Occupy ending in Hong Kong - here's what I fear

It's looking like the end of the line for Occupy Central in Hong Kong. The protests are expected to cleared at 9am local time tomorrow, and what hardcore resistance remains is likely to be brushed by the police force. It's unfortunate, because putting politics aside, it was truly a beautiful protest. It was well-organized, polite, clean, and almost entirely peaceful. Unlike other movements which claim peace, the Occupiers practiced what they preached and drove a truly pacifist movement. There was art and there was song. Hell, there was free wifi.

Video I took today walking through Occupy. Not the most exciting video, but if you haven't been to the protest site, you'll get more of a sense of what it was like than the news reports will show.

In the end, apathy won the day for the government side. They simply waited out the protesters and waited for them to go home. Back in October, the decisions to use tear gas and violence simply galvanized the students. But it's hard to keep outrage up for 73 days, when most of those days are simply monotonous rather than inciting. In what seems like a last-ditch effort, some of Occupy's young leaders staged a hunger strike in hopes of opening up talks with government leaders. It was a fairly misguided and pathetic effort to gain sympathy, and like the movement itself, it was defeated simply by being ignored.

This "not with a bang, but with a whimper" ending to Occupy is a huge win for the governments in Beijing and Hong Kong. The protesters created awareness, but essentially got nothing.

What scares me about Hong Kong's future

While many of the young people see Hong Kong as truly distinct and unique, the older generation of Chinese have a pan-Chinese pride. The title of this commentary piece, Protesters must abandon fantasy of a 'Hong Kong race' free from the mainland (might be paywalled), is fairly typical. It closes:

Yet the reality is "Hong Kong race" has no place in the world and Hong Kong's destiny is intertwined with that of China.... Hong Kong people must muster enough courage and wisdom to find a new place of pride in the family of 1.3 billion.

For many Chinese, the "Chinese race" is what matters. There are many in Hong Kong who are "proud Chinese" and wish to be part of the motherland. It is very similar in my view to German or Japanese nationalism of the 1940s. Whenever anti-Occupy people speak negatively about the movement, there is always talk of "foreign interference"; the implication being that "true" Chinese would never turn against China and that therefore it must be those dastardly foreigners behind it all.

Hopefully Occupy has sent a message that this is far from a unanimous view. And Hong Kongers are starting to see themselves as more Hong Konger and less Chinese. (The link suggests that of those claiming a distinct identity, three times as many claim "Hong Konger" as "Chinese".)

Nevertheless, Beijing controls the media, including all social media platforms, and it ruthlessly punishes dissenting voices. Random citizens are thrown in jail, but even celebrities toe the line in fear of being blacklisted. Beijing will surely continue to slowly crush the unique Hong Kong culture and bring it in line with its bland, sterile, Orwellian positioning as a global power.

For now, Hong Kong remains special and different. Even if it has never seen democracy, it has enjoyed political freedom for such a lengthy period of time, and its culture has flourished because of it.

So even though this is the end, my hat is off to the young protesters. They fought hard to preserve the culture of their home, and anyone who loves the uniqueness of Hong Kong is indebted to them.

I had a boxing match

I had my first ever amateur boxing match this weekend, hosted by a rival gym in Hong Kong. The fight was at 65kg (143.3 lbs) and I gave away a little bit of size, but I thought I did well.

The rule set was that if it was a draw after two rounds, that it should have gone to a third. I feel like while I started slowly, I at least won the second and should have gotten a chance to send it to a third round. What do you think?

Standing up for, if not in, Hong Kong

The world's eyes are on Hong Kong this week, including mine.

I wish it weren't my eyes though. I wish it were my feet. I wish my feet were just two of these feet:



I'm not a tremendously political person. Like anyone else, I have beliefs, and I do feel strongly about them. But I generally don't engage people in political conversation, and anyone who reads this blog knows I don't really use it to espouse my views. For the past decade of my life at least, my focus is more on the micro side than the macro side of humanity, and how one person can make his or her life better. I'm generally more interested in analyzing decisions and improving the self than I am in politics. I have a somewhat Talebian approach to the news. I've never marched in a protest or demonstration.

But Hong Kong is special. Not just to me, but to the world. For about as far back as I can remember, Hong Kong has topped the major worldwide economic freedom indices. Despite being nominally controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, it has been a haven for investment, growth, and free markets. It is not perfect on the social liberties axis (e.g. harsh drug laws, no gay marriage), but it has enjoyed reasonably free press and is one of the best "live and let live" societies out there.

