It's Been Four Months Since I Moved to Hong Kong

Approaching the four month mark of my move to Hong Kong, and to say it’s been a change would be an understatement. On the whole, the experience has been largely positive. But other aspects of my experience have simply made me think, in no uncertain terms, “WTF?!”

Although Hong Kong was already a familiar place to me as a consequence of having Cantonese parents, I am still able to view the whole experience through the eyes of a British person. Some of the cultural differences are intriguing.

As you would expect, an evaluation of my employment will form part of my review, so I will refrain from mentioning my company name, names of colleagues – or being too critical J

The Work

It is fast paced out here. Back in London, I often heard Northerners complaining about pressure and pace of the capital. Well Hong Kong is three times faster. The managers expect more of you, the clients expect even more.

It really is a good place to test how good you really are at your job, and how much pressure you can handle. There are no places to hide. Individuals who spend their time dossing around in the office, and leaving the work to others will be quickly weeded out. Sink or swim. Go hard or go home.

The Locals

They are loud and direct to the point of being rude; yet also quiet, meek and not as confident at expressing their opinions.

How is it possible to be both, you wonder? Well their environment and status determines their behavior.

Out on the street, in the restaurants and in the shops, Hong Kong locals will address you directly and clearly. If you’re slow to respond, they’ll tell you to hurry up. If you speak too quietly, they’ll tell you to speak louder. If you can’t decide on what food to order on the menu, well you’ll be getting an earful from the waiter on wasting time and faffing around.

There are no please, thank yous and excuse mes that I’ve grown up with in British culture. In fact, you’d be lucky to get so much as a glance back at you, if someone bumps past you on the street or on public transport.

Similarly, if you start a sentence with “sorry” after accidently rubbing shoulders with someone on an MTR carriage, you’ll get a load of odd looks at your over politeness.

Yet in the office, the whole dynamics suddenly change. Hong Kong people become polite and quieter. They listen to the boss, they follow instructions, and they generally refrain from sticking their neck out.

In office meetings, it’s the seniors, the overseas Chinese and expats who lead, talk and express themselves. The locals stay quiet.

Compare this to a British office, where most meetings involve people vying to express their opinions on the subject at hand, and where the manager will often encourage his workers to think of better solutions to the problem.

This aspect of Hong Kong culture seems to run true in a lot of East Asian countries. As many of the locals have told me, it is down largely to the education system. East Asians are taught to listen and learn in school and university.

Follow the books, do the work, and hand it in.

There’s no critical thinking, no debates or presentations as in Western education – and questioning the teacher is forbidden. This is therefore carried over into the office environment.

It’s not a criticism of Hong Kong working culture, just an observation. Although I have heard a few locals mention that for this reason, they would send their children overseas for an education. And oftentimes, I feel like the loudmouth in meetings.

The Life Outside Work

The United Kingdom just does not compare.

Hong Kong has a plethora of restaurants, most of them a lot more affordable than back in Blighty. In fact, my kitchen in my apartment has only been used five times in the four months I have lived here.

Then you have stunning mountain landscapes, the sandy beaches, the villages, the islands – and not to mention the city skyline and sights.

If I’m ever feeling stressed out from work, all I have to do is stroll out to these places and witness the magnificence of human architecture, set against a backdrop of natural beauty.

The nightlife is pretty good here as well. Outside from the main strip of clubs and bars in Lan Kwai Fong, there are also plenty of other bars hidden away in the skyscrapers.

Then there's also the boat parties and pool parties. None of this possible in Britain's two weeks of sunshine in the summer.

The only criticism I have, is the lack of pub culture as we have in Britain. Although there are British style pubs, the idea of a lazy Sunday lunchtime sipping a pint with mates, whilst waiting for the afternoon kickoff does not exist here.

And of course, British people are perhaps a bit more wild on a night out then Hong Kongers. Mostly down to the fact they’re more willingly to drink to the point of inebriation, make a fool of themselves, not care and laugh about it with their friends the next day. If I do that here, I often get criticized for going too far.

But all of this is nitpicking really.

The Humour

Surprisingly, British sarcasm and wit seems to translate very well into the Cantonese language.

Oftentimes I feel frustrated when talking to Americans, who don’t seem to understand when I’m being serious, and when I’m not.

But the Hong Kongers totally get it. In fact, “taking the piss” out of your friends and colleagues, and having a bit of “banter” is as much a part of Hong Kong humour, as it is with British humour. You just need to be able to speak the language.

