当英国佬知道不能再控制香港后, 就开始灌输“政治, 投票, 独立”的思想过来。 Felt like all of a sudden we should have 一人一票。That was the right thing to do, when the British were leaving. That was the whole of their point. The kids thereafter just did not study the history nor wanted to study at all - which led to where we are in Hongkong today. Do not have an illusion that the Brit-run government was much better. They faced 2 conditions which led to the thriving of Hongkong at that time: 1. Absolute power coming from the UK government - remember our books in the 1970s of our legislative council selection process? 2. Turmoil in Mainland China and everyone needed Hongkong to be the bridgehead for China Chris Patten lost his seat at Bath after his election (but helped his party to win the General Election, he was the chairman of Conservative Party at the time) and so he was rewarded with the highest paid job in the British government - the HK Govenorship. That's when that time bomb was laid upon us. The past governors were decent people, like Wilson and Maclehose (ironically speaking they were both Scottish, and the English are the most arrogant race, while the Welsh and Scots are not - unfortunately our knowledge at the time were weak and collectively we called them the British). Do not think Beijing is bad for Hong Kong. The government of Hongkong were so used to taking orders from the Brits, and when the Brits left, they had no ideas on how to run a place like HK. Beijing weren't going to do any governing of HK as long as you don't start a fire to burn Beijing down. 50 年不变是真的 50 年不变。 但是不管的时候我们的小孩就好像疯子一样。 Beijing wanted to use HK to lure Taiwan back. Even the British who left HK after 1997 knew the whole plan. Not many Hongkong people understand that - but the Brits knew. One thing for sure, if you have a stable society you can then thrive. Riots and complaining this and complaining that won't do a thing. 香港精神就是什么情况我们都能 get over it. Use the situation and turn it into our advantage no matter what it is. That is what I call 香港精神.
I lived in HK during 79-82 as Korean, in that 3 years I learned cantonese and went to public school 3 to 6 grade. It was really tough as kids were brutal to me as I was not able to communicate at the beginning. However I have strong emotional tied and fond memory with HK! Thank you for sharing. It is amazing 40+ years had passed and I have yet to return….