Back in Hong Kong! Though our trip to Kaiping was short-lived, it was an amazing experience to bike through the rice paddies and see the restored diaolous in the Cangdong project. The hostel we stayed at in Chikan was not at all as bad as what I had expected, because I’d never stayed in a hostel prior to this trip. I expected no wifi, very tiny rooms, and no showers. Fortunately, there was wifi and showers, and the rooms were not too squishy. What made it even more enjoyable was the extremely hospitable people of the hostel. There were a few times I was locked outside my room when my roommate left with the key, but that problem was easily solved upon talking to one of the ladies that worked there. What I thought was most unique about this trip was the tangible heritage preserved through the historic monuments and buildings being restored, along with the intangible heritage of songs and language of Kaiping. We had the pleasure of listening to locals sing a few songs after our unique lecture in an ancestral site. Getting up everyday bright and early at 7am was worth it, getting “cheung fun” made on the spot and seeing the quieter side of Kaiping, as a lot of shops had not opened yet. It was amazing to see how closely-knit the community was, especially since CJ told us that the actual population of the village is close to 15, and that most people just came from other villages to open up shop in Kaiping. That would explain the fact that so many buildings in Kaiping are actually abandoned, as many people have left the area to go elsewhere. Apparently in some of the buildings, the inhabitants left items like cutlery and plates still on the table, giving people the impression that they left in a hurry, without any time to even finish eating.

First time eating a Kaiping specialty: claypot rice with chicken!

Locals singing songs for us after lecture

The stress has started to kick in for our final project. It’s crunch time with five days left until the due date, and I’d say my group has gotten a good start on our project, delegating tasks for the video portion and essay portion. I am working on the video portion with Tyler, so hopefully our ideas will produce a storyboard to our whole group’s liking. All of the people in my group attended the UBC Alumni event yesterday, which was helpful because Gerald Ma asked a few questions about Mainland Chinese driving up housing prices to our prof Henry, which we got on film. We were also able to meet a few alumni that were willing to be interviewed by us. Aside from those interviewees, we also interviewed some HKU students earlier this morning. On the topic of interviews, I think my group has more than enough scheduled and recorded, so it should be easier to take from the interview for our final video. The problem with many interviews is the increased amount of editing needed. Though I haven’t touched Final Cut Pro in almost two whole years, I’m ready to learn how to navigate the software and probably use Google for a lot of help along the way.