In sweltering heat, crowds of Hong Kongers lined up to pay their respects to Queen Elizabeth on Monday, with some expressing nostalgia for the city’s British colonial past at a time when China seeks to stifle dissent there.
In Hong Kong, public gatherings of more than four people are banned under anti-Covid health rules. And opposition to the regime in Beijing was crushed by a major crackdown following pro-democracy demonstrations, sometimes violent, three years ago.
But on Monday, a public holiday in Hong Kong, a line of people several hundred meters long snaked through the business district to the British consulate where a book of condolences had been opened for residents to sign.
The wait lasted up to four hours, but the crowds kept coming despite the 32 degree Celsius heat.
Hong Kong was a British colony for more than 150 years, until it was returned to China in 1997. The past has nevertheless remained etched in its landscape, from street names to the ubiquity of English and to the local legal system.
Emily Ng, 30, stood in line with a portrait she painted of Elizabeth II. Her grandmother, she said, collected stamps bearing the Queen’s likeness and “told me a lot of stories about the royal family”.
A corgi dog, like those of Queen Elizabeth II, a British flag attached to her collar, outside the British consulate in Hong Kong during a tribute to the sovereign, September 12, 2022
© AFP – Peter PARKS
Ms Ng said she wrote to the Queen several times over the years and received responses from Buckingham Palace. “So I felt very connected to the royal family and I would like to maintain this connection” in the future, she told AFP.
Her friend, who only gave her surname Ho, said they were both born at Princess Margaret Hospital, named after the late Queen’s sister. “I don’t think being here today means I miss colonialism,” she said. “It’s more for my personal memory.”
– “Crying the past is not a crime” –
Britain has never granted universal suffrage to Hong Kongers and many democracy veterans currently in prison have campaigned against colonial rule.
Flowers, messages and a photo of Queen Elizabeth II laid outside the British Consulate in Hong Kong, September 12, 2022
© AFP – Peter PARKS
But growing anger in recent years over Beijing’s treatment of the city – which exploded with the 2019 protests – has installed a sense of nostalgia among some Hong Kongers.
A 19-year-old engineering student, who introduced himself as Gordon, said he had no illusions about how London built its wealth on the backs of others.
“Colonialism brought a lot of suffering to many people, not only in Hong Kong, but also and particularly in Africa,” he told AFP. “But it also brought a new culture and institutions to Hong Kong, which shaped the city into what it is today.”
For him, remembering a former colonial monarch is not disloyal: “Crying the past is normal, not a crime”.
A company director, who gave her surname So, argued that the death of Elizabeth II made her feel nostalgic and that she felt “less connected” to the leaders of the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing.
Bouquets of flowers in memory of Elizabeth II laid outside the British consulate in Hong Kong, September 12, 2022
© AFP – Peter PARKS
An 80-year-old pensioner, who identified himself as Mr Poon, held a bouquet of red lilies and spoke bluntly: ‘In the past we had human rights, equality before the law and protections in many aspects”.
“But now, I wouldn’t comment on the present, I dare not,” he breathes.
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