New Territories Rotary Club meeting

Monday evening I attended a New Territories Rotary Club meeting. Before leaving for Hong Kong the Fairfield Rotary Club back in Ohio asked if I could represent them at a Rotary meeting while in Hong Kong. I was to exchange banners on their behalf (Fairfield's banner for New Territories' banner). Earlier on in the semester I managed to track down the Rotaract Club at CUHK (the University level extension of Rotary) and ask if I could attend a meeting. They said that was no problem and the president of Rotaract, Joanne, offered to take me to their parent club's (the New Territories chapter) meeting.

We meet at the train station on campus at around 6:30pm. Accompanying Joanne were two new Rotaract members Gabriel, and Kate. The meeting was at the Sheraton Hotel all the way down in Kowloon. This was a very high end hotel. When we walked into the conference room where the meeting was held there was a round table of old Chinese business men having a serious conversation. It was the board meeting for the chapter and to me it fit the stereotype of intense, powerful Asians conducting business. The rest of us took a seat at on of the other table while we waiting for the general meeting to begin. I have been to Rotary meetings in Wooster and Fairfield, but this was very different. It was a lot smaller and extremely formal. There were only two rows of tables and at the front was the podium flanked by seats reserved for officers. Behind the podium were the all the major banners for the club (Rotary International, the Four Way Test, etc) which then had all the banners that were exchanged. I saw banners from Singapore, Philippines, Texas, California, and Taiwan. The tables were decorated for a formal affair. Even the chairs had, what I guess you would call a chaircloth. Waiters would bring you snacks (still really fancy food) and drinks. The snack was a dumpling (vegetables and maybe prawn? Didn't really taste like sea food) and what I think was some sort of fried fish. The meeting started on time but was all in Cantonese. Fortunately Joanne tried to translate most of it for me as it was happening. This was also done in a very formal manner. The president had worn some sort of ceremonial piece that went over his shoulders. It looked like it had a bunch of name plates on it, perhaps past presidents. His name was Dr. Peter Pang (pronounced Pan) and was a plastic surgeon for Hong Kong celebrities. The two other Rotaract members gave a short presentation on a fund raiser they recently had (they made over HK$11,000) and then it was my turn. I just gave a short explanation of where I came from and why I was there. I mentioned that I was not officially in Rotary but have been working closely with the Fairfield chapter to bring their Ethical Business Guide to the Internet. I then gave the Fairfield Rotary's banner to the president while he gave me one of theirs.

The guest speaker for that night was Dr. Rebecca Lee who described herself as a scientist, adventurer, and Earth fighter. She talked a lot about her trips to the North and South Poles and what she saw as the effects of global warming. It was all in Cantonese but Joanne again translated. It was a bit awkward because Dr. Lee would tell a joke, everyone would laugh but me, and then Joanne would translate, and I would find it funny after a delayed period of time from the original joke. In any case, she had lots of interesting pictures of what it is like to live in these places for an extended period of time. Then right before the meeting ended we sang Happy Birthday to the president-elect in both English and Cantonese.

After the meeting was over, there was a dinner. I was told this would cost HK$300 and the Rotaract members were interested in getting home since it was late on a Monday night. However, the other member insisted that we stay and waved the fee for us. We all sat at a round table and helped ourselves to the various dishes. There were all kinds of food. One dish was a whole fish with the head, fins, and everything. People would just scoop up the part they wanted. There was also a dish that looked like fried chicken but after biting into it I am really not sure what it was, but it definitely was not chicken. The one thing I found interesting from dinner was how much Joanne was going out of her way to make sure I was fine. She kept moving my plates and glasses around when ever it looked like I might bump them or get sauce from another dish onto another (the way they serve food invites a mess, and I believe to some extent it is a sign of a meal enjoyed). Back home I probably would have gotten annoyed quickly but in China serving the guest is very important so I did not interfere. I did not get back to my room until about 10:30pm.

The Rotary meeting was defiantly a lesson in the culture of Chinese business. Right before I had told Joanne that I was going to follow her lead since I was unsure of what I should do. Her response was that she did not know either. She said that these meetings are very intimidating for the Rotaract members. She mentioned that she does not plan on joining Rotary when she graduates because it is so intense. They are also very strict about who can get in. They only let a very small number (2-3) in each year and have limits on certain professions. For example, the club can only have five doctors for every fifty members. Everything is so formal and positions are important. In fact my presences apparently caused some controversy. I was pretty comfortable and relaxed most of the meeting and I thought they seemed to enjoy having me. However, Joanne later explained that this was not quite what really happened. Originally, the president-elect was suppose to introduce me but then he became concerned when he found out my position. He asked Joanne (in Cantonese so I did not know this at the time) whether I am either a Rotaract or Rotary member. When Joanne answered that I was neither, his response was "Well then how am I suppose to introduce him?" and ended up not introducing me at all. Joanne also said that she had never seen Rotary so unfriendly before. To me they seemed fine, granted they did not really talk to me at dinner but I just assumed that was because they were discussing things in Cantonese that related to the club (they were as Joanne translated part of the conversation) and did think I was interested in the conversation. Apparently some of the member were suspicious of me because I was not an official member. I just took it as a lesson that it takes a lot of effort and experience to get a have decent read on what Chinese are really thinking. I am glad I went and look forward to presenting the New Territories banner to the Fairfield Rotary.

