Hong Kong Heritage Preservation

Hong Kong is well-known for its beautiful night scenery, especially when you look down from the peak. But what can you see? They are all modern and artificial buildings? Turning around backward and you will discover a totally different view- those old and vintage buildings, which are what we called heritage. However, if you asked any tourist or even locals in the peak about the heritage nearby, I am surely the answer will be: I know nothing about them. That is the reason why we need to preserve the heritage-we are so lacking of knowledge and understanding toward our heritage, surroundings and more importantly-history.

Many may question why do we need to put so much attention or resources to heritage preservation? In fact, heritage isn’t just talking about that particular building but it is representing the history or we can say in this way: heritage is history itself. History is the base of a country because we always learn from history so as to evaluate ourselves and make a fruitful future. And heritages are the strongest prove of a country’s development. This shows there is a crucial need of keeping history for public society. According to Dr. Tang Wing-shing (2008) “Hong Kong has traditionally been a consuming society that is too focused on the now. It does not help that little attention has been paid to educating about heritage in our schools.” (p.1)Without history, country won’t be able to survive just like a person can’t live without memories. These kinds of history are not just for present generation but also the next generation. Instead of learning history from textbook, heritage is the best teaching materials to educate people.

 

Heritages are not past tense, but they got potential to create something new. With the presence of heritages, people can continue visiting those history and get inspiration from them. By continuous interacting with the past, people can thus create their own history and story. The key point is that we need to keep those origins and also the footages created along.

On the other hand, there is one main reason why we need to preserve heritage-the values behind. Heritages provide historical, educational and artistic values. Values can influence people, both locals and non-locals, on different aspects, for example the most common area: how they think about this city. Values built up by heritages can create sense of belonging of citizens toward the city. According to Professor Ricardo Mak (2008) “Preserving structures that reflect or conjure a sense of history enriches Hong Kong’s diversity, character, culture and traditions. Heritage preservation also promotes a collective identity among a group of people.”(P.1) Losing heritage means we are facing losing our unique value in the world. We don’t have any special feature to show the world.

It is sad to hear that people claim’ Economic development should be prioritized over preservation of heritages.’ At the same time, they hope government will pay more effort on economy or other issues like housing problem etc. There is no doubt that there must be certain degree of importance of solving those problems. However, in order to make Hong Kong a fully developed city, we should plan the development under the principle of sustainability. Sustainability includes the balance between social, economic and environmental aspects. According to the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) ranking in 2012, Hong Kong is ranked around 37 among the world which is an acceptable place. Although there are still plenty of opportunities for Hong Kong to raise the economic competitiveness, we can’t deny that economy in HK is already on a developed level. Compare to social and environmental aspects, we are definitely paying less awareness.

Being a well-developed city, even if Hong Kong ranked at the top of the list of GDP, it doesn’t mean that HK is a fully successful city. What we need to consider is the balance between economic and cultural or social aspects. Compare the pattern of GDP per capita ranking and HPI which stands for happy index for several places, using US and HK as more developed countries while Vietnam and Brazil are less developed countries.US and HK are ranked as 6 which is much higher than that of Vietnam (134) and Brazil (81). But if we observe their happy index, the result is totally reversed. Vietnam and Brazil are ranked higher than that of US and HK. This reveals that economic development doesn’t mean everything. Even though everyone can earn a living and enjoy high standard living condition, citizens may not be happy- the atmosphere of the society can still remain terrible.

 

In my point of view, although heritage preservation is very essential thing to deal with, we still need to stick with reality. It means we need to make sure preserving heritage can bring maximize benefits to different stakeholders. There are many suggested ways to achieve this goal and I would like to introduce a solution that satisfies both economic and cultural concerns- Heritage Tourism. According The National Trust for Historic Preservation, heritage tourism is defined as “traveling to experience the places, artifacts and activities that authentically represent the stories and people of the past and present.”Before launching heritage tourism, buildings may need to carry out redevelopment project which definite as keeping external architectural design but changing its function. For the economic benefits, tourism attracts more tourists to visit local heritages and thus stimulate economic activities like shops and restaurants, in particular districts. For the cultural aspect, not only we can keep the heritage, we can further promote special features and history of the heritages to the world. This provides a chance for cultural and information exchange and also varies the image of HK.

In fact, heritage tourism has been carried for several years and US is one of the successful cases. According to the studies on US, cultural tourism has consistently shown that heritage travels stay longer and spend more money. Between 1996 & 2002, heritage travel increased by 13% compared to US travel overall (5.6%). This proves that heritage tourism isn’t a written solution but it is practical and achievable.

To conclude, there are still lot of works can be done by HK government to preserve our valuable heritages. Due to the special ownership of some heritages, we have already lost part of the history of HK. The HK government should work on this issue and ensure the next generation can still able to see those histories of HK. To solve this problem and balancing out the benefits of different groups of people, heritage tourism should be adopted.

 

 

 

Reference List

Tang Wing-shing. (2007/2008). Built heritage in focus. New Horizons Hong Kong Baptist University, 3. Retrieved from http://cpro.hkbu.edu.hk/online_pub/nh0708_3/p4-10.pdf

 

The Historic/Cultural Traveler, , Travel Industry Association of America and Smithsonian Magazine. (2003) .Travel Industry Association of America Travel Scope survey [Data file].Retrieved from

http://www.nasaa-arts.org/Research/Key-Topics/Creative-Economic-Development/Cultural-Visitor-Profile.php

 

Cheryl M. Hargrove. (2002). Heritage Tourism. Cultural Resource Management, 1 .Retrieved from

http://hisp323.umwblogs.org/files/2013/09/hargrove-cheryl.pdf

 

 

Word Count: 1090

Infographic- Heritage Preservation

Analytical Essay -What should I major in?

