Ping Pong Diplomacy

Fifty years ago today (April 10, 1971), a group of American table tennis players and diplomats arrived in Hong Kong and then traveled to China to kick off their national tour in Guangzhou, Beijing, and Shanghai, which was later dubbed by the media as the "Ping Pong Diplomacy." That was the first US delegation to set foot on Chinese mainland in over 20 years.

The 1971 "Ping Pong Diplomacy" for the United States and the People's Republic of China paved the way for President Richard Nixon's historic visit to Beijing in the following year. The rest is history.

Fifty years on. What have we learned? What have we misunderstood? Food for thoughts...

(Photo: Forrest Gump, the 1994 movie based on some true events)

Impact, Reflection, and Appreciation

January 4th this year marks the 5th anniversary (we call it "Faceversary") for me at Facebook.

It's been a really incredible journey: We've covered quite a number of key elections from Hong Kong, Taipei, and to Ulaanbaatar, several earthquakes and typhoons (unfortunately), social unrest and constitutional crisis, and not to mention the Covid-19 pandemic in the unprecedented year of 2020 for everyone. We also saved some lives in the real world, thanks to Facebook's suicide prevention tools and our fantastic safety partners on the ground.

For me it's a journey of impact, reflection, and appreciation. As we always say at Facebook, my journey is only 1% finished.

Thank you. Onwards.

Highlight photos:

• I helped to design our first-ever Asia Pacific Public Policy team T-shirt in 2018.

• Over two million people took to the streets to protest in Hong Kong in 2019. Beijing imposed the controversial National Security Law on Hong Kong in the following year.

• Represented Facebook for a closed-door hearing held by National Communications Commission about misinformation in Taiwan in 2017.

• Welcome Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen to visit our new (and bigger) Facebook Taiwan Office in May 2019.

• Launched Facebook’s "Made by Taiwan, Loved by the World" campaign in 2017 to put more Taiwan brands on world map.

• Hosted Hong Kong's former Financial Secretary John Tsang to visit Facebook Hong Kong Office in 2017 as he ran for the Chief Executive election.

• US Ambassador to Mongolia Michael Klecheski visited the Facebook booth during the ICT Expo 2020 hosted by Communications and Information Tech Authority in Ulaanbaatar.

• A 2018 “international media tour” in Hong Kong, including a visit to CNN Asia Pacific News Centre.

• Facebook Taiwan Office received the “Presidential Medal of Appreciation” in November 2020 for our work on the Covid-19 pandemic in Taiwan.

上海薺菜餛飩

真沒想到在香港也能買到非常地道上海口味的薺菜餛飩，讓我有種幾乎淚流滿面的感覺。

沈大成算是上海的一個老招牌了，小時候每次逛南京路，媽媽都會在永安公司對面路口的沈大成買些糕點帶回家，不知道那個門店現在還在不在。香港也有永安公司，曾經是上海的“四大公司”之一，但是如今要在香港找正宗的上海餛飩，其實並不算是一件容易的事情。

說起沈大成，這也真的是百年老店了。沈大成起家於1875年清朝光緒年間，一開始是做點心店，創始人叫沈阿金，這也是招牌沈氏的由來，沈氏希望開一間點心店，集江浙各式點心與風味小吃之大成，故取店名為沈大成。沈大成最初以蘇式糕點和上海小吃揚名上海，之後也開起了更大規模的餐廳，以上海本幫及江浙菜系為其特色。

薺菜豬肉餛飩

薺菜豬肉餛飩

沈大成最出名的其實應該是他們家的青團，每逢清明節，沈大成的青團總是供不應求，據說現在沈大成在上海南京路的旗艦店在清明期間，依然是人山人海排隊購買。

不過能夠在香港吃到沈大成的上海餛飩，我也算是很心滿意足了。

廣東人的餛飩叫雲吞，這也是香港雲吞麵中的“雲吞”，比較多是豬肉或者蝦肉，粵式的雲吞好像不怎麼喜歡菜肉混搭，這恰恰是上海餛飩的特色，而且老上海們最喜歡用薺菜做餡料。喜歡吃香菜的，還可以在湯裡面最後加點香菜，如果要更加考究一點，湯裡面還可以有紫菜和蛋皮絲，加上一點點蝦米，那更是鮮味十足。

上海餛飩另一個特色在於皮薄，尺寸也中等，和北方餃子的敦厚比起來，上海餛飩可能給人一種很優雅的感覺。餛飩可以當主餐，也可以當點心，10或15個一碗，看你自己心情和胃口。我在香港買的沈大成餛飩（冷凍）是35港幣一袋，總共15個，湯料也幫你準備好。這個價錢在香港算是公道，你去銅鑼灣上海餐廳吃一碗餛飩，可能都不知這個價錢，味道也不是很正宗。

遠走他鄉那麼多年，我的胃啊還是家鄉的胃，沒辦法，從小吃到大，波士頓龍蝦再好，義大利的提拉米蘇再甜美，有時候也都敵不過一碗上海餛飩來的親切。

上了年紀的人，想必都會有這樣的味道和感受。

（亦感謝好友及真正的美食家李純恩先生，他推薦我在香港買到正宗上海餛飩。）

A Year Ago

On this day, a year ago (December 30, 2019), Wuhan-based Chinese doctor Li Wenliang, one of the few Covid-19 whistleblowers in the early days, tried to raise the alarm about a new coronavirus. Just few days after he posted information about the new virus on his social media account, the local Wuhan Public Security Bureau detained, interrogated, and warned him to “be quiet.”

Dr. Li died from Covid-19 on February 7, 2020, in Wuhan, China.

Source: The New York Times, January 6, 2020

The New York Times first reported the “mysterious pneumonia” on January 6, 2020. The new kind of virus began to spread to Hong Kong as early as in late December on hospital record. It was later confirmed and known as Covid-19.

It’s been a year.