Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 2020complete | Page 644

“Be careful!” I had so naturally said this in mandarin as I held the arm of the old lady, that I could not tell if
it was because I knew they were from the mainland, or if it simply came as a reflex to me. The young lady
had thanked me with a smile, but there was just something about it that drove me to an epiphany of some
sort. The smile was familiar- it was like I had met an old friend, a fellow citizen who had come for a better
life just like I had. It came very much abruptly that the one single smile had urged me to realise the whole
English name situation was not the way to go. It was to me to declare that I should no longer be Joseph Yang,
and that I should just introduce myself as the original Yang Xue-qin. It was an identity I should have held
with pride in the first place, and it didn’t have to change even if I was in a place away from home.
Seeing the family off to the taxi stop, I speculated at the number of people on the move to a new place
every day, and how many newcomers, like them, will first set foot on Hong Kong soil today.
10:00AM 5 th January, 2026
Hong Kong, China
Having jostled in the car for half an hour we’ve finally reached the bus terminal to Zhuhai. Looking
around, my heart burst with paroxysmal bitterness as I realised I was leaving this city, at least for a few months
if not forever. This tiny piece of land is named Pearl of the Orients for a reason, its irreplaceable dynamic
holding an extraordinary capacity for diversity, the lights shining across the bay every night in fact being the
lights of seven million individuals, all captured by the inclusiveness of the city. I never thought this day would
come that I’m leaving my home of eleven years, and immense agony sneaked down my eyes along my
cheeks. Soon all these memories will be an echo from a land far away, and if it is meant to be, I know I will
find my way home.
In an idle attempt to hide my tears from my mother, I casually looked behind my shoulders and tried to
focus on trivial scenes. A neatly groomed man, probably in his twenties going on to the thirties, was walking
each step in a daze, looking rather preoccupied with his surroundings. His suitcase slapped carelessly against
his grey trousers, and I couldn’t make out whether his expression was one of distracted perplexity or gleeful
astonishment. He was staring so hard at the normality of the buses that I pondered what is was that kept him
so entertained.
4:00PM 25 th January, 2026
Hong Kong, China
“Tea time, Sha-Sha!” My parents called out from my grandparents’ flat, a 60 square feet cubicle adjacent to
ours.
“One more sentence to go!” I yelled back as I scribbled the final line for my Chinese essay and bolted to
the table. I’ve been doing very well in Chinese at school, although falling behind tragically in English, but
I’m almost certain I will catch up in no time with the hard work I’m putting into each and every one of my
subjects.
“Don’t eat too much though, we’re having dinner at seven,” The clinking of silverware sounded as if they
were about to chime in on my dad’s reminder as he set the plates on the table. He had got off work early
today with the construction for the new medical institution being well under way, it was like with each brick
he planted on Hong Kong soil we feel like we belong in this place a little bit more. Back in Foshan, life
wasn’t always fulfilling no matter how hard my father worked, and the least we could do was to start over in a
new place.
It’s officially our twentieth day here, I have to say, I am loving every moment of it. The city that was
described to be cramped and jammed, was in reality a land with a hopeful readiness to provide, and I could
not ask for a better place to reinvent myself.
8:00PM 25 th January, 2026
Shenzhen, China
The train jolts and screeches back into motion as it trundles on towards the north of Shenzhen. It’s become
a habit now that I stare at my own reflection for hours as I sit on the train, taking the long way home from