It is orderly. Tremendously so. There is virtually no violent crime. Taxes are low, but infrastructure and public services are generally excellent. It's not a libertarian paradise or anything, but it's about as close as we have here on this planet.

Both sets of my grandparents lived through the poverty and bloodshed of Mao's Cultural Revolution and had their assets seized by the state. In the 1970s, they found a way to send my parents to Hong Kong, still under British rule at that time, in hopes of a better future for them. (My paternal grandfather would eventually raft and swim from mainland China across a dangerous channel to freedom in Hong Kong, and would later become a Canadian citizen.)

My parents were in turn fearful of the 1997 handover of Hong Kong from Britain to China, and came to Canada. And so I was born and raised in Vancouver. But after the handover, it seemed that China was going to respect the laws of the land in China. Why mess with a good thing, after all? And so, my parents started to spend more time in Hong Kong. They encouraged me to get HK residency, which I did. It seemed like all that panic about Communist China gobbling up Hong Kong was for nothing. But fast forward to today and it seems we are on a critical threshold for the future of the freest city-state of the modern world.

---

Although I have always been in favour of an autonomous Hong Kong, I always felt ambivalent about the "Occupy Central" movement, as in my mind I associated it with Occupy Wall Street. But this is clearly different. What's amazing about the current events in Hong Kong right now is that seemingly the whole city is rallying in support. These are no longer just "student protests". The completely unprovoked pepper-spraying of peaceful students (and this old man below) has led to a tipping point where businessmen, professionals, and conservative elderly have joined with students and labour in a unified cause.

Hong Kong police officer grabs elderly protester, turns and pepper sprays them full in the face: http://t.co/5l0pFtGGTF
— James Griffiths (@jgriffiths) September 28, 2014

In typical Hong Kong fashion, the protests have been peaceful and orderly. Aside from one bizarre incident where a car randomly plowed through the crowd, there has been almost no incidence of property damage or violence. The intent is not to destroy or damage or cause anyone economic hardship, and this has led to the pervasive surge of support currently being felt throughout Hong Kong.

Another unique aspect of this protest is that it is ethnic Chinese people protesting against China. Historically, protests over self-determination have usually involved an ethnic minority controlled by the perceived aggression or oppression of a distant government representing an ethnic majority. But the vast majority of those protesting in Hong Kong are ethnic Chinese ("Han people", as they would be called on the mainland. But they realize that Hong Kong is special, and that it is different, and that it is worth fighting for. They know that their brethren on the mainland do not have access to Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Wikipedia, and that they can be jailed indefinitely for opposing the views of the state.

And so you have a movement is not divided along ethnic or socioeconomic lines. The two sides are simple: there is the side that believes that Hong Kong should be able to freely elect its leadership, and the side that believes Beijing should be able to install a puppet leader.

What scares me here is that even with right on their side, Hong Kong could easily fall without support from the international community. Foreign governments have not exactly demonstrated great backbone when it comes to standing up to the bullies in Beijing. As Tom Grundy of the "Hong Wrong" blog pointed out, Britain even made it a point to officially turn its back on Hong Kong, despite former Prime Minister John Major's 1996 promise that "Hong Kong will never have to walk alone".

And so I am fearful for the future of this great city. For so many years it has stood as a beacon of freedom and a shining pearl in the shadow of the world's largest dictatorship. I fear that it will be swallowed up, despite the brave people putting boots on the ground and umbrellas in the air in Central, Admiralty, Mong Kok and the rest of the city. As I said, I've never been a marching sign-carrier, but I've never wanted so badly to be part of something.

I actually feel significant guilt that I am not there. I'm not being asked to pick up a gun and shoot someone, or take a bullet myself. The only thing that is being asked of me or anyone else who has an interest in the future of the great city is to put two feet on the ground.

Soon. Very soon.

香港加油!

Having your buttons pushed: Western perceptions of Hong Kong manners

I spent last night in Macau, an overnight trip to celebrate the wedding of two good friends. In the elevator of the Landmark Hotel Macau, I snapped this picture with my phone:

The camera photo heard around my Facebook feed

The next day, I posted it to Facebook with the very simple description, "I feel like this photo tells you so much about Macau/Hong Kong/China." To my surprise, the picture was an instant hit, receiving an inordinate number of Likes. The Likes were also disproportionately representative of my expat friends in Hong Kong. Clearly, the picture and what it symbolizes resonates with westerners who have spent a lot of time in the southeast China region. Below are a couple of comments from the thread:

There's no doubt about it. Chinese people love to mash the close door button. Often before you've had the chance to get in or out of the elevator. And they are absolutely unapologetic about it. To a foreigner unaccustomed to the Chinese ways, it is definitely shocking that a person would mash the button with such apparent disregard for others, but no local will ever bat an eyelash. People are always on the move in Hong Kong. Get to where you are going, and be quick about it. 

