Cathay Pacific has just released a new safety video, which will be screened on all flights as of August 1, 2024. It’s the carrier’s first new safety video in over seven years.
Continue reading: Cathay Pacific’ New Safety Video Shows Off Hong Kong
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
I wonder if they also explain the "National Security Law" and how Hong Kong is now effectively a police state that only superficially resembles the city it once was?
With the various CCP diktats, now demanding the universal use of Mandarin. I am so glad that Cantonese is still used. Sadly, Cantonese is now a dying dialect/ language. (FYI:- Cantonese is difficult to learn; as the spoken word, greatly differs from the written Chinese.)
I took a few CX flights last month and was delightfully surprised that they have re-introduced their old signature ,advertising and Ident music; as their boarding music:- Love's Theme. (There is great 5minute compilation video on YT ) Certainly brings back memories of traveling on Cathay's first ever non-stop Hong Kong to London flight, on a newly engined 747-200. Before that; all flights stopped-over at Bahrain.
Seeing as the city's status has (mildly) diminished since the protests and CCP takeover, it is an interesting move to double down on Hong Kong.
It is nice, but unfortunately SQ had already done it much earlier so the impact isn't there anymore
It's a nice video and Ben's constructive criticism is well taken. Shame about the ignorant comments in this post about HK by people who don't seem to have visited in years if ever and only seemed to come here to reinforce negative images in partisan media.
Cantonese is one of the if not the strongest surviving Chinese dialect out there. Pretty obvious that this comment was made without consideration of a great part of southern China and Macau speaking it as well as its widespread adoption throughout Southeast Asia, especially in Malaysia and Singapore. If anything, my take would be that Cantonese has emerged even stronger with the communist oppression of HK.
The old video is superior to the new. The new is too artistic and not functional enough. There are too many artistic interpretations of the inside of the aircraft. Passengers are not always that smart to make the connection between an artistic impression of the outdoors and the insides of the aircraft. In these regards, many modern safety airline videos are rubbish. Where is Pete Buttigieg when you need him?
The best way to promote HK would be to restore its status as an autonomous region with free speech and a free press.
Cathay Pacific’ New Safety Video Shows Off Hong Kong
Whoopsie daisy, got the headline wrong! Here, I'll fix it.
Cathay Pacific’ New Safety Video Shows Off An Island That Now Offers Repression, Arrests for Peaceful Protests, and a Muzzle on Speech by its Overlords on the Mainland
Whilst Hong Kong is definitely not what it used to be, it’s a case of pot kettle black for Americans to comment.
A country where for many women it is illegal to get an abortion. That funds genocide in Gaza. And created Fox News, the mother of all propaganda hate press.
Political stuff aside, SQ showcases their city with a relaxed, laid-back tone (SG is NOT laid-back, surely) with their safety video, while this version of CX's safety video only reminds me hellish crowd changing lines at Central station, and local Cha Chaan Tang waiter's famous IDGAF attitude.
It's not like I don't like HK, but this vid only gives me "let's rush to the next $$$ place and earn the next [beep] pile of money", instead of "enjoy my time here" vibe.
Any frequent flyer would know that the SQ version is in itself just a weak copy of the original Qantas concept. If anything I'd say this CX copy is superior to the SQ version.
"Definitely not original" - nor is SQ's which is merely a weak slightly-late-to-the-game version of what the likes of Qantas and United had been doing for ages.
While Hong Kong has many islands to be sure, much of Hong Kong is in fact not on an island and is attached directly to the Chinese mainland. Much of the New Territories and Kowloon is part of this penninsula.
Hong Kong can be a busy, fast-paced city like New York. That does appeal to some people more than sleepy Singapore. But I note the video is great in showcasing HK's lesser known side as well: the hiking and the beaches, which can be spectacular and much less stressful than the dense urban portions of the territory.
Are you aware that there's more to HK than the political situation? The city and surrounding nature really are spectacular. Anyway, I hope you comment on the political flaws of every other territory mentioned on this blog first and foremost for consistency's sake.
There's more to any place than its politics, but it's the politics more often than not, that dictates the primary safety and experience of visitors. This is true irrespective if one ignores politics or not.
don't expect originality out of SIN or HKG, or anywhere in Asia. These places are about conformity, copying, playing it safe, inside-box thinking and ultra conservatism in everything.
I would second @JW's comment. I was born in HK and grew up in Canada and now live in US for a long time. I am a Cantonese speaker. For years I was told to learn Mandarin for a variety of reasons (career etc.). But the past few years I've been proud to speak Cantonese and refuse to speak the little Mandarin I know. My 93 year old Dad (very good health!) in Toronto recently said to me "I refuse to speak Mandarin with the way China has treated HK", which coming from my Dad says a lot about the continued vibrancy of Cantonese in the global Chinese diaspora in addition to HK.
Lemme guess, you're one of those college students who just took Civics 101 and think communism could work if we just gave it a chance?