IDENTITY
To a Hong Konger, London is a very sparsely populated city – less high-rise, less busy, slower working speed
of Russia is very, very different; it’s underfunded and underdeveloped’. When I ask whether there aren’t more similarities between a Londoner and a Muscovite than there are between a rural Russian and his city- dwelling compatriots, Shamil nods. ‘Of course’. He is eager to remind me, though, that this rural-urban divide is far from unique to Russia. ‘London doesn’t represent the rest of Britain’. In the wake of the results of the Brexit referendum, it is striking to consider the possibility that Londoners have more in common with Peterburgians some 2,120km away than they do with Brits living beyond the M25, which has become our modern pale. There remain, however, some fundamental differences. Charles highlights some of the most important. Strange as it may sound to a Londoner, the first thing he noticed upon arrival, he says, was the population density: ‘To a Hong Konger, London is a very sparsely populated city – less high-rise, less busy, slower working speed’. Intensely industrious, Hong Kongers, Charles tells me, have fewer opportunities for cultural pursuits: ‘The British focus a lot more on culture than Hong Kongers. Hong Kong is seen as a cultural desert because of the frantic working environment’. In London, however, ‘we have the West End – not only for musicals but for a lot of famous operas, choirs and theatre productions’ – if a choir attempted to
full appreciation of the nuanced distinctions between pro-Chinese and pro-independence parties – and the precise nature of the systemic obstacles facing the latter – eludes me. Kamil also highlights the complexities of belonging and the problems of social disconnect in his native Poland. In an excellent recent address to the Geography Society, he explored the debates over external and internal Polish identity. Whilst aligned to the Soviet Union in the Cold War, Poland has, following the fall of communism, increasingly sought to present itself as a Western nation. Kamil suggests he’d ‘probably’ describe himself as ‘from central Europe’ and offers this caveat- cum-explanation. ‘It’s very hard to say anything conclusive about Polish identity. The country is split between rural and cosmopolitan citizens… Many people more of my generation see themselves as citizens of the wider world, and the main political division in the country is between those who live in the west and in the bigger cities, such Warsaw, Dansk and Kracow, and their fellow-citizens from the rural east’. Shamil suggests that this rural- urban divide is equally prominent in Russia. ‘Moscow and St Petersburg are very different from the rest of Russia… they are way ahead’, in many respects. Moscow is ‘constantly building higher and higher buildings, the highest in Europe at the moment – the Shard isn’t even close!’ In contrast, ‘the rest
13
Made with FlippingBook Online document