Despite everything, east is where to be

Chinese students in the West are doing something surprising: coming home.

Before, they didn't. As recently as the early 2000s, the number of Chinese students who returned to China upon graduation was just 15 out of 100.

But by 2018, 80 out of 100 were flying back, said a new study released by researchers at Hong Kong's Legislative Council Secretariat.

Why? The West is a "mature market" which offers fewer job opportunities than growing China.

"Many of these new jobs pay as much as comparable positions in developed economies and offer a faster career track," researchers said.

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In Hong Kong, we're finally allowed to go out as normal this week - and there's a massive great rainstorm.

Every. Single. Day.

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This security gate, spotted by a reader in the United States, looks very secure.

Now they just need a wall.

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Politician Ted Hui Chi-fung launched a lawsuit against local police for using tear gas.

This is ironic since Hui was the politician who threw a giant organic stink bomb in the Legco Chamber last week to force the abandonment of the meeting.

A neighbor who works at a primary school said: "My husband said Ted Hui resorts to 'playground' antics, but I told him that's an insult to Hong Kong children."

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A sharp-eyed reader noticed that among the list of workers who received virus-related government cash handouts were those at "1-3 Upper Albert Road."

He asked: "Isn't that Government House?"

We checked. It's not Carrie Lam, but her neighbors - a housing block managed by Douglas Woo's Wheelock and Co.

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This columnist used to joke that some of the shopping mall protests were drawing crowds that were smaller than the ladies' toilet queue.

Life imitates art. There were only eight protesters at the International Commerce Centre in West Kowloon yesterday - fewer people than in the ladies' toilet queue.

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Former Hong Kong establishment man Patrick Ho Chi-ping lost his US visa due to "moral turpitude," this paper reported yesterday.

That's an archaic term for "being very naughty."

When you go to that country, the US entry form prepared by the Homeland Security Department asks: "Have you ever been convicted for an offense involving moral turpitude?"

The next question on the form (I am not making this up) is: "Are you involved in espionage?"

Who's going to answer "Yes?"

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Five things you didn't know about our national anthem:

1) The March of the Volunteers was a hit song from a 1935 movie, equivalent to Let it Go today.

2) It's about ordinary people marching for freedom.

3) It was sung by protestors at Tiananmen Square in 1989.

4) Lyricist Tian Han, 35, was jailed by the Chinese Communist Party and died in prison.

5) Composer Nie Er, 23, preferred to be called George and was trained in Western music, which is why it sounds like a British military song.

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Ultra-political Hong Kong expat Darren Mann has been telling UK parliamentarians about the shocking way those awful Hong Kong authorities ARRESTED DOCTORS at the protests last year.

Doctors? I was at those protests and met those "volunteer medics."

Apparently, spotty teenagers can be doctors now if they're wearing yellow vests. Who knew?

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