Gaoxing,

I knew your HK tales were nothing but a dream. But now, I am compelled to tell you a story based on my actual experience.

I've got a surprise for you, and it's the truth and as they say, the truth hurts. And as they also say, you cannot judge the book by its cover. Granted, there may be exceptions to the rule. The women who gave you the whiplashes in Hong Kong are more likely mainland Chinese and not Hong Kongers! In the past decade plus years I've live in HK, I've witnessed an interesting evolution in HK's fashion trends. The HK OL's (office ladies) in Central District aside, there has been a gradual role reversal in the dress code between the typical HK citizens and the typical Mainland Chinese visitors. My HK friends also attest to this ever-changing scenery & reality.

These well groomed and well dressed people you see are mostly nouveau riche Mainland Chinese on frequent shopping sprees in HK. The give-away is always the Putonghua and distinct mannerisms. HK people seem to hold an undercurrent of contempt for them but not realizing that HK's surviving retail sector of the economy, in recent years, owes much to these visitors. They look chic because they know how to apply makeup and dress fashionably. Everywhere in Central, one cannot help but notice they can rival or "out-packaged" even the attention seekers at the swankest enclaves of New York City, my hometown and one of the major fashion capitals of the world. They are the same people that all international name brand establishments recognize by the cover and greet with mechanical open arms and rehearsed smiles as wide as the cash register; even in legionary snobby Paris.

As for the HK food that agrees with your stomach, it's Cantonese (Guangdong) cuisine, often regarded by most Chinese as the best of the 5 distinctive regional Chinese cuisines. However, much of HK's reputation for Cantonese food was lost to Canada & Australia (Due to more liberal immigration requirements) in an exodus that began a few years before the 1997 Handover. Today, HK food in general, Cantonese or Western, is mediocre and does not come close to the Cantonese food in Guangzhou. A truly memorable meal in HK would require much effort in endless research and even some denominations printed in golden yellow.

In case anyone didn't know, HK was under British colonial rule from 1842 to 1997 (Result of the first Opium War 1839-1842, which Britain, in a trade dispute, declared on China for burning the opium – Dissimilar to the Boston Tea Party that ignited the American Revolution). Ted Kopple (The well respected original ABC News anchor on Nightline) recalled in a broadcast during the 1997 Handover on HK of his experience in the 1960's by telling how he was ushered from the end of a long line to the front at the HK post office: "for no reason other than I was white".

HK people may superficially still "kowtow" to Caucasians, because die-hard habits that were instilled from generation to generation are difficult to erase. Or perhaps, it's the hostage turned sympathizer after being held captive for a prolonged period psychology. But I sense HK subculture still harbors much resentment towards the Westerner for all of the mistreatment suffered in the 155 colonial years. In my opinion, HK people today enjoy more freedoms than when the Brits ruled.

Gaoxing, I believe it's not xenophobia that caused you to pen all of the negative comments in GoKunming Forum. I get the feeling you are young, emotional and very impatient, but not a bad person after all. Whatever your real reason(s) for having chosen Kunming as your initial China destination, other than what you have bluntly stated, a little less emotional outbursts and more patience on your part would have made you many friends in Kunming. I doubt your reason to study the Chinese language, even if just for one semester, was part of you life plan to chase tails in China. Somehow, I don't believe you have given up Kunming for good, at least not in your heart. Be truly honest and consistent and you'll more likely to find the doors of Kunming, and doors wherever you choose to knock on, will open with warm and welcome arms.

aiyaryarr
Very nicely and compellingly written.

"HK people may superficially still "kowtow" to Caucasians, because die-hard habits that were instilled from generation to generation are difficult to erase."

factually wrong, remember the 1967 riot and....? it is the interaction between the rule and the ruled that makes hong kong what it is now.

"In my opinion, HK people today enjoy more freedoms than when the Brits ruled."

wrong again, i'm afraid. if you think self-censorship is freedom, you are right. if you are a hong kong property developer you are right again, and.......

as a person who do voluntary work for the free union movement in hong kong from time to time whenever i am there in hong kong. i think i know hong kong, the working class that makes up the bulk of hong kong reasonably well.

regarding food cooking, the cooks of those traditional small shops, in areas like temple street, sham shui po........... etc, i dont think they are going to US, Canada...... anytime soon. there are actually a few of those small shops appearing on the Michilin Guide this year. then I wouldnt take the guide too seriously. :-))

of course, for the reason mentioned, i agree, the quality of food in some restaurants offering cantonese yum cha are very good in canada, australia, US, europe......in selected cities, sometimes better than their equivalent in hong kong, but you are paying a lot more for it.

I begin with an apology to all for the long post below. For the benefit of those with less patience, the bilingual "aiya" or "aiyaryarr" expression is the abridged version of my rebuttal to Mr. Rejected Goods.

