Spring Bookclub - Why do “Good” people disagree?

After a hiatus of 2 years forced on us by the coronavirus pandemic, Spring Bookclub reconvened this afternoon at our church.  30+ of us gathered at the church to discuss the question using Jonathan Haidt’s book as a basis for discussions.  We include additional material such as loads of practical examples familiar to us, such as the recent encounters with wild boars in Hong Kong.  We also include relevant input from the Bible and discussions on authoritarianism in addition to liberalism and conservatism.  Finally, having note the gulf of differences between the groups, what can we do to move forward?

The bookclub had started in 2013.  We meet once a month, whenever possible.  We do have to skip some months when the church calendar is extremely busy, such as Christmas, and when I am away on service-learning projects, typically in summer.  We read books on history, religion, science, philosophy, …, anything that pose challenges to our faith.  We want to understand the world, its affairs, and how we should respond.  

This time, we discuss how we make moral decisions.  How we think fast and slow.  How emotion dominates reason in our decision making.  How we make judgements quickly with intuition, then use reasoning to amend our judgments.  How our judgements affect others, whose judgements, in turn, affect us.  How we make decisions intuitively first, and then use reasoning to justify our decisions later.  How we think as a group, rather than as independent individuals.  …

We also discuss how we do what we know we should not, and not do what we should.  How the academic world avoids the spiritual domain.  How reason and faith should go hand in hand, rather than separately or even against each other. 

The discussion induced lots of sharing, and generated challenging questions. Much of which cannot be answered easily and quickly. For example, do we make decisions about faith intuitively and then use reason to justify them?  Are we condemned to let emotion dominate reason in our decisions?  That is just natural.  If these questions are easy to answer, then the world would not be in such a mess now.  But we should have the courage to face these questions head on.  They challenge us to go and study and think a lot more, both about the world, and with our faith.  But not to retreat into a shell and avoid having to face hard questions.  

Today we had a lively first session, out of a planned set of three.  We plan to convene again in January.  We are looking forward to it already.  God bless us all. 

Working on the Street - Odd Jobs

Health inspector taking a photo surreptitiously?

Migrant workers sending goods home. 

Catching a bite to eat on the job.

Clearing the mountains of ubiquitous styrofoam boxes.  

Collecting stamps - from supermarkets. 

Snapshots of just some of the hard working people on the streets.  

Working on the Street - Food

Common scenes on the street in Hung Hom - food related. 

Chopping bones.  Look at the size of that chopper, wielded by a regular-sized lady. 

Dressing up roasted meats.  Pork, chicken, ducks, pigeons, … Quintessentially Hong Kong food - found on the table in the most posh hotels as well as the humblest homes in public housing. 

Serving popular cooked dishes.  Relatively inexpensive way to have a decent meal.  Part of the reason many people, even families, do not cook anymore. 

Selling egg waffles, watched by admirers.  Many childhood treats have disappeared.  This seems to be going strong still.

Roasted chestnuts and yams.  Comfort food for the masses.  My favourites.  

Don’t walk too fast.  You are going to miss the fun on the street. 

Anita Mui

Looking back, It appears that this is the first time that I write about an entertainer.  I am not sure how to do it.  But I feel I should.  I went to see the movie Anita because I have heard so much about it.  Several of my friends, good friends, have been talking about it, writing in Facebook about it, deeply touched by it.  It seems they are touched by her singing and acting, loyalty to her friends, care for people who suffer, nostalgia for her times - which is also our times.  

So I went to see it.  I am not disappointed.  It is all that and more.  I have never paid to go to a concert at the Hung Hom Coliseum by pop singers.  But I love Mui’s deep voice.   There is something about her childhood in poverty, having to sing to earn a living when just a child, having to miss school, working so hard to succeed, courage to try so many new things, creating so many new images, being so loyal to people around her, and so generous in giving of herself.  Each of these is not totally common. But the combination is not commonly seen.  

