Who are we and why were we established? The International Society is a newly-formed student organisation that aims to bridge the gap between local and international students with opportunities and activities that enrich life here at The University of Hong Kong (HKU). The influx of exchange and full-time international students in recent years means it is imperative for us to step forward and help familiarise this group with the new environment and culture to build a greater sense of belonging towards HKU. English is used as a common language for communication, meaning students’ networks can be enlarged and they can feel right at home with the society's student-friendly approach.
about
1 4 7 9 11 credits 13 15 18 20 Sapientia is an independent English language
magazine written and published by students of The
University of Hong Kong (HKU). Stemming from the university’s Latin motto of “Sapientia et Virtus”, our
name translates as ‘wisdom’ and reflects our intention to bring together writers from different backgrounds with broad perspectives on campus-related issues.
Sapientia’s number one goal is to act as a platform for students to develop and showcase their professional
writing skills and offer food for thought – more simply put, wisdom, to all our readers.
Contact us at intlsocpjc@gmail.com. April 2014
EXECUTIVE EDITOR
WRITERS
SEUL JI KOOK
ANDRA AU
CELINA GORE
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF CHRIS WEI
JAMIE CHOY
JONATHAN WONG LINDSAY QIAN
MELISSA LEUNG
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
OSAMA HUSSAIN
PHOEBE HUNG
RYAN KILPATRICK
MANAGING DIRECTOR
PHOTOGRAPHY
SAMUEL CHAN
ALBERT OEI
DENISE CHAN
Cantonese at HKU: The Final Frontier Ryan Kilpatrick
Easy “A” Courses Melissa Leung
Open Ears Celina Gore
HKU Pride Samuel Chan
Update on the MTR by Samuel Chan I guess by now you’ve spotted the structures
Soap Cycling Lindsay Qian
for the new MTR station behind Centennial Campus and Haking Wong Building that have rapidly sprouted up over the last two months despite having been virtually motionless the past year (most the work before was going on underground).
Student Satisfaction Osama Hussain
In a statement to Sapientia, MTR representative Cherry Mak writes, “The WIL [West Island Line] is expected to be put into service in the fourth quarter of 2014 while the specific opening date will be subjected to negotiation with the government. Currently,
What do you wake up to? Jamie Choy
the WIL project team is working hard towards the completion of the WIL in 2014.” Fourth quarter is vague but fingers crossed that this new MTR link will be completed on time or even early, around the time the new semester starts in September. This extension of
7 Types of Students at HKU Jonathan Wong
the Island Line known as the West Island Line, consisting of three stations only: Kennedy Town, HKU and Sai Ying Pun, will allow HKU students and staff to travel to Central and Tsim Sha Tsui in just over 5 and 10 minutes
Tales of May Hall Andra Au
respectively. Obviously, the MTR offers much more frequent and reliable service (compared to buses during peak hour) and holders of the Personalised Octopus with student status even enjoy 50% off standard adult fares (grab an application form from your Faculty Office!). Watch this space.
By Ryan Kilpatrick Critics have long accused HKU of having a blinkered devotion to the English language, but to an extent this position deserves our support: English is the lingua franca of academic research worldwide, as using it as the sole medium of instruction is a large part of what makes us Asia's topranked university; maintaining a strict line on this also makes it easier for students who came to HKU from around the world to feel welcomed and integrated into campus life.
The
However, another critical factor for students to feel welcomed here and to get the most out of their time in Hong Kong is to learn the local language, enabling them to have more meaningful connections with a wider spectrum of people, and obtain a deeper understanding of the richness - and uniqueness - of Hong Kong culture. Until this year, the only courses open to people interesting in learning Cantonese were Cantonese as a Foreign Language I and Survival Cantonese, neither of which offered routs for further study and do not even teach literacy in Chinese, making the written language the sole purview of Putonghua. Whilst the courses' immediate utility to incoming exchange students is beyond question, those interested in seriously studying the language must do so without any help or encouragement from our foremost institution of higher learning. Despite the efforts of School of Chinese staff, students at HKU are still unable to major in the languages of the country in which they are studying - despite every top university around the world offering these majors. The School of Chinese currently teaches one third of all Faculty of Arts students, and is therefore
stretched extremely thin. Dr CM Si, Head of the School of Chinese, says that the university is currently in the process of planning to offer a Chinese as a foreign language major, and he hopes the programme will be actualized within two to three years. Since the establishment of the Modern China Studies programme just a few years ago, the Putonghua as a foreign language courses offered by HKU have expanded from two to four, from four to six, and now from six to eight, thus offering a four-year curriculum for international students interested to seriously studying the language. Cantonese lags far behind but is progressing gradually: this year a second course was added and, with a major in Hong Kong studies newly established, Cantonese will hopefully experience similar growth spurt to that of Putonghua.
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Final Frontier
"Hong Kong Signs" by Terence Faircloth (flic.kr/p/3XPi3) is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Cantonese at HKU:
Dr Si says that exchange students complain about courses they'd like to take only being offered in Chinese, mainland students complain about classes offered in Cantonese, and local students are liable to complain if too many courses are offered in Putonghua or use simplified characters. Pleasing all three groups at the same time, he admits, is a difficult task. At City University, disgruntled mainland students who registered for a Chinese course not realizing it was conducted in the local language of the place where they'd chosen to study actually pressured the university administration into changing the course's language of instruction from Cantonese to Putonghua. HKU takes on over one thousand new exchange students every semester. Of these, only a small handful are interested in studying Chinese and those that do are complete beginners who only take level I Putonghua. Dr Si laments that international students at HKU interested in seriously studying Putonghua or Cantonese to advanced levels are in fact a tiny minority, and despite their passion they do not comprise a large enough constituency to justify the allocation of resources to create new courses. Another option in the meantime is to expand the current offering of Englishtaught cultural courses for exchange students, perhaps offering an introduction to Chinese literature or Cantonese phonology. However, even mainland students who stay here for the full duration of their studies show little to no interest in learning the local language (often regarded dismissively - and erroneously - in the mainland, as elsewhere, as a trifling and unimportant dialect) and thus Putonghua-taught courses in Cantonese are even sparser at HKU than English ones.
