Cartoonist says SAR a habitat with everything it needs but freedom
In the leadup to the 10th anniversary of the handover, we profile Hongkongers for whom it has special significance
While Hongkongers are still waiting to see Le Le and Ying Ying, political cartoonist 'Zunzi' Wong Kei-kwan sees giant pandas all around him.
'Hong Kong is just like a panda given by the mainland,' said the 52-year-old, who has devoted half his life to drawing caricatures. Like pandas, he says Hong Kong is part of the mainland's 'brand', enabling it to earn admission fees from visitors.
'It lives in a habitat with everything it needs, but its freedom is restricted,' he said. 'It has to be docile and obedient.'
Giant pandas have significant meaning for Zunzi. On a website of 22 pan-democrats calling for universal suffrage by 2012, one of his cartoons is featured showing a pair of pandas - Po Po and Sun Sun, whose names make up the words 'universal suffrage' in Chinese. But in reality, he is pessimistic about having full democracy within the next 10 years.
'It is very unlikely to happen,' he said. 'It all depends on whether Hongkongers will keep fighting for that. If we don't persist, [Beijing] definitely won't grant us the right.'