Elizabeth Cheong's Blog

This week we started working on our project as a group. It was really exciting to be able to schedule a lot of our interviews this week as it was our last week in Vancouver. Our group had a very busy schedule. Good thing that most interviews would only need between 3-4 people so that we could pick and choose ones that we could go to. I contacted people I knew in the education network in Vancouver, including ones I’ve met through S.U.C.C.E.S.S. such as Maggie Ip and Christine Brodie. Then, because Alyssa and I had gone to a private school and one of our math teachers attended St. George’s in the 80s, we wanted to interview him to ask him about the differences between the private schooling system as well as the student body then compared to now. (We were very intrigued by what Henry had said in class about private schools being for people who couldn’t do well or focus in public schools. That makes sense! That would be why you would need to pay tuition!) And lastly, we found our main characters, the Yip family. The Yip family has known my family for a long time and I remember when they had first moved to Vancouver 10 years ago. At first I had only tried to ask Phyllis or Fiona, the daughters, for an interview. But it became clear that to have the full story, it would be best to interview as many members of the family as possible. Thankfully, my mom helped to convince Mrs. Yip, and Phyllis helped me set up an interview with her dad, who was luckily in town because of Fiona’s recent graduation.

 

As a class, we also had a field trip on Monday. We met at the McDonald’s in Kerrisdale, when they happened to have some sort of one hour closure, which stuck us inside for a bit. After hearing about the neighbourhood’s history from Henry and Jessica, we took a tour along 41^st Avenue and saw buildings which had fake heritage wall murals and established dates of 1993 in an old-looking font and style. It was also surprising to notice the fake steam clock in Kerrisdale, in front of Shoppers Drug Mart, which I would normally just pass by without a glance. I never realized it was trying to resemble a steam clock, but knowing that it fooled Ewout and Sven made me laugh. The level of effort it seems that Kerrisdale’s planners or community tried to put into making the area seem important to Vancouver’s history was comedic. Maybe it would be more desirable to live in the community if it was a so-called heritage site? It was true that most buildings had an old English feeling (or as Henry would call it, Ye Oldy Englishy) to them. After the field trip, everyone came to my house to watch the Chungking Express. Because it was Katrina’s birthday, our group went to pick up two cakes from Kerrisdale cake shops and sneaked them into my house. My mom also picked up lunch for us and it was fun to eat with everyone again. The movie was disjointed for me because I ran in and out of the room multiple times, but it was a very homegrown movie out of Hong Kong. Many of the movie stars are superstars now, and it was cool to recognize Tony Leung and Faye Wong. I had never been to Chungking Mnasion before, but there was a sense that such an efficient operation (the drug smuggling plan) would only be possible in Hong Kong – at least at the time. the Hong Kong Chinese are known for their ability to find where money can be made, and accomplish just that.

 

While we had interviews in UBC, Chinatown, people’s houses, and LFA this week, our group also spent a day doing b-roll (facilitation training day) in Vancouver. I needed to attend a facilitation training workshop at S.U.C.C.E.S.S. but I heard from Alyssa and the rest of my group that they had a lot of fun and some pretty nice weather while filming around UBC, Burrard Inlet, and Stanley Park. They even went to the aquarium, because we all knew Calvin wanted to visit it.

 

I’m really excited to go to Hong Kong tomorrow! Alyssa, Alan, and I are on the same flight.

We started the week off with a welcoming breakfast at the Go Global Lounge (which was a stunning circular theatre with beautiful a beautiful wooden ceiling and doors), meeting the HKU students Katrina and Calvin over a very Canadian Tim Hortons breakfast. It was nice to meet the two HKU students and I was really excited to learn that they were studying such different but interesting disciplines (Landscape Architecture, and Translation). After the breakfast, we met in the board room to talk about possible topics and themes for our group documentary projects. Ones I remember being interested in were Dora’s suggestion of the citizenship of money (why and when would it matter?) and the cultural clash of the real estate investors  and “normal, everyday” Hong Kong immigrants who came and sought after large lot sizes in Vancouver’s west side. Especially because I read Chinese newspaper and magazines often, I was intrigued to do more unveiling research and interviewing in the real estate field; Li Ka Shing and Lee Shau Kee are household names in my family, especially because Li Ka Shing is of Teochow descent, which is where my mom’s side of the family is from.