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HKU is not the only Hong Kong university that does not offer Chinese majors for foreign students; in fact, none do except for the Chinese University of Hong Kong. CUHK has attempted to offer Chinese as a major but have been confronted with a dearth of applicants. Without enough prospective students, government funding for the programme was dropped and as a result it had to become fully self-financed, sending the fees rocketing up. HKU also follows the trend all around the Chinesespeaking world - in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan where every university Chinese department operates exclusively in Chinese. Teaching Cantonese as a foreign language is a highly under-developed area, and is often regarded both by locals and foreigners alike as a language that outsiders are simply unable to learn, and should not necessarily be expected nor taught to do so. The teaching of Cantonese to ethnic minority Non-Chinese Speaking Students (NCSS) in Hong Kong has long been a source of tension in local education, with non-Chinese students often graduating knowing no Chinese and facing grim career prospects as a consequence. Unlike in China or Taiwan where children first learn the Hanyu Pinyin or Zhuyin Fuhao phonetic systems respectively before progressing to characters, children in Hong Kong are expected to begin their education in Chinese at home, where they learn the pronunciation of characters directly from family members without the aid of an officially sanctioned phonetic system to ascertain the correct way of speaking. For Hongkongers who do not come from a Cantonese-speaking household, this absence puts them at a great disadvantage. The two main rivals in Cantonese phonetics are Yale and Jyutping, but altogether half a dozen different systems vie for supremacy throughout Hong Kong, with different schools and universities using different systems. Cantonese also lacks a standardized exam like PSC or IELTS and for many Cantonese words there is no agreed-upon character that should be used to render it in written Chinese. In addition to this there are no official academic or vocational qualifications for Cantonese instructors. Cherrie, a Cantonese instructor at HKU, believes that setting an official standard for romanization and language training would be helpful in making Cantonese more accessible and popular, and indeed her wish may be coming true soon. BC Chow, coordinator of the Cantonese programme at the CLC ad author of the widely used textbook Cantonese for Everyone, says that the Faculty of Education will begin offering a Masters in
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teaching Cantonese next September. Ms Chow also supports the idea of using Jyutping in schools and says there's growing support for this, and also starting in the next academic year Cantonese will be offered as a Senior Secondary Applied Learning Course (ApL) for NCSS, with teachers asked to use Jyutping. Although she believes that owing to the sensitive nature of language politics visĂ -vis Beijing, the official status of Cantonese is unlikely to receive any government support, she does see progress being made in Hong Kong's education establishment. The School of Chinese has often faced criticism for not operating in English, but the truth is that subjects such as Tang poetry are best taught using Chinese - and ideally Cantonese at that, since the cadences and rhymes are often retained in Cantonese but lost in modern Putonghua, as the former is far closer to classical Chinese. The problem lies not with the School's offering courses in a language other than English, but in the lack of support they receive to enable more students to learn this very language. Aside from the fear that local students would join such courses for easy grades, there is also a widespread but mistaken assumption that language learning is only rote memorisation and not an intellectual pursuit worthy of a university degree, ignoring the conceptual and cultural shifts that language learning promotes. Whereas Korean, Spanish, Japanese and other languages have gotten through the Academic Board levee, though, a Cantonese or Putonghua major remains off the cards. Hongkongers often feel their culture under threat, and this feeling is both understandable and completely justified. However, as a community under threat, they should not succumb to the knee-jerk reaction of closing ranks in order to defend the purity and integrity of their identity. This is the time when it is more important than ever to reach out to the world, to make greater efforts to articulate and promote Hong Kong's values and culture and to include others in the fold. HKU's School of Chinese has a long history of teaching Cantonese to Hong Kong's newcomers, instructing a long stream of Governors, diplomats, missionaries and merchants who have made Hong Kong their home for short or long over the last century and a half. Dr Si points out that HKU will have to face this issue in due course as a matter of internationalization, and he hopes the university 'will look into this matter and allocate more resources'. To accomplish this, however, support is needed by both administrators and students.
"The streets of Kowloon" by Alexander Synaptic (flic.kr/p/nb2TGm) is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
"classroom" by Paul Goyette (flic.kr/p/77PDmR) is licensed under CC NC-SA 2.0
Acommon core cornera
Easy
“A” Courses MELISSA LEUNG
Common Core Courses (CCs) were originally established to broaden students’ knowledge in different areas including science, humanities, global languages and China. These courses equip students with education of diverse fields and promote self-learning. However, do students really gain a better education and do they really, as the CCs website states, “explore issues of profound significance to humankind”?
Many students view CCs as a GPA killer and a waste of time. They seek courses that ensure good grades and that have light workloads. As a result of this, at the start of every semester we can hear friends talking about choosing a “good” CC to bump up their grades.
The “Good” CC What constitutes to a good CC? What, according to the students, is a good CC? Some say it means the professor is lenient and gives good grades. Some say it means a total workload of 500 words essay, a poster and a website only. Some say it means having a final exam consisting of purely multiple choices. Or some say it means the course is interesting, for instance the famous “Sex and Intimacy in Modern Times”. Betty Fung, a year one student said, “every time I choose a CC according to my interest, end up getting a bad score. So now, I always select courses according to the course work, and the difficulty level.” Are interest and good performance mutually exclusive?
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The Pursuit of Good CC The common pursuit the good CC has given rise to many myths. The content below will debunk these myths, in order to help you make a well-informed choice on the CCs you will take in the next semester.
Many students view CCsa as a GPA killer anda This claim is not proven to be true. Although theoretically, the professors and tutors of new CCs will want to make their course more popular among students to ensure that their a waste of timea
1. Newly founded CCs are more lenient.
course will sustain for another year. We all know the power of the word of mouth, so if students in a new CC all received a bad grade, that course will not be as popular in the next year.