The Overseas Chinese and Expats

They say London is a very multicultural city, where you can meet people from different parts of the world easily.

I would say the first part of that claim is true.

Hong Kong also has people from many different cultures coming to live and work. These people tend to be a lot more friendly, and open to talking to you compared to London, where most people stay in their defined cultural groups.

I don’t know what it is about us Brits, but unless we’ve had a few pints, we find it difficult to connect with new people.

“Standoffishness” as we’re labeled. We’re too busy thinking of what’s appropriate to say, and what’s polite. This also makes London a somewhat cold, and unfriendly city as a lot of outsiders have said.

But here in Hong Kong, everyone changes. Even us Brits to an extent. Maybe it’s the sun, the cramped spaces encouraging people to stand closer together, and the direct culture of everyone in the city. But I do feel people are more open and friendly, and most of the time, just more genuine.

The American expats and Chinese are the most direct and confident. The Canadians have that confidence, but are bit more polite. And the Australians are just like us Brits, except they smile more and are a bit more optimistic.

The Football

And by this, I’m talking about amateur football. Weekend league stuff that I partake in. It’s certainly different.

In my team, we have a mix of local Hong Kong people, overseas Chinese and expats. People from all over the world are in the team – British, French, Spanish, South American – even North Americans as well from the US of A.

All of them bring their own distinct brand of football from their countries.

The Brits are the loudest  and most physical on the pitch. We’re barking orders, we’re shouting, we’re clapping people who make a routine clearance or simple tackles. We go shoulders in, slide in for most our challenges, and we “don’t fuck about at the back”.

Surprisingly, a lot of local Hong Kong footballers are actually quite skillful. They just lack the build and physicality, and are easily pushed off the ball by the bigger overseas Chinese and expats.

Locals don’t jump for aerial balls either. Frustrating when you see two or three goals end up in the back of your net, because no one has bothered to try and jump to head a corner kick away.

So there you have it. My review of four months here in Hong Kong.

Another one to come in a couple more months time.

I’ve lost patience with the ignorant, hateful racism towards the Chinese.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/SmallDogRescueUK

That’s it. I’ve completely and utterly lost patience with the ignorance and hatred towards people from my racial and cultural background

Over the past few weeks, a number of news stories concerning the strange or appalling actions of a few people in China have been circulated.

Stories like this one, where a man was filmed beating puppies to death in a market in China. Another story also concerned a man apparently divorcing and suing his wife, for being ugly and deceiving him with cosmetic surgery.

In the past, we have also had stories from China about a baby that was apparently flushed down a toilet. Another story about a Chinese girl who was hit and killed by a car on a busy road, with seemingly none of the bystanders stepping in to help.

And then there are the constant stories and campaigns against the barbaric treatment of animals of China, and the moral debate on dog meat for human consumption.

All this sensationalism serves to do, is to encourage ignorance and racism against the Chinese.

Every time one of these stories breaks, certain sections of people in society deem it necessary to use the following adjectives to describe people from my community: Barbaric, disgusting, backward, even “subhuman” – as was uttered by the singer Morrissey.

And what is worse is more and more people seem to be buying into these new stories, and believing that the behaviours of the few Chinese people highlighted are representative of the billions of other Chinese across the world. Gradually these views are becoming mainstream.

I’ve had to read comments on Facebook and newspapers, which generalise and stigmatise the whole Chinese race because of these stories they have read.

Source:  http://metro.co.uk/2013/11/12/man-beats-five-puppies-to-death-in-front-of-horrified-shoppers-after-one-bites-his-finger-4183246/

I’ve seen them make ridiculous decisions to boycott or attack Chinese takeaways and restaurants, because they read some story about a dog being mistreated in China.

When I often point out their ignorance, I am attacked by these people. In one Facebook group in particular, when I pointed out the ignorance displayed, my comments were deleted and I was banned from the group. This is the group in question: https://www.facebook.com/SmallDogRescueUK

Let me bloody tell you this.

I and the vast majority of Chinese people out there, are similarly appalled at the man in China who beat those puppies to death.

We are appalled at the girl that was left to die in the road.

And guess what? We also think the guy who divorced his wife for being ugly was also a ridiculous. That's if the story was even true in the first place.

