10 observations about Hong Kong
1.) A two-week visit left me with the impression that Hong Kong is culturally underweight. You will pass a dozen Swarovskis before you run into a library. This is a hell of an indictment, I'm aware. After all, groups of Hong Kongers dedicated to the appreciation of Wong Kar-wai, Manet and Texas Hold 'em exist side by side. But I a speak primarily of a steadily shrinking monoculture, to wit: Every morning I read the South China Morning Post and watched a bit of TV. I realize these are tenuous windows into the public sphere, but they are what I had to work with. I never saw a movie review in the newspaper that was written on the island, and I never saw people discuss the arts (or have any meaningful political dialogue) on the television. The SCMP likes to run "opinion" pieces from mainland functionaries on how well HK is (well, was) behaving. It's creepy and infantalizing. 2.) A PLA (Chinese) soldier pointed his rifle barrel at my kneecaps when I walked in front
