Independent bookstores survive with their own styles
Reporters: Emilie Lui, Lambert Siu, Hayley Wong, Cynthia Sit
Editor: Iris Yeung
The book retail industry in Hong Kong is dominated by one single publishing giant. Three major Chinese-language chain bookstores, namely the Commercial Press, Chung Hwa Bookstore, and Joint Publishing HK, are all under Sino United Publishing, which takes up around 80 per cent of market share according to local media reports.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong is observing a change
in reading behaviour. The Hong Kong Publishing Professional Society has done a
survey of 2,063 local readers last year. Results found 31.2 per cent did not
read any print books in the past year. About 63.9 per cent read with devices
such as tablets and computers. The change in reading habit poses threats to the
survival of bookstores.
In the wake of the situation, independent
bookstores manage to survive in the competitive market. Instead of running as a
traditional bookstore, owners highlight special elements in their stores to
attract customers.
Beibei Book House is a bookstore inside a
farmland in Kam Tin. Retired social workers Ringo Tsoi Man-yuen and Teresa Lee
Sau-lai opened the bookstore three years ago to promote slow-paced living.
Apart from enjoying unique reading experience at a farm, readers are encouraged
to bring along unwanted books in exchange for a meal made with fresh produce
from the farm.
Another bookstore Varsity reporters visited is The Book Cure, a second-hand bookstore inside a wet market. Phyllis Chan Lap-ching set up the bookstore because she thinks the young should read more. Other than selling old books, she also organises book-sharing activities in hope of strengthening community bonding and promoting reading culture in their neighbourhood.
Nowadays, bookstores are more than just for buying books. Chow Ka-ying, who wrote two books about independent bookstores, says many operators are revitalising their business models. She says quite a number of bookstores are selling beverages, cultural goods and handicrafts to enrich reading experience of their customers. This is a way for indie bookstores to differentiate themselves from other big players in this highly competitive trade.
Crowned as “Pearl of the Orient” and “Asia’s World City”, Hong Kong has been a popular tourist destination. Tourism is a major driving force of the local economy, accounting for nearly 5 per cent of the city’s GDP every year. Last year, tourist arrivals reached a record high of 65.1 million. However, the local tourism industry faces an uncertain outlook in 2019. The Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) expects a bumpy ride for the sector due to economic uncertainties brought by the Sino-US trade disputes and slower growth in China’s economy. Officials also say visitors are more likely to spend less and stay fewer days in Hong Kong.
Crowned as “Pearl of the Orient” and “Asia’s World City”, Hong Kong has been a popular tourist destination. Tourism is a major driving force of the local economy, accounting for nearly 5 per cent of the city’s GDP every year. Last year, tourist arrivals reached a record high of 65.1 million. However, the local tourism industry faces an uncertain outlook in 2019. The Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) expects a bumpy ride for the sector due to economic uncertainties brought by the Sino-US trade disputes and slower growth in China’s economy. Officials also say visitors are more likely to spend less and stay fewer days in Hong Kong.
In this issue of Varsity, we try to look into the challenges faced by the tourism industry in recent years from three different perspectives.
We start by exploring ways to enhance the diversity of Hong Kong tourism. The city has long been considered as a shopping paradise, but industry insiders say Hong Kong has more to offer especially country parks and cultural heritage which can help the city win over other tourist destinations. We have talked to tour operators who take visitors to green and cultural attractions.
There are also ongoing calls for improvements in Hong Kong’s customer service quality. Hong Kong ranks the fourth lowest in the 2019 Smiling Report, which was compiled based on assessments of mystery shoppers in 29 countries and regions. We have spoken to inbound tourists who had unpleasant experience in Hong Kong. We also talked to workers in service industries to understand what difficulties the trade is facing.
Meanwhile, the influx of tourists, particularly those from the Mainland, also leads to questions about Hong Kong’s capacity of handling large number of tourists and nuisances caused to residents in some districts. We have reached out to residents in Tung Chung, To Kwa Wan and Choi Hung to find out how their daily life activities are affected.
In this issue, we have also looked into why some college graduates pursue blue-collar jobs. We have explored whether the opening of the Xiqu Centre can rejuvenate Cantonese opera, and we have done a profile on a volunteer who has saved thousands of cats. Enjoy the read!
Varsity reporters were astonished after
first learning about a chat group with nearly 800 parents as members, who are
all mainland parents with children studying at the Chinese University of Hong
Kong. Out of curiosity, reporters decided to explore this issue and write a
story about it.
At first, Varsity reporters could not help
thinking the chat group as a subject of ridicule, and thought such kind of chat
group should not even exist. University students are already young adults after
all. But it is very wrong for journalists to make a judgment before conducting
research and interviews. Indeed we were wrong. After finishing writing the
story, reporters are now touched by these parents’ overwhelming love, care and
sympathies for their children who seem to have failed to communicate well with
their parents. These parents do not mean to conduct long-distance monitoring of
their children. They simply want to know what their children are doing and what
kind of school life they are having in Hong Kong – a city where mainland
parents find very different from any Mainland cities.
