Hong Kong, Part One
The Man Mo Temple
Hong Kong reminds me of Juneau… both are cities squeezed onto land and islands between mountains and water. Though Hong Kong has considerably more skyscrapers and people. A guide did the math: 30% of Hong Kong’s area is mountains… another 30% is its 260 islands (or is it 242? depends who you ask)… the remaining 40% is the land the city is built on, both Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula opposite. At the end of WWII the population was 600,000. In the 1960s, 2 million. Today, 7+ million.
Hong Kong also reminded me of Jane Gardam’s Old Filth Trilogy, about an English judge who went East then back West. Filth = Failed in London, Try Hong Kong.
We sailed into Victoria Harbor early Monday morning, aiming for the new cruise terminal, which is the old Kai Tak airport on Kowloon. Kowloon means Nine Dragons — early inhabitants believed a dragon lived under each of the nine mountains. I woke up just in time for the sail-in and the sunrise, though the persistent smog interfered with the photo.
Our Viking Daily stated: ‘Hong Kong is home to long-cherished Eastern traditions amid modern Western sensibilities.’ The British settled there in 1840 and it remained a British Overseas Territory until 1997, the ‘changeover’ back to mainland China. ‘The Iron Lady,’ as our guide referred to her several times, negotiated a 50-year extension before Beijing decides what will happen to the former ‘crown colony.’ Our two guides are concerned about their futures, and their children’s futures. Could Hong Kong become an independent country? Twenty-year-olds want independence, according to our 52-year-old guide. Today, he said, he has freedom of speech. But after 2047? During the Cultural Revolution (1966-76), his parents escaped mainland China, when he was one. During the Cold War, his uncle worked in Hong Kong for MI5 in what was called the Political Department. In the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s, Hong Kong was still a manufacturing hub. Following Mao’s death in 1976, there was a power struggle. With the ‘Open Door Policy’ of 1982, things changed. Factories moved to mainland China, and today, Hong Kong is referred to as ‘the Switzerland of Asia’ due to its prime role in banking and international finance. Since it is not a country, there is no national currency: three huge banks issue the money!
Some 95% of the city’s 7 million residents live in apartments. On our bus ride up and around the mountains, we saw a few private homes… very few. There are endless high-rise apartment buildings. The apartments are very small… and very expensive. In Hong Kong, the main language is Chinese, followed by English, followed by Mandarin. In Shanghai, the main language is Mandarin. There are three main religions in China: Buddhism, Confucianism (a system of living, not a religion per se) and Taoism. The Man Mo Temple is Taoist… Man is the god of literature, Mo is the god of war.
The temple is squished in among all these tall buildings — including the one positively covered in scaffolding. And, yes, the scaffolding is all made of bamboo tied together with very strong twist ’ems. I love the clutter: it reminds me of a marketing person back in ancient times who would look at a package design and say: ‘My eye doesn’t know where to look.’
‘Prayer ribbons’ attached to the cherry tree outside the temple.
Note the pen, left, symbol of the god of literature. The green ribbons are prayers — wishing for a good grade on a Lit exam, perhaps.
And the sword, for the god of war. Which is mightier? The debate continues...
These hoopskirt-shaped coils are incense. And they were all burning. Talk about smog...
Up up up the people-mover escalator, 800 meters up up up Victoria Mountain, though we didn’t get to the top until the next day. We walked all the way back down to ramble through the food market. Notice the trotters, on the right:
We were told that Chinese housewives shop two or three times a day, so everything is fresh...
...unless it’s dried, like these mushrooms...
I resisted... but a friend bought tiny mandarin style pjs for her granddaughter.
On the way ‘home’ via the Star Ferry across Victoria Harbour, we spotted meat for sale at the terminal... complete with the very helpful ‘Guide to Crocodile Cuts.’ #
