After such a long time being run by the bastard English you would’ve reckoned on our Hong Kong residents being a little more sophisticated than they are so obviously not. A Cantonese colleague of mine tells the story of flights to China from Hong Kong where your normal reserved Cantonese person will leave Hong Kong and, en route, turn into rabid barbarian once they touch down in the ”motherland”. This is where the the Cantonese are heading and most of my colleagues,Cantonese, are going the same way. When I was based in the central areas the staff were more open but now we’ve moved to this hinterland they have morphed into every other bemused ”man-in-the-street” and walk past in a fearful, pensive fashion because that’s how every one else acts ergo they must do the same. Safety in numbers DO NOT STAND OUT is the aim of the game for these dudes. Me? I stand out like a spare prick at a wedding which gives them the jitters so they avoid me like the plague.
It’s cool, I don’t have much inclination to talk in poor English about food, food and, er, food either so it cuts out a lot of wasted energy. I used to cringe, in fact still do, when I saw films or read how the English treated the locals of any country they colonised all those years ago but you know, some people have to be told and if you give them the power of choice or lateral thinking they will take yonks and mess it up. You are best just telling them yourself. Really. Do this, do that and quick with it there’s a good chap. Oddly the Thia’s and Filipino’s that I know are the complete opposite and very clever and look at the Japanese who I adore for so many reasons. No, this isn’t an Asian tirade this is a Cantonese thing and they need to check themselves before they regress so far that they will be left behind in a for ever and I think I now know where the Japanese are coming from these days. I really think so.