Do you know that the logo of the Hong Kong Tourism Board is a junk
boat?
Er…yeah, you can see it clearly…Sorry for the stupid question.
But there is a good reason behind the use, you know?
Hong Kong has always been described as a place where the East meets
the West, and junk boat would be a great choice to represent the eastern
element. Junk boat, which was once called Chinese vessel, has its early form
developed back in the Han Dynasty (around 206BC – 220AD). Having been used for transport,
trading and even wars for millenniums, junk boat has a really rich historical
value, and is probably the first thing comes to your mind when words like
“Oriental”, “ancient” and “sea” show up.
When Hong Kong was still a fishing port, you could found lots of
them along Hong Kong’s harbor. So, to foreigners who came from the overseas,
“junk boat” would be the first impression they have about this city. While Hong
Kong is no longer a fishing village, you can still find the famous yet
nostalgic junk boats floating innocently on the Victoria Harbor, surrounded by
modern skyscrapers, like a hundred year old child who would never
grow old witnessing the changes of history and the flow
of time…Poetic, isn’t it?
And if you are a tourist, you get to board the junk boat and have a
little ride along the Victoria Harbor (…for a
fee, because someone HAS to feed the tourism industry in Hong Kong). There is
no tour guide on the boat, so you may be a bit confused about where you are
going or what you are actually looking at. But, think of it as your private
time that no one can interrupt: sitting on the classic-looking junk boat, gazing at those nameless city buildings, feeling the breeze which slips past you, smelling the sea, enjoying yourself in this peaceful
silent and experiencing how you stand on
the borderline between civilization and nature…
Too bad Hongkongers AREN’T ALLOWED to take that junk boat ride, as
it’s only for tourists…
Why
are we prohibited from riding our own boat? I call that
discrimination.
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