 

Afterwards, we all went to Tinseltown (International Village) for our Chinatown/Gastown/Japantown/Strathcona tour. Unfortunately it was drizzling that morning, so we did not get to go to Japantown and didn’t have enough time to go to Strathcona. Strathcona was a neighbourhood I was looking forward to touring most because of my childhood memories in Chinese school there, but there will always be opportunities for me to visit on my own. Instead, after walking down Keefer street and talking about the westernized Chinatown establishments such as Baobei and The Keefer, we all went to Phnom Penh on Georgia Street. I’m so glad we went because I have been craving food from that restaurant for a while. We also managed to drop in while it wasn’t busy, almost at 4pm. It was a funny moment walking into the restaurant and telling the server “16 people please”…

 

For the next two days, we discussed observations from the Chinatown tour and compared to readings from class. The topics also came up again and we found two areas of focus within our course title of “Identity in a Comparative Context”, looking at both Vancouver and Hong Kong’s cultural identity. Heritage as an abstract and undefined, as well as subjective, term was one major focus, and factors such as education which affect the migration patterns of the Hong Kong Chinese people was another interest of the class. We somehow split into two even groups, with Sven and Ewout splitting up (if they were both in one group, it would have been too stacked!) because of their level of film editing experience. Education was the group that I wanted to learn more about because it was something I witnessed in so many of my friends’ families. I wanted to find out what motivated people to move their family and wealth across a Pacific ocean and in some cases, maintain split families and then have a re-migration back to Hong Kong after children graduate from university overseas (a term coined 回流 in Cantonese). My other group members were the two HKU students, Calvin and Katrina, as well as Alyssa, Peggy, Ewout and Alan.

 

Our second field trip this week was to Richmond on Friday. I don’t think I’ve ever been inside Aberdeen so early (10am!) but after everyone gathered, we walked over to Parker Place and had delicious and cheap breakfast food. That was another first for me, I was surprised how busy the food court was at that time of day, and the people there weren’t only seniors, there were workers, young couples, and even families. Afterwards, we walked along No. 3 Road to Yaohan Centre. I noticed that much of the mall was still making an effort to retain the original Japanese ‘feel’, with T&T not renaming Osaka, and small Japanese painting shops. It was sad to find that the manga/bookstore was closed though! I remember looking at Doraemon comic books in there when I was much younger. I couldn’t shrug off the phantom emptiness of the mall, I kept wondering how stores were surviving while walking through the upper level retail. Overall, from visting the malls, I could see how Richmond housed a different Chinese crowd than Chinatown. It was a Benz and Lexus filled neighbourhood, with a much younger customer demographic. In a way though, it was more Chinese because many of Chinatown’s streets have been ‘invaded’, so to speak, by the young and hip Vancouver crowd. I visited Pender Street’s Fortune Soundclub recently and it holds a monthly hip hop karaoke event. DJs from Vancouver’s radio stations and many art and cultural geeks flock to the popular event. There is nothing in the club that reminds me that I’m in Chinatown.

 

Looking forward to more field trips!

Since exams ended in late April, I’ve been counting down the days until this course started (or, more accurately, till my flight to Hong Kong). To pick up school after a month’s worth of sleeping in and eating breakfast at lunchtime was tough though. This week has been a huge learning curve and the thing I’ve enjoyed the most is learning about things that are relevant and can observe in my everyday life. I’ve also found really interesting the topics that we covered this week. Discussing transnational migrants, the factors that influence their decisions, conflicts of preserving cultural heritage and traditions in this day and age, and today’s lecture on real estate and the impact of Hong Kong Chinese immigrants in the 90’s were all topics where I had related life experiences to draw upon and contribute to during class.

 

In my Geography 380 class last term, our final term paper was titled Asian Modernity, with a subtitle of our choice. I had actually focused on Hong Kong Chinese immigrants and their influence on the development of Vancouver for my paper, and had done previous readings of Professor Yu as well as David Ley and Kathryn Mitchell which were all helpful in increasing my insight into the topics we touched on in the second class. The readings that were assigned furthered my knowledge in those areas, and seeing the timeline of immigration policies helped to put things into a more visual perspective. I also analyzed Richmond’s development of the Golden Village, which sort of became an extension of Chinatown, but in a more modern Hong Kong way.

 

In my research, I read a lot about the Expo 86 land bid by Li Ka Shing and after I read an interview of Mr. Stanley Kwok, I saw that there was an event which he was going to attend at the Museum of Vancouver and I brought my dad to the salon-like event. A journalist/reporter moderated the night and Mr. Kwok spoke of his background and how he became part of the Expo project, as well as his experience working with a team of architects to make a successful bid for the massive site. Hearing him describe first-hand the planning of the original Blue Scheme and the later revision to the Green Scheme to ensure that the waterfront was shared and accessible was fascinating. Mr. Kwok shared photos of some of the drawings and building plans and Concord Pacific was obviously a dominating force in Vancouver’s real estate market.

