Memoirs of a Loser 183: The Jasper I Know

In the era of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, there was a wise topic: sincerity, intelligence and party spirit, a person can only possess two of them. If there is sincerity and party spirit, there will be no intelligence; if there is intelligence and party spirit, there will be no sincerity; if there is intelligence and sincerity, there will be no party spirit.

A few years ago, a young reader of mine asked Jasper Jasper what two of these three qualities he had. Zeng answered quickly: I have none of the three.

Very clever answer that sidesteps the tangled explanation. But the answer itself showed that he was at least intelligent. And since I knew his name fifty years ago, I have heard, seen, seen, and realized Jasper Jasper for half a century. He is not only brilliant, but also in terms of sincerity and party spirit. Although he has been in entanglements, he should be among ordinary CCP members or members of the Communist Party. on the left. Not only is he not "none of the three," but he may well be an "exception" to all three.

In the early 1970s, I was highly regarded among the leftists. At that time, in the office of Pan Jingan, a high-level CCP stationed in Hong Kong, I met Wu Kangmin, the principal of Peiqiao Middle School, from time to time. He talked about Tsang Yok-sing, who graduated from the University of Hong Kong but came to this left-wing middle school as a teacher, and praised him not only for mathematics, but also for Chinese and English, and even for calligraphy. He and Pan Gong believed that they had been the focus of training. Cultivate what? Cultivate to become a "patriotic cause", that is, the leadership successor of the CCP's cause in Hong Kong.

Jasper Tsang graduated from the Mathematics Department of the University of Hong Kong with first-class honors in 1968, and stayed at the school as a teaching assistant for one year with a monthly salary of HK$1,500. At that time, my monthly salary in the leftist bookstore was only 300 yuan. He taught at Zuo School with a monthly salary of 600 yuan. Peiqiao has already given a high salary, but given his impressive academic qualifications and the prospect of giving up his master's degree in the United States, it is undoubtedly a great sacrifice. There is no doubt about the sincerity of his "heart to the CCP" when he was young.

It was the late period of the Cultural Revolution. Under the extreme left atmosphere of the left school, I believe that Jasper Jasper was also brainwashed. "70s" criticized the ultra-leftist trend after the Gang of Four incident, which caused heated discussions in leftist circles. He must have known me too.

In 1992, in preparation for the implementation of "Hong Kong people ruling Hong Kong" after 1997, the CCP established a left-wing political participation group "Democratic Alliance for the Advancement of Hong Kong", or DAB for short. Tsang Yok-sing is the founding chairman of the party. The Democratic Alliance for Betterment of Hong Kong put forward the slogan "Stay in Hong Kong to build Hong Kong, sincerely for Hong Kong", and actively participated in the election campaign. But soon, Jasper was revealed to have arranged to immigrate to Canada with his wife and daughter. I sneered at him as "sincerely deceiving Hong Kong", and the society dubbed him "Space Cheng". However, he personally did not leave Hong Kong in the end, and insisted on the practice of "staying in Hong Kong to build Hong Kong".

Is Tsang Yok Seng a Communist Party member? After Xujiatun left the United States, I asked this question when I visited him in the United States in 1992. Xu Jiatun indirectly denied it by saying that "joining the party requires certain conditions." I believe at least he was not a party member when he did immigration to Canada. But later he refused to answer the question of whether he was a party member, probably because he had been absorbed into the party at that time.

After the transfer of sovereignty in 1997, Tsang Yok-sing was elected as a member of the Legislative Council and led the DAB in the Legislative Council to counter the pro-democracy faction. In 2000, he proposed a motion to "oppose Taiwan independence" in the Legislative Council, and in 2003, he fully supported the 23-article legislation "prohibiting treason." During this time, I went against him in public opinion.

In 2008, he was elected President of the Legislative Council. Afterwards, he presided over the meeting and tried to abide by the rules of procedure and act fairly. For this reason, he was under pressure from the Communist Party of China, the Hong Kong Republican establishment, and believed that he did not follow the principle of "cooperation between the three powers" proposed by Xi Jinping and that the legislation should cooperate with the executive. But in fact he is upholding the one country, two systems enshrined in the Basic Law.

