Lunar New Year rampage
The police in California are on the hunt for a gunman who killed 10 people in the town of Monterey Park in Los Angeles County on Saturday. The mass shooting came hours after a Lunar New Year Eve celebration, the most important holiday in many Asian countries. Thousands attended the event. (Follow our live reporting.)
The Los Angeles County Sheriff said yesterday that authorities are looking for an Asian man between the ages of 30 and 50. He opened fire on a dance hall and witnesses said he fired indiscriminately. At least 10 others were injured. Authorities did not offer a motive for the attack.
The mass shooting is the latest tragedy to hit Asian Americans have faced rising violence throughout the pandemic. Monterey Park is about 65 percent Asian Americanand was called “the first suburban Chinatown.” It is perhaps best known as the first city in the continental United States where the majority of residents are of ethnic Asian ancestry.
A pattern: This mass shooting is the deadliest in the US since the Uvalde massacre last May, when a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers in Texas. There have been 33 mass shootings in the US so far in 2023, according to a nonprofit research group.
New Zealand’s next leader
Chris Hipkins, who oversaw the country’s unique pandemic approach, to become New Zealand’s new prime minister next month.
Hipkins, 44, was a clear front runner to eventually become Labor Party leader jacinda Ardern’s surprise resignation last week. As Health Minister and then Minister for New Zealand’s Covid-19 response, he has been the face of the country’s strict but widely recognized response to the pandemic.
The incoming leader faces a number of major challenges. Voters are looking for a respite from inflation, an ongoing housing crisis and other deep-rooted social problems such as crime and child poverty. He might struggle to get beyond his association with the pandemic policy that tainted Ardern’s leadership.
There in front: In a national election in October, Hipkins will face Christopher Luxon, leader of the centre-right National party.
Analysis: Leaders often resign in parliamentary systems. But Ardern’s departure stands out writes my colleague Max Fisher: “It was particularly striking to see a leader voluntarily relinquish power at a moment when the world’s strongmen — and even some elected presidents — cling fiercely to theirs.”
China’s tense Lunar New Year
For many Chinese traveling for the Lunar New Year, the joy is finally seeing loved ones for the holiday without the risk of lockdown full of fear. Many travel from cities to rural areas, where health services are woefully underdeveloped. They fear spreading the virus to older relatives.
They are also only a few weeks after the government lifted its “zero Covid” restrictions. An official said it was “the most challenging Spring Festival in recent years” as the outbreaks continue to spread. “Just because we opened up, I feel so tense,” said one villager.
But after years subdued celebrations, Hundreds of millions of people yearn for reunions. In a show of national relief, some people on social media are celebrating congestion at travel hubs as a sign of a return to normal — or at least a new normal.
Details: Before the pandemic, the travel rush was the world’s largest annual migration. This year, China expects traffic to almost double compared to 2022 and even surpass it two billion passenger trips over the holiday season.
Zero Covid Fallout: Some Chinese entrepreneurs have left the country, my colleague Li Yuan writes in an analysis. They moved to Singapore and took their fortune with them.
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Asia Pacific
Americans in Paris think “Emily in Paris” is that give them a bad name.
“We try so hard not to be the ugly American,” lamented one woman. “As an American expat in Paris, it’s all about looking vaguely French or invisibly American, and Emily is the opposite of that.”
MUMBAI SHIPPING
One film, 27 years of screenings
India’s film industry brings about 1,500 stories to the screen every year. But every day in Mumbai audiences line up for “Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge”. A film that is still showing on screens after 27 years.
The film, known as “DDLJ,” is a boy-meets-girl story set in 1990s India, a moment of unbridled optimism just as the economy was opening up. In many ways, today’s India is similar to that reflected in the film. The economy is still on the rise. Women are still looking for more freedom. Modernism and conservatism remain in tension.
But some of that sense of unlimited possibility has faded since the film premiered in 1995. As the early fruits of liberalization have peaked and economic inequalities have deepened, mobility aspirations have waned. Some on the outskirts of Mumbai are buying a ticket to escape to a rosier past, while others are still looking for inspiration.
“I come every day,” said one regular, giving Simran, the name of the female lead. She’s a prostitute in the dwindling red-light district nearby. “I like it every day.”
