People From Hong Kong

"The coronavirus in SARS or the coronavirus in MERS are in the same family of virus with the new (COVID-19) coronavirus."

"The local (COVID-19) transmission chain (in Hong Kong) has begun (as of 6 February 2020), and if we do nothing to control it, Hong Kong will become another mainland city that has suffered lots of cases."

"Our (Government of Hong Kong) primary duty is to care for (COVID-19) patients. Everyone can hold a different political view and different thoughts, as well as different views on the (Hong Kong) government's way of combating the pandemic. But I sincerely hope, amid choppy waters and at a critical moment, we can all put aside our conflicts ... and do our share for patients who need help."

"July 15, 2019 (6 days before the Yuen Long attack): I am very confident to the ability of our people from Luk Heung, Yuen Long. The more they come, the more we can do. We just beat them up, completely defeat them, right?"

"I began this race believing I should be a truth-teller on principle - ironically I have discovered that it is very popular - and the only way to avoid an election and win the next one is by being straight with people. No more unicorns, no more red lines, no more promises we can't deliver. That's how we get Brexit done, defeat Corbyn and unify the country."

"Rory Stewart: One of the advantages of this deal, to be honest, and the reason why 80% of the British public support this deal, is because what it does... Emma Barnett (Interviewer): 80% of the British public support this deal? The draft deal? How on earth do we know that yet? Rory Stewart: OK, let me back on that, my sense is, sorry, let me get the language right on that. My sense is that if we have an opportunity to explain this the vast majority of the British public would support this. Emma Barnett: Where did 80% come from, I'm a bit confused. Rory Stewart: I'm producing a number to try to illustrate what I believe."

"First and foremost, I want to thank Prof. Anthony Yu, who promptly responded to my solicitation of opinions on my manuscript while he was on a lecture tour in Australia. Though by no means an acquaintance, he kindly accepted me as an “unregistered student” while he was also mentoring six dissertations at the University of Chicago as a retired professor. After a meticulous reading of the manuscript, he sent me detailed comments on each chapter, often on individual lines, sharing with me his deep erudition and vast knowledge of Chinese culture. Some of his comments were directly incorporated into this book. What moved me most is the fact that he composed his last batches of e-mail responses to my manuscript when he was seriously ill. I cannot but marvel at his humanitarian spirit and his dedication to scholarship."

"At a time when officials of particular nations on earth are vying to vaunt the ability of their leadership or the merit of incomparable power even in the looming shadow of catastrophic conflict, the wisdom of the DDJ seems ever more compelling and urgent."

"[Cao Xueqin] has succeeded in turning the concept of world and life as dream into a subtle but powerful theory of fiction that he uses constantly to confound his reader's sense of reality."

"For my students at the University of Chicago and in memoriam the Dead at Tiananmen Square June 4, 1989"

"[N]eutrality must be mandated at the application and content layer if we truly want a free, open and non-discriminatory internet. All wireless broadband customers must have the ability to access any lawful applications and content they choose, and applications/content providers must be prohibited from discriminating based on the customer’s mobile operating system."

"Efforts to prevent noncommunicable diseases go against the business interests of powerful economic operators. In my view, this is one of the biggest challenges facing health promotion. [...] it is not just Big Tobacco anymore. Public health must also contend with Big Food, Big Soda, and Big Alcohol. All of these industries fear regulation, and protect themselves by using the same tactics. Research has documented these tactics well. They include front groups, lobbies, promises of self-regulation, lawsuits, and industry-funded research that confuses the evidence and keeps the public in doubt. Tactics also include gifts, grants, and contributions to worthy causes that cast these industries as respectable corporate citizens in the eyes of politicians and the public. They include arguments that place the responsibility for harm to health on individuals, and portray government actions as interference in personal liberties and free choice. This is formidable opposition. [...] When industry is involved in policy-making, rest assured that the most effective control measures will be downplayed or left out entirely. This, too, is well documented, and dangerous. In the view of WHO, the formulation of health policies must be protected from distortion by commercial or vested interests."

"I want to remind governments in every country of the range and force of counter-tactics used by the tobacco industry – an industry that has much money and no qualms about using it in the most devious ways imaginable."

