Today is the final day of the course! After nights of having just three hours of sleep, we’re finally nearly done. Luckily, group RTDT didn’t have to pull an all nighter last night, but we slept at around 5 and planned to meet this morning at 9:30. Unfortunately, I slept through my alarm and woke up at 11am… but luckily we already had all our work done and were just meeting to look over the video and paper. I must say I think I was lucky to be working with a group of people that were all equally willing and wanting to contribute towards our final project, and besides that, we all get along outside of the project work too. I’ve had group projects before, but never had to live with my group members and interact with them everyday, so I can understand how that can create uneasiness or tension between people.

In Group RTDT, we broke off into two teams of three. One team worked on video, and the other on the paper. I was in the group working on the video, and I felt that three people working on the video was the perfect amount. We were able to go out together to get B-roll and have one person editing the video, while two others picked out b-roll or noted the exact times that we wanted to keep for audio and video. One of the biggest challenges that we encountered while working on the video was that our topic was not the same as our original topic. This lead to a lot of interviews that we previously conducted, for example, with Harry from Shanghai, proving not to be as relevant to our topic as we thought. However, we had a lot of interviews in total so we didn’t have to worry that much about cutting one or two people out of the video. Another challenge we had while working on the video, was the lack of variety that we had for B-roll. We realized after watching the draft of our video that we had a lot of b-roll of people walking, but not enough of buildings, or significant landmarks in Vancouver and Hong Kong. Of course, we had to rely on using most b-roll captured in Hong Kong, because of us not being in Vancouver anymore.

Out of all our interviews for our project, I really felt that Harjeet’s interview shed the most light on the situation of the Mainland Chinese blame in Hong Kong. Having lived in Hong Kong and Vancouver, she was able to provide perspectives on the type of racism that exists in both cities. One thing she said that stood out to me was, “It was okay when the British and French took over land in Canada in not so democratic ways, but when it’s the Mainland Chinese, it’s not okay”. It was also really great to hear her speak in Cantonese for our video too, because she is a prime example of someone who does not identify themselves as a foreigner, but is also someone who does not look like the majority race.

As for plans after the course.. So far, my plans have changed a bit. Apparently it’s a tradition for students to go out together to LKF on the last night of the course, so we’re doing that. Then, I’m going to stay with a couple others in Causeway Bay at a hostel. We might be planning a trip to Ocean Park this weekend too! I’m glad to have found true friends in the course that aren’t just classmates. I’m excited to finally explore Hong Kong without thinking of getting B-roll of whatever I’m looking at, or thinking of what work needs to be done before I need to go out! However, I still have an online course to think about… that I’ve fallen behind a lot on…. !!!

Shanghai Welcomes Us 🙂 

Victoria Peak at Night

Our typical siu yeh for a couple of late nights…

So glad to have gotten to spend my trip with these amazing people 🙂 

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.

Today is our last day in Shanghai! So far, we’ve gotten a lot of amazing tours with so much new information about the French Concession, lilongs and shikumens, and the Bund. We had a lecture by Steven Chen, who talked a bit about the history of Shanghai and lead us around to see various types of buildings characteristic of the city. We also had lectures by Harry, who talked about housing in Shanghai, including superblocks. After Harry’s lecture, Jeremy presented to us about lilongs and shikumen buildings in Shanghai. Harry had a lot of information relevant to my group’s topic on foreign investment, so we decided to ask him for an interview for our video. Luckily, he obliged and we interviewed him today at Tongji University. Unfortunately, the battery in my camera died, as did the spare battery, so we will just be using the audio of the interview.

Of the tours we got, I enjoyed Jeremy’s tour of lilongs and shikumens the most. I’m glad that we got to have a tour by him because he was able to reiterate some of what he said in his lecture the day before, and that helped because I was so exhausted during the late night lecture that I missed out some of what he was saying. Also, it was rewarding to see first-hand what we had been talking about in our readings of Shanghai in Vancouver and after Jeremy’s lecture. The housing situation varies so widely in Shanghai. Someone could be living in a superblock and not even really be exposed to buildings like lilongs and shikumens. The narrow buildings in Shanghai reminded me of some of the buildings that we saw in our Chinatown Vancouver tour. Though I noticed that in Shanghai, people make use of the narrow buildings, developing them into small retail shops or modernizing them and making them more contemporary rather than traditional. Meanwhile, in Vancouver’s Chinatown, the push to destroy such narrow buildings and develop bigger condominiums is occurring.

