Mrs. C and her family of four now live in a seaside city in the south of England. It is only ten minutes away from their home, and it is the ten-mile long beach with pleasant scenery. But she clearly remembered that on the eve of saying goodbye to Hong Kong in a low-key manner in September, everyone was in a heavy heart. Angus (pseudonym), the eldest boy who was about to enter university, sighed to her:

"We're escaping from Hong Kong."

"I keep emphasizing that you are going to study, not escape, but it feels like you have to escape from Hong Kong. (I) feel so bad, as if I can't live with the children: I gave birth to this, and the explanation is unreasonable. In a troubled world?"

There are many people who share this "difficulty in walking" with them. The United Kingdom launched the BNO residence visa as an "escape gate" and officially accepted applications at the end of this month, but a large number of Hong Kong people have flown to the local area with their families a few months ago, setting off a new wave of immigration.

Unlike the immigration wave before 1997 with a "limited period", today's Hong Kong people are facing an environment that is accelerating and deteriorating, and the dead line seems to be not far away in the fog, especially a group of parents, in order to protect their children, they can only hug involuntarily. Unknown future. There are also young people and retirees who take advantage of this convenience to find a new life. The reporter interviewed four families who moved to the UK to see how they made their choices.

Reporter: Guan Guanqi

After the 70s, Mrs. C has a son and a daughter. She has considered immigrating since the Umbrella Movement, but her husband, Dad, C doesn't want to leave this place he likes very much, so the discussion has been put on hold. It was not until the anti-extradition movement broke out that Dad C's thoughts changed completely: "𠵱The family's mentality is that my husband's words must go away, and it is not easy to choose."

Family C used to live in Causeway Bay, and violent clashes were staged outside their home every week. Angus, the eldest boy in his teens, went downstairs in black to buy books one day. Dad C felt uneasy and said to his wife, "I'll see where he goes." Dad C in the street has seen too much: "I don't even have the freedom to choose the color of my shirt, and I will help you when I travel. I have no basic freedom: I don't believe you, I will accuse you."

can't get any tougher

The chilling effect has actually quietly affected the next generation. In the past, even if Mrs. C could not participate in the demonstration, she would watch the battle with her children downstairs at home. From time to time, the police wanted to drive them away.

"I remember my son once said to me: 'We have to go up and back.' I said, 'No! We have to stay here.' If we didn't do anything today, it's just a bridge. If you watch it above, you will be ordered to leave. How will you continue to live in the future? Azai, will you avoid it in the future? I feel so natural.”

However, the oppression of the regime continues to expand, and no matter how hard the two couples try, it is hard to resist. When thinking of the future of the two children, the warning siren "It is not suitable to stay here for a long time" sounded: "It's a good group of children who have grown up with a big mark. I don’t know how to face it on the next day. Originally, at this age, I should do sports, eat, drink and have fun, and then go to the streets (parades) and participate in social events. I don’t think I have to grow up in a chaotic society.” If Continuing to stay in Hong Kong, the two husbands and wives are unwilling to compromise and be just "Hong Kong pigs", and they will never be able to keep silent. One day after the 7.21 incident, the four ended up sitting around to discuss the future of the family.

The four unanimously agreed to leave Hong Kong and "make a decision in three seconds". They have considered different countries and various immigration programs, but no decision has been made. By July 1st, in response to the implementation of the Hong Kong version of the National Security Law, the United Kingdom announced that it would provide BNO holders with a method to become a citizen. The news was like a shock to C too, so he immediately asked the eldest boy about his intentions.

"Scared? I've never thought about it." "I don't want you to think about it, it's all an agent to help you." As a result, Tai C was near the seaside city of Pennymouth in a short time, and found a suitable university for Angus. Foundation Course. In order to catch up with the start of school, and for fear of changes, C's family packed up everything and left in mid-September. It only takes two months from deciding the destination to getting on the plane.

The two couples each have a job in Hong Kong, with a total monthly salary of about 100,000 yuan, which is more than enough. But Dad C agreed that in terms of mentality and spirit, this immigration can indeed be described as "difficult". It is by no means comparable to the state of Hong Kong people who counted the days and slowly prepared for a new life in the immigration wave before 1997.

Before leaving Hong Kong, the only thing C's family had for the future was the eldest son's degree. However, the work of the two, the destination of the family of four, and even the school of their daughter Yammi (a pseudonym) had not yet been finalized. I live in a homestay and apply for a middle school for my daughter.

"I haven't got a house yet, and I haven't been able to return to my studies. The Immigration Department is going to post all of them first. Can you explain me to the department?"