Blinkin Park and Other Apparent Contradictions

The first round of Blinkin Park was the past couple of nights. Blinkin Park is a singing contest analogous to American Idol. Charlie and Jacque entered as a duet and sang "My Love" by Justin Timberlake. Needless to say, it was the only English song of the night. As I sat there watching the performances, I could help to notice some ironies that seem like contradictions to how many of the other Chinese have been acting. For the most part the locals are not out going at all. My roommate, Martin, and I are the only Westerners in out flat and there 5 rooms. The locals that live in my flat hid from us and spend as little time as possible in the common areas. Once my door was open and one of our neighbors came out and as soon as he noticed my door open he raced back to his room and slammed his door. I have only talked to one of the flat mates briefly. It is so bad neither Martin or I could tell you with confidence how many people we live with. Everyone else is having similar experiences. Westerners might be somewhat intimidating to the locals, but the thing is they don't even socialize often with each other. Sure you see some groups of Chinese friends around campus, but never outside of school. No one goes "out" and no one stays up late with friends. The campus bus system stops running a little past 11pm and Hong Kong's train/subway system stops running at 1am. Aside from not socializing, similar patterns emerge in class. The locals are terrified of speaking. In a Western classroom students are highly engaged by asking questions and giving their opinions. But here that is never done. In one of Jacque's classes taught by a Western professor, the professor asked the class to introduce themselves. All the locals promptly got up and left the classroom.

There is also an issue with conformity. You read about how China is a "collectivist" society (versus an "individualistic" society like America) but you never really understand it until you spend some time in the society. Every day, at lunch time in the canteens, groups of students will come in and perform. It is sort of like a dance (there is stomping and clapping for example) but not really singing (more of a chant). The thing is though, every single person is doing the same thing. Some times the girls and guys will do different things (the groups are mixed) but otherwise it is very uniform. They always where the same thing but its different each day. It reminds me something the military would do (they make no eye contact and are very serious the whole time). I never understand what they say since most of the chant is in Cantonese, but the name of the group frequently comes up. They yell it over and over upon marching into the canteen, marching out, and often during. I have even seen them around campus practicing walking in unison. For the most part, the Chinese place very little value in "standing out."

So why would they make such a big deal out of a signing contest which emphasizes outgoing individuals? They had giant posters and banners made to advertise the contest, built a stage, and the first round was over several nights. The short answer is I'm not quite sure. The locals who sang certainly had less flare then Charlie and Jacque. Their performance was about what you expect in the states. They dressed up and had a dance planned out. The locals didn't move much and sang much slower songs. One guy even had his hands in his pocket. Granted, back home there are lots of people who would feel too nervous to go on stage and try to sing, but none of the locals went all out and tried to just have fun with it…or at least that is how it looked to me. Charlie and Jacque most definitely stood out.

Lan Kwai Fong

Considering it was a Friday night, Jesse, Jacque, Chris, Charlie and I decided to go to a district in Hong Kong called Lan Kwai Fong. Lan Kwai Fong is a bar district that westerners go to. The streets were pretty much shut down with people walking everywhere. All the bars were very small and very upscale. The vast majority of the people there were Americans and Europeans with the average age probably somewhere near 30. My guess is that most of the people them are young business professions working on an international career. Hong Kong has no open container laws so a lot of the bars were essentially a window to the sidewalk and every one walked around on the streets with a drink in their hand. Unlike certain places back in Miami, no one was binge drinking. It was a party atmosphere but no one was crazy. Later we headed to a night club called Cliq, where a party for university students was being held. The building that it was in had five different clubs that you had to line up for and had dress codes. Once we got in (free cover for students) we walked through a fancy lobby to the elevator that would take us to the club (each had its own elevator with an attendant). I had never been inside a legitimate upscale night club before but the inside was what I somewhat expect. It was mostly black with all kinds of lights that spun around and did various other things. There were also a lot of TV screens that played trippy video on a long loop. The drinks were expensive but I had one just for the experience. It was really interesting watching how differently the locals acted to the westerners. The best way to describe how the locals were behaving would be a middle school dance, where all the guys are on one side and all the girls on another with no one knowing what to do. The westerners were a lot more relaxed and could mingle with anyone. The cultural clash was quite amusing as some locals would run (literally) away when a westerner got near while others would get all excited. Chinese society is definitely not one based on social mixers.