Timing is everything: Territorial stigmatization, immobility policy, and the COVID-boom in Hong Kong’s Sham Shui Po

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis article examines a peculiar case of neighborhood change in Sham Shui Po, one of Hong Kong’s densest and poorest neighborhoods. Based on two mixed-methods research projects conducted in 2021 and early 2022, we use social media analysis and data gathered through a four-component “aesthetic survey” methodology to demonstrate the drastic transformation of a particular section of this neighborhood in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. A key question of this research is why such a transformation should be taking place in this exact moment, as previous attempts have been made to stimulate precisely the sorts of changes now observed over the course of the last decade or so, all to no avail. We argue that this unexpected “boom” is the result of a conjunction of pandemic mitigation policy implemented by the Hong Kong government (which we label “immobility policy”) and the widespread and enduring reputation of Sham Shui Po in the city’s cultural geography (which we explore through the concept of “territorial stigma”). This case therefore stands to contribute substantially to ongoing debates on the nature and pace of urban change, especially at crucial historico-geographical junctures.KEYWORDS: COVID-19neighborhood changegentrificationaesthetic surveysocial media AcknowledgmentsWe wish to thank our Editor June Wang and our anonymous reviewers for their helpful and supportive feedback on earlier drafts of this manuscript, and for the feedback we received after presenting this work as part of the HKU Tourism Seminar Series in 2022. We are also grateful for the research assistance of Yan (Vienne) Lung, and for financial and other support from the Undergraduate Research Fellowship Programme at the University of Hong Kong.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1. See the work of the Society for Community Organization, based in Sham Shui Po, here: soco.org.hk/en/.2. In recent years, Sham Shui Po has become an important destination for asylum seekers from South Asia in particular. Hong Kong is not a signatory to major international treaties or agreements on refugees (thus, “refugee” is not a legal status in this Special Administrative Region of China), and the process of seeking asylum is experienced by many as complicated, arduous, and capricious. Asylum seekers generally have no right to legal employment, and small gatherings of unemployed persons (largely young and middle-aged men) easily identified by locals as foreigners and/or ethnic minorities are an increasingly visible presence on the streets of Sham Shui Po, which has created no small measure of social and political tension. When asked to describe the neighborhood, for instance, one longtime resident immediately responded that Sham Shui Po is populated by “all sorts of bad people (品流複雜),” specifically referencing the increasing presence of South Asians and the common local narrative that such persons are especially prone to fighting in public and committing petty crime (Anonymous, personal interview, July 27, 2021). In interviews and informal conversations, local residents, business operators, and public employees or contract workers (e.g., sanitation, public safety, etc.) also frequently and explicitly attribute a variety of social and environmental problems directly to immigrants and ethnic minorities, especially South Asians.3. The origin of the name Tai Nan is a matter of some dispute in local history. Two popular narratives converge around an original reference to the city of Da Nang in Vietnam, which many locals claim was transliterated into “Tai Nan” (大南) in Cantonese. According to local history expert Cheng Po-hung, one version of this origin story claims that the name was taken from a nearby pier connected with Da Nang, while the other makes a more general claim about longstanding connections between local enterprise in Sham Shui Po and Da Nang.4. When asked to identify the central part of Sham Shui Po or offer a reference point, our experience suggests that most Hong Kong residents will choose a location in this immediate area, often either the wet market itself or a nearby landmark such as the A2 Exit of the Sham Shui Po MTR (public transit rail) Station on Ap Liu Street.5. Instagram is a popular social media platform in Hong Kong. According to a digital marketing report, Instagram is the fourth most popular social media platform in Hong Kong (behind Facebook, YouTube and WhatsApp), with more than 2.28 million users up to January 2020; if age groups are taken into account, Instagram is the most popular platform for people under age 34 (AsiaPac Net Media, Citation2020).6. Due to privacy and accessibility, only public Instagram posts were collected.7. The Cantonese hashtag “#大南街” was used instead of the English “#tainanstreet” for the main objectives of this project, as the latter frequently returned posts about streets in Tainan City, Taiwan. For the purposes of this article, posts on both Twitter and Instagram using both the Cantonese and English versions were surveyed, though only the Cantonese version was included in the systematic analysis of Instagram posts.8. For the purposes of our analysis, posts refers here to posts wherein this hashtag (“#大南街,” “Tai Nan Street”) appears in either the caption or the author’s comments.9. Interestingly, the hashtag “#cafe” didn’t really take off until the second wave.10. “Business account” is a type of account on Instagram (see https://help.instagram.com/502981923235522). Any user can apply for a “Business account” (there are no follower thresholds or other such requirements). In this article, the term non-business account is used to describe all accounts that are not “business accounts.”11. A total of 58 posts were not assigned a business/non-business designation, possibly due to missing profile information, change of user name, or account deactivation. The same issue occurred when counting unique business and non-business accounts.12. Eateries provide a useful example. As counted by a major “yellow store” map provider, Lemon Map, a total of 2,329 “yellow stores” (eateries only) are listed. The number of “yellow stores” in Sham Shui Po is 71, making up only 3% of the total. Many other crowded (and some purportedly gentrifying) areas, such as Mongkok (153), Tsim Sha Tsui (113), Kwun Tong (103) and