0844 HKSAR Name of the Day

Caspar Tsui Ying-wai, political assistant to the secretary for home affairs, Hong Kong

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Healing Hands Hocus Pocus

Q: Why do otherwise intelligent people fall for scams?

A: Because they believe they are intelligent and therefore do not think they are stupid enough to be tricked.

Reiki rears its ugly head again in Hong Kong. Pic from here.

Apparently, reiki practitioners use their hands "to transfer qi, or life-force energy. It is based on the principle that we all have qi running through us - the more we have the happier and healthier we feel. If our qi is low, we fall ill or feel stressed."

What a load of mumbo jumbo ... we may as well substitute "qi" for "midichlorians" and it will make just as much sense (i.e. nonsense). Here's the verbal diarrhoea quote from the news story):

"Reiki doesn't require anything special. Just place your hands on anyone you want to heal. You can use it on your family members or yourself."

Oh OK then. If a person is feeling unhealthy, they should just lay their own hands upon themselves ... free of charge ... and they will miraculously heal themselves. If reiki is so wonderful, why hasn't it shaken up the public health system in Japan (its place of origin) and other countries?

It is unfortunate that the Fifth Evolution Asia Yoga Conference will be held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre on June 9 to 12. Charlatans, crackpots, charmers and seductresses with sexy bodies will promote reiki, yoga, pilates, astrology, nia technique, ayurveda, qi gong and meditation to gullible, witless attendees who have lots of cash to splash and few brain cells to use.


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Healing hands (The Standard)

Ivy Ong-Wood
Tuesday, May 31, 2011

As a physiotherapist, Ivy Mok Ka-pik is in the business of healing. The 31-year- old has a bachelor's degree in physiotherapy from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University but she was eager to add to her knowledge.

"Some of my friends took a reiki course and told me how good it was. As I was interested in alternative therapy, I thought reiki would be helpful in hands- on treatment," she said.

After returning from a two-day "attunement" course, Mok tested to see if the technique worked. "I had a client with chronic back pain. She had tried physiotherapy and acupuncture for a year but with no significant improvement. So I gave her two sessions of nothing but reiki.

"After the second session she called me up and asked me: 'What did you do? All I saw was you putting your hand on my back. But today I woke up and the pain had disappeared.' So I knew it was working."

So what is reiki? According to the International Center for Reiki Training, it is a Japanese technique developed by Mikao Usui in 1922 for stress reduction and also healing.

Practitioners lay on hands to transfer qi, or life-force energy. It is based on the principle that we all have qi running through us - the more we have the happier and healthier we feel. If our qi is low, we fall ill or feel stressed.

Mok has been a physiotherapist for nine years and has been practicing reiki for two. But you don't have to be a professional healer to benefit from the technique, she said. "Many of the friends who took the course aren't therapists. Reiki doesn't require anything special. Just place your hands on anyone you want to heal. You can use it on your family members or yourself. I don't feel tired so easily now that I practice it."

She has met her share of skeptics, of course. "I tell them be open and pay attention to how they feel, not what they think. Most patients don't get any special feeling during a session but find they have recovered after that."

Mok mostly uses the technique in addition to her other therapies. "I don't think you can be a therapist using only reiki."

During the session, she lays her hands on the patient and taps into both their qis. "Sometimes, I feel abnormal pain and discomfort on body parts other than what a patient has told me and I will ask. I've had patients asking me in surprise: 'How did you know I have a migraine?'"

Usually, Mok uses reiki for chronic cases - such as when a patient has tried different treatments without results. "It's like a last resort."

You can learn more about reiki, yoga, pilates, astrology, nia technique, ayurveda, qi gong and meditation at the Fifth Evolution Asia Yoga Conference, to be held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre on June 9 to 12. The conference, which is sponsored by Pure Yoga, offers almost 200 classes for all levels, with over 60 different styles of yoga presented by more than 50 world-renowned faculty members.

Shopaholics are also catered for - a more than 20,000-square-foot Yoga Bazaar selling yoga products, books, DVDs and CDs. Open to the public, it will also hold yoga demonstrations and events.

Li Na Tennis Queen of China

Two sides both queen! Li Na celebrates by rolling in the dirt. Pics from Getty Images.

Congratulations to Li Na for becoming the first Chinese to win a grand slam in tennis. She won the French Open by beating defending champion Italian Francesca Schiavone 6-4 7-6 (7-0).

