Chen Shu-i has used her six years experience as a resident of Hong Kong to write about the metamorphosis Hong Kong has undergone in recent years. With the book being selected for readers of the China Times Express its level is manifestly derived from the author's own views. Nevertheless, for a Hong Kong person, the variety that can be seen today might be either admired or cursed, but there is nothing there that has not originated from the extraordinary pages of colonial history. If you want to examine the deep structures of cultural phenomena, then a search for their roots cannot be avoided.

Guests with august anger--the shame of changing masters: In 1843, after the British East India Company had broken the Ch'ing Dynasty's monopoly of Chinese trade, the British pursued profits by forcing the opium trade on China, which eventually resulted in the outbreak of the Opium War. Unable to defeat the foreign guns, the corrupt Ch'ing court had no choice but to pay an indemnity and sue for peace. In 1898 the British completely annexed Hong Kong. Under a situation that was too much even for the Cantonese character, renowned for its defiant tendency, the natives could only cause relatively minor disturbances for the British military, and the "shame of changing masters" became deeply embedded in their hearts. Yet the threads of nationalist thinking had not yet come together in the minds of the people.

Fortunately, in the early period of their rule over Hong Kong, the British government maintained it as a small market and adopted a laissez-faire policy which allowed the Hong Kong people to organize their own affairs, according to the law, and going by the book.

The Hong Kong government also annexed the Kowloon peninsula with the intention of making it an intermediate place between Britain and China. Under the liberal policy of the Hong Kong government, Chinese businessmen shying away from interference and disappointed people from military and political circles gradually gathered there to avoid hardships. Hong Kong thus became south China's doorway linking trade between the continent and the outside world.

Following the defeat of the Taiping rebellion, survivors scattered in all directions. Described in a ballad as "guests with an august anger," it is said that those who fled to Hong Kong spread anti-Ch'ing thinking there. Such verses as "The resistance has gone to ground; they have not finished the fight," stirred up nationalistic sentiments, and Hongkong became a revolutionary base.

A tide of refugees: After the Republican revolution of 1911, apart from disappointed warlords and politicians, most of those wanting to escape the incessant chaos were Chinese full of patriotism and fraught with anti-foreign feelings. Because most Chinese people wanted to be rid of imperialism and its unequal treaties, they would often take actions to oppose foreign goods.

In 1922, Hongkong seamen took the lead in going on strike, and were followed by a number of other cities. When the British, who were actively supporting Wu Pei-fu and other warlords, tried to interfere with the Northern Expedition of the Revolutionary Army, there was a large strike which turned Hongkong into a ghost town. The national situation gradually became more stable following the success of the Northern Expedition, and the Hongkong government slowly developed an understanding and cooperative relationship with Chinese officials and people.

With the outbreak of World War Two, refugees from southeast China flooded into Hongkong but it was not long before Hongkong itself was also occupied. Unable to forget the bitterness of broken homes and lost people suffered during this dark period of three years and eight months of humiliation at the hands of the Japanese, the older generation still call the Japanese by the derogatory term of "turnips."

People returning home to the mainland after victory over Japan were soon forced to flee once again as mainland China changed hands. Statistics reveal that between 1949 and the spring of 1950, about 750,000 people migrated to Hongkong from commercial centers such as Shanghai. This was a burden for Hongkong at that time, but in the years that followed these people were to become the seeds of Hongkong's prosperity.

The wounded harbor ambitions: In the first years of the 1950s the United Nations imposed measures to isolate mainland China. After the Korean War, the United States again blockaded the Communists, and entrepreneurs from the south were left high and dry at a stroke. Fortunately, relying on sharp wits and a spirit of pragmatism, with the Hongkong government continuing its hands-off policy, they developed labor-intensive exports to replace their industries. Moving from natural and synthetic textiles they developed the clothes manufacturing industry which, added to the financial industries that had flourished before the war, created a good situation in Hongkong.

At this time "brothers" fleeing the mainland troubles and arriving in Hongkong with Chinese-brand electric fans in hand found it hard to stomach the Hongkong way of survival, the demands for high efficiency and the style of doing things where only the capable got positions. They even described Hongkong as an "arid ship of ten thousand vices."

Nevertheless, with the chaotic incidents of the mainland--the Great Leap Forward, Three-Antis and Five-Antis campaigns and the Cultural Revolution--every letter from home was heart rending, but everyone felt completely helpless! It was from this time that the popularity of martial arts novels took off and the story of the Shaolin Temple's fight to restore the Ming dynasty became a favorite among the masses. Do not the wounded harbor ambitions?

Descendants of the dragon with "twolion" passports: This was the time that the first post-war generation grew to maturity, most of them growing up in circumstances of poverty and cramped homes. They knew about the Opium War, colonial policy, the 1911 revolution; to the north was "the great socialist motherland," and they themselves were descendants of the dragon: How could they use a "two-lion" British passport? How could they not study English when living under the Union Jack? If Bruce Lee beat up the Japanese, then great! If the mainland developed atomic weapons, good! Affluent Chinese people could buy foreign and Japanese goods, and those less well off could make do with mainland goods. This was the style of life that the experiences of the lost generation led to.

The world situation became changeable and unpredictable with the terrorist wave of 1967, the movement to protect the Tiaoyutai islands, the endless stream of refugees, the stock market storm of 1973, and the two oil crises of 1974 and 1979. Deep at heart, confidence in the future was beginning to collapse.

Good! Then play! Play at property, play at the stock market, play at work, play mahjongg, play the horses and the dogs, play the lottery, laugh and enjoy today! In any case, Hongkong has got nothing but its hands and brains. They played until the second post-war generation had grown up. The first generation had food, the second had clothes. They could really enjoy themselves.

Hongkong people lament that, "The buffalo plows the field, the horse gets to eat; dad sweats to make money and his kids get to enjoy it." Dad earns the bread, you spend it! In Hongkong, "Its fine to sweat and make money."

I do not speak Cantonese: Nevertheless, after 1981, the new situation of Hongkong's return to the "motherland" became daily more clear and short-term happiness was once again disturbed and displaced. Emigrate? Stay on in Hongkong? With good friends nearly all gone! Life outside not so good! What was to be done?

Using the position of a third party to get a deep understanding of any cultural phenomenon is never easy. In the same way, trying to understand the aimlessness, debauchery, anxiety, and the multitude of different attitudes that exist in Hongkong society is also not easy. The author relies on sharp observation and a good style to approach her subject from an informed position. Yet, arising from what seem to be a number of tacit questions in the work, a simple explanation from a longer historical perspective could be attempted. An explanation of today by expounding on yesterday and using history to explain the present situation might perhaps fill in some of the blanks that are left concerning the attitudes of people in Hongkong.

Within its limitations, this article has not analyzed the many causes of the estrangement that exists between Hongkong and Taiwan. Two examples can serve to finish: "When students come from Hongkong and Macao to study in Taiwan, it is only after they have passed some time there that they know Taiwan's lantern festival is held on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, and is not the Mid-Autumn Festival held on the fifteenth day of the eighth month"; "When Taiwanese go shopping in Tsim Sha Tsui, the Hongkong shopkeepers cannot speak fluently but they all try hard to use Mandarin to answer back. On the other hand, if people from Hongkong go shopping in Taiwan then the shopkeepers there only know one Cantonese sentence: 'I do not speak Cantonese!'"

[Picture Caption]

Author:1 Chih-ling (Chen Shu-i)
Publisher:Chang Laoshih
Price:NT$180
Pages:202
(photo by Diago Chiu)