There is also a feeling that even she might find it challenging to live through these times.  When many of the things that she did would have gotten her into trouble.  She would be under huge pressure to change sides, or at least to stay silent.  And the movie itself. It is amazing that it can be made, and shown in these times.  The people who made it are very smart, steering it in such a way that touch so many, without crossing so many hidden lines.  

We pray that the human spirit does not die.  That we continue to work hard for something that is worthy, have the courage to do the right thing, be kind to people and have faith.  May God help us.  

Global Classroom - Socially Responsible Leadership

This semester we are experimenting with yet another new initiative.  We have been cooperating with a course from the University of Maryland for a number of years.  Ours is a service-learning course with Socially Responsible Global Leadership.  Maryland’s is a course on Global Leadership.  We have 5 joint classes conducted jointly, in a global classroom format, through video conferencing.  For the rest of the time, each of us conduct our own teaching activities.  This format is not new.  

What is new is that, for the first time, we have opened our course to students from member universities of the University Social Responsibility Network.  Hence we are getting students from Xian Jiaotung University and Sichuan University in Mainland China, Kyoto University from Japan, and University of Pretoria from South Africa.  This is on top of our own students from Hong Kong, Korea, Kazakhstan, Mainland China, India and Taiwan.  This truly a cosmopolitan class. 

This year, we put the students to work on refugees.  They are split into 6 groups, with multiple nationalities in each group.  A student from Hong Kong can be working with a student from USA, another from Mainland China, and another from South Africa.  They can choose refugees from a specific country who are in another country, in transit or settled.  These include Afghans in Canada, Afghans in Germany, Somalians in Kenya,  hundreds of refugees cramped on a small boat on an open sea. etc.  They research on the issue, and make a proposal for a presentation on the group chosen.  At least 2 groups decided to present their case as the experience of a 16 year old girl living as a refugee in a foreign country, using realistic situations to issue their experience. There are lots of creative use of research, storytelling, narration, maps, photos, videos, animations, virtual exhibits, …  For example, at one point, a refugee fleeing from Somalia to Kenya was asked to fill in a health form, in a language, terminologies and concepts that she does not understand, …  When one is staring at such a form in front of you, knowing that filling it out properly has a great bearing on your future, how is one supposed to handle that?  

There is an interesting twist in the teaching team as well.  In the past, the joint course has been taught by 2 Chinese professors from PolyU, jointly with 2 Americans from Maryland.  At one point we had a Korean-black female professor from Maryland, but by and large they are white Americans.   This year Dr. G and myself stay mainly in the background.  Instead, teaching from our side is taken up mostly by Dr. S, who was originally from Mainland China subsequently educated in the USA, together with K, who has more experience in SL than almost everybody else in Hong Kong. On the Maryland side we have a teacher who was originally from Mainland China.  Hence the joint teaching team itself is a mix of background from Hong Kong, Mainland China and the USA.  

That is truly, a global, cross-cultural class on social responsibility and leadership.  It has become a vehicle on which we experiment with new pedagogies.  A lot of effort and resources has been put into it.  And the results have been exciting and encouraging.  More is going to come.  We are planning some new twists for the next cohort already. Another offering in the coming semester is going to involve some in person service projects, if the pandemic and the social distancing relaxes.  

Jiro and sushi

Would you pay 270 US dollars for 20 pieces of sushi?  In a restaurant with only 10 seats? In a subway station?  That you have to book months ahead?  That had won 3 Michelin stars? Served by a 85 year old chef?

Would you continue working when you are 85?  Not because you need the money but because you enjoy the work so much?

Would you want to work at the same job for 75 years?

Do you get bored on a holiday and want nothing but going back to work?

Would you spend half an hour massaging an octopus, to tenderise it?

Do you notice whether your customer is right handed or left handed and set the table accordingly?

Would you give up car racing to be a sushi chef?

Would you still want to work for your father when you are 50 years old?

Would you, as the second son, leave your father’s restaurant because your elder brother is destined to inherit it?  Just to open another restaurant exactly like your father’s?

Do you wonder how they auction tuna at the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo?

