The Fate of Hong Kong May Rest With a Kenny G Song

When Kenny G woke up this morning, I imagine his to-do list was something like this:

Nowhere on that list is ‘Determine the fate of one of the world’s great cities.” But it should have been.

G dropped in to visit and take photos with pro-democracy protesters in turbulent Hong Kong this week. Although his message is, unsurprisingly, bland, it’s still a big deal. Kenny G has a lot of fans in China, and the government is already issuing veiled warnings to him to back off. ‘Kenny G’s musical works are widely popular in China, but China’s position on the illegal Occupy Central activities in Hong Kong is very clear,” a Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman, Hua Chunying, said, according to the New York Times. ‘We hope that foreign governments and individuals speak and act cautiously and not support Occupy Central and other illegal activities in any form.”

You hear that, Kenny G? Don’t start a revolution. Seems simple enough. But there are more layers to this onion. See, when malls in China close for the night, they all play a Kenny G song called ‘Going Home.” And then everyone goes home. Now some Hong Kong conspiracy theorists believe the government sent Kenny G to Hong Kong expressly to play ‘Going Home.” And then, I guess, the protesters would forget they weren’t at a shopping mall, feel around for their Macy’s bags, and go home.

Pretty farfetched. Then again, just thinking about Kenny G this much is making me want to go home, so maybe there’s something to it.

Here is the Kenny G song in question. Does it make you want to accept that you will never live in a democracy?