Hong Kong is really beautiful but, alas, not without problems so bad that it's seeing record numbers of people leaving :(

Hong Kong looking idyllic on a bright blue sky summer's day

-- but too many don't think they have a bright future here :S

 

I've been experiencing a rare good mood in recent days.  It started with my going on Thursday evening to a favorite bar that a friend had heard was closing down, with its proprietor planning to return to Japan after living here for some two decades, and finding out that he appears to have had a change of heart and is going to try to keep going for a bit after all.  

 

And probably adding to the lifting of my mood has been there being a (temporary) break this weekend in the rainy spell that Hong Kong has been having for some weeks now.  For yes, it's turned out to be another hot weather warning day but seeing blue skies and high visibility are treats that I no longer take for granted after all these years of living in this part of the world.

 

Yet, amidst all this, I can't forget that, well, Hong Kong has problems.  If it didn't, you wouldn't have   113,000 residents leaving the city in the past year -- the largest percentage decline over a 12-month period since records began in 1961 -- leading to Hong Kong’s population dipping to around 7.29 million (from a high in 2019 of 7.5205 million people), would you?  

As Bloomberg's David Ingles Tweeted: "This is a record decline and it's not even close."  And as lawyer Kevin Yam, once of Hong Kong but now Australia, Tweeted in response to another of Ingles Tweets on the matter: "Let’s not dance around the issue. COVID curbs played a part (and a big part for some, esp expats), and it was a convenient excuse for many who didn’t feel safe to admit that they are leaving for another reason, but we all know the real main reason for people leaving."

 

On a personal note: I've long thought of Hong Kong as a transient city; with my averaging a friend leaving a year for a number of years.  But starting from 2020, I've seen a really startling number of friends and acquaintances leave Hong Kong.  As in, we're now in double digits and while I've started to lose count of the exact number, I'd estimate that we'll be getting to the 20 mark by the end of this year, if not before.

 

For the record: The first people I knew who left in 2020 were pro-Beijing/"neutral"-types upset because the protests had disrupted their lives; both of whom returned to Australia, where they had studied and gained citizenships (but had not been born there; with one of them, in fact, having been born in Hong Kong).  Then, post the national security law coming into being, pro-democracy types -- including a number who had never ever previously lived anywhere other than Hong Kong -- decided to leave -- to countries with democracies, like the United Kingdom, USA and Canada.  Also, although it has been made much of by the media, actually, very few people I personally know have left (principally) because of Covid curbs

 

And this exodus will continue, I'm sure, because, sadly, it's not like all the oppression has ended.  Adding to pro-democracy Hong Kongers' woes is that this is something that much of the world outside of Hong Kong do not realize -- or care? -- about this.  This is in part because we've not had any major street protests authorized and taking place for some time now -- thanks in large part to the pandemic, and "anti-pandemic" regulations and restrictions that often work better at controlling people than the coronavirus -- and thus no scenes of violent clashes involving tear gas and riot police for the media to film, photograph and beam out to the world.     

So it is good that the likes of Al-Jazeera are still producing articles (from time to time) like the explainer that came out yesterday entitled "What's going on in Hong Kong's courts?" (written, it's worth noting, by a journalist who used to be based in Hong Kong but also became part of the exodus).  Some choice excerpts from it:

More than 10,000 people have been arrested in the past three years for their alleged involvement in the protests, government criticism and pro-democracy political activities, according to Hong Kong government data. Of those facing charges, the vast majority are people below the age of 30, although they also include some of the city’s veteran opposition leaders...

Chinese “mainland-style criminal justice” and “lawfare” tactics have found their way into Hong Kong, said William Nee, research and advocacy coordinator at Chinese Human Rights Defenders.

“The volume of cases is part of it, and part of it is the lengthy legal process that people face – and we’re only two years into it,” he told Al Jazeera. “We predict it could go on for many, many years where people are unable to travel, unable to leave Hong Kong, unable to speak to the media, and unable to participate in public life,” he said...

The national security law has created a new criminal procedure in Hong Kong that strays from its common law tradition.

National security defendants are heard before a panel of three judges handpicked for terms of one year by the city’s chief executive, said Nee, which means the justices can easily be removed.

Unlike other criminal cases, there is no jury and defendants are almost exclusively denied bail while legal proceedings continue – often for months...

Sentencing has also become harsher regardless of age or past criminal record, said Steven Vines, a veteran Hong Kong journalist who left the city in 2021. Public order cases that once might have ended in fines or community service now attract prison time...

“People with no criminal convictions whatsoever are being given custodial sentences for things like unlawful assembly, which in the past would’ve incurred a fine, nothing more. People who are being convicted of more serious offences are getting sentences which are akin to armed robbers with a criminal record,” Vines told Al Jazeera...

[P]rosecutions of 2019 protesters are expected to continue over the next two years due to the lengthy backlog – the national security cases could take even longer due to the volume of evidence compiled by prosecutors and successive delays. In the meantime, much of Hong Kong’s opposition and civil society will remain silenced, exiled or in jail.