Victoria Prison as Cultural Arts Center

Victoria Prison, built in 1841,lies in the center of the Central district on Hong Kong Island. It was closed in 2005. It is now used for an annual art event known as deTour. It is amazing that it has not yet been swallowed up by the insatiable real estate developers and speculators in Hong Kong.

Christmas Displays in HK

They take the holiday very seriously here....and with a mega-mall on every other corner you can understand why.

Ned Kelly's Last Stand

New Orlean's style jazz in a club named after the famous Australian outlaw. A Hong Kong institution and a popular watering hole for expats and tourists.




A fellow Fulbrighter.

Hanoi, Part 3: Hoa Lo Prison

Also known as the "Hanoi Hilton". The prison held many of the American pilots shot down during the U.S. bombing raids on the north, including John McCain. It was used originally by the colonial French government to jail Vietnamese insurgents.







The FRENCH Guillotine

Hanoi, Part 2: Ho Chi Minh

Ho Chi Minh remains the national revolutionary hero of Vietnam. These are pictures from the Ho Chi Minh museum which includes his nearby mausoleum. No pictures allowed in the crypt. The museum is a celebration of the socialist/communist revolution and founding principles.

Hanoi, Part 1: Motorbikes

I visited Hanoi last weekend. The first thing that struck me on the long ride from airport to hotel, apart from the smog-shrouded landscape, was the number of motorbikes. They are the means of transportation for the Vietnam population. They weave in and out of traffic and flow so smoothly and seamlessly, without collision or side-swipe, that it seems almost choreographed.

Higher Education in Mainland China: Zhuhai

This past week the GE Fulbright group visited United International College (UIC) in Zhuhai on the China mainland. It is affiliated with the Hong Kong Baptist University, has a unique partnership with the Minnesota Private College Council, and is the first university in China not under strict government control. It is an experiment in liberal education and curriculum in a communist country.

The gathering brought together people from Asian universities, Hong Kong representatives, the Fulbrights, presidents from the Minnesota colleges, and faculty and administrators at UIC. The university was established in 2005 and the challenges they face are enormous, but all universities on the mainland are watching closely.

It would make for a fascinating case study of institution building and organizational change under very special and significant constraints (this is how I am approaching my observations and study of General Education in Hong Kong universities, but the challenges facing Zhuhai are greater by a factor of many).

As China emerges as a global power, there will be pressures to reform the educational system just as their are pressures to reform the political system. The success or failure of UIC will have an impact on the direction and pace of this change in the higher education sector.

I return to Zhuhai in the spring to give a lecture in a class on “American Identity”.

Happy Valley

Hong Kong is home to one of the world famous horse racecourses known as Happy Valley, which holds races on Wednesday evenings. The racecourse is located on Hong Kong island amidst the urban skyscrapers. It is heavily populated by the expatriate British population and Anglos more generally (aka gweilos). It appears to be the party happening place on Wednesday night.

The horses race on grass.

I was 100% unsuccessful on my wagering over five races.

Hong Kong Air Quality

Hong Kong has a serious air pollution problem. This is one of the costs of the Chinese economic miracle and the proximity to southern China where much of the "world's factory" carries out production. These "negative externalities" -- in the polite, neutral, and sterile language of economics -- pose grave environmental and health threats to the entire mainland.

In Hong Kong I routinely receive email warnings such as the one that arrived this morning:

API ALERT - Central Roadside

The Average Pollution Index at the Central Roadside air quality monitoring station is 139. The air is hazardous. We recommend that you avoid roadside situations and refrain from vigorous outdoor exercise.

The contributing pollutants are:

Particulate Matter (PM10): 100.4 micrograms per m3 (2.01 x WHO AQG)
Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2): 78.0 micrograms per m3 (0.39 x WHO AGG)
Sulfur Dioxide (SO2): 22.0 micrograms per m3 (1.1 x WHO AQG)




A view of Victoria Harbor this morning.

Human Traffic Jams

Coming from Jacksonville to Hong Kong, I have exchanged vehicular traffic jams for human traffic jams. In Jax I always tried to calculate the best time to avoid automotive congestion; in HK I try to calculate the best time to avoid a human pileup. Rather than navigating around unpredictable drivers I navigate around erratic pedestrians suddenly stopping, merging into my intended pathway, and changing speed unexpectedly. These are just some of the aggravations that disrupt the human traffic flow.

