This UK Study Tour has brought to me a Culture unveiled.  As an English major student, I have always thought of Britain as a cultural empire that belongs to the past, in which they said that they would rather lose India than Shakespeare. My understanding of the British culture has always been shaped by my study of classic English literature.  My perception of the culture is almost limited to the pages that I read and write about.  This tour, however, provided me with the first-hand experience, interacting with the local people, tasting authentic British food, all introduces to me who the British are in real life.  Although I only had six days in London during the trip, I came to realize that the British is truly distinct from the rest of the Europe.  Prior to the trip, I have always regarded British people as European, and never understood why people would say “the British and the Europeans.” During my days in London, I realized that the British are a lot more reserved, polite, and cold. Their culture is more distinct, isolated, and is influenced less by the continental European culture when it comes to visual art, drama, and food.  There are certainly more similarities between, for example, Spanish food and Italian food, while British food is more of one of its kind. These differences remind me of Japanese in Asia.  Similar to the distinction between the British versus the European, the Japanese also refer to themselves as Japanese, which is different from the Asians.  Similarly, Japan also composes isolated islands from the continental Asia, and the Japanese people also tend to be more polite and less communal.

Being the former colony of the UK, it feels complicated travelling around London.  There are certainly similarities between Hong Kong and London: the announcements in the tube, and the familiar traffic lights, etc. Yet it definitely feels foreign at the same time: Londoners are more polite and quite than Chinese people.  After the handover, Hong Kong seems to have gone through the the reverse of evolution: people stopped giving seats to pregnant women and elderlies, together with holding the door for the one coming behind you. I would not blame it on the mainlanders in Hong Kong because that is the case too in the university campus.  The English proficiency of Hong Kong people is the same case as suggested in the ongoing debate of teaching medium in local schools. It has deteriorated to an alarming level, especially among school children, and even university students. Therefore, in a way, this trip to London feels like the temporary return of the prodigal son to me.

This visit is arguably a disillusionment of the “big Chinese dream.”  If one is familiar with the Hong Kong media, one is easily led to believe how strong China is and how influential it will become in the coming decades.  There is, however, a much darker side to it.  The economic development of China keeps out eyes off the political instability: the detention of Ai Weiwei (who is now released), the deteriorating human rights, and the democracy that we are never going to reach.  This visit to London reminds me of how strong Europe and the UK still are and China still has a long way to go.  Being a strong country is never just about money.  When all the educated and the clear-minded are trying to leave and escape the country (think Ai Weiwei, for example), there is certainly something wrong with the way the country is governed.

The British culture is also more “cultured,” to put it bluntly.  People would read newspapers in the tube rather than playing with their phones (yet perhaps that has to do with the fact that the mobile network does not cover the tube stations). There are free newspapers around every street corner and posters for drama and musicals inside every tube station.  This “culture” is something that Hong Kong people never inherited from the British, and is not likely to nurture it in the foreseeable future.  Regardless, I was inspired to pick up a book again and stop playing with my phone in the MTR from now on.  I hope I can keep up to this habit and at least influence people around me to do the same.