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Daniel PS Goh[/h]A few years ago, in a research trip to Hong Kong, I spent a memorable few hours with an activist involved in both the heritage protection movement and the democracy movement. He brought me to lunch at his favourite cha chaan teng filled with cantonese din and loud-but-kindly auntie servers in a district challenged by gentrification and property developers. After lunch, he showed me around the district like a ghost haunting a battlefield, floating easily in and out of the human traffic to meet locals, developers and government officers involved in a web of struggle, opening my eyes to things and relationships I would have easily missed.
And this was before he headed down to Statue Square to join a protest for media freedom. I had a question for him: what is the link between his heritage activism and his democracy activism? He said something quite profound that I am still thinking through.
He said he was defending his 街坊 (jiefang in mandarin), which roughly translates to neighbourhood, but which means much more to him than that. It means being part of a local community able to walk freely in its own land, where everyone shares the same courtyard like a big family whose memories run deep in the soil. For him, the cha chaan teng, though not near where he lived, was his 街坊. Queen's Pier, though colonial in intent and origins, was his 街坊. Hong Kong, though a global city, was his 街坊. China, though he thought was behaving like an imperial overlord, was his 街坊 and championing democracy was ultimately about defending this 街坊 in the world.
I hope he and others are keeping safe and strong in the streets-turned-街坊. An amazing city with incredible citizens.