Hong Kong's unique Sunday "street culture"
I was shocked when I saw this scene for the first time.
On Sundays, domestic helpers prepare and pack food, load it into suitcases, and set up their "private spaces" with tents, cardboard, floor mats in street parks, overpasses, steps, and roadside green areas. Mong Kok, Sham Shui Po, Central, and even Repulse Bay Beach are filled with their figures.
Picnics, street camping, KTV, beach barbecues, speaking their hometown language with their sisters, video chatting with relatives and friends in distant lands, and sharing stories of the week with each other. This is their spiritual support, the only day of the week that belongs to them. At this moment, they may be mothers of children in faraway lands, wives, and the economic pillars of their families.
When I passed by the place where they gathered during the day again at night, there was no trash on the ground, as if nothing had happened during the day.
The high prices in Hong Kong and their extremely limited salaries in the area severely limit their Sunday gathering places, so they can only occupy public resources. The local government is tolerant of this and provides support to this group that makes a huge contribution to the logistics support of local families. On Sundays, they will close some busy roads and set up temporary shelters and mobile restrooms.
📍Main gathering places for foreign domestic helpers
· Hong Kong Island (mostly Filipina domestic helpers): Central (Chater Garden, Statue Square), overpasses around the Central Post Office, Edinburgh Place, Admiralty Pacific Place, Causeway Bay Victoria Park
· Repulse Bay Beach, around Stanley Murray House Plaza
· Kowloon (mainly Indonesian domestic helpers): Mong Kok Overpass, Kweilin Street and Apliu Street in Sham Shui Po