CAN HONG KONG HEAL ITSELF AND FIND ITS NEW MOJO?
- Hans Ebert
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
“If Hong Kong is dying, I would like to see it leave us with dignity”.
My ex wife Trina mentioned this to me about the city a couple of years ago and when we were still communicating. It was also a promise she made that my parents, especially my mother who was suffering with Alzheimer’s, would leave this world with dignity. And they did.
What Trina mentioned to me is something that I will never forget and hope this is not the case, because as a Hong Kong Belonger who has spent practically a lifetime in the city, I haven’t given up trying to fix it, and, perhaps more than this, help it heal.
The memories Hong Kong has given many of us are priceless along with all the celebrities that the city has hosted- not quasi TikTok celebs, but absolute legends.
Over the many years, Hong Kong has gone through much, especially over the past few years dealing with everything from social unrest, an inept Chief Executive, the Covid and lockdown years, and these days, a post pandemic malaise with no signs of real positivity in sight.
Yes, Hong Kong is not what it was, but how would one describe the city today- once, Asia’s world city today?
Is it being “restored” or “resuscitated” or left to fend for herself?
Us, village elders should be able to cope and go the distance, but what about the next generation- and the generations to come?
What would they be inheriting from us so that they can invest in something with the potential to grow, and develop this into becoming a new and happy Hong Kong?
Hopefully, the next generation in Hong Kong would have been inspired by today’s young healthcare workers who are so giving of their time and care.
All of Hong Kong could learn so much from these people.
Their genuine kindness makes many of our supposed leaders in the community look weak, selfish and pretentious old mothballs completely out of touch with reality other than when it comes to feathering their own nests.
There’s also a monkey see, monkey do way of working taking place in Hong Kong these days where there appears to be so much of everything that it’s actually nothing. It’s like smoke and mirrors- and no real time to really focus on a Hong Kong success story like tennis player Coleman Wong and market this success.
For example, there’s currently a fixation for Hong Kong to host so many international sporting events with an entertainment twist- but has anyone thought about things like affordability and how much international- truly international tourism- all this everything might NOT be bringing in?
Is there balance and a sustainable business model and strategy in place?
When having introduced the CEO of the HKJC to my friend Simon Fuller of X1X Entertainment with the idea of having his multi cultural pop group Now United perform at the Longines Hong Kong International Races, little did I think things would turn out the way they have- and good luck to them.
With the Club creating an entertainment portal and Canto Popster and horse owner Aaron Kwok brought in to prop things up, this was after the “citywide talent search” and the promised opportunity for the winner to travel around the world yada yada yada had been completed.
Auditions were held behind closed doors, a female member from Hong Kong was found.
And now what?
Does Hong Kong even have the necessary talent to make things happen in the entertainment sphere?
One also wonders if something as “rigid” and controlling as the Hong Kong Jockey Club with its commitment to world class horse racing and a business model based on wagering has the team in place to take its “entertainment portal” and make it more than it can be?
Will the HKJC give those who CAN make a difference the freedom to create a completely new business model by understanding that entertainment today isn’t led and fed by music only and know about the intricacies and pot holes of what once was an industry?
And if it doesn’t, there might be a very unique business model that will put Hong Kong- and China- on a completely new entertainment path that others will follow because of new thinkers owning a multi media platform with the room to move the chess pieces around- and driven by creativity and empathy and true positivity that are not just empty words.
And, no, Netflix is not so much further ahead than everyone and everything else.
Everyone else, or nearly everyone else, is suffering from shrinkage and stuck in a past that’s long gone and believing that this is still now.
This is what I believe, anyway, and I don’t have the time to waste on those who talk from both sides of their mouth.
It’s time for absolute self belief and playing by one’s own rules.
