Pre-Trip Paper

Charlie Zielinski
January 1, 2009
Hong Kong Pre-trip Paper

When I hear the word Hong Kong I automatically think about what I know about the Chinese culture from the media: the food, environment, and old customs that the cinema try to recreate all make its way into my mind. The way the media has controlled what I perceive about Hong Kong is neither false nor true because we have not yet embarked on our trip. The media mostly shows that the Chinese culture is based around consuming fish, but as Dr. Hung has said, the Chinese eat mostly vegetables and that is what has the most exotic spices and flavoring, unlike my culture which is the meat from cows and pigs that is mostly consumed and prepared on a daily basis. The media has also shown the Chinese culture as being very violent, i.e. kung fu movies, but I would expect that to be the opposite and only a small part of the culture to be violent because of the religion many Chinese practice. During our stay in Hong Kong we will be observing a couple of orchestras in which our media does not show at all the Chinese as being great musicians. I can recall a couple of American movies that show Hong Kong as being a luxurious city with casinos and expensive shopping.
During this trip, I hope to gain a new understanding of Hong Kong and the Chinese culture. Since, I cannot rely on the media I expect Hong Kong to be different from what I thought. I expect the food to be intriguing and flooded with flavor and tradition along with items I have never seen before. I expect the city of Hong Kong to be more beautiful than New York City and to be filled with things to buy and see that anyone can enjoy. I expect the orchestras to sound professional and traditional as if they started young and never stopped playing and the technology to seem as if it could never be outdated. Overall, I expect this trip to give me a new understanding and appreciation for Hong Kong and the Chinese culture along with gaining a new perspective without the help of our backwards media.
The reading When East meets West explains how the British in the 1800’s and early 1900’s wanted to modernize the Chinese so they could easily use them for trade and other elements, because of this event, one can determine that this is a reason why in Hong Kong, many people can speak English and why they drive on the left side of the road. When I arrive to Hong Kong, I will expect to see and feel a small presence of British influence among the people and the environment that they live in. Since the British are not colonized in Hong Kong anymore I can also expect that the citizens of Hong Kong are trying to adapt more customs from the Chinese and ridding customs from the British, but it may be the opposite from what I expect ( Wong [12]).
In the reading, Public Support for Democracy in Hong Kong there is a graph called the mean score on the respect for authority by country which compares the respect for authority among nine Asian countries and ten western countries. In the United States, the value that represents the respect for authority is 2.63 in a 1-3 point scale. Hong Kong’s score is significantly less at 1.46. The people of Hong Kong could be retaliating against the authority and therefore, have little respect for the system. I can expect to see this on the island of Hong Kong, I can expect to experience social deviance from the citizens and observe protests for a Democracy or other systems. Since, the people have little respect for authority I can also expect that the authority to be strict and harsh to try and gain respect (Sing [9]).
The Hong Kong Tourism Promotional video that Dr. Hung posted on the blog
showed some elements that were important to the city and culture: film, shopping, food, sports (horse racing or betting), a theme park, and festivals. I expect to see all of these throughout Hong Kong since they were promoted. I expect everything in the video to be as great and fun as was shown (Hong Kong Tourism).
By the end of this trip, I expect to have a complete understanding of the life in Hong Kong. I expect to gain this understanding by experiencing the life of a citizen by trying as much food as I can, observing and learning about the heritage and religion of the people, appreciating the music and film throughout Hong Kong, and by communicating with citizens on different parts of the island. I also expect to learn as much as I can from the people that I am traveling with and their experiences.

Works Cited
Hong Kong Tourism Promotional Video. 4 Jan. 2009 .
Sing, Ming. “Public Support for Democracy in Hong Kong.” Frank Cass & Company Ltd.
Wong, Yuk-Lin Renita. “When East Meets West: Nation, Colony, and Hong Kong Women’s Subjectivities in Gender and China Development.” Modern China 30.2 (2004): 12.