In this journal, I will mainly discuss the things that I have learnt and experienced during the tour in terms of language use, British customs, multiculturalism and art culture.
Language use
Throughout the two-week-tour, I have learnt quite a lot of functional language which allows me to communicate more effectively in English with people there. To learn the way people greet each other by saying “Hi, mate!” is the very first step to get involved among the English people.
Before I went to England, I met a Japanese guy who has been studied there for a few years. When I showed him around during his visit in Hong Kong, I felt very strange to be called ‘mate’ by him. He was all the way saying, “Thanks mate,””sorry mate,” and “Are you serious mate?” etc. To me, ‘mate’ is more like a way to call a guy, similar to “Hey bro!” so I did not really like to be called ‘mate’ until I learned more about this term in England.
In the talk we had in London about Language use in England, I was told that ‘mate’ is the most popular way for young people there to greet each other, regardless of their gender. I suddenly recalled and understood why my Japanese friend insisted on using ‘mate’ to address me. I then started applying this to my daily conversation when I greet others. I found that I got more involved among the English people. When I say “Thanks mate!” to people after asking them for direction, they gave me a brighter smile in return and even asked me follow-up questions to know more about our itinerary.
After this incidence, I realized the importance of learning the local functional language there. If one person wants to get involved in another culture, the first thing to do is to make yourself sound like one of them; or at least is to show that you are willing to learn to be one of them. Same for the foreigners that I met in Hong Kong; whenever they try to add final particles at the end of the sentence, such as ‘’never mind la”, I feel less distant even though sometimes they use it in a wrong way. It is not about whether you do it right, it is the sincerity that matters. Therefore, I now decide not to be afraid of making foolish mistake when I assimilate a new culture. Even if you make mistake, the local will teach you the proper way to do it and then you will know how to do it right. It is a constructive cycle. All we have to do is to initiate the first step- to try.
Another interesting example of the functional language that I learned there is ‘cheers!’ In Hong Kong, we normally use it for giving a toast or closing the letter to the closer ones. In contrast, the shop assistants in London tend to say “cheers!” when the customers leave the shop; no matter if you have purchased or not. This is very different from the Hong Kong style. Comparing with those in Hong Kong, shop assistants in London act more friendly with their language. It might have to be deal with their culture.
In England, people do not mind acting friendly and talking to strangers just to share their instant thought. Remember there was this magic show on the street in Covent Garden, people were all amazed by the wonderful performance. After we gave the magician a round of applause, the middle-aged English man turned to me and said,
‘Come on, how can he do that? Can you figure out the trick?” we started off a very short conversation then politely said goodbye and left.
This is very different from Hong Kong. There are always some entertaining shows performing in the Pedestrian zone in Mong Kok; when people found the performance amazing or interesting, they would only turn to the friends nearby or pick up their mobile phones and keep texting. Initiating a conversation with strangers might not be the usual approach here in Hong Kong. On the contrary, English people are more keen to develop closer relationships with people around them. It can be seen more vividly in Sheffield. There you will have to say Good morning to whoever you meet on the street just to show friendliness. They might even stop by and start chatting with you and welcome you.
It can be concluded that knowing the local way to communicate is the very first step to blend into a new culture. Unlike the language and grammar knowledge that we learn from textbook, this daily-life knowledge requires you to experience in person. Even if you know the different drawing techniques taught in books, there are always some tricks that you can only learn from constant practice and experience. Other than the few phrases that I mentioned above, I also learned quite a number of useful phrases to be used in dialogues. I will make good use of them and apply them when communicating with English people in Hong Kong.
British customs
Talking about British customs, the three key elements that impressed me most are their pleasant hygiene, generation gap and drinking culture.
Before this trip, I heard people saying how awful the train in London could be and I could only picture a very old and dirty station. When I took the train there for the first time, what surprised me most was not the environment but the unavailability of rubbish bins. I have been searching from station to station, and there was not even one that I could see. The most amazing thing is, you wouldn’t see rubbish everywhere even though there is nowhere you can trash.
