A party lacking celebration

The Hong Kong handover is a source of tension in Montreal's Chinatown

by JULIA DOVER

On television sets in living rooms across North America, Chinese community leaders have been openly voicing their opinions for and against the Hong Kong takeover. But within the community dynamics of Montreal's Chinatown, a great many people are still afraid to attach their identity to their opinions.

One Chinese religious leader who requested anonymity says the mood in Chinatown is far from festive. He believes that those who praise the takeover have political or economic interests in China, while many others are steadfastly keeping to themselves. Some have family members still living in Hong Kong and feel vulnerable about speaking out--nobody wants to make the Chinese ambassador angry. "Even many young people who fled China after the Tiananmen Square Massacre are now publicly celebrating the Chinese takeover of Hong Kong," he says. "This is hard for me to understand."

In the basement of a Chinese apartment complex on St-Dominique, meanwhile, Beijing supporters celebrate the return of the prodigal colony to the homeland. But the party features neither exuberance nor spontaneity. An audience of families, organizers and elderly Chinese watch quietly and clap politely as performers dance and sing to prerecorded music. "For 150 years, Chinese people felt weak and poor," says Dick Yee, who calls himself the "festival organizer" for this event. "With Hong Kong's return, it will be much better. I am very happy. China will be better, stronger and richer. There is hope now."

Yee is not concerned about the Chinese military presence in Hong Kong. "The troops are just symbolic. Besides, if China cannot send soldiers to Hong Kong, then Hong Kong does not belong to China. Every country is the same."

Outside the basement hall, however, nobody wants to talk about Hong Kong; more than a dozen people reply with a curt or embarrassed "no comment" when approached. One Chinese student was adamant about anonymity: "I'll give you my opinion," he says, "but you're not getting my name." He has relatives in Hong Kong who can't afford to leave and he doesn't trust Beijing. "If the tanks and soldiers are just for show, then why don't they leave their bullets at the border?"

The religious leader says the dynamics of Chinatown are shaped by its diversity. In a small community where everybody knows everybody, he says, silence on controversial issues is often the end result.

A case in point: an owner of a newsstand, who left Hong Kong two years ago for the sake of his four children, prefers not to give his opinion about the issue, saying that the political cauldron of Hong Kong has been replaced by more immediate economic concerns. "For people like me, we are just trying to feed our children. Poor people in Hong Kong feel the same as me, we're just trying to survive." He has tears in his eyes. "Nobody knows what will happen, so it doesn't matter."