Away from the shadow of my stifling family, I finally felt like I had control over the trajectory of my life. I grew up there because it was the first place in Hong Kong whose stories I wanted to learn, and where I had the freedom to make my own stories. I often tell people that I grew up in Sai Wan, even though I only moved there when I was eighteen. That strip of salt-drenched promenade is called the praya, and in my undergrad years exchange students and I would head down to watch the sea batter the shore during typhoons. Sai Wan 西環, as it is also known as, is on the western shore of Hong Kong Island, between the dried seafood stores of Sheung Wan and the hilly terrains of Mount Davis, and down the slope from the University of Hong Kong where I read law and literature. If all of Hong Kong is to be razed to the ground and I could save but one place, it would be Western District. She reflects on growing up in Hong Kong following the handover from Britain in 1997 and covering the turmoil following protests against the Chinese government in 20. Here & Now‘s Scott Tong speaks with journalist Karen Cheung about her new book “The Impossible City: A Hong Kong Memoir.”
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