Bloom
Trapped
Q1) When do you feel “Beauty” in life?
I feel the moment of “Beauty” in life when people from different backgrounds come together and unify, bringing them to agree and wonder over something positive in their life.
Q2) What is an aspect in your country that represents your definition of beauty?
The beauty of my country, HongKong, is the cultural diversity among the citizens. HongKong is a place that was built by diversity of thought. Even when the British colonized Hong Kong after 1842, it was a place of cross-culture between the Chinese and English. Moreover, as Hong Kong economically developed to a global hub of trade in Asia, it had attracted more people around the globe making the country more diverse. The “Beauty” image is an image taken from the opposite island of the main economic district where you can see the light show and skyscrapers beautifully: it's a celebration of how Hong Kong has become and represents the luxury, opportunity and diversity that Hong Kong is able to provide for its people. This view is very special to me because it makes me appreciate how lucky I am to be born in a place full of diversity. I would not even be born if it wasn’t HongKong because my dad grew up in the US and my mom grew up in the Philippines. Together they have a different point (what do you mean here), but Hong Kong is the place where they brought them together. Like this, the diversity of Hong Kong allowed me to have more propensity to acclimating different types of perspectives which I wouldn’t be able to gain if I grew up somewhere else.
Q3) What is a challenge that your country is facing?
The biggest challenge that HongKong is facing is the culture of vast inequality between the affluent and the poor. HongKong has a population of 7.43 million people and 13% of those people are millionaires in USD standard. However, at the same time 20% of the people live under the poverty line. Therefore, it is only the few districts that have the most wealth and international recognition. The “Beauty” image contradicts because it shows the utopian side of HongKong but in reality, when you move out of the main economic district, it is not prosperous at all. The challenge photo shows a typical “cage home” you can find outside of the main economic district. Because rent is expensive, many people live together in scattered squeezed spaces, where temperatures go up to 45 degrees, no air conditioner, leaking sinks, and slices of blocked windows. People living in luxury in Hong Kong and abroad tend to be blinded by their wealth or they choose to consciously or unconsciously ignore the people living in poverty. As there is no public effort, this is leading to a gap that is widening more and more, and the 20% of people living in poverty are neglected.
Q4) Are there things you are doing to help solve that challenge?
In HongKong people are not well-educated about this issue: it is not taught at school and there are no social programs that spread awareness about it. Furthermore, many of the people who are in poverty do not have the opportunity to experience the diversity that Hong Kong provides. Therefore, what I am doing is creating a social platform to bridge the two communities, the affluent and the poor, together, by creating a space where they can speak out about their mental issues or struggles that they are facing as young adults.
Another issue that is present in HongKong is that students are generally depressed. Therefore in this program, students are able to share their feelings and the struggles they are facing in life by talking to people from both communities. This does not just increase the societal awareness of students about the inequality gap in HongKong, but also allows them to connect with people from different backgrounds with different mental issues which can give an insight on how they can cope with their own problems.
While HongKong is diverse, this sense of diversity is not accessible to everyone. Therefore, through this project I hope to make the beautiful night sky of HongKong applicable for more people there.
Q5) What is your dream? What is your ideal world?
I wish for a world of equal opportunities for all: equal growth, happiness, satisfaction and love.