Sun sets on Hong Kong’s Shanghai Barber Shops

May 4, 2011

Reporter: Billy Leung, Lotus Lau, Charlie Leung

Editor: Vinky Wong

In an old, sparsely furnished barber shop with only a few customers, some elderly hairdressers gather together and discuss the latest horse racing news. An old mandarin song from the 1930s plays in the background but no one is paying attention.

This could be a scene from a Shanghai barber shop in a classic old movie. But in fact, it is a scene that can still be found in Hong Kong today. During 1950s to 1970s, Shanghai barber shops were very popular in Hong Kong.

Those golden days have gone. Where they were once seen as stylish, Shanghai barber shops are now seen as old-fashioned. Their survival is threatened by rising rents and the loss of customers.

Lin, who is in charge of beauty treatment and manicure at a Shanghai barber shop in North Point, says rent is the hardest thing to cover in their operation.

“If the rent is too high, we are unable to survive. But if the rental amount is acceptable, people of our age will keep on working for it, treating the job as something that we can rely on.” she says.

Mr Fan is another hairdresser who still works in a Shanghai barber shop in Chai Wan. He agrees the business is much harder than it used to be.

“In the past, there were at least more than ten customers getting their hair cut each day. But now, the number of customers shrinks to less than ten.” says Fan, “We can’t earn much from the business.”

The decline in the business has also led to fewer workers in the industry. Barber Wong and his peers now have to do everything themselves; hair washing, cutting, blow-drying and shaving.

“The number of “see-fu” will decrease as they pass away,” he says.

Although the industry itself is declining, the people working in it still love their jobs as they always have.

Lin treasures the loyalty of customers a lot. She says that most of the customers who visit her shop are old regulars who started getting their hair cut there when they were young. They would stick to the same hairdresser for many years.

As for Fan, he is proud of the haircutting skills gained from his many years of experience. Although electric razors are available, he still insists that everything should be done the old-fashioned way, by hand.

“If we use electronic equipment, the essence of traditional Shanghai barber shop will be lost.”

As long as Fan and other barbers still guard the old ways, that essence can be preserved. But it seems the days are numbered for Hong Kong’s Shanghai Barber shops. Maybe someday the scene we first encountered will be a scene we only see in movies.

Reviving local agriculture in Hong Kong

May 4, 2011

Reporters: John Yip,Yvonne Yeung,Carmen Shih

Editor:Melanie Leung,Candy Chin

Shoppers do not just look for low prices, when they buy vegetables, they also want quality. This could provide the key for the survival of the local farming industry in the face of competition from imported farm produce.

According to the Census and Statistics Department, daily imported fresh farm produce from the mainland makes up more than 90% of Hong Kong’s total food supply. This has driven down the price of local farm produce.

In an attempt to give local farmers a competitive edge, if not on prices then at least on quality, the Agriculture, Fishery and Conservation Department (AFCD) launched the Accredited Farm Scheme with the Vegetable Marketing Organization (VMO) in 1994. The scheme emphasizes food safety, integrated pest control and proper use of pesticides.

As of 2010, 251 local farms have joined the scheme. The accredited farm sign can be seen at the entrance of all of these accredited farms while produce from these farms are sold with the accredited certification label.

Accredited farmers were told that they could sell their produce at a higher price and that the VMO would be responsible for marketing their produce. A Good Farmer image has been used since 1998 to publicise the accredited vegetables. However, some farmers who joined the scheme say they do not see much of a difference. Also, conventional farmers are not motivated to join the scheme unless they are invited.

In recent years, small local farmers have been turning to organic farming to avoid fierce direct competition with mainland imports. Local organic farm produce has increased accordingly. Statistics from the AFCD shows a rise from 185 tonnes in 2006 to 231 tonnes in 2010.

Organic support services, including technical support and farming advice, are provided by the Tai Lung Experimental Station to organic farmers. The number of farms receiving the service is increasing.