2. A CC with light workload is a good CC This is not necessarily true. While students might have less work to do throughout the term, the weighting of each component of the coursework will evidently be larger. If one of the components turned out badly, the overall grade will be largely affected. On the other hand, if there are more components, essays and presentations, the overall grade will be more scattered. As a result, the chance of getting a good grade might be higher.
3. A CC that gave good grades last year will give good grades this year. “I took a course that my friends said was a good grade CC. Then I got a C in that course, while all my other CCs are in the B grade range. That taught me not to rely on good grade recommendations,” said Marco Mong, a Year Two Mechanical Engineering student. While your friends might have gotten a straight A in a particular CC last year, it might not be the case in the following year. The workload, grading method and marker might be different; hence a good grade course cannot be guaranteed from year to year. In order to be more persuasive with our arguments, we attempted to ask the Common Core Office for some marking statistics of CCs. However, we were declined as “the Committee is of the view that it would not be appropriate to release the information requested.” We also requested an interview with Professor L. George Tham, the acting Chair of Common Core Curriculum, but were not given a reply as of publication. Perhaps, the curriculum committee could consider being more transparent with their course information so as to help students choose the appropriate course.
Key to Getting a Good Grade “I got an A in that course. I didn’t go to the lectures at all.” “Don’t listen to him. I got a C in that same course.” Jonathan Wong and Isaac Cheung are both seated in front of me, debating whether “Culture of War” is regarded as a good grade CC. While this discussion might seem perplexing at first, everything becomes clear after a while. “I always go through the lecture slides at home if I skip the lecture.” “Yeah, I followed Isaac and skipped all the lectures but I didn’t read through the slides at home. That’s probably why I got a C. “ At the end of the day, the effort you paid into the course will reflect the grade you get at the end. Every CC can be a good grade one, if you have the heart to work for it.
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Open Ears Celina Gore
With little or no hesitation, the decision to treat a broken bone or a toothache is a straight trip to the University Health Services. But in the case of social adjustment or mental health issues, the door leading to professional support for some is not as easy to open. The stigma of counseling and the expectation of self-healing can discourage students from stepping forward to talk about their challenges with someone else. The Counselling and Person Enrichment Section (CoPE) under the Centre for Development and Resources for Students (CEDARS), however, tries to keep that door open as wide as possible. As part of CEDARS’s effort to be the one-stop resource for students, CoPE takes care of psychological counseling, personal enrichment, and accessibility and support for disability and educational needs. Coming from diverse interests and backgrounds in social work, clinical psychology, and family therapy, its team of psychologists and counselors are prepared to address a variety of concerns that students may have. For decades, the counseling office had been a part of student services at HKU. In 2006, CEDARS was established, merging together the Office of Student Affairs, Careers and Placement Centre, and Personal Development and Counseling, which had duties similar to CoPE’s. Dr. Albert Chau, the Dean of Student Affairs, said the decision to combine came out of “the need to provide a holistic and comprehensive student support programme and to better prepare for the 4-year undergraduate curriculum.” “Since the merge, the four sections of CEDARS have been working as a team,” he said. Dr. Eugenie Y. Leung, the Director of Counseling and Personal Enrichment, has also seen the benefits of physically joining CEDARS. In Meng Wah Complex, the counseling centre is easily accessible to anyone referred to their services from the other student affairs offices on floors nearby. “If there are things that we need to work together with campus life to support the Making Itself Known
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students, we can work together more easily,” development topics. Each semester, the said Dr. Leung. Mental Health First Aid programme trains participants to be more aware in the An HKU alumnus, Dr. Leung has been with symptoms of common mental health CoPE for the past eight years after working problems, and how and where to receive in a hospital psychiatric centre. Overseeing help. the counseling services throughout the years, she has identified four major areas that students commonly seek help in: adjustment problems, study stress, relationships, and mental health problems.
Recently, the CoPE has taken more creative approaches toward immersing students in mental health and personal development through service projects.
With each need, Dr. Leung emphasizes the CoPE’s commitment toward maintaining the confidentiality and privacy of visitors in order to make the choice to get counseling less intimidating.
In a former project, CoPE partnered with the New Life Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association and organized the HEA Kiosk in Meng Wah Complex, promoting social inclusion and equal employment. In the
“I am trying very hard not to have [students] waiting too long outside, or running into visitors too easily,” she said. With the university’s approval, the section keeps counseling records separate from general student records and private from anyone seeking the information.
project, student volunteers and trainees recovering from mental illness together sold fair trade and environmentally-friendly products, as well as artwork created by people in rehabilitation. Although only a handful was recruited, participants gained valuable knowledge on the workplace and mental health.
“We will keep all the information confidential even when the person has come to us or not, so this kind of assurance helps
“They will really have a firsthand experience working with people in
students feel more secure coming to us.” Strengthening Awareness Outside the Office To encourage personal enrichment, the CoPE offers programs to empower and educate students to emotionally support themselves and their community. Mental health talks led by psychiatric and counseling professionals are held for audiences interested in specific psychological areas such as counseling, depression, and exam anxiety. Regular workshops guide and inform students about studying tips, personal image, and relationships among other lifestyle and
rehabilitation, and that’s good for destigmatization,” said Dr. Leung, who has seen students from the business, law, engineering, and science faculties participate. The workers in rehabilitation also benefited from becoming more confident in working along side students and in a new environment. CoPE also promotes its services through students who are concerned about someone who needs counseling, but refuses to go. Without naming the person, people can receive advice on the services from its counselors in order to facilitate the referral process and persuade their friends to seek help themselves.
