Kenji Wong | Let Us Remain Steadfast in Liberating Hong Kong
Kenji Wong, a branding and design specialist, founder of Growthring & Co and has been openly supporting the protest since the beginning. He also participates in local pro-democracy content creation and even spreads those works widely in Japan. See his thoughts on blindly supporting brands based on their political stance and the importance of assessing their quality.
“We should not hope that just because we all support democracy, those who share similar values would automatically support us unconditionally. We should always start by improving ourselves, improving the quality of our goods and services, so that they become worthy of support. This is what would make our progress sustainable. ”
Journalist: Jack Forest
All I am trying to do is to liberate Hong Kong.
We have been chanting this slogan for over nine months, but do you know what “Liberate Hong Kong” truly means?
In my mind, Hong Kong was one of the most outstanding places in the world, having spread extraordinary culture to other parts of the globe. Alas, at a certain point in time, we began to forget our own virtues.
“Liberate Hong Kong” should not just be a political slogan, but our communal goal - an ideal that we should aspire to achieve together with the city.
I am Kenji Wong, a brand designer. A Hongkonger who wants to reinvent the brand that is Hong Kong.
HongKong As A Brand
If Hong Kong is a brand, what would it be like? Hong Kong is a transnational city that is vibrant and unapologetic. It possesses rich history and stories, while it is constantly inventing its own new culture.
Hongkongers are flexible and agile problem-solvers. We are able to generate cultural practices that can be spread worldwide. Because Hongkongers are smart, we are also exceptional in looking for the fastest and easiest way to make money.
We went through our golden age of entertainment from the 70s to 90s. During that period, Hong Kong produced many phenomenal world-renowned films, music, literature, and even brands and corporations. But over the past two decades, as we expose ourselves to other cultures around the world, we started to only amplify hype up other cultures - first Japan, then South Korea, and then China in the last couple of years. We have started to lose our distinctive flavours as we tried to decide which culture to emulate. In trying to catch up with the latest “cultural fads”, we have started to give up the most beautiful elements of Hong Kong culture, and allowed bad taste to integrate into our daily lives.
For example, many of us make purchases on Taobao, knowing that while the products may look good and come with low prices, they are of poor quality. I see this having a lot to do with the mindset of wanting just to survive: as long as we can make money, we make compromises, sometimes at the expense of our dignity. That is why we allow ourselves to get used to having so many chain stores on the street selling useless junk. We cannot place all the blame on Chinese tourists: they can buy the same garbage back in mainland, and this is in fact our own problem.
Hongkongers are in fact very smart. We have vision, but we lack confidence. When we encounter mainlanders’ smugness that comes with their rising economic prowess, we tend to believe we are not as good, and would never be able to catch up.
There is actually no need for us to compare ourselves to others. We can do a lot that impress and “wow” people from mainland China and other foreign countries. However, Hongkongers are always the biggest critics of ourselves. A lot of us, deep down in our hearts, indulge in an inferiority complex that foreigners are better and more capable than us, and that we will always be just a little worse than others.
This movement in 2019 has been an excellent chance to disprove all these negative beliefs, to let us re-learn how brilliant Hongkongers can be. Look at the publicity materials we have created - from the texts, designs and visuals, to our connections with international media, advertising agencies and even political dignitaries - there is ample evidence of how powerful we are, even if we are just a small city of 7 million people.
The 2019 movement might also be a sign where we should start a cultural detox. It is time to get rid of the canned, convenient-but-no-good-for-us lifestyle. In turn, we should support local lifestyles that are integral to our values.
I must stress, however, that I’m not saying that local is always good. The point here is to find and cultivate local businesses that are worthy of our support.
Proud to be a Hongkonger
It’s hard not to be a Hong Kong fanatic during this movement. This passion makes it easier for us to attract and recruit others into supporting the movement, and that can be a good thing. However, uncritical enthusiasm is not sustainable. Given our limited time and resources, it is not healthy to magnify and become over-reliant on public sympathy. We should not hope that just because we all support democracy, those who share similar values would automatically support us unconditionally. We should always start by improving ourselves, improving the quality of our goods and services, so that they become worthy of support. This is what would make our progress sustainable.
Take the music industry as an example. Bands like RubberBand have been struggling for years, not getting the support they deserve. Hongkongers sometimes shrug it off by saying, “I just don’t listen to Canto-pop.” But how can we say “We love Hong Kong” when we are not even involved in part of the culture that makes it great?
At the same time, if there are people or local businesses that are simply not great, we should let them shoulder the responsibility of improving themselves, or risk being extinct.
In a nutshell, we shouldn’t be providing fervent support to any business who happens to be raising a yellow “I love HK” flag. On the contrary, we need to give appropriate support to quality local businesses after careful observations. That way, “Liberate Hong Kong” would not be just a slogan, but a dream that can come true one day.
“I am Kenji, I am a HKer.”
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