Our Nightlife: Difference Between Europe and Hong Kong Essay

Introduction Student life is considered as one of the major steps in life. It is the time when young people start enjoying their autonomy and experience a lot a various activities. In Europe, going out at night is seen as a must do, an actual part of the whole student life and a sign of being a grown-up also. When I came to Hong Kong, a very dynamic, western-rooted city, I would have thought I would find the same spirit and same drinking culture. I was wrong. In the streets surrounding the â€Å"party areas† I almost only got to meet some exchange students or young expats staying here for a short period of time and basically taking the most of Hong Kong nightlife. What about the local crowd? Is it just invisible? Not interested in going to these areas? What about bars and cafà ©s? In Europe, in every corner of a street you can find a cafà © or bar where you can chill easily with your friends until 1 am and more. Here I could not find such places and I don’t see much group of friends hanging out together at night. Furthermore, some historians think that cafà ©s and â€Å"public sphere† were places where men could escape their role as the Church’s or a sovereign’s subjects, and exercise and exchange their own opinions and ideas. They say that nocturnal sociability and volubility accelerated Enlightenment thinking. So even though it might have a bad image sometimes, nightlife is still an important moment of social interaction and can also contribute to major evolutions in our societies. Thus, when the time came to define our topic for Contemporary Europe and Asia, I was really curious to talk about this particularity with the members of our group. During our discussion we found out that Europeans and Locals really did not have the same way of spending time with their friends and that the rules of social interactions were completely different. That is why we decided to focus on how the nightlife is organized among the youth in Europe and in Hong Kong and what are the implications behind these two different ways of life. [By Claire Couturier] What we do at night Partying as a majority in Europe In Europe, most of the students and youngsters go out at night in order to spend some time with their friends. We can list three different places where the European youth likes to go during the night time. Alcoholic Activities A. Bars In Europe bars and cafà ©s are very common places Craig Koslofsky, author of Evenings Empire: a History of the night in early Modern Europe, says, the elite shifted their bed time between 1500 to 1700, starting to go to bed at early hours in the morning. Cafà ©s and bars changed their opening hours till late at that time. Thus, going out to a cafà © or a bar is something very traditional in Europe. The main purpose of this kind of gathering is to share a nice moment with some people in a neural but casual atmosphere. Usually students would get a beer at the end of their day of class or later. It is a time for the participant to share their thoughts and lives around a drink. These kinds of talks are usually facilitated by subdued lighting and comfortable seats. Bars are also a gathering point for sport teams who are usually really eager to share beers in a pub for the â€Å"third half† after a match or simply after training. Sitting in a cafà © or a bar should be then seen as the extension of the daily social interactions: people would go to a bar with their acquaintances and usually stick with them. It is not really a time to meet a lot of different people. The accent is set on the sharing of a moment of joy between a somewhat close small group of people that is why bars and cafà © usually close down before 2 in the morning. Thus, consumers in bars are not seeking drunkenness in the first place. However this tend to change a bit with the appearance of themed bars, to be found mostly in big cities: the whole place is decorated with a common theme and the names of the cocktails served would also be related a specific universe. In these places, people will be more attracted by the ludic side of the bars rather than just the idea of spending time with the people they cherish. With the ludic background such as drinking in baby’s bottle, for example, consumers will be more disposed to get drunk. These themed bars would usually close down later, by 3 or sometimes 4 in the morning. B. Clubs Clubbing is an important side of the European nightlife. Dancing has always been, throughout the centuries a way to express oneself and to carry social conventions and values into one’s move. Clubs in Europe have a very wide range of music styles, reflect of a wide range of lifestyles. The main purpose of going clubbing is obviously to go dancing but it provides also one of the best opportunities to meet some new people. Clubbing is also the main field of seduction, while girls would rather go to clubs to dance, most boys go there intending to meet some girls. Alcohol is everywhere in clubs, it is the main drive to des-inhibition and clubs do not hesitate to make profit with it. Indeed, several hundreds of people confined in one room dancing leads to a need of hydration. The prices are usually extremely high and that’s the reason why most of people do not go clubbing so often, in order to save some money. Another the solution which tends to become common is the practice of pre drinks. People gather in other places like houses or bars before going to a club. They drink for cheap and reach the clubs at an advanced state of inebriation so they will not have to drink once inside to enjoy the effects of alcohol. Going to a club is one of the most tiring kind of nightlife since, in Europe, most of the clubs remain empty until half past midnight or one in the morning. Then, we would spend at least 2 or 3 hours dancing, (some also stay till the closing, usually around 5 in the morning) which requires a long time for the body to recover the day after. C. House parties One of the cheapest ways to go out in Europe is to set a party in a house. In the early stages of childhood, starting from primary schools, parents use to celebrate their children birthday while organizing small parties with music, drinks and candies in the late afternoon. These parties would not last for more than two of three hours but it can definitely be seen as the entry in social nightlife. This tradition of house parties would then continue throughout the years and then start and finish later. In high school, parents will sometimes spend one night at some friends’ houses and give their children carte blanche to set the party. It can somehow be seen as the heritage of the receptions held by the high society some centuries ago as they are entertaining and social events. Guests at parties are different from the people you go to bars or clubs with because they are many risks of material damages