As part of the government’s plan to encourage the conversion of farms to organic ones, the Hong Kong Organic Resources Center (HKORC) was established in 2002. In 2004, the HKORC introduced a set of organic production and processing certification standards applicable to local farm produce.

However, there is no legislation regulating organic farming at the moment. In other words, farms may claim to be organic before obtaining the certification from the HKORC. Out of the 300 and more organic farms operating today, only 84 are certified.

It is too soon to say turning organic is the best solution to the problems that local farming industry faces today. Some farmers are reluctant to practise organic farming due to the high conversion cost, while some are held back by physical constraints.

Farming is never as simple as ploughing, seeding, weeding and harvesting, but requires careful management in different dimensions. It takes time to grow a crop, likewise, it takes times to solve a problem.

Macau Students in Hong Kong

May 4, 2011

Reporters: Stephanie Chan, Joana U, Jennifer Xu

Editor: Edith Liu

They speak Cantonese, they eat Cantonese food, they follow the same fashion trends. In fact, they share the same culture as most of their Hong Kong peers – except they carry Macanese S.A.R. passports.

More and more students from Macau are seeking places at Hong Kong’s universities. According to the Immigration Department, the number of student visas issued to Macanese students almost doubled from 58 in 2008 to 108 in 2010. Likewise, the number of employment visas issued to Macau residents nearly doubled from 31 to 63 in the same period.

In order to understand what attracts young Macanese to Hong Kong institutes of learning, Varsity spoke to four Macau students, a secondary school student, a first year Macanese student at a Hong Kong university, and two recent graduates from Hong Kong universities.

Agnes Ng will graduate from high school in June, “About 70% of my classmates have applied for universities in Hong Kong,” she said. “One of my classmates has already been accepted by CUHK, we all think that she is so great!”

Ng has already been accepted by two universities, the University of Macau and Peking University. Although Peking University has ranked as the top university in China for three years, starting from 2008, Ng says her first choice is still Hong Kong.

Ng believes that Hong Kong can provide her with a platform for learning better English and a chance to intern at a big company. She is also attracted by the world rankings of the universities in Hong Kong.

Though Macau and Hong Kong share a similar culture, Hong Kong still gives Macanese students a different experience. Timothy Lam is an undergraduate at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). He feels that Hong Kong students are more hardworking and competitive.

Amelia Loi, a recent graduate from CUHK, has a similar impression. She says she can feel Hong Kong’s fast pace of life once she boards the ferry to Hong Kong..

Macau students see universities in Hong Kong as a stepping stone to a brighter future. Shortly after Varsity’s interview, Loi found a job as a reporter.

However, Macanese identity may be a drawback in job-hunting.

Loi’s classmate, was offered a job with a local Hong Kong television station but the offer was withdrawn days later because the company did not want to apply for his work visa.

“There is no difference in ability between Macau people and Hong Kong people,” said Ip. “I did feel bad……this is just because of my Macau identity.”

Although Ip had an unhappy experience when job-hunting in Hong Kong, he still enjoyed his four years of university life here. He found it was easy to adapt to life in Hong Kong. “Sometimes people just forgot that I am a Macau person,” Ip said.

Street Performance Central in Mong Kok

May 4, 2011

Reporters: Amy Leung, Gavin Li, Krizto Chan

Editor: Phyllis Lee

Once it turns dark, everything changes in Mong Kok’s Sai Yeung Choi Street South.

After 7:30 p.m., performers of all kinds transform the street into a giant stage. It is no longer just a place for shoppers. The sound of music produced by the street performers begins to reverberate in the air.

Every form of performance you could imagine can be found on this street. From the uplifting notes of a flute piper, to a martial arts master smashing glass bottles with his bare hands, to a guitar player singing songs which invite audience participation.

By day, these street performers may be ordinary homemakers, office clerks, salespeople or unemployed citizens wandering on the street. At night, they turn into superstars, losing themselves in the world of street performance.

Fa-jie, a 50-something homemaker, is one of the street performers on Sai Yeung Choi Street South. Apart from singing classic pop songs, she performs Latin dance or the Cha-Cha (a dance originating from Cuba) to attract a bigger audience.

