Among the many deficits after the end of the Cold War and the global demise of communist governments (other than in China, Cuba and North Korea) were the forms of language once used to help explain and predict their actions. Nothing remotely capricious can be found with the actions of a senior communist cadre promoted steadily through the Party machine. Close study of their previous postings, where they had been, and what outcomes resulted, offers a reliable indication of what they will do next. Old style, hard-line Leninists – or latter-day, modern-dressed Maoists – are completely predictable; and even better, they helpfully tell you just what they are going to do – and well in advance. Tactics and timing are the only variables, and even then, significant signals will have been indicated; from these, the clear-eyed can readily determine a better-than-probable sequence of events. Anger, despair, disgust and outrage may be valid individual or collective responses to Communist approaches to contemporary Hong Kong affairs; reactions vary from situation to person. But whatever else one may feel when confronted by their actions, genuine surprise shouldn’t figure. Party functionaries, and their chosen mouthpieces, will invariably have explicitly said – well in advance – just what they intend to do. Editorials in state-owned publications, that few would otherwise choose to read for well-balanced information on current affairs, are the usual barometer for forthcoming “happenings”. This information charts forthcoming “lines to take”, and what will – or, more usually, will not – be tolerated, as well as targeting those next to be “rectified”. When these more general editorial directives are followed up by an explicit call to action – as recently occurred with the Professional Teachers’ Union – one can automatically assume that local proxies will immediately obey, possibly within hours, as they did here; after all, what other choice of action do they realistically have? Hong Kong’s best and brightest are leaving – forever For over four decades, one of the world’s leading observers – and shrewdest interpreters – of Chinese Communist actions and intentions, all derived from meticulous study of their own sources, was Hungarian Jesuit priest Father Laszlo Ladany (1914-1990). Based for decades at Ricci Hall, the Jesuit student residential hostel at Hong Kong University, his China News Analysis newsletter, produced from 1953 until 1982, was essential reading for anyone who wanted to know what was happening – or about to happen – in the Chinese Communist controlled world. Ladany was widely lauded among fellow Sinologues for his “uncanny ability” to glean accurate meaning – well in advance of most others – from obscure Party publications. In his final China News Analysis edition in 1982, he offered his personal “10 Commandments” for other Chinese Communist analysts. 1. Remember that no one living in a free society ever has a full understanding of life in a regimented society. 2. Look at China through Chinese spectacles; if one looks at it through foreign glasses, one is thereby trying to make sense of Chinese events in terms of our own problems. 3. Learn something about other Communist countries. 4. Study the basic tenets of Marxism. 5. Keep in mind that words and terms do not have the same meaning in a Marxist society as they do elsewhere. 6. Keep your common sense: the Chinese have the particular characteristics of Chinese, but they are human beings, and therefore have normal reactions of human beings. 7. People are not less important than issues; they are probably more so. A group may adopt the programme of those who oppose it in order to retain power. 8. Do not believe that you know all the answers. China poses more questions than it provides answers. 9. Do not lose your sense of humour. A regimented press is too serious to be taken very seriously. 10. Above all, read the small print! In today’s topsy-turvy Hong Kong, Ladany’s clear-eyed, humane, profoundly wise counsel remains vitally important.