Emails 5-7 from Hong Kong TEFL placement

EMAIL 5 - Thursday, November 17th

Peeps,

How’s Ingerland working out?

My school’s currently on total lockdown - it’s ‘showtime’ as the school inspectors prowl the corridors, lurk in dark corners, ‘shadow’ selected students, inspect teacher’s records and generally strike terror deep into the hearts of all my colleagues. I’ve never seen anything like it - the teachers are designing incredible multimedia lessons, the kids are being constantly threatened to behave, the place is so clean I can see my face in the blackboard and suddenly the printers all work. It’s almost too perfect and the assessors will no doubt see it - but the school has a reputation to maintain as one of HK’s best. It’s made me recall how I’d feign confusion when Ofsted inspectors descended on my old school, asking teachers why ‘we don’t usually do this’. And so the tables have turned Mr Grundy…

I’ve now had 3 of my lessons observed by teachers at the school and the kids go all quiet or - on one occasion - behaved worse than ever, making me look crap. Overall though, the kids are great and a few have grown on me - there’s a couple of awesome ones, it seems they maintain their childhood and innocence longer here. By Year 6, kids in England would be too busy doing crack, smashing bus stops, beating up pensioners, getting pregnant etc…

For a while, the monotony of full-time 9-5 began to lead me into somewhat of a big fat dark homesick hole, so I made a pledge to do the tourist thing during weekends. Went to check out the ‘big Buddha’ a couple of weeks back - a big fuss is made about it being the world’s biggest seated, outdoor, bronze Buddha statue. (By the same logic, I could declare myself the most handsome, intelligent ginger ex-pat under 30, called Tom, in our street.) Anywho, it was indeed the biggest seated, outdoor, bronze Buddha I’d seen - there was no doubt about that. It was a bit touristy and its popularity seems to have been exploited by the monks there. I guess it’s only to be expected in aggressively capitalist HK, but somehow I thought Asia’s foremost hippies would be impervious to it all.

Talking of which, I’ve been staying true to myself and dragging mates to see films at the Social Movement Festival leading up to December’s WTO protests. [why the WTO is bad for you]. The heart of the city is set to practically shut down when leaders come over to discuss how to better screw over developing countries. Naturally I’ll be out in force, in full chicken costume, with camcorder, leaflets and my bilingual sign - “WTO - more dangerous than chicken flu” (“WTO - cluck off” on reverse). You see what I did there… Probably not the best course of action in an oppressive, communist state, but it’s all good fun and it makes me sound hardcore. (Actually, being an official ID-card holding citizen, I’ve got the right to protest - ‘one country, two systems’ and all that jazz.)

To further the perception that I’ve got a death-wish, I’m headed to Vietnam this Chrimbo. Aside from being the world’s hot-spot of bird flu fun-and-games, it’ll give me the enduring chance to use the phrase “Well, back in Nam…”, which is the main reason I’m going. Plus, after feeling guilty about the 18 trees it took to fly me to Hong Kong, I’m going there overland by train on bus in what promises to be a grand 30-hour festive adventure across Southern China! I can’t wait, my travel bug started to feel rather hard-done-by what with feeling so settled here, so it’ll be cool to spend Christmas alone in one of the world’s best backpacking spots! The other dudes are off to Thailand, but I’ll probably do that next year.

Last week I went up to ‘The Peak’ where you can get the classic view overlooking the sparkling harbour and the whole of Hong Kong Island. It’s also home to numerous super-rich business people, of which there is no shortage of here. Getting to HK’s highest point involves a ride on the old ‘Peak Tram’, which despite being nearly 120 years old, has a perfect safety record. It goes up the steep side of the mountain on what feels like a 45 degree angle, and a weird optical illusion is created as the skyscrapers appear to lean in on you - so cool! [video]. On Sunday I checked out Lamma Island, one of the couple of hundred outlying islands around HK - it was really chilled out, no cars anywhere, a lush beach, reminded me of Lamu in Kenya. It was there I finally found a tremendous café which did a vegan, organic, fair-trade platter made from vegetables that consented to be included in the first place. Get in my belly.

In the past month, I’ve also done two video lessons to a school in China, and got a grilling on what I thought of their erm.. vast and glorious country. It led me to ask around how folks felt about the handover from Britain to China in 1997. Our boss seems firmly pro-Chinese Communist Party - “It is like Britain was our step-mother and now we have returned to our real mother”. Most people felt more pro-Britain during and just after handover, but few seem to want to go back now. Awareness about China’s unbelievable human rights abuses, censorship and the like is pretty low, mind you. Plus, one of the reasons China is being nice to HK is that the province is a showcase for Taiwan - ‘look how happy they are, now don’t make us kick your ass’ (which they inevitably will).

