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.