“We must consider the happiness of our sons and grandsons.”

Hello Kitty Bouquet!

There is nothing quite like traveling to enhance the difference between men and women! Men traveling on their own? No problem.

Women? Oh my gosh you must have been so scared. Weren’t you worried about your safety?

And that’s not even the biggest difference, as Emily Ross our faithful Hong Kong Wanderer finds out this week:

Ah yes, a Hello Kitty bouquet. No wedding would be complete without it.

Yes, this week I found a treasure trove of bridal boutiques. I think I’ve found the source of all glitter.

A good week of classes but I sensed the distracted energy of students about to head home for the holidays. I don’t blame them. A group of us are off to the Philippines midweek since as of Wednesday we’ve got a week off for Chinese New Year/the Lunar New Year (is one more politically correct than the other? I should check this out).

I’ve been undeniably grumpy all week thanks to my bikini diet…which I ditched on the weekend as soon as we saw the forecast was for ‘showers, chance of thunderstorms.’ Bring on the wine, nuts and carbs! And I brought. However this morning I’ve awakened to a message from my friend currently in the Philippines (where the weather’s supposed to be a-raging) to say ‘don’t worry! The forecasters were wrong! All is sunny! Don’t forget the tanning lotion!’

A different view from Hong Kong?

Poor dear. Nobody could have prepared him for my reaction.

A note on attitudes towards women round these parts. I’ve noticed some subtle patriarchy slipping in here and there. Certainly more than I expected in a university environment – enough to fill me with feminist indignation at least once a day. Take for example, one of my lecturers describing the different social strata of China.

‘At the top are the civil servants. These are who all the little girls want to marry.’

‘Next come managerial staff of big corporations. The little girls want to marry them too!’

And what if the little girls want to BE civil servants? Or BE managerial staff of big corporations? Hmm?

A similar slip happened in another lecture.

‘Sustainable development is important. We must consider the happiness of our sons and grandsons.’

I understand it’s just a slip of the tongue, and that none of the local female students in the lecture seemed to notice…but does that not show the deeply ingrained patriarchy in this society?

Family in Hong Kong

Another lecturer discussed the difficulties facing women in reaching higher education as the family found it difficult to justify ‘investing in someone who someday would no longer be a member of the family.’

I suppose as a modern (militantly feminist) gal, I never considered marriage to be akin to leaving the family, but the philosophy behind and duties associated with marriage are so different here.

If I criticise the lecturers for their machismo slips I come under criticism for being intolerant! ‘It’s a different culture,’ people say, ‘you just have to be respectful and accept it.’

I’m all for experiencing new cultures. I’m all for respecting people whose customs differ from my own. But there’s a line between respecting tradition and hampering progression. In my opinion, just because it’s a traditional value doesn’t make it right, and doesn’t mean it’s some taboo subject that can’t be questioned.  So what does that make me? A self-righteous westerner barging in? Or is it a fair point? Where do you stop being respectful and start asking questions?

Well, now it’s time to shower and head off to lecturers. Best of luck to the poor men who landed me in their classes.