An alleged illegal luxury basement, an affair and a race to be Hong Kong’s top official all have proved irresistible to Hong Kong satirists, who are taking aim at the political scandal rocking the city.
Doctored movie posters mocking chief executive hopeful Henry Tang are making the rounds on the Internet, poking fun at how the candidate’s underground expansion to his luxury home.
In one poster—among the many anonymously uploaded in recent days—Mr. Tang is shown beaming in a Harry Potter movie take-off below the caption: “Kowloon Basement and the Chamber of Secrets.”
Another shows his wife’s face super-imposed over that of an actor in “Resident Evil,” with the poster retitled, “Basement Evil: Apocalypse.”
Mr. Tang, son of a wealthy Shanghai industrialist, with close links to ex-Chinese president Jiang Zemin, was once thought to be the favored contender by Beijing, but public opinion is unraveling his candidacy.
Not that Hong Kongers have a vote in this election. Hong Kong’s future chief executive will be chosen by the city’s 1,200-member Election Committee—composed largely of business and political elites, many seen as strong Beijing backers. Universal suffrage is supposed to be realized in Hong Kong by 2017, but what that will look like is unclear.
The resulting sense of helplessness among Hong Kongers explains the latest spate of satire, says Prof. Joseph Cheng of the City University of Hong Kong. “It has been amply demonstrated that Beijing controls the whole election, and it’s disappointing for Hong Kong people that the candidates don’t engage in serious policy debate. So the feeling is that the latest is pretty good drama—let’s at least enjoy it. At least they can try and poke fun at the candidates.”
Local newspapers describe Mr. Tang’s 2,400 square-foot basement, allegedly built without government approval, as having a wine cellar, small theater and Japanese-style bath.
Mr. Tang, a wine collector known for cutting the wine tax to zero in the city during his time as the city’s financial secretary, said he knew about its construction Friday while his wife, Lisa Kuo, stood beside him.
News of the basement’s existence has fueled particular outrage in a city where tiny apartments are the norm and land is tightly controlled.
Recent additions of new posters uploaded to a Facebook page attracted more than 1,100 likes in a matter of hours. Before details of the luxurious construction were reported, Mr. Tang had described the basement as a “hole in the ground to store things in.”
Still, Mr. Tang is no stranger to unflattering caricatures. A poster of him with devil horns in the style of the “hope” poster used by U.S. President Barack Obama during his 2008 campaign appeared last year after he and other members of the current Donald Tsang administration were accused of resisting political reform.
Mr. Tsang, Mr. Tang’s former boss, also was the target of barbed posters after he sparked controversy three years ago by playing down the legacy of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown.
Mr. Tang’s latest comments have done little to help his candidacy, which also took a bruising in October when he admitted to an extramarital affair.
The city’s prominent English-language newspaper, the South China Morning Post, has called for Mr. Tang to quit the race. A University of Hong Kong opinion poll taken last week shows a majority of Hong Kongers feel the same way.
All nominations for chief-executive candidates must be presented by Feb. 29. With Mr. Tang’s fortunes sinking, Beijing faces a tough call: continue to back the selection of a highly unpopular candidate, or scramble in the coming week to propose a new name.
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