caused to belongings. The closest friends would be invited in the first place and will be allowed to bring some other guests, it is some kind of transmitted trust towards the respect of the host of the event. The average number of guest depends of the available space but would usually be around 20 to 30 people. The purpose of the house parties is to create a mix between going to a bar and going to club. Indeed, in the house, it is possible to divide the space. Thus, some people might be more interested in dancing while some other would rather go to more friendly rooms where they can chat all together. There is also no closing hour, the party will die by itself when people get tired or when the host kindly ask people to leave. The main advantage of this kind of party is that it is a big, safe and free space but the disadvantage is the possible nuisances for the neighborhood and, regarding the host, the need to clean the place afterwards. Thus, hosts and houses tend to change regularly. [By Claire Couturier] Local Style: Partying as a Minority In Hong Kong, there is a saying about this city – it never sleeps. The nightlife seems to be attractive, but how about to us, as the youngsters in this society, who are just qualified to be called as adults, just can yell at the parents â€Å"I am not a kid anymore†? In fact, for youngsters in Hong Kong, the night-time activities would still be non-alcoholic oriented. When choosing the kind of activities we hope to spend our night, the factors affecting our choices would be the cost of it and how much fun can we have from it, also we would be influenced by the social values, how other perceive it Non-alcoholic Activities For Hong Kong young people, drinking alcohol is not a norm. Therefore, comparing to European style of Nightlife, there are much more varieties of non-alcoholic nightlife. A. Hall Activities Young people in Hong Kong like to feel the sense of belonging. University students devote ourselves into group activities like becoming the committee of the interest clubs or academic societies. For nightlife, we would dedicate to collective activities at hall, such as small gathering in common room or evening out with â€Å"floor-mates†. The bonding with â€Å"hall-mates† or â€Å"floor-mates† is precious and built from the start of the hall life. When we first moved into hall, the hall tutor will take everyone out to have a dinner together, giving an opportunity for everyone to meet each other. Then we would have a floor meeting, deciding the name of the floor, even a name for each room. As the member of the hall, we are told that we should enjoy being a part of it by participating hall activities actively, so as to enjoy hall life to its fullest. With this environment, the bonding between hall-mates is strong, and generally many students living in the hall are willing to take part in the collective activities. This willingness can be best illustrated in their priority. There are lots of hall activities every year in HKBU, such as the floor decoration contest, where every floor will choose a theme of decoration and judges will examine the decoration with its appearance, embodiment of hall spirit and the â€Å"warmness† the decoration constructs. Usually, the students will spend whole night help decorating, even sacrifice their sleeping time and study time. The time devoted show their passion with group activities. Apart from contests, their hall life is about group activities. The boys love to gather a big group of people to play video games till morning, then they will call for take-out from McDonalds’ and have breakfast together. For girls, it would be more about late night chats and cooking late night snack together in the common room. All in all, for most of their time in hall, they will not spend time in their own room but hang out with others in the common room, unless they have to rush their homework. Some might think that living in the hall means the independency and seek of freedom of the youngsters, yet, the local hall life shows that local youngsters prefer group activities, they basically shifted their dependence from their own families to the â€Å"hall family†. B. Karaoke Another night activity would be singing karaoke. This activity in fact is not very expensive. The owl period, meaning about 12am to 5am, costs around $100 to $200 per person, is avoidable to the youngsters. Besides, it is not about singing, but more about having fun with friends. Most scenarios would be dancing and jumping on the couch singing the old-school songs, or the big hits with rhythm. With close friends in a private room, we would not mind to shake our bodies off and sing to the lame songs. After all, it is about having fun with friends. In the past, karaoke is related to alcohol, drugs and prostitutes. The older generations would regard karaoke sites as forbidden places, youngsters who go there were often treated as bad boys and girls. Nowadays karaoke sites are irrelevant to criminal activities, youngsters go there purely want to sing and have fun with friends. C. Mahjong Although Mahjong is not so common among youngsters, it is still a popular late night activities. For young people, they usually play it after examinations or just a Friday. It aims to celebrate and play until use up all their strength. As it requires four people to play Mahjong, it is more a socializing tool. Because the players have to take turns to play, they can chat while playing. Sometimes, they will play it with small-amount gambling, added it with excitement. Some will count marks upon the rounds, the one losing the most might need to pay for the breakfast. For them, playing is not just about relax, but also about bonding and having fun together. For non-alcoholic nightlife, there are still various ways of having fun with friends in Hong Kong. To young people in Hong Kong, there is no more fun than sharing fun with a large group of people. Hall activities can best illustrate the collective fun that the young people treasure. Alcohol is not a must in facilitating the discussion among friends or driving the good mood. Without alcohol, they can seek more fun by playing games like Mahjong. [By Rem Man Hou Sum] Hong Kong: Alcoholic Activities Hong Kong has a fabulous scene of nightlife, which is frequently used to depict the modern and international image of Hong Kong. However, in fact, unlike what we see in Europe, people who adopt an alcoholic lifestyle frequently are not the majority. And people who go partying is even a small minority. For those who would fancy alcoholic drinks late night, they would usually go to the following areas where the bars are usually located. They include: Tsim Sha Tsui, Mong Kok, Lan Kwai Fong and Causeway Bay. A. Bars in Hong Kong There are quite a variety of bars in Hong Kong. Some are operated like the European style, and charge customers according to the drinks they order. The price