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| Our local swimming hole |
She’s been here in Discovery Bay for 20 years.
“Same here” I say, “23 years”.
“So you like it here?”
“Sure, I like DB. I like Hong Kong.… And what about you?” I dare to ask, “are you optimistic about Hong Kong, or …?”
She’s cautious. “What do you mean?”
“Well, you know, with the new National Security Law and all…”.
“I’m Chinese,” she says, “so I’m optimistic. I think it’s good.”
It’s a lovely day. Clear, 30 degrees, cloudless. Central Hong Kong clean-cut to the east. It seems safe, lounging in this lovely pool, to be a touch contrarian.
“But there are many Chinese — over billion! Here in Hong Kong and on the mainland. And with many different views. You know, Blue and Yellow ‘n all. Some are optimistic. Some not.”
She avoids this. “What about you?” she asks.
“Yes, I’m pretty optimistic. Well… maybe more like… I’m hopeful.”
She doubles down. “I’m Chinese. So I trust my government”.
And I’m wondering, does she mean “Chinese” as in the nation? Or “Chinese“ as in the ethnicity? And is there any other place where anyone would say something like that? “I’m English, so I trust Boris”? Or “I’m Australian so I hate the Poms”?
I say I enjoy going to China and meeting Chinese, am married to someone born in Beijing, but I sure don’t trust Xi Jinping. Which she just lets pass.
“Where are you from?” she asks.
“Well, I like to say I’m from here. From Hong Kong.” Faint smile. “I feel more Chinese than anything. And I’ve lived here longer than anywhere”.
She smiles, and we leave it at that, as she swims off.
And I’m thinking that that question — “where are you from” — has been deemed a “micro aggression” in the woke west, a kind of casual bigotry. It is said to delegitimise the person you’re asking. For me, I’ve had it a million times as I’ve lived in Asia 40+ years. I find it a touch niggling, but nothing to get hung up about. It’s understandable for people to be curious about anyone anywhere who doesn’t fit the mould of the majority. Sometimes I’ve had fun with it. In southern China I was asked “where are you from” and said “from the Northeast. I’m from Heilongjiang”, to their astonishment. “Oh… is that what they look like up there!” (Me, 6’3”, long nose.… which the Chinese call “high nose”).
And I wonder. The term “racism” has been expanded, at least by American-based progressives (the “woke”), to include the concept of “power”. Hence People of Colour cannot be racist because they don’t have power, whereas white people are innately and inevitably racist - whatever they say or do - because they have power. [ADDED: and here’s the wonderful Titania on that issue]
So I wonder. What about here in Asia, where white people are a small minority? Does that mean caucasians are innately “non racist”? Does that mean that the POC in this region are innately and inevitably racist? Should white people complain about “micro aggressions” ? Are we now able to be victims?
Clearly not, but it’s the sort of nonsense you get by following the woke-west ideology ad absurdum.