In order to prevent the establishment from passing some unreasonable and vicious laws with "majority violence", the local democrats adopted the "rab" method, that is, they continued to delay the voting of the bill with long speeches and a large number of amendments to the bill. Jasper Jasper once asked a government official, "Has there been Stockholm Syndrome, that is, have a good impression of Congressman Raab?" Stockholm Syndrome is a psychological phenomenon, which means that the victim has feelings for the perpetrator and agrees with certain views and ideas of the perpetrator. . The then Chief Secretary for Administration, Carrie Lam, said, "No. I hate Raab's actions." Jasper Tsang said on the radio program that he himself suffered from Stockholm Syndrome because he saw Raab's lawmakers with professionalism, even though he knew it well. If they don’t reach their purpose, they do a good job of data collection and preparation for their speeches, and they don’t just stand up and talk nonsense;

Tsang Yok-sing respects the duty of legislation to supervise the executive as stipulated in "One Country, Two Systems", and respects every member of Parliament who is serious about discussing politics. For Huang Yumin's offensive question to Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying "when will he die", he ruled that Leung Chun-ying should answer.

In the 2012 chief executive election, the pig-wolf dispute broke out, and the two establishment candidates attacked each other. In addition to detonating Tang Yingnian's black materials, Leung Chun-ying's campaign office also linked triad figures. With the popularity of both of them low, Tsang Yok-sing said he would consider running for the election. At this time, if Beijing does not prevent it, Jasper Tsang should have the best chance of being elected. But he finally gave up his candidacy.

Four years later, in 2016, in the face of rising social opposition to Leung Chun-ying's re-election, I still pushed Jasper Jasper to run for election. He revealed his willingness in media interviews. But in the end it gave up.

In 2017, Jasper Tsang invited me to dinner through Huang Yumin, saying that one of his students wanted to meet me. I went. It turned out to be his apprentice at the Hong Kong Academy of Gifted Education—a 16-year-old girl from a prestigious middle school. Although I have met and talked to Jasper on many occasions in the past, this was the first time we dined together. That night, he and Huang Yumin had a great talk. I asked him why he didn't run for chief executive. He said that it is more difficult for him to be the chief executive than others: if his policies are slightly biased towards Beijing, he will be scolded by public opinion based on his leftist background; if he is slightly biased towards democracy or Hong Kong, he will be questioned by leftists and Beijing for betrayal. . I said, it's not that Beijing is more worried about you, because you seem to defend Hong Kong people in everything. "I'm just upholding one country, two systems," he said.

The 16-year-old girl was silent during our conversation with the older men. So I couldn't help asking her: We talked about the future of Hong Kong, but we are all old, and the future of Hong Kong belongs to you. What kind of future do you want Hong Kong to have?

The girl pondered for a moment, glanced at her master, then raised her head and summoned up her courage and said: I hope the future of Hong Kong is Hong Kong independence.

Huang Yumin and I both laughed. Jasper Tsang is not embarrassed, he said: It is good for young people to have their own ideas. I remember two years ago, in a talk show on Hong Kong and Taiwan, he said in private to a friend that if Taiwan and Tibet can be independent, it seems that it would be better for Hong Kong to have one country, two systems, and reduce a lot of trouble and friction. Recall that in 2000, he proposed a motion "against Taiwan independence" in the Legislative Council. There should be a big change in his thinking.

Back to the topic of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union mentioned earlier in this article. The CCP originally wanted to train him to be the chief executive at some stage after the transfer of sovereignty. Why did he change his mind later, because one of his three qualities stood out, which was his intelligence. In fact, in the reverse elimination of authoritarian politics, as long as a person has this characteristic, it is impossible for a person to be promoted to an important position. The other two traits, with or without, have no big impact.

(Original post published on August 12, 2022)

"Memoirs of a Loser" serial catalog (continuously updated)

173. The democrats in the first decade of 1997

174. The beginning of another life stage

175. Looking at China from the glory days of the forum

176. Disaster caused by the theory of "God's condemnation"

177. Hong Kong people’s feelings have been overturned in five years

178. Mainlanders arouse the local consciousness of Hong Kong people

179. Documentary of the Occupation of Hong Kong

180. Situ Hua's Compromise in His Later Years

181. The origin of local consciousness

182. The battle between the chief executive and the wolf

183. The Jasper I Know