Monday 22 July 2013

Hong Kong Book Fair, 2013

It was a very brave person who dared ask a question at the annual Hong Kong Book Fair last Friday night.

Sir David Tang proved to be a very confronting Chairman of the Open Forum session entitled How and What and Why do Writers Write?

There's nothing politically correct about Tang! Personal remarks about the appearance of anyone who dared raise their hand were de rigeur – ‘yes, you with that shock of hair’, or ‘that Indian-looking person over there – or are you Pakistani?’ And Tang made instant judgments on the quality of questions – ‘what a stupid question, not worth answering. Next?’ A distinctive accent prompted Tang to ask the final questioner of the evening whether he was an Australian, and an affirmative answer led to a Tang slur on all Australians.

For the first time, the panel included a female author (two, in fact – ‘Fear of Flying’ author Erica Jong and ‘Wild Swans’ author Jung Wang)) and one man, William Shawcross, official biographer of Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. When the issue of feminism in China was described as more akin to ‘wifeism’, our charming Chairman referred to both of his wives as ‘parasites’, a comment which generated a suppressed hiss from the large multinational audience.

I was thrilled to have the unexpected opportunity to attend this very professionally-mounted talk-fest, thanks to my daughter, who lives in Hong Kong. While we waited for the event to commence, we were treated to a series of Tang’s previously televised interviews with the three guest authors, providing excellent background information for the forum. The actual length of the session was refreshing too – well over two hours – overcoming the superficiality of the more usual one-hour sessions of most Writers’ Festivals.

The panelists commented that participating in this particular forum was certainly not boring, but I found the Chairman’s intellectual snobbery to be affected and boorish. I’m not keen, either, on people who think it’s funny to make fun of others but who lack the ability to laugh at themselves, as per Tang’s response to a question about his business affairs. Judge for yourself - the forum can be viewed on a webcast.

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