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Side-eye: A Glance into Hong Kong’s Fast-Paced Culture
Chan Hiu Ching – Kelily, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Please do embrace this local blemish on the Pearl of the Orient, but you’d better be quick about it.
Side-eye: A Glance into Hong Kong’s Fast-Paced Culture
By Chan Hiu Ching – Kelily
In this fast-paced city, you may feel stressed even when you are taking a casual stroll. If you happen to walk a bit slower and inadvertently block someone, you might earn yourself contemptuous glances from other pedestrians as a reward.
I believe many of us have experienced receiving the side-eye from others; that sidelong look expressing contempt, criticism, suspicion, curiosity, or doubt – a powerful communicator of negative emotions. In Hong Kong, giving the side-eye has already become a cultural phenomenon. It’s a non-verbal cue that is as common as it is telling.
Where does one encounter the side-eye in Hong Kong?
The answer is almost everywhere, but it’s particularly prevalent on the Mass Transit Railway (MTR). When thinking about the situation in MTR stations during rush hours, certain scenes might come to mind.
As the carriage becomes packed, people may jostle to exit before the doors close, dooming them to another stop on the cattle car. This results in bumping and pushing into others. In such moments, the grumpy ones might stare or even shout to express their anger at such physical contact.
However, don’t dare imagine that the conflict ends once you escape that train; another battle has only just begun. Hongkongers never slow down and will rush across the platform to catch the next incoming train immediately. If you slack off a bit, you will likely receive another side-eye from those racing against time. To avoid this, you’d better keep up the pace and maneuver with those who are as quick as a cheetah on the chase. It really is a game of Red Light, Green Light, except the light is always green.
Consider the tunnel at North Point station, where the distance for changing train lines is slightly longer than at other MTR stations. It is often described as the “100m track” because of the tunnel’s shape and atmosphere. Unlike the usual course, you can see a diverse array of runners here. Underestimating anyone could be a mistake; even those who appear retired might outpace you while towing a foldable grocery cart. You’d better act like you are competing with them, or else you might be seen as an annoying obstacle in the event and elicit yet another disapproving look.
Hong Kong is such a rush!
The rush isn’t confined to the MTR; it’s evident on the city’s escalators and elevators, too. It’s not for nothing that international visitors describe the rush in Hong Kong as never letting up. In a video about culture shock in the Pearl of the Orient, a visitor mentioned that Hong Kong people stand on the right-hand side of the escalator and leave the left side for walking, a practice not typical of Indonesia and other parts of South East Asia. This is another common situation where the side-eye can be found. If you stand still on the left-hand side, you may get stared at by the person behind you or get scolded for blocking the fast lane of others. The side-eye clearly gets cast at those who waste the time of others.
Similarly, a German national shared his experience of taking the lift – or elevator for you non-British readers. Upon visiting Hong Kong for the first time, he waited for the lift door to close automatically, only to be stared at by other people inside.
“Press the button!” they shouted to urge him to close the door immediately.
This encounter is a testament to the city’s impatient haste. From the non-local’s perspective, those few seconds saved by closing the door right away might seem unimportant. However, this interpretation contrasts sharply with locals as the rush inside the elevator is not just a personal habit but a practice that reflects a common value many have – when it comes to daily life, it is better to be the hare than the tortoise.
Government officials endorse the side-eye
You might wonder if the relentless pace of life in Hong Kong is the only factor contributing to its prevalent side-eye culture.
The answer is no.
On July 14, 2023, Health Minister Lo Chung-mau proposed that a non-smoking culture could be created by staring adamantly at smokers. He posited that these disapproving stares from the public may discourage smokers from lighting up in restricted areas. Here, the application of the side-eye diverges somewhat from its typical organic use in the arena of speed, aiming instead to exert a more top-down directed form of social pressure to act as a deterrent on a health issue. Being stared at, especially with a condemning glare, is probably not a great feeling. Therefore, smokers who receive disdainful looks from others may be discouraged from continuing their “dirty” smoking habit and thus reduce or even stop it. This potent impact of the side-eye, not just as a social cue but also as a tool for public health advocacy, is as intriguing as it is ominous.
Casting a side-eye is clearly something of a double-edged sword in Hong Kong. While it has the potential to increase awareness of the needs of others around us and even dissuade such unwanted behaviour as smoking, it can also be the source of daily conflict and stress. Perhaps a word or two of advice from this observer might help to maintain the benefits while reducing the detriments of these “shame on you” glances.
If we were all more self-aware of our often-unthinking use of the side-eye, we might realise that some of the situations that triggered us were not such a big deal, after all. And thus, we could be a bit more strategically selective in its application. This would decrease some of the daily frustrations of social interaction for everyone while still maintaining a social pressure tool that can have some positive effect when applied more judicially.
Only time will tell if this advice will be effective. Speaking of time, I’ve got to run!
About the Author
Kelily is a first-year student in the applied social sciences program at PolyU. When not making her presence felt on the basketball courts of her hometown, Hong Kong, she is working toward her goal of positively impacting the community.
Author’s Reflection
I decided to write about side-eye because I noticed it daily. And rather than just shrug and ignore this local phenomenon, I decided to investigate it.
After some reflection, I made a few changes to adapt my article for publication. For example, I softened a selection of emotional words to reduce the offensiveness they might bring to some people. This editing was important since I’d like my message to be truly heard by the widest audience possible. Another shift was to increase focus on my diction in order to express my views more concisely and precisely. Also, I added more vivid descriptions to help the reader form powerful mental images while they read, which I hope will allow them to feel the ideas as if they were experiencing them personally.
I hope you find my writing pleasing. If not, please don’t cast the side-eye my way.