83-year-old Li Yi: I don’t have long to live, but I believe Hong Kong young people have wisdom beyond imagination
BeWaterLi Yi is 83 years old. According to him, he takes several medicines a day, for diabetes, for whatever ... and sleeping pills. He often said that he couldn't sleep well since he was young, but he still wrote five newspaper columns a week and did "one-minute reading" for RTHK. Li Yi reads all kinds of news online, and he is no less enthusiastic than younger people. There is a Thai helper who cooks and serves him. Other than that, his home is only a house full of books.
Li Yi's family is all in foreign countries and his late wife was buried in Canada, but he is still struggling in Hong Kong alone. Li Yi said that at this stage, he probably should be with family and write his own autobiography. "Of course I can still write if I leave Hong Kong." However, Li Yi cannot not let go of Hong Kong and leave. He states that ever since Hong Kong’s future problems in 1981, he has been "love Hong Kong" and since then "the feelings for China have been very weak."
Decades of pessimism and proactivity
Li Yi often said that he was pessimistic but proactive. His pessimism started in the 1980s. He never believed in "one country, two systems" and kept talking and writing about it, but at that time Hong Kong society was not ready.
"Many people did not believe it at the time, but they did not take any actions. People indeed did not believe it at the time, but they thought, what could they do? Everyone thought that China was an irresistible force, and Britain has given up on us. Who could save you? It means you are going to marry an ugly and old man, your parents have decided for you. If you refuse, they will starve you. So you go ahead to see if your husband will change slowly after marriage, will you adapt to your new life. Many people emigrated after the confirmation of the Sino-British negotiations was settled. "
"The Chinese have the charged acter of a refugee. They escape when something happens. They do not resist when there is oppression. When there is disaster they do not tackle it. No one said that we had to fight here, or the fight would be successful. At that time there was a country selling her passports, the Kingdom of Tonga. I bet you do not know where it is. It is an island in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. At that time, South America, Europe, and Singapore all came to sell passports. Of course, Singapore’s passports should be more expensive than Kingdom of Tonga’s.”
After the immigration wave, of course, 4 June, the pessimism of Hong Kong reached its peak. "At that time, we talked about the Basic Law, which was called basic bored. When we talked about stuffiness, many people felt that the Basic Law could not guarantee anything, and Hong Kong was about to die."
In fact, Hong Kong has been "dead" for more than 30 years.
"That's why the cover of Fortune said that Hong Kong was dead ... In the 1980s, China started to liberalize under Hu Yaobang and Zhao Ziyang. A lot of information came out. Corruption was there, but it was not so obvious then. I was not optimistic, but many people thought that China was okay, because the situation was better than what we heard in the Cultural Revolution... But the 4 June 1989 brought a new turning point, the kind of sadness made Hong Kong people want to strike for democracy; Hong Kong people felt that they want to save Hong Kong. If There is democracy in China, then Hong Kong has democracy. Originally, one country, two systems could not be believed, but if you can win Chinese democracy, you should not say that this idea is ridiculous, there was no way out under the circumstances, this set also has a certain degree of rationality. Of course, I have always been very skeptical of this. But you cannot help but support Hong Kong’s democratic movement, no matter what slogan you use. The power of democracy is more than the power of dictatorship, the power of democracy is better and there is no other choice.
Of course, this thing changed in year 2003, 04 & 05. "
Of course, this thing changed in year 2003, 04 & 05. "
In 2003, China's SARS infected Hong Kong, and after the economic collapse, China opened free travel, and a large number of Chinese came to Hong Kong to travel.
"Since a large number of suddenly-rich Chinese flooded into Hong Kong, everything changed. After the United States shifted its containment policy to engagement, the United States had great expectations for China. They all believed that as long as a country gets rich, there would be enough middle class. Then, the country would inevitably move towards democracy, and the system will change. Well, Of course, now you can see that, this is not the case. Haha. Because some things are out of expectation. For example, after the Chinese got rich, they were not improving and became engaged in the system of their country to protect their private property and family, but moved members and assets abroad. I don’t think this would be something that the people in the government and the successful people in any other country would do. Transferring assets abroad, and continuing to maintain slavery and autocratic system in their home country to exploit the others. This is beyond the expectation of Westerners."
