5 years earlier, we stayed here for 4 weeks. Covid, demonstration and the National Security law nowhere to be guessed. We're happy to have had this time celebrating Christmas and New Year's eve together with friends.
Since then, Covid is under control, demonstrations have been forced to stop, many young people emigrated from the city and the National Security law being reinforced. Due to these, we have not planned Hong Kong in our trip. Only because of the rare ocasion meeting my brother and family who are here the first, my mother most probably a last time, we have inserted 9 days Hong Kong.
This time, we stay in Kowloon, the more original Hong Kong, right in the middle of Mongkok. Here, you can still find many simple small shops, Cha Chaan Tengs (restaurants back from the Colonial period with east mit west food culture), streetfood, everything simpler and older. Also, flower, bird and gold fish markets are located here. Live pets are displayed in shop windows to sell. Gucci and co nowhere to be seen. It's such a great contrast to our last stay at midlevels in Hong Kong Island.
Has Hong Kong changed?
From the external view, the city is still strongly being developed and constructed. In our five years absence, more districts have been gentrified, more high rises built and the physical link to China further expanded. 9 Chinese citys in the South adding Hong Kong and Macao form "The Greater Bay Area", now.
Architecture and design continue to play an important role. Two prominent examples of this are the new M+ art museum, with an interior very similar to the Tate Modern in London, and the extension of Victoria Promenade with the luxurious new K11 Musea Mall. Great importance is also a green outdoor area and garden.
We hardly see any Western faces, only Asians. Even in Central, the expat neighbourhood, we only see a few Westerners. March was Art Month with the such as Art Basel exhibition. Normally, the city would have been full of people from different nations. This feeling is confirmed by the news that from Good Friday to Easter Sunday there were 1.5 million outbound trips, whereas only 340,000 inbound trips were registered, 35% less than last year. It feels a bit like back then, shortly after the handover of Hong Kong to China.
What strikes us is that the quality of service has become very poor, the USP of Hong Kong. Even here, there is obviously a lack of staff, so that a lot of things are passed on to the customers in self-service. That would have been a no-go in the past. Everything runs very slowly now, even the way people walk outside. The fast flow of people in the underground stations has disappeared. Many small shops were closed over the Easter holidays, something that is not standard. Is it perhaps people finally having more work-life balance or due to the lack of customers? The politeness and British-style interaction has also diminished.
I came across a piece of news that upset me and shows the less visible changes. An independent bookshop, Mount Zero, has closed and many are mourning and saying goodbye on its last day open. Now you might say, a bookshop, so what?
The 5 founders of Mount Zero were all journalists and were no longer allowed to practise their profession. As they needed a livelihood, they came up with the idea of opening a bookshop. They want to build on their expertise and spread journalistic values and the meaning of journalism. They also want to create a place where people who have not left Hong Kong can meet. It is important to them that people read. They organised events, talks, mini-concerts and dinners, sometimes together with other shops in the neighbourhood. A solid community has developed over the last few years.
Last year, it started with the government accusing the owner of illegally using the space in front of the shop. The space in front of the bookshop was already part of the business. They were asked to stop using it by a deadline, otherwise they would face a fine of $500,000 and $50,000 a day thereafter, as well as up to six months in prison. Since then, there have been weekly inspections by various departments, partly due to allegedly anonymous complaints. In December, the owners could no longer withstand the psychological pressure and decided to close the bookshop at the end of March.
Since 2020, when the National Security Act was introduced, 40 independent bookshops have been closed. Other owners also talk about the psychological pressure caused by regular inspections. Journalists, former politicians and protest supporters are under particular scrutiny. All politically sensitive books were banned from public libraries and could only be obtained at a few independent bookshops, but this too seems to be history soon.
I love this place, the best and most varied food in the world and the many high-quality cultural offerings. I love the urban style, there is still this East-West mix. If you're not political and don't talk about politics, then you can definitely still live well in Hong Kong.
But can we really stand by and watch in silence as more and more of the population's freedoms are curtailed and more and more "things" like the bookshops happen? I wonder how long such incidents will be allowed to be reported at all.
P.S.: The entrance to the departure gate at the airport is secured with eGates. We not only had to scan our boarding pass as usual, but also our passport and a photo was taken of us. We wondered why the immigration handling takes place at the entrance. It was only when we boarded the plane that we realised that boarding is done by face recognition, a monstrosity! Who knows what will happen to our personal data now.
Comentarios