"Children's health depends on the mothers, so if we can scale up the achievement of the MDGs, it would benefit people in Africa. We should also look at how we can empower women to leverage their resources and their creativity and become change agents. We have seen example after example where women who are appropriately motivated and given the right environment can make changes, not only to themselves but also to their families and their communities."

"There are two things that I feel very happy about from my tenure as Director of Health in Hong Kong: we introduced primary health care and preventive services from conception to old age; and we worked with herbalists to put Traditional Chinese Medicine on a firm footing of promotion, development and regulation."

"Health systems are social institutions. They do far more for society than deliver babies and pills, like a post office delivering parcels. Properly managed and adequately financed, a fair and equitable health system contributes to social cohesion and stability."

"In my view, the best way is to go back to the basics: the values, principles, and approaches of primary health care. Abundant evidence, over decades of experience, supports this view. Countries at similar levels of socioeconomic development achieve better health outcomes for the money when services are organized according to the principles of primary health care."

"The reduction of poverty is the over-arching objective of the MDGs. Progress is not measured by national or global averages, but by how well the health of the poor improves. If we miss the poor, we miss the point. A health system that lacks commodities for managing high-mortality infectious diseases and the main killers of mothers and young children will not have an adequate impact."

"It seems reasonable to expect that beauty will emerge from a fusion of the individual character and culture of the potter ,with the nature of his materials."

""Boxing moves the head to dodge punches, but in Wing Chun we don't,"

"" If someone grabs you, you will only try to grab back if you are scared."

"" The first punch causes the brain to go to one side of the skull."

"..... when you punch the head the brain hits the side of the skull."

"Wing Chun doesn't like to lift the knee first and then kick ....."

"In boxing, the style has changed over the years from crouching to being more and more vertical. Also people used to jump around, but the modern boxer like Tyson just moves in flat footed to demolish his opponent in a scientific way. In Wing Chun a person does not bob as in boxing. When two beginners fight it doesn't matter how they fight, but against professionals it makes a difference. Even a smaller [person] is better off to keep the body vertical and step back, then to bob and weave. This is because the hand can move faster than the body. Boxing is still like a game because there are rules for how you can hit and how you can't hit. If you attack someone and they bend their head, then in Wing Chun you can still hit them with your hand even without pulling your hand back."

"Boxing moves the head to dodge punches, but in Wing Chun we don't, because the head can't be faster than the hand."

"The late Sifu Wong Shun-leung, of “Hong Kong” wing chun fame, in his seminars around the world over the years, liked to make a comparison with the modern combat sport of Western boxing, which he observed had changed quite dramatically over just the last sixty or so years, from the crouching-like postures of boxers like Joe Louis in the 30s and 40s, to the flashy footwork of the likes of Muhammad Ali in the 60s and 70s, through to the more upright and flat-footed approach of recent champions such as Mike Tyson."

"The situation where you need to wrestle is when both opponents want to grab."

"In training Biu Jee we are taught to be free . The first forms tell us about normal situations. Biu Jee is for the abnormal situations . The ideas in Biu Jee sometimes will contradict normal Ving Tsun (Wing Chun) ideas in order to allow the person to survive in a bad situation . We are told to do what is necessary to survive and so there are no limitations . Styles have different concepts and objectives . With Ving Tsun (Wing Chun) we want to attack our opponent in a very direct and savage manner . Other styles will contradict this objective by attempting non-direct tactics . If we combine them our objectives can become confused in the heat of the fight . We will be less effective ."

"This situation can happen to anyone. If you learn Wing Chun you can cope with it better than someone that doesn't know Wing Chun."

"For such a fight, you must train hard to just develop the self confidence to enter such a match . You must, by way of your self confidence, know that you can win . When Ving Tsun (Wing Chun) practitioners go to fight and are defeated then the mentality is not to think that the other person is better than himself . Instead he needs to ask himself what were his mistakes to invite the attack . This is the kind of positive thinking which any fighter must possess."

"To escape from a rear arm lock, straighten the arm by choosing the best line of force. The hand turns and goes in an upward direction. Then step in and unbalance the opponent."