To contrast, there are plenty of rubbish bins available within every 20 footsteps. It is surprising to my foreign friends when they saw rubbish everywhere on the street, in the sea and ridiculously, around the rubbish bins but not inside it. It might have to do with citizen education. It seems that England is doing a better job in its citizen education in a way that their citizens are aware of protecting the public environment. On the other hand, Hong Kong people are more concerned with their personal space; they do not care the public area as much. As a city depending a lot on tourism, it might be good for Hong Kong to learn the England approach in order to build a stronger sense of public responsibility. It is a basic step for building a cleaner Hong Kong and leaving a better image for tourists.
The absence of distinctive generation gap is another thing that I found British culture so different from Hong Kong’s. When I talked to a local guy (Harry) in a bar in Oxford, he told me that his grandmother, mother and sister went to watch Sex and The City together. This interesting cross-generation activity stimulated me to ask him a follow-up question- will you confront with the senior family members when you disagree with their ideas or thoughts? He answered me undoubtedly with ‘’Yes!’’ as if there was nothing more natural than that.
Nowadays, parents in Hong Kong are getting more open-minded. Communication has become more effective between parents and children. However, there are still some taboos such as sex, dating or challenging the elder ones. We are always told to respect and listen to the older ones and there is still a distinctive hierarchy or power distance within the family. My grandmother, mother and I will watch World Cup or entertainment shows together, but definitely not Sex and The City in order to get rid of the lectures that mothers like to give.
Drinking and clubbing is another thing that is categorized as ‘naughty’ by parents in Hong Kong. When Mandeep told me that going out for a drink is a must for making friends and showing friendliness in England, the first thing that popped up in my mind was- how am I going to convince my mom with this? The British drinking culture is so different from that of Hong Kong. Unlike Hong Kong, the pubs there do not have loud music and people do not wear too fancy for a drink. The lively yet peaceful environment allows people to have some nice chat. It is shown that having a drink in England is mainly for communication purpose. We can again conclude that British people care for building close relationship with each other.
I have also learned something interesting about the drinking culture in Sheffield in the lecture of Mr. Cheeseman. This pop culture expert told us that there is a costume party on every Wednesday night. Similar to the Wednesday drinking night (after doing sports) in Oxford, this custom is a hidden acknowledgement shared by all the people there. Mr. Cheeseman believed that going out for a drink is an authentic pleasure for people. People think dressing up and consuming alcohol can show their body and masculinity. Most importantly, it is fun and it represents their identity as one of the in-group members. I now understand why my friends who study abroad will be acculturated with this custom. If an ‘outsider’ wants to fit in the group harmoniously, s/he has to learn to ‘look or act similarly’ like the group. That might explain why some people chose to pick up the local custom, though it might contrast with the culture of their own. If one fails to do this, s/he might be distinguished from the group and this may lead to discrimination.
Multiculturalism
Being a large country with different races living together, it is not surprising to find some minority groups being discriminated against. I did not have much chance for travelling abroad, so this was my very first time to feel how bad racial discrimination could be.
“I don’t understand why they have to speak in English among themselves! Disgusting!” They obviously knew we understood what they were saying and said it deliberately. What was in my mind at that moment was not anger, but our criticism of the Cantonese pronunciation of the Mainland people. I used to care about the value of the majority without considering the feelings of the minority groups. It might be difficult for me to accept some of the distinctive habits or accents of the minority groups, such as the Pakistani and the Philippino , and there are times that my friends make fun of the accent of the Mainlanders. I regret having done that without considering their feeling and accepting the diversity of accents or behavior among different races.
I feel lucky to be able to experience discrimination issue in person so that I would have a better idea of how harmful it is to the sufferers. During the tour, I volunteered to teach Tom, Lily and Yolanda Cantonese and explained some of our customs to them. They seemed to be very eager to learn and I am happy that I can make some contribution to their learning of a new culture. Being aware of the difference between cultures is a very crucial start for peaceful intercultural communication.