Fa-jie’s performance partner, 61-year-old Mr. Yu, joined her several months ago. His dance performance is inspired by pop superstar Michael Jackson’s moonwalk, traditional Chinese elements and even the actions of monkeys.

Karito, another street performer, comes from Bolivia. His music is rather elegant and all his instruments are hand-crafted by himself.

Every now and then, crowds form around the performers. Curious passersby stop and stare.

Unlike regular performances on stage, there is no clear line drawn between the performers and their audience in street performance. It is common to see audience members being invited to take part in the performances.

The street performers do not just attract the audience’s attention. They also draw the attention of some shop owners and residents of the street who find them a disturbance.

They sometimes complain to the police, who may then ask the performers to lower the volume of the music.

Fa-jie says many shop owners or staff members have complained to the police about the volume of her performance.

“Of course our performances cannot be too loud. We may disturb those selling things (on the street),” Fa-jie says. “We will try our best to lower the volume.”

But sometimes, the performers may be driven away from the street, or shunted between venues/.

Police once asked Karito, a Bolivian musician, to leave Mong Kok and perform in Tsim Sha Tsui instead. Only to be told by police there that he should leave and play in Mong Kok.

In an attempt to accommodate the wishes of the performers and their audiences, as well as shop-owners and residents, the government launched the “Open Stage” pilot scheme last year. Under the scheme, performers can apply to perform in open spaces in the piazzas of the Hong Kong Cultural Centre, Sha Tin Town Hall and Kwai Tsing Theatre. However, applicants have to satisfy strict criteria.

They have to attend an audition and be assessed by a panel. They can only reserve the piazzas after a successful audition. Each performance should not involve more than eight performers and they must all hold valid Hong Kong permanent identity documents or valid travel documents showing that they are lawfully employable in Hong Kong.

New neutering policy to save thousands of stray dogs

May 4, 2011

Reporters: Sandy Ho, Dorothy Goh, Liz Yuen
Editors:Crystal Chui, Rebecca Wong

An upcoming pilot scheme to neuter and release stray dogs may save thousands of the animals and help to stamp out illegal neutering operations, say animal welfare groups.

Currently, animals that are caught by the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) are put down unless animal welfare organisations take them away for rehoming within up to seven days.

Individual volunteers and non-profit organisations have been making an effort to help stray dogs finding a shelter. Despite their efforts, around 20,000 strays are put down every year.

Save Hong Kong’s Cats and Dogs (STOP), supports a ‘no kill’ policy for stray animals in Hong Kong. STOP, together with other voluntary organizations, has been lobbying the government and political parties to implement a ‘Trap, Neuter and Release’ (TNR) programme instead.

Under such a scheme, volunteers could catch and send strays to be neutered before returning them to the original place they were found. TNR controls the reproduction rate of, and ultimately, the population of stray dogs.

A similar programme, the Cat Colony Care Programme (CCCP) was implemented ten years ago to reduce the surplus of stray cats.

Dr. Fiona Woodhouse, Deputy Director of Welfare Services at the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), says there has been an improvement in street cat welfare since the programme was introduced. “Without the stress of the reproduction, the health status has come up …it is very rare that you see very sick stray cats now,” Dr. Woodhouse says.

Attempts to introduce a similar scheme for dogs, has been thwarted by the absence of legal support. Under current law, animal welfare workers and volunteers risk being fined for “abandonment” if they release stray dogs after getting them neutered.

Elizabeth Huang, chairperson of the Lamma Animal Welfare Centre(LAWC), says that cases of volunteers being charged are not uncommon. Huang says members of the centre normally take neutered stray dogs to be inoculated against rabies but to receive a vaccination a dog must have an owner.

The volunteers have no choice but to claim they are the owners and get the dogs micro chipped and licensed. Two volunteers were charged with abandonment when the AFCD caught the released strays and tracked the identity stored in the chip.