I am a Chinese-American and have nothing to benefit by arguing on behalf of the HK Chinese. I'd like to reiterate I appreciate honesty and consistency but would also add that I despise hypocrisy and injustice.

Having a Chinese face and able to speak a mouthful of flawless Cantonese (Grateful to my traditional Chinese parents' upbringing) enable me to get closer to the psyche of the HK people. These are 2 advantages that you probably do not have! With no offense intended, I assume you do not have an Asian or Chinese ancestry. So, as someone who fits in with the 0.5% Western minority in HK, and with only an occasional visit to that city, further alienates you from the daily realities of the 95% Chinese majority! My continual presence in HK in the past 11 years is another edge over your sporadic exposure to current HK life. How reliable is a perspective without insight from the inside?

YOUR CLAIM 1: "factually wrong, remember the 1967 riot and....? it is the interaction between the rule and the ruled that makes hong kong what it is now."

FACT 1: The sparks that ignited the riots were labor issues, but the underlying cause of the HK 1967 "riots" was mistreatment and injustice under colonial rule and the colonial privileges enjoyed by the ruling class at the expense of the hopelessly oppressed for nearly 5 generations. If you disagree, I'd suggest that you do your research and read the accounts on the 1967 riots written both by Western & HK journalists. It was unfortunate the labor strikes in mid 1967 escalated into violence, riots erupted, lives were lost and a pity that the opposing political factions conveniently rushed to used it to blame one another to justify its own cause.

FACT 2: For more than another generation after the riots, from 1967 to 1997, HK remained classically colonial. Did you choose to skip my account of Ted Kopple's recollection of his treatment in HK in the 1960's? I am sure you can find all of Ted Kopple's Nightline broadcasts on the HK Handover in the ABC News archives.

FACT 3: What HK is today has little, if any, to do with the actual riots in 1967. HK ceased to be a British Colony because the 99-year lease (Signed at the pinnacle of The Ch'ing Dynasty's weakness during The Boxers' Rebellion years) on Kowloon and the New Territories expired on July 1, 1997. Britain realized it had no chance to renew the lease and HK Island, the only land mass ceded to Britain as a result of the first Opium War, (Total 31 sq mi or 80 sq km in area) would strangle itself. It would become a logistical liability and international relations nightmare, rather than continue to be the colonial "goose that laid the golden egg". The 1997 Handover was not an act, dictated by conscience, to return the stolen goods.

FACT 4: A taxi driver in his thirties (A member of the working class you claimed to know "reasonably well") in HK once complained to me, just as I've noted in my previous post, the practice of "reverse discrimination" in today's HK is common place: Chinese discriminates against Chinese but often, by habit, "kowtow" and extend colonial style privileges to Caucasians.

FACT 5: For 155 Years until the 1997 Hanover, every position of authority in HK was held by an appointed Englishman from England. The English controlled the Chinese in every aspect of HK society. Any HK Chinese in a seemingly position of authority was in fact a puppet appointed and controlled by a UK appointed higher authority, who was again always an Englishman. Colloquial Cantonese nicknames for those puppet officials are still in use in conversation today. HK produced TV soaps & movies about the periods before 1997 still makes reference to the injustice during colonial rule. Colonialism by definition and practice means ruler is master and the ruled are slaves to the whims of the master. If you don't believe how colonial mistreatment and injustice can affect personal freedom and the pursuit of happiness, ask anyone old enough to remember life under colonized rule anywhere in the world.

If you have read the daily newspapers accounts and/or followed nightly newscasts in HK in the past decade, you'd have noticed HK people are actually voicing their displeasures regularly and slowly learning to self-govern effectively, making small changes one at a time. Universal suffrage to choose the HK Chief Executive is promised in a few years. There are nearly a dozen political parties, each with members representing different aspects of HK life or professions and each with its own political agenda. A new political party was formed just last Summer replacing a defunct one. The members of this new party are recognized as outspoken democracy advocates. If these voices can be heard, and things do change for the better, even if slow, then where is the censorship? This was not the case prior to 1997. These are some of the HK day to day events and facts of freedoms you won't accept or don't seem willing to acknowledge.

YOUR CLAIM 2: "as a person who do voluntary work for the free union movement in hong kong from time to time whenever i am there in hong kong. i think i know hong kong, the working class that makes up the bulk of hong kong reasonably well."

As a volunteer "from time to time whenever i am there" is just a narrow sliver of sporadic exposure to the complex HK society. Therefore your claim "i think i know hong kong, the working class that makes up the bulk of hong kong reasonably well." is preposterous.

