Exploring Identity in Hong Kong

Exploring Identity
in Hong Kong

About this Zine
“What is Identity? - Is it a complex and multifaceted construct created by oneself?
Or is it a vision we adopt, which is conceived by others? How might we navigate
the tapestry of narratives woven for us and the newer threads we individually dis-
cover? Perhaps you are still in the process of drafting your story; maybe you’re still
a stranger to yourself. Or possibly, you haven’t even started your journey towards
self-discovery. No matter where you are in the quest of recognising who you are,
the key is awareness and perseverance. Keep pushing! Keep slashing through that
thick rainforest of self-doubt!” - Musubi Hong Kong
In 2017, Musubi Hong Kong and Migrant Zine Collective had their first collabo-
rative zine-making workshop “An Exploration of Gender in Hong Kong. Since the
zine was published, over 50+ copies have been circulated between Aotearoa/New
Zealand and Hong Kong. Last year, Musubi Hong Kong and Migrant Zine Collec-
tive planned another zine workshop, “Exploring Identity”, to discuss the complex-
ities of identity in Hong Kong.
Run by Musubi Hong Kong
Established as a voluntary non-profit organisation to build an inclusive, informed
and empowered community in Hong Kong, Musubi HK aspires to partake in
research, provide educational engagements and create a platform for growth. It
aims to address policy reform contributing to the upward social mobility for mar-
ginalised communities. Along with highlighting numerous gaps in services and
opportunities for the ethnic minority community, Musubi HK seeks to represent
their views in dialogues with public stakeholders and work towards building an
inclusive society.
Published by Migrant Zine Collective
Migrant Zine Collective is an activist-based zine collective aiming to amplify,
celebrate and share the voices of migrants-of-colour in Aotearoa/New Zealand.
We aim to open up a space where people-of-colour are able to discuss and unpack
topics such as identity, feminism, racism, decolonisation and inequality, in a safe
and accessible manner, and connect individuals through a range of zine work-
shops and community events. Find out more on our website:
https://migrantzinecollective.com/
Printed in Aotearoa/New Zealand, September 2019. This zine may be photo-
copied and distributed for non-profit or educational purposes.



Where’s home?
Within these walls where I lay my
head to rest?
The land my parents left behind?
Or there, where my ancestors await to
welcome my return?
- Divya D. Gurung





Who are you? And who am I? Perhaps the
perceived distinction between “you” and
“I” is an illusion. Our past, present, and fu-
ture selves are all us. We are all sums of our
ancestors and ancestors in the becoming.
There is no distinction. I am; we are.
- Rachel

Find me when I’m lost
Reinvigorate my life
Music to the soul
- Bibek Limbu



“The greatest wealth is health”
- Mirak

Identity is when you don’t 100% know who you
are and what you will be yet but at the same time
proudly tell people this is who I am. - Eric



An ode to my childhood
A love letter to the 9-year old that took
pride in knowing the lyrics to all famous
Bollywood songs, that had a cheeky smile
and went around telling people she could
finish 3 plates of dumplings with ease.
To the 9 year old that saw the world in
colours and emotions.
To the 9-year-old Ashmi.
- Ashmi



Nothing is constant in life
except for change.
This would have been a
message for my younger
self that life does get bet-
ter and that my weakest
moments in the past gives
me strength to carry on in
the present. Transitioning
through life can be beau-
tiful, the older I get, the
more I come into accep-
tance with myself and the
possibilities I hold for my
future.