After studying visual arts in secondary school, I decided to continue my art journey in the coming four years. Fortunately, this dream comes true. But now, I need to make another important decision- choosing my major. There are three majors for selection: Bachelor of Arts in Creative Media (BA), Bachelor of Arts and Science in New Media (BAS) and Bachelor of Science in Creative Media (BSC).

 

By considering personal interest, I restricted my choice into two which eliminate BSC.. There is once a saying ‘You won’t feel hard when you are doing something that you love’. In the past few years of creating artworks, a more artistic presentation is the approach I called out for like painting, 3D figuring etc. And I never feel tired of this. New ideas are always like sea wave flooding from my mind. Unlike the other two majors, BSC requires students taking computing science as one of their core. This core mostly covers on the software structure and breakdown. However, when it comes to using software, there is only one concern for me – how to use them wisely to achieve optimum visual effect? This aim is totally different from the Science Department which emphasis on the technology underlying digital media. I acknowledged that there is close relationship between arts and science but I understand that I am not into exploring how a digital application can run from zero into a convenient invention.

 

Then it is time to pick and kick something out. Indeed there is similarity between rests of the two majors: they let students to discover more on new media and also know more about themselves. In fact, there are three common cores for BA and BAS. Another attractive reason is that there are plenty of supporting resources like the rich equipment and studio rooms in creative media centre, which allow students to explore more and will not be restricted by traditional media. Taking creative media studio II as example, this course will teach students about production techniques in moving-image making and sound production in order to let them to find out what they want to concentrate on in the future.

 

After reviewing the similarities, it almost feels like choosing between bread and butter. But there is one main difference between these two majors which can be observed right the way by their names- BAS still keep the scientific elements. Although based on the course outline, those science-related courses will finally link up the bridge between science and arts. Taking Mathematics and Arts as example, the syllabus covers basic mathematical concepts and techniques that artists used, including: symmetry, perspective and projective geometry. This content can relate to media arts but compare with those courses offered by Bachelor of Arts, I am definitely less interested in.

 

Lastly, there is one big difference can help me make up my mind – electives selection. There is restriction of selecting electives for BAS. They require students to choose at least 18 electives under the Arts and Sciences and Computational Arts, Visualization, and Simulation. This basically reveals the importance of balancing scientific and artistic knowledge for the undergraduates. The total number of credits required for electives is 33 that mean the restriction has already controlled more than half of the part. Personally, I don’t want to be limited as I consider electives is an effective way to broader my vision toward new media and continue developing some of my own interest for instance wearables, Art Criticism and New Media Art Theory and History etc.

 

To conclude, after considering personal interest, common core, electives selection and course aim, I decided to choose Bachelor of Arts as my major. I believed that this major can offer me a precious chance to explore more about new media arts and make me an adventurous person who is willing to face different challenges in the future courageously.

The homeland of canal, Amsterdam (Descriptive Writing)

I was sitting on the boat which anchored along the canal and enjoying my brunch accompanied with the polished music performance. Where was I? This was Amsterdam.

 

Amsterdam is a fascistic place to travel if you want to escape from your overloading schedule. Once I arrived, I could almost feel the power of the nature-totally attracted by the stunning scenery. I was surrounded by the endless green forest and numerous canals. The water was shining like sapphire as if it was the bluest place in the world. The whole image appeared just like a painting without any need of further editing. Other than fulfilling my yearning for the amazing city scenery, I would like to attend one of the highlight events in Amsterdam when it came to summer-the Grachten festival.

 

Grachten festival is an annual summer music festival take place in Amsterdam since 1998. At this point of year, locals and tourists will gather around at different specific locations in Amsterdam to attend the live music performance. For me, due to the personal addiction toward canals, I chose to attend the late morning section that took place along canal with no hesitation.

 

Before the show started, there were already countless boats anchored along the canal. This almost formed a small picturesque cinema on the water surface. I was one of the lucky one that could take a seat on the boat in a comfort position. Everyone is so random and causal-looking. There wasn’t any pressure for you need to behave like nobles who are going to attend a banquet.

 

My friends from Amsterdam were so kind that they prepared food for me. I felt like surround with bursting warmness. I was sitting on the boat, enjoying my brunch and the music at the same time. People moved their bodies by following the beat of music. This moment was so precious for everyone here. People abandoned their ceremonious and glamorous clothing but wear causal outfit. People stopped spending time to chat but sit quietly to listen to the music and also the voice in their heart. I could unwind myself entirely and try to feel this city. The saltiness of the water and sweetness of pancake on dining table balanced each other out. The colorful housing were holding hands with one another and waiting for the show to begin. The soft music slowly faded in to my ear. I felt like sitting in a coffee shop and the music accomplished my day.

 

Some people said you need to observe the changing of the city between day and night in order to get a comprehensive image. When it came to the night, all the housing and building tore off their masks and showed their true colors. All the buildings were lightened up and formed a brand new spectacle. The lighting from the buildings reflected on the water surface as like as sprinkling a jar of golden shimmer. The bars were all opened and ready for the big party to get the ball roll. It left the street kind of empty and silence. But with this presence of stillness, I could continue to take a walk and look even deeper into this irresistible charming city-Amsterdam.