logical argument or escaping the law to prove their own innocence gives the party a chance to investigate the merchant’s death, which in turn reveals he was buying up food to trade with an enclave of pirates who’d set up a makeshift logging camp. Still technically a crime, but the gang of vigilantes who carried out the punishment were infact a group of thugs hired by one of the merchant’s business rivals, who was resentful of him undercutting him thanks to the pirates' help.One of these envious merchants served in the pirate wars with the magistrate’s most trusted official, and used his war buddy’s old emnitiy to convince the official to turn a blind eye to the powergrab and find a convenient excuse (a troublemaking group of adventurers)

In their interactions with the pirates, the party keep hearing tell of someone called “The Eelmonger”, an innocuous name spoken with reverence , and an apparent successor to captain Talalan‘s broken legacy. Whoever the monger turns out to be, the eels are infact monstrous river serpents, some of which have been meted out to the pirates to use as guardbeasts and weapons, with the promise that more are on the way.

#pirates #swamp #river #bandits #abduction #mystery #outlaw #low level #mid level #town #city #dnd #Dungeons and Dragons #ttrpg #pathfinder

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eilwen · 9 months

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Visiting the Dragon's Nest District

Most cities and towns in No Man's Land have been similar in appearance, with a ship or a portion of a ship watching over its people. However, in Ryutsu, where many things happen, the ship is not the only structure that dominates the landscape.

I wanted to do a dive into the city, what inspired it (and speculate on some of the visuals) and what we can potentially understand about No Man's Land.

Some spoilers for Vol. 4 and 5. Also, this is long.

Even without the baos and wonton-fonts on signage, Ryutsu visually does not match with other cities in No Man's Land. It’s not just the citadel which can be seen from afar, but it’s also the crammed housing and confusing architecture. The tone of Vol. 4 shifts and leans towards neo-noir. As this arc's villains move into the city, Hoppered says: "This place is truly the bottom of the dark. [...] We'll walk into a place where the light does not enter." These lines may not be literal but it certainly brings ideas of seedy places. They move through pitch black and eventually…

The big showdown happens at the city's main feature: the Dragon’s Nest District - an area that brings up memories of the old Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong. No Man's Land is a sparsely populated planet, yet for whatever reason, people have sardined themselves into this city and into this district.

Kowloon Walled City had been called ‘City of Darkness’ and it was possible to move through the city without ever seeing daylight. It carries a bit of romantised nostalgia because of its weird part in Hong Kong colonial history, its uncontrolled and chaotic construction, and its lawlessness (though apparently the ungoverned city was tight-knit and communal). The city became a source of inspiration for a lot of media, but not many films were shot in the city itself. Those that I had seen tended to use the city as a 'cool film location' so apart from the examples below, there aren't many I know to recommend (happy to take suggestions for films I may have missed).

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Clip from Bloodsport (Arnold, 1988)

"No joke, man. It's a random piece of No Man's Land in the middle of a tourist paradise. It goes way back to the old lease agreement between Great Britain and China. Once you step out of the sunlight into the narrow corridors, it's time to protect your nuts, guys."

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Clip from Crime Story (Wong, 1993). This is the climax of the film, which featured actual explosions from Kowloon's demolition, according to its wiki page.

Off the top of my head, good fiction film substitutes (unrelated and unlike Trigun/Trimax) which more illustrate what life might have been like in these places, may be films like Wong Kar Wai's Fallen Angels (1995) and Chungking Express (1994) - though these films take place at the Chungking Mansions, Kowloon Walled City's more modern cousin. I thought of Wong's films because he treated the mansions as a character more than as a location. His films showed examples of immense density, globalisation, and a bit of that noir crime stuff within small and unusually intimate spaces. They also reflected Hong Kong's complicated anxiety as the city was approaching its handover from British to Chinese rule.

Panel from Vol. 4 Ch. 7; Screencap from Chungking Express (Wong, 1994).

To talk more about Hong Kong cinema itself would be much longer than a tumblr post but if Nightow is connected with Rodriguez's films via Desperado (1995), Rodriguez and his collaborative friend Tarantino are connected with Hong Kong films from those like John Woo and Ringo Lam. One example: Mexican standoffs are tropes used in various films, but we see them frequently enough in Tarantino's films and in Hong Kong action cinema that it becomes noteworthy.

