I WRITE regarding racism in Hong Kong, as it relates to the use of the English language by a Chinese person.
I am Chinese and for the past 20 odd years, I have been educated mainly in English. I have worked as both a writer and a sub-editor on English-language newspapers. Therefore, in many ways, in my thinking and my behaviour, I exhibit the ways of a person bred in a Western culture.
I am proud of being Chinese, but, I am bilingual and on most occasions, I prefer to use English as my medium of communication. In using English I do not relinquish my Chinese identity.
This seems to elude many people with whom I communicate, who think that I worship Western culture. They are at a loss to understand why a Chinese person speaks to a fellow Chinese in a ''foreign'' language.
Has it never occurred to them that language is a vehicle of thought, and is only a medium of communication whereby a person conveys an idea, be it a wish, a request, or a command, to the person to whom he speaks? It does not represent a value judgment.
Therefore, in using a language or a medium of communication with which I feel at ease or comfortable, I have not violated any rules; I have not committed any ''crime''.