“Brand Hong Kong”, born in 2001 as a way to draw people here with the intention of taking their money after the Asian financial meltdown, has undergone a couple of recent, minor changes. First, the old Dragon logo used to promote “Asia’s World City” has been updated with three flowing ribbons of blue, green and red, all for a mere HK$ 1.4 million:

The blue one is meant to be symbolic of our blue skies (cough, cough), the green one symbolic of a sustainable environment (until we’re done reclaiming what’s left of Victoria Harbour, presumably), and the red ribbon forms a silhouette of Lion Rock in saluting the “can-do spirit” of Hongkies everywhere. We here at the Dark Side were completely unaware that Hong Kongers could actually produce small hills in the shape of animals. Heady stuff.

But wait, there’s more! While we can certainly appreciate the SCMP’s laser-like focus on the most important aspect of Brand Hong Kong, its logo, we couldn’t help but notice, buried in the middle of the story, this interesting nugget:

“There’s another change, too. Hong Kong’s core values will henceforth be these: free, enterprising, excellence, innovative and quality living. That’s compared to the previous values adopted in 2004: stable, free, progressive, high quality and opportunity. Asked why democracy was left out of the ‘updated core values’, Tsang said: “Democracy is in our hearts.”

Indeed. Now if it were only in the ballot box as well.

Still, we think Bowtie is on to something here. We say fuck “Asia’s World City,” as “Democracy is in our hearts” should be the new slogan for Brand Hong Kong. At least until it’s changed again in 2012 2017, when it becomes “Democracy is not in the best interests of the People’s Republic of Hong Kong.”