Speaking of these sad things, you need to be more positive. Li Yi giggled as he said it, but the words turned around: "Around the world, people who came out of aristocratic families all behaved slightly better. People who got rich quickly are the worst and hateful. In the 1980s, those people who got rich quickly in Taiwan were also bastards. How did Taiwan get rich? At that time, Li Guo Ding (then Minister of Finance of the Republic of China) deployed authoritarian policies to promote a reasonable plan for the economy. Among the policies, one was that the government used higher salaries to attract foreign students to study and produce chips in Hsinchu Science Park. Afterwards, the results were given to private companies for free, private enterprises were supported by the government and thus the industries were established. The government's interest was in the tax collected ... it was successful. "
"In the mid-to-late 1980s, the United States had to oppress the appreciation of the Taiwan dollar, first by hindering Japanese dollar’s appreciation, because Taiwan imported too many products from the States. The appreciation of the Taiwanese dollar attracted foreign investments. As the financial industry developed, Taiwanese became rich. When Taiwanese held assets and cash, the Taiwan dollar became valuable. Taiwanese were very generous. When China first opened its door, the Taiwanese were very unpleasant. At that time, a person in the mainland once said that there was a fine, five yuan, for smoking. Then one Taiwanese was holding 100 yuan, and smoked 20 cigarettes there. Haha, they were thatarrogant. Although Taiwan was rich at the time, the society was chaotic. When I went to Taiwan in 1988, I didn’t know to cross the road. So i relied on tacit understanding. There were not many traffic accidents when people relied on instincts so It was not too bad to rely on tacit understanding. At that time, Taiwanese walked really fast. Now it is different. Now they have returned to slow growth, this actually makes people kinder. It’s good. Of course, that scene now repeats in China. I don’t need to show how bad it is. There are too many examples. Chinese people who get rich quick are worse than those from other countries.The world sees this, so they resist. "
Then the local movement began, starting with the D & G incident. In 2012, a Hong Konger was chased away by the security guards when filming at the D & G Harbour City branch, while the Chinese tourists were allowed to do so. The locals felt deeply discriminated and oppressed,sparking a rally against the D & G. Later, there was a comeback of anti parallel traders. If we say the chant “Liberate Hong Kong", it can actually be traced back to the early local movements such as D & G. Of course, there were many criticisms against these movements such as “don't discriminate against mainlanders" and "exclusive fascists." Li Yi has always sympathized with these protesters.
How can despair be sustained?
“With the epidemic in mind these days, I started reading The Plagueby Albert Camus. The novel touches upon the feeling of despair, and how it is regrettable to feel despair; and ‘that the habit of despair is worse than despair itself’. This is not to say that resistance necessarily leads to the achievement of our goals or the attainment of freedom, but in the process of a struggle, we are free. You are free when you participate in the struggle. I believe that many young people enjoy the freedom and the self-realization in this struggle. This is why pessimism should not mean passivism, you should face your life with active participation. Be free in all kinds of imaginable struggles. For instance, the Anti-Extradition Law movement, it may seem like we have not achieved much, but I actually think that Hong Kong has benefited much from it."
How has Hong Kong benefited? For example?
"For example, the indigenous awareness in Hong Kong ... I think it has become an ideological trend in society." A few years ago, this was often on Li Yi’s mind. As early as 2013, he wrote a book called Local Ideology."At the time, I thought that indigenous awareness was already prevalent among young people, but among “old seafood”(a term meaning the older generation) ... let’s not say “old seafood” haha, just say among the older generations. First, they still feel... subconsciously they feel that they are Chinese. Secondly, they do not believe that the Chinese regime can be overthrown. Thirdly, they think that we have one country and two systems. If one country does not exist, then there would not even be two systems.” This seems rather stubborn. How did this ideology come about? Were there any missteps in history?
Watershed in history
“Something went wrong in history. Ever since the May Fourth Movement (an anti-imperialist, cultural, and political movement in Beijing on 4 May 1919), there was a shift in ideology among the Chinese people from that of enlightenment to salvation. China was dying and people had to save China. This changed from the original intent to learn about freedom and the rule of law from the West, before the May Fourth movement. People started to deviate from the original path. Of course, this was related to global affairs at the time. Most people think that the Japanese invasion of China along with the rise of Western powers, created a sense that China must be saved. At that time, nationalism was the most prominent trend in the world. The other thing that cannot be denied is this - after the success of the Soviet Union in 1917, many intellectuals in the West became inclined towards socialism. In my own upbringing as a youngster, I indeed felt that all people should be equal. Are people supposed to exploit each other? The pursuit of equality is natural. Socialism is indeed an ideal. During this time, many preeminent intellectuals including Hu Shih did not rule out socialism either. Not to mention Lu Xun.