is comparable to that in Europe, and people can get a drink, relax and spend time chatting with friends. Some are operated in a local style, where drinks are relatively cheaper and customers can drink relatively more. Instead of just chatting or listening to live lounge music (as in some jazz lounge bars), people can play dices and drinking games, and getting drunk is relatively easier this way. Karaoke is an activity close to the hearts of many Hong Kong people. Karaoke bars are venues for people looking for a combination of good drinks deals, some casual singing, playing dices and darts. The idea that getting at least slightly drunk is a must for one to get up and sing in a high mood is seen among Asian Karaoke culture like Taiwan and Hong Kong. Drinks in karaoke come in a big lot at a rather cheap price (compared with the same amount one orders in a bar or club) of around $120 – $150 per set, each set carrying half a dozen bottles. That’s why karaoke bars offer a good alternative for people who want to drink the night away. Recently, shisha bars are popping up here and there in Hong Kong. Shisha is a kind of water pipe to smoke flavoured tobacco. The smoke would go through the water in the basin before you inhale. It is a new trend followed by quite a number of young people because of a few reasons. First, the perception that smoking shisha is better than smoking cigarettes. Because shisha inhalation does not have the harshness as cigarettes, many think that it is â€Å"healthier† than the latter though in fact in an hour of shisha session one would actually have consumed more than 100 times the volume of cigarette smoke. Second, the fruity flavours of shisha (for example, grapes, watermelon and apple) also make it easily accepted by people. Third, like many other trendy behaviours and culture, the motivation of smoking shisha is the desire to be seen and to see, especially for young people – while it makes others perceive you as hip and cool, it also opens the young to brand-new things that they have never seen, which would broaden their horizons. There is also something interesting to note regarding these newly popular shisha bars in Hong Kong – the spending is not cheap. A shisha pipe can be consumed alone, or shared by up to three to four people, and each pipe costs from $150 (Sahara Bar in Central) to $280 (Beirut Bar in Central), depending on where the shisha bar is located. B. Clubs Similar to bars, there are different kinds of clubs in Hong Kong. They can be categorized into three types: clubs with a foreign crowd as opposed to clubs with a local crowd, and clubs with a celebrities or tycoons crowd. For the first, visitors are mostly foreigners (including expatriates and tourists) or local people with their foreign friends. They attract foreign tourists the most. Examples would be Fly in Central. For the second, visitors are, obviously, mostly local people, and they always charge entrance fee for men, and ladies also have to pay a lot during festivals or special events. Examples would be Beijing Club or Billion Club. For the third, it has a strict code of entrance and people there all dress up to impress others. Examples would be the Dragon-I. There are something similar among these types of clubs though – for example, they all play electronic dance music which has an American origin and western pop music are remixed by disc jockeys, both of them are the key elements in nightclubs. Also, they are mostly located in the heart of Hong Kong nightlife area – Lan Kwai Fong. C. Exploring the Nightlife Spot – Lan Kwai Fong Lan Kwai Fong is a small square of streets filled with expatriates who go visit there for drinking, clubbing and dining. It is also the beating centre of nightlife in Hong Kong. Food and drinks in Lan Kwai Fong are generally considered more upmarket both in their price and quality. All in all, it is a spot where you cannot distinguish the East from the West. First, westerners are seen everywhere in the area – not only the visitors, but the people who serve there. Second, many of the local people who visit there dress up and behave like western people – speaking in English in a group of local friends is a good example of such behavior; and look at the ladies who go clubbing, they do not wear a cheongsam, they wear party dresses that look very similar to those one can get in Europe. We might as well look at the history and development of Lan Kwai Fong briefly to understand how it has become the most renowned spots for nightlife. In 1980s, Allan Zeman, the current Chairman of the Hong Kong Ocean Park Corporation, contributed a lot in developing Lan Kwai Fong, and thus later has been known as the Father of Lan Kwai Fong. He bought numerous properties in that area, founded the Lan Kwai Fong Group, and aspired to develop it into a world-class entertainment destination (Lan Kwai Fong Group, 2012). These two years, massive constructions and reconstructions are seen in Lan Kwai Fong. Interestingly, the Father of Lan Kwai Fong, is a Canadian who was born in Germany. Instead of developing it to become an area which carries Hong Kong cultural elements, he strived to make it an area full of foreign bars, clubs, and restaurants. These places employ waiters, waitresses, bar tenders and bouncers who are required to speak English most of the time. [By Priscilla Yuen Pui Yu] Chapter 2 Implications and Analysis Why would the choices of two sides be so different? What background factors influence our choices? What values do we reflect upon our choices? In the following chapter, these questions will be answered under the aspects of cultural difference, income difference and soft power. Cultural Difference From the difference of nightlife mentioned before, it is clearly that sense of collectivism and individualism ruling the two places respectively. And more obvious is that the perception toward alcohol is different between Europe and Hong Kong. At the same time, stereotypes in Hong Kong did define what is good and wrong, limiting the youngsters from entering the clubs or bars. Due to the patriarchy in traditional Chinese society, the parental control is still strong in Hong Kong. Asides from these, the motto of Europeans and Hong Kong people would be distinct from each other. A. Collectivism versus Individualism European societies are based upon the model of individualism. The History has always set the example of powerful men and European people struggled for their own liberations. In the European minds, still nowadays highly influenced by the ideas of the Enlightenment and then confirmed in their beliefs by the attachment to the so-called â€Å"Free-world†, it is always a good thing to escape from pre-constructed ideologies and mentalities, to step out from the social background pre-established before our birth. European peoples tend to live in constant revolutionary process. One of the latest revolutions