Hong Kong Phooey

A couple of nights ago I was reading my diary from 2002. The last part of it describes my difficulties in choosing to move to Hong Kong for the sake of being closer to my parents. I had built for myself a relatively comfortable life in London and although moving to Hong Kong was the right choice, it was not an easy choice to make.

It's now been a year and almost four months since I've arrived in Hong Kong. The daily drudge of cooking and cleaning has been replaced by takeaways and a cheerful old Filipina lady. My washing is done (with varying results) by a local laundrette. I can take taxis wherever I want without worrying about paying a ridiculous sum. I have the best Chinese food in the world, and the best girl friends around to have it with. Every now and then, I take in the views of Hong Kong from the Peak and mess about in junks. All in all, I think I've succeeded in making myself comfortable here, even if I still haven't got around to hanging my pictures.

The one thing that still bothers me somewhat about Hong Kong is the prevalent racism. I think because of my unique stance here as a non-Caucasian British expat I get to hear more of the attitudes of different groups than others. The attitude that some Caucasian expats have towards the Hong Kong Chinese, for example - Caucasian expats are quite happy to tell me that they think the locals are stupid. If you listen to their reason why they think so, you will see that it is only because some of them can't speak the Queen's English. In return, some Hong Kong Chinese feel that the gwailos (Caucasian expats - but it literally means 'foreign ghost' so it should technically include me, but because I am not Caucasian, the Chinese feel free to talk to me about their complaints!) are rude and arrogant, as nearly none of them bother to learn Cantonese even if they are here long-term, and unhygienic, on account of their habit of wearing shoes inside houses. A majority of Hong Kongers treat their Filipina maids appallingly - I know of maids sleeping on the kitchen floor. Filipinas don't speak to Hong Kongers unless they are spoken to. No one even bothers to remember that there are 18,500-odd Indians and 11,000-odd Pakistanis in Hong Kong (according to the 2001 census). As a result of these attitudes, it is very rare to find a social gathering that really encompasses every element of the Hong Kong population. I have attended gatherings where I was the 'token' non-Caucasian expat, non-Caucasian British expat, non-Indian, non-Chinese participant - all very enjoyable, but puzzling. I know very few people who are not as discriminating.

I suppose this is a characteristic of every society (to a certain extent) to have a negative attitude towards minority groups but I find it really disturbing that I cannot help but be involved in this segregation of social groups. I start wondering about every social encounter - when I find myself not having much interaction with some acquaintances of mine, I wonder whether it is because of our differences in race that we don't meet more often. I invite people to things and find that if they realise they are the only non-Caucasian/non-Indian/non-Chinese/non-Korean person to attend, they don't come along.

Why do things have to be like this?