University-wide emails, Facebook, and posters are the most common ways that CoPE has tried to get the word out on its counseling services, workshops, and events to students. In August, counselors attend each orientation program – local, Mainland China, post-graduate, international, and exchange student sessions – to introduce their campus counseling services to the community. CoPE also stresses that its services are free to students no matter how many they may need, especially to the foreign student population. “The feedback from the international students is that in some of the universities overseas is that the counseling services are meant to be a short term one, so you are only entitled to a certain number of sessions and then stop. Here it’s always free, and you can take as many sessions as possible,” said Dr. Leung. One semester-exchange student, Angie, took full advantage of the counseling services after her initial weeks in Hong Kong sparked moments of homesickness, culture shock, and doubts over her decision to study abroad. In addition, she also sought professional help for her depression, which had “exacerbated substantially” since arriving, and the low self-esteem she had struggled with as a child. “Seeking help through counseling would be a means for me to seek some sort of normalcy in my life when I felt everything was unfamiliar, uncertain, and unstable,” she said, knowing her past positive experience with counseling. Paired with a counselor, Angie found a comfortable environment to discuss her concerns, as well as the advice to improve her mental well-being. “While my progress towards getting better has its ups and downs, I feel like overall, I am better now than when I first started, to which I give most of the credit to the help of my counselor,” she said. “The people at CoPE are ultimately there to help, and I think there's nothing wrong with admitting to yourself that you need it.” Compared to her generation, Dr. Leung feels that students now are more open to counseling. She has seen a range of locals, non-locals, and post-graduates of different majors and years enter the office and use the services. For anyone still looking for help, she hopes their acronym – CoPE – will serve as a caring reminder of the services. “When you need some resources to cope with challenges in life, then you can think of us.”
"The one thing that never waits." by Phoebe (flic.kr/p/ebE4yC) is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
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Photo by Phoebe Hung
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I MY UNI?
By no means should this be seen as an attack, but rather constructive criticism.
I’ve been here for almost a full year and not one person has been able to answer to my satisfaction this seemingly simple question: who exactly are we? Usually it is just a vague response of “HKU students” that comes with a frown but really, we have no actual terminology for people of our kind, unless of course you count on the Hong Kong University Students’ Union (HKUSU)’s interpretation that we are all “HKUers” from the bags they sell at the co-op store (personally, I am not so keen on this name). Yes, I am envious of universities abroad, particularly in the U.S., such as Yale (Yalies), Princeton (Princetonian), Purdue (Boilermakers), USC (Trojans), even Oxford (Oxonian). You see? Calling oneself a “HKUer” or a “HKU student” simply cannot compare when talking about school pride. Don’t get me wrong, HKU has been treating me well nor do I have a grudge against the school (why else would I be a Student Ambassador?), but this is just one of the things that virtually everyone silently acknowledges while remaining unresolved. Would you personally be willing to paint yourself in dark green, our official school colour, to show your pride? No, I suspect. By contrast, I know most current students and graduates from so-called elite local secondary schools, me included, would change their Facebook profile pictures almost unanimously before the intense, annual Inter-school Athletics Meet to a common icon of their school to show their support and love. On-day, there is simply an incredible atmosphere as everyone dresses up the official merchandise and cheers their school on. There is simply no culture like that here at HKU. Now I am not asking us to go to the extremes of some U.S. universities, but ask yourself: how familiar are you with the HKU cheer? Apart from hearing it at the One Night Stay (ONS) camp offered to all local secondary school applicants and during my Student Ambassador orientation (which note, is by the same division that runs the ONS), I haven’t heard it since. On the other hand, the halls appear to be where all the pride is locked up. Starting with identity, every hallmate would consider themselves a Swirian, Skyer, St. Johnian, Starrian, etc. and would at the very minimum know the lyrics and
gestures of countless cheers often performed well by heart. Inter-hall competitions, particularly with “new ball games” such as hockey, lacrosse and softball, are – from my experience so far – the only thing that comes close to genuine pride. Surprisingly, this is also the case at universities like Yale, where students identify with their residential colleges until they go beyond the campus and are instantly transformed into Yalies again. A friend who went to Yale tells me, the school pride comes primarily from competition with Harvard and students tend to go insane during the HarvardYale game (“The Game”). Sounds familiar? Yes, inter-school competitions do indeed bring out the pride in all of us but it falls short here in Hong Kong at least. Local universities do compete for certain sports such as rowing and track & field but obviously awareness or concern within the student populations are not high. On a more superficial level, I have noticed that hall and faculty hoodies (notably throughout winter) are much more common than the official HKU hoodies sold by HKUSU. At Yale and many other universities, people generally adore wearing standard university apparel, with hoodies, sweaters, pullovers, sweatpants, etc. without any distinguishable elitism or segregation implied.
To HKU’s defense, perhaps at the end of the day, this freshman has no basis to step out of line and judge whether or not HKU – an elite university focused on delivering excellent academic education to its students – lacks in school pride nor to tell you how to love and respect your school. But honestly I believe you can feel it. How often do you even see our university mascot, the lion? Apart from graduation, it is almost never. Now is high time for us to re-evaluate our identities and drive change for the better to make it beyond a place where you merely study. Asia as a whole is not so keen on sports (though we have a close equivalent: a university rugby team), but there is a difference when schools such as the University of Pennsylvania have their own marching bands to further boost school spirit during critical times. We should be focusing more on that rather than ‘traditions’ like high table dinners which do little to foster pride or boost allegiance. So Marketing 101, let's begin by rebranding ourselves. "Sapientian", anyone? You could simply take my comments with a grain of salt, but what I hope to see is a passionate student body prove me wrong.
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No, this is not what you think. People do not cycle for soap, in fact, there’s no cycling involved whatsoever. Soap Cycling is just another way of saying “Recycling Soap.”