could be the sexual revolution during the late 60s when women gained more autonomy and the youth claimed the right to enjoy themselves away from the diktats of the society. These values still have a powerful influence among the youngsters nowadays who have been raised by the children of the sexual revolution generation. Thus, individualism and claimed differences are the symbols of a healthy youth, the driving forces of a constant questioning of society that can then be transformed but not perish. European teenagers are consequently completely fed by this spirit and act in consequence. And going out is all about taking care of one self in an environment that can be sometime hostile, to fight against their fears : The darkness has always evoked danger to mankind, evolving into it is then a sign of bravery and independence. Thus, individualism is one of the reasons that explain why European youngsters like to go out at night. It matches the vales incorporated in their early education. If it is individualism behind European societies, then Hong Kong society is based upon the model of collectivism. Local young people are more group oriented. They would love to do things together. From the example of hall activities, it is obvious that they love the sense of belonging and they are willing to sacrifice their time and strength just to have fun with others. They know better with the concept of â€Å"the more the merrier†, especially with their private time where Europeans would rather hang out with friends, while local students prefer to hang out with hall-mates. The truth behind the passion toward group activities is that the importance of family is deeply rooted in Hong Kong people’s mind. With the influence of traditional Chinese thinking, they are taught that they should keep a good relationship with family members and family interest is always the top priority, even higher than your own. Also, independency is not a criterion when raising a child. Hong Kong families build trust between parents and kids by dependency, while European families would build trust upon mutual respect. Consequently, Hong Kong youngsters are relatively more dependent, and this can be reflected upon their passion toward hall life. When they leave home for hall life, they swift their dependency from the families to the hall-mates. If they praise the hall life, their comments are often associated with resemblance of â€Å"living at home†. Hong Kong youngsters feel more secure in the groups, they are afraid of being special. They act with herb behavior that they will follow what the majority of the group wants. The contradiction here is that they would want to be a bit different from the others, but all in all they are following the same trend. This can be seen in the field of fashion. They would want to be the first group of people who wear a different style of clothes, however, not the very first one as it would seem awkward. This kind of mentality shows that they lack of individualism in their spirit and they are sensitive to others’ perception and judgment. As a result, they follow the trend and feel secure. Two different kinds of mentalities shape different choices. Individualism leads the Europeans to act on their own, while Collectivism leads Hong Kong people to rely on their group. B. Image of Alcohol As we have said in earlier parts of our work, the European nightlife is mainly organized around alcohol. Alcohol in western societies is a long lasting tradition in society. From the Kings to the peasants, since the early ages of the civilization and throughout history, every single human being had access to alcohol. It is a social legacy and the drinking culture is deeply rooted in our contemporary societies. This means that alcohol actually punctuates every step of life. Young children will be accustomed to alcohol in the early stages of their life, in every social event they will attend. Alcohol is a symbol of celebration, it is then related to joy and happiness and reminds of pleasant moments. This is usually embodied by champagne which is always taken out in case of a big celebration such as birthdays, new year or weddings. Alcohol then carries a lot of positive values does not set off aversion. For example, as young children, teenagers will often be offered a sip in the glass of their parents so they can actually be part of the celebration. That is why, youngsters start drinking pretty early, by the age of 17, 80% of the French teenagers have already drunk alcohol and 49.3% admit they have been drunk in the past year. Moreover, alcohol is known for its dis-inhibition effect, students seek alcohol in order to get rid of their reserve and be able to act differently from how they would have acted while being sober. This â€Å"enhanced† behavior can be valued by the peers and could also explain why alcohol is so important in European nightlife. It is also important to note that in most European countries, alcohol is really easy to reach, we can find it easily and for quite cheap in supermarkets and even though there are some restrictive laws, sellers are usually compliant and do not hesitate to let the underage buy alcohol. There is a general irresponsibility about alcohol. For Hong Kong, the image of alcohol is not related to joy and happiness, but rather dangerous and negative. While Europeans focus on the joy they have during drinking, we think about the consequences of being drunk. This mindset in fact is constituted by the society, where government propaganda may stress on its problem and the social perception on alcohol is always bad on youngsters. There is a survey which is done by The Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups in 2009, asking the students aged 13 to 18 whether they regard drinking alcohol under festive atmosphere as acceptable. The results show that more than half of the respondents disagree that behavior is acceptable. This shows the value of the society – alcohol is bad. Drinking alcohol is a right to men, excluding youngsters and women. Girls who are good drinkers may be treated as bad girls in the past. As the society has promoted equality between male and female, we would not regard good female drinkers as bad, but we would still refer their behavior as manly. As the attitude towards alcohol is so different in Hong Kong and Europe, no wonder why Europeans have various night time activities with alcohol, while Hong Kong people have those without alcohol. C. Image on party girls/ boys Being a party boy or a party girl is usually assimilated with being cool. Party people usually carry the image of being nonchalant and careless. They seem to be set free. Party people also go out with many other party people that they meet in different places. That is why they appear to be always surrounded by fancy people and never left behind. The image they reflect is that of social accomplishment and carefreeness. As