Tales of disappearances worry readers

Readers are simultaneously amused and alarmed by the popularity of obviously fake Twitter stories this week claiming that Hong Kong people are being bussed to "concentration camps" in mainland China to be "disappeared" or to be "re-programmed."

"There are no re-programming camps," said Melanie Ngai. " Unless they want to learn programming."

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Reader Terry G noticed that Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Yau Ma Tei has put the pictured sign at the entrance saying that people with high temperatures are not allowed in the hospital compound but must "seek medical advice immediately." But where would you rush off to get that? You'd surely go to the nearest hospital, presumably?

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People in Macau have an unexpected new complaint against visitors from mainland China - they are behaving too well.

All mainland visitors have to stop on the way in and sign a legal declaration that they will behave well and break no laws - and specifically promise that they will not visit brothels or gamble at casinos.

"So why would anyone go to Macau, then?" some gamblers ask.

So much for that city's glorious food, people, history and so on.

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Kent Ewing of the Hong Kong Free Press website wrote an extremely short (12,000-word) book. But the blogger, who is so "deep yellow" that he is almost orange, got some bad news, he said yesterday.

After he completed the text, the designers wanted their names taken off the book, the publisher changed its mind about putting it out, the printers said they wouldn't handle it and local bookshops said they wouldn't stock it.

Ewing, who said he wrote the brief volume "to garner fame and fortune," now accepts it won't be published, but he is looking on the bright side. "But, hey, at least I got paid," he said.

A man of principle.

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Boris Johnson is basking in the glory of the UK being the first country to roll out vaccines. Except it wasn't. Independent medical journals say that nearly a million Chinese have already been vaccinated, with high-risk groups receiving doses in late July. "At the time the Western media condemned the 'haste' of the Chinese authorities," said staff at Chinese Environment News yesterday. "But the Western media is now all behind the 'fast tracking' of English and American vaccines."

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Idea: maybe the West would be less paranoid about Xi Jinping if he adopted an English name, like, I don't know, Jimmy Xi or something. Worth a try?

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Hazza, the cheery Australian TV star in Guangdong, yesterday reported that Chinese people seemed less likely to over-politicize things than his countrymen.

The presenter, whose real name is Harry Harding, said he asked a group of Chinese journalists over dinner how they felt about Australia. To his surprise, they showered it with praise. "Could the same conversation happen in reverse in Australia?" he asked, doubtfully.

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Reader Peter Fredenburg yesterday reported that Amnesty International Hong Kong is now soliciting cash donations on Facebook to "end torture" in this city among other places. What torture are they referring to? The only one I can think of is having to listen to the Chinese national anthem more often. Does that count?

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TIP: If your data usage seems unusually high, unplug your wifi for an hour and see which neighbor knocks on your door to complain.

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