“We(volunteers) have to redeem the strays at the AFCD, be fined and charged with the offense of not keeping the dogs under effective control… it is very unfair to us,” Huang says. She adds the policy makes it difficult for volunteers to offer help.

The ambiguity of the existing law can also lead to misguided and undesirable behaviour, according to some activists.

Organisations like the SPCA and Hong Kong Non-Profit making Veterinary Clinic (NPV) offer free neutering services for dogs, but they must be presented by their owners. Established organisations like LAWC may cooperate with private vets to neuter stray dogs, while other private clinics charge an average of around $1000 for a neutering operation.

Volunteers for a small group of animal welfare group say there is a black market for operations. The volunteers, who are based in Tai Po and chose not to reveal their names, say small volunteer groups are more prone to getting strays neutered illegally.

In such cases, the operations are carried out by unlicensed people without the benefit of proper equipment. Alex, who refuses to disclose her full name, says her dog was killed by another volunteer during an illegal neutering operation.

These practices may end of the AFCD eventually legitimises the TNR programme for stray dogs. Gloria Li, the co-chairperson of STOP says the first moves for this will be implemented during the second quarter of this year at the latest.

The SPCA and the Society for Abandoned Animals Limited (SAA) will be authorised to carry out trial TNR on stray dogs in specific districts. Li said the AFCD may expand the programme to all districts if the trial is successful.

Dr. Fiona Woodhouse from the SPCA, however, sees TNR as only a ‘medium term solution’ for stray dogs. TNR for dogs is different from TNR for cats, she says. Dr Woodhouse explains that cats are more like wild animals, whereas dogs are more like companion animals and are not suited to living wild in Hong Kong.

Dr. Woodhouse hopes to see every Hong Kong family taking dogs to be neutered, claim ownership of strays and be responsible in taking care of them. “So we do not have to run the TNR programme anymore,” she says.

April 2011-Hong Kong Identities in Flux

April 19, 2011

Hong Kong is a city with a rich history and multiple identities. In this issue of Varsity we take a look at some of these identities and how they have evolved and are evolving over time.

Learning Chinese Identity – How is the dominant one-sided national education in Hong Kong affecting students’ sense of Chinese identity?

Hong Kong Losing its Sheen for Mainalnders – Hong Kong identity no longer an ideal for migrants from the mainland

Locals who are not considered Local: Hong Kong’s South Asians – Hong Kong’s ethnic minorities still struggling for acceptance due to language barriers and skin colour

Varsity April 2011 – Editor’s Note

April 12, 2011

Hong Kong Mosaic

At some point in life, most people will ask the question, “Who am I?” Ethnicity may play a part, the place they grew up in, the language(s) they speak. Given Hong Kong’s colonial history, relationship with the mainland and mixed population, it is intriguing to see how its inhabitants define themselves.

In this issue, we explore how the identities of different sectors of our community have evolved with the changes in society. Often, an individual experiences tensions between different layers of their multiple identities.

There are concerns that while students are being cultivated to be more “Chinese”, the government is pumping money into promoting a one-sided view of what that means in mainstream national education programmes.

Today, new arrivals from the Mainland may be coming to settle in Hong Kong for purposes different from their predecessors. They no longer come for the better welfare or living conditions. They no longer seek to integrate into Hong Kong society as China’s rapid development overshadows the appeal of being a Hongkonger.

On the other hand, those who do want to integrate are having a hard time. Members of ethnic minorities may be born and raised in Hong Kong, but they are not completely accepted as locals. Still, some have been able to find their place here. Briton Andrew Brown is Hong Kong’s first expatriate village head, having been elected by both expatriates and locals in three consecutive elections.

Other, traditional identities of Hong Kong are disappearing. Hong Kong’s fishing industry and communities once flourished, but today its remaining fishermen struggle to make a living.

These are the people that make up the communities of Hong Kong. Whatever their identities are, they each have a story to tell. Take your time to read through these stories – perhaps it may help you to discover your own.

Managing Editor
Melanie Leung

Varsity Multimedia May 2011