mentioned before, alcohol and going out are also symbols of celebration: they convey all these positive values of joy and shared happiness. However, in Hong Kong, where traditional value still matters, the older generations would regard partying as a bad thing. As in line with the image of karaoke sites, clubs and bars are associated with sex, drugs and criminal activities in the conservative thinking. This concept influences youngsters, especially with the girls. They would call the partying girls as â€Å"wet-mui† in the past, imposing a negative label on them. Due to such a negative impression on partying, young people seldom go to bars or clubs. D. Parental Control As mentioned before, parent’s control over their children tend to loosen years after years. Teenagers can enjoy a more and more early emancipation. Parents also have to face the pressure of their children. Indeed, as mentioned before, teenagers in Europe are raised to constantly experience by themselves because they can enjoy a wide freedom. But in school, they always need to compare to their peers and the latter will not hesitate to chime in. Parents would then be tempted to loosen the strings that attach them to their children in order to promote and realize the self-expression of their offspring. The hurdle is definitely passed when young Europeans enter University. This usually comes along with the majority and thus the official right to drink any kind of alcohol. Parents then think that their children reached a stage of maturity. For example, a French proverb says â€Å"maintenant tu es majeur et vaccinà ©Ã¢â‚¬ , it would be literally translated as â€Å"now you reached majority and you are also vaccinated†. This means that they completed their duty as parents: to bring up a healthy kid to give him or her all options for the future. It is now up to the teenager to decide for him or herself. Moreover, large parts of student also leave their parent’s house to live in private housing or in student residences. There, they can experience their own autonomy and decide for themselves what they want to do at night. This comes together with the idea that we should learn from our mistakes. For young people in Hong Kong, it is not usual for them to decide for themselves. As mentioned in the part of collectivism, â€Å"family interest is always the top priority†, our own pleasure is neglected in such sense. Our decisions are always made by our parents, what we feel is just not important, as they will decide for our own good. We have to fulfill parents’ expectation in life, therefore, they will decide a path for us to fulfill. Apart from fulfilling family expectation, the parents would think that they are wise enough to help you decide on things. There is a saying that is frequently spoke by parents, â€Å"What do you know, you child!† It reveals the hierarchic style of parent-child relationship. In the family, father has the utmost power to decide on everything, and they are unquestionable. While we might think that this kind of concept should be dropped with the influence of gender equality, the traditional thinking is still affecting the older generations. Parental control in Hong Kong may be severe from European point of view, but it may be lighter from traditional Chinese point of view. Parental control involves no alcohol, and for girls, there would be a curfew before 18. Girls are vulnerable and therefore they should be restrained, which is from parents’ perspective. Although the public security in Hong Kong is satisfying, the citizens normally are well protected by Hong Kong police, parents would still worry about girls’ going out. And when girls want to hang out with friends at one’s home, parents will drop down the address, phone number, what people will appear in that house, etc. Also, they usually have to return home before 12. That is the situation for girls under 18. After 18, the limit would be much reduced, depending on the family. Under strict parent control, there is almost no nightlife before 18 among Hong Kong young people. It is largely different from Europe, where parents’ attitude toward youngsters is to let go, let them try and experience. This also results in different choices we made for night time activities, as Hong Kong youngsters would go for non-alcoholic ones, and Europeans would go for alcoholic ones because they have no restriction on alcohol in their families. E. Motto According to the Swiss Bank UBS’ 2012 Global Prices and Earnings Survey, people in Europe tend to have less annual working hours, with an average of 1829 or 1757 hours, which is less than people in Asia, with an average of 2154 hours. Asian countries are leading in the field. Moreover, the survey also recommends people move their workplace to Europe, â€Å"if you like going on holiday, you should perhaps move your workplace to Europe, where workers enjoy around five weeks of paid relaxation.† In Europe, the motto seems to be â€Å"work hard, play hard†, however, the motto of Europeans may be half right in Hong Kong, the work hard part. According to the Global Prices and Earnings Survey, Hong Kong has average 2296 working hours per year, while vacation days per year are 12 only, meaning one paid day off each month. The intense, fast-paced lifestyle in Hong Kong makes everyone stressful about it. And youngsters could not escape from it. The tension begins once we are born. When we are small, the concept of â€Å"only hard-working people can succeed† is implanted in our mind. The social value regarding success is only defied by one factor, money. More money you possess, more successful you are. In order to become â€Å"successful†, we should stud hard to get good results in public examination, then get into the top universities in Hong Kong, and find a good job. This one-way road constructs a competitive and stressful atmosphere in Hong Kong. For young people, there is a saying among university students about five must-dos in university life, which one of them is doing part-time jobs. In fact, the main purpose of doing part-time jobs is to make their resumes look good. It is all about the future, all about getting a good job, about success. This atmosphere undoubtedly builds up the motto of Hong Kong people, â€Å"work hard to succeed†. In Europe and in France in particular, the notion of success covers a larger definition. Success is not all about money but also about self-fulfillment and overall happiness. Just like states the famous proverb, â€Å"money cannot buy happiness†, we tend to think that material happiness cannot be considered as a true success. Instead of working more, we would give priority to improve our standards of living. Indeed, overt the past decades trade unions struggled to reduce the legal working hours and extend the duration of paid leaves. In compensation, European workers are among the most competitive in the world which legitimate their