THE GUIDED TOUR NO ONE WANTED

The news out of Hong Kong has given many Westerners a glimpse of the Special Administrative Region that they had not previously seen. It is, more or less, a tour guided by recent events. With names they find quite baffling.

They're heading into unfamiliar territory, as it where.

For their convenience, here are some locations.


荃灣
Tsuen Wan

This is where last Sunday, August 25, one shot was fired, as a warning, and police subsequently drew guns on protesters. Water cannon were deployed for the first time in the twelve weeks of civil discord. A twelve year old was arrested. It's a working-class district built on reclaimed land, where several generations ago pirates and smugglers moored their boats. It houses one of the largest shopping malls in Hong Kong, and is easily reached by public transit. On the west side of the peninsula, facing Tsing Yi Island (青衣島).


北角
North Point

A mixed residential and commercial area on Hong Kong Island, formerly mostly Shanghainese, since the late fifties and early sixties Fujianese. Now also including pro-Beijing Fujianese gangsters from the mainland and the Philippines.


葵芳
Kwai Fong

Neighborhood in Tsuen Wan, Kwai Tsing district, New Territories, where an off-duty policeman was stabbed several times on Friday night.


元朗
Yuen Long

This is where triad members attacked peaceful protester with knives and sticks back in July. It is a hub of smuggling activities and other illegal actions due to it's proximity to the border between the Mainland and Hong Kong. There are some picturesque spots there, but it is best avoided.


南邊圍
Nam Pin Wai

A colourful traditional clan village in Yuen Long largely inhabited by criminals.


黃大仙
Wong Tai Sin

An area named for a Taoist saint whose temple is located there, but more recently known for several threatening protests targeting police officers families outside the Wong Tai Sin Disciplined Services Quarters (黃大仙紀律部隊宿舍) on Muk Lun Street (睦鄰街). It is in the north east of Kowloon, where Chuk Yuen (竹園) used to be.


佐敦
Jordan

Area in the south west of Kowloon, in Yau Tsim Mong (油尖旺區). This is where two protest organizers were savagely attacked by criminals wielding baseball bats. The police have made no arrests in this case.


中環
Central

The site of frequent protests, this is the veritable cockpit. Home to many banks, expensive emporia, consulates, and the government. North shore of Hong Kong Island, opposite Kowloon. Carrie Lam, engineer of this current round of discord, lives at government house (香港禮賓府) here, on Government Hill (政府山).


蘭桂坊
Lan Kwai Fong

An area of no importance whatsoever, where foreign business executives, drunken Australians, and the international press hang out. It was the site of a deadly stampede in 1993. It's on a hillside somewhere in Central.




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