Katherine
Anne Porter, one of the most distinguished writers of America between the
nineteen-thirties and nineteen-fifties, said that the past is never where you
think you left it. The past, quite sometimes does not stay in the past, especially
the past of a place - be it a remote rural province, a city, or a country.
However, attempts to move forward by residents of Hong Kong, a former colony of
Britain, have often unfailingly brought back memories of the past, even
imagined ones.
Hong Kong was
occupied by Britain in 1841, which established a colony there, obtaining a
99-year lease there in 1898. The city returned to Chinese rule in 1997, and has
since been governed under a ‘one country, two systems’ policy that allows it to
have independent judiciary and freedom for residents to protest - independences
not cherished on the Chinese mainland.
However, fears
have grown in recent years of Chinese erosion of ‘one country, two systems’ policy
on the island. This has been underlined by a string of troubles that has
affected the relationship between Hong Kong and mainland China, with the latest
being the extradition bill, which, if passed, would have allowed China to extradite
citizens of Hong Kong.
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| A Go-Go Girl, Maggie Li Lin-Lin (Yau Yat Tsuen Park, 1965) by Yau Leung |
Hong Kong residents
have been increasingly upset by a range of issues – including an inflow of
Chinese immigrants and excessive property prices, in part, due to investment by
business groups from mainland China. Many locals accuse China of extensive
meddling in Hong Kong affairs, including interference with elections and obstruction
of reforms related to self-governing.
Speaking to
Reuters
about China’s impingement on Hong Kong’s civil liberties, Chan, a
thirty-something man, recently said, ‘It’s like there’s a burglar in my house and I’m the
one who’s forced to leave because I couldn’t defeat him.’ He is one of
thousands of Hong Kong’s residents who have left the city and moved to proudly democratic
Taiwan in recent years to start a new life.