The story is like a wake-up call for Varsity
reporters who are involved in the reporting duty. Reporters begin to think
about their own relationship with their parents and realise they might have
neglected their parents’ concern and care after leaving home to study in Hong
Kong. Young adults often feel annoyed when responding to parents’ questions
about their school life. Parents often complain that they have not received
phone calls from their children for days. Mainland parents in the chat group
actually know very well that their children feel annoyed and they want to be
free. This is why the parents’ chat groups come to its existence. Mainland
parents try to share information about their children’s school life among
themselves and comfort each other instead of “bothering” their children.
Parents always treat their children with patience
and care whenever children ask countless questions. Why parents would feel bad
about asking their adolescent children questions? Is it because young adults
sound impatient when responding to their parents’ questions? Is it because
young adults always rush to hang up when speaking to parents on phones? Or is
it because most people only care about playing mobile phones even when having
family gatherings?
Perhaps it is time for both parents and their adolescent children to resume face-to-face conversation so that they can learn more about what each other are doing even they are living apart. Instead of texting in chat groups with other parents, both parents and children should make efforts to improve communication. If only university students can understand how much their parents care and worry about them and if only parents can understand their children are young adults now and it is time to let them be on their own to explore the world, their relationship will surely be strengthened based on trust. Love is the answer for their communication problem. Perhaps it is time for us all to put down our mobile phones and enjoy face-to-face chats with our loved ones. Love is the answer for all having communication problem.
Chinese Americans in the United States are yet to be accepted into the American melting pot
By Hayley Wong in Connecticut
“Where are you from?”
“I am from Georgia.”
“No, but you must be from somewhere else.”
Born and raised in the United States, Chinese Americans are no different from other American citizens. But their identity is often questioned, as their surnames carry a special accent.
About 4.95 million Chinese resided in the United States, accounting for 24 per cent of the Asian American population, according to the “2015 American Community Survey One-Year Estimates” by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Chinese immigrated to the United States for different reasons, and the history could be dated back to the mid-19th century.
Migration history of Chinese Americans
The first wave of immigration began in the 1850s. According to the Migration Policy Institute, a think tank that researches on immigration and integration policies in North America and Europe, Chinese immigrants at that time were primarily male manual labourers. They went to the West Coast to search for low-skilled jobs, ranging from agriculture and mining to railroad construction.
The second wave began after the implementation of the Immigration and Nationality Act in 1965, which removed racial barriers favouring professionals. Chinese immigrants during that period were mostly skilled labour who worked in commercial sectors.
Chinese immigrants have been applying for permanent residency by showing intentions to help promote economic growth in the USA in recent years. Entrepreneurs can file an application under the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Visa Program, under which they are required to make contributions to job creation and domestic investment. Chinese constituted 90 per cent of all applicants of such visa in 2015.
Being stereotyped
In spite of the significant number of immigrants, Chinese population only comprised of 1.2 per cent of the total population of the United States, a report by the U.S. Department of Commerce in 2010 revealed. Despite the long history of Chinese immigrants in the USA, racial discrimination and stereotype issues still exist.
When asked about the change in attitude towards Chinese Americans over the years, Nancy Yao Maasbach, president of the Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA), says: “A lot of things have changed, but unfortunately a lot of things have not changed, and have not changed quickly enough.”
She explains why it is difficult to get rid of prejudices. “[In] every period of time, there seems to be prevailing stereotypes,” she says. While some assume Chinese to be smart and good at mathematics, some believe they all know Kung Fu, traditional Chinese martial arts.
Anti-Chinese propaganda revealing resistance to Chinese immigration in the past are displayed in an exhibition in MOCA
“Even though the model minority part (Chinese’ talents in mathematics) seems like they are positive and a compliment, obviously they are still a stereotype because many Chinese are not good at maths,” she continues.
The contributions of Yung Wing
Chinese Americans now enjoy a higher social status comparing to the past. “I am grateful to our Chinese ancestries because they really fought for civil rights. They really broke down some of those ceilings so I can go to a liberal college…There were times that these were impossible and there was so much discrimination,” says Maasbach.
She attributes the success to the efforts of Yung Wing, the first Chinese student studying at Yale University. “He did such an amazing job in contributing to the understanding between the U.S. and China, and also this educational priority that he placed on giving these young boys such exposure to the Chinese education mission,” she says.
A bronze statue of Yung Wing stands in Sterling Library at Yale University
Yung Wing (1828-1912) impressed his schoolmaster at a missionary school in Guangzhou, and was brought to America for further education. In 1850, he was admitted to Yale University, where he realised the importance of popularising American education among Chinese students.
Upon the completion of studies, he founded the Chinese Educational Mission. Over a decade, he sent 120 Chinese students to schools in the United States, according to the Council on East Asian Studies at Yale University.
Discrimination in small towns and metropolitan cities
Despite the breakthrough in striving for education equality, discrimination still exists. “A lot of the treatment has to do with the initial way we look,” says Lin Ming-yee, a Chinese-American attorney, who works at the New Haven Legal Assistance Association.
Born and raised in a suburb in Atlanta, the capital of the U.S. state of Georgia, the 31-year-old could still recall stories of prejudicial treatment in her life.
Lin believes the level of knowledge about Chinese culture affects people’s behaviour towards Chinese Americans. As one of the three students with Chinese origins in her school in Georgia, Lin recalls her classmates were curious about the trio in school, and totally lacked understanding about them. They asked questions like “how do you see when your eyes are so small”.
“I don’t think it was motivated by malice. It was really like I was so unusual that they had all these questions that they had never been able to ask before,” she adds, “but it did create a situation that made me feel very isolated.”