Around two million bars of soap are tossed away by hotels in Hong Kong every year, most of them unused. I mean let’s face it, how many of us really use the scrawny bars laid out on the bathroom countertop in hotel rooms? Most people would probably just run the bar of soap through the tap once or twice, and forget about it a minute later. Meanwhile, children around the world under the age of five are dying from pneumonia and diarrhea, diseases that can be effectively prevented by washing their hands with soap. With the help of student interns at HKU, Soap Cycling has blossomed into a full-scale organization that is dedicated to running this social venture with the aim of helping out the world, one bar of soap soap at a time. Founded by David Bishop, a senior lecturer of business and law at HKU, Soap Cycling is an NGO that mainly works with the hospitality industry to recycle soap. Whereas many hotels choose to dump their slightly used bars of soap, the operation team at Soap Cycling collects them and brings as many as they can back to the warehouse, where volunteers sanitize them in order to distribute the soaps to those in need. The primary aims of Soap Cycling are to improve sanitation and hygiene in underprivileged regions such as Vietnam, Cambodia and the Philippines, not only to reduce child mortality rates, but also to promote waste reduction and green living.
So how does Soap Cycling work? With the support of a growing number of hotel partners around the world, Soap Cycling receives a great number of donated soaps. Volunteers are encouraged to come to the warehouse at Kwai Hing and help scrape the debris off the soaps, all to a strict standard. After a certain amount is accumulated, a processing machine is used to melt together all the clean soaps and then a long tube of fresh soap is produced, which is then cut up into smaller, decent sized bars. Packed up neatly into boxes, they are then shipped to places all over Asia to help raise awareness and prevent infectious diseases.
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soap
Lindsay Qian
"Plastic Bottle Cap" by Phoebe (flic.kr/p/d1u6wy) is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
cycling
INNOVATION
FOR YOUTH
There are many Soap Cyclers currently serving as interns and course-takers. Each helper is grouped into a certain department that is dedicated to do their best. One of the core members of the marketing team interning at Soap Cycling has voiced out her passion for it: “I jumped at the opportunity to join Soap Cycling through the social venture internship because I was excited about the idea of participating in a course that was a total break from the traditional classroom setting and course structure,” she said. Having been heavily involved in social enterprise clubs like Enactus, she was especially interested in the various creative ways that reusing, recycling, and up-cycling have posed as solutions to waste management. “Soap Cycling is an extremely successful example of the power of recycling, not only to reduce waste but also to provide poor communities with a vital resource that we have in excess,” she added. Social ventures are certainly becoming increasingly popular in Hong Kong, with youths actively participating in events offered by many different kinds of organizations that provide the possibility of helping out parts of the world through simple ways. Youth development is a major prompter of Soap Cycling, as it is run by mostly university students. By taking this course (or joining Soap Cycling), students are given the opportunity to see how NGOs are ran and learn to be quick on their feet. “The most rewarding part of joining Soap Cycling is being part of an organization that really helps people in such a simple, yet meaningful way,” she continued. She also emphasized that by getting soap to communities that don’t have daily access to sanitation and lack education in basic hygiene, Soap Cycling is truly making life saving contributions. This month (April is also known as Earth Month), Soap Cycling held a three-day event that volunteers participated in. The usual scraping and sanitizing was involved, but this campaign was even more intense than the regular sessions held at Kwai Hing every weekend. Everyone is welcome to lend a helping hand, and just like what Soap Cycling’s tagline says: Soap. It’s that important.
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By Osama Hussain
STUDENT
The University of Hong Kong is one of the finest institutions of the world; it has a prestige attached to its name and stands in the world ranking as an internationally renowned university. Thousands of students from every corner of the world are enrolled every semester and many set indelible marks and make history. The question of yet greater consequence is, “Are students of HKU happy?” A number of students from diverse backgrounds and nationalities were surveyed on the subject. Here’s a summary of what they had to say. Many international students are studying on scholarships (some don’t even need to pay a penny); moreover, expenses, ranging from food to accommodation, are reasonably subsidized. Notifications about career opportunities and stimulating talks are always making their way to your inbox. Many events and societies are specially working for the interest of the international students. Among all the other things, Chi Wah Learning Commons and Centennial Campus are venerated and loved by almost every student. Global Lounge is a haven for non-local students and holds numerous cultural events representing highlighting the diversity of the student body. International society is always looking for opportunities to unite the students regardless of their nationality. The University Health Service (UHS) caters to the needs of the students and staff in the best possible way. In addition to the facilities for almost any sport, three gyms are available at different locations.
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The campus is adored by many as ‘beautiful’; its diverse makeup ranges from the Victorian style main campus to the Centennial Campus made by the modern man. It is easily accessible and the university shuttles and the bus discounts serve the purpose of keeping transportation costs to a minimum. Moreover, the MTR’s West Island Line, expected to be completed at the end of 2014, will make things much easier, at least for those residing at the Residential Colleges. As for the part that many of us may shy away from, the darker side of HKU – there are some critical points, reasonably pronounced. Although local students and international students are all happy in their respective realms, lack of integration between the two spheres is a fundamental issue. Opportunities for students of different nationalities to come together are always available but it would be better if they were conducted more frequently. As an international student, if you live in a hall that is dominated by local students, chances are that you might see some locals or Mainlanders, perhaps, whom you don’t know at all. The language barrier seems to prevail in almost every corner of the campus: staff members at halls may not understand you or they may get irritated when you ask them to repeat something; the medium of communication used for societies and meetings is not English and it is also not a rare sight to see posters on campus that are entirely inscribed in Chinese. Whatever might be the cause, these things have the effect of compromising the international standing of this university.
"Victoria Harbour" by Phoebe (flic.kr/p/jkapPG) is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Satisfaction Another problem voiced by the students, especially non-locals, of some halls was about the “invasion of privacy” of the students. Word has it that, in some halls, staff members enter anyone’s room if there’s no response after two or three knocks. While students in these halls may feel insecure at times, HKU also offers the Residential Colleges, termed by an exchange student as a “maximum security prison.”
department will recheck it for you but, as the re-appeal document points out in bold and underlined text, “appeal against the academic judgment of the examiners will NOT be entertained.” The money will be refunded if there was any procedural or technical error, not otherwise. The grading criteria also need in transparency, for many students end up with grades that they did not expect, sometimes much better and sometimes far from it.
