【Video】Kelvin | Owner of a magic themed coffee shop — In a reality with no magic, love will bring respect
Kelvin is the owner of a magic-themed cafe. He is passionate about food, magic, and Harry Potter which inspired him to quit his job a few years ago and open 9¾ Cafe in Mong Kok with his friends. He claims that Harry was able to overcome evil in the first Harry Potter book because of an affinity and openness towards love. He believes that if Hongkongers can share more love, a culture of mutual respect for others will develop and the contradictions and conflicts in Hong Kong society will lessen.
“There are no spells in reality of course. The only thing I want to remind Hongkongers is ‘It’s love, Hongkongers.’ Don’t be stingy with the love you give to others around you as you’ll learn to respect them. Mutual respect is a countervailing force against contradictions and conflicts in our society. We’re all Hongkongers after all, aren’t we?”
Journalist: Letusgothenuandi
Photos: Letusgothenuandi
Videographer: Crazy Man
Video Editor: Iamnotbackgroundar
A passion for magic transforms into a new business
I used to work a day job with a mundane and monotonous schedule. I later decided to take a leap of faith with friends with common interests and we eventually opened a new magic-themed cafe in Mong Kok that targeted a younger crowd. This was to be a place where younger people could gather with a few friends and have lively conversations.
Mong Kok and magic were the cornerstones of my childhood. Mong Kok, with its variety of little shops, used to be my after school hangout with classmates. I also loved gaming when I was younger and especially admired the characters who had magic powers which made my imagination run wild.
Everything is difficult when first starting out. When the cafe became operational, we faced quite a few problems. Although my partners and I are all passionate about cooking, there was no way we could stay in the kitchen all day long. We had to hire a chef and purchase ingredients too. It was really frustrating at first, but luckily we were able to resolve these initial issues.
Unfortunately, with Covid-19 turning Hong Kong upside down, citizens are eating out less often. In turn, the food and beverage industry has entered an ice age. Along with the new ordinance limiting restaurant seating to half the regular capacity, a maximum of four per table, and 1.5 metres between tables, it makes it even more difficult for restaurants to stay afloat. It disproportionately affects restaurants with smaller real estate, like many pro-democracy or ‘yellow stores*’. For example, the yellow dessert and snack stores in Argyle Centre and Kwai Chung Plaza, well known for being tightly packed together, are especially affected. It feels like the government is specifically targeting the small yellow shops.
Expanding yellow shops to conglomerate power
What we yellow shops can do is support the protesters. We are currently working with Dare Media to promote and sell their YELL CARDs, where all profits go towards creating promotional materials for the democracy movement and to yellow shops in need. I can accept branding all stores that support the democracy movement as yellow. The yellow economic circle is also an economic bloc definitely worth developing.
In the past ten years, Hong Kong’s food and beverage industry has been monopolized by large corporations. Many small, independent businesses have been eliminated and replaced by large chain restaurants. I think Hongkongers don’t need to rely on these major corporations. I hope the yellow economic circle can be a sustainable business model in attracting locals to spend within the circle which in turn amplifies the power of the people by strengthening the pro-democracy bloc. However, supporting the movement is not a competition and I urge yellow stores to stop antagonizing one another by claiming ‘they’re not yellow enough’ or categorizing how ‘yellow’ they are. This doesn’t contribute to our goals.
Saving ourselves from the government’s incompetence through love
Upon self-reflection, I think I’m undoubtedly aligned with the yellow camp. Because my cafe is located in Mong Kok, I spend a lot of time in the neighbourhood and have seen the police fire tear gas along Nathan Road as well as the many groundless arrests of innocent people. Even passersby who have not participated in the protest are arrested which is intolerable. I fear for my personal safety, but I’m even more worried for my employees as they commute to and from work. I’m utterly disgusted with the police.
Additionally, the government’s new Prohibition on Face Covering Regulation prevents citizens and protesters from wearing face coverings while continuing to allow police to do so during their duties. With the recent Covid-19 outbreak, the Chief Executive Carrie Lam said that there was no need for legislators to wear face masks and to remove them if they were already wearing one. These words and actions are truly infuriating.
Hongkongers cannot continue to tolerate the government or police taking advantage of them. I really am thankful for the contributions fellow protesters have made, bravely standing up against the government, and fighting to achieve democracy and freedom.
I’m a Harry Potter fan. In the movies and books, Dumbledore said to Harry, “Love, Harry. Love.” If Hongkongers also had this loving spirit and had learned to respect one another, Hong Kong would not be what it is today.
Love, Hongkongers. Love.
Among the many characters in the Harry Potter series, my favorite is still Dumbledore. Hong Kong needs more people with his spirit of justice and uncompromising ideals to educate the next generation. He never once wavered from his beliefs. If I had one chance to cast a spell, I would use the same levitation charm Hermione used in the first book to “wingardium leviosa” away Hong Kong’s many problems. I wish for the bad cops in particular to fly as far away as possible.
There are no spells in reality of course. The only thing I want to remind Hongkongers is ‘It’s love, Hongkongers.’ Don’t be stingy with the love you give to others around you as you’ll learn to respect them. Mutual respect is a countervailing force against contradictions and conflicts in our society. We’re all Hongkongers after all, aren’t we?
“I am Kelvin, I am a HKer.”
Support our Journalism with a Contribution
Many people might not know this, but despite our large team of contributors, which we are immensely grateful for, We Are HKers is still a small bootstrapped group that runs on no outside funding and loans. Everything you see today is built on the backs of warriors who have sacrificed opportunities, time, meals and sleep to help give HKers all over the world a voice and keep our culture alive.
However, we still face many trials in the running of our platform, from finding the necessary equipment for our video interviews, to subscribing to the necessary tools to facilitate our remote work process of our global team, to trying not to get fired from our main jobs as we run this project secretly in the background, and to keeping our platform running and storing our files securely.
We hope you consider making a contribution, so we can continue to provide you with moving stories of HKers all over the world and keep our heritage and culture alive. Even a £1 contribution goes a long way. Thank you for everyone’s support. We love you all and can’t appreciate you guys enough.
**Please note that your support of We Are HKers Ltd. does NOT constitute a charitable donation. We really appreciate your support in independent journalism. If you have any questions about contributing to We Are HKers, please contact us here.
- February 2022
- December 2021
- August 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- July 2019
- June 2019
* “Yellow stores” is a historical Chinese slang term for brothels. The term was reclaimed during the Hong Kong anti-extradition protests in 2019 by pro-democracy activists to describe businesses that openly support the pro-democracy camp which is often represented by the colour yellow since the 2014 Umbrella Movement.