But perhaps the button-mashing mentality is representative of one of the greatest parts of Chinese culture. No one ever questions that the Chinese culture is one of diligence and hard work. In a sense, the jamming of the elevator buttons, the desperate cramming on to the MTR, and myriad other examples of chaos is what gives rise to the incredible skyscrapers, exciting commerce and success of the great harbour city. These people hustle and grind so that slackers like me can reap the rewards of a leisurely walk around town.

Yet from a mathematical standpoint, the button mashing makes little sense. The difference between mashing and waiting for the person to be comfortably situated in the elevator is probably 0.5 seconds at best. Even if you are constantly in an elevator throughout your work day, it is fairly unlikely you can even save a full minute per day. So this behaviour earns the performer well under 0.1% of their day. Hardly seems worth the number of bruised shoulders caught in elevator doors, not to mention the unfortunate souls who have to wait minutes -- full minutes! -- because they didn't get through the doors quick enough and were left to helplessly watch the elevator depart without them. Can't we just take that 0.5 seconds and lower our collective stress levels?

To be sure, the practice of slamming elevator doors in the faces of your fellow men is certainly one I would remove if I were given magical powers (a good indication that if there is such a thing as magical power, it would be a waste to bestow them upon me). Though an ethnic Chinese, I've spent most of my life in Canada and such practices offend my Canadian sensibilities of politeness. Hell, I'm so Canadian, I usually don't even hit the button until the person exiting the elevator is far enough they can't even hear me hitting the button.

But allow me to propose an idea: perhaps politeness is simply a form of currency. If that is the case, then it follows that overt politeness is simply a form of conspicuous consumption. Here, let me hold the door open for you; I am in no rush. The implicit message is: "I have plenty of time. I can afford the time." If politeness is a form of Canadian currency, then is extra politeness to Canadians what abalone, shark fin soup and Johnnie Walker Blue Label are to the Chinese?

In Chinese culture, we give money as gifts, be the occasion a birthday, a wedding, or a holiday. It's always money, and the more the better. In North America the practice of money as a gift has fallen into disfavour; instead gifts are more valued if there is the feeling the sender put a great deal of thought and/or effort into the gift. The divide thus comes down to time versus money; in the Chinese tradition, the value is measured in the money spent by the giver whereas in the West, the value is indicated by the the giver's time.

Time versus money. Two sides of the same coin. It is an interesting paradigm in which to view the East/West divide. Or at least, that's how I'll try to look at it the next time someone slams the door in my face.

Copa de Hong Kong 2012

Suffered a tough loss in a BJJ tournament yesterday. The Copa de Hong Kong is HK's largest BJJ tournament. It's single-elimination tournament format. There were 10 guys in my division (there are byes) so I would have had to fight three times to get the gold medal. I was very ready for this.

I have trained very little in the gi in the last twelve months, since that is when I started training for MMA. The gi game is very different from the no-gi one; it's a game of tight control and grip fighting whereas no-gi is more fast and explosive (and slippery, due to the sweat). So I wasn't expecting to be technically as sharp as I could be, but I felt that I would have superior conditioning to my opponents and that I would be poised to make a deep run and gut it out when the going got tough.

At the moment I submit to the armbar, I am up 4-2. (Here is an explanation of how the points work.) By my stopwatch, there is 30 seconds remaining in the fight at this point. As you can see, I was totally disgusted by making the fatal error that led to the triangle, and subsequently the armbar. Not since Bret Hart got put in the Sharpshooter have I been so upset about the villain beating the hero with his own finishing move. That's how upset I was.

It was disappointing. I really felt great and I'd barely broken a sweat in the match, and it was all over. I would have loved to fight three times, but I was beaten by the better man. I received some small measure of consolation when my opponent -- exhausted as he was after squeezing his ass off for over 90 seconds trying to finish me -- absolutely smashed his semifinal opponent, sweeping him to the back and choking him with a hellacious bow-and-arrow choke.

