Changing face of China! Score one for the good guys

I've always hated nepotism, daddy's money types, inherited money types or those who are successful in business because their parents were uber wealthy.

I don't mind so much Li Kar Shing, in that his initial companies were built from the ground up, then he became a rentier which is where he gets my disdain. Or Richard Branson who also started up a chain of stores before moving into a monopoly Atlantic airline route in the 1980s and 1990s.


Bill Gates for instance the official line is he quit university (college) and started up Microsoft... the thing is his parents were loaded and therefore the risk was tiny.

Or Stelios Hanju who opened Easy Jet.... with an interest free loan of £50 million from his dad. When you have that kind of money backing you failure is unlikely.

What I hate more is, "Do you know who I am types?"

We have lots of Z list celebrities in the UK who are cheap arses, they will talk and complain do you know who I am as if it means something, when really it means squat. But what makes me angry is Chinese style corruptive nepotism (a word I just made up). Whereby people are scared to speak out against others because of their position or reputation.

In China this has been normal for centuries, even my dad does this to me, I can present to him a well reasoned and researched argument or business proposal and he'll ignore it. Trusting somebody with a perceived good reputation instead with absolutely no research or citations. He's done it enough times he's lost his pension fund twice!

It still happens in modern day China.... but times a Changin' buddies.

Li Gang is quite simply a twunk. He was DUI (drink driving) ran over a couple of kiddies got out and said, "My dad is Li Gang! What the fuck are you gonna do about it?" (Paraphrased). He then used all of his connections to censor what happened and try to blame it on the people he sent to an early grave. For a while it worked, the CCP machine went into action and most references of it in mainland Chinese media and Internet vanished quietly about 1 week after the incident.

Corruption at it's finest much like in the UK

Except the CCP decided to distance itself from Li Gang's son after probably realising covering it up would lead to a negative impression of the CCP machine probably due to the Streisand Effect.

As such I am happy to report kiddie killer Li Gang got sentenced to 6 years in prison..... ok ok this is China we are talking about, and when they say prison they probably mean cushy prison rather than Laogai/death camps.

Sort of like good fellas




Maybe this is the start of something nicer.... as I really hate China for several reasons, much like LKF in HK whereby you constantly get people who ask do you know who I am.... maybe it is the first step towards a merit based system... though I ain't holding my breath.

Monday Comedy: Chengguan Dance

The Chengguan are China's city urban managers. They are sort of like police but focus on petty crimes and day to day regulations, but they are still brutal towards law breakers.

But that doesn't mean they don't like to have fun.

If the video is not loading, click here

Hong Kong cops OTOH (Belated comedy slot)

While mainland cops mean business as demonstrated here

Hong Kong cops on the other hand are wussies.



34 seconds is where it is at.

It's worse that one of these football dives (Song by Weird Al Yankovic)



Rugby however, they don't stop unless somebody's brains are spilt on the ground



Compared to say Romanian cops who don't take shit.



Just for some balance.




Hold on what was I trying to say here..... Oh yeah HK is just a corrupt as it's always been. If you are family of a judge, you can get away with...beating.... no wait that wasn't a beating, it was a bitch slap. Then NOTHING happens to you ever! As here

Is HK safe 2

E gads...

You know as time goes on by it feels more and more like HK is becoming like England.... this is bad...

In the UK when you say did you hear about that murder? People will ask which one? Change murder with rape/stabbing/mugging and you get the picture. (TCG has been mugged several times on public transport and therefore never uses it anymore)

The standard says:

A middle-aged mainland woman has been arrested after allegedly stabbing a young MTR woman passenger in the abdomen with a 15-centimeter knife.

The suspect, in her forties, was traveling in the same car as the 23-year-old woman on a train heading towards Lai King on the Tung Chung line at 3.30pm yesterday.

Witnesses said the young woman boarded the train at Nam Cheong, one stop before Lai King.

According to the witnesses, the suspect approached the woman, took out a knife and stabbed her in the stomach without any warning.

