00:00When I speak Chinese, a lot of people would be surprised
00:03Why do you speak Chinese?
00:06I'm only about one quarter Chinese
00:08but I know that I really don't look Chinese
00:10I look like a hundred percent怪妹
00:13So when I go to do interviews
00:14if it has to be in Cantonese
00:16I have to do a bit of work before
00:17to make sure that I know the correct vocabulary
00:19but I think because I make a lot of errors
00:21people are often amused
00:24or find it a little bit interesting
00:26that there's like a怪妹 speaking Cantonese to them
00:28it sets me apart from other people
00:30and perhaps they understand that here's somebody
00:32outside of the culture that wants to know more about it
00:39My name is Lindsay Barty
00:41I'm a writer and author in Hong Kong
00:43I write books about Hong Kong culture, Hong Kong history
00:47and any book that kind of celebrates Hong Kong
00:49and Hong Kong culture in different ways
00:51My upbringing is slightly confusing
00:52I'm what's called a third culture kid
00:54My father is British
00:56My mom is Makinese
00:57originally from Macau
00:59but my mom's lived in Hong Kong for her whole life
01:02and five generations of her family have lived here
01:04and my father moved to Hong Kong when he was six
01:06I was born in England
01:07but just for a very short period of my life
01:09and basically Hong Kong is the only home that I've ever really known
01:16My mom in particular wanted me to get to know Hong Kong culture
01:20she didn't want me to really live in like an expat bubble
01:22she wanted me to really experience Hong Kong
01:25and get to know what she described as the real Hong Kong
01:28right, authentic Hong Kong
01:29not just the pretty tourist bubble or anything like that
01:33so as a young girl she would take my brother and I to wet markets
01:37to buy all of our food for the weekend
01:39where we had to select like which fish, which cut of meat
01:42learn all the names of the vegetables
01:43and she would make us do all of the shopping there
01:46we would have to talk to just regular people in Hong Kong
01:49and understand Cantonese
01:51and understand the culture of how things worked
01:53as I grew up
01:54I noticed more and more of the stalls that we used to go to
01:56the markets we used to go to
01:57the Daipai Dong we used to go to
01:59I noticed them disappearing
02:00so it was really then that I wanted to try to document
02:04the people that ran those stalls and their stories
02:07before it was too late
02:08because I feel like
02:10so often we talk about history
02:13in a way that's like
02:14oh that's so sad that it's gone
02:16I wish I'd learnt more about it when it was here
02:18I wish I'd seen it
02:19I wish I'd, you know, talked to this person
02:21before they passed away or disappeared
02:23so I didn't want to wait for these things to disappear
02:25I wanted to really capture those moments and those stories
02:29whilst we still had the chance in Hong Kong
02:34it's a weird thing to talk to strangers in Hong Kong
02:36and again I think that's where me not being Hong Kong Chinese
02:40totally almost came in as an advantage
02:43because they could accept
02:44okay this random guai moi wants to ask me some questions
02:47right?
02:47maybe that was a way of getting
02:50talking to these people
02:51so everybody that I did interview
02:54I bought something small from their stall
02:56or I tried their service
02:58so whether it meant that I got a bamboo steamer made
03:00or a bamboo birdcage made
03:02or I got my shoes shined
03:04or I, you know, got my hair cut by a Shanghainese barber
03:07I tried everything
03:08and I think that earned some respect
03:10from the people, the craftsmen and women
03:12running these stalls
03:12I also would explain to them
03:15as much as I could
03:16why I was writing this
03:17because I believed
03:18not that they were, you know, the dying trades of Hong Kong
03:21this is a very negative way of looking at it
03:23I wanted to show them in a really positive light
03:25I would tell them like
03:26I would really try to express that I saw them in a positive light
03:32and I wanted to capture their stories
03:34to sort of share their stories with other people
03:39Most of the people I interviewed were in their 80s
03:41some of them in their 90s
03:42and I would ask them
03:43why do you keep working?
03:44You know, you can stop
03:45your children can support you
03:47you can rest, right?
03:50But everyone I interviewed said that they didn't want to do that
03:52because they wanted to contribute to society
03:54and they wanted to have a reason to get up in the morning
03:57and a place to go
03:58and a community to belong to
03:59within their work environment
04:01For me it was a very strong Hong Kong value
04:04to be useful
04:05to be contributing something to society
04:08and to feel like you have a place to belong
04:13I always say you only protect what you love
04:15and you only love what you understand
04:17so in my exploration of Hong Kong
04:21and the research that I've done
04:22I found a greater understanding
04:24and therefore a greater love for Hong Kong
04:25so I just wanted to share that with other people
04:27whether they're Hong Kongers or tourists
04:29whoever you may be
04:30if you're living in Hong Kong
04:32or staying in Hong Kong for any time
04:33just to share those stories of Hong Kong
04:37I hope that people will learn more about it
04:39and find ways to appreciate the city
04:41and therefore find ways to pay more respect to it
04:43and protect the culture in some ways
04:46a few years
05:04and can't get an idea to this
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