EARLY THIS YEAR, NOT LONG AFTER HONG KONG belatedly reopened its borders to the outside world, I found myself regularly spellbound by the reappearance of sights that were once mundane, but suddenly imbued with significance by their long, pandemic-induced absence. Crimson hydrofoils cutting swaths through Victoria Harbour on their way to neighboring Macau. Satiated shoppers dragging crammed suitcases along the choked streets of Tsim Sha Tsui. Tour groups milling around the frantically waved flags that shepherded them from one attraction to the next. Revelers flowing effortlessly from bar to bar in the once-again raucous Lan Kwai Fong nightlife district, unburdened of the need to line up to present staff rapid test results or the right QR codes.
Since then, many of the friends and colleagues who, like me, call the city home have remarked how absurd Hong Kong’s nearly three years of isolation appear in retrospect, like a brief bout of madness or a fever dream. The pandemic was of course tough on cities, and on tourism, everywhere. But it was particularly painful for a place once essentially defined by its openness and connectivity. Not only were Hong Kong’s Covid measures exceptionally tough — well into 2022, visitors faced weeks of mandatory quarantine and a not-insignificant prospect of being forcefully separated from family members — but they stayed in place well after the rest of the worldstringent new national security regime, all of which dissuaded many would-be visitors.