If you wonder about any of these things, you might want to watch “Jiro dreams of sushi”.

Memento from Angelique’s house

There is a piece of bark that I carried back from Rwanda sitting on my desk.  It is full of holes and cuts that I made into it.   Sometimes holes and cuts made into something can actually make it look more interesting, richer in meaning. At least, it gives one something to think about.  

This piece of bark was stripped from a tree branch that was used to build a house, for a single mother with seven children.  In May 2015, were asked by our community partner, African Evangelical Enterprise Rwanda, to install solar panels, wiring, and lighting for the house, that Angelique’s brother was building for her and her seven children.  At the time, she was just abandoned by her husband. She was evidently quite sad.  

Half a year later, when we visited her again in January 2016, she was in a much better mood.  The house was finished. She has electricity and lighting in the house.  With a small donation that we gave her, she bought a cow and some goats.  She and her children were in much better shape.  

You may wish to read the following post for more details:

https://stephencfchan.blogspot.com/2016/01/mother-with-seven-children.html

We have not been able to visit again since then.  I wonder how she is doing.  At least I have this memento to remind me of her and her children, and so many other families like hers.  

Palm Art - Foot Print Collection

My new collection of footprints on palm.  

Lion stalking human - can human escape?.

Human encountering lion - what now?

Parent and child - harmony. 

They are all made on the same piece of palm leaf.  The original leaf was about 15 feet long.  This is part of the stem of the leaf, which wraps around the trunk of the palm tree.  When the leaf dies, it dries up and the whole thing falls off the tree. 

I started making things with palm leaves while conducting service-learning projects in Cambodia.  We were installing solar panels to generate electricity for villages which are not covered by the electricity utility grid.  We gave them LED lights mounted on bare circuit boards for lighting.  

In Cambodia, palm trees are everywhere.  Leaves dry up and fall to the ground.  Then they are considered useless and often burnt up as garbage. On the other hand, there are also lots of geckos, small ones and big ones.  Some as big as a foot long, and colourful.  I started seeing that some palm branches can be sculpted into animal sculptures such as geckos.  I also shaped some into nice looking shapes with pleasing curves.  Dr. G suggested to insert LEDs into them to make lights for the villages. So we did.  I made the frame, K put in the LEDs, a simple circuit and rechargeable battery. 

While we make LED lights with those palm leaves for service-learning, I have continued to make things with them, dozens and dozens of them.

This is a new collection of footprints.  This leaf was picked up from a palm tree only meters away from PolyU, next to the footbridge leading to Tsim Sha Tsui East. 

 

Our Steam Hut is Closing

It is not really ours, of course.  To be precise, the Steam Hut Dim Sum Place on Dock Street in Hung Hom is said to be closing in a few months.  To me and my wife, it is a disaster.  Since its opening about a year ago, it has become our favourite eatery.  Sometimes we go there as many as 4 times a week.  

We like almost everything on their menu.  Some that stand out even more than others. 

Steamed fish head. Big portions, loads of spice, and plenty of meat on the bones. 

Dumpling with veggie shoots and shrimp.  So fresh, delicate and full of flavour. 

Rice steamed in a lotus leaf with Chinese sausages and ribs.  The meat on the ribs are done just right - soft enough but still chewy.  

Several types of buns, all good.  Traditional Cha Siu in a bun with green tea flavour, filled with more meat than fat.  

Bun with a flowing egg york filling.  So pleasing to the eye.  

Bun filled with a ground sesame filling, so pleasing to the taste buds.  

Many kinds of steamed soup.  Fish Head, chicken, pears, …  Big portions and full of great ingredients.  

To top it off, we have gotten to know some of the good people who operate the place. Good food, and good people - a great combination.

I can eat these for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  A lot of people agree with me, to different degrees.  Apparently, even this is not enough to overcome the high rents.

Hopefully, they will find another place to re-open. It is highly unlikely, however, that it will be so close to home.   Nevertheless, I will seek them out, if they are not too far from home.