February 18th, 2012
The Golden Rock - February 17th, 2012 Edition
The biggest story in Hong Kong entertainment these last several days is not any movie or celebrity gossip, but rather the image breakdown of a man named Henry Tang.
For more about who Henry Tang is, you can read his wikipedia page. The simple explanation is that he is one of the several people running for Hong Kong’s Chief Executive position. He’s been behind in the polls, but his unpopularity goes all the way back before he quit his job as the Chief Secretary to run for his boss’ job, including an antagonistic attitude towards young critics of the government and other public speaking gaffes (all detailed in Wikipedia). He was also involved in an infidelity scandal that broke out (and almost forgotten) just several months ago. However, he is still a heavy favorite due to backing from Hong Kong’s tycoons.
But now, his campaign seemed to have been dealt the ultimate blow due to a 2,400 square feet basement in his luxury home.
How, you ask? Let us go back to half a year ago, when the government decided to crack down on illegal structures built in/on Hong Kong houses.
What constitutes as illegal structures, you ask? When you build a house in Hong Kong, you’re supposed to submit plans to the relevant authority, who would then go by its criteria to decide whether you’re following building codes or not. However, many house owners tend to build extra structures on their home - like a balcony or a shack on the roof - without obtaining government approval, thus running the risk of violating building codes.
When the government had its crackdown, the media discovered that several high-ranking officials also have such illegal structures in their homes, which prompted a whole lot of wrist-slapping and promises to take down the illegal structures. Tang was not one of the people who admitted to having built an illegal structure in his home at the time.
Just when everyone though the illegal structure controversy was over in the government, this happened this week.
A longtime target of ridicule by netizens, Tang has finally given netizens the ultimate target, and over the last 24 hours, they have been having a field day filling the internet with memes that ridicule the situation.
This is where this blog comes in. Since many of the memes are photoshopped version of Hong Kong movie posters, I’m going to share several posters I found on the “Tang Earthquake” Facebook page (The Chinese title for AFTERSHOCK is “Tangshan Da Di Zhen”, and “Tang Shen” in Cantonese means “Mr. Tang”). This not only reflects Hong Kong cinema in pop culture; it also proves that creativity (especially in satire) is still alive and well here in Hong Kong:
(By the way, any woman you see that isn’t an actress would be Tang’s wife, who is shouldering the blame for this mess)
Mr. Tang’s Earthquake
Tang’s home is at 7 York Rd., hence the CAPE NO.7 reference.
Henry Tang as Tony Leung
The Tang Palace, in 3D
No longer Laughing Gor
You are the Basement of My Eye
Ip Man—>葉問—>別問—–>Don’t Ask
Produced by “Pig Dragon” - Tang was once asked how he felt about netizens saying that he looks like a pig. His answer: “I was born in the year of the dragon”
I’d rather see this than the Jay Chou movie
Stephen Chow is actually a Tang supporter, which adds extra comedic value to this poster.
And while this one has nothing to do with films, here’s one to take us out:
Who says Hong Kong cinema is dead? I’d say the art of satire is alive and well!
All the photos that have been used here can be found on the Tang Earthquake Facebook page, where many more memes can be found. The Hong Kong Film blog also has a post about the parody posters today, and webmaster Ryan has even taken the effort to put up side-by-side comparisons.