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Welcome to

The Young Reporter (2003, December), 36(03), pp. 8.
Author: Diamond Cheng Hei-suen. Editor: Winnie Yeung Wing-yin.
Permanent URL - https://sys01.lib.hkbu.edu.hk/bujspa/purl.php?&did=bujspa0015300

By Diamond Cheng Hei-suen

02009285@hkbu.edu.hk

HOW can one miss ChungKing Mansions while walking down Nathan Road in Tsim Sha Tsui? Fascinating lights from the entrance; South Asians and Africans chatting in languages you can never understand.

Take a step forward into the building and you start to wonder: Why is everyone looking at me? The next thing you know, these crowds of dark-skin people flock towards you and keep flooding you with cards and that makes you suffocate.

Just after you think you're being assaulted, you realise that they are just trying to lure you dine at their Indian Curry restaurants, which are located upstairs in the building.

The journey to the Khyber-Pass Mess Club, an Indian curry restaurant, is like combating in a war as you have to push people from other restaurants aside to get there.

According to the restaurant’s manager Johnny Man Kei-sun, Hong Kong people used to avoid going into ChungKing Mansions as they thought it was a dangerous place. But in recent years, the popularity of Indian curry in the building has attracted more locals to set foot in here.

The restaurant looks more like an Indian style private cooking place. Stepping inside from the mysterious entrance; you will be charmed by the relaxing atmosphere and the warm greetings from the Pakistani waiters.

There are special Indian decorations like traditional wallpapers, cutleries and pictures. But what inspires you most is customers from around the world using bare hands to eat Indian curry.

Mr Man understands why Hong Kong people are scared of the dark-skin people in ChungKing Mansions. “There is fierce competition among the curry restaurants in the building,” Mr Man says. “They [the Indians and Pakistanis] are just workers sent by their bosses to lure customers in.” He adds that they are in fact polite and have no bad intention for staring at us.

Mr Saqi, a Hong Kong born Pakistani, owns a mobile phone shop there. Mr Saqi says proudly in fluent Cantonese that he is his family’s third generation in Hong Kong.

Dressed neatly in a dark blue shirt with a trendy local-style necklace, Mr Saqi looks almost like a Chinese. “I think Hong Kong people are generally good. But they’ ll discriminate against us,” he says. “They think we’ re dangerous, but in fact, we are not.”

Besides curry restaurants, ChungKing Mansions is also famous for its many guesthouses, which rent rooms to foreign businessmen and tourists at very low prices. But there are reasons for the low rates: the rooms are small and not well furnished, and occupants have to share the bathrooms.

Senegal Souleyemane, a businessman from West Africa, visits Hong Kong every two months. “It normally costs $100 to $200 to rent a room for one night,” Mr Senegal says. “If you can’t afford it, you can choose to rent a bed which costs less than $100.” He also thinks that they are suitable for international students and visitors from under-developed countries, who cannot afford a room in local hotels.

Also, ChungKing Mansions has a geographical advantage because it is located at the heart of Tsim Sha Tsui - a well-known tourist destination where transportations are extremely convenient.

Mr Senegal tells The Young Reporter that ChungKing Mansions is a reputable building to African businessmen, who frequently buy cheap wholesale products from Hong Kong and resell them in their countries.

“I love Chungking Mansions because of its self-contained characteristics,” Mr Senegal says. “Not only can I bargain easily with people speaking in my language, I can also eat, sleep and even have my haircut here!”

If you walk around its shopping arcade, you can find some interesting shops selling interesting things from other countries. Like there are video stores owned by Nepalese, selling - you guess it right - Nepalese videos.

You can also come across wig shops. Wigs are actually popular among Europeans and Africans because they love changing hairstyles to attend parties in their countries. So foreign businessmen staying in ChungKing Mansions buy wigs in large quantities to take back to their countries for reselling.

As a Chinese, you may feel insecure because you are being classified as an outsider there. But actually there are Chinese-owned currency exchange shops and convenience stores in the building.

Chan Wai-kong, a Chinese who has worked in a mobile phone shop in ChungKing Mansions for two years, admits that he did have a negative attitude towards the building before he worked there. But as he learned more about the building and the foreigners there, his bias gradually vanished.

ChungKing Mansions is portrayed as a local black spot by Hong Kong media because of its high crime rate. They associate the place with drugs, smugglings or murder. But little do Hongkongers know, the internal security systems has been greatly improved in recent years. Security cameras are set up and security guards stationed round the clock to maintain order.

If you want to visit a particular curry restaurant but find yourself being surrounded by the passionate dark-skin people, call the security guards. They will safeguard you and lead you a comfortable way to your destination.

Try to spare an afternoon with your friends and walk around ChungKing Mansions, observe the lifestyles of other cultures and have a taste of the famous Indian curry and the Pakistani ginger milk tea, and you will find yourself experiencing a different Hong Kong.

Edited by Winnie Yeung Wing-yin

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