Art culture
Before going to the tour, I heard that England is quite an artistic place (or at least it is a lot more artistic than Hong Kong). There are plenty of marvelous architectures which always give people inspiration for creating art work. I hoped to have a good taste of the mood there so I spent as much time as I could to visit all museums, galleries and theatres that I found there.
The theatre culture is so strong there that no one would have missed. I talked to the local people there and they told me they went to the theatre once in one to two months; but they go to the cinema just once in three months or even more. This is so different from the entertainment habit Hong Kong. We go to the cinema a lot more often than going to the theatre. That might explain why young people feel more comfortable with people shown on the monitor than the living ones talking right in front of them. In general, I think having the interest and ability to appreciate theatre work has a lot to deal with the parents.
Here is the conversation that I overheard in the theatre when we were waiting for the Phantom of the Opera to show. “Mommy, would this be as good as the one we watched last week? I’m excited!” “This is even better. What other plays that you would like to watch next week sweetie?” “Chicago, can we?” We can see that theatre is part of their life. Parents take their children to the theatre as if it is a regular family activity. Elementary school kids have shown their interests in theatre performance at their young age. There is no wonder why theatre actors can chase their dream as well as to make a living.
The theatre performance in Hong Kong is not as popular as in England. There are not many people who are excited about musicals or plays. Even for the popular musical “Chicago”, there are quite a number of vacant seats. People do not quite respect the performers; they arrive late, pick up phone calls during the show, and chat with friends nearby etc… There is one big difference that I noticed, is the crowd at the souvenir shop. People would just go over and take photos with the huge poster; they think that buying the souvenirs is a waste of money. To contrast, English people tend to pay for the brochure and souvenirs like clothes or sound tracks. They see the whole thing as art work that is worth money to support.
The museums and galleries there are the things that I miss most after I come back.
When I saw the elementary school tours visiting British Museum, it reminded me of my kindergarten and primary school tours going to different kind of parks, namely Kowloon Park, Ocean Park and Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens etc. Maybe there was not enough concentration put onto art in our childhood, our passion for art is not that strong. To be frank, I think I have just visited each museum in Hong Kong once, except for the Space Museum which is fun. Other local art galleries are not well-promoted enough to attract much attention. We actually have the resources here in Hong Kong, just that people do not bother much in their busy life. There are always other more important stuffs to do.
During my visit to the Italian Art Renaissance gallery in the British Museum, I experienced a totally different type of attitude towards art. People respect every art piece without much guidance. They would not touch the pieces or take photos of the work. As compared to what I saw in the National Gallery, the Mainland tourists deliberately took pictures of the painting there even though there was a guard who sat right in front of him. The two examples have shown the different attitudes towards art work.
England is really an artistic place, especially in London with all sorts of museums, galleries and architecture. People would spare time bringing their sketch book and drawing pencils, sit there and spend the whole afternoon drawing the pictures there. Some entertainers like to deliver performance on the street and people who appreciate them would really pay them money in return. To them, art is for appreciation and artists deserve to be rewarded. This is the attitude that Hong Kong people should learn.
I have been to quite a number of galleries and museums after I came back from the tour. I start to realize that there are actually quite a number of great places for artists to share their work with audience. Although I still do not think that they can make a living with just creating artwork, there are still room for them to share their view and ideas and there are still people who like and support art together. Sometimes it is not only the reward that matters, but the satisfaction one gets for themselves and from others.
All in all, this study tour has given me a big picture of what England and its culture is like. I now understand more about the explicit structure of the painting and the different color use it took; but for the use of lighting and the implicit meaning it carries, I still need more time to learn and to experience in order to get to know this masterpiece more thoroughly.
I would like to end this long journal with some entertainment in order to refresh my readers’ eyes. It is a poem that I wrote when I was in London, the place for art. Enjoy!
Rebellious red
a sightless bird
hunting with the known danger
Hesitant yellow
the indecisive waves
crashing back and forth against the rock
Obedient green
a loyal scout
acting on the stated rules
In a blink of an eye
green turns to red
red shifts to green
P.S. As suggested by the title of this poem, I got the inspiration when I walked across the busy road in London and suddenly think of this.
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