wages and gives an explanation and a justification to the need of relaxing after work or study. And this attitude in fact contributes to high productivity per head rate as the graph below: Furthermore, our society values youth and freedom and the study years seem to be the only time slot when we can really experience both. It is important not to miss out on this precious moment. In addition, with the generalization of studies, student’s curriculums are converging to an identical level and subject of study. Recruiting consultant and society then attach more importance to life experiences than to degrees in order to distinguish the profiles of their future employees. The motto of life guides us to different choices and attitudes. â€Å"Work hard, play hard† sets a balanced life between work, study and entertainment among Europeans. â€Å"Work hard to succeed† drives Hong Kong people to an extreme that we have no life other than work. These values are reflected by the choices of nightlife, many Hong Kong young people stick to the norms, afraid of judgment from the others, while Europeans enjoy themselves with dancing and drinking. [Claire Couturier on descriptions and Rem Man Hou Sum on cross-cultural analysis] Income difference The cost of nightlife in Europe is almost the same as in Hong Kong. However, European students are more likely to spend their money in leisure and alcohol. The main difference between Hong Kong and Europe is that usually, the admission fee to clubs is cheaper and even sometimes it can be free. Social life is one of the most important components of life among young people and thus, as a result of a cultural practice, students and youngsters in Europe save a part of their budget which is then directly devoted to nights out and leisure. This share can be more or less significant depending on every individual. For example, in average, a French Student lives with about 6000 HKD per month without aids like scholarships and government subsidies and an average student would devote about 1000 to 1500 HKD per month for his nights out. This represents then 16% to 25% percent of his monthly income. The most costly budget item is definitely the drinks and alcohol while the share of admission fees is less significant. Indeed, bars do not require any entrance fee and clubs do not have a policy of high prices, the shortfall should be compensated by margin realized while selling drinks. We also need to point out the importance of house partying which is actually one of the cheapest way to party. No entrance fee is needed and everyone brings his own alcohol. While usually drinks and snacks are all gathered and everyone picks in the table(s) of food, in some European countries, it is a custom that everyone provides for his own needs. This means that no one gets to drink or eat what someone else brings unless it is offered by the owner. This tradition allows then every single person to control exactly the amount of money that he or she wants to put in one night out.[By Claire Couturier] Although cultural differences are of paramount importance in explaining the reasons why the locals adopt a different nightlife style than Europeans, the income differences are worth noting as well. On one hand, even if the cost of alcohol is comparable, the local income level is lower than that in Europe; and on the other, partying is generally more expensive in Hong Kong because of two reasons. First, partying in Hong Kong is costly because of the high entrance fee, especially for men. It can cost up to around $500, of which drinks are excluded. It explains why not many young men are attracted to this nightlife activity. Second, we do not have house parties as Europeans do, and it has to do with the housing of Hong Kong – we have a land mass of 1,104 km2 and a population of more than seven million people, according to Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department, making us one of the most densely populated areas in the world. Consequently only very few people are privileged to live in a house. Many people just live in a flat, and given the small size and restrictions on noise which would affect one’s close neighbors next-door, a house party is unlikely. We suggest that future studies can look more deeply into the correlation between income levels and patterns of nightlife for Hong Kong young people, or Hong Kong people in general. Since the income discrepancies are large among different social classes, it might also explain the larger variety of nightlife in Hong Kong than in Europe. Moreover, the minority of people who go partying and fancy a more vibrant nightlife may also suggest the uneven distribution of income in Hong Kong.[By Priscilla Yuen Pui Yu] The Manifestation of Soft Power A. Soft Power of the West and its influence of Local Nightlife According to Joseph Nye, soft power in political sense is all about the ability to shape the preferences of others so that they want what you want. To make others want to follow you not by means of command or force, it is understandable that the behavior or action have to attract others in the first place. And once others are attracted, their values will gradually change. Nightlife is primarily a western idea. Other than Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing and Macau, late nights in the streets remain quiet. And in particular, local people do not have a fond heart of partying as Europeans do. Think of how exchange students in HKBU head out to Lan Kwai Fong in groups while many of the local ones have never been to a club before. On the other hand, this situation is gradually changing because more people are willing to try and there is a younger clubbing crowd than before. The slowly growing popularity of partying is a manifestation of soft power. We might find it natural that western culture can be seen and mixed with local culture in these world-class international cities, but are we aware of the fact that our nation is under the influence of other’s soft power? Below are some more examples that exemplify the influence of European or Western soft power on local nightlife culture. Previously in this paper, we have talked about local people speaking in English even though they are just hanging out with their local friends, and also how we dress like foreigners. This is almost the norms of clubbing or partying in Hong Kong. During the research for this topic, we have done a real-life experiment in six clubs. Three are those we categorize as local clubs, and the other three are those more foreign. In two of three for both, we try to speak in English to local men and western men; and in one among three for both types, we speak in our mother tongue, Cantonese and act like we have a rather low command of spoken English to both local and western men, and we wanted to see how would they respond differently. Results are not surprisingly – the most significant result is that when we spoke in English, both local and western men asked either where we came from or were we studying abroad in all the cases. However, when we spoke in Cantonese or rather bad English, western men were less interested and tended to walk away sooner than the other way and local men were less impressed. This simple experiment shows the superiority of the English language in social context in Hong Kong. What is striking in the findings and our observations is that, even in the less restricted social context, local people tend to act like westerners to impress others, and this way of impressing others is actually effective. We suggest that future studies might conduct a more detailed experiment, employing both men and women as experimenters to see if it is similar for men.