"It was the consensus among the majority that the ideal of socialist equality can be pursued. However, the truth is only revealed with practical experience and failure.There were two main schools of thought at the time. One was saving China with socialism. The other was saving China. I lived in a Japanese occupied area of mainland China when I was a child, and I lived in Peking during the civil war. At the time, I was aware of what was going on and saw a lot of corruption within the government under Kuomintang. Then I came to Hong Kong in 1948 ... I cannot deny that when the Communist Party first entered the city, they did not cause much civil disturbance and much of what they did was novel and invigorating . The party’s initial formation was quite an achievement... what we did not realize at the time was this - the intentions may be good, but if the means to an end is evil, it is still evil.
“Another thing we didn’t understand was that there are many types of equality. Equality of distribution cannot be achieved. However, equal opportunities and equitable rules are more achievable. It is also in line with human nature. Russell made it clear when he said that it is the most equal among beggars. Finally, no socialist country has successfully developed its economy. China did so because it abandoned socialism economically.
"To so many in the older generation, patriotism is simply a matter of fact. Slowly, I began to see that the definition of a ‘nation’ is not simply a ‘sovereign people's land’. Rather, it is a tool for governance. The Communist Party is correct in saying that the nation is a tool for governing the classes. A nation for the Communist Party refers to a system under an autocracy, not a nation in the Western sense.”
When Li Yi was young, he worked in left-wing institutions, but then parted ways. Mao Zedong believed that literature and art served politics."I disagreed with their views about the media. They emphasized that the media is first about stands; secondly, it is about the point of view; and thirdly it is about the method. But then the stands were assigned to you by others.I actually think that method should come first, the literary talents and skills, how you express your true thoughts. So when the magazine 1970swas established, I said my hope was that the authors would be the readers of the magazine; and the readers would also be the authors of the magazine. This was completely different from what the left-wing had in mind.”
"At the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, my wife was still in mainland. In the middle of the Cultural Revolution, I thought that China would be able to carry on its path, but I still hoped that someone in the party would fix the problems. Sure enough, the Tiananmen incident occurred in 1976 - Deng Xiaoping came back, overthrowing the Gang of Four. This brought about an active period of thoughts. I was disappointed with the Communist Party back then, but I still had hope and illusions about intellectual freedom.
“At that time, indigenous awareness was not part of Hong Kong’s consciousness. When talking about politics, it was either about the Kuomintang or the Communist Party, mainland China or Taiwan, politics did not exist in Hong Kong. The turnout rate at the Hong Kong Municipal Council elections was very low but who cares? Like the World Health Organization slogan, haha. Back in the day, the British government did a fine job implementing the rule of law so everyone could do as they wished. Be it selling peanuts or doing business like Li Ka-shing - as long as it did not break the law, it was fine. During those days, Hong Kong was a place that Chinese people dreamed of for thousands of years, somewhere to live and work in peace. The government did not need to do too much except ensuring the laws were in place. We did not ask for much. This kind of set-up did not exist in mainland China and Taiwan."
Hong Kong cannot avoid politics now, but Hong Kong people did not need politics decades ago.
"At that time, what did democracy have to do with me? If you ask people in Taiwan and the United States - what does democracy have to do with them? In fact, it has nothing to do with daily life. Your human rights, legal rights and freedom should all be protected in everyday life. Freedom and the rule of law are both related to you but democracy has nothing to do with you. This was why the turnout at Municipal Councils elections was very low. Seriously, it didn’t matter which person you choose.”
Since the very beginning, Hong Kong people actually never had a strong desire for democracy. Why would democracy be fervently demanded later? Li Yi believes it had to do with indigenous awareness after the 1967 riots.
"At that time, the Communist Party of China launched riots in Hong Kong in opposition against British rule.
The Hong Kong British Government did not think they would get the support of Hong Kong citizens. They saw that most Hong Kong people were Chinese. The British were not very concerned about the locals. The "Qing Law" allowed a man to have two wives, and it did not matter, because he was Chinese. The Chinese boss was exploitative, but it did not matter either. There was no need for collective bargaining or minimum wage. Corruption was even less of a concern because the Chinese were corrupted anyway. So, the British did not sense the need for good governance until the 1967 riots. The letter from the Governor of Hong Kong, David Trench, to the United Kingdom said that he never thought they would have the support of the Hong Kong people ... but everyone was afraid that the Communist Party would stage an offensive and Hong Kong would not have been able to defend against an attack.
