Signs and freedoms

This post is meant to be read following the Lui Xiaobo Nobel Peace Prize.

Just opposite the Hong Kong Baptist university campus is a large compound. A large sign in Hanzi script hangs over the driveway. It says, I think:

Wiithout the people, there's no people's army

without the people's army, the people have nothing.

The letters are gold, embossed on a red background.

The People's Liberation Army quarters in Hong Kong was once used by the Royal Hong Kong Regiment. The quonset huts are still in place, rusting near the green Hydrangeas. They must have been a nice place to be on the hot, humid Hong Kong summer.

The PLA now has a standing army of 2.3 million with 1.6 million in the Army, and a defence budget of $480 billion Yuan for 2009. The Hong Kong regiment is from the Guanzhuo military regiment, which stands at 180,000 personnel. And on a rotational bases they are deployed to Hong Kong.

The students at Tiananmen Square in July 1989 had banners claiming, No Choice! Freedom!

Interestingly current President Wen Jiabo was on the truck platform prior to the quelling of the student strike. As was Liu Xiaobo. He dedicated his Nobel Prize to the lost students. They were on the seventh day of a hunger strike.

There liberty was cut short, quite dramatically.

To also enjoy the Chinese Beijing Opera in a mash-up, see http://www.youtube.com/ and search for Chinese Beijing opera and beat it. Good for a laugh.