China's queen of tennis is a breath of fresh air because of her down-to-earth and tell-it-like-it-is approach when communicating with the media. At the moment, there appears nothing pretentious about her. [Note: I qualify these statements by a comparison with Li Na's compatriot Zheng Jie; the latter preferring to doll-up with lots of make-up whereas Li Na prefers the more natural look.]

Through her hard work, perseverance and tennis talent Li Na has now achieved a higher profile then when she was the beaten finalist at this year's Australian Open, so let's hope the media do not become bored with her and spin her negatively.


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0843 HKSAR Name of the Day

Carver Yu, President of the China Graduate School of Theology in Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Credit: The Dark Side

About Novel HKSAR Names
Name Category: Rare

0842 HKSAR Name of the Day

Somi Lee, potential property buyer queuing at Hung Hom Metro Plaza sales office (for the Festival City project next to Tai Wai station), Hong Kong

About Novel HKSAR Names
Name Category: Creation; Phonetics-based?

Newspaper Does Not Fancy Edthancy

Edthancy Tseng Pei-kun (Miss) was in the Hong Kong media spotlight again, however this time SCMP did not print her novel name in their news story. How strange! Yet more inconsistency from Hong Kong's supposedly good quality local rag.


TVB actresses to give evidence in trial (SCMP; paywall)

Five stars called as prosecution witnesses in station manager Stephen Chan's corruption and fraud case
Austin Chiu
May 25, 2011

Five TVB actresses will give evidence against the station's general manager, Stephen Chan Chi-wan, in his corruption and fraud trial.

Charmaine Sheh Sze-man, Tavia Yeung Yi, Sharon Chan Man-chi, Skye Chan Sin-yeung and Shirley Yeung would be called as prosecution witnesses, prosecutor Alain Sham Chung-ping said after a closed-door pre-trial review in the District Court.

The five actresses were named as victims in a charge stemming from the launch of a book written by Stephen Chan at the Olympian City shopping mall.

It is alleged that Stephen Chan, 51, and co-accused Tseng Pei-kun, 28, Chan's former assistant, conspired to defraud the five women by asking them to attend the book signing session free of charge. The two accused allegedly concealed from the five that organiser Idea Empire Advertising and Production Company - of which Tseng was a director - received HK$300,000 from a sponsor and deprived the five of their reward.

Stephen Chan, Tseng and Wilson Chan Wing-shuen, 63, the head of business development for TVB's marketing and sales division, face a total of five charges in relation to alleged bribery and fraud.

The trio were in court yesterday when lawyers dealt with facts that they could agree on. The three were released on HK$100,000 bail, on condition that they do not contact, interfere with or influence the witnesses in relation to the case.

Stephen Chan was represented by Joseph Tse Wah-yuen SC.

The trial is set to start on June 1. About 30 witnesses, including managerial staff at TVB and artists, will be called to testify.

Stephen Chan faces three charges of receiving HK$112,000 from Tseng to participate in a show entitled Be My Guest as part of a New Year's Eve countdown at Olympian City.

Tseng and Wilson Chan jointly face a charge of conspiring to defraud TVB of HK$550,000, arising from a HK$5.2 million contract between Melco Crown hotel in Macau and TVB between September and December 2009.

0841 HKSAR Name of the Day

Taron Loh Lai-ting, senior medical and health officer, Centre for Health Protection, Hong Kong Government, Hong Kong

About Novel HKSAR Names
Name Category: Rare

Is That A Genuine Will In Your Pocket ...

... or were the police just pleased to see you Tony?

Fung shui master Tony Chan has a weird trouser experience. Pic by David Wong.

Anyone notice fung shui master Tony Chan's pants as he emerged from Eastern Court?

Maybe it is part of a strange fung shui ritual like growing his hair where once he was bald shaven (perhaps also by using the strange ritual of breast massage? And also reported on video courtesy of Spike's post.) that will keep Tony Chan safe and prosperous? Chan is after all a fung shui master, as the media keep reporting, and therefore can foresee and manage his own future.

see also Professors Sprout Mumbo Jumbo


Tony Chan charged with forging Nina Wang's will (SCMP; paywall)

Fung shui master released on HK$20 million bail after court hears formal charges that he wrote the will used in the court battle for Wang's billions
Austin Chiu
May 27, 2011

Fung shui master Tony Chan Chun-chuen was yesterday charged with forging the will on which he based his epic failed probate battle for the billion-dollar fortune of late businesswoman Nina Wang Kung Yu-sum ...