How I feel about Hong Kong?

(This is my personal thought, I do not intend to create any controversial topics here.)

I wrote this as a short reflection on Hong Kong before going back to VN for the Lunar New Year. Perhaps, I should have written this earlier since many friends sometimes ask me “How is Hong Kong?” Indeed, it is a very difficult question to answer. But I believe I have a better view of it after 6 months here.

I have to admit that I used to hate HK in the first few months. Many questions came into my mind when I arrived such as “Where are the foreigners since I only see Mainland visitors?”, “Why does my program only 4% HKers?”, and many more. This makes me so disappointed at first because TVB films always show a very international aspect of HK, but the actual situation is a deteriorating city. Many HKers tell me how they are frustrated and exasperated about the current situation. Many of them have fled the country, even my landlord also resides in Australia. HK used to be a promising city for Mainland people, but the situation has changed. Shanghai or Shenzhen becomes a rising star for many of my friends after their graduation. If you want to understand more about the 2019 issue, just search the Instagram of 周庭 Agnes Chow who currently lives in exile.

Things become much better as I finally accept these fundamental changes. Above all, I know that my time in HK will be very limited, i.e. until the end of this year or in the next 2 years. So I decided to refresh my mind and traveled to lots of places in HK. Contrary to my expectations, I can eventually feel different nuances of a local HK when I am in Tuen Mun, Sai Kung, Aberdeen, and Cheung Chau. The missing elements that I have been looking for since I landed in August.

There is something truly heartbreaking going on. HK is by no means dead, the beauty of a local HK still exists. And I hope to enjoy HK while its uniqueness still shines. I am glad that I made it to HK, a place that I have dreamed of since I was five.

Lastly, I appreciate every single one who has been with me through the past few months, especially HKU people.

You can watch this beautiful video: Hong Kong - is it still worth visiting?, which describes most of my thoughts in just a few minutes.