Lucky Hong Kong Birds 幸福的“港鸟”

Hong Kong’s suffocating pollution, human density and hyperactivity are well known. Less known are its pockets of natural beauty which only exist to those who look. These pictures were recently taken by Richard Kok at Yuen Long.After the pictures is a little story about Lucky HK Birds.

香港混浊的空气，稠密的人烟和过敏的社会神经是人所共知。鲜为人知的是香港还有很多优美漂亮的大自然。这几张照片是我的老友曲卫东最近在元朗拍到的。在美丽的照片之后，我有个关于“幸福小鸟” 的闪灵小故事。

F l a s h  F i c t i o n :  Lucky Hong Kong Birds

A mere forty-minute drive away, in busy  Central, sparrows and pigeons were eating next to an overflowing garbage bin, twittering. They momentarily scattered when a sweaty man in three-piece suit walked hurriedly by. He threw a colourful paper bag at the bin and missed. A pigeon expertly unwrapped it. “Look! More than half a burger!” A few of his friends fluttered in to join.

“Humans often don’t  finish their lunches on muggy days like this.” An old pigeon commented insightfully. “When they sweat, they lose appetite.”

“We should be thankful for these ready meals you know,” a chubby one said, pecking leisurely at a piece of fish burger a scrawny lady on high-heels had deposited. “Little egrets up north have to hunt their meals in the wild. Sometimes they fly and fight all morning without catching even a minnow.”

“And when they do, they eat it raw, without ketchup,” said a little sparrow with a chunk of buffalo fries between beak. “Can you imagine swallowing a live fish, feeling it wriggling all the way down your throat?”

“Yuk! That’s barbaric. Disgusting. I wish some animal-right activist would do something.”

The old pigeon hopped on top of the garbage bin with a full stomach, gazing northward with compassionate eyes. “The humans are building more cities up there. Let’s hope the poor egrets would be able to eat like us civilised birds one day soon.”

閃靈短篇：幸福的港鳥

離開元朗不過40分鐘車程，在繁榮熱鬧的中環，有幾只麻雀和白鴿在富裕的垃圾箱旁共進午餐，吱吱喳喳地談天說地。一個身穿「三件頭」西服，打著領帶，滿頭大汗的男人匆匆而過，打斷了它們的話柄。那男人順手把一個紙袋扔向垃圾箱，但並未命中。一頭鴿子熟手地把紙包弄開：「看！大半個漢堡包！」 它的幾隻老友連忙半跳半飛過來分享。

一隻閱歷豐富的老鴿說道：「今天天氣悶熱，有體面的人胃口都會較差。」

「大家應該感恩我們每天三餐無憂哦，」一隻胖得差不多飛不起的白鴿一邊說，一邊吃著剛才一位拉直了腳踝穿高跟鞋的女士扔的魚柳包：「北方的小白鷺還要自己覓食。飛一個早上，又打又叫，弄得一身濕透，有時候連魚毛也抓不到一條。」

「就算抓到也要生吞呢！」 一隻叼著薯條的麻雀尖叫道。「醬汁也沒有。你可以想像吞食一條活生生在喉嚨里拼命掙扎的鮮魚嗎？」

「哎唷！別說了！太恐怖太野蠻了！簡直是虐禽！為什麼沒有維護動物權益的人出來說句話，做點事情呢？」

那老鴿剛吃夠了，一躍跳上垃圾箱頂向北凝望，眼中充滿感慨和同情。「聽聞他們會加快北部城鎮化。但願那些可憐的白鷺很快便可以像我們一樣幸福，有文化有尊嚴地吃飽肚子吧！」

过渡 22.01.2013

[ Links to other Guo Du Short Stories ]

[ 其他過渡小故事鏈接 ]

Hong Kong's Colonial Flag

“Never the Twain Shall Meet” at the Post Magazine was last week’s Editor’s pick.

The article contrasts the opposing views of Niall Ferguson and Pankai Mishra on the contribution and influence of the Anglo-American social-economic model on emerging Asian countries and ex-colonies. 

Ferguson who seems to shoulder a phantom “White Man’s Burden” is happy that some of Asia’s “success” is due to practices downloaded from the “West”. Naturally, he would be right to a certain degree; there were many things the world could learn from the Anglo-American century. But everyone has been learning from each other since alien tribes came into contact. The Arabs helped Europe’s theocracies to emerge from the Dark Ages by reintroducing mathematics, astronomy, even Greek philosophy. Japan was culturally indebted to China for nearly everything before redirecting its emulating talents at America. 

The “benefits” cited by Ferguson are dangerously shortsighted. In the long-term, a consumption and growth based economy is anything but “beneficial”. However, anyone who dares to slow down in this globalised game of collective destruction would be enslaved and consumed RIGHT NOW. The inventors (and enforcers) of the rules of this game have not done any human a favour, so should not expect a “thank-you card”.

殖民时代香港旗

南华早报最近的一篇文章 “Never The Twain Shall Meet” 是两位作家对于“西方制度” 对亚洲国家和前殖民地的影响和贡献的相反论调。这两位作家是热衷帝国旧梦的 Niall Ferguson 和印度裔的 Pankai Mishra。

其实国家民族之间一向互相学习，并不值得大惊小怪。一个聪明的国家会视乎国情，把人家的长处吸收，敝处借鉴。比较笨的可能会由于偏见或傲慢而自封。更愚蠢的则把人家的一套不论好歹，合适与否也照单全收，自寻死路。

新“发展”国家的经济体系均有西方“资本主义”的影子，是十分自然的事。英美帝国过去一两个世纪的成功有其原因；有很多地方值得学习。Ferguson 为此感觉自豪，我也替他开心。不过假如他认为亚洲国家和前殖民地有今天的成功，要多谢前帝国霸权的殖民政策的话，则欧美应该跟阿拉伯国家叩头才对。当欧洲从黑暗迷信的中世纪苏醒过来的时候，全靠阿拉伯人把天文，数学，甚至曾被一把圣火烧掉的希腊哲学，再次介绍给西方，间接把他们引领到科学逻辑的轨迹上发展。至于日本嘛，在未曾把抄袭改良的天份西向之前，欠下中国的文化债简直多不胜数，难道又会向中华文化说声 “阿哩咖多”？

再者，Ferguson 所指出的“好处” 带有强烈偏差，目光也比较短浅。帝国列强所定下了的国际经济“游戏规则”，现时是顺者暂生，逆者即亡。这是历史带下来的客观现实。从长远的角度看，Mishra 对“肆意资本主义” 的定论是正确的，后果也是必然的。越来越多的消费社会，早晚会为了争夺日益短缺的天然资源拼个你死我活。相反地，Ferguson 相信“有钱能使鬼推车”，认为资本主意激励出来创意，自然会解决人类面对的种种困难。这想法很天真，对环境极限和人类的相对渺小似乎了解不足。