25 years after the UK handed the city over to China, Hong Kong's suppressed and surveilled people keep freedom alive creatively and furtively.
I began to recognize the hushed tones of many of today’s Hong Kongers. Growing up in punitive Singapore, I’ve long observed a weird conversational antic that occurs when people discuss a topic deemed taboo—things as quotidian as politics, local politicians, even sex.
In such a fearful atmosphere, one has to grow vigilantly observant to see the free expression of what cannot be freely expressed. It was hard to know where to begin to look. From the point of view of a newcomer in 2021, 2019 felt like buried history. The people were mum, but the city itself was making contact—in the shadows and in plain sight. It was speaking to me in a language I did not yet understand.
The city’s architecture bespeaks the literal whitewashing of its psyche, a kind of metaphor for the lobotomy that is being performed on collective memory. As I walk around my pristine and immaculate campus, there is nary a mark that betrays the intensebetween protesters and police from just three years ago. But when the light hits just right, one notes where the white paint is glommed on too thick.
post-its. To the uninformed and uninitiated, this appears as a curious kind of kitschy decor—but far from beingmarked, it tellingly marks a wry challenge to power. Cleverly staging appearance as disappearance,At every moment, at every turn, something is peeking out, waiting to be noticed by the attentive flaneur, nostalgic city-dweller, the amnesic citizen—often barely there yet significant precisely because it shouldn’t be, but is.
Ireland Latest News, Ireland Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Dior Signals Confidence in Hong Kong With New Flagship on Canton RoadThe absence of tourism continues to weigh on Hong Kong’s retail market.
Read more »
Bookstore owner to ask Pelosi to help Hong Kongers at Taipei meetingA staunch defender of human rights and long-time China critic, U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi is set to meet rights activists in Taiwan on Wednesday, a move certain to ramp up already fraught tensions between Beijing and Washington.
Read more »
Godzilla vs Kong 2 Working Title Teases Origin Story For The TitansGodzillaVsKong2 gets a working title hinting at origin stories for the two titular Titans in the upcoming sequel that is now in production.
Read more »
Dior Signals Confidence in Hong Kong With New Flagship on Canton RoadThe absence of tourism continues to weigh on Hong Kong’s retail market.
Read more »
Ins and outs of railguns: Will they eventually see widespread usage?Militaries around the world have been attempting to develop a functional, battlefield-ready railgun for over a century. Will it ever be pulled off?
Read more »
Luxury travel firm names San Antonio River Walk one of the most beautiful sights in U.S., worldThe River Walk was the only sight in the Lone Star State to make the list. SanAntonio SATX SanAntonioTX Texas tourism Travel TravelTuesday
Read more »