 

I brought my dad to the event because he’s a contractor. I’ve always grown up around construction sites and new homes across the Lower Mainland. I observed that 10 years ago, my dad would have worked mostly in West Vancouver for Iranians, and then around Burnaby and Coquitlam, and recently in and around Vancouver, specifically the west side, interacting with Mandarin speaking clients. I think due to this environment, I am really inclined to looking at houses and making criticisms and observations offhandedly. I can’t wait to go to Hong Kong and see the different housing neighbourhoods and make comparisons to what I see here in Vancouver.

 

I’m also really looking forward to the tour of the Strathcona area next week. I found Jessica’s experiences to be very interesting and I’ve become open to possibilities of working in municipal governments or other organizations in city planning and development. I hope that my ENDS 221 course content will also be brought up, in regards to how city planning can be used to reduce waste and make a city more sustainable. I used to go to Chinese school five days a week in Chinatown, right across from the Strathcona Elementary School. I haven’t been back in the area really since I was in grade 4 though, so it will be interesting to notice the changes, as well as the still standing landmarks that I recognize from my childhood. My parents wanted me to be able to speak and write the language and I’m glad they brought me to the school and encouraged speaking Chinese at home. We also have incredible access to ethnic media here in Vancouver, a crucial link to making our transnational identity so viable.

Applying for this course has been the best academic decision I’ve made thus far! I’m excited for the rest of my time with my class, Wendy, and Henry.

Wrong. Age can be a number that creates frustration and complications for sports marketers.

I am an avid spectator of the Olympic Games – more so due to the uncontainable patriotism than superior knowledge of competitive athletics, but I can still clearly remember the phenomenon that was the Chinese gymnasts in 2008. As a person of Chinese ethnicity, Beijing being awarded the bid many years ago was a unprecedented acknowledgement of the Communist country in a world dominated by democratic societies. China’s rise both economically and politically was undeniable, and I’m sure the IOC was pleased to be able to expand their Olympic brand, and their Olympics sponsors (such as Coca Cola) into untouched territory.

One of the key accomplishments of the Chinese Olympic team was showcased in the gymnastics disciplines. Their dominance was incredible – winning more medals than the following four ranking nations combined. They also achieved more gold medals than the United States won in gold, silver, and bronze medals totalled.


Then, controversy erupted.

Spectators and coaches of other teams suggested that female Chinese gymnasts were under 14 years of age, which violates the IOC guidelines that competitors must be at least 16 years of age while competing. Documentation discrepancies for some athletes were blamed on team-switching logistical errors, and eventually, the IOC appointed the FIG (Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique) to investigate the eligibility of the athletes. The situation was not resolved until October, 2008, when medal reshuffling was determined unnecessary.

This is only one of the marketing nightmares that arose out of the Beijing 2008 Games. Before the games, protests were ignited across the globe in response to Tibet’s cry for independence, and countries were even pressured to boycott the Games in defence of human rights. After a spectacular Opening Ceremonies, rumours that firework footage was pre-recorded and that a key performer was really lip-syncing to someone else’s voice broke out. These scandals are preventable. If Beijing had a more comprehensive and experienced marketing team, they could have avoided the controversy from their Opening Ceremonies which, for many people, overshadowed the very real fact that it was a spectacularly entertaining and aesthetically beautiful show.

To me, the apex of the sports marketing ladder is the Olympic Games. No matter how much money you earn working in the NHL, MBA, or NFL, you will never experience the same kind of excitement, energy, and enthusiasm working for the International Olympic Committee‘s Marketing Commission.



Running a successful Olympic Games is akin to driving through Disneyland on the 4th of July blindfolded and still managing to grab autographs from each and every Disney character – in a roller coaster cart. It’s nearly impossible! A million different issues may arise, and do arise, throughout the two week period which everyone behind-the-scenes has been working tirelessly towards for 4 years.

One thing that generally does happen year after year, and to no correlation to the marketing team (yet still highly influential to the overall aura of the Games in question), is ‘medal stripping’. Before each Olympic Games, countries are supposed to conduct their own tests of athletes, and later on, samples are given to the WADA who will review the samples and unveil results to the IOC.

Since the 70s, the appearance of doping and subsequent medal stripping has had a strong presence after every Olympic Games. Particularly in the Sydney Summer Games of 2000, two prominent athletes were stripped of their medals. Romanian Andreea Răducan was the first gymnast to be stripped of her medal for taking an over-the-counter medication for a fever (the substance is no longer on the WADA Prohibited List, it is now in the Monitoring List), and American Marion Jones was stripped of her individual and team medals won in five different events.