How can you possibly make the judgment that all the billions of Chinese people are the same based on a few news stories? That we are all barbaric? That we all like to abuse animals, and make them suffer for fun? How ignorant are some of you?

Does the fact a few news stories of high profile British celebrities being jailed for pedophilia, mean I can make the generalisation that all white British people are pedophiles? No it doesn’t.

Please open up your narrow minds, and stop making sweeping generalisations about my community.

We are sick and tired of this ignorance and racism towards us and we have had enough.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/MetroUK/posts/600003480034944

I urge all Chinese people read this now to share this blog. Or even better, write your own blog on this. Write into newspapers, magazines. Complain to the media owners who allow their readers to continue to perpetuate and spread racist and ignorant comments.

Because unless we do something about it, these views will eventually become almost mainstream.

Sleep. Why claiming you have so little doesn’t make you hard – it just makes you a f*cking idiot.

Sleep is under rated. So so under rated.

And unfortunately we are sleep walking towards significant health problems and shorter lives, by not having more of it. Excuse the pun.

As working hours get longer, social lives busier, and social activities more plentiful, we are developing a ridiculous macho attitude towards sleep.

Nothing makes me roll my eyes more when I hear of people boasting about how little sleep they had before a working day. 

This is especially the case in industries like investment banking. Where staying in the office as late as possible, and getting as little sleep as possible, is a marker of how much of a man you are and how valuable an employee you are. 

And as this recent news story demonstrates, it can often result in tragic consequences: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24049679

In the Far East, the problem is far worse. Much longer working hours, much less annual leave and free weekends to rest those weary eyes. There is an acceptance in Hong Kong, for example, that most people working in office jobs will regularly get home just before midnight, before having to wake up at 6am again the next day.

I have a friend in Japan whose boyfriend is a heart surgeon. He only gets 5 hours sleep a night. I don’t know about you, but if I was about to go into hospital for a heart transplant, I wouldn’t want a sleep deprived surgeon operating on me.

And neither do I want bankers, whose very actions have a significant impact on the global economy, going into work with no sleep whatsoever.

Unfortunately for me, I have inherited my mother’s need for long and undisturbed sleep. Anything less than eight hours a night messes with my concentration levels, irritability levels and causes me to do things I would never normally do.

In fact, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t jave written this blog if I wasn’t so damn tired today.

I will also be likely to be inheriting my father’s type 2 diabetes in my later years of life, which will almost certainly add to my exhaustion. Lucky me.

I take a dim view on people who regularly survive on five hours or less sleep a night, and seem to think that because they can do it, everyone else in the world can. Hey guess what, Usain Bolt can run 100 metres in 9.58 seconds. Surely YOU can do it as well.

I don’t know the exact health implications of not getting the required amount of sleep each night. But I’m pretty sure it will age you quicker, increase your risk of strokes and heart attacks – oh and probably take a few years off your life.

But hey, if boasting about how little sleep you get makes you think you’re billy big bollocks, then by all means please continue.

I’ll see you at your early funeral.

Self Haters are worse than Racists

Turn on subtitles to understand the video.

Racism is an ugly concept in every sense. But the thing that hurts deep down, even more so than racism, is self hating racism.

I can never, ever accept someone from my own race discriminating against Chinese people and other East Asians. When slavery still existed in America, black slave owners were seen as the worst of the very worst by black people.

And in a sense, that’s how I also see self hating Chinese people.

It’s a cancer in our community. A really hurtful cancer.

It’s not that I believe that every ethnic minority should be completely and utterly loyal and devoted to their race. That in itself, can be said to be racist. But, at the very least, they shouldn’t be hateful to their own community. Surely that’s not too much to ask?

So yes, strong words from me, and I have good reason to say so.

I have, on many occasions, met people from my own race who directly said they don’t like hanging around Chinese people. Or saw their parent culture as embarrassing and shameful. Sometimes it wasn’t a direct word. More of a general attitude towards me and my race – which so happens to be their race as well. In some cases, you can feel real disgust in their voice.

It really does hurt to see and feel this.

And the thing that most upsets me is that it’s a prevailing attitude, and one that could potentially destroy the Chinese community.

These problems don’t just exist with westernized Chinese who have grown up in the UK, America, Australia or in other westerns culture. It seems to be a deeply ingrained problem in Chinese culture altogether.

