1997 While Hong Kong Was Being Handed Over

Recently the press has been raising the issue of the 10th Anniversary of Hong Kong Hanover here in Taiwan. And I suddenly realized that it was 10 years ago that I was in Windhoek, the capital city of Namibia, witnessing this important historic moment.

Alas! The older you get, the faster time seems to pass by. While I was little, a day seemed a year. Young children enjoyed holidays and festivals. I always felt it took forever for the next festival to come. And then when I got older, a day passed by and the next. Later, time passed one week after another. Now for me, it is one month after another. Well, one year is over following its previous. Yeah? Hong Kong was handed over to China in 1997. What? That was 10 years ago?

OK. Enough. You don't want to listen to a middle-aged woman complaining about the lose of her youth. Now I am going to tell you about that day, July 1 of 1997, when I was at a guest house in Windhoeak, Namibia.

Namibia, previous a colony of South Africa, gained its independency in 1990. It was once controlled by Germany so that most travelers we met on the road were German. Here German was also its official language, along with English and Afrikaans. We ran into a lot of elderly people taking long trips, mostly German, too.

Of course, they were not alone. You could see young active travelers everywhere. There was this crazy German guy driving his 500c.c. vehicle, running around all over this beautiful country.

So, the guests in the house we were staying were European, mostly from Germany. Here there was a kitchen for us to buy and cook our own food. The leftover could be stored in the fridge but required the owner’s name on it. Every night after dinner, guests in the living room would go through channels to see what was on on TV. Nothing could really please EVERYBODY. Therefore, we decided to watch the video tapes that were neatly put beside the TV set. Approximately 30 different videos. All about African wildlife. Very professionally shot, exactly like nowadays the ones you can see on Animal Planet channel. (Basically travelers who would choose Africa as their destinations are very interested in wildlife.)

Nick and I now became their consultants. These Europeans had no idea about what was going on in the other side of world, Asia. Thus questions started to be thrown out. For example, why suddenly Hong Kong is now being handed over to China? And the historical background, etc..

As for Taiwan, it was Liang-zhang or who that was interviewed live. Therefore people asked, “ Now who is this guy?” and “Why does this have something to do with Taiwan?”

Alas! Nick was the one who did all the talking. (Having lived in Taiwan for eight years, he always thought he understood my country than I do.) Anyway, I listened carefully. While there was something I needed to add or I disagreed, I interrupted him and made some comments. (I was quite sure people wanted to ask me, not him.)

It was a precious lesson. For we were in a very young country Namibia, which was only 7 years old by then and with a group of Europeans, we witnessed the important moment together. Of course, I seized the opportunity and introduced my lovely and opulent country—free democratic Taiwan. Acer, Giant, these international brands made people all hear the name of Taiwan. As for China, that was another country that was far different from our culture. And it actually was a big bully that did not need me to say anything and no one liked it.

I remembered that I joked around saying Hong Kong Handover as Hong Kong HANGOVER. Now Hong Kong did have a terrible hangover since its freedom of speech was doomed to be cut down. Who would be happy to be taken away these basic human rights, especially when you already knew how wonderful it was to be able to say what you wanted to say?

July 1st, 1997. Hong Kong was being handed over to China. And I was far away from home, in Namibia, southern Africa, viewing this significant instant with a group of young European who really cared about the world. On top of that, I was young, as well.