Where is the Pride?

Suddenly I notice something interesting. When the name “Pride Parade” is invented by the West, Chinese never really translated the whole term. Taiwan Pride is translated into 台灣同志遊行, when Hong Kong Pride is called 香港同志遊行.

Yes, of course one can say it is because most people are still tolerant of LGBT society but not really accept and embrace them, therefore it is better not to shock people. However maybe it is only one of the reasons.

Literally, pride can be translated into自豪, 驕傲 or 自尊, in English it is very positive but in Chinese, when one ought to be humble, to say being proud of oneself would be arrogant. It is nearly impossible to translate the whole meaning, so maybe it is better to avoid it. The tactics of Hong Kong and Taiwan are quite alike – using slogan instead.

Besides, sometimes “Pride” does not only shock for straight people, I would say LGBT community needs more time to learn to be proud of themselves as well. When Hong Kong Pride still tries educating the community to “be yourself”, maybe it is still a bit far from pride.

And of course, like parade and 遊行 are already different from each other. Parade is fun and 遊行 is political. Pride parade is imported. The problem the community facing is that we take the parade from the West but we do not have such heritage, no stonewall, no Harvard Milk, the whole idea of Pride Parade is transplanted from the West (or societies using English as first language) to the East.

I am wondering, if it is possible to invent something for LGBT community in Hong Kong?

Queer Day Oslo - Norwegian also missed out the Pride (but once my Norwegian friend told me in tradition, they also emphasize being humble).