Abe, Modi, Xi

In 2012, Abe and Xi became new leaders for Japan and China, respectively. Western media overwhelmingly positive on Abe, hailing him as the new leader for Asia to counter China. With accolades and "3 arrows", Abe enjoyed unprecedented spotlight alone for a long time. Media, on the other hand, overwhelmingly negative on Xi, as he was relatively less known and inherited a mess from his weaker predecesors. On their first appearance and for a long time, Xi and team looked timid, as if treading on thin ice, especially for Premier Li, who had dark circles under his eyes for a long time. Recently Li appears much healthier and at ease, with dark circles gone. 

In 2014, Modi was elected as new leader for India. Again Western media was overwhelmingly positive and put him on the pedestal as the new leader for Asia to counter China. With Trump coming into power 2 years later, Modi enjoyed honey-coated treats from the West for 6 years. 

Abe resigned before he could achieve anything meaningful, not even his lifelong pursuit of the wishes of his dying grandfather and mother to revise the constitution. "Three arrows" are broken, economy continues to falter and the country fails to curtain Covid-19 even when the Olympic is coming a month away. 

Current out-of-control Covid-19 situation, with at least 350,000 cases and 3,000 deaths per day, exposes the weakest link in India - Modi himself. First in the height of coronavirus outbreak, Modi gave Trump a welcoming tour of India, exposing hundreds of thousands to the virus, then boasted in production of false cure promoted by Trump, hydroxychloroquine, followed by over-promising to produce vaccines for the world and bragging about vaccine diplomacy against China, held huge political and religious rallies...... Modi leadership miracle is "hit by a storm" thus unraveling like a sand castle ...... now starts blaming the USA for not exporting raw materials for vaccine production......

Only one left standing is Xi, who has been focusing on firm standing on the ground in China, not only contained the biggest coronavirus outbreak, but also put the economy and people's livelihood back on a better footing. 

On 8 July 2022, Abe was killed with a homemade gun by a nobody whose life was ruined by Abe affiliated cult church, exposing Abe's corruption and ties to extremist groups. 

16 November 2022 Xi openly confronted Trudeau for leaking a closed-door meeting content the day before at G20 Indonesia. Significant as it shows China foreign team led by Wang Yi, no longer an inward looking but sophisticated timely machine. World leaders lined up to meet Xi but Biden hogged 3.5 hours overtime, squeezing out time meeting with others. Trudeau begged for a closed-door 10 minutes but leaked to media right away. Next day Trudeau tried to score with domestic audience again by cozying up to Xi, big mistake, fully humiliated in front of the camera!

India, Indonesia and Iraq

India: 350,000 confirmed cases and nearly 3,000 Covid-19 deaths per day. Actual situation is probably 10 plus times more severe than the officially reported.

Indonesia: submarine sunk during a routine training, 53 feared dead.

Iraq: Oxygen tank exploded in a Covid-19 hospital, at least 82 died from fires.

April 29: Isreal is the next "I". A stampede at the Lag B'Omer Jewish festival at Mount Meron in northern Israel attended by tens of thousands of people has left dozens dead and hundreds injured. Isreal bombed Palestine in retaliation of rockets firing, killed dozens of Palestinians in May. May 13 death toll reached 100 but the US refused to hold a UNSC meeting called for by other countries. 

Looks like May might be for "M" and "A". May 4 metro train plunge in Mexico city led to two dozen deaths and near hundred injured.    May 8 bomb killed over 50 school girls and injured another 100 or so in Afganistan.  Shooting deaths speeding up in the US (America) in May. Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi to appear in court on May 24. May 26 total lunar eclipse and super moon expected.

July: India and Indonesia became the hottest COVID19 spots in Asia, another COVID hospital fire in Iraq killed nearly 100 people. 

Aug 16: Kabul and whole Afganistan fast fell to Taliban, surprising everyone in America. 

22 Nov 2022: quakes since last week, 21 Nov Monday 5.6 quake left 162 dead & 326 injuried reported already. By evening, reported death toll rose to 268, with 151 missing and more than 1,000 injured.

