|
In April 2006, riots broke out in the solomon islands. Shops in Chinatown were looted and set ablaze, and the lives of local chinese people were severely threatened. This sudden turmoil made a lot of Hong Kong people realise that the small and remote south pacific nation is actually home to a number of immigrants from Hong Kong, and szeto kit-wah is one of them.kit-wah moved to the solomon islands in the 70's to get married. Her husband is a second generation local chinese there. Kit-wah remembers the solomon islands as a beautiful paradise of a simple life and people living in the past."if you are hardworking, you'll surely be rewarded." kit-wah said it was a desirable place to start business.kit-wah now sighs that in recent times the chinese people and the locals have not been getting along well, especially when some of the chinese do not respect the locals at all. In the newspapers, there are often news stories about corruption scandals involving chinese immigrants, leading the locals to have unfavourable impressions of the chinese.how does kit-wah feel staying in the solomon islands today? How does kit-wah and her husband, as well as other chinese immigrants, rebuild their homes? Can they restore the source of happiness once found in "happy isles"?
|