Education and Leisure/Tourism in Hong Kong, Field Trip to low cost housing in Kowloon

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I was looking forward to lectures today especially because they concerned education and leisure/tourism. As a teacher, I love to research the differences between education in the United States and other countries. I know quite a bit about education in China and was excited to learn about Hong Kong education. The major differences in Hong Kong vs. China is that their education is partly to promote the sociopolitical and economic aspects of society. For example, promoting the capitalist economy and "one country, two systems." Another difference is that the schools are preparing students for a knowledge based society rather than an industrial society. After China regained control of Hong Kong, changes were made to education including reducing the examination burden on the students, broadening the curriculum, and using Chinese as the medium of instruction rather than English.

The leisure and tourism lecture was informative, and I learned about what it is to be a global city. Hong Kong ranks in the top 10 global cities in the world. Other cities include New York, Tokyo, Paris, and London. The best part of the lecture was when Hong Kong's Kowloon district was discussed. There was recently a contest to design what an part of the area should be designed like to promote cultural development. A "city park" design by a man named Foster was chosen. I believe that when they build they should consider the needs of residents, tourists, and mainland Chinese residents. For the area to be successful, all three groups of people should be engaged in the area.

The field trip to Shek Kip Mei and Sham Shui Po was enlightening. I was unaware of the low cost housing situation in Hong Kong. For example, there are people in Hong Kong that live in a 650 sq foot apartment, literally in their own "cage" with 18 other people! We were only able to see the outside of the building, which you can see from the pictures. I can only imagine what living in these apartments is actually like. We also went to Apliu street and saw the "Thieves' Market" and many mobile phone stores. Many of the items are second hand, or in one reading I was given, said to have fallen off the back of a truck somewhere.

Tomorrow we have lectures on environment and sustainable development as well as Hong Kong Heritage. After the second lecture we are going to eat traditional basin food.

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