The victim screamed and tried to run away from the suspect, who chased her.

More than 10 other passengers managed to subdue the suspect while another passenger took the knife from her.

Passengers then used the train's emergency intercom to notify the driver, who called the MTR control center.

Station staff were on hand when the train arrived at the Lai King station platform.

Many passengers left the train in panic while an off-duty police officer boarded and took the suspect into custody.

MTR station staff called an ambulance, which took the victim, who remained conscious, to Princess Margaret Hospital. Her condition was unknown at press time.

The suspect, a two-way permit holder, sustained minor injuries to her left hand. She was treated by ambulance officers and taken to Princess Margaret Hospital for observation.

Officers said the suspect was arrested for being in possession of an offensive weapon.

MTR public relations manager Jason Chan Lap-yan said the police had sent officers to help with security at the station.

Investigators are still trying to establish a motive for the attack and said they have not been able to confirm any relationship between the women.

Ok so it's going to be easy to blame it on mainlanders etc, but I won't as I have maintained it before Hong Kong is a hot, humid stressful as fuck place to live and work, and people by and large come here to make some money and leave. But seriously if you can't take the heat then get out of the kitchen!

Chinese cops mean business

Ok so they maybe corrupt to fuck but they certainly mean business!




For instance this woman cop, she negotiates for about a 5 minutes gets bored dealing with the shit she's being given. And rushes forward shooting the very guilty hostage taker in the head once before running forward and putting two more in his head to finish him off.

Similar events have occurred in the past this is how we negotiate with kidnappers mother fucker!

Compare to the Raoul Moat a recent nut who went on a killing spree, he was found and he HELD A GUN TO HIS OWN NECK, and threatened to kill himself. Rather than call his bluff and say go on then make my day.



UK cops decided to talk to him for 6+ hours. It was a stand off except he had the gun to his OWN head.

Kind of reminds me of the classic scene from Blazing saddles.



@ 2 minutes 48 seconds where the Sheriff holds himself hostage.

Questions will be answered at the weekend busy as buggery over here recently.

Suitcase

Heh... from my office window in past work offices I often see people (of all kinds) filch other peoples' left luggage and suitcases. They see it hang around it and walk off with it. I even watched a guy stack things into a taxi and a scrote peeled a suitcase off while it was stopped at lights.

Aside from this being dangerous and criminal, as bombs or drugs etc maybe found and Manchester has those dog drug squads all over. You may not want to do this in Hong Kong s not for the first time a body has been found in a suitcase by the side of the road. Murders etc are comparatively rare but this kind of thing happens now and again. As recently as described here.

This probably explains why my dad always buys a new suitcase for each and every trip and never allows people to borrow his....crap he's got my red ones.... bastard...

You can bet your top dollar it was gang related or somebody who owed a shit load of debt...what does this teach us? Loan sharks are to be avoided! (Loan sharks are those who charge more than 80% APR IIRC) as they will go after your family, friends and other completely unconnected people to pay your loans.

This weekend I have mostly been

Watching a few old films

If you like saving private Ryan you may like this, it is surprisingly apolitical and focuses mostly on the infantry on the ground. I finally got my DVD back bar stewards who borrow them pass it around 100 friends and I finally got this back yesterday.




Also

Hard Boiled




Note HARD BOILED IS FICTION, I've had more than a few questions asking me if Hong Kong is normally like what is depicted in Chow Yun Fat Movies, i.e. regular gunfu shoot outs all over the place. And no it is NOT like that in HK even Manchester isn't like that and you get murders all the time here.

But then again these are the same people who thought Braveheart was set in modern day Scotland

China is safe?

Enough of the heavy serious stuff and back to some comedy




This stuff used to happen in Hong Kong in the 1980s, a woman who was indecently assaulted would shout Fei Lay! and people would crowd around and kick the shit out of the person who was the accused. Not anymore though as HK has moved onto be more egoistic. TCG hates having waist length hair as in 2007 people kept feeling my bum and I would turn round and abuse them for it.


