Hong Kong’s fortune is slipping out of its hands – that’s the message of its historic protests
- In a Year of the Pig where change has been foretold, the sight of hundreds of thousands on the streets brings home the message that mainland encroachment on Hong Kong’s way of life is real and unlikely to be reversed
Feng shui, like religion, is not something I’ve ever taken too seriously. But in the midst of the Year of the Pig, which is said to be about changes, I’m starting to be a believer.
In mere months, all that is wrong with Hong Kong has been exposed and laid bare, that most politically incorrect of terms – creeping mainlandisation – to blame. There’s a hard reality for those anti-government protesters: try as you might, there’s no turning back.
But the animal was as unfamiliar with its surroundings as people were startled to see it and a fracas erupted when it went into a subway station. In the scuffle, it got wounded and a woman was hurt. Using feng shui and throwing in some Cantonese slang gives this a highly symbolic meaning.
Nor is a bleeding boar good, in part because African swine fever is rife, but mainly due to this being a pig year.
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Hong Kong’s police have always treated me, a blind person, with utmost friendliness, courtesy and, in moments of need, help. But on June 14, two days after the Admiralty violence, with the city on edge, and five days before the boar went in search of a downtown meal, I was stopped by an officer in the North Point subway station.
He asked me where I was going, escorted me to the platform and took a good look at my white cane. Middle-aged visually impaired white men did not feature in the violence, nor would I believe a 300-gram aluminium cane would prove much of a weapon. The officer was only doing his duty, but the experience has altered my perception of the force that has long prided itself on being known as “Asia’s finest”.
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Truth be told, we knew all this, and that it would happen. We just didn’t think authorities were so dumb that they would be so blatant. Those who thought July 1, 1997, marked the start of mainland China’s shift to becoming more like Hong Kong have time and again been shown that they are wrong.
We have to give up our thoughts of autonomy and being different and get used to the idea of increasing mainlandisation. The past month of protests are not a game changer, but a reality check.
Peter Kammerer is a senior writer at the Post