M.Phil. Thesis

Here it is. Two years of scholarly research on early Chinese folk-song and ritual hymn. Yuefu. Enjoy, I guess :-)

You can read about it here.

Journey's End

Well, after doing a pretty good job of ignoring this blog completely during my second year of study in Hong Kong, it looks like I'm finished up. I've submitted my thesis, and had it approved, and now there's only a few minor revisions needing to be done between now and my flight on August 30th.

So where does that leave this? I contemplated getting rid of it completely, or starting something new, but I think I'll keep it around. I'll have a Master's degree in Chinese language and literature now, but that doesn't mean I'm anywhere close to fully understanding that great country yet. There's still more out there for me to know about the Chinese civilization, its culture, and its people. Indeed, despite being a "Master" of the area now I still know much less than there is to know.

So I will be starting a new blog. But I'll also be keeping this updated with my thoughts and observations as I continue my research on both ancient China and modern China, and persevere in learning the language. Though I'm graduating, I haven't stopped caring about classical Chinese literature; nor will I stop learning the language: and that means I'll still be reading zhongguo shibao everyday, in addition to much worthier written documents, and I'll likely still be full of observations.

Joseph Tingle

Back in HK

Well, back in Hong Kong to finish up preparing the first parts of my thesis. Then it's onto year 2! Had a great trip home. All I can say is that I really miss these:

Man, just looking at that is making me hungry.

Looking forward to posting a more substantial update on Sunday! Until then, Zaijian!

Joseph

Anxiety and booking flights

So, after (successfully) talking with my advisor about going home this summer, I was finally able to book my flight. I should be excited-- and I am-- but for some reason I always have a little bit of anxiety after booking a flight, especially a round-trip one. Should I have booked to stay longer? Shorter? I remember feeling the same thing immediately after booking for Christmas. Then, I only had 9 full days at home. I panicked, because I didn't feel like that'd be enough. But it was OK, when all was said and done. It felt like a long time. And this time, I'll be home for longer.

Larissa had some words of wisdom: "No time is long enough to visit."

And that's so true. Even if I were staying longer than I am, would that alleviate the anxiety about being away again that I feel now? Doubt it. Exchange students I've met here are away from home for four (4!) months, and yet they get just as homesick (if not moreso) than I do, knowing that I'm here for another 15, aside from the couple of weeks I get to sneak away for two times a year or so.

Speaking of exchange students, looks like another batch of friends I've made here is preparing to return home. It's a little depressing to think about, but I guess that's what it's like being abroad. People come and go. I remain, but soon enough I will follow suit.

Another busy week and long weekend...

Not much to post about this week, but I'll update this thing anyway. This week was extremely busy, and this weekend was extremely relaxing. I worked on multiple papers like a madman during the week, and on Friday I finally settled on one and wrote half (!) of it that day. I put it more or less on the back-burner this weekend to rest and enjoy the three-day holiday, and I'll reconvene with it bright and early tomorrow (Tuesday) morning. I plan to submit it by the end of the week/early next week.

Also in the news... am slowly putting together plans to return home this summer. It won't be for the whole summer, or even a month, but it will hopefully be for longer than Christmas. I so excited.

Overdue postings!

So, it's been two weeks since I updated this just about (to those of you who swear otherwise, shhhh...).

Lots has happened in the last two weeks. Let's start from the beginning. Two Wednesdays ago I saw the one-and-only Bob Dylan here in Hong Kong. It was great but, unfortunately, I wasn't able to capture any decent footage. What was even worse is that they weren't selling any posters. How lame!

Concert itself was very good, though. Having been a fan for over two decades now (woah, really?), I've long been acquainted with Dylan's music and, naturally, I've managed to see a couple videos of him playing live. I knew that the songs would be arranged differently, and, having heard his recent albums, I knew that his voice would only be as good as 50 years of cigarettes and substance abuse allows.

