ReadersDigestAustraliaNewZealand-March2018

March• 2018 | 111

PHOTO: RICHLEGG/GETTY IMAGES

Street markets in the Mong Kok neighbourhood of Kowloon

haggling loudly over meat, fish and

vegetables.

Streetmarketsareamust-seein

Hong Kong, but be prepared for the

smells–meat,seafood,stinkydurian

fruit–andalittlegore:Iwatchaven-

dorprovetoacustomerhowfreshhis

fishisbyslicingalongoneside,fold-

ingthefilletbackandexposingthe

still-intact beating heart.

Nearby, beneath an overpass, we

encounteracurioussight:anelderly

womanchantingwhileshebeatsa

paperwithashoe.Acustomerhas

writtenonthepaperthenameofa

personwhohasupsethim,welearn.

Afterwards,thepaperisrubbedwith

pork fat and burned. This ritual beats

the‘villain’outofthecustomer’slife.

Laterwestoptocheckoutthewares

of a grey-haired woman hanging

men’s shirts on the metal grille of an

office building. As Jules peruses the

shirts, I ask her, “Do you feel Hong

Kong has changed under Chinese

rule?” She’s dismissive. “I’m just part

of the little people,” she says. “I only

want to make enough money. I don’t

care if Britain or China is here.”

OTHER ENTREPRENEURSwe en-

counter seem to agree it’s business

as usual. Before the handover, many

people here feared Communist China

would curtail the capitalism and hu-

man rights protections Hong Kong

enjoyed under British rule, even

though China promised self-rule –

“one country, two systems” – for 50

years. But, as Christine Loh, a legisla-

tor here before and after the handover,

expressed in an email to me, “The