“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.

Robyn’s Wandering in Hong Kong!

Hong Kong

It’s Monday and Robyn’s Wanderings is broadcasting from Hong Kong. That’s right the blog is expanding.

First it started with Bermudian Nicola Arnold (who will soon be transplanting herself to Canada) and now we’ve added Emily Ross.

Another Bermudian, Emily Ross will be reporting from Hong Kong every Monday. What’s it like there? What’s it like to live in another culture? Tune in every Monday for her latest.

And to start: Who is Emily? Here she tells us:

Everybody said, ‘Oh, Hong Kong, you’ll be tall there.’

LIES.

I am five feet tall. I blend into the crowd round these parts. I’ve been here three weeks and my fellow exchange students have already lost me in the crowd at least a dozen times. Tall! Hmph. I’m not tall, I’m just not short anymore.

The stubbornly politically correct part of me wrestles with penning my observations about my relative height

Skyscrapers in Hong Kong

round these parts. But then again, I had a massive internal battle after watching Mulan on the plane on the way over here. Is that racist? So far everything I know about China I learned from Eddie Murphy.

As I’m trying to catch you up for three weeks worth of roaming, here’s a quick rundown:

-It is cold here. They told me it would be warm. I did not pack for this.

-Everything is out of context in Hong Kong. Start with a skyscraper. Turn the corner and there’s a beach. Turn the corner and there’s a mountain, turn the corner and there’s a village, turn the corner and there’s an island. Everything is extreme and everything is here.

Random scene in Hong Kong

-I’m on an exchange between the University of Bristol in the UK and City University of Hong Kong for one semester (January to May). Before you get too excited, the lectures are in English – so far the only Cantonese that I know is ‘Tsing mat kau gaun tsae mun’ which according to the recorded English translation means ‘Please stand back from the doors.’ The underground or ‘MTR’ is familiar ground to me now.

-I have to say, I expected the lecture environment to be somewhat…well, different. People are talking, they leave early, they answer their phones, they go on Facebook…and the lecturers merely raise their voices to be heard over the din rather than tell them to kindly please SHUT UP. At first I was concerned about the two or three hour lectures I had scheduled (I’m used to 50 minute lectures at Bristol) but then I realised there wasn’t necessarily more content; the lecturers simply speak more slowly. I don’t mind of course, you’ve got to give these kids credit – they’re studying in a second language! Maybe the chatter is them translating what the lecturer is saying. Not sure I can justify the Facebooking though. Sorry, guys.

-They LOVE Hello Kitty here. Seriously.

-They’re preparing for Chinese New Year or the Lunar New Year at the moment. Are you ready for the year of the rabbit? Everything’s decked out in red and gold. Gorgeous!

-Old people take their birds for walks – they sit in the park and bring their bird in its cage with them. Adorable.

-In order to get a space in student housing, you have to show that you actively participate in student life at CityU. So everyone is super enthusiastic – floor gatherings, hall meetings, societies, inspirational posters. My first hall gathering is at the end of the month. Something tells me this will be different from the ‘British experience.’ The words ‘Happy and Free’ are written in giant letters on the side of the hall building. I don’t think that would be taken too seriously in Brizzle.

So there’s a quick summary! Until next week!