Upclose with Paul Zimmerman
Paul Zimmerman is Hong Kong’s newest District Councilor, representing Pok Fu Lam district as a member of the Civic Party. Also the convener of Designing Hong Kong and a long-time harbor activist, he talks with Zach Hines about city planning, activism, and the heated election contest that put him on the council.
I was born in Holland—Rotterdam—the other big harbor of the world.
My first experience with activism was setting up a student union in high school. I was on the editorial board of the underground newspaper. We held a demonstration when I was 17 to close down the school and get rid of the headmaster.
I didn’t want to go into military service, and the way to do that was to leave the NATO zone. So in ’84 I signed up for a three-month traineeship at a Dutch bank in Hong Kong.
I started my business in ’87, and when you’re an entrepreneur you keep your head down and you just work your butt off. You don’t think about how long you’re going to stay, you just get your work done.
I sold it in ’97 and made a bunch of money, then worked for the people who bought it. I got out of it in 2000 and finally had an opportunity to think if I wanted to stay in Hong Kong.
Looked at Holland—boring. Looked at Australia, went there—beautiful but boring. Shanghai was exciting for six months, but very bad for my kids.
