The Hong Kong handover turns 25. So does an entire generation.
Two teenagers bonded over high school Model United Nations. A decade later, one is in self-exile. The other waits for her and their other friends to return to the Hong Kong they once knew.
Anna Kwok, 25, and friends her age remember visiting Hong Kong Disneyland in 2007 — specifically, the free ticket they were able to scoop on the government-backed company's dime.
Her friend, T — who, like Kwok, was born and raised in Hong Kong — took Disney up on their offer, he tells her as they catch up over Zoom. (NPR has agreed to allow T to use the initial of his last name out of fear of potential reprisal from Hong Kong's government.)
"It was boring," he chuckles.
The yearlong pass mostly served as a nicety to Kwok, T, and others born in 1997, the year the United Kingdom returned Hong Kong to Chinese control. They were constantly told by the adults in the room how special they were: they are the
