TL;DR – We are same-same but different.
The Mid-autumn Festival, also known as the Mooncake Festival, is a festival typically celebrated by the Chinese where the families gather for a reunion, to gaze at the moon and eat mooncakes.
However, for Hong Kong, the Mid-autumn Festival this year was celebrated a little differently than usual.
In case you didn’t know, violence engulfed Hong Kong over the Mid-autumn Festival weekend. Yes, yet again, and it was pretty bad…
Skirmishes and fistfights
Burning and vandalizing of MTR stations
While the rioters and protestors were out on the streets fighting for what they believe in (and increasingly, fighting with people who disagree with them too), there appears to be the silent majority in Hong Kong who wants the protests, especially the violence and tearing apart of the social fabric, to stop.
For instance, this group of Hong Kongers, who voluntarily cleaned up the mess left behind by the protestors:
Some people have referred to Hong Kong and Singapore as twin cities, and here’s a look at what went down over the Mid-autumn Festival weekend in Singapore:
Mid-autumn Festival Celebrations
Epik High’s first standalone concert in Singapore
South Korea’s legendary hip-hop veterans Epik High was in Singapore last Saturday as part of their Epik High 2019 tour.
And heck yeah, it was truly high and epic!
Singapore are you ready for #EPIKHIGH?! Btw please make sure to stay hydrated cuz the haze is really bad tonight >< Take care to move back and out of the mosh pit if you don’t feel well! #EPIKHIGHinSINGAPORE #epikhigh2019tour pic.twitter.com/jOnvPYtATV
— (x)clusive (@sgXCLUSIVE) September 14, 2019
EXO Planet #5 – EXplOration – in Singapore
Last Sunday also saw South Korean boy band EXO returning to the Singapore Indoor Stadium for their concert “EXO Planet #5 – EXplOration.”
The audiences even followed through the dress code project from the Seoul concerts and turned up in white!
https://twitter.com/theseoulstory/status/1173139339934437376
100 days of Hong Kong protests
This week marks the 15th week of mass protest since it first broke.
In fact, they marked the 100th day of protests today. It has been sad for us to see what has been happening in Hong Kong, yet it has also made us more appreciative of some of the policies we do have here in Singapore, for instance, our complete housing solution and our economic policies that pursue more diversity to mitigate risk and over-reliance on certain sectors.
For Hong Kong, its Chief Executive Carrie Lam has taken some steps to assure the Hong Kongers that they are doing their best. Other than withdrawing the Extradition Bill, Lam has also promised in a Facebook post that her government would implement six initiatives on Housing, which include:
- Delinking the price of subsidised-sale flats from market prices
- The “starter home” pilot scheme
- Greater support for temporary housing
- The reallocation of nine land sites from private to public use
- A tax on new flats which have been left vacant
- Tackling pre-sale tactics by land developers
I’m not sure if it’s going to appease the protesters, but nevertheless, let’s hope that peace will be restored soon in Hong Kong!