That aside, I was not disappointed in the concert at all. Dylan played a wide-range of material, from classics like Forever Young and Like a Rolling Stone to treats for the hardcore fans like Ballad of a Thin Man and Simple Twist of Fate. Dotted between songs I knew were a couple, undoubtedly b-sides or songs from his 90s discography, which I wasn't familliar with. Still, Dylan managed to be captivating-- charming even-- and the band was top-notch.

Let's see... what else is there to talk about? I went mountain climbing with yulong and valerie last weekend, and we spotted monkeys. Um. It was Easter Break this weekend, but I didn't go out much; I got sick toward the end of the week and decided to spent the long weekend relaxing and doing some light reading and writing.

Gotta finish my paper by (I'm assuming) the beginning of next week so I'll be kicking it into high-gear for the remainder of this week. I'm still not sure what exactly I'm going to submit, but hopefully after logging at least 20 hours on both this week I'll have a much firmer idea.

And that's about it. Somewhat anxious, unsure as usual but lately it's been highlighting itself. Will trek on, as always.

Learning Mandarin in Hong Kong-- Advantages and Disadvantages

Since I didn't go anywhere or do anything fun this weekend, I figured I'd update about something slightly different than usual. A friend of mine recently brought up the following point: "Hong Kong is a terrible place for studying Mandarin!"

This comment was very interesting to me. Seven months ago, I came to Hong Kong to study for my Master's degree. Learning Mandarin wasn't my only goal, but I can't deny that studying Mandarin was a big incentive. "It's China," I thought. "I'll come back fluent!"

Well, I was wrong about that. Hong Kong isn't really China. Everything you may have heard about the difficulties of studying Mandarin in Hong Kong-- that not many people speak it well, some people will look down on you if you speak it (as opposed to Cantonese), you don't need to use it because people understand English, for example-- is true. With that said, Hong Kong is still a good place to study Mandarin, and here's why:

1.) Moving to another country never guarantees fluency.

Alot of people assume the opposite. Oh, you're going to ______ for a year. You'll be fluent when you come back! I swear, that assumption is just so wrong, and everyone should know it. I'm sure everyone reading this blog has met someone who came to the United States from Europe or Mexico or Asia decades ago, and still can't hold a conversation in English. Why? Because even if you live in a country that speaks the language you want to learn, you're not going to learn anything unless you want to and you work hard at it. Likewise, I can't count the amount of times I've met people who've studied in Japan or China but know less Chinese than even I do. Why? See point two:

2.) No matter where you go, someone will always be able to help you in English.

For better or worse, it's something that's come with our language's position in the world. Whether your in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tokyo, or Moscow, someone-- perhaps multiple people-- will be waiting in the wings to help you set up a bank account or find your way around in English. Why? Because it's practice! People in Hong Kong and China alike are more than willing to play the role of the perfect hosts for English-speaking foreigners-- their hospitality, unfortunately, is your dependence. This is a trap you're just as likely to fall into whether you be in Kowloon or Beijing.

3.) Plenty of Mainland Chinese people live in Hong Kong

Universities are especially full of mainland Chinese people who you can befriend and practice your Chinese with. If you're too craven to approach them, and just retreat to your room to surf the web in all of your free time-- guess what-- you'd likely be doing the same thing in your apartment in the Mainland. If that's how you're gonna be, then why bother?

4.) Real fluency goes beyond asking for directions

Sure, in the mainland you'll have to use your Chinese to tell your cab driver where to go, or ask how expensive something is. At the end of the day, is that going to translate into real fluency? I think not. In order really become fluent, you're going to need to read Chinese newspapers, watch Chinese TV, read Chinese books and take higher level Mandarin classes. All of that can be done in HK just as easily as it can be done in the mainland. What are you waiting for?

So if you're sitting in Hong Kong asking yourself why you came here instead of the Mainland, because you don't think you're learning enough Chinese, perhaps the things that are holding you back can't be blamed on your location. Perhaps the things holding you back would hold you back no matter where you are.

And, anyway, Shenzhen is just 20 minutes away.