on wet days in Hong Kong
The past few weeks have been seen a number of gray and wet days in Hong Kong. Then even have been days when it got as dark as night around midday and strong winds blowing got me wondering if a typhoon had sneaked up on us! They're not ideal but they've also been preferable to the brutal heat wave that some parts of Asia have been experiencing. And the wet weather helps to postpone the advent of summer: my least favorite season in Hong Kong; which, alas, feels like it's been getting longer and longer with each passing year.
In some ways, how I feel about current weather conditions can be seen as a metaphor for what I feel about how things are in Hong Kong in general: i.e., it's not ideal but, sadly, I can see how it could be worse -- and, sadly, do anticipate that it will be so in the not do distant future. Also, liken me to the metaphorical frog in the slowly boiling water all you want but, for now, I am feeling it's bearable. And I remain wary of -- to use another metaphor here -- jumping out of the frying pan, only to end up in the fire.
Put another way: I still am not sure that I will be able to enjoy a better life outside of Hong Kong in the parts of the world where I could easily move to and resettle. (This aside from the issue of being reluctant to leave because my feeling is that if and when I finally do leave my heartplace, I will never (be able to) return -- even for a short holiday.)
I know people who will say: but what about all the repression and persecutions, the assault on Hong Kong's freedoms, Hong Kong not having democracy, etc.? Here's the thing: yes, it's happening. And it most certainly does negatively affect me. For yeah, far from affecting just "an extremely small minority of people", the national security law affects even the likes of me -- in that that certain funds I used to donate to no longer exist, events I used to attend no longer can be held, films I want to see in Hong Kong cinemas can't be screened here, etc., etc., etc.
And yet, there still are a lot of things I can do here too that give me pleasure and also make me feel that I'm still part of a (yellow) community I care for. I realize it might not seem like much (especially compared to what one could do just four years ago) but I still can support (existing) members of the Yellow Economic Circle, watch and support worthy Hong Kong movies, have access to -- and express myself -- on social media (I've long considered there being no access to the likes of Twitter, Facebook and Google sans VPN in Hong Kong, like is the case in Mainland China, to be a "deal breaker" for me), carry a yellow umbrella in public and -- despite what some people might want you think -- wear T-shirts with "Hong Kong ga yau" on it or, for that matter, black colored attire in Hong Kong.
To be sure, doing some of these risks harassment by the police. (It's not for nothing that, as I've stated before, living in national security law-era Hong Kong can feel like living in a police state.) But, okay, yes, I'm still willing to do so. And should it not be clear: I still think life in Hong Kong is worth living, and Hong Kong still very much worth loving. In short: yeah, despite it all, I still really f**king love Hong Kong -- and sincerely hope that the vast majority of the people who have felt obliged to leave it in recent years still do too.
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