Some new photos attached, including - finally - my classic Brucey photos, one at the harbour, one at the Buddha [click for other countries!]. Vietnam one a-coming soon! Also attached is a piece from my favourite artist who randomly appeared at a gallery here. He’s called Micha Klein and the girl in the picture doesn’t exist - she’s digitally generated by combining the best features of Amsterdam’s top 10 models. The result is deliberately bland and is part of a series.

who loves ya? Keepintouch folks....

tom x =o) in HK - original home of chicken flu, SARS, and 6 million midgets.


PS - favourite quotes so far…

True words whilst sitting in Starbucks:
Tom - "I'm going to hippy hell for this"
Ashford - "You're already in hippy hell - it's called Hong Kong"

As you know, kids have bizarre names here, e.g. Kinky, Lazy, Fish, King etc...
Jimmy - "Do I really have to call that kid 'school bag'?"
Teacher - "Perhaps don't encourage it"

Danielle, nursing her wallet...
"I can only afford to... have a shit"

Danielle complains about acne to Tom:
"Dan, you moaning to me about spots is like complaining to a leper about a broken nail"

Jimmy visiting Martina in hospital (this is actually true):
"Can you move your legs over please so I can sit down? I don't have this problem with my dad - he's got no legs"


EMAIL 6 - Thursday, December 8th

Guys! =o)

Flyering every other evening and weekend for the WTO resistance in my chicken costume has got me in a few local newspapers as the wacky gweilo (white guy) activist. Also had an interview with a big Cantonese magazine, 'East Touch'. They did a photo shoot but a lot was lost in translation to Chinese and back again. Check out attached scan! =o)

It doesn't really get old. Running into pharmacists with urgent requests for Tamiflu, yelling ‘murderers' at KFC staff and creeping up on large groups of women to scare-the-living-crap-out-of-them might seem culturally insensitive / rude - but I'd do the same back home and hey, it's for a good cause. I'm already barred from a shopping centre on our road, which has provided some bragging notoriety. As was being surrounded by 10 policemen last night - but the thing is, they're half my height, so I like to think I'd be able to hold them back simply by clutching their heads, like they did to little Scrappy Doo when he got hyped up. When I said I knew the Basic Law (constitution) and was doing nothing wrong, they said ‘ok, bye bye’! They’re just too nice.

One conversation I had last week was pretty worrying - "What does a chicken or rooster signify in Chinese culture?", "it means prostitute", "Ah shit..." Strangely, it's the bitchy Westerners which are most reluctant to take a leaflet or make eye contact, the Philippinos are the best... HK has a huge Philippino community; most are employed as 'domestic helpers'. They usually live with a family, have few rights and are paid peanuts (around £400 a month, v.little for HK). On Sundays, they're turfed out of the flat on their 'day off' and literally thousands gather for all-day picnics across the centre of the city. It's a spectacle, HQs of the world's biggest companies, like HSBC, are suddenly swamped by hoards of displaced foreign women. Every last one of them is coming to the WTO protests and they're all great fun, if not creepily flirtatious at times.

As a warm-up, I joined other WTO protestors on the huge pro-democracy march last Sunday - a quarter of a million people lined the streets, it just about made international news. A few random pro-China protestors were dotted along the sidewalk, but aside from a bit of boo-ing, it was tolerated - people just won’t rebel here! I mean, they could’ve at least thrown a couple of sharp objects, slapped him with fish, or such like!?

The unwavering discipline of Hong Kongers is reflected in their refusal to jaywalk, even if there is no traffic or police around for miles, they will wait patiently for the green man. I feel like setting up workshops and have people run around with scissors, cross with the red man, talk to strangers etc… in the hope they’ll rise up and demand the universal right to vote. There’s a strong history of peaceful protest here, the authorities are more worried about foreigners and particularly the South Koreans at the WTO demos. It’ll be the biggest thing HK has ever hosted, look out for me on your tellybox as it dominates your respective news channels for a week.

There are 3000 journalists, 9000 police (a third of the entire force of this tiny territory), People’s Liberation Army of China on standby (lovely bunch) and - get this - they’ve glued the street tiles down to prevent them being used as weapons, bolted down drain covers, installed nets around multi-national chain stores and closed roads, businesses and schools around the demonstration areas. Tens of thousands of protestors are expected, the police have promised no water canons or rubber bullets, and the NGOs will get their own media centre.

