What’s going to happen to Hong Kong?
How will things change when I come back here in 25 years?
I’m traveling for over six months across Asia. When I’m back home discussing the highlights of the trip with friends and family, I fully expect to spend a lot of time reminiscing about Hong Kong.
It would come at no surprise, I’ve always been curious about this city-state myself. You hear about it on the news. You know small details about it’s political situation and about all it’s economic success. But not much more.
When that day back home comes, it will be hard to describe because the perception of this city evolves drastically as you experience it. Four days is certainly not enough time to fully grasp it.
When you arrive at the terminal and take the train to the city — gliding over the water and weaving through the mountains — you think to yourself: utopia. If the sea levels rise in a thousand years and civilization has to occupy skyscrapers in the mountains, perhaps it will look something like Hong Kong.
As the train made its way over the final bridge and into the heart of the city, the pixels became sharper in the form of sewer steam, street vendors, hang dried clothe across balconies, and Chinese characters glowing on colored signs. Then as we got on feet, walking to our hotel from Hong Kong Station, I couldn’t help but try and draw from other cities I’d been to before.
The high rises, the bustle, the chaos — it’s just like New York. The elevation change, the weaving roads up the hillside — looks so San Fran. Then of course the people, the fashion, the drink culture at the pubs — feels just like London(for obvious reasons).
The food however, is like nothing I’ve experienced before.
In fairness, maybe that’s objectively untrue given its roots, but I’ve been to mainland China and most recently Taiwan, and I can’t help but feel that Hong Kong feels unlike either of those places.
I’ll never have wonton noodles cut so finely thin and perfectly al dente in a light but flavorful bowl of chicken and porky goodness. Or the translucent pork skin, glistening with fat that makes the end pieces of the char-siu look like a red jolly rancher. The dichotomy of excitement and pain, having to wait the appropriate amount of time for the claypot rice to finish cooking on the table after being served to you, while hundreds of other patrons — in the restaurant and out on the street — live blissfully in the future, devouring their crispy yet gooey bowls.
Every meal here, whether a restaurant I’ve pinned prior or a random diner we stumbled upon, has been an absolute delight.
Having just come from Taiwan, I didn’t find myself comparing Hong Kong to Taipei too often during my visit. With respect, Hong Kong is overwhelmingly ostentatious compared to Taipei. With that said, the parallels from a social-political perspective are glaring.
Both places are deeply rooted in Chinese culture. Yet, both have a collective mindset that differs from a political and social perspective. Both face a looming presence from Beijing; the fate of Hong Kong pre-determined while Taiwan sits in limbo.
Something I’ve experienced — or perhaps more so noticed — is that travelers like myself that like to engulf ourselves with the “101 history” and the current political situation of an entire nation, can have a tendency to assume that these realities are very present in the minds of local residents. Yet, I’ve heard from other travelers and online sources that citizens of Taiwan generally don’t worry about a Chinese invasion. Another example would be that the residents in South Korea don’t really fear the nuclear threats of the North, despite the thousands of designated bomb shelters throughout the city.
The explanation for this seemingly stems from the fact that these nations have been under threat and instability for many years. The doom and gloom has been longstanding for enough time that life would not be lived fully if people spent their time worrying about it for generations. It makes sense, and those of us traveling from the stability of the west can’t quite comprehend this fully.
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However, that doesn’t quite explain Hong Kong. While Taiwan’s situation is hearsay, Hong Kong’s fate is as foregone conclusion. Depending on who you speak with, conclusion may or may not be the right word. For those that partook in the various protests over the last few years, I’d assume that it is.
I now know that the date in which Hong Kong’s autonomy will be forfeited is 2047.
It feels so far away, like a term paper on a college syllabus that’s due at the end of the semester. Is that why everything feels business-as-usual? Because this place is exemplifies the rat-race like the best of them. The kind of city where as a tourist, your complaints about the blazing sun and your aching feet, turn into pity for the men in black suits and the women in heels racing to catch the subway.
It seem like people work really hard here. I observe this a number of ways.
Vendors are active, cleaning their stalls constantly and alert to approaching guests. Restaurateurs are attentive and determined to maximize seating space. White collar workers are often checking the time while sipping coffee in the mornings, coming full circle ten hours later as they flutter in and out of consciousness gripping the handle on the train ride home.
The irony is that in many of the places that I feel this, the work hard-play hard, sleep when we die, melting pot type of energy type of energy — are also the places where I have to step over human beings on the sidewalks.
In Hong Kong specifically, it’s also the drastically crammed housing projects. I ventured over to one in particular that has cringingly turned a into a photo-op for social media. It’s certainly a fun backdrop, but also the reluctant reality for thousands of struggling residents, so I wasn’t quite sure how to feel about the entire thing. I quickly took my picture between a carousel of dramatic poses by wannabe influencers and moved along.
In contrast, I recall my long walks around Shanghai and the rural towns(cities by our standards) of the eastern provinces of Mainland China. There was never a straggler in sight. Yet I also saw large amounts of complacency. Establishments in the suburbs open for business but never a customer in earshot of an erroneously content shop owner. The stores surprisingly still in operation despite a competitor across the street serving to the same niche marketplace. Rows and rows of street and market vendors on their phones to pass the time of a miserable day; the most distinct memory being a butcher who fell asleep on her pile of dead rabbits.
It’s a memory that I can’t shake as I build my humble opinion on the Chinese assimilation of Hong Kong, the debate over how it should be run, and about politics in general. Many people will have deep assertions about these topics, but I’ll likely be of the few that thinks of dead bunnies when articulating my thoughts.
In 25 years this place will be fully controlled by China
Now that I think more about it, that’s not that far away at all…and the outcome of this metaphorical term paper is already pre-decided.
So why try?
Do the next twenty years represent a window of opportunity for determined Chinese free market optimists to cash in while they can? Or is the idea of the individual, contributing and capitalizing from a truly free market system a fleeting trait?
Yet, when you look around, there still seems to be so much in the works. Could it be that people feel there’s still hope for Hong Kong to retain their souls?
Or is it a different type of motivation?
Perhaps what’s fueling the continuous development of high rises and the new sports stadium, are just private entities with heavy ties to Beijing. Who knows, and let me be clear — I’m a dummy. These are just my thoughts. I’m all ears.
With all that said, Hong Kong is inspiring.
Just like the views from the top of Lion Head Rock overlooking the city.
