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Letters

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The United Kingdom’s decision to expand the British National (Overseas) route prompted me to revisit a passport I have kept for decades but never used. I once mistyped the final letter of the acronym as a zero; it felt less like an error than a clarification.
Before 1997, when many families made contingency plans for Canada or Australia, the suffix in BN(O) carried a quiet finality. It acknowledged a connection to Britain while setting a boundary. It did not confer the right of abode; it offered recognition at a distance. Around that time my father told me: “You’re not stateless. You’re from Hong Kong.”
He was invoking an idea now largely absent from public discussion: the Hong Kong “belonger”. One could live in the city, leave and return. Migration in the era of the “astronauts” was rarely a final departure. The point of leaving was to secure the option of coming back.
Today the BN(O) has no practical function in Hong Kong. It is not recognised for entry. Daily life is organised instead around the permanent identity card and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region passport. What has changed is not the existence of Hong Kong identity but the structure within which it sits. Over three decades, that civic belonging has been nested within Chinese sovereignty. The promise of “unchanged for 50 years” was never permanence; it was a timetable.
Seen in this light, moving to Britain looks less like a sudden rupture than a decision about where to live within a transition that has always pointed towards 2047.
Britain is offering a destination. Whether it is lived as one is another question. For some, it means rebuilding careers on a different scale. The offer cannot shape Hong Kong’s constitutional future; it can only touch those who choose not to live through it.
“You’re from Hong Kong,” my father said. Passports change but that idea of belonging has proved more durable than any document.
Marco Lobo, Mid-Levels
Lai see as social contract
The giving of lai see reminds your correspondent of passing down wealth from generation to generation (“Lai see hold financial meaning”, February 14). I think of the bright smiles of service staff and their ever-considerate service.
What is it about this little red packet that makes people want to get along with you for a whole year? Outside households, a timely lai see is a token of appreciation and a continuation of an unspoken contract. Waiters will hover enthusiastically when you step into your usual restaurant, taking your order as soon as you are ready and remembering what you like – as if that lai see they received came with a dotted line they signed on.
For givers of lai see, it’s the gift that keeps on giving every time a restaurant is revisited.
Edmond Pang, Fanling
Hong Kong spirit of mutual support remains
Scenes from everyday life can touch the heart.
The lady at the laundry was nagging at people who showed up with bulky garments just before Chinese New Year, increasing her workload. Developing knee pain is an occupational hazard for her. Maybe we as patrons can be more thoughtful. Surely everyone has the same right to enjoy the festival.
I discovered the shop next to the bakery I frequent had closed down. The man at the bakery said his ex-neighbour couldn’t withstand the high rent and had moved back to Yuen Long. He recommended I go to another homeware shop nearby.
While our consumer industry is facing a challenging time, the Hong Kong spirit of mutual support remains. Long may it continue.
Jacqueline Kwan, Sai Ying Pun


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Hong Kong society

Passports and the idea of belonging in Hong Kong

Travellers take a stroll down memory lane at the “City Reflections: Through Time and Change” exhibition at Hong Kong International Airport on December 27. Photo: Eugene Lee

UK expands BN(O) scheme to more Hongkongers following Jimmy Lai sentencing

People walk past skyscrapers and office buildings in London. Photo: AFP

The initial BN(O) scheme was introduced in 2021 in response to Beijing’s imposition of the national security law. Photo: AP

I feel for young Hongkongers who say they are ‘from the UK’

People cross London Bridge, with Tower Bridge in the background, in London in 2024. Photo: EPA-EFE

A woman masks up in the London Underground in London in March 2020. Days later, on March 11, the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 a pandemic. Photo: EPA-EFE

Teenagers leave a secondary school in Odiham, west of London, in 2020. For young Chinese in the UK, being perceived as British or not fully Chinese can feel like social insurance against stereotyping. Photo: AFP

How sincere is Labour’s narrative of compassion on the BN(O) pathway?

A cyclist rides past the Elizabeth Tower, known as Big Ben, in London, on January 23. Photo: AP 

Opinion

Readers discuss the BN(O) passport, lai see as social contract, and the Hong Kong spirit


Readers discuss the BN(O) passport, lai see as social contract, and the Hong Kong spirit.


Hong Kong

Britain

British National (Overseas) passport

China

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Readers discuss the BN(O) passport, lai see as social contract, and the Hong Kong spirit

Readers discuss the BN(O) passport, lai see as social contract, and the Hong Kong spirit