So that was disappointing, but back on the MMA track for now. Gi-based BJJ is fun but much like boxing, kickboxing and wrestling, it is only part of the game for the MMA fighter. Much like it'd be tough to box against people who only box, it will continue to be hard for me to play jiujitsu against people who only do jiujitsu. And so the healthiest approach is to worry less about wins and losses and worry more about the continual process of self-improvement.

(But losing still sucks.)

Running good, mountainously

I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with running. Mostly it falls to the "hate" side. Running is not something I have ever really enjoyed, although running in nature certainly is more appealing to me than any other kind of gym-based long slow cardio activity. Compared to the fun I get to have in the gym sparring, grappling, hitting pads or doing drills, running to me has always been so boring.

So it struck me as rather odd that when my training partner Diego posted on Facebook that he was doing this 7.5 km race up Victoria Peak in Hong Kong that I felt compelled to sign up for it. Not only do I run less than once-per-week on average (probably 30 times in the last year), when I do run, it's always on flat land. On top of that, I have also barely done any running in the last 3 months due to a minor injury in my foot that bothers me quite a bit when I run (or sometimes, walk).

So why the hell did I decide to do an uphill race?

I guess the main reason is that as little as I like it, I am trying to incorporate running a bit more into my life. Joel Jamieson, an MMA strength and conditioning trainer whose book I really enjoyed, has written that "roadwork" is an incredibly under-appreciated part of MMA conditioning. He notes that while both Western boxers and Thai boxers have always incorporated roadwork in their fights, MMA trainers too often feel that only powerful, anaerobic exercise has any place in MMA conditioning. Jamieson argues that there are relevant, MMA-applicable adaptations that long, slow, 130-160 beat-per-minute cardio training enable that anaerobic interval training just won't re-create. And it makes some sense: professional MMA fights are 15 minutes long, and the anaerobic system lasts only a couple minutes.

In short, running is good for me as a combat athlete, so I should learn to like it.

The other reason is that the run is uphill. But I just finished saying that I basically never run uphill. This is true, but one of my favourite activities back in Vancouver is doing the Grouse Grind, a killer trail with a 31% average incline. I can't walk the Grind and everyone I've ever taken up to the Grind thinks they can run up it, but they never can. I think I'm a way below-average runner on flat land, but I thought maybe I'm better adapted to the demands of uphill. I also noticed walking around Hong Kong (which is quite steep in general) that when walking uphill, my foot injury doesn't bother me at all. So when I did a trial run up Victoria Peak and noticed that my foot also didn't hurt very much running uphill, I thought hey, what the hell.

The course

(Click to enlarge.)

After the race, I went into Google Earth and plotted the path, which is what you see above. As you can see, it's up and down, up and down for the first 6 km, and then gets crazy steep at the end.

My game plan for the race was to pace myself slowly. Basically I didn't want to kill myself in the flats and die on the uphills, because that would be pretty embarrassing in addition to killing my time. So I paced myself really slowly for the first four kilometers. As it turns out, I did a good job of it. Way too good.

Results

My 3km time came in at 25:22. My 3km-7.5km time came in at 23:18! So basically, I ran the last 4.5km, which were super-steep, faster than I ran the first 3km which was almost totally flat!

And it was obvious, too. Early on, tons of people were passing me, and I had no problem with it because I was "following the game plan". But after 5km, almost no one was passing me, and I was starting to pass someone new every few seconds. By the 6km mark, absolutely no one was passing me and I was blowing by people by the dozens. I crossed the finish line with way too much gas in the tank.

For comparison, I took the splits from the top ten finishers and those guys did the front 3km on average 1:11 faster than the back 4.5km. I then took the ten guys who finished immediately before and after me, and on average they were 1:58 faster in the front than in the back. But my dumb ass did the front half 2:04 slower than the back half! What a major fail!

For overall results, I finished 351^st out of 523 men and 110^th out of 165 for males born 1973-1982. Decidedly below average, although not as far below average as I would have predicted going in. I feel like with a some better pacing, I probably could have knocked off 4-5 minutes and gotten myself to about the middle of the pack.

But hey, I'm not a competitive racer and this was not supposed to be an end in itself, but rather a means to an end. And to that end it did cultivate a desire for me to do more uphill roadwork. I have to say, I actually found it kind of fun! I definitely enjoy uphill running a lot more than flat running (especially since flat running is hurting my foot at the moment), and I would be surprised if today were to be my last run up Victoria Peak this week.

So, lame pacing and unimpressive time notwithstanding, mission accomplished!

the night before

"I knew it! I totally knew he wouldn't make it!"

