2020年8月16日 星期日

鼠年開春的港澳觀察

抓住農曆春節尾聲,從高雄飛入昔日葡式風味的澳門,乘船駛入英式風格的香港,體驗回歸20年後的物換星移,再飛回台北。跟港澳的緣份源自家人早期外派中國,總是藉由香港轉機,爾後又有同班同寢的同學嫁到澳門,近年則有朋友在香港金融圈工作,更別說那些引人入迷的電影場景,使得港澳成為我愛的、既熟悉又充滿驚喜的探索天堂。

#模範生的澳門


嫁入澳門的同學在女兒就讀的小學任職教師,她分享了一個去年發生在她們校園的新鮮事:學校老師發起了寫信給習主席的活動,小學生們寫的信被選出精華寄到北京,居然獲得習主席的親筆回信!全校歡慶並在當地傳為佳話,記者紛紛來校報導,榮耀至極。由於農曆過年同學回馬來西亞的娘家,無緣再會,品味起這個分享走入澳門歷史城區,思索著因假期價格翻三倍的家庭旅館「澳門之家」,房中電視頻道轉來轉去多是來自內陸官方冗長的政令宣導,模範生半島上的生活步調似乎沒什麼劇變。

受到COVID-19波及入境澳門有著層層把關,街道上依舊飄著濃濃的過節氣氛。

翌日中午坐公車抵達港澳碼頭買了最近的航班前往九龍。船上出奇冷清,入境手續快速。

#大廈裡的香港和平旅店


離赫赫有名的重慶大廈很近的「香港和平旅店」,就座落在熱鬧的彌敦道上,住澳門1晚的價錢,可以在這裡住上6晚,兩晚不到台幣1,200元,可見當時遊客人數受到疫情與抗爭的影響,嚴重萎縮。利用在這裡住宿的晚上,就近到尖沙咀iSQUARE英皇戲院看了兩部電影:她們(港翻小婦人)、1917,電影院豪華卻亦冷清。

直到後來補看了王家衛的《重慶森林》,發現我住的這間很貼近電影場景,狹小的電梯空間、位於14高樓的住商混合,走到自己小房間的路上,會穿越多元文化的住戶,窗內的市井生活一覽無遺。

在TripAdvisor上找到了兩個徒步導覽,都來自The Hong Kong Free Tours舉辦,在艱困的時刻依舊風雨無阻,導遊請我們加入Telegram,以了解並更新香港抗爭活動的路段,如何趨吉避凶。

#香港與中國關係徒步之旅


選擇在早上徒步旅行期間更加親密地瞥見香港,在人群達到頂峰之前揭示這座城市。本次旅行的設計充分考慮了歷史愛好者,將帶您前往在香港歷史中發揮重要作用的建築,並提供您在指南中不太可能找到的信息。

1.中央政府綜合體 - 中國承諾在憲法中實現民主進程,但為什麼不在2017年發生?什麼是傘運動以及為什麼它成為現在香港最敏感的話題?

2.添馬艦公園 - 1898年以後,英國殖民香港和香港的情況如何?為何香港回歸是在一九九七年,這是香港與中國之間的一次幸福的團聚?

3.人民解放軍大樓 - 什麼是一國兩制,以及中國為何向香港作出承諾? 1989年天安門廣場後發生了什麼,香港人去了哪裡?

4.市政廳 - 第二次世界大戰期間日本人在香港的佔領。中國如何說服英國在沒有兩國戰爭的情況下返回香港?

5.終審法院 - 香港真的有一國兩制嗎?北京政府用來控製香港的最終工具是什麼? 剩下的旅遊重點是中央商務區的發展。

6.匯豐與中國銀行之間的風水之戰 - 香港最強大的銀行及其迷信。它的風水戰爭和與鄰國中國銀行的競爭。

7.皇后大道中 - 香港原有的海岸線及其如何隨時間演變。為什麼英國人選擇在中環建造香港首都呢?現代香港與舊香港的比較。

由於集合出發的地點離新聞焦點維多利亞公園很近,這是我參加過氣氛最肅殺的導覽團,身旁、遠處不乏黑衣人、警察盯哨。導遊是土生土長的香港人,天安門事件後離開香港到澳洲發展,退休後仍回到香港,希望透過義務導覽讓更多外國人瞭解香港、更多下一代明白歷史。對香港的未來抱持擔憂,擁有澳洲護照卻希望留到香港真的不能再待的最後一刻。

Hong Kong/China One Country Two System Tour@The Hong Kong Free Tours

In addition, we mentioned several things during the tour. Here are some helpful links if you are interested in learning more about the issues:

(1) Umbrella Movement:
Netflix made a documentary about a teenage activist Joshua Wong who took to the streets in a bid to preserve autonomy from China. He recently finished serving his jail time in Hong Kong

(2) Hong Kong People's Sorrow during 1989:
We have put in subtitles for a documentary about how people felt during 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre. This is a video of 15 minutes if you want to know more about the dilemmas of families immigrating to other countries at that time, followed by how the massacre destroyed the hopes of the people.