To Lin’s surprise, her experiences in the metropolitans were not better than those in the remote areas. They reveal more ignorance and stereotype Chinese in more offending ways.
There were also several times when Americans, mostly white men came to Lin and practised Chinese with her. “They would continuously keep trying to speak Chinese to me. It was a very frustrating experience because it made me feel like I am not from here,” she says.
Chinese Americans face tough times dealing with challenges. Lin says her parents could not believe she was going through discrimination and sexism. Even though her family has always had her back, they never talked about politics and racism until the presidential election in 2016. In 2016, Donald Trump, representing the Republicans, defeated Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and became the president.
“Because they weren’t minority as the same way as me, they don’t understand the pain I was experiencing, growing up to be isolated and totally different,” she says.
The relationship between stereotypes and personal factors
Joy Qiu
Chinese American students studying at Yale University share their stories of growing up with prejudgements and stereotypes with Varsity reporters. Joy Qiu, a 20-year-old Chinese-American student, says: “I think it largely depends on what space you are in and what the environment is.” Studying at Yale, being one of the 19.3 per cent of Asians, she feels more at ease.
Qiu believes there are moments when others judge her based on her appearance and expect her to behave in certain ways. For instance, people would say her voice was so loud, as a Chinese girl. Even so, she says: “I’m definitely proud to be a Chinese American.”
Ivory Fu
Another Chinese American at Yale University, Ivory Fu, 20, lived in Kansas and New York City before. She thinks the way Chinese Americans being treated does not only vary in different environments, but also personal traits. “I found that the way you present yourself can also attract biases,” she says.
When she was in high school, her friends who were more reserved and shy, often faced more discrimination than she did. As she was a more sociable and outgoing person, no one has questioned if she really is an American.
Identity struggles of Chinese Americans
Other than interpersonal relationships, Chinese Americans have to struggle with identity issues. Rocky Lam, 20, also a student at Yale University, recalls how he tried to present himself as an American in his teenage years.
Rocky Lam
To fit into the social circle, he never spoke Chinese outside his house, and would only talk about English TV shows and music. “That’s actually a divide that I kept throughout my entire life,” he says.
Fortunately, this is no longer something he cares about so much now. “I think my college has done a lot to me in terms of exposing me to so many of my community members and allowing me to be proud of my heritage,” he says.
Alternative tour operators offer new choices to diversify the city’s tourism offerings
By Lasley Lui & Laurissa Liu
As the slope gets steeper and steeper, the breath-taking sight of Ng Tung Chai Waterfalls comes into sight of Lourdes Peronace, who joins a guided hiking tour in Tai Mo Shan. “It took me just an hour to get here [from the city] and it’s completely different,” says Peronace, who comes from Germany. It is her first expedition in Hong Kong.
Back in her
hometown, Hong Kong is portrayed as no more than a metropolitan city. The
natural landscape is to her, as to many locals, an unfamiliar scene in Hong
Kong.
Tourism is one
of the four pillar industries of Hong Kong economy. In 2018, the Mainland
remained the largest visitor market for Hong Kong, accounting for 78 per cent
of all visitors to the city. The number of Mainland travellers rose by 14.8 per
cent last year, while visitors from other markets only went up by 0.6 per cent.
While the city is branded as “Asia’s World City” bearing the title of “Shopping
and Eating Paradise”, the gem of the city’s natural and cultural sights is unknown
to most visitors.
Starting from 2017, the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) has highlighted “diverse travel experiences” as one of the targets in their annual work plans. For the year 2019/20, the board will focus on promoting “living culture, the outdoor, and the arts” in hope of winning over other travel destinations.
Hong
Kong natural beauty
Regarding
ecotourism, the HKTB proposes to launch the Great Outdoors Hong Kong 2019: Hong
Kong Back Garden platform, which aims to promote Hong Kong’s hidden green treasures
to visitors from Europe, America, Japan, and Taiwan. The five themes include
geological landscapes in Sai Kung, beaches and reservoirs in Southern District,
sunset scenery in Ha Pak Nai and Lau Fau Shan, the biodiversity in Fung Yuen
and Hok Tau, and the fishing village in Tai O.
Rory Mackay guiding a hiking tour to Ng Tung Chai Waterfalls
Rory Mackay is a hiking tour guide. He founded Wild Hong Kong, a tour operator which offers guided adventures and eco tours. He believes Hong Kong is a unique travel destination with great potentials to develop ecotourism.
Around 40 per cent of land in Hong Kong is designated as country parks or special areas with a rich diversity of flora and fauna – and all these are just a doorstep away from urban areas. “The contrast, to have a big city, and right next to the big city, not just like one little country park, but so much terrain with it,” Mackay says. “It’s beautiful…[there is] a variety of things you can do as well.”
The ecotourism market in Hong Kong is still in its infant stage. The biggest challenge for start-up tour operators offering niche travel experience is to “get on the map” and to be known to potential clients, as the industry is highly “review-driven”. Websites and online review platforms like TripAdvisor are important channels for brand building and marketing. Mackay says: “It took about three years before we actually have customers.”
Their eco tours
are most popular among Western travellers and young professionals aged between
25 and 35, according to his experience in the trade. Alternative tour operators
like his are still growing under the mainstream current.