In terms of food in Shanghai, I’ve not been lucky to enjoy a lot of it. Though the first two days in Shanghai I was fine with the food, I have noticed that my stomach has not been cooperating with a lot of what I’m eating here. The first meal that we got to enjoy outside of class meals, I had a horrible experience. Me and a few others wandered into a wonton shop and ate lunch for probably less than $5CAD. Right after I finished my bowl of wontons, I was immediately filled with regret for eating it. It was the kind of stomach ache that made you sweat and not able to walk properly. Since then, I’ve had bad luck with the food in Shanghai, including the class meal at the Szechuan restaurant. Possibly because of the spice, my stomach, again, did not like me after that meal. Today, I avoided eating anywhere that wasn’t a big chain restaurant like Burger King, KFC, or McDonald’s. However, the chicken I ate today from Burger King was quite questionable, as it was far too soft of a texture to be chicken.

Tomorrow, we’re off to Kaiping! Our flight is at 9am but we are checking out at 6am, so I think I won’t be going out too late today. I’m soooo happy that today is a flexible day to do whatever. My group (Ride Together Die Together), was able to meet up bright and early for the interview with Harry and to work on our presentation to HKU at the Shanghai Study Centre. We decided that we will be presenting Vancouver using videos of interviews that we conducted while we were there. Hopefully, we get more free time to work on our group project before we have to present!

That moment when you are sitting on the plane at 2am ready to take off but wait an hour and a half for an announcement that tells you your flight is delayed until the next night at 9pm………

Yup, that happened.

Now I’m waiting for time to pass at a Waves coffee house in Richmond, with Allison. We are leaving for the airport at 6pm to check in and hopefully get a better grasp of when our connecting flight from TPE to HKG will be.. 

This past week, my group and I finished a couple more interviews for our video project. Aside from a few times the camera stopped recording, interviews went well and we were able to record a lot of new and different information relevant to our topic. Among these interviews, I found particularly Justin Tse’s ideas stood out as he was able to give insight on activism in Hong Kong. Firstly, we wanted to call Justin Tse for an interview because of his dissertation on the Umbrella Revolution in Hong Kong, which we thought was relevant to our topic as it concerned activism. He was able to touch on some points about Mainland Chinese in Hong Kong as well. Some of us went to SFU Woodwards for an event called “Everything Will Be” which showed a film about Chinatown and followed up with a panel including Melissa Fong, who we interviewed as well. Fingers crossed that all our footage will be useful towards our project! Our group has changed our topic a few times but now we are focussing our project on foreign investment, and any activism related to it.

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We finally arrived in Taiwan! Now, we’re just chilling in the VIP lounge of China Airlines before the first flight out to HK, at 7:25AM. With my living arrangements confirmed, I can finally relax a bit. I will have one full day at least until our class meets at HKIA on June 1st for our trip to Shanghai. I’m so tired right now I can barely type apoijfdsioajfeiojsaf. Because of our flight delay, Allison and I were compensated with $50USD coupon for duty-free shopping, a $15 meal voucher, and chocolates. I would have probably been happy if they just gave me the chocolates, but yay for coupons! I’m looking forward to going to Hong Kong because I’ll be staying with my best friend who I haven’t seen for a while now!

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Hong Kong is sooooooo humid. I think even more so than Taiwan. Another thing I noticed right away is the skyscrapers. There are SO. many. skyscrapers. The cluster of super tall buildings make me feel so tiny and slightly claustrophobic. My friend was able to point out a lot of public housing in Hong Kong and I was quite surprised, because the buildings did not look like what I expected them to look like. My friend told me that in order to live in those government funded houses, besides certain requirements, you would also need to enter some sort of lottery type of draw. From what I learned in the public housing exhibition that my group attended in Chinatown, it is extremely common for people in Hong Kong to live in public housing and there are plenty in Hong Kong, compared to Vancouver. Actually, my friend’s grandmother lives in one of these buildings and according to my friend, the place is comparable to hers.

Today was the first time we met the HKU students and professors that we will be working with abroad. It was very exciting to see them, though only through a screen, and introduce ourselves to them. All of them are urban planning students while in contrast, our class is made up of diverse specializations. However, this diversity and mix in our class along with their urban planning background will guide us into thinking in very different perspectives as we explore Shanghai and later Hong Kong together.

First time meeting HKU students and professors via video call. So excited to meet in person!

Today was also the day that our group finally picked our topic! After hours of contemplation, we decided that we wanted to look at activists in Vancouver and Hong Kong and how their activism to preserve space differs respectively. For example, we drew connections from Vancouver’s Chinatown activists and their lobbying against the redevelopment of Chinatown (i.e. new condominiums being built), to Hong Kong’s activists who fight to preserve landmarks and buildings carrying meaning to them (i.e. Star ferry terminal, Clock tower). Though it is just a start, my group finally agreed on going this direction for our project, which I think is already a huge step forward for us! Our idea may change though, depending on what happens when we talk to Henry, Alyssa and Jo tomorrow about it.