26 Nov 2022 Landslide sweeping through Italian island of Ischia killed dozens or missing.

Another Caterpillar 又一隻蝶蛹

A couple of weeks ago found another baby caterpillar eating around polluted leaves before I had a chance to clean them. It managed to grow quite well but become perhaps the most slender caterpillar ever visited my trees. On Apri 13, found it finished eating a vertical half leaf, worried it might accidentally cut the stem and fall to the ground. 約兩週前發現另一隻蝶蛹幼蟲，正在蠶食被汙染過的樹葉，已經來不及清洗。好在它長得還好，但可能是曾經到訪此處的最廋長的一個。三月初二，發現它剛剛吃完一半垂直的葉子，擔心其會不小心咬斷葉梗而墜落地下。

Luckily it moved up to cleaner fresh leaves near the tree top and started eating horizontally instead over the next couple of days, avoid the risk of falling. After eating most of the leaves, rested comfortably on a pile of fruits on April 16. 好彩後幾天它向上爬到樹頭更乾淨的嫩葉處，並且改成橫向吃，不再有墜落的風險。吃完大部分樹葉後，三月初五悠然休憩在一堆果實上。

Next day, finished all the leaves at top of the tree, became bigger and fatter, rested on a branch nearby with shitballs everywhere. 第二天，吃完樹頂所有葉子後變得又大又胖，於附近的樹枝休息，到處是其剛剛排泄的小糞球。

At night, it became restless moving up and down, mostly around top half of the tree. And around mid night or dawn the next day, it spread sticky silk around the stem, wrapped around its back, fixed head and tail to settle into a chrysalis form. Pic taken on April 18 am. 夜晚，它變得急躁，上下不斷搜索，但大多在樹的上半部。約半夜或翌日凌晨，用蠶絲塗抹樹幹、包裹胸背部並將頭尾固定，由蟲向蛹轉變。三月初七晨拍照。

Next morning April 19 it turned and changed color to mimic the tree trunk. 第二天初八早發現其已經轉身，變色，模擬樹幹的模樣。

Early am on May 2 a butterfly emerged but flew away after I went back into the room to fetch my camera. 三月廿一清晨，一隻蝴蝶破繭而出。等我返回屋內取出我的相機時，它已經飛走了。

香港仔鴨脷洲洪聖古廟新解 New View on Hung Shing Temple on Aberdeen Island, Hong Kong

香港仔鴨脷洲洪聖古廟內的大鐵鍾有銘文：「順德陳村罟（左有絲字旁的古罟字寫法）棚眾（衮）信弟子  張文裕 張文盛 溫鳳賢 黃興大 黎善才 張文耀 羅舉高 張益君 張文祿 張金玉 羅舉滿 黎瑞富 張文貴 張金來 溫鳳達 張金朝  敬奉  峕 乾隆癸巳年秋月吉旦 萬敢（散）爐造   國泰民安   風調雨順」。

名冊共16人，其中9人姓張，帶頭人張文裕和張文盛、張文耀、張文祿、張文貴應該是兄弟關係，與另外4人（張益君、張金玉、張金來、張金朝）很可能是同族近親；而同另外7人4姓（溫鳳賢、溫鳳達、羅舉高、羅舉滿、黎善才、黎瑞富、黃興大）有可能是連襟親屬。說明這些人應該是來自乾隆年間順德陳村相對富裕的戶主，其後面是個有百餘人的大家族和以及牽扯到甚至上千人的僱傭漁隊。這些名稱反映典型的內陸文化，而絕非來自相對貧弱的水面人（貶稱蜑家人）的習俗。大鐵鍾當時造價不菲，加上遠道由佛山運來，非一般漁民能夠做到。乾隆時期，佛山鑄造業興盛，大多有名的鑄造商都以「萬」字開頭為名，但暫時網上查不到「萬敢爐」，值得專家進一步研究；「敢」字被鑄刻「出頭」，可能有意為之為「敢出頭」，別有意思。另外，「國泰民安」四字，反映了獻鍾者家國的寬大胸懷。

順德陳村在漢代以前原稱「龍津」，與其特殊的地理位置環境有關。屈大均在明末清初曾描述：順德有水鄉曰陳村，周迴四十餘里，湧水通潮，縱橫曲折，無有一園林不到。至今，陳村還保留很多帶有「洲」字的地名，如登洲和桂洲等等；「洲」乃水中之高地，老陳村水路之闊達可見一斑。乾隆時期，陳村與廣州、佛山、東莞的石龍鎮合稱為「廣東四大名鎮」，是珠三角主要的商貿中心，曾有「陳村商（谷）埠」之稱。歇後語「陳村種，洗腳唔抹腳」，雖諷刺陳村人揮霍無度，也反應其相當富裕的一面。

