Hong Kongers in Taiwan Celebrate a Bittersweet Lunar New Year Away From Home

TaiwanPlus News

Hong Kong expats in Taiwan gathered at a market in Taipei ahead of the Lunar New Year, where the food and sounds, as well as symbols of the Hong Kong democracy movement, brought back memories of home.

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00:00Seeking a sense of home, hundreds of Hongkongers in Taiwan pass through a special New Year's

00:06market with the scent of egg waffles and the sounds of cantaloupe carried in the air.

00:11For many, the familiar sights and sounds are a warm reminder of Lunar New Year's spent

00:16at home in Hong Kong.

00:18You can speak Cantonese here. It's very lively. Everyone is in the same boat.

00:28We have special side dishes, like this soup. We use dried seafood to make the soup.

00:38We usually eat it during the New Year.

00:42But for others, the bright holiday market is laced with bittersweet reminders of the

00:47place they'd left behind.

00:49A growing number of Hongkongers are becoming expats in Taiwan after the city saw clashes

00:54between police and pro-democracy protesters in 2019.

00:58More crackdowns by the Beijing-approved government have caused an exodus of Hongkongers, who

01:03still long to see a democratic future for their home, but find it too risky to stay behind.

01:09I have no family here. No matter how the New Year is, it doesn't matter.

01:16As long as I live well, it's good enough. It doesn't matter.

01:21I still think it's rare to be able to sell books that you can't sell in Hong Kong.

01:28There's a Lian Long Chang over there. It's a kind of memory.

01:32I can remember the past when we still had Lian Long Chang.

01:37The use of Lennon Walls, where people would post messages advocating for freedom and democracy,

01:42sprang up in Hong Kong first during the Umbrella Movement of 2014, against Beijing's increasing

01:48control over the city, and again during the 2019 anti-extradition protests, until they

01:54officially became illegal under a Beijing-imposed national security law in 2020.

02:00While the dark shadows of political repression in Hong Kong linger, the market is simply

02:04a space for Hong Kongers to come together, to comfort each other, reminisce together,

02:09and make new memories in Taiwan.

02:11I'm really grateful for all the Hong Kongers coming here. Let them know we have a base

02:17here and we can share our feelings, to meet each other here safely, and to share the emotions

02:24here as well.

02:25And no matter the political situation at home, the Hong Kong community in Taiwan will be

02:29there for each other, in times of sorrow and of celebration, a connection that only

02:34they can understand.

02:36John Su and Tiffany Wong in Taipei for Taiwan Plus.

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