Having been in the ancient city of Cairo, Egypt and seen the rural center of India, we now headed for the big city of Hong Kong. Here was another opportunity to experience and learn about a different culture and peoples.
In 1971 Hong Kong was in a building mode. Having been to Hong Kong recently, I saw the many apartment buildings which now look old and outdated. In 1971 it seemed construction was common as the population was growing.
Because Hong Kong is full of tall buildings, churches cannot afford land to build a church. So church buildings as we think of them are rare. Churches are often not even on the ground level of tall buildings, but might be three, four or more stories up. They also might not be very spacious. Real estate is just too expensive for churches to afford much.
In 1971 Hong Kong was under British authority and quite separate from China. One of the experiences I remember was looking down on communist China. We drove out to a hill somewhere and were told that we were looking at China. It felt like looking at some mysterious, hidden secret. China was somewhat of an unknown at that time. It was not until February of the following year that President Nixon visited China, and the door to China began to slowly open.
I have some odd recollections of Hong Kong. One of the events we participated in was a summer camp. While many people think of Hong Kong as one big city, there is actually a lot of rural, mountainous regions around the city. One afternoon we visited a summer camp for teens.
Our team leader spoke to the students. He was trying to encourage them to make a strong commitment to Christ, but his illustration flopped. Comparing one’s commitment to Christ to having a girlfriend, he asked them to imagine a young man saying to his girlfriend, “I love you so much. I would swim across the deepest river to come to you. I would cross the hottest desert to see you. I’ll be over on Saturday if there’s no monsoon.”
He should have said, “I’ll be over Saturday if it’s not raining,” because he was trying to make it a joke. However, he thought he was being relevant to the culture by saying monsoon. He wasn’t. Of course one would stay home in a monsoon. The kids just looked at him oddly. No one laughed. It’s odd to me that I remember that moment after all these years, but I have never forgotten it.
The other experience I remember with some shame now. I remember being in the lobby of our hotel. Someone had indicated to us that it was not uncommon for prostitutes to come into the lobby of this particular hotel to meet or find clients. I remember sitting there with others from our team watching women as they came in. We would try to determine who the prostitutes were by the way they were dressed or made up. We would kind of laugh about it.
These fifty years later I have a greater awareness of why women are often trapped in situations of prostitution. It is often not a choice that they wanted to make. I am embarrassed for my younger self who thought that this was something worth laughing and joking about.
One very Chinese experience we had was a full course Chinese meal. I remember we started with shark’s fin soup which didn’t appeal to me much. I also recall the large whole fish with the eyes still in it staring at us. Not being a fish lover, that was a bit much for me. We ate around a large round table loaded with a variety of Chinese dishes. It was quite a meal.
Of course the other opportunity we had in Hong Kong was to experience some of the local religious life. Here we saw the Buddhist temples and the many offerings being given for their ancestors. We heard the chanting of the monks and the drumming. The temples are so full of color and images that it’s hard to take it all in.
Traveling to Hong Kong recently brought back a few memories from fifty years ago. I remember crossing the bay on a ferry, and the ferry seemed to be the same one from 47 years ago. Our team also went out on a boat tour of the harbor which always gives a different perspective of a city.
The water view of Hong Kong also shows the changes in the city since 1971. While these two photos are not taken from the exact same spot, they are pretty close. One can see the large number of buildings added during this time difference.
Of course we also went up to Victoria Peak to look down at the city below. My picture from 1971 is not very clear, but perhaps you can get some idea of the changes that have happened in the 47 years which separate the two pictures.
We spent about three days days in Hong Kong, and then we continued our journey. Our next stop, however, was not far away. It was a short trip comparatively as we flew to Taiwan. Culturally it was also not a big change, but it would be our final mission stop. Our tour was rapidly coming to an end.
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