When we arrived we noticed that almost everyone was female, and the age range was pretty focused--between 18 and 35. Many wore Muslim head ware.
Most obviously, the women were having fun: They were laughing, eating homemade picnics, cooking on the street, and having a hell of a good time! There was a vibrant positive energy from these people.
We didn't see any trace of a concert or other event--only several thousand women gathered in small tight-knit groups.
Our best guess was these are manufacturing workers who came to HK for a day of shopping socializing--a wonderful, colorful change of pace from their factory workaday.
In China, 16-20MM people migrate from the Hinterland each year to the growing cities, and this pattern has been going on for more than a decade.
In the US, there are approximately 14MM manufacturing workers (maybe fewer if the car companies shed more jobs).
Let us know if you know more about these new women of Causeway Bay.
Those are the Philipina "helpers". They get Sundays off so they prepare food and get together with their friends. They live for Sundays, as you might imagine -- hence the positive energy. They congregate in public places because they are live-in help and have no where else to go. Walking among them feels like stepping into a bird cage. There is something about the sing-song nature of Tagalog that gives their conversations a distinct quality.
ReplyDeleteps. thanks for the invitation to the blog -- I'm looking forward to following along on your trip.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, must have been a Sunday! Best time I had with the Amahs was in Vic Park.
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