Hong
Kong Stories
Ling Ho, who finds travelling experience in Hong Kong unappealing and uninspiring, founded Ho Ho Go Experience Limited in 2014 to explore the niche market of cultural tourism. She thinks the local tourism industry in Hong Kong is monopolised by a few large travel agencies. Her agency organises tailor-made “life tours” which aims to show tourists the unique history and way of living in Hong Kong. Each of its thematic tours tells stories of Hong Kong’s history.
The “Seaside Stories” tour of Ho Ho Go features coastal heritages in Shau Kei Wan
To enrich their
tours with meaningful stories, the team has to conduct in-depth research and look
for local stories. According to Ho, it is difficult to employ and train a guide
who fits the job. They need to keep on developing new routes to avoid their ideas
being copied by other operators. “Nowadays everyone claims they are offering cultural
tours, but the quality is in question,” she says.
Ho, similarly, finds it hard to survive in the market when she just started as a small operator. In an attempt to gain public recognition, the travel agency joined the New Tour Product Development Scheme under the HKTB. Two of their tours were approved in the sixth and seventh rounds of the scheme in 2016 and 2017 respectively.
Launched in 2012, the scheme aims to boost Hong Kong’s tourism industry by offering unique and diverse travel experiences to tourists. Funded applications will receive marketing and promotion funding support for developing new tour products, while applicants in the non-funded section will enjoy official promotion of their product on the “Explore Hong Kong Tours” promotion platform under the HKTB. So far, the scheme has approved 39 products and attracted the participation of about 50,000 visitors.
“Our Childhood”,
one of the theme-based tours offered by Ho, features historic housing estates,
and “Bloggers Playground” depicts the nostalgic neighbourhood in Yau Ma Tei.
Both tours are two of the approved products in the non-funded section.
“Tourists usually rely on official travel websites for information,” Ho says.
“So we try to get ourselves onto the list of the Tourism Board to get more
exposure.”
Hong
Kong arts stories
Suyin Haynes is a guide for Central Street Art Tour organised by Accidental Art, which organises guided art tours and other art related events. The Central Street Art Tour features street arts by Alex Croft, Cleon Peterson, Fin Dac, Matt Gondek, Cath Love, Elsa Jean de Dieu, Rob Sketcherman and so on. As an expatriate from London, she sees Hong Kong as an unusual city with different layers of culture and wishes to share her “version of Hong Kong” with other visitors.
Suyin Haynes introducing a street art by French artist Elsa Jean de Dieu to tourists
“With each tour
guide you get something different,” she says. The walking tours, in her
opinion, are unique experience that formulaic travel routines cannot offer.
“It’s not just people that wanna come and take the photo for Instagram,” she
says. “It’s people who are actually curious and wanna know a bit more about
either Hong Kong or the artists.”
Candy Hou,
founder of Accidental Art, is optimistic about the development of local
cultural tourism. “I think it will be more and more promising. Tourists
nowadays value unique experience more than shopping,” she says.
Unbalanced
investment
About 50 per cent of tourists said they were interested in famous tourist spots, but some expressed their willingness to learn about other sides of Hong Kong, according to a report on “Diversifying Hong Kong’s Attractions to Boost Tourism” released by Youth Research Centre in 2016.
In terms of
tourism resources, grants are allocated to preserve new historical and cultural
landmarks in various districts such as Central and Western District and West
Kowloon Cultural District, and to conserve natural scenic beauty like Hong Kong
UNESCO Global Geopark. But most resources are given to major tourist
attractions. Some recent examples are the expansions of Ocean Park and Disneyland
which cost almost HK$20 billion.
Lawmaker Yiu Si-wing pointed out the problem of unbalanced investment in local tourism resources in a Legislative Council meeting on November 7, 2018.
In the meeting, he cited the lack of concerted efforts of different government departments to conserve antiquities, rural environment, country parks and hiking trails as the examples. “If Hong Kong can make full use of its unique local culture, green tourism, and ecotourism,” he said. “It would really add to our tourism character and effectively divert tourists according to their demands.”
Inspired by the Kowloon Walled City, the mural by Alex Croft on Graham Street is a popular photo spot for tourists
Tourists voice their frustration over Hong Kong’s poor customer service quality, while workers complain of low wages and long working hours
By Regina Chen & Charleen Chen
Wang Jiying, a 20-year-old Chinese student, who studies in the United Kingdom, travelled to Hong Kong earlier this year. High expectation of her Hong Kong visit turned out to be very disappointing.
“The service quality in Hong Kong is terrible,” Wang complains after visiting a restaurant. “No one came to serve when my friend and I entered a dessert restaurant, so we had no choice but to hail the waitress. Shockingly, she responded by throwing a menu on the table,” she vividly recalls.
Wang’s bad experience about service quality of restaurants in the city was not an isolated case. Lin Shih-hsiung, a Taiwanese tourist who visited Hong Kong two years ago, had similar experience at a chain restaurant. He says a waiter was very impatient and unfriendly when he tried to order his food.
“Once I entered the restaurant, the waiter told me to step aside if I was not ready to make an order,” Lin says. He was shocked and felt unwelcomed. “It seemed like he did not care about losing a customer,” he says.
Both Wang and Lin vow they will never visit Hong Kong again.