鴨脷洲洪聖古廟雖然多次被翻修，其規模應該和乾隆時期差不多。敝人經多向調查對比，認為只有東面有所外加廂房等建築。英軍佔領香港初期，有報導其僱傭華裔代辦曾霸佔洪聖廟為居家，可見其當時已經有規模，像個四合院。另外，根據1846年英國人的繪畫，廟的西面有兩處更改：前殿西面牆原來有兩個風口（或者窗戶），而中間天井西面牆以前沒有門但有三個風口。廟所在之地當時是一小衛星島，南面不遠是一條海溝（退潮時會於南面鴨脷洲母島陸地相連），廟後饅頭狀的圓頂小山（現在只剩下和廟高度相當的小風水蛋）原本高出廟高一倍多，並且當時滿島覆蓋綠油油的植被和樹木，而其東北面的另一衛星島（即現在大風水蛋所在地）鮮有綠色。這些衛星島大約在1870至1920年代被削山填海了。

因為古鍾寫「乾隆癸巳年」，所有資料和人都聲稱鴨脷洲洪聖古廟建於1773年（更有很多傻瓜誤傳1733年），敝人不敢苟同。按常理，廟鍾一般是在廟宇建成之後鑄造，或者有善信者出資還願。若是後者，廟宇很有可能在捐贈鐵鍾之前已經歷經歲月。洪聖的崇拜應該比天后早很多，而乾隆年間新造有規模的廟宇應該多為天后廟。有記載順德早期居民包括宋代時期來自浙江的移民，而江浙一帶人民自古善長大型集體漁業和航海。1816年7月10日英國使團曾停泊於此，其護衛艦艦長目睹並在後來出版書中詳細描述了近百艘船和數百人同時「趕漁」的場景，很有可能就是古鍾銘刻16位「順德陳村罟棚衮信弟子」的子孫所帶領的捕魚船隊。而同樣的場景，不知重複了多少次、多少年、多少代？很有可能從宋元時期已經開始，但似乎無記載和無外人知曉，因為這是一個刻意隱瞞的秘密：一直到上個世紀初鴨脷洲洪聖古廟廟祝一直向外宣稱初一、十五月缺和月圓日子入夜要附近居民閉門莫出。所以敝人認為現在規模的鴨脷洲洪聖古廟應該建於1773年以前，而原始的小規模洪聖廟在此數百年前可能已經存在，其規模之小可以參考南丫島石排灣的小廟「洪聖宮」。秋月即農曆七月，吉旦估計是七月底最後一次到此遠航「趕漁」夜後的早晨，因為七月後將是變幻難測、極度危險的颱風高峰期。

後記

2022年2月中旬讀到《史記•封禪書》指八神：一曰天主，祠天齊。天齊淵水，居臨菑南郊山下者。二曰地主，祠泰山梁父。蓋天好陰，祠之必於高山之下，小山之上，命曰「畤」；地貴陽，祭之必於澤中圜丘云。

說明祭祀天地習俗及選址，至少從周初太公時已有明確規定，而洪聖古廟的位置，最適合祭天地二神。也間接證明，很有可能此處在唐代已經有官方活動，因為是距離番禺或者廣府最近但又最南的絕佳位置。銅鑼灣的天后廟位置類似，最有可能是官方在清代建的，因為南面的地址已被洪聖佔領。

Purple 'Ping Pong' Globe Amaranth: Everlasting Love「乒乓」紫色千日紅：永恆、不變的愛

For several weeks, ball-shaped purple flower getting bigger and bigger in my little garden. Gomphrena globosa, commonly known as globe amaranth, makhmali, and vadamalli. 象球一樣的紫色小花，幾星期前出現我的小花園，近日變得越來越大和鮮豔。千日紅，又名圓仔花、百日紅、火球花、紅繡球，原產於熱帶美洲各國內地，一般在春天播種繁殖。千日紅的花語是「永恆、不變的愛」。

Taken April 21 三月初十拍照

April 25 三月十四