“The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs gave an ultimatum to Britain at the time, to release a few of the rioters within 72 hours, otherwise fierce action would be taken. The People ’s Daily already said that they will take Hong Kong back. I was still on the left back then and was excited to hear that the People's Liberation Army was coming, but the United Kingdom ignored the threat. In the end, China sent the Red Guards to burn British institutions in Beijing without actually attacking Hong Kong. It was all an empty threat. Hong Kong people realized then that it was fine to continue living in Hong Kong, that it is worth putting in the hard work and effort into this place.
“Therefore, the 1967 riots were important. We talk about the MacLehose era now but in fact, many things started in the David Trench era. Hongkongers were enlightened and the seeds of localism were sown in people’s consciousness. In 1979, China notified Governor MacLehose its intention to take Hong Kong back. Then Sino-British negotiations began, and Hong Kong's political topics changed from focusing on China and Taiwan to Hong Kong's future. At the time, our magazine was also most concerned about the Sino-British negotiations.
“Although many people in Hong Kong still consider themselves Chinese, a divergence between Hong Kong people and Chinese people began from the May Fourth Movement. Hong Kong was governed by the British since the 19th century, it accepted Western culture, and preserved a pre-modern environment of tolerance. Under the invasion of the Japanese army, the emergent sense was China needed to be saved. So, it gradually moved towards dictatorship, unification, national salvation, and accepted socialism as China’s salvation.
“However, differences between the two were overshadowed throughout the years until the economic reform and opening-up of China. It was not until it re-entered the world and integrated with Hong Kong to the fullest extent, that the truth was revealed in Hong Kong. Hong Kong was now in shock and without the protection of British rule; its illusions about China were shattered. It was then that indigenous awareness was once again aroused in people’s consciousness.”
Li Yi cares most about freedom and individuality. He parted ways with the left-wing, the country and socialism. He came over to support the local and young people who were not popular with the mainstream. In the past 80 years, he has seen too many terrible things, he has seen too many political clutches and persecutions. He doesn't care about others' praise and deprecation. I don't know how tough his heart is in his wrinkled body. If we are Skywalker, Li Yi will be Master Yoda, who is nearly 900 years old.
In anti-parallel import demonstrations, Li Yi understood and supported, saying: "The parallel locusts are not customers. They do not respect our home as our home or tourist attractions.They are only looking for goods, and it is not necessary to hand in Yuen Long with both handsto let them do what they want"
In the riots in Mong Kok in 2016, Edward Leung came out and was being accused as "spy" and "votes stealer". Li Yi said: "Voters do not have to vote with tears, nor do they need to fight with each other. They can vote according to their own intuition, as long as they do not vote for the pro-government parties. The Mong Kok struggle has made the younger generation see some hope in despair. The new generation, especially the first voters, regards Edward Leung as a continuation of hope. "
In the same year, Baggio Leung and Wai Ching Leung were successfully selected, but in the end they were swept away by the disqualification of the Chinese Communist Party. They fell from hope to despair. The localists were trampled on. Li Yi said: "Look at Baggio Leung and Wai Ching Leung? I feel ashamed. To those who hit the wall with eggs, no matter how wrong they are, I still feel ashamed.In my late night introspection, I feel have only been hiding in front of my desk to discuss things, citing the scornful words of the Russian novel 'Roting', I am a 'speaking giant, but a dwarf in behaviour' ......... In this era with full of clever people, there is always someone who is willing to stand up and fight, so that society will not be desperate. Failure is almost certain. How can it not be crushed when the eggs were thrown against the high wall?After the transfer of sovereignty, How can all the struggle for democracy and universal suffrage succeed? But we always need to let the power knowsthat although most people choose to accept it, there are still people who is trying to stop the car with a weak arm, and use a disparately little force to resist social decline. "
On the eve of the "Chinese extradition bill" in 2019, although Li Yi refused to admit his fate, he remained pessimistic. "I thought it would happen, because the political situation in China and Hong Kong at that time, plus the proportion of the Legislative Council, I thought that it would be passed. On 9 June, 1.03 million people went to the streets, and that night the government proposed to have it under Second Reading in the Legislative Council, I still thought the government could have it passed. Until 12 June, when a large number of young people went to fight and block roads, I still didn’t think the government would take it back. From my past experience, I thought the Chinese Extradition Bill was something Beijing wanted to do. As Carrie Lam wanted to take credit and Beijing wanted to do it, they of course cooperated with each other.Wang Zhimin called everyone at the time to ask them to support the bill. It wasn’t until there was a big conflict in the Legislative Council buildingthat I began to feel the opportunity because if the legislation was taken to the Legislative Council, it might be delayed. "
"Since then, my feelings about young people started to change. You know I have always been very supportive of young people and their ideas, but my past thinking is that young people are indeed our hope,it doesn’t matter if they are wrong, and tolerating them is such a common angle. But now I see that they really want to dedicate/sacrifice themselves, they will come out. You can only sincerely admire their courage and strength. "
Speaking of which, Li Yi choked a little.