As the saying goes, “not all press is good press”. When these events occur, the legacy and reputation of the Games are tarnished, and often even dwarfs over the success and hard work ethic of other inspirational athletes. While this doesn’t seem to directly affect the marketing team behind the specific Games, protecting the Olympic brand is a mission that the team needs to constantly be focused on, and in this case, preventing future occurrences of the same nature and working closely with media outlets and PR firms is key to sustaining the brand that everyone in the world recognizes.

Vancouver 2010 Marketing Report

The elusive silver statue, if you will, is the most desirable trophy in sports.

There is no other sport than hockey that consists of a grueling TEN months’ journey, physical/mental/emotional/social commitment (for the athletes and the fans), combined with passion rooted from a Montreal ice rink in 1875.

Halfway through the 2010-2011 regular season, I was made aware of the Olympic-Stanley Cup tradition (I heard/read from a difference source but this is a good one – it doesn’t have the Montreal Olympic/Stanley Cup win in the timeline though). For over 80 years, every state/city that hosted the Olympics and has a National Hockey League Team has had its team hoist the Cup the following year. The Vancouver 2010 Olympics were monumental and record-breaking in many many ways, but perhaps the best part about it is that it’ll help our boys, our team, celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, to lift up that over-30 pounder trophy.

My writing is awful right now but I’m just too nervous and excited for history to be made tonight. A lifetime of waiting has prepared me for all outcomes, but I can’t ignore that gut feeling I’ve had for the past five months.



By the way, when I googled Stanley Cup, there were logos of past champions such as the Red Wings, Penguins, and Blackhawks. Also, halfway down the page, a few photos of Canucks jerseys. No sign of Bruins’ horrendous yellow/orange anywhere. More signs? I believe in karma, doing good will bring you good. The Canucks’ fans have always been positive, supportive, and incredibly nice people – we’ve built up an unstoppable K-Force in this city, there’s no way the Bruins are going to win in our home arena.

The thing is, if the Bruins don’t win the Stanley Cup, their fans aren’t going to be in the biggest group withdrawal in history. Vancouver Canucks fans really give the team their all. If the Canucks lose in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final at home, not only will there be riots reminiscence of the 1994 Stanley Cup Finals, but people won’t be able to eat, sleep, or even FUNCTION. I’m not even exaggerating that much. My life has been completely taken over by the playoffs for the past month and a half. Whether we win or lose tonight, practically the entire city/province’s population will be in a deep Canucks Coma, only to be healed when the new season starts, with Mason Raymond and Kesler and our other stars healthy and ready to set another record-breaking season.

Links to share:
Canucks Fans Video:
http://video.canucks.nhl.com/videocenter/console?catid=1184&id=112003
Canucks – “Inches”

EDIT:
So I know me and my blog post sound pretty stupid, naive, and completely arrogant in hindsight. But those were my true feelings and I don’t regret a word. I went downtown today, but I was more on the outskirts because I knew that riots would break out in the core. Of course, I cannot say that I expected it to be as dramatic as this, with three reported fatalities and more likely to be revealed in headlines tomorrow – but we should have known that this kind of stuff happens when a huge, unchecked crowd gathers in a small area (under the influence of alcohol, stress, and/or just plain criminal desire). My biggest concern is with the preparation of the city for this event. IMO, the Olympics were successful because there were strict bag check points and security in all venues. I know that previously, crowds did need to proceed through a bag check before they were allowed to the viewing party on CBC Plaza, but because the number of people got out of hand, it became impossible to have a fence around them and therefore impossible to regulate the regular viewers and the trouble-seeking scumbags……..
….I’m too tired to finish this post. But just my two cents for now.

Entity/Attribute/Relationship models

End of Phase 7

GO CANUCKS GO

Entering the intensive stage…

The Canucks won both home games and headed to Boston with confidence and perhaps even a hope of a hard-fought sweep. With the performance of our boys last night though, unfortunately the tables were briefly turned in Massachusetts with a result of 8-1 for the Bruins. Me being the arrogant, confident, and helplessly faithful fan only has this to say:



TOWEL POWERRRRR!!! Go Canucks Go!

I have three MIS posts to publish but they are just rotting in my drafts because I can’t bring myself to finish them!!! And it’s really frustrating!

P.S. Try googling “mad at computer” haha it’s funny – so many people biting their keyboards………..(or just pics of the same person from different angles lol!)