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Hong Kongers in Taiwan Celebrate a Bittersweet Lunar New Year Away From Home
TaiwanPlus News
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1/15/2025
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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00:00
Seeking a sense of home, hundreds of Hongkongers in Taiwan pass through a special New Year's
00:06
market with the scent of egg waffles and the sounds of cantaloupe carried in the air.
00:11
For many, the familiar sights and sounds are a warm reminder of Lunar New Year's spent
00:16
at home in Hong Kong.
00:18
You can speak Cantonese here. It's very lively. Everyone is in the same boat.
00:28
We have special side dishes, like this soup. We use dried seafood to make the soup.
00:38
We usually eat it during the New Year.
00:42
But for others, the bright holiday market is laced with bittersweet reminders of the
00:47
place they'd left behind.
00:49
A growing number of Hongkongers are becoming expats in Taiwan after the city saw clashes
00:54
between police and pro-democracy protesters in 2019.
00:58
More crackdowns by the Beijing-approved government have caused an exodus of Hongkongers, who
01:03
still long to see a democratic future for their home, but find it too risky to stay behind.
01:09
I have no family here. No matter how the New Year is, it doesn't matter.
01:16
As long as I live well, it's good enough. It doesn't matter.
01:21
I still think it's rare to be able to sell books that you can't sell in Hong Kong.
01:28
There's a Lian Long Chang over there. It's a kind of memory.
01:32
I can remember the past when we still had Lian Long Chang.
01:37
The use of Lennon Walls, where people would post messages advocating for freedom and democracy,
01:42
sprang up in Hong Kong first during the Umbrella Movement of 2014, against Beijing's increasing
01:48
control over the city, and again during the 2019 anti-extradition protests, until they
01:54
officially became illegal under a Beijing-imposed national security law in 2020.
02:00
While the dark shadows of political repression in Hong Kong linger, the market is simply
02:04
a space for Hong Kongers to come together, to comfort each other, reminisce together,
02:09
and make new memories in Taiwan.
02:11
I'm really grateful for all the Hong Kongers coming here. Let them know we have a base
02:17
here and we can share our feelings, to meet each other here safely, and to share the emotions
02:24
here as well.
02:25
And no matter the political situation at home, the Hong Kong community in Taiwan will be
02:29
there for each other, in times of sorrow and of celebration, a connection that only
02:34
they can understand.
02:36
John Su and Tiffany Wong in Taipei for Taiwan Plus.
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