Six youths talk about the Hong Kong they grew up in, and the one they expect to exist in another 25 years.
Many young people born in Hong Kong just after the handover feel their fate is tied to Hong Kong’s, while others feel like bystanders as Beijing tightens its grip.
But she worries that closer ties with the mainland would make Hong Kong"just another city in China” and that the former British colony risks losing its status as an international financial gateway. "Many people are emigrating because they think what’s happening around us has touched their bottom line, but so far it’s fine for me,” said Cheng, who now works at a European investment bank as an analyst. He didn’t give his full name for fear of losing his job.
"The things I’d have to analySe would be different.” He added that changing careers would lower his standard of living. The city’s"high-stress” environment and the lack of diverse job opportunities are among the reasons he wants to leave.Employers in the city"don’t value what individuals think, and success at the job depends on whether you are able to follow and obey orders without question.”"A lot of opportunities are no longer available to us,” he said, adding that opportunities in his field - environmental science - are especially scarce in a city obsessed with finance and real estate.
"You can see that an overwhelming majority of Hong Kongers who are of my age and my generation really want democracy,” she said. Kwok sees 1997 as"the beginning of an end.” She fears Hong Kong will"descend into chaos” without a change of political direction -"a city without freedom, without democracy, and also without the trust of the people.”Kelvin Yim was born four days after Hong Kong’s handover to China, making him ineligible - just - for a British National passport.