Observation #19: When I see movie stars, whether they are walking down the street or walking the red carpet, I can't help but to be intrigued (not envious) by their lives. The glitz, the glamour and the gawking from passers-by might appear to someone from the outside looking in as the kind of lifestyle that anyone would be lucky to live. I, on the other hand, prefer anonymity and privacy. I don't like people watching me or taking my picture and I don't like feeling like an animal on parade in the circus. But how can someone like me who is only a mom and a part-time school teacher be privy to the dark side of being a celebrity, such as people intruding on my personal space, interrupting my family time and touching me without permission? It's because I live in Hong Kong.
Don't get me wrong, it was quite flattering when it first started happening which is probably the first reaction that movie stars have when they start getting lots of attention from simply shopping at the grocery store or waiting in a roller coaster queue at Ocean Park. At first, I couldn't figure out why people were reacting so strangely to us even though we were doing nothing out of the ordinary. I even commented on several occasions, "This must be what's it like to be a movie star." I even thought it was kind of cool and entertaining in a weird exhibitionist sort of way. It wasn't long before flattery became offense because my children were especially admired and pestered by what I thought were the Hong Kong locals. It seemed weird that the Hong Kongers would react so intensely because they are use to westerners. After all, they were controlled by Britain for 99 years.
I soon figured out that the people who have seemingly no concept of what normal people act like in a civilized society aren't Hong Kongers at all. They are mainland Chinese tourists. Please understand. I have met and become friends with many Chinese people from Beijing and Guangzhou and they are very civilized, interesting, and friendly people. I, however, am referring to the the country, farm, small town folks that don't get out much. I can say that because I am a country, farm, small town girl myself but being raised in the western world, I was able to assimilate (kind of) with the city folks with no problems...mo men tai. The country people of China have no access to television, movies, news, magazines or internet except what is deemed acceptable by the government and they have limited travel visas restricting the countries they can visit. Hong Kong is one of the countries they are allowed to explore, but only people who live in certain provinces of China get access to Hong Kong visas.
China is slowly but surely extending the list of provinces on the travel list and we can easily tell when a new province has been added. They all get on their tour buses and travel to Repulse Bay, stopping at Ocean Park for the day on the way. While waiting in line for the Dragon, mainlanders will position themselves in front of my children so they can secretly have their picture taken with my kids. At least they think they are being covert but we know what they are doing. My children will hide behind me and whisper, "Mommy, that person keeps trying to take my picture."
My son, especially, has become very wary of strangers, which can be a good thing, but he is over the top leery of everyone who comes near him. Maybe it is because the mainlanders grab his hair when he walks by (I'm told they think it brings good luck), touch his face, touch his shirt, smell of him (yes, I said smell of him), stare at him and try to photograph him. Now you get what I mean when I say that we feel like movie stars over here.
Gemma is noticed, too but she is so dreadfully shy and her hair is so long that when she puts her head down and tucks her body in she completely disappears. She has learned to do this whenever she sees a mainlander approaching her with a camera. So the mainlanders latch on to poor Liam, who doesn't have lustrous, thick locks to hide behind. They pinch his cheeks, grab his face and pull him close, rub his head and ask to see his eyes. They love his eyes. He has beautiful blue eyes, blond hair and porcelain skin and I agree that he is a beautiful boy, but you just don't treat children that way. It's not flattering. It's not ok. It's threatening and weird and off-putting.
It doesn't help that they push their way through crowds forcefully, not just to see my children, but also to get to the front of the line. The way the mainlanders act when they come down here gets on the local Hong Kongers nerves, too. China is crowded. I get that. But so is Hong Kong and I don't think it would hurt for China to let their country folk watch a little western tv so that when they come down here they've learned some western style manners and seen plenty of blonde hair, blue eyed people so my children would be no big deal. Maybe they can stream Baywatch on their VPN. I bet they wouldn't be as keen to take a picture of my children after watching a few hours of Pamela Anderson on the tele.
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