For those who are unfamiliar, "Gwai Lo" (鬼佬） is the cantonese slang term used for white people. The literal translation is something in the vicinity of "devil-man." I am not sure why, but lately I have been hearing the term more frequently in reference to yours truly. Perhaps I am getting better at recognizing it, perhaps I am now frequenting more locations that the average gwai lo rarely treads.
I don't really have much interesting to report, but I would like to share some of the signs that I found on the subway yesterday. There is a string of public education campaigns that border on hilarious. I had heard of public education campaigns in refugee camps and severely depressed third world countries, but I never imagined in a place seemingly as modern as Hong Kong. The public education seems to center around a few central themes including hygiene and politeness. The Hygiene campaign is inspired be the various outbreaks of Avian Flu, SARS, and Dengue fever that have plagues the area over the last several years. The politeness campaign? I am not sure, but I find it hilarious. Try to imagine a series of commercials, and billboards telling New Yorkers to be nice to each other. Yeah, I am sure they would respond well to that. Of all the different ads, my favorite is this commercial that shows various parts of Hong Kong and has a jingle sung in broken English about how Honkees (slang for Hong Kong people) being nice to tourist is good for the city. The title of the song is "You Make a difference." It is phenomenal. Unfortunately I am unable to find it online. I did discover that I am not the only gwai lo to be searching for it though, because when I type it into youtube, the auto-populate function comes up with exactly what I was looking for long before I have finished searching. Notwithstanding, below are a few gems that I found in the subway yesterday.
Chinese Political Art?
When Ellen was here, we saw a series of sculptures in the mall in Times square that were part of a public art exhibit. I did not have a chance to take it in the first time so I went back, and got much more out of it. Perhaps it makes sense to show the pics then continue with some attempt at an explanation.
Michelangelo's bound slave and dying slave in Mao jackets. The symbolism seemed a rather obvious representation of the repressive communist regime in China.
Myron's discus thrower in a Mao jacket? It is a bit more of a stretch but, the repression of communism (mao jacket) when placed on a traditional image of strength and grace hides all of the grace and beauty of the original sculpture (and probably restricts movement).
The verdict: i like.
2 comments:
Gwai Lo! HAHA. If they only knew your real roots. Chinese Branch Forever.
I thought Gui Lot was hot mustard. I was told to say that when I was in a chinese resturant. I must have been saying something else. I like the signs and thing NY could use them. Unfortunately they would be shot or worse.
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