Turning Garbage Duty Into a Different Life
Ms. Lee recounted the story of an intense election in Hong Kong. She secured victory and received almost 4,000 votes, winning her district council seat by 439 votes over her key rival in 2019. She vividly recalls the tense final half-hour of vote counting, each encouraging slogan echoed in her ears. She was a member of the Power for Democracy party and formerly served as a district councilor for the Yan Lam constituency in the Eastern District Council of Hong Kong.Despite the initial success of the Democratic camp, the National Security Law imposed later required elected public servants to take a “patriotic” oath of allegiance to the Hong Kong authority under the Chinese Communist Party, posing difficulties to councilors with political dissent and giving her a life choice.
Choosing not to compromise, she resigned and sought refuge in Scotland, a place familiar to her since she had completed a degree there during college. In 2021, she settled in Alloa, a Scottish town where Chinese faces are rare but community life is serene.
Ms. Lee continued her habit of picking up garbage during walks, a practice she adopted in Hong Kong.
“As a new immigrant here, I also want to contribute to this community,” she said. “What would that be? Picking up garbage because it’s the most visible thing to see; when you keep the streets clean, you feel good the next time you walk by.
“When my husband saw me picking up garbage, he also joined in.”
Some local cleaners, upon seeing her helping with cleaning, would offer her their trash tongs. When pedestrians saw her picking up garbage, they sometimes expressed their approval with smiles and gestures.
“By making the place clean, you are able to show locals that Hongkongers are very disciplined and have good qualities,” she said.
While planning to distance herself from politics, fate seemed to have other plans and nudged her back into public service on the other side of the globe.
“Maybe they couldn’t find another person, or they trusted me, or I am very vocal, so they settled for me,” she said, chuckling, adding that it may have been her conscientiousness in learning English when communicating that gained the locals’ approval.
When she did not understand what the locals were saying, she would ask them to repeat and even spell the words.
“They might think that this person is conscientious, not just socializing casually. ... Also, if one does things conscientiously when helping others, I believe this quality is a criterion for them when selecting candidates,” she said.
“It also requires diligence. I deeply believe from my past life experiences that when you try your best to do good things, good things will definitely happen to you.”
After taking the councilor position, Ms. Lee looked into several local issues, including trash cans in the community, a service to help seniors, and the burden of drugs and e-cigarettes on health care services.
“Councilors act as a bridge between the community and government departments. This means understanding local issues and reflecting them to the government,” she said.
Three months after accepting the councilor role, local police paid Ms. Lee an unexpected visit and asked her to join the police-community cooperation group to address local security issues.
A Sudden Loss
Starting afresh in Scotland, Ms. Lee had hoped to spend the rest of her life with her husband, but he unexpectedly passed away in May 2023, leaving her devastated.With tears welling up, she said, “It was so sudden. He showed no signs of illness, but within two months, he was gone.”
Ms. Lee said she chose to be resilient, knowing that grieving wouldn’t bring her husband back and that embracing life was the best tribute she could offer.
“I had to come to terms with it because life and death happen to everyone. Whoever [of a couple] goes first, the other must continue living,” she said.
“I often feel that no matter how you feel, things will happen. You can choose to be angry or unhappy—it’s your choice. I choose to be happy.”
Encouraging Other Hongkongers
Emerging from her grief, Ms. Lee immersed herself in community activities, hoping more Hongkongers would integrate into British society and participate in local community work.“When I arrived here, I felt that the majority of us Hongkongers are committed not to abuse the system or take advantage or benefit from others’ efforts. Instead, the achievements in Hong Kong before 2019 were the result of everyone’s hard work. Coming here, I hope we can contribute to this society and this country,” she said.
“We are becoming citizens of this place. When we were in Hong Kong, we loved our homeland, and we can bring that mindset here to the UK. Of course, while benefiting this community, we can also see how we can help Hong Kong. Hong Kong is still our place of origin, so let’s see what we can still do to help Hong Kong.”
She says that she is now leaving an impact as a district councilor in Scotland and believes that her power is greater there than when she was a district councilor in Hong Kong.
Ms. Lee also encourages more young Hongkongers to enter the political arena in the UK.
“Our previous education and laws in Hong Kong all originated from the UK, so we are very familiar with them. Therefore, I hope we can bring what we have learned previously to the UK to help develop our new home,” she said.
“I am sure we can also help Hong Kong with things we can do here. But it will take some time and more talent. I am not particularly talented, so we need more people to join us. I am also a bit old. We need some young people to help!”
