[Friday Seminar Recap] Trapped in Transformation: Negotiating Inner City Redevelopment in a Chinese Coastal City

Trapped in Transformation: Negotiating Inner City Redevelopment in a Chinese Coastal City

Speaker: Philipp DEMGENSKI (PhD Candidate, Department of Anthropology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong)

Time: 12:30 p.m., 6 March, 2015 (Friday)

Venue: Room 401 Humanities Building, New Asia College, CUHK

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Philipp Demgenski

Philipp Demgenski’s seminar focused on the process of attempted redevelopment in Qingdao, China. Qingdao was a colony of Germany for 17 years, and this historical period marked the start of city planning and development in the region. There have been various plans since the 1990s to redevelop the downtown to make use of this heritage. Yet, the redevelopment process has currently come to a deadlock, which is not normally seen in China. Demgenski’s ethnographic research investigated into the reasons contributing to and the consequences of such stagnation. The liyuan (裡院), where lots of different families had resided, was his field site in Qingdao.

The attendees

Philipp Demgenski discussed the different “groups” that had substantial influence on the redevelopment process — the Government, the residents and the old town protectors. The three groups held different views and concerns about the varied benefits or disadvantages urban planning might bring them. Government officials wished to create a “preserved” and “scenic” neighbourhood in the area similar to Xintiandi (新天地) in Shanghai (a kind of “soft” urbanisation), and they believed that success of this project could directly affect their mobility in the hierarchy. Residents would like to have a good compensation and improvement in their living conditions. At the same time they refused to cooperate due to the notion of “self-reliance”, the feeling of being “left behind” and the disappointment caused by the non-transparency and broken promises of the government. Old town protectors were enthusiasts that called for “authentic” preservation of the inner city. They believed in “absolute historical truth” and saw old buildings as the “extension of a fixed and unshakable past”.

Attendee asking questions

The varied perceptions of different “groups” towards urban space had hindered the progress of redevelopment project; and Demgenski referred the discrepancy between the “imagined Xintiandi” and reality as a kind of liminality. He concluded that the stagnation in Qingdao redevelopment project should not be understood as having a single cause; instead, a number of circumstances contributed that had taken place simultaneously.

[Friday Seminar Recap] On Cross-Cultural Diffusion: The Chinese Elements Adopted by Khmer Architectural Craftsmen in Angkor, Cambodia

On Cross-Cultural Diffusion: The Chinese Elements Adopted by Khmer Architectural Craftsmen in Angkor, Cambodia

Speaker: Sharon WONG  

(Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong)

Time: 12:30 p.m., Friday, 7 November, 2014  

Venue: Room 12 Humanities Building, New Asia College, CUHK 

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The seminar

Professor Wong’s seminar focused on the technological choices of the Khmer architectural ceramics in Angkor, Cambodia. Professor Wong suggested the ceramics is a useful tool to analyze the intersection of official exchange between Khmer and Chinese polities during 9^th to 14^th centuries. By studying the Chinese elements adopted by Khmer architectural craftsmen in Angkor, the cross-cultural exchange in the past could be found.

The document “The customs of Cambodia” (真臘風土記) written by the Chinese diplomat Chou Ta-kuan (周達觀) during his stay at Angkor between 1296-1297 is the first written historical documents of the daily life in the Khmer Empire. Zhenla (真臘) was composed of ethnic Khmers on the lower Mekong River and was also the Chinese designation for Cambodia after the fall of Funan (扶南).

Professor Sharon Wong

The Chinese influence is usually portrayed as a straightforward case of one-way cultural diffusion. In this hypothesis, China was considered as the origin of Khmer ceramics, and Khmer ceramics and kiln technology could not have reversely influenced China. The Khmer craftsmen received their knowledge through Chinese potters and imported Chinese trade ceramics.

Another hypothesis suggests the Khmers’ ceramics invention is parallel to Chinese ceramics industries. In this hypothesis, Khmer ceramics was indigenous, unique, continual inventiveness, and dis-similar to other Southeast Asian ceramics in the region. The hypothesis is heavily relied on archaeological evidences from controlled excavations, which obtain new information on minimizing all Chinese elements in Khmer ceramics.

The attendants

Professor Wong argued that, according to several shortcomings associated with the methodologies and sources adopted by the various scholars, these hypotheses ignored the complexity of cultural contacts between different ceramics industries. Both Khmer and Chinese ceramics industries played active roles. They absorbed and selected the foreign elements that suit their own needs.

