24/10/2016
(HONG KONG) The city’s thorny relationship with race was even more obvious outside of work. I remember dining with an Indian companion and being thoroughly ignored by the waitstaff, even beyond the standards of usually brusque Hong Kong service. Locals regularly complained to me about being paid less than their expat counterparts. And on the city’s streets, images of hapa women, men, and babies — half-white, half-Asian — were featured prominently on billboard ads, the city’s aspiration to whiteness hiding in plain sight.
Six years in Hong Kong showed me how deep racism runs in Asia's World City.