Academic-wise, the curriculum is not considered very tough but the competition is high, exceedingly so in some fields such as the Faculty of Business and Economics; some take it as a matter of motivation whereas some take it as quite the contrary. The focus paid on studying is more than what is required and some students are often surrounded by coursework. This does not only keep them from enjoying their time, but it also inhibits the development of social and interpersonal skills.
When asked whether they would be better off at some other university, the students responded along varied lines. Many full time international students said that they were happy to be here but the satisfaction level stood at different levels. The local students mostly considered themselves highly fortunate and pleased to be here. Students from Mainland China, given the rigorous competition they go through, also reckoned themselves privileged to have made it to HKU. The exchange students, not surprisingly, compare the standing of this university to that of their respective home universities. Most of them were happy to be here but did not wish to be full time students at HKU for different reasons.
With the increase in Hong Kong’s population and the influx of nonlocals, the university is overcrowded and one often stumbles on a queue in the campus. Perhaps a few more canteens and restaurants could overcome that problem. Many tutors and lecturers are highly intelligent and informed, speak proper English. However some are inexperienced in terms of teaching, while others have a very strong accent or are not proficient at all in speaking English. Moreover, the exam papers are not returned. The question as to why that is so remains a mystery. If you get a grade which is somewhat inferior to what you expected and if you want to see your exam paper, you can’t. If you think you deserved better, well, pay $200 and the concerned
Reverting back to the question under discussion, HKU has had its brighter moments and it is capable of procuring much more. The perks that this university has to offer are nowhere near trivial and as for the criticism, it cannot be condoned but I am certain that our voices will eventually lead to reforms. That aside, I am incredibly delighted to declare that most HKU students are happy to be here, but as for who’s satisfied and who’s not, I would not venture to say.
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"vertical limit" by paul bica (flic.kr/p/bhdeLM) is licensed under CC BY 2.0
What do you wake up to? Jamie Choy
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Walt Whitman’s cries: “O Me! O Life!” borne out of existential anxiety is a crisis that most of us, albeit at mere twenty-something are not entirely unfamiliar with. Amidst corruption, tedium and his own foolishness, Whitman asks the ultimate question: What is the meaning of life?
“Answer. That you are here—that life exists and identity,
That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.”
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Everywhere human beings are looking for meaning. There is an inexplicable need to know that our existence holds weight, that we are not mere shadows. Hong Kong is a vibrant city, but in all her vitality she fails to pause and look inside our hearts. When we think that we have searched every corner, yet the ultimate answer remains elusive, we create our own meaning by trying to leave a mark. At this age, our ambitious selves search for a suitable career, but what happens when our youthful passion comes into conflict with the shiny career goal that society has planned for us? Should students part ways with their ideals and measure themselves according to the capitalist standard for success? Those who choose to pursue slightly less conventional degrees usually face patronizing appraisals: So what are you going to do with that philosophy degree? What exactly is comparative literature? Sometimes, they are seen as rash, reckless and idealistic. Here, in defense of pursuing what you love:
Motivation, the drive behind our actions Motivation is related to intrinsic and extrinsic rewards. It has been argued that whilst we seek extrinsic reward such as good grades and financial pay, intrinsic reward is what makes us persevere even when the material gets difficult. An aspect of intrinsic reward is finding inherent value in our task at hand, which is to say that we need to believe our efforts are not wasted in order to stay motivated1. This follows that if you think that the ‘thing’ you are pursuing is valuable in itself, you will probably work harder at it. Hard work usually translates into a higher GPA which also increases your desirability to employers.
Your degree should neither define nor delimit you Unlike law and medicine, many degrees are not catered towards a specific career. This is unsettling for most students because amidst their future, then, looms a misty cloud of uncertainty. However, there is a common misconception that a degree that is not narrowly tailored for a specific career means that one is less likely to succeed. Many degrees such as liberal arts majors help students develop crucial skills pertinent to many areas of the career field. This includes critical and creative thinking, communication skills, attention to detail, rhetoric and many more.
Your degree does not always relate to your job Many people learn how to do their job whilst they are doing their job. Then, there are those who find jobs completely unrelated to the field they studied in university. In all honesty, this cuts both ways. I have a
friend who majored in history and is now a consultant at a bank, which you may argue smells like hypocrisy but he has no regrets because it was time well spent. It can be problematic when students pursue a degree that does not relate well to any career paths. With that in mind, a compromise can be made by coupling what you love doing with internships that let you refine your skills and improve your resume. You can still stand out.
Your satisfaction matters We already know the damage that stress can do to our mental and physical health. There is also a correlation between happiness and health. However, HKU students’ love for all-nighters suggests that health may not be at the top of our priorities. Quite frankly, when we pick an area of study that does not necessarily translate into a currency of material value, we are picking a path that is not without obstacles. Panic, anxiety, angst – feelings common to HKU students may be intensified for those who are not studying conventional courses. With this in mind, why does our passion matter? Many of us have been taught that our present misery is only a stepping stone towards a futuristic utopia, but this is arguable. You must grab happiness when an opportunity presents itself; you need to guard it before the humdrum capitalistic noise saturates everything and turns it grey. You cannot plan every step of your life, but if what you want to pursue gives you a sense of fulfillment, then, what more do you need to ask for? This article alone cannot persuade you to follow your dreams. First, you must look inside yourself.