(3) 3 Years and 8 Months:
The older generation always talks about Japanese Occupation in World War 2 as '3 years and 8 months'. Whilst there are a lot more you can research on the topic, here is 3 minutes worth of memories of a woman recounting her experiences as a child at that time.

(4) Causeway Bay Bookstore Incident
Here's a short 2 minute clip which briefly explains the incident where owners of a bookstore which sells politically sensitive books have 'disappeared' in 2015. This caused extreme anxiety for the people of Hong Kong at that time, as it greatly undermines the principle of 'one country two systems'.

(5) Interpretation of Basic Law:
Beijing has interpreted the basic law 5 times since the handover, effectively amending and making new laws for Hong Kong. I mentioned that most recently, it has disqualified 6 pro democratic legislators from our Legislative Council. Here is a news article from that period to explain the issue in simple terms.
And a more detailed debate to the differing views at that time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7HjEGhSvkg

(6) Foreign Correspondents' Club:
After the FCC hosted a talk in August 2018 by Andy Chan (the leader of the pro-independence Hong Kong National Party), its Vice President and senior Financial Times Journalist Victor Mallet was denied his Hong Kong work visa renewal. Read more about its significance on free speech here: http://www.atimes.com/article/ft-journalist-denied-hk-visa-after-independence-row/  

#香港黑暗的徒步旅行


在九龍步行遊覽城市較不富裕的地區,了解香港的當地視角。訪問大多數遊客無法到達的地方,並聽取坦率的見解,了解當地貧困人口的真實生活。了解該市的住房危機,並在一天內訪問包括旺角,太子和深水埗在內的多個市場。

導遊不斷提及的Housing affordability,衡量一般家庭所得能負擔的房貸,一直以為台北很高了,但香港卻是超出全球各地太多(ex: 台北9.3/美國3.9/新加坡4.6/香港20.8)。光鮮亮麗的外表背後,香港有很多貧民區的居住環境是難以想像的狹小、雜亂,可這黑暗的促成者,政府卻要負很大的責任。我們行經了金魚街,這裡的店家為了負擔房租要賣出無數條裝在袋子裡的金魚,有的退而求其次選擇樓上租金較便宜的開店。有別於一般遊客的視角,這條導覽路線是從底層翻轉你的感官,帶著沉重與悲傷。

Housing Crisis and Subdivided Living Condition@The Hong Kong Free Tours

I mentioned several things during the tour that you might find interesting: Here are some resources if you like going into the details.

1. According to the 'Annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey', for the eighth year in a row, Hong Kong is the least affordable place on Earth. Where does your city stand?

http://www.demographia.com/dhi.pdf

2. In the tour, we mentioned that a second hand 2 bedroom 500 sq feet apartment in Mongkok would cost around HK$8M (~US$1M). What we didn't go into is brand new apartments. How are property developers building new flats to cater to the people's budget? How about introducing premium 'micro apartments' starting at 128 sq feet.

http://www.scmp.com/business/article/2056586/hong-kong-homes-shrink-prices-soar-and-affordability-goes-out-window

3.The HK government relies a lot on real estate. Revenue from land premium and stamp duty is already bigger than profit tax and income tax combined! And we haven't even included property rates yet! (Data from 2019 - 20 Budget)

https://www.budget.gov.hk/2019/eng/io.html  

4. 76% of our land in Hong Kong is undeveloped, leaving us with only 7% of land zoned for residential use! Scroll a bit further down from the below link to check out the land use analysis pie chart that the Planning Department has collated.

https://www.pland.gov.hk/pland_en/info_serv/statistic/landu.html 

5. The photos of the subdivided space / coffin house I showed you during the tour was taken by a local photographer and published with the help of a not for profit organization called SOCO. You can find out more about the photo album "Trapped" here:

http://www.soco.org.hk/trapped/

ISBN:978-962-7893-05-9


#日常卻有點冒險的步行路線


最好的旅行體驗是貼近日常。在網站上找到了練功點事先打了電話沒有回應,晨起我來到九龍公園,遍尋不著熟悉的練功音樂,便找了合適的地點就地打了幾套功法,買份報紙先去享受朝思暮想的港式飲茶。沿著維多利亞港,步行經過香港理工大學,校園外圍有大型的拒馬放置,進出受到黑衣人管制,氣氛瀰漫著警備。一轉彎,又回到了熱鬧的彌敦道,撞見屈臣氏外漫長的排隊人潮,回來爬新聞原來是搶購口罩的香港民眾。

九龍公園、尖沙咀、維多利亞港與香港理工大學

澳門進、香港出,看見了兩種絕妙不同的風景。最難忘的回憶是兩場香港徒步導覽,導遊說了一個比例,寓意是澳門與香港的居民,慢慢被中國移民所取代,澳門的比例已經很高,香港則是來到了6:4(講廣東話vs.中國移入)。等到了比例翻轉時,可能就自然而然不復存在一國兩制了。

回到台北後沒多久,自港澳入境實施了隔離政策,隨著疫情升溫,徒步導覽也暫停了。

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