Chapter 73 Taking to the streets "addicted"?

It was still when I was young. At that time, my life background was the "Cultural Revolution", and the "Cultural Revolution" was going on in the mainland. One day I quietly asked my little girlfriend who was in the same school propaganda team as me and who often performed shows together: Well, we sing "The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution is good, it is good", but you know, "Revolution "What is it? What is "culture"?My girlfriend is a son of a high-ranking cadre. Her father may stand in a high place every day and mess with others. His "daughter" is also very aggressive, so he said: "revolution"? "Revolution" means "ransacking the house", knocking down whoever is so and so, all the rich turn bad, ghosts and monsters; "culture"?As for "culture", hey, why are you asking so much? Isn't it just old books, old antiques, old ideas, junk from feudalism?

It is understandable for children not to understand "culture", but I still don't when I grow up.The explanation in the dictionary is "the sum of spiritual wealth created by human beings, such as literature, art, education, and science."But where is the "culture" in life so simple?Culture doesn't care about right and wrong at all. Everyone is willing to do it and is used to it, and it becomes a trend, which is culture. What is Hong Kong's "culture"?Bypassing concepts that I will never understand, and returning to the reality I am facing in front of the society: "horse gambling culture", "gossip culture", "big brother culture", "feng shui culture", "shopping culture", "Morning tea culture", "exchange culture" and so on, if everything can be "transformed", there is at least one more: "street culture".

Hong Kong people love to go to the streets. At first, I thought there were two reasons. First, Hong Kong is full of shops. The whole city is actually a huge "department store" when it is enlarged. This undoubtedly tempts people every day Second, the general housing conditions of Hong Kong people are very poor, and people spend a lot of leisure time on the streets out of no choice.But later I discovered that Hong Kong people's "addiction to taking to the streets" actually contains another meaning: this is to take to the streets to parade, big or small, overall or local, and everything that involves their own interests and suffers losses. on the street—

Let me first talk about one of the aspects of "addiction to the street": Once, by my side, two girls were quietly discussing "what should we do tomorrow", and I couldn't avoid it, so I heard the following dialogue.One of them asked the other: "Let's go to the street tomorrow if we have nothing to do!" The other said wearily: "I don't buy anything, why go to the street?" Can’t go to the street? Anyway, it’s okay, go to the street for activities, wherever you go, if you’re hungry, let’s eat some snacks on the street.” Going to the streets, going to the streets?Perhaps this is the source of Hong Kong's "street culture"?This "source" implies ease and comfort, and in the final analysis it is a free state of mind.In the streets and alleys of Hong Kong, pedestrians can go everywhere, even hotels, even five-star or six-star hotels, as long as ordinary people want to enter, they just push the door open.Several times I walked on the streets of Hong Kong, surrounded by high-end hotels. I wanted to go conveniently, so I looked up and started looking for toilets. The local friends who were traveling with me looked at me in surprise and reminded me in confusion: "Oh, isn't there a toilet in the hotel?" I I smiled embarrassedly, and laughed at myself: "Yes, why didn't I think of it?" My "didn't think of it" was actually because I was not used to it. No one would have thought that they would go to a hotel to solve their bladder problem.However, in Hong Kong, ordinary citizens commute to hotels every day, because the hotel itself is connected with the city’s overpasses and air corridors in terms of architectural structure, and sometimes it is impossible to walk if they don’t want to; on the other hand, in the hearts of Hong Kong people, this More importantly, it can explain the problem more, that is, "What's wrong with the hotel? I can't enter the hotel? Don't say that there is a serious reason to go to the toilet, but there is no reason, because it is hot, I just want to go in and enjoy the air-conditioning." Will you stop me? No one!"This kind of thinking is undoubtedly the most free expression of mentality.

