So is Hong Kong affected by the fact it was owned by the Brits? If I went there as a Brit would it make a difference?
>>60263301
Yes.
No.
Apparently they do an impressive Full Breakfast there
I've seen a lot of Chinese restaurants in this country advertising their "American breakfast" too
>>60263350
Thank you big strong American for your well thought out and insightful posting.
Bongs still act like they own the place
I think the most of the locals wish they were still with Britain over the mainland. The city is like a hotter Asian London. Most everyone speaks English
>>60263564
Really? Cantonese is the main language though, I thought.
>>60263301
We should still own it 2bh
>>60263533
Enjoy your recession
>>60263564
>I think the most of the locals wish they were still with Britain over the mainland.
You think wrong.
HK was less free under British colonial rule. That's why people older than 18 didn't join the meme umbrella protests.
>>60264551
What gives you the right to say that?
>>60264808
He's an American. It's his job to not know anything about other countries
>>60264995
Aren't you?
>>60265367
I'm Israeli
>>60264808
Historical fact.
Self-rule and empowered elections was not a thing in colonial HK. Even in 1997.
The Queen appointed a ruler. UK parliament then confirmed him.
>>60265653
You don't need elections when your leader is great anyway.
> Was Hong Kong affected by the fact it was owned by the Brits?
Yes obviously. The place still enjoys the same rights of any developed country: Freedom of Speech, Free Assembly, Free Press, Freedom of Religion etc. In addition Hong Kong prospered when China was in decline under Mao.
The culture is a mix of East and West, unlike Mainland China. The CCP is trying to integrate them with the mainland forcefully, to make them more patriotic but Hong Kongers hate this. They don't want British rule back but there's a lot of nostalgia amongst the locals that things were better "back then".
> If I went there as a Brit would it make any difference?
I don't believe you enjoy any more rights post handover than we or any other developed country does. There are still a lot of traces of the Colonial legacy, but it doesn't give you any more rights. Hong Kongers are prejudiced like all East Asians and so view white people more favourably.
I love Hong Kong and have a great time whenever I'm over there.
>>60265653
Completely false. The most "Empowered" elections Hong Kongers ever received were the LEGCO elections in 1995 after Pattens constitutional reforms.
The CCP hated them as they gave too much autonomy and revoked them post the handover
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_Hong_Kong_electoral_reform
>>60266034
I'm thinking I'd like to do a year or so there after I graduate (the industry I'll be working in is very big in Hong Kong so there's plenty of scope for working there). It's not the sort of place that you'd struggle with communication, or get fucked to hell and back by manipulative locals?
I spent a few months in India and I know it can't be as hard going as that, but I've never really lived long term somewhere abroad. I've visited China and a few other Asian places, but only short term.
>>60266176
If you're working in Finance/Business then none of the expats speak Chinese. Every sign in shops and in the streets are in English so you can get by. The only place in Asia that's easier for westerners is Singapore.
Locals are incredibly polite and friendly. Other than maybe some Taxi Drivers you won't get exploited. It would be good of you to learn a few Cantonese phrases though.
How much english do they speak in hong kong?
>>60266398
It's not uncommon for someone to be fluent in English, but you'd be better off knowing some Cantonese
>>60266369
I'll be going there for working in the shipping industry so I'm 90% sure I'll get by fine in work, it was more for general life. That's good to know though.
Fuck, I can't wait to get travelling again. Being stuck in one place is suffering.
I think they're quite alright with Brits, especially considering how dismal their current leader is performing. They're very wary of China's unctuous manipulation of them.
Yeah, all the signs look like the ones in England and the people tend to speak better English than in the mainland. You don't need a visa but beyond that no one gives a fuck.
>>60266034
>there's a lot of nostalgia amongst the locals that things were better "back then".
Source needed
>>60266120
One semi-open election does not make my statement wrong.
>>60267007
>they
>them
No such thing as "them".
You need some sources.
>>60266120
>1995
>had 154 years to institute some kind of democracy, and only does a token vote 2 years before handing it back
>vote not meant as a final slap to the face to China instead of actually trying to instill democracy in the territory
Believe in the meme..... the Brits were good and didn't exploit the locals at all....
>>60266176
i'm literally doing a year there next year, got my british passport through my parents and am beginning Cantonese lessons at the end of the month.
>>60268164
He's simply a shitposter.
The elections were in violation of the treaty they signed in 84 as well. That's why it was revoked by the Chinese government.
That's like promising to give back Gibraltar to Spain, but the British elect an extremely pro-British government and appoint British people to every important position before handing it over.
It's just an asshole move.
>>60263301
Young HKers are all nostalgic about a past that they didn't even live through, a time when the average Brit could just waltz into the territory and did as they pleased while the best and brightest HKers had to go through IMMIGRATION to get to Britain itself.
