by Chad Westmacott special to Imprint am sitting in a tai chi garden in Hong Kong Park. It is the middle of November as I sit here in a suit (I just finished work), but it is slightly too warm to wear the jacket, so it is lying beside me. I guess I should mention that I am a student (I’ve actually learned the Cantonese for that-it helps you to barter!) and I’m here in Hong Kong for eight months on a co-op term. Well, two and a half of those months are gone, and 1 have so little time left here, I’m writing to share a little joy with you. Cheesy but true; Hong Kong is so fabulous, I just have to share it. As I was saying, I’m sitting in a tai chi garden in Hong Kong Park. It is dusk, and the sun is playing colour games with the one cloud in the sky. It is white now, but when I was writing “so fabulous,” it was a vibrant pink. Very stunning, especially with the background noises of water falling (there is a fountain nearby) and of exotic birds from the large aviary. I walked through the aviary one day (and I’m sure I’ll do it again) and it contained very interesting birds; I don’t remember the names, but then again I was too busy watching them to memorize names. And the bird aviary is only one small part of Hong Kong Park. Now Hong Kong Park, like most places in Hong Kong, is something you just stumble upon. Tour books are good for getting you out of the flat, but it’s the things that you just fall upon that make Hong Kong so fantastic. We - two other students from UW and myself - stumbled upon this place one day after work. We were walking home and decided to adventure up a concrete path (we are wild!) and lo and behold, we came upon a sign for the park. At this point, I ventured off alone because my roommates wanted to go home and I wanted to see the park. I had just come from the office (sounds professional, eh!) and was walking in a sea of buildings, attacBed by the sharks of this ocean: the cars, trucks, trams, and crowds. The sky sometimes popped through the tops of the building; I’ve since realized that there is a lot of sky here - it just hides itself at first. Needless to say I was not expecting to find this virtual oasis amongst the concrete world. As I mentioned though, you just stumble upon things. And right now you are witness to a stumble. I (just the paragraph before) had to leave this article, but now 1 returned to the park to continue writing and 1 have stumbledbut upon what I’m not sure yet. You see, I wasjust walking back to the tai chi garden, and I saw these chairs set up in the open amphitheatre, and so I had to see what was going on. It’s a bunch of people in white military uniforms with instruments called the RAF (Royal Air Force) band, and this is an annual event called “Promenade In The Park”an open air concert sponsered by Radio 4, the classical radio station here. I know classical music in the park is not very oriental, but it is very Hong Kong. Holst’s “Jupiter” is being played and the large Bank of China tower looms overhead. The music just floats around as you sit here, just a face in a large crowd (although small by Hong Kong standards). I used to make fun of people for liking classical, but it is beautiful if you just let it flow through you, which is what I am going to do now... Cool, now we have Arabian nights dancing with the beat of Dixieland. You can almost see the desert, the dromedaries and a little
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Dixieland band playing on its hump. Now Big Band has stole the stage. Come dance with the joy of life. y one roommate and I went to Landau Island for the day. Landau Island is the biggest island in Hong Kong, but it still relatively untouched by Western or Asian business so it contains a definite charm. But after a 45minute ferry ride, a chocolate bar from a local Park and Shop makes you happy that some businesses have come to the island. Anyway, I do not really want to talk about the island in detail, but rather I want to talk about what happened on the island. We had been walking on the concrete path throughout the hills (the human hand is everywhere here) and passed many Buddhist monasteries (seriously, not tourist ones, they were real) to reach the old-fashioned town of Tung Chung. The path finally led us to a road. Ambling along this road, as anyone might on this warm Sunday afternoon, was a cow. It was even considerate enough to walk on the sidewalk so that motorists could pass it. As the cow sauntered off, we walked the other way, still in search of Tung Chung. This road seems to be in the middle of China (although slightly more developed) because of the fields that lay alongside the road and the winding concrete paths running through the fields. And the people! These people were truly beautiful. They were the old ladies and men of the village and they were wearing large wicker hats to keep the hot sun off their worn faces. When we said hello to them, they just smiled and laughedI don’t think many gweilo (the term for white personssometimes derogatory, depending on how you take it) come to this part of the island. As we walked farther we decided to go to Tung Chung Fort instead of the village because it was right there and the town was still a little unknown distance off. The Tung Chung Fort was a fort used by the Qing dynasty of China and then later, the British. Now it is a rural school and a council house, but the walls and the lookout towers still remain. There was Chinese opera music and singing in the air while we walked up the path to the fort. Entering the arches of the fort, we saw why: there was a concert being put on in the school yard. It was a band with Chinese style
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instruments (I won’t bother to explain, they really weren’t weird but just different) and two people singing a Chinese opera. Of course I could not understand, but that really didn’t take away from the magic of the situation.
One of the most interesting things was who this concert was for. All around there were locals as I’ve already discussed. They were sitting watching this opera being sung by, I assumed, teachers or performers from the region. I think they were trying to give the locals a bit of their culture on a Sunday afternoon. Well, it worked, and we were able to see a bit of this culture too. The singing bounced off the walls and into the souls of the ladies and men. There they sat, out of place on blue plastic chairs, under their large wicker hats, absorbing the experience 96 1 was. But it all seemed so natural too- even the video camera that the one old man had, taping the entire thing from the top of the wall that used to make up the fort. It is truly hard to describe all the beauty, wonder, and joy of Hong Kong in words alone. The only way to feel what 1 feel is to come here and walk the streets of Sai Ying Pun (an area here), smelling the seafood stores, or go sit in a tai chi garden, or share a sidewalk with thousands of people or a cow, depending on what part of Hong Kong you are visiting. A bus advertising Hong Kong for the Hong Kong tourist association says “Where wonders never cease” and this is the best description of Hong Kong that I could ever give of Hong Kong - wonders never cease.
M~SIC...MUSIC...MUSIC Join Us...Everyone Wekome!! Auditions sturt Jan. 4,1996 Sign up at Music Office, Conrad Grebel College
INSTRUMENTALENSEMBLE: Stage Band: Michael Wood, Director. Monduys, 7:00 - 9:00 p.m,, CGC room 156, First rehearsal: Jan. 8, 1996,
CHORAL ENSEMBLES: Chapel Choir: Sheryl Loeffler, Director. Mondays & Wednesdays, 330 - 500 p,m., CGC Chapel. First rehearsal: Jan, 8, 1996, Chamber Choir:Kenneth Hull, Director. Tuesdays &Thursdays, 3:30 - SO0 p.m., CGC Chapel, First rehearsal: Jun. 9, 1994. University Choir: John Tute, Director. Tuesdays, 7 - 9:30 p.m., CGC Chapel. First rehearsal: Jan. 9, 1996. Credit is available for participation in the above groups... *Register for Music 116, Music 117,2 l&217,3 16,3 17. All number apply to ensembles. *For
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For more information call the CGC Music Office 885-0220, ext. 226.