As the excavation, fieldwork and research of this project is still ongoing, Professor Wong suggested more archaeological findings are needed before making any conclusion. She also encouraged us to think about the social and ideological context of the diffusion, for example, whether the Khmer Empire should be considered as the great dominated empire from 9^th to 14^th centuries or the periphery region of China.

[Friday Seminar Recap] Race, Education, and Citizenship: Mobile Malaysians and a Culture of Migration

Race, Education, and Citizenship: Mobile Malaysians and a Culture of Migration

Speaker: KOH Sin Yee  
(Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Public Policy, City University of Hong Kong)
Time: 12:30 p.m., Friday, 24 October, 2014  
Venue: Room 12 Humanities Building, New Asia College, CUHK

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The seminar

Dr. Koh argued that Malaysia’s brain drain and culture of migration amongst “mobile Malaysians” is a colonial legacy inherited and exacerbated by the post-colonial Malaysian state. Mobile Malaysians are the tertiary-educated Malaysians with transnational migration experience.

Dr. Koh collected data though interviews with informants in Singapore and the UK, as well as with returnees, and also did archival research. She tracked Malaysia’s brain drain and talent recruitment scheme. Many of the tertiary-educated Malaysians migrated to countries such as Singapore, Australia, United States, and the UK. The major reason for their emigration is initially for education. Many Malaysians, especially the Malaysian Chinese who have studied in Chinese schools, choose to continue their education in overseas institutions. Many do not think of it as a choice, but as normal. Some of them choose to reside in the foreign county and renounce their Malaysian citizenship after graduation, even though emigration will be considered as a disloyal act. To encourage foreign-educated Malaysians  to return to Malaysia, the government has adopted a series of measures, including tax relief and adaptation policies for the spouses and children. Yet, the racial policies lead many to hesitate to return.

Dr. KOH Sin Yee

Dr. Koh emphasized the role of the colonial legacy of racially- and languistically- stratified education system in the process. As Malaysia is a multi-ethnic country, the education system was segregated into four streams, Malay, English, Indian and Chinese. The English stream was the most prestigious and linked to better tertiary education opportunities, jobs and livelihood. Unlike the Malay stream, students in the Indian and Chinese stream are not allowed to transit into the English stream. To seek for better education opportunities, the students in the Indian and Chinese stream have no choice but to study abroad. Students may study in boarding school or a twinning programme first, then study for an overseas degree and look for post-graduate employment.

The attendants

Dr. Koh also found the Malaysians considered citizenship to be an ethno-national identity, instead of a matter of civil and political rights and responsibilities. Citizenship is also linked to the notion of loyalty, which is associated with the family, the place of origin and the ethnic group. Dr. Koh explained how many of the current issues stem from the facts of Malaysia’s history, from its founding as a multiethnic nation, the series of racial conflicts (including the Malayan union citizenship controversy, the Malayan emergency, and the race riots of 1969), and the resulting political alliance between race-based political parties (UMNO, MCA and MIC).

[Friday Seminar Recap] Reading Disaster Response in International Comparative Perspectives — Japan, China and New Zealand

Reading Disaster Response in International Comparative Perspectives — Japan, China and New Zealand

Speaker: Junko OTANI  

(Regional Director, East Asian Center for Academic Initiatives (OU Shanghai Office) &

 Associate Professor, Graduate School of Human Sciences, Osaka University, Japan )

Time: 12:30 p.m., Friday, 17 October, 2014  

Venue: Room 12 Humanities Building, New Asia College, CUHK

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The seminar

Professor Otani’s talk focused on the post-earthquake recovery process in Christchurch with comparative perspectives of Japanese and Chinese experiences, especially the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake and 2013 Wenchuan Earthquakes. Professor Otani’s research is based on the public health survey, media data and the ethnographic field notes which include the observation and interviews.

Dr. Junko OTANI

The Christchurch earthquake occurred on 22 February 2011 and is one of the major natural catastrophes from 1980-2012. The earthquake caused 185 deaths and significant physical damage. Jobs in most fields except the construction industry shrank after the earthquake. The earthquake also accelerated the budget cut for the universities; many departments in the humanities and social science faculties were closed in the University of Canterbury.