“. . . medicine, law, business, engineering . . . these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love . . . these are what we stay alive for.” 1
http://iveybusinessjournal.com/topics/the-workplace/the-fourintrinsic-rewards-that-drive-employee-engagement#.UyFHI_mSzfh
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- The Dead Poets Society
You were never a fan of socializing. Face it: you might not be the hardcore introvert type, but the mere thought of talking to random strangers in campus is enough to give you headache. Especially when you are just that fed up with university life, paying attention to others’ affairs might seem like a luxury when you can barely maintain control of your own. Nonetheless, you are the optimistic type, so you still kept your head high, and stride into the lecture hall with all the courage that you can muster. After all, “a new semester means a brand new start” has always been your motto. You sit down, yearn a bit, and turn to the person sitting next to you…
the Nerd It’s him again, camping on the front row of the lecture hall, staring straight into the professor’s eyes with a lust for knowledge that can never be sated. He’s never the one you wanted to befriend, especially with that extra thick pair of glasses that blocks off any chances in starting an interesting dialogue. However, you were taught to never judge a book by its cover, and being in the same group as him for the project seems to be a very sensible choice.
You wonder what GPA he managed to score last semester. It will certainly hurt your dignity as a student to know. Disagreeing on how he prioritizes things differently from you, and the fact that somebody actually pays attention to studying in University, you can’t help but say to him, “dude, get a life”. But when he turned to you with his flawless mid-term paper and seemingly mocks you by saying, “No man, you try to get a job after graduation”, you have then came to the sudden realization, that you might have been the one doing university wrong.
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the Businessman You bumped into him the other day in University Street in his usual sleek attire—an over-priced suit, overly-greased hair, and a somewhat annoying, over-confident grin. Why is it even necessary to suit up when you are merely going to a lecture? While you were whispering this question to yourself, he was already swiftly approaching you, as a predator hunts down its prey. Even when he seems to be hurrying to some “business events” of his, he always still manages to slip a business card from his pocket into your hand. Heavens, it even has a watermark on it. “Hey, how’re you doing? Got a meeting to catch, though, can’t talk. Definitely should meet up sometimes!” You wish you could be as motivated and resolute as he is, but the thought of having to wear a business suit everyday for no apparent reason is more than enough to send sweat down your chin.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx the Shakespeare Mostly the English major students, fantasizing their life as an epic play on the stage. You always thought that a sprinkle of literature every now and then could cleanse your mind and nourish your thoughts, but when you scroll through your friends Facebook timeline to see nothing but literary quotes and Macbeths, you know you have just acquainted yourself with a Shakespeare fanatic. The good thing about befriending with her? You can always delve into a bit of intellectual talk and make sure that you are honing your scholastic edges. The downside of it? She might turn out to be a grammar nazi, with an obsessive-compulsive disorder in correcting every single word you’ve said. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
the Hippie You have never seen this person in her sober state ever since the first time you met her in the night club. On most Monday morning lectures, she reeks of alcohol, and might have been considered the incarnation of “hangover” itself. Truth be told, it would have been a miracle seeing her appear in the lecture theatre in the first place. Normally you would try to avoid getting in touch with her just to stay out of trouble, but there is one exception-- when you are desperately in need of some hardcore partying, then she would be the perfect choice for company. Her sense of humor, further complemented by her lack of humiliation, is beyond what your mind can fathom. Not bounded by any kind of decree or norm, social deviance is her inborn instinct. She takes no consequences into consideration, and the word “YOLO” (you only live once) seems to have become more and more of a lifestyle choice for her, rather than a joke. Get drunk, get wasted, and get laid. Everybody should try it once when they are still young.
It might have been the sweetest thing seeing these two getting along so well the first week or two-- holding hands where ever they go, feeding each other while they are eating, registering for the exact same courses… That is, until their relationship got a bit “out of hand”. They suddenly seem to be making out in the public and flirting during lecture at a much more frequent rate, and that most certainly bothers you. Or is it just jealousy? You have no idea.
the Quarterback
the Zombie
You were never fond of this brawny barbarian back in high school, and, frankly speaking, the transition into university didn’t make that much of a difference. He used to bully you, snatch stuff out of your schoolbag and take all your lunch money. Now, he (not necessarily the same person though) is actually still bothering you, but on a whole new level -- by taking away all the attention of the girls. You know you definitely hate this guy. Especially since he gained access to the university gym in Flora Ho sports centre and has altered into a pile of muscled disfiguration. He is the team member of any university sports team you can name, and even the sports captain of his hall. Why is he even in university, which is supposed to be a serene and dignified place for pursuing academic excellence?
After a long tiring day, you drag yourself back to your safe haven, relishing the numbness and agony coursing through your whole body. You can't muster a thought about what happened today, and yesterday already seems like a blur. You turn to stare at the calendar, only to be distressed about what will come tomorrow.
Damn, you just loathe this guy.
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the Couple These two have miraculously taken human evolution to a new level, illustrating to fellow mankind that two human beings can actually intertwine into one symbiotic entity. Never has there been a known case of the two of them being physically separated from each other.
If that is the case, congratulations, you have reached the final form of being a college student: the zombie. Yet as monotonous as your life is, you still manage to find a slight bit of contentment from meeting all these amazing people, people from all walks of life, learning and thriving together with them. You are grateful for the joy they bring into your life, because you know that they are the people you call “friends”.
"Campus at night" by Sonya Song (flic.kr/p/4SJdnp) is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Tales of May Hall Andra Au 20
“Fear cuts deeper than swords. Strong as a bear. Fierce as a wolverine.” A well versed Game of Throne Fans might at once recall the scene where this quote is spoken. Among things in HKU that induce fear: GPA, assignment deadlines or not being able to graduate or “chut pool” (find a date), there are also the well-famed HKU ghost stories. And the May Hall ghost story was said to be one of the scariest amongst other HKU ghost story. During the day, next to Meng Wah Complex, is a very pleasant short trail from Eliot Hall to May Hall. Up the concrete trail, penetrating the blowing foliage, shafts of sunlight gently shower on travellers’ shoulder like golden drizzles. Turn left and before you stands the 99 years-old May Hall. The three storey high, Edwardian red-brick house, occupying a siren corner of the campus (when the construction stops), shines shyly under the sun, behind the Eliot Hall and the Chong Yuet Ming Fountain. May Hall at night is a different story: a peculiar white wall blocks the gloomy corridor connecting Eliot Hall and May Hall with eerie yellow lights glowing around you. A perplexing cage-like structure halfhidden in the trees, is visible from the terraces of May Hall’s second floor. Shadowy trees lurking behind the building foreshadows the backyard of May Hall, which is used to be an old basketball court, looks exactly a place for ghost stories. There are several different versions of the story. The following one is a widely circulated on internet forums around 2007, which is more or less similar to the one told during orientation camps.
