RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.wsj.com/articles/so-long-hong-kong-chinas-

HONG KONG—In the years leading up to the city’s 1997 return to Chinese rule, Hong Kong citizens headed overseas by the hundreds of thousands, spooked by Beijing’s crushing of student protests in Tiananmen Square and fearful their freedoms would be trampled.

They moved to Canada, the U.S., Australia and elsewhere to start new lives, or obtain second passports as an insurance policy should they wish to flee. Many native Hong Kongers returned, as the transfer of sovereignty came and went with few signs that Beijing was flexing its muscles.

Now, there are early signals a new tide of migration could be looming, as concerns rise about civil liberties, living standards and quality of life. Since Beijing in 2014 faced down protesters calling for greater democracy in Hong Kong, the city’s leaders have stifled opposition in the former British colony. For all but the most ardent activists, resistance has come to feel futile.

The actual number leaving is difficult to track because so many residents obtained foreign passports two decades or more ago. But in a survey last year by a local university, a third of respondents—including close to half of college-educated participants and young people aged 18 to 30—said they would emigrate if they got the chance. Of those, 13% had made actual preparations to leave.

Immigration to Canada has doubled over the past decade. Relocation consultants report an uptick in business in the past few years. Dozens of YouTube videos are being circulated by Hong Kong emigrants touting closer, more affordable places to live, such as Malaysia and Taiwan, where migration has also doubled in the past year. Facebook groups on these topics have also proliferated.

“Before 1997 people were worried about the uncertainty before the handover. Now they are leaving because of the certainty,” said Paul Yip, an academic at the University of Hong Kong, who specializes in population studies. He said emigrants are feeling hopeless about an economic boom that has passed many by or frustrated with the city’s changing political climate.

China’s growing presence is everywhere. Bookstores are increasing

https://quillette.com/2018/12/25/feast-and-drink-for-our-
Earlier this year, for the first time in history, the government of Britain appointed a minister for loneliness. Although not a medical condition, loneliness is starting to be described in such language, with descriptors such as “epidemic” and “public health crisis” bracketing the term. Large-scale studies have found that around ten percent of adults in Western nations experience chronic loneliness.

In a letter published this year in The Lancet, two neurologists from the University of Chicago asked readers to “imagine a condition that makes a person irritable, depressed, and self-centred, and is associated with a 26% increase in the risk of premature mortality.” They went on to explain that it is not a condition that only affects those with poor social skills, or those who are highly sheltered or introverted. Loneliness is not necessarily about being alone, either—we can feel isolated when surrounded by other people. Somewhat counter-intuitively, social skills training, social support and social contact have all been found to be ineffective as interventions for social disconnection.

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Drawing on the work of Durkheim, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt theorises that religious practices are best understood not as the outcome of a set of propositional beliefs (i.e. that “God exists” or “there is an afterlife”) but as the means by which our species creates cohesive moral communities. From a Durkheimian perspective, the individual comes into “moral harmony” with those with whom he shares religious customs. This harmony then provides us with a “perpetual sustenance of our moral nature.”