Service without a smile
The government launched a campaign featuring pop star Andy Lau to promote and encourage quality customer service in Hong Kong in 2002. The tag line in the advertisement, “Service like this just isn’t good enough in today’s business environment”, has become proverbial to every Hongkonger. However, after nearly two decades since the advertisement was first aired, the city still fails to serve tourists with a friendly smile.
Hong Kong ranks the fourth lowest in the 2019 Smiling Report, a survey which was compiled based on assessments of mystery shoppers in 29 countries and regions. The smile score, from 0 to 100, grades quality of customer service. Hong Kong’s smile score was only 56, 10 points lower than its record last year and way below the global average of 80.
Meanwhile, the Consumer Council told Varsity that the number of complaints from Mainland tourists surged by 93 per cent in 2018. Among the more than 4,000 complaints from Mainland visitors, over 300 were complaints about “Quality of Services”. In a survey conducted by PTT, the biggest online forum in Taiwan, netizens voted Hong Kong as their most hated city in the world. Taiwanese visitors who joined the poll were upset with shop assistants and waiters’ attitude, accusing them of lacking courtesy and patience.
Sales assistants serving customers in a jewellery shop
Where have all the smiles gone?
While visitors say poor customer service is casting shadows over Hong Kong’s image, workers in service industries say intense pressure at work is hindering them from delivering quality service. Established in 2015, “The Beggar in the Restaurant” (乞客) is a Facebook page which has been posting creative cartoons inspired by common grievances shared by restaurant workers. Page administrator who named herself as Mary Little Two has been working in the catering industry for more than a decade. She says restaurant workers are under huge pressure, as they often have to put up with customers’ disrespectful behaviour and unreasonable demands. Most of them are also frustrated by their heavy workload.
“Restaurant workers in Hong Kong are often considered as ‘Supermen’ considering the amount of work they are loaded with. For example, I often have to take care of a full house of 75 guests with only three other co-workers,” she says.
Tsoi Chung-kin, chairman of the Retail and Wholesale Trades Employees Association, agrees that overwhelming workload has adverse impact on service quality.
“Nowadays, manpower shortage is a common problem for restaurants. A waiter now is responsible for taking care of 10 tables of customers, compared with three to four before. Sometimes when a customer hails a waiter, the waiter might be busy serving others,” he says.
Hong Kong is infamous for long working hours and that could be another reason behind poor customer service in the city. Tsoi says some workers in the service industry may have to work 12 hours a day, from 10 a.m. to 11p.m., without any break. “The working hour is long, and it requires workers to stand for a long time. These affect workers’ attitude and performance,” he says.
Many shops in Hong Kong have long business hours
Tsoi says sales assistants at shops or boutiques in tourist areas are prone to long working hours, making it even more difficult for employers to recruit and retain talents.
“Working in the retail industry means low wage and heavy workload. Employees are put under enormous pressure… Young people cannot stand it, so fewer people are willing to join this industry,” Tsoi says.
Help Hong Kong smile again
In a bid to recruit more new blood, Tsoi says shop owners should consider giving workers a pay rise. He says a wage increase is the most effective way to improve the high turnover rate of the retail industry.
Tsoi also says employers should step up effort to improve working conditions in the retail industry. He says arranging resting time for employees is particularly important to let them recharge themselves. In 2003, the Labour Department issued a guideline encouraging employers to make suitable rest break arrangement with their employees through negotiation. But Tsoi says it is far from enough, as the guideline is not mandatory.
“After standing for two or three hours, retail workers should be allowed to rest for ten to fifteen minutes. Or they should be given chairs to sit for a while,” says Tsoi. “The government should legislate to make it mandatory for employers to let workers take a rest after working for two to three hours.”
Tsoi adds that shoppers, especially tourists, have a higher expectation of service quality nowadays. They do research about products they want to purchase and ask for information from shop assistants. He reminds employers to deploy more resources to offer training for their employees.
“When employees were new to a company, the company used to teach them skills about how to treat customers, how to smile, and how to deal with customers’ complaints…This kind of training is quite rare now,” he says.
A shop accredited by the Quality Tourism Services Scheme under the Hong Kong Tourism Board
Cheung Lai-ha, General Secretary of the Retail, Commerce and Clothing Industries General Union, says retail workers should be given more time and resources to enrich themselves by acquiring new knowledge about their work.
“The government should offer more support to employees in the retail industry to upgrade their skills and equip them with more knowledge about the trade. If they have no time to learn, it’s not good for the future development of the industry and their own development,” she says.
Swarms of tourists cause nuisance in local neighbourhoods in Tung Chung, To Kwa Wan and Choi Hung
By Kelly Chan & Tiffany Chong
Nuisance in Tung Chung
Long queue for tables in restaurants, crowds, trash, and influx of tourists, are upsetting the quiet and cozy Tung Chung. Tourists have flooded the distant town recently and many residents are annoyed and frustrated.
Christina Ho, a Tung Chung resident, complains the influx of tourists has caused disturbance to her daily life. “We have to endure much longer queueing time for restaurants,” she says. “Worse still, there is rubbish everywhere,” her sister Adelaide Ho adds.
Hong Kong is one of the most popular travel destinations in the world. In the past five years, the city of 7.5 million residents has received an annual average of 60 million visitors, with a record-high of 65 million in 2018.
Despite the enormous economic benefits brought to the city, nuisance caused by tourists has become a headache for residents. Conflicts between residents and tourists arose in Tung Chung after the opening of Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge (HZMB) last year, which attracted hundreds of flag-wielding one-day tour groups flocking to Tung Chung, the closest residential zone to the port facility.