"The courage which young people are showingin the anit-Extradiction law amendment Bill Movement, as a whole is a moral force that has become the wisdom beyond our imagination. My thinking about young people changed. Socrates has a saying, 'what is kindness? He said that kindness is wisdom. When there is a pursuit of kindness and justice, then there will be infinite wisdom. Of course, another sentence is that German philosopher Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, stupidity is a moral flaw. Some people do things very stupidly, it is a moral deficiency; some people are so clever because he has a kind pursuit. With my decades of experience in news dissemination, the chance of ordering advertisements in major newspapers all over the world within seven days, from writing, designing, delivering, to confirmation, is zero for me! Impossible. Of course, not only this, but many impossible things are also possible, including the creation of the song ("May the Glory Return to Hong Kong" "). A Taiwanese friend told me, why they have been engaged in the local movement for decades, but they can’t write such a song? From music, national anthem, mobilization of people, military song ...... various aspects, that song is really superior. The matter is worthy of older people like me to think thatthe young people are wise. This came from their inspiration from their sense of justice."
"In the incident of Polytechnic University, just one person crawled down the sewer and escape, is already worth making a movie. There were more than a hundred peoplewent down the sewer or abseiling... This ability to escape is beyond my imagination and unexpected. Since China has to take back Hong Kong, I have no hope for Hong Kong; you can say that I bad-mouth Hong Kong, but I have no hope for "one country, two systems." Ni Kuang told me at that time, if a million people in Hong Kong listened to us and went out to demonstrate, The United Kingdom would not dare to hand Hong Kong to China at once, but there were not enough people at the time. The whole society was immature at that time. "
During the fierce struggle, various new techniques emerged endlessly. From physical conflicts to bricks, "fire magic", bows and arrows ... Many people were uncomfortable at first, thinking that they were "spy", the police pretended to be "spy catchers", and some people called on them to "stop bravery". Will Li Yi also feel that these methods are not good? Li Yi said: "A lot of times I feel so worried. I'm so worried. I worried about PolyU and CUHK incidences, I worried about 12 June. I worried people rushed into the Legislative Council on the 1 July, and I thought it was best not to go. I admit that I'm very conservative in some aspects. But if you ask me to urge them not to go, no, I can't do it. Because they are smarter than me and have more courage than me, but I was very worried. I watched the live broadcast and had many sleepless nights. I was so worried about losing these elites. I even thought that (young people) please don't, I thought so, but I couldn’t say it.I couldn’t tell others not to do things that I couldn’t do. I think we are not qualified to criticise is because we are not on the front line, and we don’t know how they feel.I think the reason that they must do this is because they think this is the realisation of self. You have to be on the scene, then you know whether those are indeed brothers or not; you need to be on the front line, then you know what behaviours should be respected and are precious. But I am not on the spot, I am not qualified to say.I believe many people are like me, I think there is no strong voice in the society to tell them to stop bravery. No, there is no such voice. Because everyone knows it is necessary to do so. At least the now the "China Extradition Bill" is suspended, at least aroused the attention of the whole world, at least aroused the awakening of the local consciousness and identity of Hong Kong society. I am really not qualified to criticise them. So I think everyone is just worried... especially thousands of bodies were found ... "
Does Li Yi believe it? We didn't need to explain "what to believe", but we are Hongkongers and we all know what is hidden in the dark side of the times.
