The Lost Home

Life keeps changing in Hong Kong, economics, politics, people's living environment, and even the whole atmosphere can change just for a night. After 2019 and until 2023 August, it had been around five hundred thousand Hong Kong citizens emigrated to other cities. So what are these leavers' memories of their hometown looks light and what feeling do they have when they leave this city? This is a topic I have been wondering about these years.

Emigration not only leaves their hometown but also their life here. What makes them have this huge courage to make this decision? The answer was found in these abounded flats, they were forced out. Richfield Group 田生集團 is a company who had a great reputation for their worst behavior, or even illegal action, for forcing residents to leave their houses. It is common to find clues that show how tough the resident who not willing to leave in dealing with these gangsters. Some will claim reconstruction is something necessary evil. Demolishing old buildings and rebuilding them with a higher one undoubtedly can provide more available flats for the housing market. Yet, is it something moral that forces resident who are not willing to sell their home to leave? It is debatable. Government and the Property developer always say it is for the good of the tight housing market, but everyone knows it is a matter of money

People said houses have their own independent memories. Every flat represents a family, represents dreams. Every time opening the door of a flat is just like opening a storybook. If looking carefully, it is quite easy to find out who own this flat, like how many people were living there, their marriage status, their occupations, and their ages. Yet, everything had gone by the time I stepped into their house, these are just memories they left behind.

When the time construction workers step into these flats, they are no longer just homes for somebody, they are also construction places. It may be interesting that these two different times and spaces overlap at a moment. It also means the struggle between city changes and individuals’ memories. Of course, at last, memories will be wiped out by city changes. Like Director Wong Kar-wai said, things belonging to an era will disappear when that era ends. Maybe the ultimate underlying formulation that pushes Hong Kong to keep developing is the survival of the fittest. Job markets and economics are like this, everything keeps changing except the logic of survival of the fittest. This city will also wipe out all the unsuitable citizens.

Like the Trolley problem in philosophy, how can will define “Good” in morality, is saving as much individuals’ well-being as we can or not suitable for forcing others to sacrifice their well-being for others' interest? I leave this question for readers. I will suggest using at least 30 seconds in every photo to find clues who the owners is and interpret your own stories