There is an inferiority complex that runs with many Chinese people. A belief that westerners should held in high regard, and that we should look up to them. And this leads to Chinese people treating them better, and discriminating against their own community. It seems that a lot of East Asians have never shaken off the colonial attitudes of the past.

How does this manifest itself?

• Western models being used in advertising in China, resulting in perceived better brand image and more products being sold by the company. Because that’s what the consumers want to see.

• An English teacher of Chinese origin, who can speak perfect English, yet is overlooked by the school in China because the head would prefer a western looking person teaching English.

• Chinese people flaunting their western boyfriend or husband, in an attempt to show everyone the apparent social ladder they have climbed. And let’s be clear here, I’m not against mixed relationships – in fact I’m all for them. But what I’m not for, is relationships that have been formed by one person for an ulterior motive.

• Surgery by many Chinese people to alter their features to more western features.

• General preferential treatment given to westerners.

There are so many examples which I could reel off.

Let’s be clear here, I’m not western person bashing. As I said earlier in this article, racism is ugly. What I am bashing however is the absurd inferiority complex some sections of the Chinese community have. 

The putting of the westerner on the pedestal, as I like to call it.

Until we learn to address these internal community issues, we are never going to be able to tackle racism.

And sadly, I don’t think we ever will.

Apathy Amongst the Chinese Community Towards Racism

A horrific and awful news story about a baby being discovered in a drainpipe in China. Of course there was condemnation all around, but what was shocking was how some sections of society aimed their condemnation at the Chinese people.

Yes, all 1.4 billion members of my race were being labeled as barbaric and that the behavior from the individual who committed this horrific crime was representative of our race.

This was the message from an ignorant few.

Yet more shocking was the wall of apathy I was met with some members of my community to such comments. An attitude I have come to label as “keep your head down and don’t say anything” response common amongst the oriental communities.

It’s the reason why some sections of society can say incredibly offensive things about our community, without even realizing they have been offensive.

True, the comments made in this situation weren’t exactly strong if you compare it to more serious racial issues. But I have heard and seen far worse in the past concerning my race, and still this “keep your head down and don’t say anything” attitude prevails.

One of the things I most respected about Muslim community after last week’s Woolwich attack, is how many people came out and made a stand against the attacker and the racists who had hijacked the situation. In the media, on social media and on various other channels. They did everything they could to try and dispel the stereotypes and let the world know the true, positive nature of the Muslim community.

The Chinese and oriental community is sleep walking towards being targets of racism.

It takes one political spanner to be thrown into the mix before all these stereotypes, and seemingly innocuous ignorant comments and ideas become transformed into truly racist beliefs.

Let’s take the example situation that China suddenly became embroiled in a conflict with America and Britain. Unlikely but could happen given the ever present tensions between the Far East and the Western World.

Or perhaps another example of one crazed oriental individual who decides upon himself to attack western society through a violent and publicity grabbing method.

What happens in the reactions of society?

Individuals who had previously poked fun at our community suddenly use these ideas to genuinely attack us. They react with hateful comments and actions against our community instead of at the individual.

This is because no one has ever spoken up to tell them that what they said and believed was racist or offensive. No one has ever tried to inform them that the stereotypes were sweeping and generalized. That not every individual in that community is the same.

So this why we need to start standing up for ourselves. Like the Muslims have done, and like the Black and South Asian community has done over the years.

It doesn’t matter how harmless their comments or actions are.  Just let the person know. Stand up for yourself and explain to them why its offensive. Educate them. Let them know we won’t allow these sorts of views to be perpetuated about us.

We are light years behind other racial communities when it comes to educating the ignorant. 

There are still large swathes of people who believe all we do is run takeaways. That Chinese people are backwards and barbaric. That making kung fu noises and shouting “Gok Wan” at us is acceptable.

Some people might say the blame is on them for being ignorant. I disagree.

I say 50% of the blame is on them for being ignorant. The other 50% is on us for not making an effort to educate and make people aware of who we really are.

We need leaders in the Western World for the oriental communities. Many other racial communities have politicians, actors, celebrities and sports stars to turn to. People who fly the colours of their community with pride. People who speak up about injustices no matter how small.

People who don’t just say “Leave it, it isn’t worth it” whenever they experience any sort of racism or ignorance.

This is how we make things better. By taking things in our own hands.

For the benefit of a few reading, this blog is not just being posted on Facebook and Twitter, but also on message boards, websites and to some big publications to preach to the “uncoverted.”

Thank You.