By Stella Hou
Student Journalist, HKBU
2014/10/3
472 words
Xu Quan said he loved Hong Kong because he could feel dignified and calm here.
Born and growing up in Yancheng, Jiangsu province in mainland China, Xu is a journalist working in a newspaper which was thought to be pro-Beijing in Hong Kong. “I love Hong Kong but I don’t love my work actually, I really want to leave,” Xu said.
Now, Xu has been a journalist here for four years. He prefers to describe his job as an officer in a propaganda department from mainland China. “You know, we rely on the propaganda department，I can’t say anything I want to say,” he added.
After Xu graduated, a friend of his father recommended him to the newspaper. Like many graduates, he chose this work for staying in Hong Kong at least for seven years to become a Hong Kong permanent resident
Xu’s office is located at Wan Praya Road in Hong Kong island, but he resides nearby The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 25 kilometers from his office. He thinks living far away from downtown can keep him sober and critical, which he loses a lot when he is working. Everyday, he spends one hour on bus, another hour on MTR.
After two hours’ journey, Xu starts his work with reading kinds of newspapers especially The People’s Daily, which is provided every day in the office. Then, he waits for notice of reporting different conferences. “My work is more like killing time,” Xu said.
On one occasion, Xu went to Sheung Shui to write a explanatory reporting about people deliver commodity between Hong Kong and mainland China. He found that in the morning, most of them are people from mailand. In the after noon, most of them are Hong Kong people.
“But my editor inferred that I should make story only concentrate on Hong Kong people who are doing this,” Xu said.
When he wrote reasons for the phenomenon, he referred to the welfare system in Hong Kong cause many of them are young people drop out of school who can’t find job and elders. But he was told that they could not show people the defects of Hong Kong society, which would destroy the harmonious relations.
Things like this happened to Xu almost every time in the first three month he started working in the newspaper.
“Now, I adjust to the writing style here，and I know how to write a satisfying article,” Xu said, with his TV opening, reporting news about Occupy Central .
He has been watching news about Occupy Central everyday this week, “Our newspaper are covering people are against Occupy Central but as a journalist I have to know the truth. I don’t want to see any bloody clashes cause I love Hong Kong, I want to stay here,” Xu said.
stellayuezhuhou 
Well done!
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This is an interesting story. A person, strugging between his love of the city and his hatred of his job, is worth people’s attention. And I think quite a few people may resonate with him. But the language is a little bland, so I didn’t feel how miserable or torn-up or struggling he is.
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It is a good character and you did give some details about his job. However, you used a bit more direct quotes which you had better turn into your description. Also, there is a sentence I do not understand: “When he wrote reasons for the phenomenon, he referred to the welfare system in Hong Kong cause many of them are young people drop out of school who can’t find job and elders.” Last but not least, you may focus more on his conflict between his journalism value and the realistic working environment.
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