[By Priscilla Yuen] B. The Help of Popular Culture and Mass Media Western soft power on local nightlife is also facilitated by the spread of western popular culture and mass media. With globalization and greater free flow of information nowadays, young people in Hong Kong are largely exposed to western popular culture. Even though not many young ones spend their nightlife in clubs, many would have heard of the club music (before being remixed) on YouTube, radio, television, and in many different places that would play such music. [By Priscilla Yuen] One of the most powerful vectors of soft power is the cinema. Like in every other developed country, American cinema is the most influential cinema over the world and in Hong Kong also. According to a survey commissioned by MasterCard, â€Å"watching movies at the cinema is the most popular leisure activity in Hong Kong with three quarters (74%) of respondents having been to a movie in the past six months. These respondents had on average gone to a cinema 3 times a month.† Many works have revealed how Hollywood influenced and managed to impose a cultural standardization over societies all around the world. Hong Kong did not escape from that spell either. Depicting the life of young Americans enjoying crazy student life, movies like Project X or Television shows such as Gossip Girl or 90210 provoked a phenomenon of imitation among the Hong Kong youth, a desire to live these fancy lives and enjoy the feeling of carefreeness showed through the stories of the characters. Hong Kong cinema industry seems also to start dealing with the night life. As an example,in September 2011, a movie called Lan Kwai Fong (Ã¥â€"Å"çˆ ±Ã¥ ¤Å"è’ ²)was released. It relates the life a group of young Hong Kong people who spend their nights partying hard in Lan Kwai Fong. The weekend after its release, the movie was ranked number one in the local box office. Even though it did not receive many good reviews, it at least shed light on the phenomenon and on this fringe of local youth who goes clubbing. Besides, the producers decided to release a sequel in 2012, focusing on another group of Lan Kwai Fong night birds. As a former British colony, Hong Kong has been deeply influenced and driven by western culture over the past century. Even after the retrocession to China, Hong Kong kept maintaining privileged relationships with the United Kingdom and the rest of Western world as the city is seen as a western enclave in China. This heritage of western tradition has made of Hong Kong one of the favorite destination for the expats as has shown a recent study realized for HSBC. The local Government issued last year 30,557 visas under the General Employment Scheme. This constant closeness to western culture and cultural exchanges can be seen as the main reason of the spread of the nightlife in Hong Kong. Regarding the students, many exchange programs are set between local Universities and Universities abroad which contribute to the implementation of the nightlife as a norm. Indeed, as we have said before, students in local universities are constantly brought face to face with Western students and even though they might not always talk and share with them, seeing them going out at night might arouse their curiosity. For those who are friends with exchange students, it can be a mentorship to get into nightlife. Finally, local student who go to study abroad experience overseas the student life and, as long as they have adopted it, might just want to reproduce the same when they are back. [By Claire Couterier] C. The Influence of the Membership to International Organizations Hong Kong has been a member of the World trade Organization since 1995, right after its creation. About ten years after and after the retrocession of Hong Kong, in turn China entered the Organization. This membership creates an improvement in trade with the rest of the world but also somehow create a cultural transfer from western countries to developing countries. Some works have shown that international organizations, even though they pretend to serve the whole world and be an open tribune which provide a chance for every country to speak up, are actually driven by Western principles and serve western interests. Regarding the WTO, negotiation rounds over trade go along with a tendency to reach a standardization of the social conditions: The European Union and the US implement some new restrictive norms regarding the working conditions in which are produced manufactured goods. These countries also spread their conceptions of work as they seem to set the example of powerful Nations. These elements are the main explanation of the standardization and improvement of working conditions. Hence, we can observe a decrease of overall working hours and the recognition of several rights for workers such as paid leaves. This modifies the place of work in daily life and can then make more room for leisure in local society. Nightly outings fit then more easily in people’s schedules but this new amount of time can also be used in many different ways such as going to the movies, listening to some music or having gatherings with friends in public places; many of these activities that are at the same time hugely influenced and by Western society and transmitter of its culture as we have seen above.