23rd Nov, 1967
Dear Chris,
How’s life? Wonder how you feel when you see this letter. I’m You from the sixties of Hong Kong. I was accidentally transported from your time to the past.
How’ re mom and dad?
Well, I’m now in the year of 1967. That’s the year before the birth of mom. But I’m still struggling in finding grandpa and grandma because the sixties is such a turbulent period of the town. You know, what’s happened here recently? Riot! The Hong Kong 1967 riot’s just ended here. People against the British Government clashed violently with the Police Force from May to Oct. Half year long and 52 people died! So till now I can still hardly find any trace of grandparents.
I’m now working at a factory producing plastic flowers. I carried boxes of products from day to night. I guess I’m much muscular than you. Ha! The job is boring anyway. But life here is interesting. Every day I meet lots of people speaking different languages. Many of them are from the Mainland, like my friend Wen Shen. He comes from Wenzhou. I could barely understand what he meant when I first saw him. Let’s say, the word “fly” in Putonghua should be “fai”. But he always pronounces it as “bee”. You see, language barrier! Some of the people also come from the UK., but I seldom meet them. You must know why if you don’t have the brain of pea. Ha! Here I can also see lots of things I’ve never seen before, like the rickshaws and hand-made leather shoes. I can also try to use the old telephone, which I have to turn the plate on it to make a call. Everything here seems to be weird and old-fashioned, but at the same time fresh to me.
People here are nice, though. Unlike Hong Kong in the 21st century, we’ve very close relationship with each other. If you lack anything, you can definitely borrow it from anyone living next to you. We even share the toilet and kitchen. We dine together, play together and enjoy watching TV together (well, not many families can own one!). You know who is Chan Po Chu? She’s the main character of many movies here. She’s so charming and pretty. Many children here regard her as their idol and like collecting her pictures. Ah! Wenshen also got some. That’s why I always call him “Big Child”.
By the way, I dislike the hygiene here. It’s so poor. Every night, I can hear mice walking on the roof. Scary! I was also extremely scared of the cockroaches at first. But now, I can bravely hit them with my super ,yellow, slippers. You just imagine how many “ Siu Keung” ’s could change a human being like that. What’s more, people here are not that hygienic. They know nothing about “sterilization”. They use soap only once a day. Yep, they never wash their hands after using the toilet and before having a meal! Awful, isn’t it? I dare to say it’s related to the low education level here.
Oops… It’s time for work. I’m afraid that I’ve to stop here. Remember to study by heart. Really. If you don’t want to do my job, listen to me. Good luck!
Best wishes,
Chris in the 60s