beggars in Hong Kong

Whenever I walk through anywhere in Hong Kong, there are beggars everywhere. Some of them look homeless. Some of them has disability problem. They always draw my attention and my pity. However, why do they appear in the street?

Hong Kong Social welfare is considered as one of the best in the world for poor and disable. The government will spend more than three billions of dollars to support the "weak" citizens in this year. Why do beggars appearing in the street? Does it means the society abandon them? The answer is no. Most of the baggers in Hong Kong are not qualify to receive the welfare and most of them are considered as mainlanders from China. They come to Hong Kong and beg for their living. Then, they return to mainland at night. Some of them are even consider as begging corporations. They provide transports for the beggars entering and leaving Hong Kong by sharing the beggars "income". Which means a part of anyone's donations is given to these "transporters". Is it something that a donator wishes to provide a method for the “transporters” to make money from the unfortunates?

WW2 German is equal to nazism?

First Post! First Post!

Whenever there is a topic about WW2, usually they mention the bloody and negative aspects of Nazi Germany, which includes the holocausts, the concentration camp, and the allies’ propaganda. However, new opinions float onto the surface and some other image of the Nazi Germany Army are shown to the public. As I read Taiwanese’s blog, an army product collector, showed a letter from a German WW2 veteran. It provides me a new perceptive of the WW2 German soldiers that I would like to share with others.

The content is translated below by translation software^^

"Es ist klar, daß Sie doch kein NAZI Liebhaber sein sollen, da bin ich sehr begeistert. Die deutsche Geschicht in vergangenen 100 Jahren kann nicht so einfach zurückgeschaut sowie kritisiert werden."
I am glad to know that you are not a Nazi lover. The German history in the past a hundred years cannot be read and criticize simply

"Schon vor den Deutschen Befreiungskriegen 1806 - 1815 dienten meine Vorfahren in der Armee. Seither handelt es sich bei meiner Familie um eine sogenannte Offiziersfamilie. "
Since 1806 to 1815 during Deutschen Befreiungskriegen, my ancestor serve in the army. I can call my family as an officer family.

"Meine beiden Großväter haben in der Deutschen Wehrmacht (mütterlicher u. väterlicher Seits) gedient. Mein Urgroßvater diente als Offizier in einem berittenen Jägerkorps unter dem Deutschen Kaiser und leistete im Ersten Weltkrieg Großes für das Deutsche Kaiserreich im Krieg an der Westfront gegen die Franzosen. Mein Vater hatte auch lange bei der DDR Volkstruppe Dienst getan."
Both of my grandfathers served in the Deutschen Wehrmacht. My great grandfather served the German empire as a light cavalry regiment officer at the west front against the French during WW1. My father also served in the GDR people troop for a long time.

“Ich muß sagen, daß ich sehr, sehr erfreut bin, daß es Personen gibt, die noch immer an die Tapferkeit der Soldaten der Deutschen Wehrmacht und der Waffen-SS glauben!!!”

I must say that I am very pleased to know that there are people believe in the bravery of the Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS.

“Ehre und Treue, Mut und Tapferkeit! Das sind die Leitwörter eines stolzen deutschen Soldaten!”

Honour and loyalty, courage and bravery! Those are the mottos of a proud German soldier!

“Ich hoffe sehr, daß noch in vielen, vielen Jahren daran gedacht wird, welche großartigen Soldaten in der Deutschen Wehrmacht und der Waffen-SS gedient haben! Doch leider werden deutsche Soldaten immer wieder mit den Verbrechen der Nationalsozialisten (Nazis) in Verbindung gebracht - das ist traurig!”

I deeply hope that the great soldiers who fought for Germany in WW2 will be remembered with the aspects above. However, it is depressing to know that the crime of the National Socialists (Nazis) is always connected with them.

“Hier bei uns ist es gewöhnlich so, daß es heißt: Die Deutschen sind an allem Schuld! Die Deutschen sollen büßen für ihre Taten!
Auch heute noch, nach so vielen Jahren, werden wir Deutsch von uns selber oft als Täter beschimpft.”