Just as my own stints as a volunteer (arranged with the Zhuhai Educational Department) to conduct conversational English classes at Zhuhai schools "from time to time whenever i am there" CANNOT, in any respect, qualify me to claim that I have reasonable knowledge of the students, the educational system or that city.

YOUR CLAIM 3: "wrong again, i'm afraid. if you think self-censorship is freedom, you are right. if you are a hong kong property developer you are right again, and......."

Perhaps you choose to volunteer on behalf of the disadvantaged working class due to the subservient behaviors acquired as a lot in life. Perhaps you prefer their traditional Chinese penchant for "self-censorship" so you won't need to reckon with their true inner feelings. Indeed, self-censorship can sometimes be a freedom - freedom to allow others to make a fool of themselves as in the proverb of unknown origin: "It's better to remain silent and be thought a fool, then to speak and remove all doubts."

FACT 6: In the years just prior to the 1997 Handover, the British Government, in complete disregard for the ecology of the HK harbor, ordered and implemented gargantuan landfill projects in Wanchai & Central and auctioned them as the last major act of rape on HK's landscape and coffers before packing up for home. Is that the freedom in real estate you are referring to?

YOUR CLAIM 4: "the cooks of those traditional small shops, in areas like temple street, sham shui po........... etc, i dont think they are going to US, Canada...... anytime soon."

Why do you believe the people on Temple Street and in Sham Shui Po District have fewer aspirations than the rest of HK's population? (BTW, Temple Street runs from Jordan through Yau Ma Tei to Mongkok and would likely extend beyond the two ends and expand this population by many folds, if the street layouts were more sympathetic) Is it because you believe the working class people in these neighborhoods are the underclass, less affluent and therefore less deserving? This comment again dispels your claim that you know HK "reasonably well", not to mention the comment also carries a colonial overtone. Kindly check out again what I've noted above on self-censorship.

Mr. Rejected Goods, forgive me for resorting to being "New Yorker blunt", but it's hard for me to imagine how it is possible for you to stand simultaneously on both side of the fence – Volunteering to help the working class and savoring the remnants of colonial style privileges from the same people at the same time. I shall end this pissing against the wind debate with you (Again, no offense intended) by trusting history to be the ultimate judge.

it seems to me that the majority of the various groups in HK get along pretty well considering. it's only a relatively small number of mainland Chinese and a few 'patriotic' (nationalist) 'overseas-born Chinese' that appear to have issues with the history of the territory. lets be honest here, HK has done pretty well... no doubt there was a class system based on ethnicity but HK now has things such as roads, education, an excellent public transport system, an economy, a vibrant culture which reflects its diverse population and much more. the only glitch worth mentioning in recent history was the the economic crisis and mass exodus around the time of the handover where many talented individuals fled, fearing mainland rule.

if history is the judge, who is the jury? ...or don't we need one?!

We do not qualify but future generation(s) shall be the jury. Is that not the way we evaluate the generations before us?

:-) lets deal with the food thingie first, as almost all cantonese enjoy good food. they have it "eating is bigger than(of higher reverence to) the sky."

now, i do not think that the cooks working in a small kitchen have "fewer aspirations","less deserving", perhaps it is in your mind, not in mine.:-) the reality is, how many cantonese cooks each restaurant in canada, US.... needs to operate the kitchen properly? hence, your assumption (on me) is a bit streeeeeeeetched, dont you think?

i do voluntary work largely on economics research for the free trade union movement so the movement can set their strategy with some insight on the "business reality and modus operandi" of their opponents, i dont involve in their day to day decisioon at all, it is my intention to distant myself from that, but i dont think i can offer them factual figures without field work, right? :-)

now, the self-cesorship issue. last year, the south china morning post (an english daily) reported a secret deal between a land developer (no need to guess who) and the then colonial government, the deal which expired (in 2001?) back (remember, it is a secret deal, so..), gave the developer exclusive rights to build and to operate shopping centre in a then empty land while the then government built public housing there. the end? as you would expect, the public housing tenants pay a lot more ( some 10 to 40 % more) on groceries than anyone else in hong kong. you would expect the new goverment would allow new shopping centre development afer the deal expired? no, it is known to have vetoed one which would have easied the lack of employment in the local area. AND no chinese newspaper touched on the subject.

it is the self-censorship of the so called "public intellectuals" that should worry you, dont you think? they might not be right all the time but a voice is important, dont you think?

debaser,

The people who have issues with the colonial history are the HK Chinese. I am on the side of JUSTICE - Just as the people who fought against the injustice of slavery are NOT patriotic or nationalistic. Colonialism can be equated with slavery on a more massive and much grander scale.

Perhaps I've underestimated that, though the practice of colonialism is nearly extinct, it is still in the hearts & minds of many who are living, justifying and living it today! Debating with people with this kind of attitude is indeed "pissing against the wind".