Mainland tourists who came on public transport swarmed into the town and caused disturbance, leading to a series of protests.
In the wake of the situation, the Transport Department introduced a new measure in November last year, requiring tour agencies and group organizers to purchase shuttle bus tickets through a pre-booking system to regulate traffic flow for some specific days.
Lau Wing-yin, chairman of Tung Chung Concern Group, says police’s scrutiny on tourists’ activities has improved after residents’ protests were widely reported in the media. “Police check tour guides’ identity cards and license whenever they suspect unauthorized tour guides.” But Lau says the new measure which only cracks down Mainland tourist groups that are suspected of violating regulations only brings them temporary peace. No prosecution has been made so far.
Lau believes poor town planning should be partly blamed for the residents’ discontent, as there are mostly chain stores and outlets inside Tung Chung’s shopping malls, which transform the residential zone into a shopping attraction. “The residents will not be that disgruntled if the government encourages more small shop tenants to set foot in the district to serve residents’ needs,” says Lau.
Lau suggests the government sets a daily quota on a number of cross-border coaches to put a halt on the influx of tourists and advise the Mainland authority and travel agencies to remind tourists to behave themselves.
Tung Chung’s Citygate Outlets Mall is packed with tourists after the opening of Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge in 2018
To Kwa Wan – Hell’s Kitchen
Similar problems also are observed in To Kwa Wan where crowds of tourists flood the district every day. Although the district is not a major tourist and dining attraction, half of the city’s registered souvenir shops locate in the residential areas and more restaurants are opening its doors to embrace Mainland package tours.
“No locals dine here. Most of our customers are Mainland tourists,” says Ah Chiu, a chef of a Chinese restaurant in To Kwa Wan. He admits the restaurant only accommodates Mainland group tours, even though it is situated in a local residential area.
Mr. Cheng, a resident who has been living in To Kwa Wan for 30 years, says many restaurants only serve mainland tourist groups in a shopping mall. “This is a vicious cycle. The residents do not visit the mall, more shops will serve tourists,” says Cheng.
Cheng also worries these package tours may ruin the reputation of the city. “Some Chinese tourists wrote on commentary websites reflecting the food served in these restaurants are mostly refrigerated and reheated,” says Cheng.
Nette Tsang Wing-tung, spokesperson of a concern group, Synergy Kowloon, says long queue of travel coaches places significant traffic burden on To Kwa Wan. She has seen police officers putting barriers in crossroads to manage crowds of tourists to queue outside a restaurant, forcing students on a school bus to get off in the middle of the road.
Tsang says even if a tourist breaks a law and receives a penalty ticket, they can still leave Hong Kong without paying a fine. “I once saw a tourist throwing a stub to a potted plant outside a store. The owner yelled and asked him to pick up the cigarette bud and demanded an apology, but the tourist just ran back to a coach,” says Tsang.
To alleviate nuisance brought by inbound tour groups, the Kowloon City District Council has launched a pilot project to recruit tourism ambassadors to station in the district since 2016. The ambassadors are responsible for keeping the environment clean and advising coach drivers not to pick up, drop off or park illegally at popular gathering spots. They can also call upon law enforcement agencies to take follow-up actions on-site.
However, Tsang doubts the effectiveness of the project, as there are reports about some ambassadors failing to do their duties due to lack of supervision from the authority.
She suggests that the government should collects tourist tax and requires souvenir shops to obtain operation permissions after a thorough assessment and public consultation.
When the Instagrammable Choi Hung Estate sparks privacy concern
Apart from buying souvenirs, tourists enjoy visiting local photo spots. Choi Hung Estate has become a hotspot. Renowned for its colourful and vividly painted housing blocks, a picture taken in the estate won the Sony World Photography Awards in 2016.
Shenzhen tourist, surnamed Chen, says she learned about this photographic gem from Xiao Hung Shu (小紅書), a Chinese social media platform. She says it is a widely recommended picture-perfect place, but she does not find the spot very special.
Chen says some residents of other public housing estates do not welcome tourists to take pictures. “There is a reminder from Xiao Hung Shu asking us not to disturb the residents,” she adds.
Lorraine Lee, who has lived in the estate for five years, thinks it is fine for tourists to take pictures inside the estate. “To me, the most disturbing thing is when visitors ask me for directions. But I think this is also a good way for tourists to learn about public housing estates in Hong Kong,” says Lee.
The internet fame of the 56-year-old public housing estate also comes along with public nuisance and privacy concerns. “The court is always packed with visitors on weekends and there is no space for residents to play basketball. A basketball player once broke a tourist’s camera and conflict just erupted,” says Wu Chi Kin, a district councillor of Wong Tai Sin.
Wu says the use of drones equipped with aerial cameras make residents feel worried, as bathrooms are near the balcony side. In the wake of the situation, the Housing Authority provides a guideline to prohibit the use of drones. But Wu believes the effect is minimal and stresses the authority has no right to forbid tourists from visiting the estate. “We want to respect their freedom of photo-shooting, but they should also avoid causing disturbances to the residents,” says Wu.
Wu says all he could do is to ask security guards to remind visitors to behave during peak hours. He hopes online media will stop promoting the estate as a tourist spot.