Also WWW

White Women's Workout - watch more funny videos

China scams 7 & 8

Unlicensed taxis (common in all cities btw)

Cheap tours

Again this is why I like the 365Inn as they tell you which ones have shopping, others don't you book a suspiciously cheap tour and en-route they will take you to specific tourist rip off shops for an hour or so. On the way there and back.

They will try con you by saying local price, which is a scam, for starters why the burger would a local person buy any of that tat in the first place?

China scams 6

A bloke will stop you and chat to you, oh sir you look very ill maybe my friend can give you some medicine to help you?.

You can see where this is going already...


Luckily enough they will have an uber expensive medicine to cure you.

HOWEVER Gua Sha is not a scam, they make you lie down and rub your back with a stick of some kind which makes you go all red and black on your back like you've had the shit kicked out of you or something (my dad did this years ago and everybody thought he'd been mugged). The more red ness the more 'poison' is removed. A Gua Sha master will charge you 40-60RMB for a session, anything more and he's trying it on. Does it work? Dunno but my dad swears by it and so does my older family who are all pushing 100 years old.

China scams 5

Told ya theres going to be shit loads of these things:

A scam which transcends nationalities, this actually happened to my cousin in Manchester

When visiting temples, helpful people will offer you incense (for praying), you assume it's free or at a lowish price, take it, burn it, then they charge you ridiculous amounts for it. This is primarily aimed at Chinese people though, as TCG will laugh in their face and tell them to fuck off, while other people who are not shameless will hand over the hugely inflated fee.

Temples in HK don't do this, as you have sellers right there and then to sell you them.

Temples in the UK DO DO THIS TOO.

Either buy your own or go to a vendor cart nearby where you see other people buying such things.

China scams 4

A common scam, that occurs commonly in China's larger airports even Beijing int airport (I saw an American woman caught with this last year) is that 'luggage attendants' will grab your bags and carry them all of a couple hundred metres before demanding an exorbidant amount of money. It is extremely easy, as she found out, to be duped into this kind of scam following a long 12 hour flight, when your concentration is at a minimum.

I would just suggest hanging onto your bags for dead life.

China scams 3

100RMB isn't much (you should see Korean Money) and you go around villages people think fuck me I can't change such a big note.

You know akin to using a Krugerand or a £50 note to buy a penny sweet, oh there were so many people who used to do this to get change when I worked in catering.


The trick is this, when you get your red Maos the 100RMBs preferably out of a cash machine before you hand it over look at the serial number and keep it in SIGHT at all times. The trick is thus, they take the 100RMB, something happens to the side which makes you look away and you're given a fake 100RMB note back.

Somebody tried this on me in Beijing once in a Hutong but wanted to 'go to the back room' for change. She was really pissed off when I told her I wanted her to leave the 100RMB note on the counter and she made all sorts of excuses.

China Scams Bootnote

Please note!

I'm not saying other places do not have scams or that China is a scammers paradise, I've been scammed a few times on my travels. A taxi driver in Istanbul for example kept taking on passengers and demanding I pay. Or this freaking Kebab place in Russia had a unfair weight thingies on the scales. Or the freaking way London pints have about 2 inches of foam on the top bastards! I even remember the pints in Germany 500ml, they were stealing 68ml of beer of me.

I've been scammed (and nearly) scammed in most countries I've been to but this is a China centric blog and thus concentrates on China so please do not get the wrong impression.

But hopefully people who do visit China tourists, business men and women etc go to China have a good time and don't get scammed which would be a fly in the ointment and piss them off badly.

Oh man did I used to get scammed on ebay fixing my bike would have cost me £200 to fix it but for the £110 of fake parts sent to me.

China Scams 2

Cameras in tsim sha tsui, hong kong... why are they soo cheap? Why are the cameras in tsim sha tsui, Nathan road, Kowloon soo cheap? aren they fake? or second hand, or maybe they changed some parts of the camera?

