永久性香港 Forever This Hong Kong

TFP guest essayist Xu Xi 許素細 longs for—and mourns—her 'forever' home. 'Too soon, too soon,' she writes, 'our city is becoming a removably moveable feast.'

An estimated 1.3 million Hong Kongers march in protest of a controversial, and eventually abandoned, extradition bill, June 9, 2019. (credit: LewisTsePuiLung​ion)

By Xu Xi 許素細

永久性居民forever citizens neither leave nor return. Covid, we suspect, is just a fortuitously convenient excuse to let us go forever. A three-week quarantine is only the beginning. A National Security Law can morph into policies and procedures for myriad Conditions of Forever-ness. This government on steroids can define further prohibitions to prevaricate our lives. Fees will be the least of our worries.

What is the real meaning of right of abode, this right to be in our city? The longer we are away, the less we will be re-collected, re-visited, re-called. Too soon, too soon, our city is becoming a removably moveable feast. How long must we, unwillingly, suspend disbelief?

“May I return to my rightful abode to see Sister, to pay respects to Uncle, Aunties and visit Cousins, to dine with friends, hike the hills and walk …