BE DOUBLY HAPPY, HONG KONG!!!!!

I’m not saying that everyone should learn English, but if Hong Kong is serious- really serious- about being “reborn” and seen as something like “Asia’s world city”, its international image must be strengthened and cannot be reduced into being what some say resembles an isolated fishing village for the aged.

Maybe this is also why friends who once lived in Hong Kong and worked in the Hong Kong news media are surprised that I read a certain English language newspaper everyday.

“Do you actually SUBSCRIBE to it?”they ask incredulously before calming down when I tell them that the newspaper is available free in the lobby of the service apartment complex where I live.

“Thank goodness”, they reply before going into the dim sum quality of the present reportage, and how not to expect Tucker Carlson, let alone Woodward and Bernstein.

Sure, those days of writers and journalists like Jack Moore, Harry Rolnick, Kevin Sinclair, Philip Bowring and others are long gone and one has become accustomed to read editorials that are a ping pong match of different thoughts, very few of which make much sense.

As a longtime Hong Kong Belonger, I don’t know how it happened or when it did, but almost overnight, the standards of everything in this city have been allowed to flounder and go into free fall.

The city’s main “tourist attraction” appears to be horse racing with a tsunami of simulcasts of racing from around the world which are shown late at night and, one guesses, is the closest thing those living here have to a “Hong Kong nightlife”.

It’s either this or watching the news channels and worrying about everything and then spreading this worry to whoever is around.

But what’s there for tourists- or visitors- who wish to go out and inhale what the city has to offer?

What’s exactly out there?

Is there any sign of LIFE?

What on earth happened to turn amazing little Hong Kong with its 24/7 “Can Do” spirit and being The Little Engine That Could into a caricature of a retired King Kong with a befuddled Ding Dong mentality and a slew of “events”?

“Events” don’t bring the sustainability that’s needed.

Was the city so poorly managed by the lady Chief Executive and her administration that there was not enough effort put into creating its future, or did someone under her forget to switch on the lights of immediate positivity?

Why do all these different campaigns to attract tourism- and visitors- constantly keep changing direction and why does its marketing strategy also keep changing to target different groups of tourists- many without even spending power?

Does the Hong Kong Tourism Board even have ONE foreigner on its board as, let’s say, a token adviser?

If not, doesn’t this keep its marketing efforts at a very local and non aspirational level and how ?does any of this coagulated congee attract international investors and tourists?

I am certainly not raising my hand for any job in the tourism sector, nor any other sector in Hong Kong because I think that it’s too late for anything new, so it’s just about keeping on with whatever is still here despite running out of wontons.

It’s about making the most of what’s already here as Hong Kong really doesn’t seem to have the time nor the patience for more long term plans.

Over the past eight years, I have become very close to a counsellor who navigated me through a precarious time in my life.

This was when I had my passport stolen in Singapore after stopping over there from Melbourne and, on my return to Hong Kong, had to isolate for a week in a hotel.

I don’t know what those around me were thinking, but why they would book me into a hotel in the boonies of Kowloon that could have been from the horror movie “The Shining” still puzzles and haunts me.

That one week in the hotel or creepiness changed me forever along with the need for therapy from this counsellor who has become a trusted friend.

Getting to know her and the work she has been doing in Hong Kong has not only been helpful, it’s been revealing.

As she puts it, Hong Kong is going through “The Big Hurt” and agrees with me that the world- and this city- is still very much in Lockdown mode and why the snap, crackle and pop of young entrepreneurs, effective creative and strong marketing and social skills have gone walkies.

Everyone is different and though yoga and meditation, wellness sessions, singing drums and exercise help some, it’s not for everybody.

Hard as it might seem, the following is what’s REALLY needed: Exercising the brain even more than the body and filling it with positive energy and happy thoughts.

I see this missing amongst friends who appear to be struggling to find happiness or hiding the reality of what’s really ailing them- inside.

This again brings to mind working with my friend Dr Daniel Ng, the then Chairman of McDonald’s in Hong Kong, who wanted to bring out a daily “clarion call” printed on the back of McDonald’s tray liners and takeaway bag stuffers full of positive news and called- what else- McHappy News.

Maybe, as usual, Daniel knew something we didn’t?

He and I talked about so many things- like a public holiday to celebrate being alive and A McFriendship Day etc etc.

Sadly, he passed away sooner than we expected.

Rest In Peace, Daniel.

As for today, Hong Kong is small enough to surprise the world with at least ONE big idea. But this isn’t going to happen by recycling things that have come before and more concerts by the usual suspects but now thirty years older and having a subservient media say what a terrific job Hong Kong is doing.

Aren’t most of these events being held these days for those already here, and if so, why say that these types of very local events are designed to attract tourism- and visitors?

The truth is that Hong Kong is only surviving and not living for the simple reason that many have forgotten how to be happy.

Happiness and Hong Kong branded Double Happiness is something that must be created and marketed to be so contagious that it is celebrated and seen as our gift to the world!

As Mr Nike would say, Just Do It!

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