Robbie Short
On 25 January 2020, the first day of the Year of the Rat, the Hong Kong government officially declared the then-nascent outbreak of the novel coronavirus an “emergency,” the highest warning tier in the city’s response system. This month, the new Year of the Ox dawned with the city still grappling with the virus and its manifold impacts on society and on social life. The need to remain limited and distant in our interactions in the name of public health required significant changes to most celebrations of the holiday, both public and private.
A flower market that would ordinarily fill Victoria Park, the largest public park on Hong Kong Island, with rows and rows of stalls was pared down to two rows along the park’s perimeter. Large gatherings of friends and family members and celebratory meals in restaurants were strongly discouraged or forbidden. Masks, of course, were—and are—de rigueur, for the most part. Should one look back on these photographs from a time in the future, it shouldn’t be difficult to date them to this very unusual period. (One hopes, anyway, vaccinations and God willing.)
I spent 11 and 12 February 2021, the eve and first day of the Year of the Ox, wandering about and documenting some of the things people were doing to mark the occasion, and also celebrating in my own small way. On 11 February, I walked along Queensway/Hennessy Road, a major thoroughfare on Hong Kong Island, ambling into side streets and ultimately terminating at the scaled-down flower market in Victoria Park. On 12 February, I traveled with four Yale-China companions to Tap Mun, one of Hong Kong’s outlying islands, where we enjoyed a peaceful picnic and a degree of communion with nature, largely absent the density and potential health hazards of the city.
All in all, it was not a bad way to welcome a new lunar year. Let us hope that the year to come brings with it greater wellbeing and more peace and justice than the year that has left.
Robbie Short grew up near Sacramento, California, and graduated from Yale College in 2019 with a Bachelor of Arts in History. He is currently a Yale-China Fellow at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, where he teaches undergraduate courses in English communications and U.S. history.
These flower-sellers were hard at work hawking their wares to passersby at the Bowrington Road Market in Wan Chai. (11 February)
Along Hennessy Road, a talented older man set up shop selling fai chun, calligraphic decorations hand-painted with auspicious messages for hanging around the house. Patrons could choose from among his existing stock or ask him to paint a specific personalized message. (11 February)
Wrapping up a branch to take home from the flower market in Victoria Park. (11 February)
Blooms for sale at a stall in Victoria Park. (11 February)
As our ferry traveled through Tolo Harbour on the way to Tap Mun, a congregation of egrets flew in pursuit, maintaining a loose formation just behind the boat. The humans on board flocked to the stern to snap some photos of our avian fellow travelers. (12 February)
Tap Mun is home to many wild cattle who roam the island freely. In our eyes, this made it an especially auspicious place to visit to inaugurate the Year of the Ox. Here, Yale-China’s intrepid Hong Kong director, Andy Junker, makes friends with the first bovine we encountered on the island. (12 February)
: We enjoyed a sunny picnic in view of Sharp Peak, an aptly named highlight of the Sai Kung East Country Park just south of Tap Mun. (12 February)
Tea eggs, tofu, tangerines, and more. (12 February)
During the pandemic, traffic on Hong Kong’s outlying islands has increased significantly as Hongkongers look for ways to get out of the city without hopping on a plane. On Tap Mun, this increased foot traffic has unfortunately resulted in the trampling of the grassy pastures that typically feed the cattle living on the island. (These pastures give Tap Mun its English name, Grass Island.) Volunteers have worked to bring in grass cuttings from elsewhere to provide Tap Mun’s cattle with a reliable source of nutrition, but the animals, already used to human visitors, have also turned increasingly to food brought by campers. Here, a camping group tries to lure a curious—and probably hungry—cow away from their campsite. Perhaps not so auspicious after all. (12 February)
The first sunset of the new lunar year as seen from aboard our return ferry. (12 February)