Saturday, May 14, 2005

South China Morning Post

English-language organ of record, the South China Morning Post, has in the past three weeks managed to omit or misrepresent-- I can't make my mind up which -- one important fact in regard to the upcoming Bun Festival. The scmp's reports have stated, more than once, that there has been no bun tower-climbing since the famous bun tower collapse of 1978. This is being, shall we say, 'economical with the truth'.
For the past 25 years, at least, three men have been selected by street associations neighbouring Pak Tai Temple. At the appointed hour, usually around midnight, each man has clambered up his designated tower, then hacked away at the buns until the tower is stripped bare. First one to finish is the winner. Bun climbing, there. Competition, there.
Omittance? Misrepresentation? Or something else? One wonders if the scmp has been misled. There are elements on a little island in the South China Sea who have financial interest in, and stand to richly profit from, this new 'improved' Long March bun tower competition. Could it be that Hong Kong's Secretary for Home Affairs, Dr Ho Chi-ping, was similarly misled, too?

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