Hong Kong is a densely populated city and the throng/crowd/mob that brushes/bumps/jostles represents as big a challenge to urban planners as conventional auto traffic engineering. In Hong Kong you find many elevated walkways, long corridors, and escape valves into expansive and ubiquitous shopping malls. For those who find crowds, mobs, and forced intimacy a source of frustration and/or anxiety, Hong Kong is not for you.

It is most intense in the MTR subway stations where people shift into their "MTR personalities". There is a quickened step and a low threshold of tolerance for the casual saunter or the aimless stroll. My sympathy goes out to the poor soul who only discovers that their Octopus card (the MTR ticket currency) has been drained of credit while they are trying to pass through the rapidly revolving turnstile and then must turn to face the impatient and angry queue at their rear.

Feeding-Frenzy Foot Massage

In search of exotic things to do in Hong Kong, me and my guests visited the Wonderfish Spa where Garra Rufa fish nibble the dead skin off your feet and legs. A wonderful sensation.

Buddhas

Guests have arrived in Hong Kong so I have been making visits to various monuments and attractions. Here are some shots from the Giant Tian Tan Buddha on Lantau Island and the Monastery of 10,000 Buddhas in Sha Tin.

The Surgical Mask

I have noticed that in Hong Kong it is not uncommon to see people (usually women) wearing surgical masks in public. The widely understood message it sends is clear: "I am sick and do not want to spread my germs to others". I regard this as a socially responsible act.

In the U.S. it is quite rare. I believe this is because the meaning is much more ambiguous. People in the U.S. seem alarmed when they see someone donning the surgical mask -- either they believe the person is paranoid about contracting an illness from others, or that they are somehow contaminated.

In the U.S. there is also that vanity thing. It is not quite the fashion statement.

Or someone in the states might say: "if you are sick, stay home".

Hong Kong was also ground zero for the SARS epidemic, so that may have made the mask more socially acceptable.

Sai Kung: Fresh Seafood

Seafood is a major ingredient in the Cantonese cuisine that prevails in Hong Kong. Many restaurants have tanks filled with various live fish and shellfish. In a visit to Sai Kung -- a seaside village in Hong Kong -- there are a large number of seafood restaurants along the waterfront that have impressive varieties of live seafood on display.





This is the squid with green and black pepper.

Hiking in Hong Kong

I do a lot of walking in Hong Kong -- mostly in crowded and congested urban commercial districts. Today I took the advice of many Hong Kongers and explored one of the mountain hiking trails. The most well-known is the MacLehose Trail that runs 100 kilometers over some beautiful and rugged terrain. I traversed the stage one segment (10.6 kilometers) which runs alongside a huge reservoir to the ocean.



According to what I read this is an unusual rock formation -- hexagonal vertical rhyolite columns -- that is unique to these islands and the product of volcanic activity.



These concrete blocks in an interesting shape are "dolosse" used to protect the dam and reservoir channel from ocean waves.

Public Transport: Trams

Many people on Hong Kong island take advantage of the double-decker tramway system. Like just about everything in Hong Kong, they are festooned with commercial advertisement. But they are much more environmentally friendly than the many buses that travel the roads of Hong Kong.

Banksters

Like in the U.S., people here are also disgusted with corrupt and illegitimate banking institutions. This is a protest outside the Bank of China. I see similar protests outside the headquarters of other banks in Hong Kong on a regular basis.

School Spirit: Hong Kong Style

As I posted earlier, at universities here there are no mascots, or t-shirts, or school spirit along the lines of U.S. universities (and no football or basketball or tailgating) . However, I recently discovered where the spirit lies -- with one's academic program.

In Hong Kong, under the current three year undergraduate degree (which will change; that is why I am here), students are admitted to specific academic programs rather than the university. In the fall the programs compete for student votes that, as I understand it, translate into recognition and resources for the winning programs.

Every morning for the past week students have been promoting their programs through orchestrated cheers, signs, and uniforms outside the main academic building. I originally mistook the noise and hubbub for a political demonstration.