生日嘛… 當然是需要騎馬慶祝，所以就去左new forest 騎馬。

冰島、法國、湖區到new forest，每個地區也有佢迷人嘅地方。New forest最開心嘅就係同元朗一樣周街都係馬羊牛（喂），而領隊姐姐亦都好好人咁沿路同我介紹New forest 的歷史— 由William the Conqueror 將呢度變成佢嘅狩獵場講起，然後又grant左啲咩rights俾土著commoners… 當中其中一個權利就係可以在秋天時將啲豬放出黎食橡實，呢件事係好重要，點解呢？原來橡實係好豐富蛋白質，而馬食得太多蛋白質係會影響健康，相反豬食左橡實就會變得好似我咁肥美（？！）所以呢件事對於new forest的放養馬來說非常重要，而放養馬會負責吃掉太長的草、也會負責幫果實播種和施肥，沒有了牠們植物就會瘋狂生長，淹沒道路，所以整個new forest的生物鏈都是環環相扣的。

同樣地，這些放養馬的擁有者和馴馬人也是好伙伴—— 放養馬把路上山上的草吃平整，騎術學校也有路可以練習和策騎，但馬主不能隨時看顧到處跑的放養馬，所以馴馬人在帶隊到處跑時，若果看到放養馬的狀態不好或受傷了，就會告訴馬主前來幫忙。

「這裡new forest，我們每人都是自然的一部分，我們互相幫忙，繼承這個古老而獨特的生態系統。」—— 領隊姐姐是這樣說的。

#沿路見到好多鹿BB
#仲有驢BB
#超可愛的
#三日兩夜狂飲喪食生日變豬之旅正式開始

Haishenwai and Hong Kong (Lee Yee)

July 1, on the day of the 23rd anniversary of the Handover of Hong Kong’s sovereignty, the Hong Kong National Law was promulgated.

July 2, the Russian Embassy in China published an article and a promotional video on its official Weibo to commemorate the 160th anniversary of the founding of Vladivostok. The article explained that Vladivostok means “ruling the East”.

During the Qing Dynasty, this city was called Haishenwai. It sits at the junction of Russia, China, and Korea. Facing the sea on three sides, this is a nonfreezing port. Since the Tang Dynasty, Liao, Jin, Yuan, Ming, and Qing all had jurisdiction over this city. In the Yuan Dynasty, it was called Yongming City [literal translation in English was the City of Eternal Light]. In the Qing Dynasty, it was renamed to Haishenwai. Its port was opened even before Hong Kong, and was a location with much more geographical significance than Hong Kong.

Russia’s acquisition of Haishenwai in 1860 was made possible through extortion during the Anglo-French defeat of China, also known as the Second Opium War. The defeat of the Qing Dynasty led to the signing of Convention of Peking that consisted of treaties between the British and the Chinese, and the French and the Chinese respectively. Seeing the opportunity, Russia insisted that it helped in mediation, and asked that the treaty between the Russian and the Chinese be signed as well. Britain, with the treaty, took the Kowloon Peninsula. Russia, however, wanted more. It asked that the Convention of Peking not only recognize the validity of the 1858 Treaty of Aigun, but to designate the 400,000 square kilometers of Sino-Russia co-governed land, from the east of the Ussuri River to the sea (including Haishenwai), all to the sole sovereignty of Russia.

There have been several border talks with the Soviet Union and Russia since the establishment of the CCP, the last of which was an agreement between the Chinese and Russian foreign ministers in Vladivostok to determine the border covering thousands of kilometers between the two countries. It was an equivalent of China recognizing the Nebuchu Treaty, the Treaty of Aigun, the Convention of Peking, the Treaty of Tarbagatai and the land occupied by Russia in 1900, totaling 1.44 million square kilometers of land that is about 1360 Hong Kong. In the past, the city of Vladivostok came with “Haishenwai” in parentheses on Chinese maps. Now the parenthesis are gone.

The Russian Embassy in China’s commemoration of the 160th anniversary of the founding of Vladivostok on China’s Weibo, and the claim that it meant “ruling the East” were like a huge slap on the faces of mainland netizens who have long been bathing in patriotism. It started a wave of online anti-Russia sentiments. The typical mentality and rhetoric of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson would be that Russia is “deliberately provoking” and “seriously hurting the feelings of the Chinese people”. Yet, this time, China has been silent.

In view of the turbulence on the Internet, Global Times’ editor-in-chief, Hu Xijin, posted on Weibo to put out the fire. He admitted that the Russians have not been respectful of the Chinese public, but the fact is that Vladivostok belongs to Russia, and said that “Us Chinese must accept this”. He cautioned that pro-America camps have been using the native land nostalgia of the Chinese to incite hatred towards Russia.

Yet haven’t the CCP been indoctrinating the native land nostalgia all along? Isn’t the hatred for Russia incited by the Russian Embassy’s Weibo? How are these related to the pro-America camps?

In the same 1860 Convention of Peking, while Britain handed over a prosperous international financial center to China after 130 years, Russia is celebrating 160 years of “ruling the East”. After the enactment of the National Security Law in Hong Kong, China condemned Britain’s new BNO policy, but expressed the “need to accept” to the Russian occupation and “slap in the face”.

The ideological foundation of the National Security Law is “without a country, there’s no home”, to promote “patriotism” and to punish “betrayal”. But where comes the rights for us commoners to betray the country? My late literary friend, Xiao Tong, said, “Give me 5 cents and I’ll sell you the country.” For something that is not yours, you have no right to sell it, nor the right to love it.

A N C I E N T
.
While riding on the wave of #Inktober2019, @fugee_org School had invited me to pledge 2 #inktober prompts (themes) with a #MYHeartsRefugees angle to my drawings.

Since I can’t draw to save my life, my daughters attended an exclusive drawing workshop with the refugee students last weekend and this is @isobeldaniella’s work based on the prompt: ANCIENT.

The key message of the campaign is to turn the prejudice and misconception of Malaysians towards refugees, into a sense of shared responsibility, equality and inclusivity – by demonstrating and telling stories of acceptance, integration and humanity.

B E L:

“In ancient times, we didn’t have technology to help us with a lot of things - for example slaves had to make and carry heavy bricks on their backs to make the pyramids as they didn’t have machinery. There was a huge social difference between the rich and the poor, the elite and the commoners.

Fast forward to now where machinery and modern technology assists humans in daily chores. But there is still discrimination and cruelty - Everyone who calls Malaysia home ought to be seen as a person of value.

Refugees are as much a part of the Malaysian community as the citizens of Malaysia.

Know that peeps.
#MYHeartsRefugee
#inktober2019
#inktober
#refugees
#fugeeschool
#PonsPick
#ikingazmis @ Fugee School