Let's talk about the second level of "addiction to the street": In 2003, when I had not started my permanent residence in Hong Kong, the citizens of Hong Kong were dissatisfied with the relevant legislation of "Article 23" of the Basic Law. It is said that 500,000 people took to the streets; All factions will organize citizens to take to the streets, and the opposition will also call on more people to express another point of view and opinion. In 2004, after I arrived in Hong Kong, I heard for the first time that Hong Kong would organize a parade again. I was not afraid of being laughed at when I said it. At that time, I was really afraid. What were I afraid of?Because I have never experienced it.After all, "parades" will always have some connection with politics in any society, and cannot be regarded as an ordinary act.Later, when I arrived at Victoria Park (where the parade was concentrated that day), I saw crowds of people and colorful flags flying. In the center of the square of Victoria Park, on a temporary platform, someone was shouting slogans with a megaphone, standing in the garden to prepare for the parade. Some of the demonstrators who set off were wearing uniforms with various appeal phrases printed on the back, and some were just wearing ordinary clothes, but everyone was very calm. The situation reminded me of the "Cultural Revolution", but I also felt that this It is not the same as the "Cultural Revolution" in the Mainland decades ago.

At the beginning, when I appeared at the demonstration site, my eyes were a little more vigilant, afraid of being noticed by others, and even more afraid that if someone I knew saw it, it would have a bad influence on me (even though I went to the scene for work), but later I found that when I watched from the sidelines of the parade, it was nothing more than a drop in the ocean, and no one cared if there was more or less in the sea of ​​people.Hong Kong is a free world. No one gains or loses anything because of parades, watching the excitement, or not marching or not watching the excitement.It doesn't matter whether everyone taking to the streets in such an atmosphere is genuinely outraged or just following the herd and chasing sheep.Anyway, he would be sweating in the end, and the first thing he did when he got home was to quickly take off his clothes and take a hot bath for him.

From 2004 to 2007, during my three years as a resident in Hong Kong, I finally felt relaxed, and I dared to talk to my close friends occasionally: "Hey, we don't need to make a fuss about the 'demonstrations' on the streets of Hong Kong", too There are too many, every time someone organizes citizens to "take to the streets" for some reason, people can see it from TV, radio and many street advertisements: the price of water and electricity has risen and there is a parade; Teachers’ wages are not high enough to march, old people have to march without pensions, pregnant women give birth to children due to insufficient hospital beds, a 49-year-old clock tower at the Star Ferry Pier is about to be demolished, citizens are unwilling to protest, etc., everything Can be an incentive to "take to the streets".

On both sides of the relatively wide roads in Hong Kong, there are generally long railings, on which any advertisements and posters related to commercial content are not allowed to be hung, but the personal propaganda of many congressmen, the political programs put forward by the leaders of various parties, especially all kinds of things that are about to start However, I can often see the "Parade Notices", so there are many such "advertisements", and one day the "Parade and Demonstration" has a certain alienation in my heart, and it has become another "street activity" with different content. .

At the beginning of 2006, a 19-year-old young man in Hong Kong was suspected of "serial cat killing". Although this person was quickly arrested by the police, many people in animal protection organizations still felt "outraged". The problem of animal cruelty is becoming more and more serious. In the nine months from April last year to the present, the police have successfully prosecuted 9 cases (this number) compared with only 2 cases in the whole year from 2004 to 2005, a sharp increase of 4.5 times.” Therefore, it is necessary to organize citizens to "take to the streets" to protest.So on January 8, more than 3,000 people took to the streets again.In addition to ordinary citizens, there are also members of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong among these people. Everyone brings their beloved pets, kittens and puppies. There are almost 2,000 of them, holding slogans and shouting slogans.After gathering at Standard Chartered Garden in Central, this special parade walked through some of the busiest streets in Hong Kong and walked to the Hong Kong Government Headquarters, attracting many pedestrians to stop and watch along the way.Many drivers who were stuck in the road didn't know what was happening on the street. Just about to get angry, they looked out through the glass window and said, "Hey, people and dogs are fighting for the road?" Everyone forgot to complain and was caught Attracted by this rare "spectacle"...

Of course, the purposes of "going to the streets when you have something to do" are very different from "going to the streets when you have nothing to do". But in a society, a group of ordinary people gather to take to the streets at every turn. Theoretically speaking, this state is related to the popularization of democratic consciousness. , The feeling of "Wolf is coming" is getting better day by day. No wonder I went to the streets to observe the parades again and again. Sometimes I didn’t even want to go, and I would say to myself: “Hey, let’s go for a walk, anyway, it’s right to exercise.” From this, it can be seen that my mentality is also different from when I first came here. It's not the same - "Parade on the street" and "walking on the street", if the two "activities" will not cause the participants to lose anything, then people "why not do it", even I am not surprised Yet?