They also long for the days when London unilaterally dictated who ruled over HK, like Chris Pattern, a failed MP who couldn't even get the people of Bath (a tiny tourist town with less than 100,000 people) to vote for him, and the consolation prize for his failure was to have absolute say in an economic powerhouse with more than 5 million people.
Yes, there is a reason why the older generation overwhelmingly rejected the 'umbrella revolution'. Young HKers must be the most cucked people in the world.
>>60268264
Well it was seen at the time by everyone concerned as well- a very naked slap in the face to China by a sulking Britain and nothing else. The HKers at the time certainly knew it as such.
Fast forward 20 years and the young of HK are all 'hurr durr the Brits wanted democracy for us, they was good masters to us they was". Honestly you can't make this shit up.
>>60268479
It's understandable. I'd rather get cucked by bongs than being under China's thumb.
>>60268479
Young HKers are, in general, pampered man-children.
It's amazing how naive they are. What do they think will happen if they leave China? They lose everything, but hey they have the freedom to be poor!
>>60268720
>I'd rather get cucked by bongs than being under China's thumb.
HKers disagree.
They are freer now than they were in the early 90's.
>>60268762
Well they did have an actual protest the other day at the japanese embassy about how Nintendo has ditched the Cantonese name for Pikachu to unify all naming under the Mandarin one.
An actual protest. About Pikachu. I don't know how they have the time to do such frivolous bullshit. Their parents must be really fucking happy that they're using their tuition money for THIS.
>>60268897
Asian youth are just too soft. HK youth are inherently soft and materialistic, Taiwanese youth are soft because they think they're Japanese, and Japanese youth are soft because nukes and anime. It's a fucked up situation.
>>60268479
The current system of electing the chief executive is hardly any different from Colonial Times. The "Election Committee" is packed with Beijing Friendly businessmen and people with overt ties to the mainland.
Either the status quo is preserved to allow no real say, or even if changed to hold public elections for the chief executive there is no chance of a candidate that isn't Beijings lapdog. Hence the Umbrella protests
>>60268164
Hmm I wonder why Hong Kong never was given democracy well after every other British territory was being given it.
> Another document recounts a meeting two years earlier, during which Premier Zhou Enlai told a British military officer that any effort to introduce even a modicum of self-governance to Hong Kong would be viewed as “a very unfriendly act” and a “conspiracy,” one he suggested would be seen as a move to set the colony on a path to independence.
> The threats had the desired effect. Britain made little effort to introduce electoral democracy in Hong Kong in the decades that followed.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/28/world/asia/china-began-push-against-hong-kong-elections-in-50s.html?smid=tw-share&_r=1
You Mainland diaspora are far too easy to spot.
>>60268762
Yes look at the poor people of Taiwan. Truly they are suffering without the guiding hand of the CCP
>>60268897
>>60268799
>>60268762
>>60268479
>>60268264
Enjoy your 50 cents
>>60268897
Yes their language is being unnecessarily marginalised. It might be over a trivial matter but it's a reaction to a greater issue of Cantonese being shoved aside in favour of Mandarin.
Let's not forget the hordes of Mainlanders that show up on cue outside foreign embassies whenever the Dalai Lama meets with a western politician.
>>60264551
>actually believing this
Beijing gets pissed off at people selling fucking dumplings in the street during Chinese New Year for fuck sakes.
>>60269448
Protip-plenty of people on the Mainland speak Cantonese. It's the dialect of the South. To think this is somehow being marginalized is pure fiction of the most epic of memes.
The dali lama is an actual proper issue with international reprecussions. Pikachu, on the other hand, is a character in a game. If you think they're somehow equivalent then I got bad news for you about the real world, buddy.
>>60263301
>So is Hong Kong affected by the fact it was owned by the Brits?
Oh come on guy, you no the ansewer.
>>60269757
Well, Of course it is.
>>60269707
Except it's not and Hong Kongers know it. Beijing is not in favour of regional languages as any sort of strong regional identity could prompt calls for autonomy as seen in Hong Kong, Tibet and Xinjiang. Cantonese useage has declined dramatically in Guangzhou and you know it. There's plenty of articles on the topic
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/mandarin-pushing-out-cantonese/article4293285/
And no the two issues aren't equivalent, but the Dalai Lama highlights how Tibetan culture has been eroded in the same way Hong Kongers are protesting today at the threat to their own culture.
>>60269993
*Except it is being marginalized
>>60269993
Funny how the person who has actually visited HK knows his shit more than the Yanks.
>>60269993
Everyone's a special snowflake nowadays, eh? Grow the fuck up.
By the way Guangzhou is a city with a lot of migrant workers so of course Mandarin is used more to communicate. Cantonese is still widely spoken in the Southern provinces and people from those provinces are pretty cool with it.
>>60265567
Come home shlomo
>>60270533
How is this funny or surprising in the slighest?
