My Lamma (2)

(Sorry for the delay of this article for a few months. This winter is particularly difficult for me, and it must be difficult for me everywhere in the world. Due to the negligence of the German government last summer, the epidemic intensified rapidly after the winter began, and the whole city was under martial law. A trip to the supermarket can be exhilarating all winter, when only one non-family member is allowed to see privately at a time at the worst. Every winter in previous years I've chosen to escape the gloomy sky like a migratory bird, but this year, I don't have that option. I can feel the texture and weight of this time on my skin, like a concrete tombstone with no edges. But as Mencius admonished, "So tempting the heart and forbearance, once benefited from what it couldn't." The sting has awakened, the spring equinox is approaching, and the sun once again gives color to the world.)

In the months when I had difficulty writing in Chinese, this question often came up in the gaps in my thinking: what makes me find Lamma so charming. Until one day an epiphany strikes—the kind of abundance it stands for, a kind of abundance from the tropical soil that is desirable to all, the possibility of an abundance of life, veiled by consumerism, terrified, and externalized by the logic of capital A hidden option for urban living. Because the consumer and advertising industries rely on the creation of "artificial scarcity", which makes you feel lost in front of the billboard, this question repeatedly beats your self-confidence, and your eyes are all bright and beautiful, only you are disheveled and tattered. , Ashamed to meet people. If only there was the magic product advertised in the advertisement! Then he immediately glowed like a man in a movie. Exchange the master key with the ticket in the purse, and life will open a new level.

But that day will never come. Even if you have an empty pocket or even a lot of debt, that heart-wrenching anxiety will never be quenched by any good or service. Because of substance addiction, capital will never give you the antidote. You only see one possibility, which is to work hard to make money.

But having been wild in Berlin for a long time, Marxism is self-evident. Most of the contacts are creative people with full heads and flat wallets, but they also understand the original meaning of "poor and sexy" in Berlin: money after food and clothing will swallow a person's creativity, and everything can be exchanged through currency. And when it is achieved, people are too lazy to think about other possibilities, including the necessity of dealing with people.

I often envy the children who grew up on Lamma Island. They are nourished by the mountains and forests and the sea breeze. Compared with the school children of the same age in the city, they are much more spiritual. I also have friends who were on the island when they were young, but moved their family to Discovery Bay because of the new baby. They did not hesitate to be ridiculed by their peers, just because the facilities in Discovery Bay were more hygienic and modern, and safer for babies. By the way, people who live on Lamma Island don't look down on Discovery Bay, and vice versa, just like the relationship between the art circle and Wall Street.

Recently, I have come into contact with a trend of thought called " Degrowth ", which is Décroissance in French. As the name suggests, it is "a theory that criticizes the economic growth model...emphasizes the reduction of global consumption and production, and advocates the establishment of a socially just and ecologically sustainable development." society, replacing GDP with well-being as an indicator of prosperity, emphasizing the importance of autonomy, caring for work, self-organization, commonality, community, localism, job-sharing, well-being and conviviality”. If I want to come to my practice, I will follow the theory first. This is exactly the life of Lamma Island. People from this island, Hong Kong, and all over the world can only stay if they fully embrace such an unrestrained life (in the eyes of some people, it is called non-enterprising). Nothing unites people more than similar values. There has always been no capital injection from chain stores such as 7 Boys, OK, ParknShop, and Wellcome on the island, because the village chief asked to protect the economy of the islanders, so that the small stores could survive, and the big groups please go away. I heard that the government planned to build a waterfront promenade and a complex earlier, but it was also resisted by the joint protests of the islanders. The humble shops on both sides of Yung Shue Wan Street will sit inside and greet you, and sometimes they will be in a bad mood and won't dump you at all. It's totally inconvenient, not modern, not flashy. But it has a human touch.

This tiny but thriving economy on the island not only has a makeshift notice board on the way to the pier for exchanging information, it is covered with all kinds of handwritten or printed small notices, and before I moved Home search revelation posted on it. There is also Lamma.com , which has no sense of design, or the Facebook group "Lamma Island Residents and Ex-Residents" (from the word "Ex-Residents", you can see how deeply the spirit of Lamma is deeply rooted and enduring It has been updated), people will buy and sell second-hand furniture online, find lost pets, borrow tools, find helpers, make friends, organize events, and more. Growing up in a city, I have never experienced this kind of community culture, but I read it in books and I am full of longing. Because of this, I joined the dragon boat team on the island and set off on the island during the Dragon Boat Festival. (To be continued)