There is an old saying: if you could only walk a mile in my shoes...then you could keep those shoes forever. But the intent behind this mangled cliche is clear - never lend someone your shoes.

More seriously an irony dawned on me last night. A year ago I was living in Australia. Australia is well-known for its mutli-culturalism but inevitably it leads to tensions. Often one will here complaints for "old" Australians (i.e. those who were born in the country) about "new" Australians, immigrants.

To wit:
"They don't assimilate."
"They only talk their language. They don't know English."
"They only eat their food."
"They follow strange customs and religions."
"They stick to themselves too much and live in ghettoes."

You get the idea. It might not be as explicit as that, but any morning numerous radio schlock jocks can be heard effectively spouting such views. It's racism under the guise of patriotism.

Yet it struck me last night that the very same comments apply in reverse to many expats in HK. Caucasians are a very obvious minority in Hong Kong and clearly stand out. Of course there are some who have chosen to live in HK forever and do make great efforts to absorb and mix with the local culture and lifestyle. But skin colour always plays a role. Indeed a local derogatory term for a Hong Konger who is deemed too Western is a "banana" (yellow outside, white inside). It is a simple demonstration of that universal human trait: fear. Racism flows from being unsure of the other, that which is foreign and unknown to us. Humans prefer the familiar in order to be comfortable.

So whereas in Australia there are those who are anti-Asian, here in HK there are inevitably those who are anti-caucasian. And the minority communities do tend to coalesce for protection and comfort against the ravages of the broader society we are in. It has given me a much better understanding of why minorities act as they do. If only some of my fellow Australians could undergo the same experience of living here for a while.

It's always interesting when the shoe is on the other foot.