Then & NowWhy Hong Kong’s wealthy need a reality check, nostalgia for a ‘better time’ often precedes a downfall
Like Marie Antoinette, the French queen who played at being a milkmaid on her fake farm, Hong Kong’s obscenely rich remain sheltered from life’s harsh realities
Nostalgia for a romanticised earlier Hong Kong has grown exponentially over the past decade. Many who look upon contemporary Hong Kong society with despondency, despair and disgust, and who – given existing political structures – are unable to effect any change, symbolically retreat to an earlier, “better” Hong Kong.
In this fantasy place, reward follows hard work, the “Lion Rock spirit” prevails against overwhelming odds, and the final, tear-jerking scene ends with a rousing Canto-pop ballad to which everyone, young and old, somehow knows the lyrics.
A recent lunchtime visit to one of Hong Kong’s clubs was a revelation. The usual groaning board of Chinese, Japanese, Korean and “international” options, haunches of roast meats, shoals of salmon and mounds of oysters was – by Hong Kong buffet standards – almost too ordinary for comment.
What intrigued, though, were the food stations that offered wonton noodles, minced meat, liver or preserved-egg congee with crispy yau ja gwai, scalded lettuce with oyster sauce, handmade fish-balls in soup and various other dai pai dong-style foods. All of it was served from stylised-yet-recognisable make-believe hawker carts, for the enjoyment of people who – for the most part – wouldn’t be seen dead eating from the real thing.
Likewise, Hong Kong’s shopping malls abound with well-meaning, affluent people pretending to be environmentally conscious, as they load up hand-stitched recycled cloth shopping bags with ethically sourced, free-range, certified-organic artisanal products that – with unthinking absurdity – have just been transported thousands of miles by air.