Panel from Vol. 5 Ch. 3

Panel from Vol. 5 Ch. 5

Kowloon Walled City which was demolished in 1993, was visually ‘resurrected’ as Ryutsu's Dragon's Nest. Kowloon Walled City was not a city that just looked interesting. It was an agreement between China and Great Britain that was then kind of weirdly botched, thus leaving it pretty much ungoverned. Trimax Vol. 4 was released in 2000, three years after Hong Kong's handover from Britain to China. We don’t get Ryutsu’s history and with the multiple panels of silhouetted buildings against the night sky and hanging laundry in balconies, Ryutsu’s citadel falls into the 'cool manga location' category. Also, I should be clear: these chapters in Trimax are not an analysis or an allegory of Hong Kong's colonial history.

Panel from Vol. 4 Ch. 4; Photo of Kowloon Walled City's alleyway from wiki article.

At the same time, many eyes, including those outside of Great Britain and China, were on the news when the handover occurred. The point is not if Nightow was considering that historic moment or if he happened to be watching Hong Kong films when he was working on these chapters. Instead, I wonder if readers, when they picked up these volumes from the bookshelves, had thought about Hong Kong, Hong Kong’s movies, and Hong Kong’s past and uncertain future, as they were skimming through the pages. But you know… this is 2023 me thinking about 23 years ago. All of this is daydreaming.

I bring up Hong Kong's history and cinema because I wanted to see what I can envision and interpret about Ryutsu and thus about No Man's Land. If Hong Kong via cinema brings imaginations of transnationalism then Ryutsu via Vol. 4 and 5 could do the same for No Man's Land.

There is no literal ocean to divide cities and there are no named countries. There is a broad ‘Federal Government’, so I assume that means the government concerns itself with all settlements in the entire planet. If Ryutsu itself is No Man’s Land’s ‘Hong Kong’ (which opens another discussion of the use and/or misuse of Hong Kong in media - some other time), then despite No Man’s Land being an incredible dystopia, the elimination of borders is, very plainly, very interesting. I am leaning to this being a good thing, considering that one major problem in No Man’s Land tends to be ‘Humans vs. X’ (plants, worms, the planet’s environment etc.). Also, No Man’s Land is already very sparse. No spoilers for later volumes but I am curious about the planet’s future if the population demographic changes.

Panel from Vol. 4 Ch. 4. Western and Eastern hats in the same panel.

There are also thoughts about its class struggles. Vash says in Vol. 4 Ch. 4: "There are too many people here. I don't like it. The lower and upper class all cramped together." ... which really made me think about the conditions the upper class were living in. Kowloon Walled City was known to be unhygienic, dark and cramped and the wealthy did not live there, so how rough was it to live in Ryutsu when a rich person might still need to live in the citadel? I didn't interpret Vash's statement to mean 'citadel plus those outside of it' when the high stakes in these volumes were because of the high density and maze-like streets.

Panels from Vol. 4 Ch. 6; Ch. 7; Ch. 7.

The above panels remind me of establishing shots in gritty crime thrillers than the sci-fi western I had been reading up to this point.

Featured is the Juukei Building - a building that looks pulled from the 20th century. It is tall, drawn sometimes in narrow panels to emphasize its height and to show how small the characters are in the claustrophobic space as they navigate towards it. As characters move through the structure once inside, it becomes more difficult to tell where in the building they are or if they are somewhere adjacent. Combining historical and futuristic designs in Trigun/Trimax isn't new, but it's not often you see 20th century structures. Maybe wealthier residents lived in buildings like this, though the interiors of Juukei look like abandoned offices.

Panel from Vol. 5 Ch. 3.

Or maybe this was meant to be a mixed-use building? But it seems the entire building is abandoned anyway.... So I'm not sure where the upper class is supposed to live or how I should imagine the upper class to be.

Panel from Vol 5. Ch 6.

... After the end of the battle, once morning comes, we no longer see the citadel. The landscapes return to those reminiscent of American Southwestern deserts. Like we dipped into darkness then we returned to the light.

Anyone who knows about Kowloon Walled City would instantly recognise it in Trimax. The imitative Ryutsu Citadel could be read as a cool manga location where a massive shootout plus some serious revelations occur, but I personally am always interested in what else a location can do. It matters if you set a film in New York City versus a nameless location and how you visually convey that city because it can tell us about its people and helps us understand its characters. So to me, I thought it would be fun to look at certain locations in Trimax (with all of Nightow's free-form inconsistencies and confusions) and imagine or interpret what they can tell us about No Man's Land and by extension, the people in No Man's Land.

Other fun facts include: "[...] Japan, in particular, developed a keen interest towards Kowloon. Its demolition in 1993 was broadcast on national television."

#trigun maximum #trimax vol 4 #trimax vol 5 #trigunbookclub #kowloon walled city #hong kong #idle thoughts #this got out of control #also tumblr is a terrible platform for long-form rambling #absolute nightmare

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