Halloween in LKF

No, I was too tired and too sick to actually be frolicking around Lan Kwai Fong where there's a huge Halloween celebration but I did drop by a week before the Halloween bash and got these shots. Enjoy!

Breaking News: Occupy Hong Kong takes to the streets for Halloween

I was doing some errands when I suddenly heard a whole lot of shouting. Upon further investigation, I found out that the heavier than normal police presence on Nathan Road today was caused by a protest staged by Occupy Hong Kong. (See my last post when I visited about two weeks ago here.) I joined the protesters for a bit as they were walking down the street.

Coincidentally, I was at the HSBC building yesterday, waiting for a friend who was going to the Michaelmas fair at St. John's church (I'll post something about this soon). I was surprised that two weeks after Occupy Hong Kong started, there were more or bigger tents, a common area with couches and bookshelves, a cooking area and a bulletin board with a schedule of activities and events. (Sadly, I couldn't decipher all the characters. If I did, I think the writing in black for the 30th of October is about the protest today.) Also coincidentally, the friend who was with me had mentioned that media interest was waning though I guess that statement will be thrown out the window in light of today's protests as there were many reporters, photographers and cameras running around.

Here are some pictures from yesterday:







Pictures from the protest today:

I think the people on that sign are candidates for Chief Executive in the upcoming elections.



This guy was "eating" the hand. I couldn't help but think of Lu Xun's "A Madman's Diary" (you can click the title to read the story).


I'm not exactly sure why there are pictures of people dressed as buildings but an educated guess would be because Hong Kong has a huge housing issue and it also happens to have the highest real estate prices for housing, especially when one considers low-income housing in cage houses.


V for Vendetta masks are a part of Occupy Hong Kong as well. There are other pictures of the mask wearers but I find this one poetic for some reason.


More V for Vendetta masks.


The mask wearers at the front of the protest were throwing spirit money that's burned for dead people.


At this point, a girl at the front was shouting about how they're young people who decided to do this because it's Halloween and they can take this time to dress up and show everyone the horrors that are happening in Hong Kong society today. Protesters were distributing these pamphlets and stickers. I wish I was more apt to read it.


The media was there as well. At one point, a chunk of protestors behind the white ifc thing stopped en route because they were being interviewed by reporters. There were also journalists walking with the protesters, tablets and recorders on hand. I couldn't quite get pictures of this while in the fray but I got this:


I wonder if this will come up on the news tonight. The protest was too late to be broadcast on the evening news.

A miracle...

So when you're on the MTR after a long, long day, you're always hoping for a seat. However, for anyone who has ever lived in Hong Kong for more than 2 weeks, you know that it would take a near miracle for you to get a seat. Especially during rush hour. What's even worse is when you're tired, have no seat and you're stuck in that junction between two subway cars and the damn thing squeaks every time it moves. The sound isn't as annoying as that of two styrofoam objects rubbing against each other or that of nails on a chalkboard but it's close to it.

In any case, I was super amused by the sight of an empty MTR train car at 7:30AM on Saturday. Pure awesomeness.

Occupy Hong Kong

Since Saturday, many major cities around the world have followed the lead of protestors on Wall Street to start their own "Occupy" movements. The movement has spread to Asia, but it is definitely not as strong as the Occupy movements in North America in Europe. Though I didn't get to partake in the demonstration at Exchange Square in Central on Saturday, a friend of mine who did participate informed me that there were about two hundred people there, most of them reporters. There are, however, other news reports stating that the total number of protestors on Saturday was 500. In the end, I decided to visit Central and the protest and see how it was doing on its third day (also coincidentally, the one month anniversary of the protest on Wall Street). After watching the news this morning, it seems as if the protest is now concentrated in front of the HSBC headquarters in Central, rather than the Exchange Square.

When I got there, there were about ten tents and at most 30 people sitting around them. People definitely passed by and to take a look at what was going on, reading the signs and taking pictures. There were also signs where you could write your ideas and solutions to the problem of capitalism. I did contribute to one of the signs, though I don't know what will happen to it. Reading the comments, there was no bashing of the movement as far as I can see, which gives me hope but the "Occupy" movement in Hong Kong looks to be rather weak for a city with a population higher than all of Canada. Still, on the news, the protestors did say that they felt their protest was successful because it made people think about the problem of capitalism. I'm not sure if that's really true but I guess it's a start. Here are some pictures.

The psychedelic HSBC headquarters.


What was going on on the main floor.


There were about 10 tents and a whole bunch of tables and signs.


There was cloth and paper where people could write on.


Anti-capitalism signs.




The sign at the bottom says, "The world is ours."


A letter expressing thanks for the support as well as encouragement to join the movement.

Multiculturalism in Hong Kong

Last Wednesday was double 9s day, where it was the 9th day of the 9th month on the lunar calendar. The day is supposed to be full of yang and whatnot and for some reason, it's a national holiday so woot! Some friends and I went to Central for lunch and when we were walking around, we happened upon a cultural festival.

Hong Kong likes to boast that it's multicultural and even though it's definitely not as multicultural as Toronto, it still has a vibrant Filipino, Indian and West Asian population as seen here. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.


Cute little girls doing a Nepalese folk dance.


They ladies on stage were singing and dancing to disco. Awesome.


Such bright and colourful costumes!

National Day in Hong Kong

October 1st is a national holiday in Hong Kong as it was the day the People Republic of China (to which it belongs to) was founded today in 1949. In other words, it's like the 4th of July in the U.S. or July 1st in Canada day but for *mainland* China. The main celebration was of course, the fireworks at Victoria Harbour where people lined up for hours to secure a spot in Tsim Sha Tsui but a friend suggested that we go elsewhere ('tis a secret spot) and some friends and I did and we got to partake in a 20 minute display of fireworks. Awesome.


National Day wasn't all about fun and games though. As I was walking down Nathan Road, a small parade was marching down as well. There were marching bands and most of the parade consisted of people holding up banners. It seemed all cheerful and whatnot... until you read the banners. I'm pretty sure I saw one that said, "The PRC was born out of ten thousand (a figurative number that's often used to express the idea of infinity) atrocities." It might've said something else along those lines since my Chinese reading skills are still limited but I'm pretty sure that's what it said. Unfortunately, that banner went by before I could pull my camera out and take a picture but here's some of the other banners.


In the end, I think the entire parade was organized by the Falun Dafa, a sect that is prosecuted in Mainland China and therefore, followers have been fiercely opposed to the Chinese Communist Party.

I guess this is the funny thing about Hong Kong. Despite the fact that its ties to China are strong, there's still an element of independence here. This little parade on this national holiday would not have been allowed if these people had hopped on a train and went north for about 2 hours. It's the same with the candlelight vigils held on June 4th.

In any case, today was the first time I began to feel a little happier with this living situation. It's hard to NOT be homesick when you realize that you're not going home for a year but seeing the National Day celebration and the parade protest/whatever you can call it really made me remember why I wanted to come here in the first place.