Ask any of the businessmen nursing pints in the frenetic party district of Lang Kwai Fong what their priority is when visiting Hong Kong and you’re sure to hear about Sam’s Tailor. Crossing the harbour the next day, to the Kowloon side, take Exit B1 from Tsim Sha Tsui MTR Station and prepare to be greeted by a barrage of men on street corners trying to poach your custom before you can get to Sam’s. Continue reading
Loyal readers (so, probably only my mother) I owe you an apology. Why? Because I have failed, quite comprehensively, to do anything out of the ordinary this Chinese New Year (春节 – Chūn Jié), much to my chagrin. I’ve been a boring Hong Kong tourist.
It wasn’t for lack of trying though. Promise. Continue reading
With the British Government’s ever increasing tuition fees looking set to rise again soon, debt continues to be a problem that every student faces. Extending your degree by studying abroad for a year only adds to that debt. All is not lost, though. If you’re lucky and forward thinking, you can mitigate at least some of the cost. The British Council, in particular, offer a generous scholarship that I have benefited greatly from. Continue reading
This is by far the busiest that Hong Kong has been so far. Thursday the fifteenth of September saw the arrival of Hong Kong’s annual Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋节). Everywhere we walked, people shared Mooncakes and lit Lanterns up and down the packed streets of Causeway Bay. We were surrounded by thousands of people making their way to Victoria Park to see the shows and nearby Incense Dragon Dance. Looking around, we knew that this was going to be one of the highlights of Chinese culture we would see during our time here. Continue reading
All I had hoped for and more is true: ‘Hong Kong’ can confidently be labelled as synonymous with ‘good food’. The melting pot of cultures, styles and traditions means that you can’t walk more than a hundred metres without passing a veritable melange of international eateries. My claim – that if you want to eat well, you should be here in Hong Kong – is a big one, but I’m confident that I can justify it based on only two weeks of experience and the limitations of a student’s budget. Continue reading
I’m not a subscriber to the notion of fate. Despite this, I have recently noticed some poetic coincidences linking me to Hong Kong. HKU’s Latin motto, ‘Sapientia et Virtus,’ translates rather grandly as ‘Wisdom and Virtue’. My subject, Philosophy, therefore has a serendipitous etymological link to HKU. The Latin roots, Philo (lover of) and Sophia (wisdom), are quite fitting for someone who is studying at an establishment dedicated to wisdom and virtue. Furthermore, the very exploration of virtue began with the philosopher Aristotle’s famous treatises.
Of course, I didn’t choose to study here based on those little bits of trivia, but it’s satisfying nonetheless. Continue reading
Two weeks to go. Near the end of August, most probably bleary-eyed after the long haul flight, for the first time in my life I’ll set eyes upon the Asian continent. Specifically, I’ll be seeing the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) of China, my home for the next ten months. The jetlag is sure to be intense, but I’m not worried as seeing this skyline will indubitably make up for it in spades:
机不可失，时不再来 (jī bù kě shī, shí bú zài lái)
– Opportunity knocks at the door only once.
This is a rough guide on what the Exam entails and how I found it when I took it last September and again in March. Provided the Exam and class placement system hasn’t changed since then, I hope this can be a useful tool to calm nerves and go in more prepared than I was!
Around 50 weeks ago, I was one of the nervous and jet-lagged exchange students sitting in a very large hall about to start the Peking University Chinese Language Proficiency Exam (“Exam” from here on in). Beforehand I had scanned the Internet for any friendly tips about what it might entail and was unsuccessful in my search, so I promised myself I would write a little guide for future students in my situation. Continue reading
“We are honoured and humbled by the International Olympic Committee’s decision to award Beijing the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.”
China has redefined itself as a sporting nation, or at least as a nation able to pull off great sporting events with aplomb (exhibit a: the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games). The nation seems to be capitalising on this success by competing against Kazakhstan to hold the 2022 Winter Olympic Games and, as of a few weeks ago, winning. When Harry was here over winter, we visited the impressive Olympic Park and witnessed firsthand the lengths that China are going to advertise itself as the perfect candidate (click here for our Chinese skiing experience) – as anyone who watched the Beijing Olympic Opening Ceremony will remember, the Chinese don’t do grand public events by half. It is an opportunity to impress the world and its wife, not only by throwing money at an event but also by showing the nation’s manpower and ability to coordinate (or coerce) its citizens to mobilise.
Opening Ceremony for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games at the National Stadium
一步一个脚印儿 ( yī bù yī gè jiǎo yìnr )
– Every step leaves its print; work steadily and make solid progress.
Boya Pagoda at Peking University
This semester has gone by in a flash – it seems like only last month we were retaking the placement test to be set into our classes and buying our books for the term ahead. The Durham and Edinburgh students all took the plunge to choose “gaoji” or advanced class after doing well on the tests, and I vividly remember opening my books in trepidation and seeing the 90 new vocabulary words per lesson. However, being in advanced has its advantages as the elective courses offered are more varied and challenging than those offered in intermediate. We were required to take 20 hours of class and therefore choose two electives from a list of Business Chinese, Newspaper Chinese, Chinese History, Chinese Cinema, Classical Chinese, Essay Writing and Chinese Culture. Our friendship group chose completely varied options (due to interests and different timetables) and I elected to study Newspaper Chinese and Chinese History.
Where our elective classes took place
Durham Students Abroad 