Xu Xi: Kickbacks
The acclaimed Hong Kong born and raised author asks, “To witness death at a distance, while you are safe as houses, how do you grieve?"
By Xu Xi
Home is where you kick back, remove uncomfortable shoes and clothes from your outdoor self and retreat into that safest space. It doesn’t matter if, as usual, A is grumpy in the kitchen, B is hungry, C is glued to the cellphone and D is late for dinner. It’s home, where everything is how it should be, and where you can be your most authentic self. As safe as houses, Victorian English for the space that is home.
Until everything comes tumbling down.
Investigations into Hong Kong’s most massive fire in a dog’s age—the once towering now blackened Wang Fuk Court apartment complex in Tai Po burned for nearly 48 hours, killing 161 Hong Kongers and injuring 79 just two months ago—are not reassuring. Bid-rigging bigwigs paid kickbacks in Shenzhen sauna, says construction vete…
