The Guangdong-Hong Kong Cup football competition kicked off at Hong Kong Stadium yesterday evening.　　A handful of "independence for Hong Kong" activists and some youngsters created a disturbance at the start of the match.　　Their behaviour was vulgar and vile, which was disgusting.

　　It is disgusting to create a disturbance at a football field.　　Yet there are a couple of doctorate-degree holders who sell their own souls to advocate "independence for Hong Kong" across the Pacific Ocean in exchange for some US dollars awarded by their Masters.　　Compared with such so-called "elites", the "little hooligans" at the football field are not the "lowest-grade".

　　Such a "lowest-grade elite" before our eye right now is Yi-Zheng Lian, used to be a full-time member of the SAR Government Central Policy Unit holding sway in the intelligentsia.　　A couple of days ago, he published an article in the New York Times entitled "Is Hong Kong Really Part of China?"　　 It could be called the "highest-grade" of all Lian's writings, in terms of its absurd argument, loose logic and various intention.

　　However, in view of this person's words and deeds in the past, who on the one hand joined the SAR Government to earn high salary but on the other hand participated in anti-government demonstrations and the law-breaking Occupy Central in the appearance of a "public intellectual", it is nothing new to see this person carries fire in one hand and water in the other. 　

　　Yi-Zheng Lian says in his article in New York Times that according to "ancient texts" and some works, Hong Kong in ancient times was part of a much larger Lingnan region, and was "first annexed to the Middle Kingdom" in the Qin Dynasty; "Yet for 2,000-plus years, Lingnan…could not be effectively ruled by the Middle Kingdom authorities in their faraway capitals to the north."　　 And Britain's "handover" of Hong Kong to China in 1997 "marked…the third time that the city was subjected to the sovereignty of a central kingdom of China"…

　　As a matter of fact, had Yi-Zheng Lian just wanted to fawn on his Masters and cheat them out of more royalties, he could have straightforwardly talked about how he is anti-China, resists the Communist Party and supports separatism, rather than "showing off　　his learning" to copiously cite from the classics in an attempt to prove "independence for Hong Kong" has existed since the ancient times and becomes more serious today.　　For, historical facts tolerate no distortion, and there are plenty of specialists and scholars who are well versed in history and take a firm national position.　　Before the "genuine Monkey King", this "fake Monkey King" of Yi-Zheng Lian shows himself in his true colours and makes a fool of himself.

　　Wen Yuxing, a Hong Kong historian who used to live in the United States for many years, published an article on Ta Kung Pao today entitled A "Hong Kong Independence" Theory That Ignores Facts — To Refute Yi-Zheng Lian.　　Touching no politics through and through and based on solid historical documents and analysis, the article points out that there is no lack of "invasion", "expansion" and "annexation" in the formation of each and every modern country.　　It was not until 1871 did Prussia take over all Deutsch states, and it was not until 1898 did the United States annex Hawaii.　　"If expansion some 2,200 years ago could be used to deny China's sovereignty over Hong Kong, then which country in today's world can legitimately maintain its current territories?"

　　Mr. Wen Yuxing's article also used a lot of historical materials to refute Lian's distortion of the Jimi (mollification) System, Tusi (Tribal Chieftain) System and "Rural Gentlemen System in the Han and Tang Dynasties, pointing out that in terms of anthropologically recognized points of study such as written language, life style, thinking, social structure or　　the tradition of offering sacrifices to gods or ancestors, "the Han people in Lingnan are no different from other Han people in nature." Yi-Zheng Lian's assertion that "Hong Kong people are different from most Han people in northern China" is a fallacy made by a "pro-Hong Kong-independence inventor of history".

　　It seems that not only Yi-Zheng Lian's inspiration has dried up, but he has also thrown away his conscience and sense of shame.

　　（End）

　　5 January 2018