Reporter’s notebook: from Occupy to Ohio ... and who’s the right choice for US president

Americans may be endlessly complaining about the hard choice between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in the US presidential election. For Grace Chan, a US citizen originally from Hong Kong, the choice was far from difficult.

Nor, in her case, exercising the right to vote for one’s leader as a matter of course.

Despite having called Cleveland home for 30 years, Chan still follows news about her old hometown, probably more than some people still living in Hong Kong.

Not only does she keep track of the city’s news on a daily basis, familiar with such issues as the lawmakers’ oath taking controversy and Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying’s nickname of “689”, she even went to Occupy Central sites in Admiralty and Mong Kok when she made her annual return trip in 2014.

“I talked to the students there. Although I was not quite certain about what they were actually calling for, I was moved by the young people’s determination to pursue democracy,” said Chan, an immigration lawyer.

“Many Chinese Americans here think the students were simply making a fuss,” she said. “I kept an open mind, although it’s true they did pose some impact on the business of nearby shops.”

Chan is among very few Chinese to settle down in Cleveland, which lies a few hours’ drive away from the Canadian border. It is not a popular destination for migrants, with city statistics recording merely 5,000 Asians in 2013.