Many years ago, May Hall used to be an all-boys hall, housing many Malayan students. In 1985, May Hall became part of the Old halls (together with Lugard Hall and Eliot Hall) after Typhoon Wendy seriously devastated the building. For students' convenience, the University built stairs connecting the halls with Bonham Road. The dead spirits of those who were brutally killed at Bonham Road by the invading Japanese during WWII, were guided by these flights of stairs to a basketball court in May Hall.
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May Hall at night is a different story.
It is said that a Feng Shui master said that these stairs were filled with "yin", or dark forces. The University then decided to block the stairs with a white wall so to let the dead spirits have a place to stay as well as prevent students from disturbing them. And at the end of the stairs, there was a basketball court, yet it was rarely used and students usually went to basketball court far away from the campus for practice. It was rumoured that the basketball court was not meant for the students, but for "them", dead spirits of children, because the basketball court, without a rim, was too small. This basketball court was the starting point of the ghost story. The story begins with a male student practising basketball there. Whenever he practised, there was a girl watching him. One day after practice, the male student followed the girl, who went up to the second floor and went into the last room of May Hall. The male student went to ask the hall curator who lives in that room, and was told that it was an empty room. This puzzled him exceedingly. Unsettled by this mystery, the student then went to the library and found in old news that a person died in that room many years ago. The next day, he again followed the girl into May Hall. After the girl entered the room, he peeped inside through the key hole of the door. The thing he saw further puzzled him. What he saw was:
Red.
Black.
Red.
He went to the library again in search for an answer, which after that he never ever dared to go near that room again: When a person dies of hanging, the blood vessel in the eyes will burst and dye the eyes’ conjunctiva red. The colour of the eyes will become red (conjunctiva), black (pupil) and red (conjunctiva). The girl was looking at him at the same time through the keyhole. Ghost story like this usually receive mixed reaction. When I told others of the story, I often got these reactions.. One said: “Waa… that’s really horrible! The story sends chills down my spine. Do human eyes really look like that if you hang yourself?” While another person replied saying, “I have heard of ghost stories like that before, this story can’t scary me at all. This is why ghost stories are interesting: some people believes it and some people don’t. There were also many discussion online concerning the story, sharing their memories concerning the place. Believe it or not depends greatly in what you believe in, but this story constitutes an important part of student life. “When you went into the orientation, you learn the secret. It was a scary secret. And yet now you have it. And now you can scare other people with it.” Said Dr. David Palmer, who teaches courses in Anthropology and Sociology here at HKU. “That is what initiation is like, a rite of passage. They (the stories) scared you but by after scaring you, you became part of your group too!” “So it’s a secret that at the moment you share it, the other people become part of you group.” Though equipped with great knowledge and experience, a professor might also fallen victim of a good university ghost story.
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“Now I need to live with this story. I need to overcome any fear. I am not going to stop going to May Hall. I‘ll keep going there and I will overcome my fear. In a sense... Just like a martial artist or fighter. His fear is always there but he can always overcome it.” said Professor David Palmer Flipping through the magazines celebrating May Hall Jubilee (1915-1965) or the 20 year anniversary of the Old Halls Jubilee, there was only one mentioning of the ghost story. A student belonging to the Old Halls said that ghost story is one of the many impressions people have towards May Hall, without explaining what kind of ghost story is it. At the same time, there was several interesting things recorded in the magazine. Ragging Greenhorns (freshmen) was, apart from vigorous student movements and competitions with other halls (e.g. St. John’s and Ricci), one of the most important thing for students living in the Old Halls. According rto the magazine, Stephen C. L. Chan (陳載澧), past student at Lugard Hall who later established the HKU General Education Unit (now based in May Hall), said that the “Royal Flush” was popular during his stay. The “ceremony” involved putting a Greenhorn’s head into a toilet bowel and the seniors flushed the toilet. While the “Orange Squash” at May Hall, was to smear orange juice onto the Greenhorns’ head, order them not to clean their face and locked them in a room for a night. These memories: the culture and pride of those living in May Hall/ the Old Halls, survived the great typhoon Wendy, but was gone as time went by. One might not remember the “Royal Flush” nor the “Orange Squash”, but the May Hall ghost story might very well live on, as each year, seniors (Joba and Joma) taught the freshmen this scary story.
"May Hall, University of Hong Kong" by Daniel (flic.kr/p/c6JJFL) is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0
“You scared me with it. I have an office in May Hall. Now, you know… I was a little... Even though I don’t believe in ghost (and) ghost stories are scary, so now whenever I go to May Hall I would think of that story. I never think about it before … It will change my experience.”
“Ghost story is that kind of story, because of ghost is a human being but there is an issue of death, suicide and scary appearances. So it's not completely unimaginable, and it's not normal, and appeals to our deep fear.” Sadi Professor Palmer
P.S If you find this story very scary, do read this version. The version is the same except the colour the student saw: green, white, green. What could this be? It was, in fact the girl/ghost, had some green veggie caught between her teeth. P.S.S Dear Ghostbusters, if you want to find out more, I highly recommend you to visit the General Education Unit’s Gatherland in May Hall. It is a cosy place to hang out, to study or to simply drink some coffee. Gatherland is opened from Monday to Friday 9:30am to 6:00pm, which is recommended by the GE staff: “Come at night, and you will know”, said she.
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