- Suskihanna Gurung

Who am I?
Here are the fragments
that remind myself of me
maybe no one else would
think of me upon seeing
this
but here are things that
call to me
they remind me of me
the colours, the feeling
something calls to me
- Shreya



“Your crown has been bought and paid for. Put it
on your head and wear it.” - Dr Maya Angelou
A lot of who and what and how I identify myself
has to do with the paths that had already been
paved for me by those before me.
I am a woman that can vote and work and study
because of those before me, those who fought
for the rights I enjoy. I am a student because my
father’s sister was denied education as a teenag-
er, and her cries impacted my father greatly; he
promised to himself that he would never let me
struggle with my education. I am a feminist be-
cause I witnessed my cousin sister going through
years of domestic violence. I am who I am because
of the struggles and fights of those before me
for my crown, and my purpose is to pay for the
crowns of those after me. I am my purpose.
- Merina





I grew up always being confused about my identity,
about who I am, about where I belonged. As I grew
older and saw other kids who “fit in” I always yearned
for a place where I would belong, longing to be a part
of something.
But then I got exhausted, and that’s when I began to
find a part of myself in everything I did, every place
I went to, every person I met. I realised I don’t want
to be the kind of person who’s tied down and com-
fortable in my own little space. I began to see the
beauty in every small task I took part in, in every in-
dividual I came across and interacted with, and that’s
when I felt the most “myself ” because I was no longer
searching for places I belonged in, but I was accept-
ing myself in every step I took in life.
It’s okay to be different, it’s okay to be weird and
quirky, it’s okay to wonder why you’re not like others.
Because that’s the magic, the magic of being you; and
I have found my magic!
- Sumicchya



An ongoing journey to overcome stereotypes and live life
without letting prejudice affect my own identity.
- Saiksha

“The very meaning of “home” changes with experience of de-
colonization, of radicalization. At times, home is nowhere. At
times, one knows only extreme estrangement and alienation.
Then home is no longer just one place. It is locations. Home is
that place which enables and promotes varied and everchang-
ing perspectives, a place where one discovers new ways of see-
ing reality, frontiers of difference.”
- Bell Hooks, Choosing the Margin as a Space of Radical
Openness



Home is the 9,134 km between Auckland Airport and Hong
Kong International Airport
Home is the stale air in plane cabins
Home is 8am in the morning my mum yells “hei sun la”
Home is the lapping waves of the beach on the North Shore
And wondering why I don’t tan while my white peers turn orange
each summer (fake tan)
Home is the jar of cicada shells I collected over summer
Home is the familiarity of men yelling “Ching Chong” while
crossing the road
Home is when friends gather and bond over mutual experiences
of diaspora
Home is the Hong Kong wet markets and dreading the smell of
the seafood section
Home is the smell of laundry powder in my grandma’s apartment
Home is craving wonton mein but realising there’s nowhere to
purchase it
Home is skateboarding down my street and falling for the 100th
time
Home is the streets of Mongkok and the sound of vendors taking
down their market stalls at 2am
Home is the smoky smell of elevators found in Asia
Home is in two countries (but not really)
Home is flushing my first pet goldfish down the toilet bowl
Home is being confused where home is
Home is a sense of displacement
Home is somewhere and elsewhere
- Helen Yeung



“Man” by Himal Thapa
(Back cover)

When I was a small kid After ages with some voodoo
I wanted to be a big man science
Not a man who would climb the man resurrected
Everest But now things were different
Not a man who would reach the The lines of manhood I drew
moon when I was a kid
But a man of strength started to haunt me
A man of honours This man wanted to express
A man people would rely on This man wanted to cry
And a man who wouldn’t com- This man wanted to be cared for
mit any sins and more than anything
You see - I was a small kid This man wanted to confess
drawing big walls around me Confess his lies
Big walls with the label-Man- Confess his failures
hood Confess his addictions
As time went by and puberty and all the sins that he has com-
hit me -right in my balls mitted
That dream to be a big man
started to fade-off At the end of all these confes-
Years were spent fixing this bro- sions
ken heart I am not sure
That desire to show-off if I still want to be
That desire to be the cool one the man I wanted to be
And that constant battle for at- the man I drew when I was a
tention small kid
Stabbed the man within me I am not sure if I still want to be
Right on the chest the man that I dreamt to be
And the man died