"How can you not believe it?" Li Yi said: "Although there is no evidence, how can you not believe it? There is really no way not to believe it. A swimmer was completely naked and suicided by drowning, how can I believe it? Now that you guys are doing well, everything is live broadcast, how can live broadcast be fake?It can't be fake. Why do so many people watch "Stand News", because it is live broadcast. In the past we reported news, we took it back and cut it, there were choices to be made. There is none of this in live broadcast. When you see the violence of the police, you will believe everything. If you say you can’t see it, it’s because you didn’t watch it. ”
Was the police like this before?
"The police used to be..hmm...Since the establishment of the ICAC, the image of the police had really changed. I really don’t know what happened lately. I can’t say that there aren’t any good people at all. 5-6 years ago, I once left a bag on a taxi. There were thousands of dollars in the bag. I went home, and my domestic helper told me that the police made a call and said the driver brought my wallet to the police. I thanked the driver and I went to the Central Police Station. The police took my things out and counted them for me. They were very professional and humane. I was very impressed. For example, they said, ‘don’t count the banknotes in the public as others will see them.’ Then, they gave me a room to spread the bills open and count one by one, so I could check if everything was there. The things were done in a very orderly way, they were doing their job to helped me ... there will always be good ones left, but now there is a grouping effect, and good things will disappear. When everyone is together, they influence each other. If you don't follow the others, you look bad in the group. It seems that in Chris Tang Ping-keung’s dinner earlier, if you didn’t sing and laugh along, you were the odd one. In fact, not everyone necessarily wants to participate. This is the case. Due to such effect It's hard to say if there is any good person. This may be the biggest tragedy of Hong Kong. It is because police officers are public servants whom everyone has the most contact with. When there is an incident, such as domestic violence, you call the police. Police is important for the society to run. Now the police is behaving in such way, this really brings a lot of damages (to the society). "
"The other issue is about the civil servants. I don't know why they have become so stupid." Do you mean the Senior officials? "Not only high-ranking officials, but also most civil servants are generally of low quality. It’s simple. If you are a real civil servant, how can you follow the government’s old bidding rules to buy toilet paper and masks?The government used to buy things based on “lowest bid wins” principle. Now when one asks civil servants to go and buy 57 million worth of toilet papers, they ask potential suppliers to fill in a thick pile of forms. We are not in usual times. The whole world is stocking masks now. How can you buy masks in such an old way? It’s certain that you can buy none. No one executes orders in this way. You can ask, 'Sir, now the world is fighting to buy masks, can we buy them in this way?' But now they just follow rules 'yep, I will just send these forms out.'
Over the years, has everything been decliningin Hong Kong? "When Hong Kong is ruled by a authoritarian power, this trend is inevitable." It is a very upsetting. Does Li Yi think Hong Kong or Hong Kong people have a way out? He pondered for a while. "... Hong Kong people will find a way out, but it will take quite a long time, not in a short while. It depends on Hong Kong people themselves, their persistence and awakening." Have they been ‘sufficiently’ awakened? "Many have. The situation is already beyond my expectations, but it's not enough to fight against the power in China. It needs a lot of hard work in many ways. Now I see many directions for the fight, the international frontline, the economic frontline, the culture, the elections... More or less, within the system, people are voicing out, but that voice does not play a decisive role."
“The decisive role is that we must adhere to our original values, to fight continuously, in various forms, on various fronts. I don't know how the future will be and it also depends on the prospects of China and the world. The change may come suddenly, quickly, or it could take very long, and drag on for a long time. Just like the novel virus now, it may suddenly go out. No one knows the result, but there is one thing known, we must insist on what we are doing. To make an example using the pandemic, only a small group of Hong Kong people are infected. It is out of everyone’s expectation. The self-protection awareness of Hong Kong people is hardly seen in the rest of the world. Everyone is wearing a mask now.If you look at Taiwan and Japan, not everybody wears a mask.”