Like the Japanese and Chinese governments, the New Zealand government provided various kinds of support, including building temporary schools, rebuilding infrastructure, encouraging the citizen to move to other cities with more job opportunities, developing disaster related business, e.g. disaster tourism, and other necessary public services.

The attendants

One of the major differences between the New Zealand government and the Japanese and Chinese governments is the housing arrangement. After the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake, the Japanese government provided free temporary housing, like the shelter and the public reconstruction housing, for the victims. As insurance is common in New Zealand, instead of using public housing, the victims lived in their friends’ home or used the compensation to rent housing at a market price.

[Friday Seminar Recap] Killing the Blues: Male Nostalgia and Paid Sex in Southern China

Killing the Blues: Male Nostalgia and Paid Sex in Southern China

Speaker: Kevin MING 

(Center Associate, Asian Studies Center, University Center for International Studies, University of Pittsburgh)

Time: 12:30 p.m., Friday, 10 October, 2014  

Venue: Room 12 Humanities Building, New Asia College, CUHK

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The seminar

Dr. Ming’s talk discussed nostalgic consumption among mostly older men paying for sex in southern China.

Dr. Ming quoted from Kathleen Stewart: “the present rises before us in the ultra vivid mode of fascination- a fascination that is experienced as a loss, an unreality (or what Baudrillard [1981] calls "hyperreality"). In a world of loss and unreality, nostalgia rises to importance as "the phantasmal, parodic rehabilitation of all lost frames of reference.”

D. Kevin Ming 

When Maoist nostalgia is mobilized at present, it is forward looking and productive nostalgia, because the state claims the state exists to “serve the people” (為人民服務). People use these kinds of nostalgic claims about the relationship between the state and the people, to make very contemporary and practical demands on the state.

The nostalgia Dr. Ming referred to in the talk was not a productive nostalgia. Instead, it is a rear guard nostalgic masculinity, which attempts to hold on to the masculinity that the circumstances no longer support.

The attendants

 Dr. Ming’s primary ethnographic focus is less successful men in their 50s or 60s in the context of KTV space. They express their blue and sensitivity in their performative act of singing melancholic or romantic songs from the 90s and rehearsing tragic stories of failed romance. Dr. Ming explained the loss he referred to is a “slow wearing away” of something that these man are trying to hold on to.

Dr. Ming then shared his field data collected from the male clients and working women he met in the Haizhu Square and in hair salons (髮廊). From the stories, Dr. Ming showed us the actual interaction between the clients and working women, the daily life and emotional strategies of the salon working women and how the working women interpret their work. In the Q&A, Dr. Ming also shared his experience on how he developed the network to conduct this research.

[Friday Seminar Recap] Of Wives, Mothers, and Goddesses: Marriage, Childbirth, & Religiosity in Wenzhou Women’s Culture

Of Wives, Mothers, and Goddesses: Marriage, Childbirth, & Religiosity in Wenzhou Women’s Culture

Speaker: Mayfair YANG
(Professor, Religious Studies Department, East Asian Studies Department,
University of California, Santa Barbara)  
Time: 4:30 p.m., Tuesday, 16 September 2014  
Venue: LT5, Yasumoto International Academic Park, Chung Chi College, CUHK

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The seminar

Professor YANG’s ethnographic presentation was based on her on-going fieldwork in rural Wenzhou, China, on the revival of popular religion. Professor YANG shared her observations on the changes in Wenzhou women’s marriage, childbirth and religiosity in the post-Mao era.

Traditionally, the groom’s family will offer brideprice to the bridal family before the marriage ceremony. In return, the bridal family will provide the dowry. Nowadays, the brideprice is less than the dowry. With the economic development, some bridal families even refuse the brideprice, as they consider the bride will be more respected in the groom’s family.

Professor Mayfair Yang

Even though the communist party enabled women to go out to work and promoted their social status after 1949, most married women in Wenzhou still perform a traditional gender role after marriage. They will stay at home to take care of the family and be the factory manager if their family owns an enterprise. Most Wenzhou women keep a low-profile and prefer that their husband or the family to take all the credit.

In the post-Mao era, the number of births started to drop after 20 years of rise. When the People’s Republic of China was just established in 1949, the average household size is 4.09 and increased to 4.8 in 1968. But after the one child policy, household size gradually declined to 3.9 in the 1990s. The popularisation of the nuclear family is also a result of the new housing setting and the rising real estate price.

