Guangdong is interesting. Maybe in an alternate reality it could've become its own country, together with what is now Guangxi and Hainan, plus HK and Macau too. They're south of a mountain range, they all speak a similar language (Cantonese family), but they've been conquered by various northern despots on and off for over a thousand years, so perhaps it's hard for anyone there to imagine what kind of identity they could have outside of China.
Meanwhile - as you say - a huge amount of overseas Chinese come from Guangdong area, and also Fujian area (over the strait from Taiwan). Inland and northern Chinese speak different languages and have a very different culture... but of course that is a form of cultural diversity that the party is making concerted efforts to stamp out.
HK definitely has a bit of a rough look to it. There are a bunch of gleaming new skyscrapers and modern shopping malls, but if you visit some of the underground malls or just head a bit outside the well-heeled areas, it has quite a feeling of decay. I think for a long time it's been a city of very rich and very poor, and while the Chinese government do a better job of hiding the poor than the British government did, they still exist, and it forms another aspect of the culture over there. I feel like walking around the less well-to-do areas of HK you can get a sense of what China felt like before the party took over - a bit anarchistic, hodge-podge, colorful, exciting, dangerous, and so on. That's the China i think is great, and it's sad to lose the culture.
I hope the US will come bail us out here when China attacks. I don't know if i'll still be here whenever it happens, but i still think about "what if". There is a sense that unless there are major changes in the Chinese administration in the next 5 years, it kinda probably will happen. It's likely to start with just a blockade of the ports, which will strangle the country economically. I've already decided that when China blockades i will immediately buy a rice cooker, because wheat and oats will no longer be available (rice is grown locally). I'll probably have to give up on mock duck (wheat gluten) and tofu too, and instead switch to sweet potato and pork or chicken. For the rest i can probably survive an economic blockade, but if the missiles start flying, well who knows? I don't think anyone can prepare for what would happen if their life was really on the line.
Meanwhile - as you say - a huge amount of overseas Chinese come from Guangdong area, and also Fujian area (over the strait from Taiwan). Inland and northern Chinese speak different languages and have a very different culture... but of course that is a form of cultural diversity that the party is making concerted efforts to stamp out.
HK definitely has a bit of a rough look to it. There are a bunch of gleaming new skyscrapers and modern shopping malls, but if you visit some of the underground malls or just head a bit outside the well-heeled areas, it has quite a feeling of decay. I think for a long time it's been a city of very rich and very poor, and while the Chinese government do a better job of hiding the poor than the British government did, they still exist, and it forms another aspect of the culture over there. I feel like walking around the less well-to-do areas of HK you can get a sense of what China felt like before the party took over - a bit anarchistic, hodge-podge, colorful, exciting, dangerous, and so on. That's the China i think is great, and it's sad to lose the culture.
I hope the US will come bail us out here when China attacks. I don't know if i'll still be here whenever it happens, but i still think about "what if". There is a sense that unless there are major changes in the Chinese administration in the next 5 years, it kinda probably will happen. It's likely to start with just a blockade of the ports, which will strangle the country economically. I've already decided that when China blockades i will immediately buy a rice cooker, because wheat and oats will no longer be available (rice is grown locally). I'll probably have to give up on mock duck (wheat gluten) and tofu too, and instead switch to sweet potato and pork or chicken. For the rest i can probably survive an economic blockade, but if the missiles start flying, well who knows? I don't think anyone can prepare for what would happen if their life was really on the line.
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