[By Claire Couterier] D. The Repercussions and Overarching Effects of Colonialism Colonialism, in particular European colonialism, has profound influence in both trade and culture in Asia. It is interesting how although European colonialism ended after Second World War, its impact still exists up till now. Looking at Hong Kong, the share of British influence on trade has diminished; but its influences on our culture and the social system are very deep-rooted and evident. The aspect of changes that can be related to our topic here would be on the English language and the education system which stresses importance on bilingualism. Nowadays, there are still a large number of parents who would send their children to the United Kingdom to study, if they can afford the large amount of tuition, boarding and living expenses. The Chinese Societies of different top British universities are famous for co-organizing numerous parties in nightclubs when students are back to Hong Kong for vacation. Like what we have suggested, even though they are a whole bunch of local young people, it is not uncommon that they hold conversations mixed with English and Cantonese, if they are not entirely in English. We have to note that, while trade and economic influences were intended and deliberately brought about, cultural and social influences are not. They are unintended. However, their impacts are not necessarily smaller – because they are deeply embedded in our daily life, we might not be aware of it. There seems to be nothing bad about such a mixture of local and European cultures, but as soft power gets stronger, our local culture may diminish and may eventually be annihilated. Look again at the local nightlife scene, it is not only a mixture of West and the East – it is in fact a separation of our society: Although the expatriate crowd in the hottest nightlife spot, Lan Kwai Fong, are diversified in both their nationalities and walks of life, but in a general post-colonial context, expatriates might think that they are more superior over the locals. And this might be disliked by many local people. E. Increasing Hong Kong’s Soft Power, and Decreasing the West’s As previous studies have suggested, the core of a city’s soft power is the soft power, hence ability to attract, of its city culture (Lin, Li & Hong, 2012). It interacts with its economic and technological advancement to create the competitiveness of the city. More importantly, city culture should be coherent, appealing, innovative, as well as having integration. Looking at Hong Kong, our local culture as manifested by nightlife is not especially charming and focused. When talking about nightlife, the immediate examples we give in Hong Kong’s context are bars and clubs like what Europe or the West have – but strangely, neither is it the norms of the society, nor is it â€Å"Hong Kong† in itself, while other options like karaoke bars are actually evident and more popular among young people in Hong Kong. The problem is, feelings toward these are not largely positive nor are Hong Kong people proud of them – and it also cannot attract people from other cities to feel our city’s special appeal. Is Hong Kong’s world-famous nightlife culture innovative? Certainly it is not. The fact that Lan Kwai Fong, which is not much different from nightlife spots in Europe, pops up as the most popular nightlife spot in Hong Kong, might appear strange to exchange students or tourists. To enhance Hong Kong’s soft power through its city culture, it should increase its capacity to draw different cultural factors and to broaden the market. In the case of nightlife, the government might try to think of sponsoring the start-up and operation of bars playing local music, to start with, or for example, to promote karaoke lounges for foreigners. At the moment, karaoke lounges only target at local customers, this can be seen at the fact that the promotion leaflets, publication materials, and the like, are mostly in Chinese only and do not have an English translation. Also, the repertoire in karaoke lounges is narrow and has only a few foreign songs. [By Priscilla Yuen Pui Yu] Conclusion We would have expected nightlife to be different in such poles apart cultures, but by talking and investigating into the subject we realized that they were many cultural, historical and values implications behind this topic that could have been considered as frivolous in the first place. And even though Hong Kong is always seen from, a Western point of view, as a modern, dynamic and westernized city, the local culture is still deeply rooted in the Chinese tradition. One century of English protectorate did not modify much the structure of beliefs and traditions and way of thinking. The profound gap that separates both our nightlife culture appears to be the drinking tradition and the relationships and moral values towards alcohol. Whereas alcohol is a daily beverage on the western side, in the east it is frowned up to drink for the possible repercussions and bad behavior caused by alcohol. It is then a completely adverse thinking pattern between two sides of the world. The same goes for the notion of success. While in Hong Kong success is only related to money, in Europe, success embraces a wider definition. We live in a leisure society that considers, to a certain extent, work as an alienation of freedom. Thus, there is no point in working so hard if we cannot enjoy some time to spend the hard-won money. It seems like the difference in nightlife can then be explained by this completely opposed system of values. However, Hong Kong is at the core of the process of westernization and going out late at night becomes more and more common for the local youth. We can think that the process started under the British domination and keeps on going even after the retrocession thanks to a large range of cultural conveyers like cultural goods such as cinema, film, music, social medias but also the development of economic and social exchanges between Hong Kong and the Western world. At the end of the day, we might observe a convergence in the nightlife activities. After all, as mentioned earlier, nightlife appeared and developed in Europe between 1500 and 1700. The social nightlife nowadays is the result of a long lasting process. That is why, with the globalization, we can expect to see the next generation of local youth to fill up the numerous bars and clubs in Hong Kong soon. [By Claire Couterier] Bibliography Chaouachi, Kamal and Sajid, Khan Mohammad (2010) â€Å"A Critique of Recent Hypotheses on Oral (and Lung) Cancer Induced by Water Pipe (Hookah, Shisha, Narghile) Tobacco Smoking,† Medical Hypotheses 74, no. 5. Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, Information Services Department. (2012) â€Å"Hong Kong: The Facts.† Accessed at December 07, 2012. http://www.gov.hk/en/about/abouthk/factsheets/docs/population.pdf. Lin, Dan, Li, Wenjuan and Hong, Xiaonan (2012) â€Å"The Research on the Soft Power of City Culture,† Studies in Sociology of Science 3, no. 2. Nye, Joseph (2004) Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics (New York: Public Affairs). Observatoire de la jeunesse (2011) jeunesse et alcool. (Paris: Institut National de la Jeunesse et de l’Education Populaire). UBS (2012) Global Prices and Earnings Survey. http://www.static-ubs.com/global/en/wealth_management/wealth_management_research/prices_earnings/_jcr_content/par/columncontrol/col1/linklist/link_0.1393999310.file/bGluay9wYXRoPS9jb250ZW50L2RhbS91YnMvZ2xvYmFsL3dlYWx0aF9tYW5hZ2VtZW50L3dlYWx0aF9tYW5hZ2VtZW50X3Jlc2VhcmNoL1BfTF8yMDEyX2VuLnBkZg==/P_L_2012_en.pdf. 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