Editor’s Note for Tuesday, July 5, 2022

My thoughts today:

Last week Friday, Xí Jìnpíng 习近平 swooped into Hong Kong for a few hours to swear in former cop John Lee (李家超 Lǐ Jiāchāo) as the territory’s new chief executive, on the 25th anniversary of its handover from Britain to China.

Two days later, Hong Kong cultural legend Ní Kuāng 倪匡 died at the age of 87. He was a prolific author of science fiction and martial arts novels, and wrote and contributed to dozens of screenplays for martial arts films produced by the Shaw Brothers Studio, including the The 36th Chamber of Shaolin and Bruce Lee’s Fists of Fury.

Hong Kong government’s newly established Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau “published a statement in which it ‘expressed sorrow over the passing of [the] renowned author,’” per the South China Morning Post.

For a more bracing obituary from China Heritage, see ‘You can’t rebel, you can’t start a revolution, and you can’t be independent.’ — How Ni Kuang saw the future of Hong Kong.

Meanwhile, over the COVID-sealed border in the Mainland, the Sequoia China fund raised $9 billion for investments in technology and healthcare.

Bloomberg says that the firm, “which operates largely separate from Silicon Valley-based Sequoia Capital, raised the money from pensions, endowment funds and family offices from the U.S., Europe, the Middle East and Southeast Asia,” adding that “Sequoia China is long-term positive on the country’s growth despite concerns around increased regulation and an economic slowdown.”

Our word of the day is Sequoia (红杉 hóng shān).