“Harrrr ! (That’s the Cantonese sound of disapproval.) Why would you go to Chungking Mansions? For what purpose?” Despite his habit of questioning my every move and decision as a “responsible” Asian Chinese dad, this was my dad’s initial reaction when he heard my plan to visit the notorious building.
You see, I’m a local Hong Kong kid through and through, born and raised right here in this crazy and, bustling city. Both my parents are lifelong residents of Hong Kong – where we call home, they have witnessed the place transformed from a little fishing village to the towering metropolis it is today. From the stories I’ve been told since childhood, I realize my parents and I have quite different perspectives on various aspects of our city, especially given that things have changed drastically. After all, we grew up in different eras.
Just to name a few, unfriendly nicknames like “Ah Cha” and “Ba Gay Lan Tan” were some colourful terms being tossed around by Chinese Hongkongers to refer to Indian and Pakistani folks in the past or even now for some. The deep-rooted hatred can be traced back to my grandparents’ and parents’ generations. I still remember seeing these slurs frequently used in old TV dramas from the 70s and 80s, when there was a near-absence of a single non-Chinese actors and actresses.
Some say the British colonial powers deliberately stirred up this kind of xenophobia as a way to keep the “barbaric and uncivilized” Chinese masses in line. They supposedly brought in these darker-skinned, burly SouthAsian recruits to basically scare the locals into behaving. Sounds kinda messed up when you think about it. The innocent new arrivals were just trying to make a living, and ended up being seen as monsters by the very people they were meant to serve. Up until now, there’s still a lingering impact of such an intricate yet inevitably intertwined relationship between groups of residents, despite we have been sharing this city we all call home for so long, we never seem to know ourselves and each other enough.
History is what it is. But I do find this colonial legacy and its impact on Hong Kong’s diversity fascinating. I, for one, is intrigued by the rich colonial history we have in this small city, which leads to a diverse culture we see today and that explains pretty much why I would “rebelliously” want to see how all these stories and cultures come together in one crazy building.
[To be continued…]
重慶大廈 壹 - 千禧視角
「 吓! 你點解要去重慶大廈呀？好危險架窩。去做咩呀？」作為一個盡責的亞洲華人父親，雖然他會慣性地對我的每一個舉動和決定提出質疑，但這確實是爸爸在聽到我打算造訪那棟臭名昭著的大樓時的第一反應，和我想像中的反應一樣。因此，我早就決定到我出門的那一刻才告知。
我是一個地地道道的香港本地孩子，在這個熱鬧的城市裡出生和長大。雙親都是在這座我們稱之為家的城市的成長，他們見證了香港從一個小漁村蛻變成今天的摩天大樓都市。透過從小聽到的故事，我意識到我和父母在看待城市的某些方面確實存在相當大的觀點差異，原因在於我們在不同的時代成長，而這些年來香港經歷了巨大的變遷。
「阿查」和「巴蓋烂坦」這些不友善的暱稱對於我而言耳熟能詳，都是香港華人用來指稱印度和巴基斯坦裔人士的一些生動詞彙，大家都「用慣用熟」。這種根深蒂固的仇恨或厭惡可以追溯到我祖父母和父母那一代人。我甚至還記得在觀看70年代和80年代的老電視劇時，經常能聽到這些貶義詞被不停提及，諷刺的是當時幾乎看不到一個非華裔的演員和演員，但大家都不約而同地將矛頭一致向「外」。
有人說，英國殖民統治者有意挑撥這種排外情緒，作為維持「野蠻和不文明」的華人群眾秩序的手段。他們據稱引進了這些皮膚較深色、體型較壯碩的東南亞新兵,基本上是用來嚇嚇本地人，讓他們乖乖聽話。這些無辜的新來者一心只是想謀生，結果卻被他們本應服務的人視為怪物，而經過這麼些年和巨大的變遷，這種影響一直延續到現在，不同族群的市民有著一種微妙的化學反應和關係，儘管這麼多年大家共同稱香港為「家」。
歷史就是歷史。我個人對我們城市豐富的殖民歷史魂牽夢繞，這也造就了我們今天所看到的多元文化,這也很大程度上解釋了為什麼我會「叛逆性」地想去看看這些故事和文化如何在這棟瘋狂的大樓中融匯交織。
(待續。。。)
