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The Red Patriot - District of Chinese Supremacy
The Red Patriot - District of Chinese Supremacy
On a late fall day, my group mates and I were discussing which district we should look into for our “Langscape” project. That is a project that requires us to inspect and analyse the language use and the landscape of a selected area in Hong Kong.
“Wan Chai, ” my Western-philic group mates shouted, “it’s a nice place for the project! We will see interesting street names, mixed use of Chinese and English and the heavy influence of British culture!” “You mean remnants from the shameful colonial period? No way!” I muttered, but was ignored as usual. And so we headed to Wan Chai.
To be frank, the district does make itself a fascinating metropolitan area. Glittering skyscrapers decorate the horizon, tidy and wide highways reveal the wealth of the city and the exquisite displays of shops make every pedestrian feel pleasant. However, these gadgetries did not stop me from feeling disgusted.
Once I stepped out of the Wan Chai Railway Station, I was first hit hard by the hybrid use of English, Cantonese and Putonghua as I heard someone said, “Is Jason here?” Why should a Chinese be named Jason? “Guān yú zhè gè circumstance…” Oh my God! They even combined Putonghua sentences with English vocabulary!
Then, the disgust kept on when we strolled into several more streets. Right on the land of China, I saw streets which were named after invaders. Thomson Road? Fleming Road? Hennessy Road? Hennessy was the Governor who had imposed mandatory English lessons on Hong Kong and ordered to shorten the time of Chinese lessons. He disgraced our mother language and now a street on China’s soil is named after him! I was deeply enraged at the moment.
“Is this the Langscape here?” I lamented. Then, we found we had strolled into an area surrounded by tenement-houses and most signboards were in Chinese entirely.
This scenery struck me and reminded me that it was the famous Inner Urban of Wan Chai, the place in which traditions of our nation were kept. My happiness immediately took control of my legs and drove me into one of the oldest place of this area - Wan Chai Street Market.
As soon as we entered the market, the hateful sounds of Chinglish were completely replaced by sheer Cantonese and Putonghua. From what we could hear no one was named by any English name and not a single sentence was spoken in the supplement of English vocabulary. Sometimes I could even hear old Cantonese slangs like “jau4 zi1 zai2” (油脂仔; Oily boys; punks) and “mai1 dai1 fu2 tau4”(咪打虎頭; Don’t hit the tiger’s head; don’t be dishonest.) How delightful it was comparing to what I had experienced outside this Inner Urban. This joyfulness led me to walk further deeper into this interesting market.
What a sight here that though English was sometimes seen and heard here, it became the minority under the dominance of Chinese. If you are loyal to your nation and mother language, you would be extraordinarily pleasant to see a large portion of banners and menus of restaurants were all in Chinese. It was like saying, “Hey, if you want to be our customer, learn Chinese first!”
Seeing the Chinese supremacy here some ignorant traitors may think it is unwise to sacrifice tourist income for clinging to our own mother language. Here I must declare the theory that English means tourist income is absolutely a fallacy. Mr. Choi, the owner of a Thai product shop, who kindly answered to our interview for the project, said,” Our customers are of many different nationalities, like Japanese, Koreans, Americans or even Indians. But we only spoke a little English since surprisingly many visitors are able to communicate in Chinese.”[2] His claim is supported by another interviewee, Ms. Koo, who ran a clothe-alteration business in the market. She said, “I meet lots of Filipinos and Thais every day. Most of them can tell what they want with simple Chinese phrases.”[3]
How amazing it was! Though being surrounded by blocks of Western-philic streets and sounds of Chinglish, the people in Wan Chai market clung to their own language, never compromised to the fallacy that English means more income, forging a Langscape for Wan Chai that every Chinese should be proud of. “Patriotism must be founded on great principals and supported by great virtue.”(Henry Bolingbroke) and what can be more virtuous than clinging to your mother language and culture after a hundred and fifty years of foreign governance?
Come to check out Wan Chai Market and streets around it! Instead of “experiencing the mix of the West and the East” as what is constantly promoted by the government, you will see a Langscape that our mother language vibrantly resisting the English dominance in Hong Kong!
