A Farewell from Victoria Peak

Taken at 20:00 on 27 Aug 2024 from Victoria Peak, Hong Kong Island. Two days later, I would leave Hong Kong—the city I had called home for a year. I had climbed to the Peak many times at different hours, yet this time was different: it was a farewell. I am, in truth, a minor passerby here—and still, in that moment, Victoria Harbour lay beneath me, the entire city unfolding in light. It brought back my first arrival, when a new life opened like a scroll at my feet. But this is 27 Aug 2024: I can already see new stories beginning in this city, while my own quietly fades—until one day I may not know whether the laughter and tears that once moved me were ever fully real. Hong Kong feels like a dream, and in the narrow gaps of an endlessly repeating, sharply audible everyday, I find myself missing it—suddenly and deeply. (Written in Wuhan, 3 Mar 2026, Lantern Festival afternoon.)