Today the main stream of us (German) believes that we are the cause of the war. We must pay for the acts!

Although years pass, we insult German by ourselves often as a criminal.

“Allerdings, tatsächlich haben Sie genau verstanden, wie es geschehen konnte, daß die Deutschen einem Führer vertrauten. Dem deutschen Volk ging es hoffnungslos, im Jahr 1931 war die Wirtschaft beinah verfallen und über 6 Millionen Arbeitslose, sie brauchten einen Starker Mann, um alles zu verbessern - da war es ein leichtes Spiel für die Nationalsozialisten, die Macht an sich zu reißen.”

Indeed, you must understand the “Prime minister” is being trusted for a reason. During 1931, Germany economy almost collapsed and the number of unemployment is up to 6 million. They seek for a strong leader to change to situation. It leads to the rise of the National Socialists.

“Hätte es die Nationalsozialisten nicht gegeben oder hätten sie es nicht geschafft, die Macht an sich zu reißen, dann könnten wir alle noch viel stolzer auf unsere alte Wehrmacht sein! Schließlich wurde die Wehrmacht ja regelrecht mißbraucht, um einen Angriffskrieg zu führen. Damals waren wir Deutschen noch sehr preußisch erzogen. Das soll bedeuten, daß es sehr wichtig war, als Soldat zu gehorchen und alle Befehle bedingungslos zu erfüllen.”

If there is no National Socialists, we still can be proud of our army. However the National Socialists abused the power and leading the army to a tool for invasions. At that time, German were educated as Prussian, especially soldiers. Obey orders unconditionally is the main theme of education.

“Die Menschen von heute können garnicht verstehen, was es bedeutet, wenn man so erzogen ist. Bitte sorgen auch Sie dafür, wenn Sie sich mit Ihren Hobbyfreunden treffen, daß man bei Ihren Aktivitäten/Hobbies erkennt, daß die meisten Soldaten der Wehrmacht und der Waffen-SS sehr ritterliche und ehrenhafte Kämpfer waren!”

People from today may not understand the meaning of the education. Please transfer the message that you read today to your friends that most soldiers of the Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS were very knightly and honourable fighters!

“Hierzu habe ich eine ganz kleine Sammlung von Uniformen, die nichtmehr ”schön” aussehen, sondern die mein Vater von Kriegsgefangenen bekommen habe, bevor sie gestorben sind. Diese Kleidungsstücke erzählen ganz eigene Geschichten des Leids und der Not.”

Moreover, I have a small number of uniform collections. They are collected the prisoners of war by me grandfather before their death. Each of the garments tells a story of the pain in history.

“Sicher wissen Sie, daß nicht alle Soldaten Verbrecher waren! Und in meiner Familie stand die soldatische Ehre, wie sie seit Jahrhunderten eine preußische Tugend ist, immer an erster Stelle!”

Certainly, you should understand that not all soldiers were criminals! My family stood the soldier honour how it is a Prussian virtue since centuries, always, firstly!

“Es erfreut mich, wenn ich finde, daß Sie ein Andenken an die deutschen Soldaten hochhalten, damit diese tapferen Männer nicht in Vergessenheit geraten!”

It pleases me that you hold up a memory of the German soldiers, so that these courageous men will not sink in history!

In my opinion, the letter may not mean a lot for people like us who have no experience about Second World War. Most of our information that we know are from the Allies perspective and most of them are biased in certain level. The voices of foot soldiers are covered by the government violence and inhuman actions. When time pass and the pain in history is fading out, new perspectives from the “enemy” are expose and we can understand that most German living under Nazi’s control are not willing to fight the war. However, their tradition forces them to follow the orders from the officers. When they surrender or being captured as a POW, most of them are considered as friendly and positive by the Allies soldiers. There are evidences that the German army are highly educated. For instance, when an American army orchestra perform in a POW camp, a German soldier was ask to give an opinion on the play. The German soldier stated that some part was played incorrectly and he borrowed a violin and play the music again. The whole camp was amused by the music. It proves that most German are educated to rise their right hand to Hitler, but not acting it from their heart.