Mrs. C is still listening to her daughter's complaints:

"Actually, it's hard to explain. I don't think I owe my little friend, it's already the best in my ability; but this 'best', to him, is actually not enough."

In the tense mood of the society, C's family kept a low profile before leaving Hong Kong. Only a few friends who knew each other knew about it. In addition, they were in a state of limited gatherings at the time, so Farewell didn't have to think about it. After they arrived in the UK quietly and started blogging, many relatives and friends learned that they had decided to emigrate.

C Tai believes that, with two children, and living in a rapidly deteriorating city, such an immigration or "difficulty" is not a free choice:

"It's because I was forced to leave, not because I took the initiative to choose. I think that I have children, I have my own position, and it is already a label. If we are excluded, it is no longer an inclusive place. Hong Kong can accommodate me. .I'm one of those who have to go."

Mandy, a post-80s mother who just immigrated to Southampton, also felt this state of "no choice", "I didn't do anything wrong, the solution is my fault? Occupy our place and make it rotten, Just kick me and go. But there is no way, the devil tells me to have children, I don't want them to be in a place where there is no freedom, so I have to go first."

At the beginning of the anti-extradition campaign, the aviation industry was the most active group. Mandy, a former Cathay Pacific flight attendant with two sons, was also one of them. She went on strike to protest on June 12. She took off her uniform as soon as she landed at the airport "fly with you". Participated and even brought Qian Qian, who was only three years old at the time, and Li Li, two years old, to the rally. The unity of her colleagues and even the people of Hong Kong once gave her hope.

But then the government's contempt for the people made people give up time and time again, "7.21, I feel like I'm in despair?" They will always ask: What is wrong with the police? I don't know the answer... When I saw the police on the street, he lowered his head and didn't dare to look. I asked him for some answers, and he would really answer: "I startled him and left. Bury and hit me.”

"You don't have to talk anymore. For the sake of the children, you really have to leave." Mandy and her husband who worked in a bank soon reached a consensus on immigration, and the encouragement of both parents made the decision even more suspenseful.

guilt and remorse

The couple initially chose Canada as their first choice, but due to the Wuhan pneumonia, customs clearance was indefinite. On July 1st, the WhatsApp immigrant group that they had joined earlier suddenly exploded with a message - "BNO equal rights!" They did not hesitate and immediately booked British air tickets that night. It's ready. Since the UK is OK, Zhong can take the four elders with him, so Zhong is good. Don't use "long D"." In the end, the nine people (including Mandy) left Hong Kong in four times. By November, three generations were finally reunited in the UK.

But even with three generations in the same house, it's still uneven for Mandy. The 98-year-old mother-in-law who has a share of her is this year. "She is a grandmother with a good mind and a good mind, and burying her young grandmother is like a 'yellow'". Mandy once asked her mother-in-law to leave with her, but she kept urging Mandy to leave as soon as possible, so she decided to stay in Hong Kong: "I'm 98 years old, and I'm flying on a plane. It's not easy to mess up."

In the midst of the epidemic and the chaotic situation, Mandy was worried that he would not be able to see his mother-in-law in the future. Something absurd happened...Whether there will be more blockades in the future and more troubles for you, no one really knows." A few days later, the prophecy was fulfilled, and the Hong Kong government announced that it would ban tourists or Hong Kong people who had been to the UK from coming to Hong Kong, and the cancellation was indefinite. This state is even more uneasy for her who used to fly in midair.

"If you can be as free as you used to be, if you want to go back to the housing business, you can go back, and if you want to fly to Hong Kong, you can fly to Hong Kong, and the distance will not be that far."

The Mandy family seems to be free and easy when they say go, but after she bought the air ticket, all kinds of tangled emotions came to her.

"I've been wanting to postpone my departure date all day long. I have to open Visa first in January, why don't I go there early to do it? Maybe there is a turning point? It seems that the last moment has not yet arrived, and Shimi needs to hurry up and go? 𠵱Home Does it really look like a war?"

"But my husband thinks, how many ways can we do? ... You can do very little." After settling in the UK and dealing with trivial matters, Mandy calmly watched the Hong Kong news. guilt came,

"Zhou Ting and Huang Zhifeng are descendants, what did they do wrong? The 15-year-old girl is going to go into exile in the UK... When you see this, you find that they really want to leave, but many choose to stay in Hong Kong and continue to fight. I'm in the middle of a waste, so I'll go first, I feel guilty, but I'm helpless."

"If I didn't have children, I would definitely not leave. But all of them are born, and there is no way." Mandy sighed: "The only thing I have to do is to remind myself to know more about the real history, and to use my own first-person perspective to share it. Children say that parents have experienced what and what, and they have to make decisions first.”

