Reflections on Place and Cross-Cultural Encounters

Monday, March 12, 2012

Ginger Milk

I have never liked chocolate milk. But I love ginger milk! How will I ever live without it when I move back to the U.S.?

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Absolute and Relative Location and Distance

In the field of geography we distinguish between absolute and relative location and distance. I did a workshop with a colleague from the field of art and design on developing interdisciplinary courses. Our approach was to each pick one map to talk about.

My map was one of absolute location and distance at street level. It was a street map of Kowloon that hangs on my wall. I put stickers on the places where I have walked. That way I can see parts of Kowloon that I haven't visited and explore further. Distance on the map reflected distance in reality. Directions were accurate as well.

My colleague put up the MTR map that showed the various stops. It was a map of relative location--points relative to one another. Cardinal directions and distance were not accurate to reality. Graphically it is an example of excellent design.

I take a detailed book of streets maps with me everywhere. My colleague takes her MTR map and gets a general idea of direction from a particular stop. Both of us come from visual disciplines, but our perspectives are different.

OK--so these are interesting ideas, but what is their relevance to negotiating daily life?

I had to participate in a video conference between a group in the U.S. and myself. Since it was a larger group on that end, they wanted to use a system that would be flexible enough to let me see the entire group but also zoom in to one person at a time--skype was out. The organization on the other end requested that I go to a local facility. (Hong Kong is high tech and using this type of technology is part of regular life here.) They sent me a list of 3 sites that were quite close in absolute distance from my apartment--

Option #1: Central Hong Kong Island--8.8 miles away
Option #2: Shenzhen--10 miles away
Option #3: Macao--33 miles away

In absolute terms, these seemed like reasonable choices, other than taking into account that it would be 9 p.m. for me while 8 a.m. for those in the U.S. But then driving home at 10 or 11 p.m. for 8-30 miles is not such a big problem.

It is a short train ride to Shenzhen. However, going to Shenzhen would require a visa since it is across the border in mainland China--border crossing leaving Hong Kong and border crossing entering mainland China. It would take me one afternoon to stand in line to apply for the visa on Hong Kong Island and another afternoon to pick it up, plus the two border crossings each way. A VERY long 10 miles.

Macao may be only 33 miles away, but it is 33 miles of water that requires a 90 minute ferry ride. And while you don't need a visa, you do have to go through immigration for Hong Kong and Macao. A two day adventure for a 9 p.m. meeting of one hour.

The Hong Kong Island option could have worked--but it would take me 45 minutes each way to get to Hong Kong Island with the subway and walk to find the right building at night--I live on the mainland side of Hong Kong. But at least it would be within the same political boundaries, even if across the harbor.

I downloaded the software and had the video conference at my dining room table. Absolute and relative location and distance: 0 miles

Sources of Authority

When I became a dean, I was struck by the authority that I obtained by just holding a position. I was the same person, but the office held particular authority. And of course, as soon as I was a "lame duck" I lost the authority overnight, even before I left the position.

I have been contemplating sources of authority. My sense is that when I was a dean I had authority that came with the position and so I could exercise it quite independently as long as it was within the scope of the office. My authority was grounded in my placement in the office. I have been asking people in Hong Kong about this because my sense is that office does not have the same sense of authority tied to it. Authority seems to come from the person above you in the bureaucracy. It means that decisions have to be checked with those above before any decision can be made. There is some sense of this in the U.S. of course, but there seems to be some difference. Your ability to make decisions if you are in middle management can be more independent of the changes above you in the U.S. In Hong Kong this doesn't seem to be the case. It means that in Hong Kong change in direction happens regularly. You change someone in the bureaucracy and then everything is reshuffled down the bureaucracy.

OK. I'm not sure this is all true, but it is something to think about--what gives us authority when we hold positions in middle management? The appointment to the position, or our relationship with those above? or both?

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Excited Insects Awakening Day

Chinese Insects Awake Day or Excited Insects Day is one of the 24 Chinese solar divisions. It is associated with the arrival of spring. Somehow this has also become associated with the White Tiger Festival. I went to Canal Street on Hong Kong Island to view a ritual associated with this day. It involved some practitioners who would help clients take revenge on their enemies. The clients draw a picture of the person they want to curse, and then the practitioner put the picture into a piece of paper and then beats it with the heel of a show. If you really don’t like someone, a sharp-heeled show is called for. After it is well beaten, it is put in a paper white tiger—its mouth wide open and then put in a fire. The only thing I can find is that this is related to a Daoist practice among rural women who worshiped the White Tiger. They kept images made out of paper of the White Tiger in their homes to keep out rats, snakes and squirrels.

As I watched this I kept thinking--what would be equally mystifying to someone visiting the U.S. I decided it would be the Autumn and Halloween. I remember New Zealand visitors wondering why our neighborhood business district was putting out scarecrows and corn stalks along the light poles. They were expecting some deep meaning. After some thought, I offered an explanation--it is harvest season so these are decorations. Then we were driving out in the country and they saw a massive field of pumpkins. One of them commented on how he had grown pumpkins to feed to pigs when he was growing up, implying that pigs were going to eat these. "Oh, no," I said. "Nobody eats those. Those acres of pumpkins are going to be sold so that we can scoop out the insides and then carve scary faces on them. We will put candles in them and put them on our front steps. Silence and a total look of mystification followed.

More on the layered city

As we went out to an island yesterday, Karis commented on the dramatic Hong Kong skyline. The high rise building march up the side of the mountains. Manhattan is impressive, but there is something about the changing topography and high rise buildings that is even more dramatic.

Yesterday we also had quite a challenge being able to get to the ferry terminal, finding our way from below ground in the subway up to the level of the above-street walkway. This led me to once again reflect on the layered nature of the city--so here are some images from my bedroom window that looks out on the university, a shopping mall with 7 floors, and the mountains behind. From my bedroom window you can also see the green roofs and roof-top clothes lines.

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Vertical and Horizontal Layers of Place

I went with a friend on Saturday, to ride on the tram whose route extends most of the length of the Hong Kong Island, east to west, on the harbor side. It is the only double-decker tram in the world, so the publicity says. I had always wanted to do this and found out that this friend had wanted to do it also. Both of us had proposed such an outing to our respective family members with similar responses--"And why would I want to do this?" Alas, some people have no sense of adventure!

We made sure we were on the top level and had a great view of the urban streetscape as we slowly went along. It took more than an hour each way, and the slow pace allowed us to actually observe the changes in areas of the city as we went, building my mental map of this part of Hong Kong island. Up to this point my mental map was primarily of regions around individual subway stops--points rather than a line.

I was struck how Hong Kong is a city that is layered in both the horizontal and vertical directions. Horizontal lines--the underground subway, streets, walkways, and entrances to buildings at different elevations--form the horizontal lines of the city. Vertical lines--buildings of different heights--make up the vertical structures. Yet these vertical structures are horizontally layered as the base of buildings rise from different elevations. Often it is not enough to know the address of a building, or where it is. You also have to know how to approach the building--what level and from which direction, in order to find your way.

I share views of the streetscape and this horizontal and vertical layering along the tram route. The images are "typical" images of the street--Wellcome grocery stores, 7-11 stores, Chinese medicine shops, etc. What is missing? We saw very few gas stations.