Anyways, in other news… I've risked a haircut at a Toni & Guy training academy - turned out really good, but took 5 full hours. The ratio of fannying about to actual cutting was about 5:1, I had some blonde highlights done for next to nothing. Perhaps the most amusing moment was being handed a selection of random English magazines including Esquire (fair enough), Marie Claire (less good, but read about make up anyway) and placed in between them, a cheap local porn magazine (no need). I’m happy with my new buffont, particularly having seen the ‘Pat Sharp’ monstrosity they gave my housemate.

School is going well, am a little more at peace about it all now. Kids are mostly great, and I realised that I do actually giveashit when my favourite kid Rachel ran over crying about an exam. Broke my heart, she's so good natured and it shows how much ridiculous pressure they put the kids under. It's not uncommon for a 9-year-old to have Cantonese, English and Chinese tuition, extra sports, homework and exams, competition preparation, music practice - and oh yeah, school everyday. Sucks to be 9.

Went on a big school picnic last month and yesterday afternoon I took 25 kids to the Science Museum, which was great fun. Had lots of opportunities to holler out some more cheesy teacher clichés. (“I’m not angry, I’m disappointed” ... “You’ve let yourself down, the school down…etc…” … “Ok, and If Wong Wai Tsoi told you to jump off a cliff, would you?”). And last week a teacher asked me how to say the word ‘folk’ - explaining that she shouldn’t pronounce it as ‘fock’ was pretty awkward to explain, in a Baptist school.

Did I mention our school has a zoo? It’s an ‘eco-garden’ with lots of turtles/tortoise variations, 4 bunnies, 2 iguanas, dozens of dead insects, several birds and a talking parrot. The latter confirms my theory that all animals speak and think in English, as it regularly greets me and bids me farewell - often to a more coherent degree than my P1 class. I like to tell the kids that it’ll be the first one to be slaughtered when H5N1 kicks in (just kidding y’all!). I also like to slowly pick up and lift small children towards the ceiling fan to freak them out as a punishment (not kidding, but only happened once - sort of unintentionally, no harm done!). See attached a worksheet a recently had back, which is all the funnier when you know how basic the English is - this ‘dream car’ comes with anti-terrorist terrorists as standard, complete with sinister daggers.

Just as my buddy Phil arrived in HK this week, the temperature dropped and a ‘cold weather warning’ was issued. And would you know what constitutes a ‘cold weather warning’? 10 Celsius. Walking around in a t-shirt has horrified my fellow teachers, who started throwing industrial quality coats, jackets and Eskimo suits at me, getting all mother-y and asking if I know where to buy a scarf. I’ve explained that 10c is a hot summer’s day in England, pretty much. In fairness though, having acclimatised to the humidity out here, I definitely felt the snap and like the kids, have now donned about 5 layers.

Bush’s China visit last month summed up the differences in the media out here, I watch HK, Chinese, German and BBC World news. Whilst the HK media tend to overlook anti-China stuff sometimes, and the English press have demonised WTO protestors (comparing them to terrorists!), China news takes the biscuit. Whilst the rest of the world saw the presidential dipstick attending church in Beijing, the appropriately named CCTV (China Central TV) omitted it, as it does most significant things. We all know there’s censorship and horrendous human rights abuses, I just wish Bliar would stop suddenly talking so agreeably about issues like China, nuclear power etc… - both pretty unsavoury.
Off protesting, seeing Phil and hopefully going on a bike ride again this Sunday - it was so nice last week, a flat cycle path all around the New Territories. I’ll be in touch after the WTO, after which I’ll be emailing from Vietnam! Drop us a festive line… your buddy…

Tom - loves you long time

PPS - My love/hate relationship with HK, the home of 45,000 millionaires:

You can’t beat…
• Streets composed entirely of one product - shoes, flowers, birds, wedding shops etc… (Convenient but surely bad business sense!?). I live amongst the wedding shop quarter, which can be depressing as I can’t think of anything worse.
• Being told “your Cantonese is so good”, after saying two words.
• Very fresh fish and meat, slaughtered upon purchase. Not that I’d ever eat it.
• The cheapest and fastest Internet service in the world. Music in seconds, films in minutes. Get in my belly!
• Defunct shops which suddenly become fully functional supermarkets in two days flat (cue congratulatory flowers outside).
• School kids with backpacks bigger than themselves. In some cases I believe some of the kids could easily fit into their bags, though I’m yet to experiment.
• The harbour National Day fireworks, with 100,000 people yelling ‘WAAHHH’.
• Wearing a jumper when it's 20 Celsius.
• The sea of black haired locals running to the next train on the underground system. ‘Calm down dear’, they come every 2 minutes.
• City slickers talking about the New Territories (20mins away), like it's the squalid and uninhabitable outback.
• Never being more than one hour's travel away from anybody.
• Mobile reception in tunnels and on the underground. Magic!
• Comedy product/shop/road names - e.g. Sod/Wanko/Man Fuk Road (hilarious for the first week anyway)
• Mirrored interiors in lifts so you can check yourself out before your grand entrance.
• Getting excited if you recognise a single Chinese character ('Exit' being the classic example)
• Convenience - anything, everywhere. Everything on your doorstep.
• Countryside & lush beaches - HK is only about 10% developed, don’t you know.
• Soya milk cheaper than milk-milk - lush!
• Octopus card - like a reverse debit card you can top-up. Genius, simple and quick - why is the UK so far behind?
• The locals’ blind panic and a-run-for-cover when there's a drop of rain.
• Kick-ass typhoons.
• The slang words you hear all the time - "AII-YAAH!" - meaning 'oh no!', "WAAAAAAH" - as in 'woah!!' and "WAAIIIII??" - informal 'hello' when on the phone
• Being the tallest person in any given room.
• Undoubtedly the best public transport I’ve ever known - my bus turns up at 7:47am on the dot - so punctual it’s actually scary.
• Bamboo scaffolding - looks cool but lethal (though probably as safe as steel ones.)
• Getting email or letters (hint hint, nudge, wink)
But there’s no need for:
• Developing an obsession with lift controls and pressing the close door button 50 times. (Every building is a high rise)
• The nasty sweaty summer months - ridiculously humid, feels like there’s no air.
• Racism - seems Sikhs are at the bottom of the pile along with black, Indian and Filipinos. White folks appear to be at the top of the charts, just above the locals themselves. Casually accepting that Caucasians are somehow superior will do nothing for helping Hong Kongers get over their fairly uniform distaste for other ‘lesser’ Asian peoples. Methinks.
• The tax-free cheapness of it all.
• Pollution - stinks.
• Banks - 150 of them and none have a decent debit cards.
• Ants and cockroaches - bastards, both of ‘em.
• Chinese food - rank. Sorry, but it is.
• Claustrophobia - small.
• ATV dude - the same overly dramatic announcer for every trailer, advert and ident on the English channel.
• Bread and milk - full of sugar.
• This advert, on all the time!
• Creepy old Western guys who’ve bagged themselves a 20-year-old local girl.
• The crazy price of imported exotic luxuries such as cheese, cornflakes, cucumber, decent chocolate and proper mushrooms. It pains me, but I need that Cadbury goodness.
• Democracy - lack of it, HK is less free than the world perceives - people only get a third of the say in who runs the show. And China is nuts - they can kiss my ginger arse.
• Hello Kitty everything (including sex toys, underarm sweat absorbers, sanitary towels, aeroplane even). Pushing the appropriateness of children’s brands.
• Water - boil it, or expect the shits for a week.
• Illness - when everyone lives literally on top of each other there’s no escaping the latest bug / epidemic / leprosy outbreak.
• Moaning imperialist old ex-pats who know less Cantonese than me. Go home you lame colonialists.
• "Copy Watch? Copy Watch? Rolex?" - nagging from the Indian touts on our road (thankfully, most now know me and leave me alone after saying two phrases and convincing them I know Hindi).
• "Sir, you need tailor? Make you nice suit, shirt?" - As above, but I got revenge recently when I was able to ask ‘chicken suit, chicken suit?’ whilst making squealing hen noises.
• Well meaning locals who raise their umbrellas as not to poke anyone else’s face, only to catch you full-on in the eyeball.


EMAIL 7 - Monday, December 20th

This last week, I’ve been tear-gassed, bashed around, threatened, achieved cult, Z-list celebrity status, was quoted by over 200 newspapers globally, literally ‘escaped’ arrest, subverted and ruined several live TV broadcasts (including CNN) and decorated a front line of riot police shields in delightful Christmas decorations in an attempt to trivialise the over-the-top police circus.