The official line:

Hong Kong does not allow fakes, or misconduct of business ie changing false parts as someone above who obviously dont know HK, mistakenly say so. The law enforcement is absolutely strict on this, especially in a busy touristy place as TST or Nathan Road, it's just stupid for any crooks to go against the law unless he's dying to get into jail.

The cheap cameras could be of unknown or cheap brands. It could also be not 100% made in Japan, as most international law depicts that only a certain % is made in that country, the product could then be claimed as from the country. The camera could also be "water product" ie with no guarantee or after sales service. If you're not comfortable with it, you could make the purchase in reputable stores like Broadway or Fortress. Hong Kong Consumer Council is one of the best such organization in the world in the protection of consumers rights. In case of any doubts please log onto the Consumer Council website.

TCG's view

Almost ALL of the camera shops on Nathan Road are run by shysters who will give you the run around.

The usual scam is this, I want XYZ lens or camera.

I'm sorry sir bit we only have a display model, we can get you one in 24 hours if you want.

You come back in 24 hours sorry still not here, pay deposit can get it faster.

So you pay a deposit

You come back 1 of 4 things happens:

Do I know you? Deposit what deposit? Who the hell are you I don't know you , most tourists won't complain to the tourist board or know how to or have the time to go to trading standards or ICAC so they get ripped off.

Or you go in they say they have the item you want but it is boxed heavily taped up box to prevent you from looking in, even before they let you look at it they will demand you pay for it, no pay no open box. You pay for it open the box and lo and behold it is not what you asked for. You complain and it turns into who the hell are you I don't know you , most tourists won't complain to the tourist board or know how to or have the time to go to trading standards or ICAC so they get ripped off.


Same as above but a big beefy guy will come out and pressure you into paying for it, once you've paid for it you open the box and find a brick or something inside a box.


You get low balled, i.e. they will offer you an amazing deal for a camera body lens or whatever but you can't buy the damned thing without buying 100+ accessories, they conveniently omit to tell you this until after you have the item in your hand, you don't buy they keep the deposit they lose nothing you leave HK upset.

Update

To avoid this scam simply dont shop on Nathan road and only go to Fortress or Broadway, sure it costs a bit more but with no sales tax (VAT) and weak currency (comparatively) it will still end up cheaper. Oh and also DO your research before hand.

China Scams 1

I expect this series to be long and painful series but a few people asked me for it.

Tea house Scam
You are happily wandering around somewhere like Wangfujin or Tiananmen and a friendly English student starts chatting to you. He or she will speak excellent English. They will be friendly and show you around, maybe helps you buy a few gifts, and subsequently suggests you go for a cup of tea at a nice tea house he / she knows. The tea house will be very nice, you will have some very nice tea, but you will feel slightly disturbed by the fact that they served tea without letting you see a menu, or that the menu has no prices on. You will assume this is how you do things in China.

When the bill comes it will be ridiculous. Well for tea anyway, 800-4000RMB is not unheard of. Big beefy guys will attempt to pressure you into paying. Don't as they won't have a leg to stand on if you call the cops, worst you can do is be deported, worst that can happen to these people is they get shut down for corruption. What happens now varies - some scream and shout, some yell for the cops meekly, even if it requires the use of foreign currency or a credit card because they haven't got enough RMB on them.

Variations:
1) Art galleries. 'Art students' strike up a conversation and invite you to their gallery. You'll see at best second rate art at top-rate prices, and will be lucky to avoid a high-pressure sales pitch. Spend your time at a real gallery. Real galleries, for reference, do not send English students out onto the streets pretending to be art students.

2) Bars. Seems to be more common in Shanghai, and uses pretty girls in too much make-up rather than innocent looking 'English students' in tracksuits. This is clearly because Shanghai attracts a lower-class of tourist, but that's beside the point.

In any case, you'll be in danger of paying a lot more for something than you should do, and at the very least you're going to waste your time.



Heh TCG in Mongolia got into a fake taxi once, the meter started flying the moment I got on board (granted Mongolian money is piss weak) but once he got to the hostel I got out and walked away.