Art graduates struggle to become full-time artists
By Ariel Lai & Sarah Ryou
“You can’t survive simply by selling art creations, unless you were born in a rich family,” says Jay Lau Ka-chun, a Year Four fine arts student of the Chinese University of Hong Kong(CUHK). Lau thinks it isvery difficult to make a living as a full-time artist in Hong Kong because of unstable income and keen competition. Making art in Hong Kong is also very costly.
A struggle to survive
“It’s not cheap to rent a studio in Hong Kong. Art supplies are also very expensive,” Lau says. “We often need to take up other jobs to make more money in order to strike a balance between our income and expenditure.”
Lau also says it is hard for full-time artists to make ends meet if they lack the necessary connections in the art industry such as gallery owners or curators. He says artists have to work day and night to build their career.
Another final year fine arts student of CUHK, Thomas Fung Yee-tin, says he wants to be a full-time artist after his graduation. He says some of the artists try to create commercial artworks that are welcomed by the market for more stable income. He specialises in Chinese painting now, an art genre that is relatively popular in Hong Kong.
Fung says that a Chinese painting can be sold for about HK$40,000 to HK$50,000 in an exhibition. But the income is unstable, as they can only afford to hold one or two exhibitions with around 30 paintings in each event every year. There is no guarantee that the sales will be good in every exhibition. “If the sales of artwork is good in an exhibition, the artist can earn HK$300,000 to HK$400,000, but he or she has to share the earnings with the gallery in a 50:50 or 40:60 ratio,” Fung says.
Fung now takes up a part-time job as an event campaigner for more income. He adds that he needs to spend around HK$10,000 to HK$12,000 for renting a studio, purchasing materials for his artworks and daily expenses.
Artists have to share profits made from artworks sale in exhibitions with galleries
Fierce competition
Currently, publicly-funded fine arts or visual arts programmes are only available at the CUHK, the Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) and the Education University of Hong Kong (EduHK). Only 19 out of the 1,675 applicants were admitted to the fine arts programme at CUHK in 2018. The visual arts programme offered by HKBU admitted 51 students from 2,827 applications, and a similar program at EduHK only took 10 students out of 2,134 applications in 2018, according to the Joint University Programmes Admissions System (JUPAS) admission results.
Despite the small intake of fine arts students at the three universities, there is no guarantee that the labour market can accommodate all 200 to 300 graduates each year.
Zhang Jiayu expresses concerns over her future career
Zhang Jiayu, a Year Four CUHK student, who changed her major from cultural management to fine arts, aspires to be a full-time artist after graduation. “As a fine arts student, I hope that my [future] job will be related to my interest”, she says.
However, Zhang reckons that chances are slim. She says career support for fine arts graduates from her school is insufficient. Even though her school has introduced a summer internship course this year, Zhang says other parts of the curriculum are note practical enough to help them develop future career in the field.
“It’s difficult to ask for more support after we graduate. The university can provide more support to help us better understand the dynamics of the art field when we are still in school. That will help us build connection with people in the [art] circle,” Zhang says.
Professor Ho Siu-kee believes that universities are not for vocational training
Professor Ho Siu-kee, Director of M.A. Programme and Associate Professor at the Department of Fine Arts at CUHK, believes that universities are not for vocational training. Nevertheless, they have the responsibility to provide support to help students build their career. He says universities should train students to put classroom knowledge into practice.
He adds that CUHK and other schools have included a course “professional practice”, in which different people from the art field, such as gallery owners, local artists and museum managers, are invited to share their experience with students. Students can learn the dynamics and updates of the art industry by talking to them.
Ho says the Department of Fine Arts at CUHK also tries to do as much as it can to offer practical training to help students gain exposure. Students are invited to work as helpers for some foreign artists and at some art events. But he says a better way to let students learn more about the work of artists is to allow them to get involved in art projects at schools.
“Most of the teachers are also full-time local artists. Students can better understand the work of professional artists if they can take part in some art projects led by their teachers,” Ho says.
More government support needed
Recruitment ads posted on HKADC website are mostly related to administrative duties or marketing (Screen capture from the HKADC website)
In the year 2018/19, the Grant for Emerging Artists, offered by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council (HKADC), has received 52 applications with a success rate of 62 per cent. HKADC also provides overseas and local internship opportunities, and operates an online platform providing job market information – though most of the posts are not related to art creations.
Ho thinks the government should also provide more financial support for students to join university-wide exchange programmes in which they can meet and build more connections with foreign artists around the world. He also says a government fund should be set up to support non-mainstream artists whose works are yet to be accepted by the commercial market. He says such a move can help diversify development of the local art field.
“Cultural, art and creative industry is the new driving force of society,” Ho stresses.
Instead of pursuing white-collar jobs, some university graduates choose to follow their passion in career building
By Agnes Lam & Lambert Siu
Franco is not an ordinary taxi driver. He graduated from the Department of Chinese Language and Literature at Hong Kong Shue Yan University. Passionate about writing, he also manages a Facebook page (我的你的紅的) where he shares his encounters with passengers of diverse background.
“In the past, I valued a lot on the importance of a degree certificate. I have neglected other skills that we have learnt at universities,” says Franco, who has been a taxi driver since 2016.
Realising his passion for being a driver
Franco worked as a tutor for five years before he became a taxi driver. While he was in tutoring, he asked himself: “How far could I go in ten years?” Reaching a deadlock in his career with no hope of promotion opportunities, he resigned.
