FRIED FROG

So some western reporters noticed a Pepe the Frog graffito in Hong Kong, and are now flipping out because Pepe is a symbol of rightwing attitudes. Surely this shows that the protesters are recalcitrant fascists or sumpin'?
The authorities cannot have failed to notice? Actually, that was just an opportunistic attempt to get attention.

Anything that will get the world media to pay attention is good. It's self-protection. If raping an effigy of Melania would have that effect, fine, we'll use that too. Mickey Mouse impaled on a stick? Good, good. Unless the world media pay attention, it did not happen. Hong Kong, because of distance, language, strangeness, is mostly invisible. If four months ago the army had rolled in, or the police had actually shot protesters, it would not have been noticed for several days. Without that international attention nothing would have happened. I know, let's show a live crucifixion of Bugs Bunny! Westerners sit up when Christians are offended!

Pepe in the Hong Kong context is absolutely irrelevant. The protestors don't even consider Pepe, nor does the HK government, or the Mainland government.
It's a minor, infinitisimally minute, blip. If you really want to confuse a Chinese person who isn't fluently up-to-date on weird whiteness, ask them who or what 青蛙佩佩 is. A far better way to piss off the mainlanders is to scrawl 廣州人講廣州話，聽唔明就翻鄉下 on walls in expensive shopping areas. Or even 反兩復英。

Pepe equals Hello Kitty equals middle finger equals love.


The Maoist slogan 造反有理 ('chou faan yau lei'; "to revolt is justified"), while impeccably leftist, is almost directly from Mencius, who, two and a half millenia ago, stated that overthrowing an oppressor was the right thing to do. That, much more than silly American cartoon characters (except Mickey Mouse) has relevance to a Chinese mind.

Regarding the death of the ruler of Chau (紂): 孟曰：賊仁者，謂之賊，賊義者，謂之殘。殘賊之人，謂之一夫。聞誅一夫紂矣，未聞弒君也。賊仁者謂之賊，賊義者謂之殘。殘賊之人謂之一夫。聞誅一夫紂矣，未聞弒君也。Mencius said: "Someone who violates his benevolent nature is called a criminal, someone who goes against righteousness a mere fellow; I have heard that a mere fellow was whacked, but not of the killing of a prince." Second volume of King Hui of Liang (梁惠王下), para 15.]


More of the protesters know Lin Piao On Tactics than passé American internet memes. Second Brother Kwan (關二哥) is also more relevant.


Not to ignore globalization, but it's only superficial. Hong Kong young people have spent their entire lives with Hong Kong television, movies, books, newspapers, graphic novels, as well as the regular very Canto-Chinese environment all around them. They've probably read Japanese manga in Hong Kong translation (themes from East Asian culture).
Textbooks? Chinese. Letters from friends? All in Chinese.
Bank statements? Office memos? Chinese.
Bills of lading? Maybe not.

Their internet is in Chinese, hardly ever English. Thinking in English is not natural, and most of the time not important. The United States (Pepe and Seinfeld) are as far away as England (horrid food and weather), Australia (buggery kangaroos!), New Zealand (what are "hobbits" anyhow?) and Canada (ah, Vancouver, where an auntie lives).

Korea, Taiwan, and Japan are mentally much closer. Even Singapore and Malaysia. The most important 'American' thing in their lives is 7-eleven, of which there are a huge number of locations in HK. That is where they purchase their shrimp-flavoured snacks, Pocky Stix, Japanese cheesy poofs, Korean instant noodles, and magazines or newspapers, in Chinese. Globalization? That's Gucci, man, and Prada. Maybe Marlboro ciggies too, but more likely Double Happiness brand smokes. And regarding McDonalds (the most important international representative of the English world), they consider all "edible" food to be fundamentally Cantonese.
So the Americans for once got it right.



And, while we're speaking of frogs, Let's not forget 姜葱田雞 ('geung-tsung tin kai': ginger scallion frog), 宫保田雞 ('gong-po tin kai': kung pao frog), 豆豉田雞 ('dau-si tin kai': black bean sauce frog) ..... nom nom nom.

Also 爆炒田雞 ('baau chaau tin kai'), which is delicious.

Home cooking, there's nothing like it.




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