Seven and eight years ago I visited Paris and London for the first time in my life.
In Paris I saw a Chinese New Year’s Parade. To me, it was fascinating. Their complex costumes, dragon kites and the pride they took in their tradition really touched me. While watching the parade, I felt like slipping into another world, which resembles a fairytale where people are gracious, wear bewitched costumes and unusual, but beautiful, makeup.
My first trip to London was dominated by one area called China Town. My mom and I were so fascinated by all the things we saw there. Stores with ducks hanging in front of the windows, Hello Kitty candy everywhere, which was rare to find in Switzerland, hairdressers doing only special Chinese haircuts, apples so red and shiny, how we’ve never seen them before, food so healthy and tasty, no matter how much we were eating of it, we never felt sick or tired of it and in the whole of China Town we were surrounded my Chinese lanterns.
That was my first real encounter with Chinese culture.
My Hong Kong Poem:
I imagine Hong Kong like a city where modernity and tradition meet.
Maybe like New York, a City which never sleeps.
Water is little and rice is rich
People are rushing, no one sits
Street lights follow wherever you go
A pulsating vibe surrounds you and you feel the glow
Healthiness which brings the tradition is an invisible law
People scared wearing masks to protect it all