Then & Now | What goose-stepping Hong Kong uniformed services says about the city in 2021

An old treaty port joke main­tained that to survive a lifetime in China with one’s health and sanity intact, a robust physical constitution, and a thorough working knowledge of Alice in Wonderland, were essential.

Much shrewd political wisdom resides in Lewis Carroll’s whimsical 1865 masterpiece. A contemporary update for Hong Kong would also recommend a cast-iron stomach and encyclopedic familiarity with the works of George Orwell, both the major novels and the observations on totalitarianism, and the personalities that operate under it, his essays contain.

These wise meditations amuse, educate, give valuable historical lessons that help illustrate our times and – all too frequently – chill to the marrow.

In England Your England (1941) Orwell grimly noted that: “The goose-step, for instance, is one of the most horrible sights in the world, far more terrifying than a dive bomber. It is simply an affirmation of naked power; contained in it, quite consciously and intentionally, is the vision of a boot, crashing down on a face. Its ugliness is part of its essence, for what it is saying is, ‘Yes, I am ugly, and you daren’t make faces at me’, like a bully making faces at its victim.

“Why is the goose-step not used in England? There are, Heaven knows, plenty of army officers who would be only too glad to introduce some such thing. It is not used, because the people in the street would laugh. Beyond a certain point, military display is only possible in countries where the common people dare not laugh at the army.”

And how many in Hong Kong, today, have the courage to openly laugh at what – even a couple of years ago – would have been publicly howled to utter scorn?