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[hot_rock]

I teach in vietnam and have just returned from a short break in Hong Kong. Had a great time (not 100% sure I'd want to live there though...), but one episode actually pissed me off no end, and in hindsite is still borderline depressing. This has got nothing to do with teaching; I'm just getting something off my chest, and interested in hearing others' opinions.

For someone used to vietnamese prices, Hong Kong is a very expensive place. I therefore opt to make (free admission) wednesday my "museum day". My first port of call is the outstanding hong Kong History museum. That is, the exhibits were outstanding; the experince as a whole was, at times, infuriating.

Full to the brim with visitors of all ages, of course the place was noisy; that's not my complaint. My problem is that I was literally the only person in there -out of hundreds of people- who seemed to be paying any notice at all to anything in there besides the "lets make museums fun" shit such as big model boats you can walk around on. So much stuff to read and learn from, and I'm not exagerrating, nobody so much as glancing at any of it.

Now, don't get me wrong- I didnt read all of it. But in the main, like i at least glanced at it, to get a gist of what the exhibit in question was. It was honestly as if, for 99% of the other visitors, the signs didn't even exist. Everyone was just walking around like it was disneyland, a split-second glance at, say, 20% of the stuff on display; hardly anyone was even stopping at all to look at even the most interesting stuff. People posing for photos in front of the "big" stuff, but not even a glimpse at anything connnected to it that might teach them anything.

I'm certain that 99% of people in there will have learnt absolutely nothing from the their visit. And what I find depressing about that is that they will all go home thinking "aah, now I've visited the museum". But what have they done besides charge around shouting at eachother, including whilst the movie clips were being played? Zero. it was absolutely pathetic.

my last point refers to when i was in the small movie theatre watching the english-language showing of a great little clip about the opium wars. I had to go in again to watch the chinese version with English subtitles becasue I genuinely couldn't hear the thing for little brats shouting and laughing. Parents doing nothing about it. There was actually some old (chinese) people who seemed just as upset by it all as me; I think the crucial point was that as well as learning nothing themselves, most people seemed absolutely oblivious to the fact that others might have had a glimmer of hope of benfitting themselves from the visit.

Of course the gift shop was rammed; but I was confounded by the rudeness of the cow at the serving desk. I'm from Scotland, and there, I would expect the elderly lady scanning the souvineer keyrings and mugs to do so with a smile, perhaps even a few words about the customer's day. In the hong kong mueum? Forget it. Slamming the items down on the counter, refusing to use any polite english words despite the fact that she was clearly fluent in the language...then when a little girl went to make an enquiry about -I think- the price of something, the bitch actuially shouted at her! Such an impatient, agressive manner when the poor girl was actually wanting to buy something froma musuem shop. her face was contorted with fury, the item in question was repeatedely slammed on the counter, then when i went to get served the woman had clearly not recovered from her rage.

But forget the museum shop woman- my crucial point is the behaviour of the visitors in the museum itself. Vietnamese people are a bit funny like that at times at times but nothing like the masses rampaging round the hong kong history museum.

excellent museum though- i thoroughly recmmend it to anyone who hasn't visited it. But pleae, do yourself a favout, pay the $12HK and go on a day other than wednesday. Unbeleivable. responses please

[RiverMystic]

Welcome to Hong Kong - indeed, greater Chinese society. It is a money and machines society in every sense. Most people haven't got a clue about anything but amusement, making money and fiddling with gadgets. Learning in any true sense has been destroyed by a soulless education system and thousands of hours of mindless surfing on the internet. Art, culture, human beings, and any sense of relationship with people beyond family and immediate colleagues, finish well down the list of priorities. They have even developed a term for the Hong Kong children's fear of nature and terror of non-human life forms: biophobia.

Hong Kongers are human beings like all people, but their culture has stripped them bare of some of the most vital aspects of human existence. Mainland China is following fast in pursuit, all too eager to embrace the gadget fiddling and the tunnel visioned dash for cash. Attention spans are on par with that of a developmentally delayed newt.

I'm not sure what can save them, but pumping Ritalin through the water system might be a good start.

[A'Moo]

[TeresaLopez]

I have actually quit going to museums on free days for just that reason. Sadly enough, it's not just there. I live in Mexico City which has some of the most incredible museums in the world. One of them is an anthropology museum, arguably one of the best in the world, which has a number of "rooms", each a historical period, or sub-group, really each one a museum in itself. I have spent several whole days there, yet there are people who jet around the whole place in ONE HOUR, and brag about "seeing" the museum. These same people come in groups, talk on their cell phones, etc. I have also seen a trend in museums to make them fun, both here in Mexico and in the US, but I think it is also part of a trend in education in general to try to make everything fun, or to somehow grab attention, in the hope that SOMETHING might stick. But very depressing indeed.

[wenzo]

I was just in Hong Kong as well on vacation. I went to museum of history as well. It was great for 10hkd and a/c from the hot weather. I read about the landscape of hong kong. The original Hakka people that settled there, Salt production. The Canton opera. The opium war I read was interesting. Kind of ironic now , that the British at the use opium to balance out the tea trade. Overall, how hk modernized itself in industries like plastics, to better schooling with english language instituted in the 60s-70s etc. Those little kids and parents running around ignorant.
I also agree HK is very expensive. Too expensive for its own good. HK tries to be like tokyo expensive but really HK offers no advantages. Everybody works retail there. Companies set up in Shenzhen where its cheap. Shanghai is being promoted by the Chinese government as the economic center of china.
Vietnam sounds interesting. I like inexpensive.

[Perilla]

Back to the OP - yep, that's HKers for you! Generally speaking, very little interest in culture, unless it's spelt "culcha". But it looks good to "show" interest.

And yet, wanting to be a "world city" on a par with London and New York, the government has decided to throw big money at "arts and culture", having identified it as one of the big things missing. So they're about to spend HK$22 billion creating a mega cultural district - the West Kowloon Cultural District, to give it its proper name, and have appointed the ex director of London's Barbican Centre to run it. They're still hand-wringing over the details, but bar WW3 breaking out it will happen. The question is, who's going to attend all of these new venues once they're up and running?