Text: TC Li
I was born in a time when Hong Kong’s economy began to take
off, enabling a better quality of life for its citizens. The primary school I went
to had double glazing windows to mitigate the noise from the constant air
traffic high above – the city’s airport was still that one with the
awe-inspiring runway in the middle of the city. It was a time when children
were allowed to be children, roll in the sands if you wish, do your homework
while watching the telly if you wish, with impunity. Most of us, adults and
children alike, had English names alongside our Chinese ones. I never
questioned why I was also called Heather Li, because the particular political
status of Hong Kong was status quo.
It was also the time when news footage of tanks sent down
Tiananmen Square captivated everyone, and a disconcerting silence loomed large.
My mum went ballistic, and my dad offered to try applying for emigration to Canada again,
after letting go of the successful application a couple years prior. “But what
if you can’t find a job as an engineer there?” asked mum. “Even if I can only find a
job washing dishes at a restaurant, that will have to do,” replied dad.
We took to the streets and sat under the sun at Victoria
Park for as long as our stamina would allow. For a long time the only tunes
that blasted from our car’s audio system were from the collection of songs,
composed especially in memory of the June 4 Incident. Songs of heartbreak for
the demise of one’s country, songs that best described the feelings that were
brewing inside my dad.
We could have relocated to Algarve, Portugal, where dad had
bought a house in a quaint little villa by the sea. We would have grown up
speaking Portuguese and Cantonese, writing to friends and relatives scattered
all over the world, before the Internet came along. But none of that happened because
my parents decided to stay, from the faith they had in a better future for Hong
Kong. For a decade or so my dad was happy that reality proved he made the right
decision.
And then the extreme pan-dems came along. Instill the city
with unsubstantiated fear, they did, and atomise the people, they did. They claim
they want the best for Hong Kong and the people, but really it’s their
individual and political parties’ interests they are after. With staged stunts
of fortitude they manage to fool the mass – the mass that fails to see it’s
heroism the politicians are seeking.
It’s as if we’re back to square one, or even worse. And the
Central Government doesn’t have to do anything. But really, how do you educate
a crowd that has decided to commemorate the June 4 Incident with China taken out of the context? How do you talk to the people and groups that organise
annual mass gatherings on this very date, more for publicity and less for
remembering the lives that were perished and the cause that was lost?