On a late fall day, my group mates and I were discussing which district we should look into for our “Langscape” project. That is a project that requires us to inspect and analyse the language use and the landscape of a selected area in Hong Kong. “Wan Chai, ” my Western-philic group mates shouted, “it’s a nice place for the project! We will see interesting street names, mixed use of Chinese and English and the heavy influence of British culture!” “You mean remnants from the shameful colonial period? No way!” I muttered, but was ignored as usual. And so we headed to Wan Chai.
To be frank, the district does make itself a fascinating metropolitan area. Glittering skyscrapers decorate the horizon, tidy and wide highways reveal the wealth of the city and the exquisite displays of shops make every pedestrian feel pleasant. However, these gadgetries did not stop me from feeling disgusted.
Once I stepped out of the Wan Chai Railway Station, I was first hit hard by the hybrid use of English, Cantonese and Putonghua as I heard someone said, “Is Jason here?” Why should a Chinese be named Jason? “Guān yú zhè gè circumstance…” Oh my God! They even combined Putonghua sentences with English vocabulary!
Then, the disgust kept on when we strolled into several more streets. Right on the land of China, I saw streets which were named after invaders. Thomson Road? Fleming Road? Hennessy Road? Hennessy was the Governor who had imposed mandatory English lessons on Hong Kong and ordered to shorten the time of Chinese lessons. He disgraced our mother language and now a street on China’s soil is named after him! I was deeply enraged at the moment.
“Is this the Langscape here?” I lamented. Then, we found we had strolled into an area surrounded by tenement-houses and most signboards were in Chinese entirely.
This scenery struck me and reminded me that it was the famous Inner Urban of Wan Chai, the place in which traditions of our nation were kept. My happiness immediately took control of my legs and drove me into one of the oldest place of this area - Wan Chai Street Market.
As soon as we entered the market, the hateful sounds of Chinglish were completely replaced by sheer Cantonese and Putonghua. From what we could hear no one was named by any English name and not a single sentence was spoken in the supplement of English vocabulary. Sometimes I could even hear old Cantonese slangs like “jau4 zi1 zai2” (油脂仔; Oily boys; punks) and “mai1 dai1 fu2 tau4”(咪打虎頭; Don’t hit the tiger’s head; don’t be dishonest.) How delightful it was comparing to what I had experienced outside this Inner Urban. This joyfulness led me to walk further deeper into this interesting market.
What a sight here that though English was sometimes seen and heard here, it became the minority under the dominance of Chinese. If you are loyal to your nation and mother language, you would be extraordinarily pleasant to see a large portion of banners and menus of restaurants were all in Chinese. It was like saying, “Hey, if you want to be our customer, learn Chinese first!”
Seeing the Chinese supremacy here some ignorant traitors may think it is unwise to sacrifice tourist income for clinging to our own mother language. Here I must declare the theory that English means tourist income is absolutely a fallacy. Mr. Choi, the owner of a Thai product shop, who kindly answered to our interview for the project, said,” Our customers are of many different nationalities, like Japanese, Koreans, Americans or even Indians. But we only spoke a little English since surprisingly many visitors are able to communicate in Chinese.”[2] His claim is supported by another interviewee, Ms. Koo, who ran a clothe-alteration business in the market. She said, “I meet lots of Filipinos and Thais every day. Most of them can tell what they want with simple Chinese phrases.”[3]
How amazing it was! Though being surrounded by blocks of Western-philic streets and sounds of Chinglish, the people in Wan Chai market clung to their own language, never compromised to the fallacy that English means more income, forging a Langscape for Wan Chai that every Chinese should be proud of. “Patriotism must be founded on great principals and supported by great virtue.”(Henry Bolingbroke) and what can be more virtuous than clinging to your mother language and culture after a hundred and fifty years of foreign governance?
Come to check out Wan Chai Market and streets around it! Instead of “experiencing the mix of the West and the East” as what is constantly promoted by the government, you will see a Langscape that our mother language vibrantly resisting the English dominance in Hong Kong!
EN2707 |
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