Zain Syed considers Hong Kong his only home. A native Cantonese speaker born and raised in Fo Tan in the city’s New Territories, he did not set foot in his ancestral homeland – Pakistan – until he was 31.
Yet, at home, he is too often viewed as a foreigner.
“I’m actually immune now,” he says with a shrug. “Even now, it’s 2026, people would still be like, ‘Are you black?’ It’s crazy. I’m writing in Chinese, and they ask me, ‘Can you read it?’ If I can write it, can I read it? Is that the question?”
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