An Academic Exchange Trip to Zhejiang and Shanghai: A Reflection of Culture and Faith

　　I am grateful for receiving the Dr. Hung Hin-shiu Faculty and Student Study Grant and also grateful to Vice President, Dr. Joshua Cho, for encouraging two fellow students (Lam Ngor-yan and Ho Chi-yung) and me to make an academic exchange trip to Hangzhou and Shanghai between Nov. 29 and Dec. 2, 2006. While there, we paid goodwill visits to Zhejiang University, Fudan University and Zhejiang Theological Seminary and met with professors and students in those schools. In our conversations, I came to appreciate their great desire to preserve and restore basic humanistic values, including an informed worldview, a high view of humankind, a quest for truth and the necessity of ethical values. At the same time, throughout the trip, I became aware of the powerful forces at work infiltrating China with a culture of consumerism as the market economy has been established. In fact consumerism poses a long-lasting threat to the humanistic values honored by some of the professors we met. This trip of academic exchange and cultural study has not only broadened my vision but also provoked me to ponder the situation of both China and Hong Kong cultures from a Christian perspective.

Culture of Consumerism

　　First, I want to share my concerns about advertising and consumerism in China. On the day when we set off, after leaving the immigration counter at the Lowu Railway Station, what first caught my attention were the huge advertisements on the walls on each side of the passageway. Then when we took a taxi to Shenzheng Airport, I was astounded by the sight of the high-hanging advertisement lamp boxes in the middle of the road. There were always huge advertisements on the rooftops of high-rise buildings. Inside the taxi, behind the driver’s seat I saw a small-scale plastic advertisement. Advertisements, big and small, in different shapes, sizes and colors, have permeated every aspect of life, bombarding the public with a continual feast to the eyes. The advertisements promoted world famous brands so familiar in Hong Kong. Through their glamorous visual languages, these well-packaged commodities constantly wave to passers-by. To stir up customers’ desires, the advertising media distorts the original meaning of words promising something utterly new, original and amazing for all to see. Advertisers use language loaded with beautiful description and inflated claims, which can never be matched by the products’ content. Language should be accurate, coherent and clear to communicate effectively. Since language shapes experience, it is a shame how advertising distorts common language turning it into manipulative tools for advertising agencies and the companies they promote. What then is the message that is communicated? What kind of life do people living in such a language-controlled environment lead?

The Advertising Educates the Public to Be a Consumer: “I Shop Therefore I Am.”

　　Advertising stirs up desires and creates false needs so that production increases and the economy grows at a rapid pace. This is the way the “golden rule” of the market economy works. While the desire for material possession expands, the values of humanism in a country’s cultural tradition diminishes. Consumerism does not teach taking up the burden of society, meeting social responsibility and saving our natural resources for future generations. Instead, consumerism presses for sustainable economic development as the only criterion for measuring human development.

　　How will we face the ever-expanding impact of consumerism in China and in Hong Kong? Are we concerned with its adverse effects on society? This is the election year of the Chief Secretary of the Hong Kong SAR government. When the two candidates discussed civil responsibility, they generally focused on external policies, or citizens’ participation in the established system. They said little about promoting human values or nourishing the inner life. Human character formation is necessary to establish a solid, healthy political system. In order to build a civil character which “acts justly and loves mercy,” and not just a consumer character concerned only with satisfying material desires, a society must train its people to cherish strong moral values and nurture the proven values of a culture.

　　What about the situation in the Christian churches? Christians in Hong Kong constitutes a minority and their influence on culture in certain important areas remains insignificant. In Hong Kong, the Christian culture has never been considered the mainstream as is a synthetic culture of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. Faced with consumerism, a part of globalization, will Hong Kong churches merely reflect the consumerism in our culture? Will the gospel be limited to personal salvation, and will the church only provide individual spiritual healing, build self-confidence and promote self-actualization? The church will then offer tailor-made programs that satisfy individual desires and enable people to pursue their private, selfish dreams.

