Westerners like me who have lived in Hong Kong for a long time now have an identity problem
- Being told to ‘go home’ in a city that feels increasingly unwelcoming poses a problem when I have few connections to Australia, my country of birth, never mind my ‘ancestral home’ of Munich
The regularly-voiced response from some readers to political opinions in this column, “if you don’t like it here then go home”, is somewhat problematic for me. Hong Kong is where I have lived for more than three decades and I have few connections to the place of my birth, Australia.
My father was from Germany and my only links to that country are relatives I met for the first time two years ago. Tell me to go back to where I am from and I can only shake my head.
Most broadly, for Chinese, it is the place of origin of a surname, and more specifically, the patriarchal birthplace in China of someone’s great-great-grandfather. This factors into personal identity and can lead to stereotyping.
All the Chinese people I know have an inkling of ancestral home. Some can only place it in general terms to the province, but others can be specific to the county or even village. Whether they have visited the locality or not is irrelevant; it is knowledge that has been passed from grandfather to father, to son and daughter.
It is a badge of identity and with it comes an understanding of place and culture. Beijing’s preaching that Hongkongers need to love their country therefore makes no sense; they know where their roots lie, it can’t be denied and what is not to love?
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Westerners like me who have lived in Hong Kong for a long time have an identity problem, though. There are things we like about where we live – we wouldn’t be here if we didn’t.
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Of course, it would probably be different if I could speak fluent Chinese and had a Chinese family. Chinese people I encounter in everyday life usually approach me by attempting to speak English.
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The population has increased by more than 50 per cent since I lived there, mostly the result of migration, which has changed the country’s cultural face. Diversity is good, but I am still surprised at how it has pushed aside many of the things I remember.
By the Chinese definition of ancestral home, I could answer “Munich”. The southern German city’s atmosphere and people are agreeable to me, but I can’t say I feel part of a place that I am clearly a foreigner in. Nor, beyond my liking for beer, sausage and mustard, am I terribly German.
Peter Kammerer is a senior writer at the Post