As all of you may have
known, globalization affects the culture in our daily lives no matter where you
come from, and when I think of globalization and westernization, Hong Kong is the first place I could think of and, as an international student, hopefully I can describe how globalization
affects the culture in my hometown - Hong Kong.
During the colonial era
under British government till 1997, Hong Kong was introduced different cultures
from all around the world especially from the western countries and was
developed into a trade port and a multi-cultural society with different
cuisines, languages, races and religions. We can easily find people speaking Mandarin, Cantonese, English, Filipino, French or any other languages in Hong Kong. The contemporary Hong Kong is
not simply a multi-cultural society, but a shopping and cuisine paradise as how
people call it.
Nevertheless, though the contemporary Hong
Kong is a well-developed society and there are still some Chinese
Cultures, it is more or less westernized by the British
government, its policy and its education system.
“Prior to
1975 English was the single official language in Hong Kong and Cantonese a
second-class citizen in the language stakes... …After all, many of today’s
older Hong Kong residents were not Cantonese speakers.” Tam, 2009
The local culture (including the ideology) being westernised has crucially affected the destiny of Hong Kong, the most obvious example is the ideology of capitalism instead of
communism that is encouraged in China.
It is impossible to judge if Hong Kong could be better developed without the westernisation. However, it is obvious that under the British government, Hong Kong was developed into a prosperous multi-cultural city. Who knows how Hong Kong would look like if Hong Kong were ruled under the Chinese Government or communism?
It is impossible to judge if Hong Kong could be better developed without the westernisation. However, it is obvious that under the British government, Hong Kong was developed into a prosperous multi-cultural city. Who knows how Hong Kong would look like if Hong Kong were ruled under the Chinese Government or communism?
Reference
Tam,
K 2009, Englishization in Asia, Open
University of Hong Kong Press, Hong Kong, p. 163.
Westernisation affects Hong Kong so much in the colonial era and it also brings advantages more than disadvantages to Hong Kong. Use Hong Kong and Mainland China as examples to show the effect of westernisation. I am not saying that Hong Kong is better than Mainland China; however, there are lots of examples between people in Hong Kong and Mainland China under westernisation. The most and biggest difference between people in Hong Kong and Mainland China is how they act in the city, and how they speak to the public.
ReplyDeleteIt was fascinating reading a post on a specific area grown from colonisation and I'm of the same mind when you argue that there exists Chinese culture, though perhaps slightly westernised, that has impacted on the "destiny of Hong Kong". It truly amplifies the effects within the post-colonial period. But because it retains such a broad and complex history, it is one of the greatest countries to visit.
ReplyDeleteGreat post again, you brought up some interesting points and kept it simple and straightforward. Well done!
it’s a clear and well structure post. I like the quote you use which about HK's official language. This is a clear and strong example to show the Western culture and government in non-Western country - language. And in this case, i strongly recommend you to look at the concept of postcolonialism and postmodernism. You can find it in Topic 1 which help you to understand more about the westernisation and colonialism, and thus the globalization. Academic resource can be used more to make you credible.
ReplyDeleteI like the clear understanding and points that you have made in this piece. I think that this piece could do with a bit more techniques to interest the readers. I found that as I was reading I was skipping some parts and I had to go back and read them over. Maybe some images or videos may have helped a little bit with this? However it is clear that you have a really good understanding of the cultural flows and its effects and how they could be changed depending on who is in control.
ReplyDelete