That's what I said to my cornerman, Diego, as my opponent stepped off the scales and put his shorts back on. I didn't really know he wasn't going to make weight, of course, but I had a pretty good feeling. All the ingredients were there. He's 5'10", quite tall for the weight class, and already quite lean. He's coming down from featherweight and the fight is on two weeks notice. So while when I saw his number on the scale: 61.8, three-tenths of a kilogram over and above the 0.5kg allowance on the 61kg weight class, my eyes may have rolled, but I smiled a bit on the inside. Us little guys fighting at our natural weight get to cherish these moments.

Cameraphone pic of the staredown

My cut was easy. At 1pm on Wednesday afternoon I stopped drinking and eating. At 7pm I allowed myself a tuna steak which I know weighed exactly 330 grams, the only food I had in the interim. For fun, I charted my weight at various intervals during the cut:

1pm yesterday: 63.4

3pm: 62.8

7pm: 62.2

11pm: 62.2 (in the interim is where I ate that tuna)

7am today: 61.4

noon: 61.2

1:45pm, official scale: 60.98, still wearing shorts

All of this was done without any sauna or exercise. So while I had an easy cut and could have even weighed as much as .7kg or so more (when considering my shorts/underwear), he struggled. I enjoyed scarfing down sweet potatoes and sports drinks while he had to put his sauna suit back on and jog in circles hoping to coax out those last drops of sweat.

The quick medical check after the weigh-in wrapped my last real obligation before fight day. I've had a photo shoot, media day, shadowboxed for the cameras, done interviews with both Legend and outside/independent media. I was able to confirm my cornermen yesterday and I have full confidence in them.

Other than that, not much to report. I've been training specific techniques for this opponent but basically haven't had a hard session all week. It actually feels kind of strange to be totally healthy and not training. I almost feel lazy going so many days without a hard workout, but obviously busting ass in the gym 72 hours before a fight is not going to create any positive physiological adaptation in time.

I'm sort of at a loss as to what to write. I feel like I should have a lot of thoughts since this is the night before the biggest night of my life, but my mind is pretty blank. A few days ago I could have told you about all the thoughts and emotions racing through my head, but now there are none. Anything I could write is just a cheesy cliché that you've heard many times before if you've watched any amount of fighting at all.

I feel like normally I'm pretty good with words, but this time there really isn't much to say. I know what I have to do.

I'm going to get in a fight. And I hope you enjoy it.

Pro fight in Hong Kong for Legend FC!!

Shit just got really real.

Last Friday, I got a text message out of the blue. Mike Haskamp, co-founder and matchmaker for the Legend Fighting Championships (cool CNN story on him), texted me to ask if I was interested in taking a fight on two weeks notice here in Hong Kong. I said hell yes, I am interested.

Legend is a big deal. They have some of the biggest MMA talents in Asia. They don't book freak show fights like a lot of Asian shows or get over-the-hill "name" fighters to sell tickets. They put on entertaining fights with skilled athletes. They focus on Asia-Pacific based fighters but their focus is on ability more than nationality.

Two weeks' notice is obviously not an ideal situation, but since I'm coming off a fight in which I took no damage, it's perfectly fine. I'm healthy and in shape.

Make no mistake, I am probably the underdog here. This is going to be a tough fight. Doing a quick search, my opponent is a veteran of over 20 ring fights in Muay Thai, boxing and karate. He fought in Legend 4 in January of last year where he lost by first-round rear-naked choke, but nearly KO'd his opponent twice. You can watch that fight here. You will also notice that fight was contested at 66 kg (145 lbs). This fight will be at 61kg/135 lbs (Legend does not have a 125 lb division). Since I woke up this morning at 137 lbs, I will much smaller than my opponent.

So I am fighting someone bigger, stronger, taller (by about 5 inches!), more experienced and who, being HK born-and-bred, will likely be the crowd favourite too. Do I care? Not in the least. I'm full of confidence and being the on-paper underdog is only going to make this win taste sweeter.

I'm fighting under the full professional, Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts. In fact, even less restrictive than the UFC. Both elbows and knees are allowed on the ground, unlike the UFC where knees to the head of a grounded opponent are not permitted. This is no joke. We are playing in the big leagues now, kids.

If you are in the Hong Kong area on March 30, please come out and watch! You can buy tickets here.

If you are nowhere near Hong Kong, you will be able to watch live on YouTube at 7 PM HKT/11AM GMT/7 AM ET (United States).