Speaking of guilt, Mrs. C's eldest son, Angus, also felt something. C too remembers that although the family of four quickly decided to immigrate, Angus once confessed his heart to her: "I don't think I should leave, I don't think housing companies are well-off, 'Is there a lot of money to study abroad?' Qu The feeling is that the people who need to leave more in Hong Kong are not him, he feels privileged (preferential treatment), many people do not have such a privilege to leave, but they need to leave even more.”

Angus explained to reporters the initial hesitation:

"You've lived in the same city all your life, and suddenly you go to (a new place), and you can't compare it to Hong Kong. Hong Kong is so special, so I'm really hesitant. I think... The answer to leaving Hong Kong seems a bit obvious. The future seems to be comfortable, and education seems to be suitable for me, so I definitely want to leave. But after walking, the guilt is obvious."

As for Mrs. C and Dad C, they got rid of it a lot and didn't struggle too much, "On the contrary, I think it may be the most difficult thing to do in life: take the family, leave Hong Kong, and find my happy place...I I hope to find a place where they feel safe and comfortable, and children will not be under so much pressure when they grow up. (In Hong Kong) Children are very worried when they fall off the street and go back to school. Schools are not allowed to speak up. What about children’s return to school? They are not elementary school chickens, and they are not influenced by the state religion.”

"I haven't hesitated. There's a long way to go, but it's better than compromise." Mrs. C said.

The C family of four and the Mandy family have all been out of Hong Kong for more than three months. C's daughter Yammi was finally admitted to the middle school after passing the entrance examination. Mrs. C and Dad C have not yet found jobs under the epidemic, so they decided to seize the time to enjoy the slow life in the seaside resort city.

Mandy's husband has not found a full-time job, and has to rely on part-time workers to help. Lili and Qianqian miss their friends in Hong Kong from time to time, and occasionally they will facetime and say, "When are you talking? Be careful of the bad police in Hong Kong."

Post-90s, retirees looking for a new life

In this immigration wave, in addition to leaving Hong Kong for the political environment and the future of children, there are also people who take advantage of the situation to start a new life and take a step forward for their ideals.

For the post-90s couple, Lo and Nigel, flying from Hong Kong to the UK is like an adventure to find a new world.

Although he grew up in Hong Kong, yoga instructor Nigel has always been unable to stand the extremely oppressive living environment in this city. "I am not very good-tempered. Hong Kong basically fell into the streets, and there were so many things that made me want to lose my temper 𤷪𤺧, too much. People, too many old people." In addition, she did not want to be a slave in Hong Kong. After marrying Ah Lo in early 2019, she boldly suggested to her husband to start a new life in a foreign country.

They started planning quickly, and the deteriorating political environment accelerated their pace. Initially, they wanted to move to Canada, where Lo had studied, but as soon as the BNO immigrant visa came out, they switched to the UK. The two agreed that as long as one condition was met, they would set off immediately, that is, to find a job for Ah Lo.

Nigel helped Ah Lo on different job search platforms, regardless of job type, and sent over 100 cover letters to British companies, many of which fell into disrepair. In the end, on social media, there was an echo from a company that hired her husband to do phone repairs at the old bank, but the two sides only made one phone call, and there was no black and white certificate.

The couple set off at the beginning of October, "I want to leave too much, I want to leave too much, even if such an offer is given, they will leave." Apart from a job on the surface, the two had no other arrangements for their lives in the UK, not to mention where they settled down. At that time, Nigel's consecutive BNOs were not available. But she didn't worry too much, "I'm more excited than nervous... We have no losses, no children, and no burdens."

Although everything was in a hurry, Nigel did not feel "difficult to walk" at all. The biggest difficulty was the gloomy weather in the UK and her poor English.

After settling in Nottingham, an inland city 100 miles away from London, Nigel found that other questions about life in the UK that he had heard before he left seemed to be overblown: As a human being, it’s okay to use cash; some people say that cars will die, but the UK is not Canada, there are buses, and even rural towns have supermarkets.”

Hong Kong people often say that the British are hypocritical and indifferent, but what Nigel encountered was another matter. The couple moved into the new house, and the neighbors sent a coffee table as a gift for the move-in. She also witnessed the neighbors quietly helping them pull the recycled trash cans back to the backyard. Lo also went to work smoothly in the end, and did not encounter the trap of job hunting.

The social movement in 2019 made Nigel break away from the state of Hong Kong pigs and went to the streets with Hong Kong people. When I come to the UK, I will still remember Hong Kong, I will still read the news, and I will still speak foul language, but at least there is a sense of distance .

