David Bandurski

The propaganda stunt pulled on the weekend by soldiers from the Kowloon barracks of the Chinese army could be read in many ways, and speculation is now running free across Hong Kong. But in very clear ways, the action underscores the deep divide that separates political cultures and consciousness in China and Hong Kong.

Marcia Vivace. These were the words scrawled over the time signature of “March of the Volunteers” when 23-year-old Chinese composer Nie Er wrote the music out by hand in 1935, the year of his tragic drowning in Japan’s Sagami Bay. A march, lively.