Hong Kong and Macau (1)
Hong Kong: First Impressions
Part 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8
March 1996
I arrived in Hong Kong on January 5, 2006, with a lot of baggage. Not the suitcase kind--that wouldn't arrive for two days, thanks to Delta Airlines. I'm talking about mental baggage--stereotypes about the Far East.
Nothing inherently wrong with that. When you lack knowledge of something, you fill the gaps with whatever information is available, and sometimes all you've got are assumptions and generalizations. Some of mine:
- There are masses of people everywhere in Hong Kong and Macau.
- Orientals are reserved, formal. They don't laugh much. They dress up more than we do in the West, and their kids are all well-behaved.
- Church services are fairly traditional in nature.
- Real Chinese food is a lot different from Chinese food in the US.
- Hong Kong and Macau are pretty much the same, except Hong Kong's bigger.
That's enough for starters.
I have access to plenty of information about our work in the Far East. I hear missionaries speak in churches, read their newsletters, see their pictures, hear their reports to the Missions board, interview them, write news pieces about what they do. But I knew I didn't really know what it was like in Hong Kong, Macau, and Thailand--the people, the atmosphere, the pace of life, the conditions under which our brethren work.
So I wondered how well the images in my head matched reality.
During the next two weeks, some of those impressions would be affirmed to some extent, while others--a pretty good share--would be dashed to pieces.
* * * * * *
Three of us came specifically to shoot footage for videos on the United Brethren mission work in Hong Kong, Macau, and Thailand. There was Huntington College communications professor Lance Clark. Student Brent Kuster from Camden, Mich. And myself.
Bishop Ray Seilhamer accompanied us to Hong Kong; it was his first visit to that part of the world. And we were met at the airport by Missions Director Kyle McQuillen and his wife, MarLouise. They had spent Christmas with their daughter and family in Okinawa.
* * * * * *
Many people in Hong Kong, Kyle and MarLouise told us, think America is much more advanced. But that slights their fine city. Hong Kong is a very westernized place. A great subway system. Cameras at most major intersections to monitor and adjust traffic flow. Cell phones and pagers and ATMs everywhere. McDonalds, Wendy's, Hardy's, Pizza Hut. Some amazing engineering just to make the city work.
We stayed on the 23rd floor of the YMCA hotel in Kowloon. Kowloon is a pointy peninsula across the harbor from Hong Kong Island; both are heavily urbanized, comprising most of what we think of as Hong Kong. The city of Hong Kong is a small part of the area which, in 1997, will pass into the hands of China. In fact, Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon peninsula, where the city is located, could remain in Great Britain's hands permanently; they actually own it, apart from any lease. The Manchus gave Britain sovereignty of these areas after two different wars in the 1800s (the present Chinese government refuses to recognize Manchu treaties).
Between Kowloon and China is a big peninsula known as the New Territories, which consists of countryside dotted with villages and the occasional city. The New Territories covers 90% of the territory of the colony of Hong Kong, but only 10% of the people live there. The notorious 100-year lease, signed in 1898, applies only to the New Territories. However, Great Britain decided that everything should stay together, so when they relinquish control of the New Territories in 1997, they will also voluntarily relinquish control of Kowloon and Hong Kong Island.
From our window at the YMCA, I could see mountains towering around the city, and apartment highrises towering within the city. Numerous double-decker buses roamed the streets below; later, I would discover that riding on the top part, right in the front, feels a bit like riding a rollercoaster.
No matter where you go in Hong Kong, you're never out-of-sight of a red Toyota Crown taxi. Every trunk contains an impressive assortment of cleaning supplies. One time, riding in the front seat, I searched for dust in the dashboard's nooks and crannies. Spotless.
All steering wheels in Hong Kong are on the "wrong" side of the car, British style, and they drive on the "wrong" side of the street.
* * * * * *
K. K. Chen, a UB member for 28 years, used several days of vacation time from his banking job to take us all around Hong Kong. First stop, Saturday afternoon, was St. Luke's church, where he is a member.
The Bishop sat in the front seat of the taxi, while K. K., Lance, Brent, and myself squeezed into the back. The roads were busy. "Today is horse racing day," K. K. explained. "Always traffic jam. Today is also Saturday afternoon. Everybody, after office, is going shopping."
"I haven't seen any old cars. Not one rust bucket," Lance commented at one point. It was true. All of the cars were fairly new. Only a few of them were made in America.
St. Luke's Church is located on a short dead-end side street. Jutting out from the yellowish building at the end on a metal brace several floors up is a white cross with red Chinese characters going up and across. Nearly every church we would visit in Hong Kong and Macau had a similar-looking cross.
K. K. took us through the ground floor entrance and up two flights of stairs. To the right was a sign for the CNEC Melrose Christian Church. We took the left entrance into St. Luke's. Inside, 16 youth sat in a circle on red chairs in the sanctuary. It was their youth fellowship. During the next two hours, we would barge into youth fellowships in progress at two other churches.
Two teen girls stood at the pulpit microphone, a red velvety backdrop and a wood cross behind them. The sanctuary was about the size of a double classroom. Two fans hung from the wall on each side. A camcorder mounted on a post in the middle of the room pointed at the pulpit. An enclosed area in back included restrooms and a kitchen of sorts.
The youth were playing a musical-chairs type game in which the loser had to take a card and answer a question of some kind, like what they wanted to do in 1996. They laughed a lot, much like any American youth group.
On the next level, the top of the building, we found an open-air baptistery and an enclosed area containing a big outer room and three small offices. The pastor emerged from one office. In another, a young woman was doing follow-up counseling with a young man inquiring about becoming a Christian.
St. Luke's was actually bigger than I imagined--smaller than most American churches, but bigger than the single-room cubby hole I had envisioned as a result of a lifetime of hearing missions presentations.
* * * * * *
Next stop: the Yan Tze church. We pressed a button out on the busy street, and someone hit a button, somewhere, to unlock the metal gate. This church, too, was on the second floor. About 20 youth sat sitting in a big U. One young man in bluejeans stood at the front, leading them.
"I'm Ajiax," he said cheerfully. It was pronounced like Ajax.
A student, I presumed.
Wrong. He turned out to be the pastor.
After introductions, they continued what they'd been doing--reciting memorized Scripture aloud. Several persons looked down at their Bibles, but most gazed into space with a somewhat blank look, focusing inward, trying to recall the right words.
Ajiax turned the meeting over to someone else so he could give us a tour. A door at the back of the sanctuary opened into a room where a little girl sat on the cushion with a tambourine. There was a big TV with a VCR hooked up to it, and a Toshiba photocopier. Further back was a storage room and restroom. And still further back was Ajiax's office.
After a while, Bishop Seilhamer gave greetings to the teens as Ajiax translated. He told about the worldwide United Brethren family and how they were an important part of that family. He said he wanted more young people to experience the call to the ministry and to start new churches.
The Bishop then led in prayer. When he said "Amen," the entire group said "amen" together with Ajiax--an appealing practice I would observe throughout Hong Kong.
* * * * * *
Next: Part 2
|