What Nigel is most concerned about is the starling "Sad Brother" raised by the couple. It was originally arranged that it would arrive in the UK four days later, but the airline suddenly decided to stop carrying pets. Brother Sadie was stranded in Hong Kong and could only meet by facetime. After being separated for two months, Brother Bei finally flew to Heathrow Airport before Christmas. The couple risked the closure of the city and went straight to London, and they were finally reunited.

Nigel once thought that life was not going well, and he still returned to Hong Kong as a way back. But in the UK for a few months, she was satisfied with the local life and felt that she could take root. In addition to the closure of the city recently, the biggest trouble in life is that Jet-lag's sad brother is still running around the house in the middle of the night, causing the couple to lose sleep. But there is probably happiness in sleeplessness.

Young people can go out at any time when they travel lightly, but for the older generation who have been rooted in Hong Kong for decades, they have a lot of burdens and concerns to lower. Mr. L, 58, has experienced the negative impact of China on Hong Kong since the proliferation of independent travel. In 2012, the Hong Kong government forced national education, and he immediately sent his daughter to study in New Zealand. He and his wife also agreed that Hong Kong is not a place to retire, and that another ideal country should be found in the future. His wife had dreamed of being a dog trainer since she was a child. L hopes to help his wife fulfill her dream after retirement and study related courses abroad.

Although they were able to retire early, it was difficult for the two couples to make a free and easy decision. "In the past, when we talked, we had to delay for a year or two, and we had to make excuses... Zhongyou has a job, and after a few more years, the money will go first, it seems like a guarantee, Or Zhong Youxi is reluctant." However, with the emergence of the National Security Law, the suspense was swept away. Immediately, it was decided to immigrate to Edinburgh through the BNO residence visa, and it was planned to start at the beginning of the year.

A few years ago, they thought about immigrating to Taiwan. They could keep one of the two properties in Hong Kong, and they would have a place to settle down when they returned to Hong Kong. But this time I am very determined, and I sold the last property in July,

"𠵱My family thinks, don't go back and bury the last root."

L once explained his thoughts to his daughter who was still studying in New Zealand: "𠵱My father and mother uprooted everything on your own, after the age of 21, you have to fight on your own." The daughter who plans to stay in the local area expresses her respect : "But what about Mi's making him uneasy? Maybe it's too far apart to talk to her. What about Mi's true answer?"

In the last years before he left Hong Kong, Mr. L said goodbye to his homeland in this way—three or four days a week, he walked through the countryside of Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories. He went back to the place where he lived as a child: 13th Street in To Kwa Wan, his uncle's shipyard in A Gongyan, etc. "I found that I have feelings for this place."

L held the house for more than a month. As a book lover, he not only gave up more than 100 books, but also the graffiti his daughter gave to her parents since she was a child, the racket she used to practice tennis when she was a child, and the record of her The videotape of the growing up, "It will hurt my heart to hold on to it. It may not be released in ten or eight years. Many sighs are the same."

Immigrants after retirement may have another unease. One day after he decided to leave Hong Kong, his wife still had to go to work. L stayed at home alone and turned on the computer, but found that he was bored. The silence in the house unintentionally touched his emotions, and the feeling of anxiety and tension suddenly emerged.

"It turns out that when a person has no purpose, he will panic a little for no reason."

But he is still looking forward to the couple's second life, "Of course there will be hardship, but I believe there are a lot of people waiting for us."

Postscript: The last two options for those staying in Hong Kong

In order to understand the immigration mentality of Hong Kong people, the reporter reviewed the interviews of the immigration wave in the 1980s and 1990s, but found that the reference value is not very large. However, the thoughts of those who are determined to stay may still resonate today.

In 1996, a series of "Clanging Collection" visited the home of political cartoonist Zunzi and his wife. He invited a media friend to gather and talk about what to do after 1997. The friend said that freedom of speech will definitely be narrowed, but "everyone can do what they can, and do what they can." As the media, the facts are disclosed and they have their own opinions. And Zunzi said that he was mentally prepared to lose the platform at any time, and even be imprisoned with his wife.

That friend, Lu Yongxiong, used to be one of the "Six Gentlemen of ATV" who resigned to protest. Today, he is the chief editor of the established online media "Bus News". Zunzi insisted on holding a paintbrush, and continued to laugh and scold in the face of the National Security Law, undiminished.

"When the Communist Party is killed, Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories have no choice." Those who stay low, kneel down or plan for the worst are probably the only two options.

Originally published in Hong Kong "Apple Daily" on January 6, 2021