Mean streets: Hong Kong parents get a reality check as they take in the teeming city from a child’s perspective
Kids’ Dream organisation raises the issue of children’s rights ahead of elections
Chine Chan never realised that running around freely in what the government likes to call Asia’s world city was a luxury for her four-year-old daughter.
It was not until the pair stepped out on the packed pavements of Sai Ying Pun on a sweltering Sunday afternoon that she became aware that the world financial centre could be a scary place for a little girl.
The bags of passers-by bumped off the head of her daughter from time to time as they battled through the crowds, while buses belched out their choking hot exhaust fumes into her face. Down in the MTR station, the escalators moved too fast for a kindergarten kid to keep her balance.
Chan’s findings gathered during a two-hour walk, part of a campaign to raise awareness of children’s rights ahead of the Legislative Council elections in September, highlighted the lack of child-friendly facilities in the city.
We were all once a child, but we forget what it feels like when we grow up
Her conclusion was blunt: the city is stealing their childhood away.
“I did not pay much attention to her feelings,” Chan conceded later as she thought it should be fine as long as she held her daughter’s hand as they walked through the crowds.
