HONG KONG 2020 — LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT
I was born and raised in Hong Kong under British Colonial rule. We were groomed to have manners, respect our parents and teachers. We had discipline. Did we complain? No. I think it was great training. I taught my kids the same way. During the 60s and 70s, people in Hong Kong just focused on making money. Nobody paid attention to politics, it was not an option. Only very few top Hong Kong citizens got involved with law-making and execution. Top Government posts were dominated by British Gwei-los (鬼佬). Did we complain? No. Did we ask for democracy and voting rights? No. It was simply unimaginable. Some people now ask for return to the old days. Do they really know what it was like?
By the early 80s, people started talking about 1997. I remember in secondary school, our teachers said “ah, no worries, nobody really pay attention to the lease. Life goes on.” But people started paying attention, and the British and Chinese government started negotiations. Then came June 4, 1989 (another long story), which recent events led many of us to believe that fake and manipulated news already started back then. Which then led to the emigration wave of the early 90s. My parents emigrated to Canada, like the rest of their friends and relatives. By then I was already in the US, completed my undergraduate studies, started law school and was all ready to settle in the US for the rest of my life. We were a bit worried about Hong Kong and its future. We thought Communist China was such a scary place, poor and backward, no freedom and democracy. Must be hell to live there. No way will I ever go visit, let alone live there. NEVER!!!
Then came 1997, Hong Kong did not sink under the ocean. People who stayed were still there. My sister’s family lived there, life went on. Then came the 1998 financial crisis, who’s fault? Irrelevant here, didn’t affect me. Then came 911 in the US (2001), who’s fault? Let’s not go there. It so happened my husband had been interviewing and received a job offer to go to Shanghai. We figured the US economy would be in a ditch for quite some time post 911. He accepted the offer on September 11 and moved to Shanghai December 2001. By 2001, I was married, with a set of 5 years old twins, and a good stable job. But both my husband and I were not truly happy in the US. We were NEVER discriminated against, we had good jobs, we voted and all that. But we never felt we belong there and did not really assimilate into main stream American life. Fears of terrorism scared me. So when the opportunity to go China arose, I was quite open to consider it. The fear of Communist China had dissipated, and we were hearing good things about the changes already happening there. So kids and I followed in December 2003. NEVER SAY NEVER!!!
Shanghai was A M A Z I N G. In the early 2000s, there was still a lot of construction. We settled in a nice apartment, kids in international schools (even with special ed support). We were brave to invest in real estate (against all our friends’ warnings about risk and lack of RMB liquidity blah blah blah). We travelled everywhere in China, and Asia, and went back to Hong Kong regularly. Not for one second did we feel we had less freedom than when we were in the US. Yeah yeah, FB, Google and Whatsapp were blocked, we just used VPN. We even tested the legal system, won a lawsuit, and got compensated fairly.
*Resourceful people can be anywhere.
**Exploit the good and avoid the bad. Survival of the fittest.
Which brings me to my next point. There is no utopia on earth, and there is no perfect country or government that can ensure anyone’s wellbeing or happiness. America has been practicing “democracy” for 200 years, and look who they elected for President? Trump, arguably the worst head of state in history. And see what a mess it was just this past election. And we still want to follow them? Please, really NEVER NEVER NEVER.
Democracy or 民主 in Chinese, really means rule by popular vote? What if it’s 51–49? And you are part of the 49? You would still be pissed right? And your problems still unsolved, still no job, no car, no house, then what?
So “共产党 the Chinese Communist Party” sounds spine-chilling and blood-curdling, right? Images of the Cultural Revolution and June 4 immediately comes to mind. But even if those were huge mistakes (arguable now with June 4), those events happened 60 and 30 years ago. How come no one talks about the Japanese Nanjing Massacre or Hitler Concentration camps anymore. Such selective memory. Or is it because the media only choose to remind us of all the bad things China has done or may have done.