Even though women are encouraged to engage in society after 1949, religious activities were strictly controlled or even banned by the communist government. Yet, women in Wenzhou, especially the older women, still participate in the religious activities in Buddhism and/or Daoism. They did this to pay the debt of sins and build merit for the afterlife, for personal or familial salvation.

The attendants

In Wenzhou, many religious organisations are initiated or lead by women. Professor YANG shared the stories of how her informants initiated and built a Guanyin temple, an 800-member Buddhist study society and a Taiyin palace. These women face difficulties to obtain the recognition from the official Daoist/Buddhist associations, without which they can be shut down. But, as popular religion is considered part of intangible cultural heritage in the Wenzhou/Fujian area, they gained a certain degree of legitimacy.

One of the major goddess the Wenzhou women worship is the Goddess Chen the 14^th. Goddess Chen the 14^th has a fearless, fierce and independent image. The stories of her are closely related to the current problems, including the official corruption. It also inspires a cross-strait Mother Chen festival, which has become a major semi-official event between Mainland China and Taiwan.

[Friday Seminar Recap] Civility in Chinese Society: The People’s Republic of China

Civility in Chinese Society: The People’s Republic of China 

Speaker: David SCHAK  

(Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Asian Studies and International Business Griffith University)  

Time: 12:30 p.m., Friday, 5 September 2014  

Venue: Room 12 Humanities Building, New Asia College, CUHK 

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Professor David Schak

Professor David Schak’s presentation compared the development of civility in Taiwan and the PRC with an aim to understand the conditions under which civility develops in a society (details).

Prof. Schak said there are two aspects to civility: being considerate to others, including strangers, and having a stakeholder relationship with the public sphere. He said civility is quite wide-ranging, and even includes how people treat animals. He suggested that civility in Chinese society is influenced by the “Differentiated Mode of Association” (差序格局). In his research, he studied citizens’ civility by talking to people and observing their behavior, especially the behaviors named in civility campaigns, including littering, spitting, smoking, queuing and the treatment of strangers.

Professor David Schak

 Prof. Schak argued that the cultural background for civility in Taiwan and People’s Republic of China are similar. Both societies also used various campaigns to promote civility from the 1930s, from the New Life Movement to the “Five Stresses, Four Beauties, Three Loves” campaign, but top down campaigns did not work. He noted that there was a significant increase in civility in Taiwan starting the early 1990s, a change that was only partly due to democratization. He concluded that democracy was helpful but not necessary for civility, but good governance was important. There was no sufficient condition, but two necessary ones: a desire for civility and a critical mass of post-industrial values.

The attendants

Many interesting questions were asked in the Q&A section. Some participants shared their personal observations of littering in Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan, and asked whether Prof. Schak considers civilityto be a linear process like evolutionary theory, but Dr. Schak argued that a society lacking civility is a society where the strong prey on the weak. Some other participants asked whether Prof. Schak thought there could be “too much civility” such that it could harm society, but Dr. Schak said he could not imagine that. 

please click here for the introduction of the seminar.

[Indian Culture Workshop 2013-2014] Multimedia Presentations for Secondary School Students and Teachers

Professor Tam and the cultural trainers signing Namaste at Yuen Long Merchants Association Secondary School.

In March 2014, participants of the Indian Culture Workshop, under the supervision of Prof Siumi Maria Tam, took up the role of cultural trainers and gave multimedia presentations to 523 students and teachers from four local secondary schools.

The presentations covered three topics chosen by the trainers themselves. Each topic lasted 20-30 minutes. During the presentations, students watched powerpoint slideshows and video clips, enjoyed mass games and quizzes, as well as appreciated cultural artifacts such as costumes and food items from India. Before the end of the presentations, the students seized the chance to ask in-depth questions about the topics in the Q & A sessions. Let’s have a look now at what our Indian Culture Trainers included in the presentations, and how they reflected on this special experience!

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Topic 1: Hinduism

Yat Heng CHAN, MA in Anthropology, CUHK

For this presentation on Hinduism, the dominant religion in India, the key message was the importance of remaining open-minded and showing respect to other cultures, especially on the subject of religion.

I used a story-telling approach in my presentation so that the audience, who were unfamiliar with Hinduism, could grasp the basic beliefs of the religion easily. The presentation focused on the 10 avatars (or incarnations) of Vishnu, which represent 10 era in the Hindu cosmology, from the beginning of time to the end.

