What Hong Kong is

HONG KONG AIRPORT

Free wireless internet in the Hong Kong Airport. How perfect.
Leaving in an hour on flight CX701 to Bangkok.


They say Hong Kong is the city where East and West collide. I suppose that is true, though no doubt more so forty or fifty or one hundred years ago when it was still a dangerous port town full of pirates, opium dens, rickshaws, and thieves. Somewhere along the road they were gradually removed and replaced with yuppie housing developments, living room art galleries, glamorous shopping streets, and glitzy bank towers. Of all the places I’ve been in Asia, this city felt the least Asian. Every sign had English subtitles, every waiter and public servant spoke proper British, the cars the roads, the street signs, all lacked that exotic appeal. But here let me digress. Something that occured to me as I wandered back alleys in Central looking for stray graffiti sprays was this idea of exotic and how my perception of it is drastically changed. My reference point when seeking the exotic or even speaking of it, is no longer America as much as it is Korea. In fact I think I would probably find returning to the USA more of a culture shock than visiting Hong Kong. We shall see as my journey progresses if I retain this sense of familarity. But to return to the subect at hand. Hong Kong feels much less like a collision than a tacit agreement between to merchants. For what is good for one is good for the other. Hong Kong seems to belong to no one. It floats on clouds of prosperity like a hovering spaceport free for the whole world to enjoy. We all dock our ships, buy, take a few photos, and leave.

But to be frank, I still don’t know what Hong Kong is.