"Hong Kong has its own quality. Between 1979 and 1997. I have a friend who is a teacher at the Chinese University. He had been studying abroad. He said that Hong Kong is the most civilised place in the world. The quality of Hong Kong people is also the best in the world, be it about the communication with foreigners, the integration with the world, and people’s kindness to others. Now of course it’s getting worse. However, we can see from The Anti Extradition movement that our international contacts and mobility are beyond everyone ’s imagination. It’s unbeatable, in the PR and publicity we earned or in all other aspects. During the consultation period of the bill, no one cared, foreign countries did not care, but now I don’t have to spend money on newspapers to attract attention. Renowned journalists from all over the world come to report.Not even Catalonia independence movement attracted as much attention as Hong Kong’s. Let’s not use the word independence, let me use autonomy movement, so no one will accuse for being ‘politically incorrect’. Taiwan has not received that much attention either"
"The conversation of Anson Chan on the BBC’s "Hard Talk", was wonderful. No other Chinese could answer questions in this way. Also, You can't find any Chinese who can speak in the United States Congress like Denise Ho, Joshua Wong and Brian Leung. It’s not that Chinese don’t speak good English, but they don’t speak like us.You can check out Chinese Ambassador to the United Kingdom, he speaks good English, but sounds like shit. At a glance, you know he is speaking nonsense and lies, his entire mentality and ideas are so dominated by the power(from China). Among 1.4 billion Chinese population, will there be a person be able to speak about China’s position in the United States Congress, and to give a speech as good as the previously mentioned ones? I daresay there is none. It’s not that they are incapable, but under the entire political framework, they have no free will.How can you be ‘Chinese’? How can we be ‘Chinese’? We just need to be ourselves, we just need to be a human being and then that will be good enough"
"Around 1986, when we were talking about China, the Basic Law, and the handover, everyone thought it was irresistible. I once spoke on TV, and that caused a lot of discussions at that time. I said that if I could do interviews and report news according to my free will and be truthful in my reporting, in China, then I am willing to be a ‘Chinese’; if I can continue teaching in Hong Kong, according to my knowledge, under my consciousness, according to my will, regardless of whether they agree or not; if I do business in Hong Kong, then I am still willing to be a Chinese businessman. If not, I would rather leave Hong Kong to be myself but not a Chinese."
So for some time, Li Yi and his children emigrated, but then he came back.
"But it doesn't work, because people, who write political articles, need rationality, but one's way of doing things, is dominated by emotions, not by rationality. So it's hard for me to stay away from here, there is a kind of emotional attachment. Originally, I started thinking about my own issues last year, but my attention was pulled away, towards the Anti-Extradition Bill. Because it happened here, I can’t help but being attracted to it emotionally, and people could not resist the such emotion. People can resist against many things, but not their feelings. Feelings are from heart, not calculations. If it’s just a calculation, I don’t have to stay here. If it was good here and nothing happened, I should have gone. It’s better than living alone becoming a lonely old man. It’s like as if you had a son who is mentally handicapped or disabled, you would have paid special attention to him; in contrast, if your son is very smart and capable, then, well, you know. I can’t explain it in full, I can only say there is a relationship and I will just stay and see how it goes"
Time flies, Make the most of it
Lee Yee is now 83 years old, do you feel that there is not enough time?
"Not enough time? Yes, but now I think I'll just take it naturally. I used to think I'll write a memoir, but now I feel like, if I can do it, sure, but if I can’t, it's also fine. Too many things in life we can't control or calculate. I just do as much as I can. I'm not thinking about creating any impact to the world and the society. There probably aren't any impact anyway. Unlike you guys because you are still young.... Now I just try my best to do what I can and want to, to live through the last years of my life. Life is the sum of one's actions. My only wish is to die a good death, not to have intubation all over my body."
"Many things can't be predicted, you just can't. I believe in existentialism - One's existence is always responsible to oneself. Right now, I'll have to make the most of "now". The next moment, I'll make the most of it too when it comes. What will happen? I am not a fortune teller. I don't know. PersonallyI feel that Hong Kong people's awakening cannot be undone; Hong Kong people have identified themselves as Hongkongers and will not go back to become a Chinese. They won't get attached to China again. The younger generation influenced the older generation. I've known this for a long time. Young people are willing to sacrifice themselves for Hong Kong, now what can't we? How many more years do I have? How many more do they have? Aren’t they more important? They have to think for themselves. If they can do it, so can we. Hong Kong needs to be separated from China.I'm not saying independence, it's a bit strong. But this awareness, I don’t think it ’s possible to turn back, in fact it'll only get stronger."
"The localism is driven by the younger generation, how strange. You know what, there's no such thing before the transfer of sovereignty in 1997. The younger they are, the more they have this idea naturally. It is not taught to them, we didn't. You know what, now the kids in secondary schools are the most determined. You don’t have to ask them, they don’t argue about it, that ’s how I do. Re-unification or independence? They don’t even talk about it. They'll simply say "I ’m not Chinese, I ’m a Hongkonger. I've always been one and I'll always be one."
Source: Stand News, (25-Feb)