Update:

Meeting people makes your travels, so thus you may well get some legitimate people and may thus miss out on this. I remember the time when I really did win £50, but kept thinking yeah right what a scam and ignored it for MONTHS. Or the time when a bank branch was giving was £5 notes to its first 100 customers everybody thought it was a scam.

The way to disarm this is to say I prefer coffee, and the cup cakes in Starbucks (or some other pay first place in Beijing of which there are many). If it is a scam they'll walk away, if it isn't they'll say ok and you can enjoy hob nobbing with the locals.

Chinese Joseph Frizel

TCG says: What the fuck is wrong with these people?

First we have nutters going around stabbing children, now we have Joseph Frtizel copy cats in China too. Hell in a hand basket....

TWO teenage girls kidnapped by a suspected rapist in central China and kept chained in a windowless basement for almost a year are free - thanks to a faulty television set.

The girls were rescued after smuggling out an SOS message hidden in the television set that was sent to a repair shop.

The two, aged 16 and 19, were found naked and with their legs manacled in an underground chamber in Wuhan, capital of Hubei Province.

The older girl was just 200 meters away from her home.

Here:

Robert Mugabe in Hong Kong?

Dear TCG

I heard a rumour that Robert Mugabe lives in Hong Kong is there any truth to this?

John


Dear John

This is false Robert Mugabe does not live in Hong Kong. However his wife does and so does his daughter Grace Mugabe who studies under a pseudonym at City University Hong Kong under the name Bona. Bob owns a £4 million flat in Tai Po Hong Kong near where my dad used to live presumably when TSHT.

Beware the crazy PRC government (who overruled the HK SAR government) has granted her diplomatic immunity so she can kick your arse and not be held to account.

TCG

Guns Guns Guns!

Dear TCG

A few events have had me a little concerned over the ability of the cops to protect me.

The first, and most serious event, was a last year. I lived in on a higher traffic street in a less affluent part of town. Some cars got into a traffic accident, which turned into a shooting. Nobody was actually shot, but it scared the bejesus out of me. It took the police about 2 minutes to arrive, but by that time the person with the gun had fled.

This kind of brought it home to me that bad / stupid people have guns and aren't afraid to use them. It also made me realize that police can't be everywhere all the time. They can arrive quickly, but things can get bad very, very fast and when someone is shooting a gun, 2 minutes is a very, very long time.

I have seen online some incredibly cheap deals on Chinese made carbines and rifles the SKS in particular interests me greatly but I will have to go to Canada to buy one. What is your opinion on Chinese made guns.


VJ

Dear VJ

TCG does not dabble in guns and has no knowledge whatsoever about Chinese made guns or guns made anywhere else, other than a few anecdotal stories about people shooting guns in South East Asia and the experience in Seoul where I fired a gun called a SAW.

The UK and HK are both largely gun free zones except for the police.

Therefore TCG cannot help you with this. Perhaps you should ask on more gun specific forums.

The way Hong Kong used to be

Halt ICAC! from here

VANCOUVER — A three-decade-old manhunt for one of the most notorious figures of the Hong Kong underworld — a man who pumped millions of dollars of his ill-gotten gains into British Columbia — ended Thursday in a cemetery near Vancouver.

Sgt. Lui Lok was part of a cabal of five powerful station sergeants who ruled Hong Kong's police jurisdictions during the early 1970s, collecting graft while allowing the triads to conduct their criminal activities.

The most infamous of the corrupt cops was Lok, dubbed the "$500-Million Man." He and three other so-called Dragons fled to Vancouver in the mid-1970s before seeking sanctuary in Taiwan. They left their families behind.

They sure took their damned time didn't they?




Still crime doth not always pay. As corrupt cop Fitzroy Godber was apprehended and caught soon after he tried to make his escape.

You can read more propaganda Sucessful ICAC case files here


I will say one thing though if Jacqui 'Jackboot' Smith was in Hong Kong the ICAC would be all over her like a bad rash, look at this woman claiming to be unfairly treated by the media. Well deary you got your hands slammed in the till.