In the story of the first incarnation, Matsya the fish tells how Manu was instructed to build a big boat to save one of every species from a flood. The audience was able to draw linkages between this Hindu myth and the Christian myth of Noah’s ark, thus showing their ability to identify similarities between different belief systems.

In the story of the third incarnation, Varaha the boar tells of the formation of heaven and hell, while the story of the sixth incarnation Parasurama explains the development of human civilization. The story of the ninth incarnation Buddha challenges our understanding of Buddhism. Students were surprised to learn that Buddha, according to Hinduism, is an incarnation of Vishnu. He has come to Earth to remind people about the consequences of their own deeds, and to teach them to free themselves from the reincarnation cycle, before Shiva the god of destruction comes.

It was heartening to see secondary students taking an active part in the presentation, and enjoying the quizzes in particular. They were all eager to learn new information, with some jotting notes spontaneously, and were receptive to challenges of stereotypical concepts regarding minorities in Hong Kong.

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Our cultural trainers interacting with the students.

 

Students having a taste of wearing Indian costumes.

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Topic 2: Food and Culture

Wing Tung Connie LEE, BA student, Anthropology, CUHK

Yi Chen RAO, MPhil student, Anthropology, CUHK

Qi Ran REN, MA in Anthropology, CUHK

This exciting presentation on Indian food culture energized the audience to the max. The presentation started with an introduction on the diversity of food cultures in India. It showed that Indian food is not one single national cuisine, but rather includes a large variety of regional dishes, which have developed in different environmental and cultural settings.

A video clip took the audience to places in Hong Kong where they could try Indian cuisine, with a highlight on Chungking Mansions. It showed that ethnic minority cultures are very much part of our daily lives. All we need to do is to open our eyes and allow ourselves to learn about others’ cultures.

The students were eager to take part in the quiz after the presentation, making use of their new-found knowledge to answer the questions for prizes. The audience was asked to compare the regional differences in Chinese cuisines with the regional differences in Indian cuisines. By doing so, the audience was encouraged to link the experiences of their own culture to another culture with which they were unfamiliar. This exercise helped students to think critically about what was taken-for-granted in their everyday life, and to develop new perspectives on our own society. Multiculturalism as a way of life allows us to be more open-minded and help to make Hong Kong a truly cosmopolitan society.

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Our cultural trainer Chan Yat Heng presenting his project on Hinduism at HKTA Tang Hin Memorial Secondary School.

Students listening attentively to a presentation on Indian food culture. 

Professor Maria Tam (4^th left) and the teacher in charge (6^th left), with cultural trainers and students. 

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Topic 3: Gender and Family

Wing Yee Gloria CHUANG, BA student, Anthropology, CUHK

Hei Tung Nicola CHUI, BA student, Anthropology, CUHK

Tsz Kwan Cutter LAI, BA in Philosophy, Lingnan University

This presentation started with two advertisements of a cookie product; one was aired in Hong Kong and the other in India. They have a similar story line: a little girl invites her father to play house and shares some cookies with him.

Students were amused by the obvious cultural differences in gender roles, though the commercials share the same plot and slogan. In the Hong Kong version, the interaction between father and daughter focuses on play and fun, while the Indian version emphasizes the daughter’s domestic duty—females should serve food to the males in the family. The comparison showed the gender relations in different societies can be very different both practically and ideologically.

According to surveys conducted in India, both women and men possess very stereotypical views on sexual division of labor. Both sexes think that females should develop their career either in the household or in “feminine” professions, such as nurse or teacher. This means that women’s wage work is seen to be an extension of their domestic duties, as the majority in India considers the male is the breadwinner and belongs to the public sphere, while the female is the carer and belongs to the private sphere.

Students agreed that although Hong Kong is a more gender-equal society, male-preference is still prevalent in our social norms. They gave an example that Hong Kong women are mostly employed in the fields of education, service, and caring professions. But they also acknowledged that with female empowerment, young women are able to enter fields that used to be dominated by men, such as engineering.

This topic is important because gender is a core part of a person’s social identity. Having a sensibility for gender equality allows a young person to develop self-esteem and see her/himself in a healthy and positive light, and simultaneously helps to enhance a sense of social responsibility and justice. Examples from another culture allow us to examine gender relations from a distance, and thus serve as a mirror into which we can see and reflect on ourselves more rationally.

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Professor Tam introducing the Indian Culture Workshop at New Asia Middle School.

Students taking part in the mass quiz game.