I remained in the chicken suit each time as it led to lots of media attention, provided some notoriety and a degree of minor national ‘distinction’. I’ve been going protesting directly from school every day, met lots of cool, desperate and passionate people, as well as some ignorant morons.

Getting tear gassed can really put a dampener on your weekend. I’ve remained on the front lines of the supposed ‘riots’ - I thought it was a smokescreen bomb at first, then it began to absolutely cane my eyes and throat - even though I had cling film and a surgical mask on my face, it’s way up there with malaria for diabolically painful experiences. An on-hand medic sorted me out but it took a good half an hour to return to normal.

Also, the few drops of pepper spray I occasionally got in the way of were enough to make me back off when the wacky Korean protestors started pushing the front line of riot police. Water canons and rubber bullets were also amongst the plethora of toys the 9000 strong police were throwing around (they outnumbered demonstrators 2:1).

The media hyping and distortion has been unbelievable - studying it for three years doesn’t compare to being a victim of it, when you know without doubt they are lying and twisting the truth. The TV reporters were calling it a ‘war-zone’ and referring to us as a militant mob. However, there were no shops being vandalised, no cars set alight, no violence against random citizens or policemen being beaten to a pulp - it was not a chaotic 'riot', the unrest was caused by the police blocking the official protest route. BBC pictures

During the Tuesday protests, dozens of reporters and Hong Kong's two main TV news outfits ignored where most protestors were assembled (by the harbour) and TVB (with 84% of Hong Kong’s audience) dramatically went live with the reporter donning a crash helmet in front of the riot police. However, she only wore the helmet during the live shot, yet there was no danger or threat of danger.

In response to this, I attempted to hijack live such TV reports by peacefully addressing viewers and holding up signs behind the reporters who were ignoring the real issues. Free-to-air CNN, with its audience of millions, ignored 5000 protestors by the harbour and so had their live shot of the police lines trivialised by a six-foot chicken yelling and clucking about their dishonesty. I also obliged during numerous local TV broadcasts but was usually aggressively tackled by the crew (which makes a mockery of journalistic ethics when reporters - passive ‘observers’ - are actually causing scuffles). I was properly rugby tackled by one crew, and threatened by another. The helmet incident "caused a major uproar in the websites and forums because it cuts right to the heart of media hyping". I’ve uploaded lots of quotes, links and the video here: http://www.globalcitizen.co.uk/rants/activism.html

Another attempt at subversion which worked quite well was the Christmas decorations. As the media were so obsessed with documenting the dramatic, Hollywood-ised shots of the riot police, I wanted to undermine it all and make a mockery of the theatrical police display by adorning the line of riot shields with festive decorations. Despite an officer initially removing one of the smiling Santa faces, I was allowed to pin it back up on the armoured vehicles along with some tinsel and a Merry Christmas banner. With the applause and camera flashes, It felt like a mini-victory and I was assisted by a gorgeous German girl called Xena who I’d met in the week. I hoped the stunt would inspire the authorities to replace their pepper spray with snow spray and embrace the festive spirit of kindness and love. Must admit though, I was crapping myself as I disobeyed the police and crossed the tape.

On Saturday, after the tear gas fun-and-games, I joined the South Korean protestors sitting down in the road (whenever anyone approached the police, they were gassed again). They shared food and picked up their litter (as they’d been graciously doing all week). It’d been weird to be marching each day with them, as when they’d scuffled with the police they’d all sit down in the road and crack out the packed lunches and, in some cases, portable stoves. As I was ‘going commando’ under the chicken suit, I left to get some more clothes as it seemed we’d be there for the night. It took me half an hour of being yelled at by various police blocks to get out - and then I had to beg. There was no getting back in, and the 1001 demonstrators I left behind were all arrested and piled into vans at 3am, in a process that took 9 hours. I would’ve liked to have shown some solidarity, but having learnt of their mistreatment in custody, and the fact that it’d upset my job situation, maybe it was for the best I got out in time.

I’d say 90% of protesters throughout the week were Korean, yet South Korea is a developed country in line with the UK or US. These farmers, who are used to extreme police brutality back home, are suffering, starving and committing suicide all over the country as the government is cutting subsidies. Farm subsidies are, of course, wrong - but it proves there are victims of the system in the first and third world. They were brave bastards last week - full respect.

The Filipino women were also as fantastic as ever, but the week has left Hong Kong with a lot of bleeding hearts from ill-informed locals who’ve seen HK’s history of peaceful protest dented. I say that if a country invites the WTO to their city, authorities should not be surprised if some of the millions of desperate people it affects turn up to express their anger. With the costume, I was playing the media’s game and it worked - plus, it was cool to go from being called ‘A British activist wearing a chicken suit’ at the beginning of the week to ‘The anti-WTO chickenman’ by the end.

