Identity in focus ahead of Beijing Winter Olympics after Hong Kong’s most successful summer Games inflamed old tensions
In July, more than 5,000 people gathered along the sides of the APM shopping centre in Hong Kong on a Monday night. They waved flags and screamed “Hong Kong” at the TV. In a new, shiny mall in the industrial district of Kwun Tong, an enormous screen had been hoisted up into the centre of the main concourse, so people could watch the Olympics.
Videos from the time showed people crowded against the railings, stacked up across multiple stories, as they watched fencer Edgar Cheung Ka Long win Hong Kong’s first gold medal in 25 years. Across the territory, throughout the Olympics, shopping centres became a kind of town square, kept open late into the evening.