　　The Christian gospel is not only the message by which an individual receives the personal salvation of Christ, but it must be closely linked with the individual, society and culture. In the face of powerful consumerism, how should the Christian church respond? The Christian gospel is indeed a message of personal salvation but the gospel also concerns redeeming society and transforming culture. How can the church be penetrating salt and light within Hong Kong’s culture today? Before 1997, the churches faced the possibility of a bleak political future. At that time, churches attempted to develop an apologetic out of a fear that the gospel might be rejected within the post-colonial Chinese culture. There was some discussion about putting the gospel into action and presenting the gospel cross-culturally. There was little effort to train disciples to apply the gospel to their daily lives and to build an awareness of negative forces in the culture. The community of faith should provide help for its members to meet the challenges of consumerism and its threat to families, the environment and even the church. The church must develop a strong Christian identity in its members, enabling them not to be absorbed into the culture of consumerism and should offer a strong alternative life style. The words of Micah 6:8: “Act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with God” can provide a challenge to the shallow promises made by the forces of consumerism to our society.

Cosmopolitan Culture

　　My other concern after our visit to the Mainland has been with the quality of cosmopolitan culture. When our aeroplane landed on Hangzhou Airport, what we saw was a totally different picture from what we saw in Shenzhen. Hangzhou has become famous internationally as a garden city and as a tourist destination developed by the government. Hangzhou is known for its picturesque scenery. Since it has a house to tree ratio of two to one, the city has been named China’s most livable city. Since the eighties, Hangzhou municipal government has moved its factories to neighboring Suzhou to minimize the environmental pollution in the area. Among workers choosing not to move, female workers over 45 years old and males over 50, were eligible for an early retirement. Retired workers were given a monthly pension sufficient for their daily living. Today, these retired workers are in their seventies or eighties so that Hangzhou faces an ageing problem. To meet this challenge, the mayor has founded an old people’s university to provide continuing education. In the few days we were there, we often saw many elderly people gathering by the famous West Lake to sing and dance joyfully while passers-by often encircled them to clap to the music.

　　Hangzhou has kept its land prices and rent stable. Except for those one to two-storey high houses along the West Lake waterfront, the rent is affordable. Moreover, each household enjoys a living space of around 700 sq. ft. No wonder few people move elsewhere. There are many old four-storey high houses, similar to the village houses in Hong Kong’s New Territories. Compared with the standardized two-storey high houses with the black tiled roofs and white walls in Suzhou, the houses in Hangzhou are in red, yellow, blue and green. We were delighted by their burst of color as we entered the city on the Shanghai-Hangzhou highway. Residents own their houses while the elderly are well taken care of. What a joy to live there! No wonder Hangzhou, while ranking sixth in size, ranks first in the happiness index in China.

　　When we consider the quality of life, there is a wide gap between Hong Kong and Hangzhou. In the eighties in Hong Kong when the service and financial sectors began replacing manufacturing as our main source of income, the production of garments, toys and electronic products were taken over by casual laborers, outsourced workers or temporary workers willing to work long hours for low wages. Greedy employers sometimes further cut even these low wages knowing the workers lacked legal protection. When those workers were sacked during economic changes, they could only switch to non-skilled, low paid jobs because they lacked education and skills. At this time, many factories were moving to the Mainland to reduce operation costs. For example, the district stretching from Quarry Bay to North Point on Hong Kong Island, known as the “factory belt,” has been turned into residential or commercial buildings. Those workers who did not move with the factories were compensated with a small lump sum, only enough to support them for a short time. Their care and protection was far less than that received by the Hangzhou workers. In contrast with Hangzhou, since the eighties, the Hong Kong government has adopted a high land price policy, causing property value and inflation to rise. A few big property developers have amassed vast fortunes, while the gap between rich and poor widens. Since Hong Kong is densely populated, old towns continue to be uprooted for the sake of property development. As a result, the exhilarating bird songs and crowded scene from the rows of aviary shops along Portland Street in Mongkok have been replaced by the resplendent Langham Place mall. Factory buildings in Kwun Tong have been converted into upscale apartments and the large, trendy mall, apm that opens almost 24 hours a day. The high-rent, high-return residential or commercial districts continue to replace those grass-root communities, springing up in the fifties and sixties in Tai Kok Tsui, To Kwa Wan and Kwun Tong. Even the old street names have disappeared: Tai Kok Tsui is now Olympian City while To Kwa Wan is now Grand Waterfront. However, those born and raised in these areas are now old folks, unwilling to move elsewhere. Wiping out the old district means uprooting old streets, old shops, old trees, old folks, old buddies, and old memories. This is how these old folks are repaid for their years of hard labor.

