{"id":35144,"date":"2021-08-13T13:00:20","date_gmt":"2021-08-13T04:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2021\/aug\/13\/can-we-ever-return-tears-and-heartbreak-as-hongkongers-leave-for-a-new-life-in-the-uk"},"modified":"2021-08-13T13:00:20","modified_gmt":"2021-08-13T04:00:20","slug":"can-we-ever-return-tears-and-heartbreak-as-hongkongers-leave-for-a-new-life-in-the-uk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/?p=35144","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Can we ever return?\u2019 Tears and heartbreak as Hongkongers leave for a new life in the UK"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Residents fearing China\u2019s tightening grip are departing in droves, not knowing if they will be back<\/p>\n<p>It was a heartbreaking scene. A family get-together on a Sunday morning, not for a leisurely lunch at a traditional Chinese restaurant, but for a tearful farewell at the airport.<\/p>\n<p>Amid the Covid pandemic, Hong Kong airport is quiet except for twice a day, when long queues form at airlines desks for London-bound flights. Friends and families turn out in droves to see them off \u2013 grandparents hand out \u201clucky money\u201d in red envelopes to grandchildren, aunts and uncles joke with children to lighten the otherwise melancholic mood. With tearful eyes, many stop for a final hug and pose for one last photo with their loved ones before passing through the departure gates. The waving continues long after they have disappeared from view.<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2021\/aug\/13\/can-we-ever-return-tears-and-heartbreak-as-hongkongers-leave-for-a-new-life-in-the-uk\">Continue reading&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Residents fearing China\u2019s tightening grip are departing in droves, not knowing if they will be backIt was a heartbreaking scene. A family get-together on a Sunday morning, not for a leisurely lunch at a traditional Chinese restaurant, but for a tearful&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":623,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sns_share_botton_hide":"","vkExUnit_sns_title":"","_vk_print_noindex":"","sitemap_hide":"","_veu_custom_css":"","veu_display_promotion_alert":"","vkexunit_cta_each_option":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[41,50,48,717,80,52,42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-asia-pacific","category-china","category-hong-kong","category-immigration-and-asylum","category-protest","category-uk-news","category-world-news"],"veu_head_title_object":{"title":"","add_site_title":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/623"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=35144"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35144\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35145,"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35144\/revisions\/35145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=35144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=35144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=35144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}