What attracted him to be a taxi driver was the high degree of autonomy. “You may get scolded as an employee. But when you are a taxi driver, the power hierarchy is reversed. You will never see a passenger who dares to rebuke a driver,” he says.
Despite having higher academic qualifications, Franco still has to learn from experienced taxi drivers. “I respect them [other taxi drivers] very much,” he says. He appreciates how the experienced drivers observe and analyse traffic patterns of passengers.
“You have to know these skills to look for passengers in order to maximise profits. But you can never learn these from textbooks,” says Franco.
Discovering one’s talents and potentials
Photo courtesy of Franco
Looking back, Franco firmly says that he does not regret going to university. For him, the functions of university education are to nurture critical thinking skills, and more importantly, interpersonal skills.
But a certificate does not mean a promising future. “It is not a must to study at universities. What matters is that you have to find a particular area in which you can excel,” he says.
He cites the case of Steve Jobs, who had already found his own talents before dropping out of college. With a clear direction in mind, Jobs further explored his potentials and made ground-breaking inventions.
Others may not agree with his choice, but his way of living gives him a sense of accomplishment. “All occupations deserve equal respect. There isn’t one that is more superior to the other,” he says.
Franco is not the only case. Jayers Ko, a female tattoo artist who graduated from the Department of Psychology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), realises the importance of staying true to herself.
Before studying at CUHK, she pursued veterinary education in Australia. “Australians are different from people in Hong Kong,” she continues. “They lead a completely different lifestyle, but they still survive.”
When she returned to Hong Kong, she was disappointed with the one-way teaching approach. She decided to explore more outside lectures. She later learnt she was actually very interested in tattoos.
During her first year of studies at CUHK, she travelled to Thailand, where she had her first tattoo on her wrist. After that, she started to get several more tattoos, such as a shuttlecock, to remind herself of her passion in life.
The values of tattoos
When asked about the meanings of tattoos, she believes it is a form of commitment. “After you get a tattoo, there is no turning back. It is the most suitable medium to convey my philosophy,” Ko says.
Jayers Ko stands in front of some paintings in her studio Lovinkit Tattoo
As she loved how tattoos are conduits of her self-expression, she started to consider the possibility of being a tattooist. She looked up for information online and found herself a mentor in tattoo painting.
“It’s like martial-art novels. You follow your master and learn from him,” she says. As a dedicated mentee, she treasured every opportunity to observe and learn.
Comparing with her time in college, she says learning from her mentor was more down-to-earth. Other than teaching practical skills, her mentor also shared his views towards life. It was the first time when her values were recognised by a senior.
“I clearly know what type of person I want to be,” she says, “I do not only aim for titles and achievements.” She thinks her mentor plays an important role in her journey of pursuing her life goals.
Despite so, she still believes university education has its values. She used to think there is only one solution for every question, as she studied science in high school. But from the eyes of social scientists, there are many possible answers to one question. The new insights have transformed her into a more open-minded person.
The meaning of university education in the maritime industry
From the examples of Franco and Ko, some may draw a conclusion that university degrees are not really necessary. However, some occupations favour employees with higher academic qualifications.
Kelvin Tsang Chun-wun, who majored in International Shipping and Transport Logistics in the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), is now a sailor of the Royal Institution of Naval Architects. He also took courses offered by the Maritime Services Training Institute (MSTI) during his school years.
Kevin Tsang Chun-wun (second row, first from the left) and his colleagues on a container ship Photo courtesy of Kelvin Tsang
While there is no significant difference in starting salaries of a degree and a non-degree holder, a university certificate is a prerequisite if one wants to work in the Hong Kong Marine Department. In view of this, Tsang says: “Some sailors from the MSTI are going back to university to get a qualification.”
Although the programmes by PolyU and MSTI both cover shipping and logistics, they differ significantly in the curriculum. While PolyU provides more theoretical knowledge of business management, the MSTI focuses on practical skills.
However, Tsang says a promising career is still attainable even for sailors without a degree. Some higher-ranking positions, such as captain, chief officer and chief engineer, do not require a degree.
Courses for sub-degree holders by Employees Retraining Board
The government offers comprehensive support to cater to the needs of low-skilled workers. According to a written reply from Employees Retraining Board (ERB), it funds and co-ordinates a network of 80 Training Bodies, providing around 700 training courses across 28 different industries.
The courses by ERB target employees aged 15 or above, with educational attainment at sub-degree level or below. In other words, university graduates are not eligible for application and are only accepted under special consideration.
Growing popularity of make-up artists in the labour market
University graduates have joined private institutions for retraining opportunities. One example is GLOW Makeup Academy by Janice Lam. Many of their students are university students, and some are banking professionals.
Lam putting make-up on a model at a promotional event of a cosmetics brand Photo courtesy of Janice Lam Shun-ka
Academy owner Janice Lam Shun-ka says their programme consists of 20 classes and is approved by the government’s qualifications framework. Apart from in-class learning, students can gain hands-on experience by working as helpers in freelance jobs. She says one-third of her academy’s graduates end up being full-time make-up artists.
A career as a make-up artist has gained more recognition in society. “The income of an average make-up artist is already comparable to that of a manager in a large firm,” Lam says.
“University education is more rigid, in comparison with vocational training courses,” she adds.