"If you hold two arms out in front of you and someone grabs them, then you can use the third set elbow movement to escape. Bring the hand right in to touch the body. If the hand is held in a fist, it doesn't work. Then press down with the elbow."

"The situation where you need to wrestle is when both opponents want to grab. Western boxing is supposed to be hitting, but you still see situations where they want to hold on to each other. This is because one of them is scared. If you are scared then you will try to hold onto your opponent. It is very difficult for someone to lock or hold onto you if you know Wing Chun. You can stop the other guy holding or grabbing. If someone grabs you, you will only try to grab back if you are scared. But if you are not scared, then he cannot force you into a wrestling situation."

"In Wing Chun we hit the larger part of the face, usually at an angle, so the butt of the chin is avoided. In Wing Chun, the main target area is from the mouth upward..."

"Try not to use two actions. Like when kicking, Wing Chun doesn't like to lift the knee first and then kick because this is a two step action. Also the line of force is wrong because your kick will not have ground support. Instead, your kick will transmit back to your body to off-balance you. This is why Yip Man's kick in the second set looks a bit funny at first. We want to travel in a straight line from the ground to the target, not lift the knee first."

"No, Wing Chun will never use a fake punch."

"Against a strong kicker there are two ways to fight. If you are experienced, just go into their center and hit. But if you aren't, then back up. Each time the opponent misses, he will lose one degree of confidence. After a while you have more chances."

"Wong Shun-leung said that when you punch the head the brain hits the side of the skull. If the brain is against the side of the skull and a second hit follows, then damage and a knockout results because there is no cushioning possible. This is why Wing Chun has its rapid fire punches instead of the pull back approach."

"I am now teaching Wing Chun and am in no position to criticise other Gung-fu systems. I would like to say, however, that many styles ask men to imitate animal positions. Humans don't have the ability to imitate some positions. For example, some animals can leap around from here to there quite easily because they have long tails to help them maintain balance. We humans don't have such a tail to aid us, and so some techniques may not be natural. Therefore, when someone asks me what animal style Wing Chun is, I will always say that it is 'human style'. We use the weapons which nature has given us to the best of our ability."

"In Wing Chun if you throw two fast punches to someone's head they'll be knocked out. The first punch causes the brain to go to one side of the skull. If a quick second hit comes, the person is knocked out. If you withdraw the hand to give the second punch, then the brain can recover (will have more time to recover), but if you don't give this time then a knockout results."

"For low side kick attacks, Wong Shun-leung uses the feet. For knee attacks, he said if you hit straight the knee cannot really get you. Against the Thai boxing round kick Wong kicks straight forward, rather than use a clashing force with a Bong leg. This forces the kicker straight back."

"I think the kicks in Wing Chun are enough. It´s much easier to use your hands than to use your feet. Your hand is able to reach your opponent long before your foot. Why take the long way to attack (circle), when there is a much more direct method of attack? If you are using your hands, then your opponent can´t see a kick coming if you have to use it. When you teach Kung Fu, you can fool a lot of people, but not yourself. You can make like a movie and do many complicated movements and kicks, but you only fool yourself as to whether that would work in a real situation of life and death."

"American civil rights activist and U.S. Army Sergeant Medgar Evers once said that "you can kill a man, but you can't kill an idea." His statement applies to both good and evil. Drones are powerful assassination weapons that offer short-term fixes. Drones kill terrorists, but not the idea of terrorism in the long term."

"While information is the oxygen of the modern age, disinformation is the carbon monoxide that can poison generations."

"Facebook nation exists in the intersection of humanities and sciences, somewhere in between the fictional worlds of The Godfather Part II and Minority Report."

"The two-way street of Total Information Awareness is the road that leads to a more transparent and complete picture of ourselves, our governments, and our world."

"An open internet is an open platform for debating opposing views. It allows both popular and unpopular voices to be heard. It is a civilized outlet for frustrated individuals to express themselves without resorting to violence or terrorism."

"Not only that “every dog has its day”, but also that “every dog has its data” in the digital information age."

"The Tower of Babel fell apart not because of technology but because of languages."