The great detective eyed his temporary refuge in a Hong Kong hotel with distaste. “Come Watson, you have read the free newspaper. What is exercising the local scribes?”
“It appears,” said the doctor, “That dissent has broken out among the local governing team.”
“Of course it has,” said Holmes, “having eliminated all opposition they have nobody to fight with but each other. What is the row about?”
“Not exactly a row, said Watson, “but the Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism was publicly scolded by the Chief Secretary in the policy speech. A whole paragraph.
“Goodness me, what had this unfortunate triumvirate done to deserve such a public humiliation?”
“You misunderstand, Holmes. This is not a triumvirate. One minister is responsible for all three: culture, sport and tourism. It is a Mr Kevin Yeung.”
“That is a strange arrangement, Watson. It is like putting the nerds and the jocks in the same quiz team. Also there seems to be a danger that objectives will be confused. Is the main purpose to pursue healthy minds, healthy bodies or healthy bank balances.”
Watson grunted. “We’re in Hong Kong now. Bank balances.”
“And where did Mr Yeung come from? Is he a cultivator, a sportsman, or a tourist?”
“Actually, he was a bureaucrat,” said Watson. “Impartiality is guaranteed.”
“Very well, said Holmes, “so what has the secretary done to annoy his master so much.”
“This is a good question,” Watson replied. “Miss Mary Ma, writing in the Standard, reports much bewilderment as to why the falling out was so serious, and so public.”
Holmes frowned. “Miss Ma is not trying hard enough. This is a young administration. One of two things may be happening. The secretary may bave been appointed over the Chief Secretary’x objections, in which case he is trying to show that he was right to oppose the idea. Or the secretary may have been appointed over someone else’s objections, and the Chief Secretary is trying to show that he can get his protege up to the mark by – what is it the young people say now? – putting a rocket up his posterior.”
“Well,” Watson replied, “according to Miss Ma, Mr Yeung has not been diligent in following up a suggestion from Mr Xia Baolong, who is the Chief Secretary’s superior. The idea is that Mr Yeung should, let me see, ‘draw up a master plan to develop an industry out of arts and culture, which are also tied to creativity.’”
Holmes dropped his pipe, spilling something which looked suspiciously like a Controlled Substance onto the carpet. “An industry out of arts and culture! What a preposterous notion! Do we not know that art and culture concern the pursuit of the good, the true and the beautiful, while industry concerns the pursuit of money?”
“I think the idea might be the pursuit of soft power,” Watson ventured.
“Ah,” Holmes replied, “the idea that people who like our movies will overlook our human rights violations. But this hardly seems suitable for Hong Kong.”
“Why not? Miss Ma says that if Japan and South Korea can succeed in this, why not Hong Kong?”
“Miss Ma’s question answers itself,” said Holmes. “Japan and South Korea enjoy creative freedom. Hong Kong does not. If I were just to go downstairs and hum [NAME OF SUBVERSIVE TUNE REDACTED] I might be arrested. Here we have films censored, plays banned, artists like [NAME OF SUBVERSIVE SINGER REDACTED] out of work, groups who cannot find venues and books banned from public libraries. Even writing about me may be [SMEAR REDACTED].”
“Come Holmes,” said his faithful acolyte. “Surely it cannot be as bad as all that. Is it not true that the law-abiding have nothing to fear?”
“Would that it were true,” said the great detective. “But even innocent people are affected. My old friend the arborist Jennifer Juniper told me yesterday that she cannot get a publisher for her latest book about local forests.”
“That is a shame. Why is there a problem?”
“Something to do with the title, apparently. She wanted to call it ‘Tree Hong Kong. Evolution of our Pines.’”
tim's experiment 