Tomorrow the whole class will be going to Chinatown for a tour accompanied by Hayne Wai and Melissa Fong. I can’t remember the last time I was in Chinatown, so I’m eager to revisit the area to better understand exactly what is happening in Chinatown and what many activists are fighting for, and how.

Today, we got a first-hand look at the modernization of Vancouver’s Chinatown, through the implementation of trendy-looking architecture and demolition of mom and pop shops, to name a few ways, that continues to threaten Chinatown’s historic foundation. Although we’d talked and watched videos about the gentrification of Chinatown and the historical aspects of the area, seeing what was happening in person reinforced the very real battle of old vs. new Chinatown for me. What I saw today was not what I remembered Chinatown to be. I recall, in a video we viewed in class, Henry talking about the smell of a place evoking a sense of nostalgia. To me, my most vivid memory of Chinatown was due to the particular food smells of it (Though this might be because as a youngster, I often went to Chinatown solely for the food, with my father). It was a reality check for me to see “hip” places newly situated in the area like Starbucks, and vibrant, neon signage that contrasted hugely against the architecture of the “old” Chinatown.

My group also went to visit an exhibition on social housing in Vancouver, located in the Downtown Eastside. Called, ‘Housing for All’, the exhibition had many examples of WHO was being displaced as a result of redevelopment, and what their story was. There was a lot of data at the exhibition that showed the comparison of public housing in different parts of the world (including where we are going in a week: Hong Kong!), as well as data that showed the expenses of social housing. I can’t speak for the others, but after leaving the exhibition, I felt a little more confident in our topic by knowing more about the importance of social housing.

We leave for Hong Kong in one week!!!!!!!!!!!

Yesterday, our class had the opportunity to attend a two day conference, ’Cantonese Worlds’, presented by the Hong Kong-Canada Crosscurrents Project. Before attending, I had little information on the history of how Cantonese came to be one of the official languages in Hong Kong and Guangzhou, as well as the factors leading to potential extinction of Cantonese. In this reflection, I will note the points of the conference that I thought resonated with me.

Helen Leung, from the Department of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies in SFU, brought up a question along the lines of, “How do we use the cool factor of Cantopop and Cantonese actors or actresses in the media as a tool to preserve Cantonese?” Zoe Lam responded in saying that production of Cantonese media such as from TVB, must be continually produced with new actors and actresses, so that Cantonese can continue to appeal to younger generations. Zoe’s response held a lot of truth in it, because it was relatable to me learning Mandarin through Taiwanese media. Earlier, Zoe claimed that TVB was a huge part of how Cantonese is preserved within young people, creating an urge to understand the language from favourite Cantonese dramas. Personally, I thought that I could relate to this point a lot, though through Mandarin rather than Cantonese. Moving to Canada at the young age of 2, my parents enrolled me in Chinese school in hopes that I would retain my first language. However, it did not take long for my Mandarin to start sounding choppy and heavy with a foreign accent, because of my lack of interest in learning Mandarin in Chinese school. Thankfully, in my high school years, I began to develop an interest in watching Taiwanese dramas in which the actors and actresses spoke Mandarin. Now, while I still sometimes struggle with reading Mandarin characters, my ability to speak the language is not carried with a foreign accent.

Among many of the videos we were shown, Zoe showed a video of a man speaking Cantonese to children in Guangzhou, who were not able to understand him. Although Cantonese first developed in Guangzhou, after the People’s Republic of China was established in 1949, the government wanted the primary language to be Mandarin instead of Cantonese. From then on, children were taught in strictly Mandarin, leading to the diminishing knowledge of Cantonese in Guangzhou. This prompted me to think of how quickly a once official language of a country could be wiped out almost entirely because of the state. Another person in the audience asked why people in Malaysia could retain a variety of languages. Henry and Zoe answered that because of Malaysia being not as “politically loaded”, the people living there are not restricted with a dominant language of speaking.

Dr. Jan Wells spoke about Mandarin and Cantonese being equally relevant languages to learn in this day and age. He raised the idea that these two languages should not be seen in an either-or perspective, but rather, which language can be learnt first. His passion for learning and teaching Chinese made me think of the opportunity I had in Chinese school in the past and still have, living with my parents who speak Mandarin, to strengthen my language skills in Mandarin and taking on learning Cantonese in the future.