I choose to forget and forgive. I choose to believe only what I see and experience myself. I lived in the US for 20 years, then Shanghai 15 years, and now we have been back in Hong Kong since 2016. I think I am qualified to compare because mine are real life first hand experiences. In the US, I saw inefficiencies, chaos and frustration created by a so-called democratic system. How many airports or infrastructure projects have the US completed in the past 30 years? I also saw the lack of respect for authority, discipline or hierarchy justified by so-called rights of privacy, freedom and democracy. When in China, I witnessed the sincerity and immense country-wide efforts of the entire Chinese nation during the 2008 Olympics and 2010 Expo, how they welcomed the whole world to China, showed the world how much they progressed and how ready and willing China was to become a responsible player in the new world order. I also observed how an entire new generation of Mainland Chinese people, in all echelons of life, demonstrated such burning desire to excel, and as a result drastically improved their standard of living. Now I am back in Hong Kong, my hometown, I see a society torn apart by political views. People are either blue (pro-China) or yellow (anti-China). Government efforts to encourage young people to find jobs in the Greater Bay Area (11 cities including Hong Kong and Macau in Southern China) or seniors to retire there, get bashed by reporters as efforts to “sell” Hong Kong or to deplete precious human resources from Hong Kong. I am still so shocked when I hear these accusations. Why are Hong Kong people so biased? Maybe we left Hong Kong too many years, we don’t understand how they feel? We were willing to move to Shanghai from the US in 2001 because we saw an opportunity, and we survived, very well. It’s a “no-brainer” that China will do so much better than the rest of the world, post-COVID, and our young Hong Kong “talents” don’t see that. I am appalled.
*There is no utopia, yet any place can be utopia
Just take this COVID crisis and compare how the US and China handled the battle. Yes, arguably there’s no “privacy” in China, but compulsory real-name authenticated phone numbers, facial recognition, CCTVs everywhere, quick complete lock down of communities and whole cities, compulsory testing and quarantine, enabled China to completely eradicate the virus in several months, with very few cases now, mainly imported. Of course, there were some initial sacrifices, but the individual freedom and rights gave way to the greater good. In the words of China’s foreign affairs spokeswoman, “Chinese people have never in recent history displayed a higher sense of happiness, pride, safety and security” and politely asked the CNN reporter to stop asking biased questions with no factual basis. I cannot agree more. China just wants to be left alone. But God forbid China is now ahead in some areas like 5G technology. There will be no end to accusations of China disturbing the world order and having aggressive intentions. 以小人之心度君子之腹 and 贼喊捉贼 are two Chinese sayings that accurately describe what the US likes to do. (Google translate if you don’t read Chinese, but you may not get the exact connotation. Learn Chinese or watch Mainland Chinese soap operas. 5000 years of wisdom there)
As a Hong Kong (SAR) Chinese citizen, I hold a passport that allows me visa-free entry into most countries in the world. I pay the lowest income taxes compared to most countries in the world, and zero capital gains tax. I hold a Mainland Travel Permit that allows me to live and work in China with no restriction, and increasing benefits provided by the Greater Bay Area Plan. We are the envy of all 1.4 billion people inside China who have to pay more taxes and receive less privileges and freedom to travel. And we all just take it for granted.
During this COVID crisis, the Hong Kong government pays for all medical costs associated with forced quarantine and confirmed cases admitted to hospitals. Even mild cases are admitted to hospitals and not just asked to stay home and get better like in most countries.
Hong Kong is and will always be an inseparable part of China. Hong Kong has its own identity, it will always be special, like Shanghai and Beijing are special too. Because of our history, we are fortunate to have choices. There is absolutely nothing wrong with emigrating to US, Canada or UK. My generation has been there and done that. We have many friends and family happily settled in the US/Canada/UK, albeit they are frustrated because Trump makes their lives miserable too. But those who choose to leave Hong Kong now because media and hallucinations lead them to believe that Hong Kong will decline and there will be no more freedom and rights blah blah blah, then I guarantee you, they will miss the best ride ever and regret it for the rest of their lives.
This is the best time in history to be Chinese, and to be in Hong Kong and China.
As far as I know, I am home. Home sweet home.
