《文化長河－山川行》第七集繼續展示Dr. Wu近期研究

位於重丁天主教堂旁的任安守神父墓

香港電台RTHK紀錄片《文化長河－山川行》第七集《喜樂山中》同樣由本系助理教授吳科萍擔任顧問。而本集的內容正是Dr. WU近年研究的重點：怒江傈僳族的基督教信仰。

“怒江兩岸村子裡，有很多基督教教堂，是十九世紀初西方傳教士到來以後開始建造的。傈僳人沒有他們的文字，英國傳教士富能仁，當年為了方便傳道，便替傈僳人創 造了一套拼音文字，現時他們所用的聖經，也就沿用自這套傈僳文寫成的。後來基督教更成為傈僳人的主要宗教信仰，而他們的四聲部合唱，傈僳語無伴奏讚美詩， 更十分有名。

走到福貢，老姆登基督教堂前，看這山上、雲上的孩子上主日學、唱歌，在碧羅雪山和怒江的襯拓下，此情此景，好比天上人間。他們聖誕節是這樣慶祝的，每年城鄉裡一條村子會被選中，然後附近村子的教友便會過來，在教堂禱告唱歌，連續三天一起吃喝，十分熱鬧。

這裡的基督徒有不煙不酒的清規，因當年傳教士發現，貧窮的少數民族愛酒如命，窮得糧食不夠也要用糧食來釀酒，而煙酒也對身體不好，於是便訂下這規條，幫助他們解決糧食問題。另外當地還有個說法，就是因為他們窮得沒錢喝酒，於是便走去當基督徒了。

不能喝酒，對少數民族來說，可能己經是基督教給他們最大的挑戰。怒江就是一個給你充滿基督教味道的地方。”

觀看本集節目，請訪問香港電台的網站。

Dr. Keping WU 擔任港台紀錄片《文化長河－山川行》顧問

只靠一個附有滑輪鐵鈎，飛越怒江，你敢嗎？

由香港電台RTHK製作的紀錄片《文化長河－山川行》第四集 《溜索飛人》新鮮出爐啦！本集節目由本系助理教授吳科萍擔任顧問，講述她的田野點怒江上那些靠溜索渡河的“飛人”的故事。

“怒江上不見船，最矚目的便是「溜索」。為了改善人民生活，怒江傈僳族自治州政府將以橋取代溜索，保障來往怒江兩岸人民生命安全。「溜索」這種原始交通運 輸工具即將消失，成為旅遊體驗項目......掛在「溜索」上的鐵勾是當地少數鐵匠自家替村民度身訂造的，一如城市裏的私家車一樣，有需要的每家每戶都有 自己的，有單勾，有雙勾。”

而聚居在怒江大峽谷、長期靠溜索出行的傈僳族的生活現在又是怎樣的呢？快點跟著節目上山下河吧！

Event: 香道文化交流啓動儀式

兩依藏博物館館長王夏虹女士致贈支票

2012年4月30日，人類學系舉行“香道文化交流啓動儀式”。 該項目獲兩依藏博物館捐助十二萬港元，用作舉办推廣中日文化交流的活動，包括邀請日本香道傳人來港示範，以及組織學生赴日學習體驗。啓動儀式當日，兩依藏博物館館長王夏虹女士拔冗前來致贈支票，文學院院長梁元生教授代表接收。捐贈儀式之後，日本志野流香道若宗匠蜂谷宗苾先生做了香道解述和示範，由張展鴻教授現場翻譯，為在場參與者帶來別開生面的香道體驗。

蜂谷先生解述香道

香料自古以來都是珍貴物質，廣泛用於宗教儀式、醫藥、飲食和祭典。香的種類豐富多樣，有沈香、乳香、麝香、龍涎、丁字，等等。中國人將香料入藥；阿拉伯人煉製香精、香油；而日本人則把沉香用於香道，抒發對自然的感悟。沈香在日本的歷史可追溯到公元6世紀的飛鳥時代，而志野流香道流派自14世紀創立至今，已經傳到第二十一代。沈香究竟是甚麼呢？它是沈香木受到外傷或真菌感染後，香樹滲出樹脂以作自我防護而形成的結香；或者是樹木死後樹幹倒地沈入泥土，經日曬雨淋、長年累月最終留下有濃鬱香味的樹脂凝聚物。由於沈香自然生產的過程極其緩慢，甚至可能需要上百年，因此顯得彌足珍貴。面對沈香日益減少 的困境，志野流家族開始了人工栽培沈香木的實驗，但是一般需要10年以上才能結香，過程相當不易。 

劃分五行

日本人欣賞沈香，將其分為五大類味道：甘、辛、酸、苦、咸。結合四季景象，又細化為上百種具體細微的味道。另外，香道還融匯了“陰陽五行說”，在香道儀式中，要在聞香器具里的香燼上畫出“五行”象徵符號。如此種種，香道要求參與者把持安靜沈穩的心態，去聞、去聽，而後辨認它的味道，或者激發藝術創作。

放上沈香

進行完全面的香道解述之後，蜂谷先生邀請參與者一起進行聞香的香道體驗。他告訴大家，香道有上百種體驗方法，有猜香、也有文學創作，而他向大家分享的則是一個關於日本勇士的猜香遊戲。故事中日本勇士追求一位傾國傾城的絕世佳人，他必須通過聞香的考驗，在眾多的沈香中聞出屬於那位佳人的味道，才能得到她。蜂谷先生請在場的每一位都充當勇士，點了五種沈香讓參與者辨認出美人的味道，並饒有趣味地一邊講故事，一邊解述聞香的規矩。最後，蜂谷先生在眾人的期待之下揭開謎底，香道儀式在大家的意猶未盡之中結束。

蜂谷先生示範聞香：左手握香，右手按照順時針方向轉兩次，最後使得香杯上畫有孟子的一面朝外

湊前香杯，靜心聞香

向左方呼氣。如此吸呼三次，然後按順時針方向傳遞給下一位聞香者。

誰最後能夠聞香識美人呢？

         

蜂谷先生揭開謎底

大家緊張地等候結果

如慾了解更多關於香道與志野流的信息，可訪問志野流香道的網站。
To know more about Shinoryu Kodo, please visit their website.