　　This year, Hong Kong has reported a record high government revenue surplus of over $55.1 billion. The financial secretary has proposed tax deduction and other back paid measures to citizens amounting to $20 billion as a government’s effort to “share wealth with the community.” This includes an unprecedented payback of one quarter of standard rate to house owners and also one additional month’s allowance for the elderly and the Social Security Allowance recipients. These payments reflect a desire for economic efficiency more than any long-term plan or vision to help the grass root sector. A government, which bows to property developers, can hardly think seriously about its poor people.

　　Recently the Urban Renewal Authority decided to spend $3.8 billion to turn Graham Street in Sheung Wan into an “Old Shops Street” to attract tourists. This renewal plan will affect 1,120 residents and $2 billion will be spent on land purchase and removal compensation. To attract tourists, the government wants to recreate this distinct old cultural district. To cater to the taste from nostalgia, the government will erect replicas of the district’s original buildings. What cannot be imitated are the authentic smells, colors and spirit of the old buildings. What cannot be compensated to the community is the people’s self-reliance, their dignity and mutual concern.

　　I once witnessed a scene in a small shop in an alley at Kowloon City, which illustrates the value of these grass root communities. The owners were an elderly couple, selling congee, fried fritters of twisted dough and rice noodle rolls. Together the couple heated the oil in an iron wok, prepared the fritter batter and cooked the congee. A small child, seemingly mildly affected with downs syndrome, was leisurely cleaning the chairs and tables. The shop was simply furnished with only a few customers sitting around two or three tables. The couple would exchange a few words with neighbors passing by or with old customers. Based on the principle of cost effectiveness, can we afford to protect this kind of human scene? What will be the attitude of the SAR government toward the elderly, poor children, the handicapped and the powerless? How will the SAR government nurture the human spirit? Can the SAR government see beyond its concern for increasing economic value?

　　We must now also ask the question: How does the church respond to those people left behind in our commercial culture? In a climate guided by cost effectiveness, how does the church respond when it is located in a district that is “ageing” and declining economically? As its residents grow older, the district begins to decline. Often churches in such ageing districts have a growing number of members who have become prosperous and have left the neighborhood. Will the church uproot itself from the old district to attract more upwardly mobile members? In a city where cost effectiveness rules, does the church dare to cherish its older, poorer neighbors no longer productive economically? Could it dare even to reach out to them and develop ministries for them? Could a church ignore market values in order to shoulder the burden for the marginalized groups in its very shadows? Will the church instead refuse to be the church to the poor? Will the church blithely move away from its old declining neighborhood and relocate in a more prosperous location to grow larger and richer? The church may then even contribute to the increasing polarization of the rich and poor, even within its own membership. If chapels decline while mega-churches flourish, it would appear that Christians are being absorbed by the culture we claim to penetrate and transform. Surely it is not the mission of the church to create smart customers and allow the church to cater to consumers’ desires and to their demand for well-packaged programs to promote their private dreams of success.

　　The church is not a club or fraternity association to be joined or left when members are bored. Neither should it be a service center catering to individual desires. On the contrary, the church is called to proclaim the gospel, equip disciples to live out their faith in their society and take responsibility for their neighbors. To follow the life and teaching of Jesus, the church must learn how to reach out to the poor and powerless and be blessed and enriched by them. Such incarnation of the gospel will provide a startling testimony and make a prophetic impact on society, reminding it never to forget the blind, the lame and the forsaken. Taking this approach the church can challenge the market economy with its narrow values of cost effectiveness and economic growth.

　　“Act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with your God” is a central biblical teaching and is the testimony to be lived out and a mission to be put into practice in this crooked generation so overwhelmed with the consumerism culture and the market economy.