New laws limit freedom: a bishop's role.Hong Kong Hong Kong (hŏng kŏng), Mandarin Xianggang, special administrative region of China, formerly a British crown colony (2005 est. pop. 6,899,000), land area 422 sq mi (1,092 sq km), adjacent to Guangdong prov. -- On July 7, Twig Chee-hwa, Chief Executive of Hong Kong The Chief Executive (Traditional Chinese: 行政長官) of Hong Kong is the head of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, and represents the region. , backed down on a proposal to pass a bill outlawing subversion, sedition sedition (sĭdĭ`shən), in law, acts or words tending to upset the authority of a government. The scope of the offense was broad in early common law, which even permitted prosecution for a remark insulting to the king. , treason, and other crimes against the state--with stiff penalties, such as life imprisonment Imprisonment See also Isolation. Alcatraz Island former federal maximum security penitentiary, near San Francisco; “escapeproof.” [Am. Hist.: Flexner, 218] Altmark, the German prison ship in World War II. [Br. Hist. , for some offences. Beijing's roan roan a coat color consisting of a relatively uniform mixture of white and colored hairs, giving a 'silvered' hue; self-describing colors are red-roan, blue-roan, chestnut roan. in the colony, Gao Siren, said sarcastically that Hong Kong is a city of business, not of politics, but the anti-subversion bill provoked demonstrations such as had not been seen since the handover n. 1. The act of relinquishing property or authority etc. to another; as, the handover of occupied territory to the original posssessors; the handover of power from the military back to the civilian authorities s>. from Britain in 1997. On July 1, 500,000 people took to the streets to protest against the legislation. Another 50,000 protested on July 9, and 20,000 rallied outside the legislative building the following Sunday. Bishop Joseph Zen, who became leader of Hong Kong's 200,000 plus Catholics after the death of Cardinal John Wu in 2002, has constantly decried the Chinese government's lack of religious freedom. Speaking at one of the rallies, he thundered that "People are feeling helpless and the level of discontent has become unbearable. Hong Kong people The following is an alphabetical list of people from Hong Kong.
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According to Zenit news service, the bishop told the Financial Times recently that many people think that China has changed and allows its residents to practice religion freely. "It is very hard to convince people that there is a conspiracy," he said. "Good people never believe there is a conspiracy. ... But they didn't know the Communists." In October 2000 when he was making the transition to become bishop of the Hong Kong diocese, he told Time magazine that he would not mute his dissent but he would have to be more indirect. Asked whether clerics should stay out of politics, he responded, "We don't like to call it politics. It's human rights, it's basic rights, it's not politics." (N.C.Reg., Star, N. Post, July 2.) On September 5, 2003, Hong Kong's chief executive bowed to public pressure and rescinded the anti-subversion legislation. (Globe) |
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