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”.