Reflection #3 - 沒變動只怕僵化
3) 沒變動只怕僵化
In the late eighties and early nineties, in our efforts to imagine how Hong Kong would possibly be re-acquainted with the “fatherland,” we used to ponder what the response would be if Hong Kong were to ask Mainland China, or if Mainland were to ask Hong Kong the question: 你還愛我嗎. These words from the song capture the complicated feeling of the Hong Kong Chinese at that time: 我怎麼竟有點怕 若我身邊沒有你 還總不太差/ 沒變動只怕僵化 習慣天天共對 怎麼知道情會否感化 / 或許癡心已轉化 但你始終在我心中牽掛 無邊的牽掛
In 2012, TMP posed this question to Hong Kong: 你還愛香港嗎
The question received many responses on Weibo and these comments were projected onto the screen as TMP performed the song. Opinions include love and dis-love for various reasons. One said “I love Hong Kong because this is where I was born and where I plan to stay.” Another said “I don’t love HK anymore because it’s becoming increasingly like Mainland.” One comment that drew cheers from the crowd went something along the lines of “I love Hong Kong because it’s one place where I can still hear Cantonese.”
Now that Mainland China has exerted its influence on the city in many aspects, and that the Hong Kong government is proving itself incapable of executing policies to safeguard the values of its citizens, and that we had just witnessed a most heated and ugly Chief Executive election, it is a good time for HK people to re-evaluate our love for the city we call home. But the act of asking if we “still” love this place is to imply that it is possible one day to stop caring, that our love for Hong Kong is not unconditional. If so, what needs to be the condition for this love to sustain? Too often in our city we observe a passive indifference to efforts that certain individuals make in trying to carry out change in our society. Is it possible then, as the lyrics of the song suggests, that our feeling for the city can one day 僵化or 轉化? Love is too abstract a concept, and also too generalized. The love a person has for a place is even more difficult to define. But I do believe that the extent to which we care about the developments in our city would affect the decisions we make each day. Another thing I struggle to understand is what it is like for one to be living in a place that one does not care about.
In the late eighties and early nineties, in our efforts to imagine how Hong Kong would possibly be re-acquainted with the “fatherland,” we used to ponder what the response would be if Hong Kong were to ask Mainland China, or if Mainland were to ask Hong Kong the question: 你還愛我嗎. These words from the song capture the complicated feeling of the Hong Kong Chinese at that time: 我怎麼竟有點怕 若我身邊沒有你 還總不太差/ 沒變動只怕僵化 習慣天天共對 怎麼知道情會否感化 / 或許癡心已轉化 但你始終在我心中牽掛 無邊的牽掛
In 2012, TMP posed this question to Hong Kong: 你還愛香港嗎
The question received many responses on Weibo and these comments were projected onto the screen as TMP performed the song. Opinions include love and dis-love for various reasons. One said “I love Hong Kong because this is where I was born and where I plan to stay.” Another said “I don’t love HK anymore because it’s becoming increasingly like Mainland.” One comment that drew cheers from the crowd went something along the lines of “I love Hong Kong because it’s one place where I can still hear Cantonese.”
Now that Mainland China has exerted its influence on the city in many aspects, and that the Hong Kong government is proving itself incapable of executing policies to safeguard the values of its citizens, and that we had just witnessed a most heated and ugly Chief Executive election, it is a good time for HK people to re-evaluate our love for the city we call home. But the act of asking if we “still” love this place is to imply that it is possible one day to stop caring, that our love for Hong Kong is not unconditional. If so, what needs to be the condition for this love to sustain? Too often in our city we observe a passive indifference to efforts that certain individuals make in trying to carry out change in our society. Is it possible then, as the lyrics of the song suggests, that our feeling for the city can one day 僵化or 轉化? Love is too abstract a concept, and also too generalized. The love a person has for a place is even more difficult to define. But I do believe that the extent to which we care about the developments in our city would affect the decisions we make each day. Another thing I struggle to understand is what it is like for one to be living in a place that one does not care about.
posted by Adam C at
3:05 AM
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