In the Press: Prof. Gordon Mathews Talks about the Changes of Hong Kong in National Geographic

Source: National Geographic. To see the full version of the article, please click here.

...
Chungking Mansions is a measure of how much has changed. “There’s not much illegal except the illegals working here, many of them seeking asylum,” says Mathews, who believes that the Mansions is where Hong Kong partly fulfills its promise, echoing back to an older version of itself from the 19th and 20th centuries: the melting pot, the open port, the unfettered global bazaar. “It is the truest encapsulation of what Hong Kong was, is, and could be.”

In a Chungking Mansions curry shop, I meet a man who says he is Pakistani and asks to be called “Jack Dawson,” after Leonardo DiCaprio’s character in Titanic. He says he was threatened in his former country and came to Hong Kong without proper papers. He raised a bit of capital and began selling phones, and now he moves disposable “14-day phones,” pulling down $60,000 a year. Gesturing to the stuffy hallway thronged with people coming and going, Jack Dawson says, “This is my land of dreams.”
...

Event: Consultation Day for JUPAS Applicants

On last Saturday, 12 May 2012, over 70 form 6 and form 7 students from different schools, participated “Consultation Day for JUPAS Applicants” and visited our Department. After Prof. Tam conducted a talk on Programme Overview, students are divided into groups to have chance to interact with our Professors and raised a number of interesting and inspiring questions. 

Our undergraduates and postgraduates also shared their experience with the students and provided some useful tips to them. Students also had chance to visit our department exhibitions on teachers’ publications and ethnological collections to have a better knowledge of our programme on the day.

Students raised interesting questions after Prof. Bosco introduced of his course on “Magic, Myth and Supernatural”.

Prof. Lu offered more information about heritage studies to the students, who demonstrated their strong interest.

Invited Seminar: Thinking Through Orissa

Prof. Richard A. SHWEDER

William Claude Reavis Distinguished Service Professor, University of Chicago

"Thinking Through Orissa: Some Things an Anthropological Guest Learned About Cultural Psychology from His Indian Hosts"

17 May 2012

Is it permissible to kill one person in order to save twelve hundred? What if the one is an innocent child? What if the one is your only son? What if the one is you? By posing the above and many other questions about making moral choices, Professor Shweder inspired the audience to think through how people make moral choices. He challenged the utilitarian notion of moral choices as doing the greatest good to the greatest number because this is an unhumanistic way to think about morality as if choice of morality is simply counting. Instead, he maintained that any behavior must be situated and be understood in context before we make a moral judgment.

Professor Shweder also proposed the co-existence of three ethics of morality in any system worldwide: ethics of community, ethics of autonomy, and ethics of divinity. Under the ethics of community, the self is conceptualized as a role or position in relation to the community; it entails duty, obligation, loyalty, and hierarchy. The ethics of autonomy recognizes that people have wants and should have the right to satisfy their wants as long as it does not bring harm to other people. The ethics of divinity sees the self as connected to a transcendental higher form of being. These three ethics are the grounds for moral judgments. Professor Shweder suggested that it is essential that we think through other cultures to attain non-ethnocentric moral realism.

CHEE, Wai Chi
PhD Candidate
cheewc[AT]hotmail.com 

Call for Papers: the 5th Annual Postgraduate Student Forum

 

The Department of Anthropology at The Chinese University of Hong Kong invites graduate students in Asia and elsewhere to present their current research at the 5th Annual Postgraduate Student Forum. The theme for this year's conference is:

Anthropology in Asia: Conceptions, Perspectives and Debates

The forum will take place on 18-19th January, 2013, and seeks to encourage communication among young anthropologists around the world, to help improve their research and to make the excellent research being conducted in Asia better known internationally. Presentations may be in English, Putonghua, and Cantonese, though English is encouraged. 

Please submit your abstract (250 words limit) by October 14th to anthforum@cuhk.edu.hk

Applications for a limited number of travel scholarships will be accepted.

Please visit the conference website for more details and updates!

Final Year Project Forum

Final year students presenting their research.

On 13 April 2012, our final year undergraduate students presented their research at the Final Year Project Forum. The research projects cover a wide range of topic, including urban poor, business and trade, gender and family, physical challenges, as well as archaeology and heritage.

Congratulations to the first prize winner Emily Chan Ho Yee!

The first prize went to an archeaological study "More Than Meets the Eye: Slotted Rings and Social Complexity of Bronze Age Hong Kong" by Chan Ho Yee.

The second prize winner is
Tsui Sze Kwan, who presented "Struggle for Survival: An Ethnographic Study on Elderly Ragpickers in Hong Kong."

Final year students and student helpers

Alan van Beek, the third prize winner, did interesting research about the ethnic identity in an expatriate group in Hong Kong.