I had a few worried emails about the authorities here - China is in charge but British laws and freedoms are still in place - it’s all pretty much the same as back home, and I read up on the law. If I had tried this in China I would’ve been immediately arrested (this was made clear in the small print on my visa application last week).

The WTO resistance was a swing factor for me coming here, there’s lots more on People’s Action Week on my website here, and a special separate webpage here (lots of press cuttings I won’t bother to attach, photos, video etc…). Also check out this for why we were kicking up a fuss.

Heading off to Vietnam this Friday, just jumping on a train across China - I can’t wait, and it’s meant to be totally un-Christmasy there (it’s as bad as back home in HK!). Nam’s also bound to be deserted due to bird flu - I’m not worried, but I don’t really want to fulfil the cruel irony of getting chicken flu after the week I’ve had.

I’ll drop you all a line from Vietnam, best wishes for Chrimbo… Festively yours
Tom =o)

FAVOURITE QUOTES:

British activist Tom Grundy, 22, was dressed as a chicken and held a sign that said, WTO: more dangerous than chicken flu. "We need to raise awareness of the true intentions of the WTO," he said. "It's undemocratically elected. It undermines and overrides any law a country wants to bring in to protect workers and the environment."
- AP - over 100 newspapers worldwide! Bhutan, Ghana, across the US and Europe - folks everywhere must be thinking I have really bad grammar.

Yesterday he was dressed as a chicken - he was a warrior...He kept on making chicken sounds throughout the march... With fluent Cantonese, he led protesters to shout against the WTO... His outfit attracted support from the Filipino maid community who fought against each other to have a photo with him...
- Economic Daily Post - newspaper feature translated from Putonghua - my favourite!

“The WTO will undermine the sovereignty and independence of governments by undermining the laws governing workers,'' said Tom Grundy, a 22-year-old school teacher from Birmingham, England, ”It needs to be totally reformed. If there is to be a WTO, it needs to be based on human rights." Grundy, marching in a yellow chicken suit, was carrying a sign that read: "WTO: More dangerous than bird flu."
- Bloomberg

The foes of globalization - media-seducing protesters in Victoria Park wearing chicken suits with placards that say, "WTO: More Dangerous Than Bird Flu," …understand the moral and emotional dimension well. That's one reason they have been so successful.
- Comment from Scripps Howard News Service

Dressed in a chicken suit, protester Tom Grundy, 22, a teacher from Birmingham, England, said, "There was a sudden bang. I didn't know what it was. I thought it was just a smoke screen or something, and then everyone started running.
- AP again - picked up by around 10 newspapers globally.

Tom Grumby, from Birmingham, said that he had come dressed up as a chicken "because the WTO is more dangerous than avian flu". He added: "The authorities have created a climate of fear and the majority of people are peaceful."
- The Independent mishearing my name (but corrected it within a day!)

...Tom is dressing as a chicken and giving out leaflets...
- East Touch Magazine (magazine article translated from Cantonese)

The Hong Kong People's Alliance Against the WTO sent out a chicken
- Apple Daily (newspaper caption translated from Cantonese)

Referring to my chicken vs. helmet incident:

“This is causing a major uproar in the websites and forums… because it cuts right to the heart of media hyping.”
- Curbside Indymedia

The TVB reporter was wearing a helmet. Why? Nevermind the fashion faux pas (that coat, that headgear), this was an egregious and flagrant example of media hype
- Mister Bijou Blog

...but the best thing so far is the Chicken vs. Helmet incident... absolutely nothing was going on and the protests were totally peaceful. Then the Chicken got into it...
- Kaiju Shakedown Blog

...there was TVB's assault (strictly, speaking a battery) on "Chicken Man" Tom Grundy (hmmm ... battery chicken - that's rather good) because he objected to their right to misrepresent the news, and their insistence (both their English and Canto stations) on having their reporters wear helmets even before yesterday's events in order to give the impression of danger when there was none.
- Fumier Blog

…let me tell you that I cannot believe how excited the response to The Television Reporter's Helmet was... we have had all sorts of complaints about media inaccuracies and biases. But nothing struck people like the photograph of the TVB reporter putting on a helmet when there was no imminent danger whatsoever…
- EastSouthWestNorth Blog

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