Quote:
Originally Posted by Hourglass
The ignorance of this statement boggles the mind.
Based on something you've read (and by the way, Chan in that article is talking out of his ass -- there have been tens of thousands of people in the streets from all walks of life supporting the student movement), you've tarred all Canadians in HK as money-grubbing opportunists who are simply holding their passports as a security policy. Oh, and they are all against the pro-democracy movement. Nice way to generalize.
This is not about democracy getting in the way of making a 'fast buck'. The protests have had a real impact on many people's livelihoods, particularly on retail and transport -- so of course there is concern. What if YOU were paying retail rents of C$10k per month as part of your family business and your sales receipts dropped 50-75% because of the protests? What if instead of taking 3 hours to do your delivery run, it takes 6 hours? I'll bet you'd be pretty upset too. HK doesn't have the generous unemployment benefits that Canada has. You don't work, you don't get paid. What if someone from your family has a heart attack and the ambulance taking them to hospital gets stuck in traffic because key roads are blocked? Idealism -- meet Reality.
At least take the time to find out what is really going on before making throwaway comments that display your absolute lack of empathy and understanding of the situation.
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>I find this opposition of opinion, and the one post quoted within the reply, painted rather in 'black and white.' Either you're a money -grubbing opportunist who bought a Canadian passport rather like a Swiss bank (well, sort of), with resident rights, who park their money here, live here with no regard for Canadian culture or values, or you're a 'good guy' an overseas-born, now Canadian citizen, who holds values and tolerances of behaviour:
... {like the first, second, and occaisionally third-generation Chinese kids most of us went to school with. Like the kids whose grandfathers helped build the CPR into Vancouver in 1886.
And remember that Chinese-Canadian auto dealer Ken Chang, who talked like a born Canadian, and ended each commercial clanging a huge brass gong!}
There was inclusive humour and goodwill then, and it shoud cointinue. There was, and is, a 'social synthesis' that usually occurs, and people have a natural instinct to want to 'fit in.'
There are shades of grey here that have not been examined.
Yes, to be frank, there are irreverant and arrogant opportunists, but I think they're rather a minority.
And yes, there are big houses and apartments vacant much of the year.
The world political/ecomic system has led to this situation, and it simply "is." Everyone will have a different perception of it, but whatever the outcome, we have to deal with it simply because what is, is.
(on a tangent I could go off on how Vancouver needs to develop a stronger more versatile economy to get income levels up, but that's another thread...)
Equally, there are Chinese (in this instance, since the discussion is about HK) who dress, talk, and think like the Canadian-born folks they are.
There are also of course simply pragmatic, business-people who continue to make money in HK, intending to return to live here, with real money behind them, usually including their kids' education. Knowledge is power.
They usually adapt to Canadian values quickly - at least the families I knew. The kids, especialy, wanted to "Westernize" ASAP.
**ok, as this is about HK itself and Beijing .... what
hourglass said about someone dying, stuck in traffic, really hit home; it's painful. Yet didn't we all, knowing of the possibily of Beijing oppressions, somewhere in the back of our minds see these sorts of conflicts possibly materializing? ... I did. Did anyone else?
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