City's dragon symbol flies into sunset
After serving Hong Kong for more than a decade, the red flying dragon may be on its way to forced retirement. For the past few months, the symbol used to promote the city has quietly disappeared from the lapels of most top officials.
"It has been quite a while, perhaps almost a year, since we saw the flying dragon in office," a source said.
Its replacement is the new "HK Our Home" logo, which combines "HK" and the Chinese character for "family" in purple and green, part of a campaign to promote "positive energy".
Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying was the first to display the new symbol on his T-shirt at recent meet-the-people sessions in Tin Shui Wai and Kwun Tong.
Most other top officials have also dropped their flying dragon lapel badges, but not labour minister Matthew Cheung Kin-chung who still sported the old badge during his duty visit to Beijing on Tuesday. Joshua But
Cruise hub plan may face headwinds
Tourism Board chairman Peter Lam Kin-ngok is hoping that the recently opened Kai Tak Cruise Terminal will spur more international cruise lines to include Hong Kong on their routes, but his predecessor, James Tien Pei-chun has a different view.
In an interview with the Post on Tuesday, Tien said it would be difficult for Hong Kong to become a hub for cruise lines due to a lack of attractive coastal cities in the region.
The waters near Hong Kong tend to be rough because of the Pacific Ocean, Tien said.
"It explains why transatlantic cruises are usually cheaper, because tourists don't like [to be at sea for days]," he said.
Tien said that he preferred cruises in the Mediterranean over those in Asia, and that he had chosen to holiday with his family in Honolulu this summer. Tony Cheung
Party chief seems to be limbering up for polls
To be visible or invisible, that is the question. Former anti-graft investigator Lam Cheuk-ting, who is now the Democratic Party's chief executive, has recently been vocal in challenging former executive councillors Franklin Lam Fun-keung and development chief Paul Chan Mo-po over their conflict-of-interest scandals.
Lam Cheuk-ting has been making quite a splash in the media, and is said to have been working hard on local issues in the northern New Territories in the past few months. He has also set up his own Facebook page. All of these efforts are believed to be warming-up exercises for the coming district and legislative council elections.
The Democrat's increased assertiveness will certainly have made him more popular among the public, but some of his party allies are less than impressed.
"A party chief executive is supposed to work behind the scene," one said.
"The party does not mind him commenting on anti-graft issues, but is it right for a party administrator to eye a Legco seat?"
The party has no plans to find another chief, meaning that Lam has to persuade his colleagues he would make a good candidate for elected office. Jeffie Lam