As We See It: Hong Kong

THE KALLIMA INACHUS, or Dead-leaf butterfly as featured on our cover, is so-called because its wings, when closed, are indistinguishable from a dry, brown leaf. You could walk past it a dozen times without noticing it. Inside, hidden from view, the wings are iridescent blue and deep orange. For the butterfly, it is simply camouflage: a matter of survival. For us, it is a reminder of how much we miss if we fail to explore the world around us and question what we think we know. Why do we read, if not to experience the world from a perspective other than our own? Why do we write, if not to deepen that experience by putting ourselves in another’s place? We write about the unknown in an attempt to know it. We explore the mysteries of life in an attempt to understand. By keeping an open mind, we welcome the surprises that life has to offer whenever we open another door, peek under a rock, or turn a page. If we take the time to not only look, but to really see the world from every perspective, to consider every side of the story, we will be rewarded with a flash of jewel-bright, intense colour where previously there were only dead, brown leaves. For the writers of this anthology, the act of writing and revising our stories has provided us with moments of beauty and self-discovery; now it is for you, the reader, to open the leaves of this book and see the world as we see it.