HONG KONG – For once, the South China Morning Post newspaper may have delivered a meaningful, even defiant, message. But was it intentional?

Since 1997, Chinese sovereignty has weighed heavily, like baskets of bricks, on the shoulders of many Hong Kong people. The mainstream media endures censorship, usually self-imposed, in fear of offending powerful people in Beijing or their cronies.

But on May 3, a day after the ballyhooed Olympic torch run on local streets, the English-language SCMP carried a fascinating front-page photo. It showed a runner hefting the torch near a large sign with the Games slogan: “Light the Passion, Share the Dream”.

In an arms-raised pose, the runner blocked parts of the sign. No longer “Light the Passion”, it read “Light Ass”, maybe the best-yet comment on the relay. This slangy lingo appears to imply a bloated sense of self-worth, little importance despite lofty pretensions, which also may describe the Beijing Olympics and Hong Kong’s “leadership”.

Much of that day’s SCMP held mushy copy about Hong Kong’s ‘glorious’ time with the Olympic torch. But surely anyone with a sense of morality and “passion alight” should care more about China’s constant human-rights abuses than about gratifying Beijing or glorifying the Olympics.

Did dissenting journalists carefully select the “Light Ass” photo in defiance of the prevailing jingoism? Just wondering!

Hey, “Light Ass, Share the Dream.”

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