Causeway Bay (110), have many more “yellow stores” than Sham Shui Po, and even distant Yuen Long in Hong Kong’s New Territories is listed as having 111. See https://lemonmap.io.13. Even the official Twitter account of the Hong Kong Police Force (@hkpoliceforce) occasionally seems to flirt with this perspective on Sham Shui Po, as through references to social diversity decidedly uncommon in posts about other parts of the city, e.g.: “ … recently, a little girl of an #EthnicMinority in #HK lost her way in #ShamShuiPo. Luckily, she was spotted by a female #Police officer who then helped her find & reunite w/her mum.” (8 March, 2021); “New life breathed into #ShamShuiPo—Comm’r of Police joined > 300ppl+orgs+non-ethnic Chinese grps+#HKPF volunteers to adorn #PoliceStation’s wall w/local flavours+#ChildProtection msgs—break down barriers (age/race/religion)+paint[Hong Kong Flag emoji]’s bright future tgt” (8 November, 2021).14. This is not to say that each and every appraisal of Sham Shui Po is categorically negative, nor that appraisals that conform to the general pattern of territorial stigma do so uniformly. But deviations from these norms are overwhelmingly expressed as matters of emphasis (e.g., focus could be shifted toward experiences of Sham Shui Po as safe/pleasant/vibrant, even if such experiences are in the minority) or degree (e.g., it’s not as dangerous/seedy/degraded as people say, or “It’s not as bad as imagined” (Anonymous, personal interview, August 18, 2022), rather than substance.15. This and other ongoing research conducted in Hong Kong confirms the rarity of such toponymic clarity, as the boundaries of Hong Kong neighborhoods are a practically unending source of disagreement.16. According to multiple reports (e.g., Expedia, Citation2021) Hong Kong citizens remain some of the world’s keenest travelers, ranking second behind only Singapore in their desire for international travel in particular.17. In July of 2020, additional entry requirements were imposed for residents returning from abroad, especially from “high risk” countries (an ever-evolving list), including: “confirmation, in English or Chinese, of a room reservation in a hotel in Hong Kong for no less than 14 days, starting on the day of their arrival”; “a letter, certified by a laboratory or health institution, verifying that they have undergone, and received a negative test result for COVID-19 no more than 72 hours prior to their departure”; and “a letter, in English or Chinese, issued by the relevant authority of the government of the place in which the laboratory or healthcare institution is located, certifying that the laboratory or healthcare institution is recognized or approved by the government.” It was also announced at that time that, “Arrivals may be placed in a Hong Kong government quarantine center.”18. Though there is not currently a straightforward and comprehensive timeline of the evolution of these policies, thousands of archived press releases detailing the changes in these policies since January of 2020 can be searched and viewed at: www.gov.hk.en.19. Including an oft-reported “exodus” of both native Hongkongers and expatriates (c.f., Chau, Citation2022; Sim et al., Citation2022; Westbrook, Citation2022), though this remains contested analytical ground given both disputed parameters and the presence of several other major factors beyond the response to COVID-19.20. Analysts had already begun to warn of the recessionary potential of declining inbound tourism attributed to the 2019 protests even before the onset of COVID-19 (e.g., Huang, Citation2019).21. These figures may be viewed at: https://www.censtatd.gov.hk/en/. It has further been suggested that some portion of even this latter figure may be attributable to emigration rather than tourism, per se.22. Officially the “Western District Public Cargo Working Area,” “Instagram Pier” was abruptly closed to the public in early 2021, ostensibly as part of an effort to curb the spread of COVID-19 but in a move widely understood as resulting from the frustrations of dockworkers forced to constantly negotiate crowds of oblivious young selfie-seekers clambering to be seen scaling weather-worn shipping infrastructure or basking ironically amidst the ephemera of industrial labor so divorced from their own experiences as to appear exotic (nevermind the necessities of work still cringingly obvious at the edges of their curated exposures).Additional informationFundingThe research that informs this article was also funded in part by the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong [General Research Fund, Project Reference Number: 17612422] as well as the University of Hong Kong (Seed Fund for Basic Research, Project Reference Number: 104006087).Notes on contributorsTsz Chung LaiTsz Chung Lai is a PhD student at the Department of Sociology, Hong Kong Baptist University. His research focuses on neighborhood change, urban governance, social upgrading, labor and migration in Hong Kong, Mainland China, and Vietnam. He holds BSSc and MA degrees in political science and geography, respectively.Ben A. GerlofsBen A. Gerlofs is assistant professor and deputy head of the Department of Geography at the University of Hong Kong, where he also serves as director of the Cartographica Laboratory and Library. His research examines urban change across spatio-temporal scales, including the political economy of urbanization in historical and comparative perspective, the dynamics of contemporary urban governance and politics, processes of gentrification and neighborhood change, and various dimensions of urban culture and aesthetics. He is the author of Monstrous Politics: Geography, Rights, and the Urban Revolution in Mexico City (Vanderbilt University Press, 2023), and his academic work has also been published in Annals of the American Association of Geographers, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Urban Geography, Urban Studies, and Dialogues in Human Geography. He holds BA, MA, and PhD degrees in geography, and has conducted comparative urban research in East and Southeast Asia as well as North America.He WangHe Wang is a lecturer in the Department of Geography at the University of Hong Kong, where she also serves as the director of undergraduate studies. Her research sits at the intersection between political-economic geography, regional development and globalization, technology and innovation, and policy studies. She holds BS, MA, and PhD degrees in geography.