“Where are you from?” A typical icebreaker question that everyone comes across. My only answer would be “Hong Kong,” since I was born and raised there. Period. However, my identity tends to be flattened in a sentence—“So you’re from China”—if the questioner is not familiar with Hong Kong’s historical dynamics or holds a political stance. I always feel a need to justify my identity in this unilateral box; likewise, I’m gagged with papers and evidence that state Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China. The simple question becomes a drowning debate.

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—Wing Lam Chan