Letters | How Hong Kong could help expats feel at home
- Readers discuss why more notices in the city should be in English, the lack of clarity on Expats’ unavailability, unread English books, and bringing back in-town check-in
I totally agree that Hong Kong remains attractive to expats and that the media in general tends to reflect only the negatives.
I live in an area where expats have a presence, but I often see notices in the area by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department promoting activities that could be of interest to them in Chinese only. The government puts a lot of effort into organising activities to make life more enjoyable for residents, and these activities help make Hong Kong an attractive place to live, for locals and expats. So please make them known in English too. Hong Kong needs to be bilingual to be a world city; both Chinese and English are dominant languages of the world.
B. Kwan, North Point
Give us the facts on Expats’ unavailability
To ensure the public discourse is grounded in fact, rather than speculation or misinformation about Hong Kong’s freedoms, it is important for the Hong Kong government to clarify whether it influenced Amazon’s decision to not distribute the television series in the city.
Unlike Netflix and Disney, Amazon is not a dominant streaming service in Hong Kong, where most people prefer programmes in Chinese. Expats, with its English content and modest audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, is clearly tailored for a different market. Thus its absence should not be hastily attributed to government intervention.
Simon Wang, Kowloon Tong
A book not read is a book not enjoyed
Your correspondent may be as surprised as me to find many English books sitting quietly in libraries, collecting dust.
I used to visit Fanling Public Library, where books on the British royal family were my favourites. I also enjoyed Tom Bower’s depiction of the scandalous private life of Boris Johnson, which had me racing through the pages.
Reading is fruitful, and stories can stay with you for a lifetime. Libraries could excerpt from these neglected books, highlighting the fun bits, to invite people to read and discover the value of these assets. Otherwise, even if old books are replaced with new ones, they will also collect dust.
Edmond Pang, Fanling
Can’t government help bring back in-town check-in?
Why is it that about a year after Hong Kong reopened, the MTR still can’t offer in-town check-in service other than for Cathay Pacific at Hong Kong station, and only until 3pm?
The in-town option marked the efficiency of Hong Kong International Airport, and was great for all users of the airport. It’s not clear why it is that so long after the city’s reopening, this critical component of airport service is still mostly moribund. Since the MTR is largely owned by the government, surely they should explain to us, the taxpayer, why they have been unable to revive the service.
If the hold-up is with the airlines, what are the hurdles for resumption (excessive rent, perhaps?) and what can the government do to help facilitate revival? If we are serious about revitalising Hong Kong as a tourist destination, restoring basic functionality of our transport infrastructure would be a good start.
Lawrence Zhang, Mid-Levels