我這一代香港人 – 陳冠中

My HK Generation 去年原本沒有多少人認識的陳冠中﹐一躍成為香港文化界的代表作家。他的著作「我這一代香港人」不單晉身香港電台舉辦的十本好書名單內﹐還成為城中知識份子人手一本的指定讀本。我這個沒有什麼文化的粗人﹐自然不甘後人﹐買本回來閱讀惡補﹐好在人前扮有文化。陳冠中在文化界活躍多年﹐他是「號外」雜誌的創辨人﹐現今定居北京容梭中港台各地地。這本書將他多年的文章結集出版﹐形式雖似是散文集﹐但並非一般的消閑讀物。每篇文章的學術含量頗高﹐作者以他淵博的學識﹐去分析和介紹影響香港的各種文化思潮。

全書分為三個部份﹐第一部份論述香港人文化生活和身份認同的轉變﹐是全書的精華所在。作者用一個抽離的角度﹐去探討反思香港人的特性﹐再從特性去解釋香港過去的經驗與未來的展望。第一篇文章從香港戰後的歷史開始說起﹐經過火紅的七十年代﹐經濟起飛的八十年代﹐移民潮的九十年代﹐至回歸後的廿一世紀﹐指出今天香港面對的問題不是一朝一夕出現﹐而是過去五十多年累積下來的結果。作者批評對香港一直賴以成功的地產主導經濟模式﹐這種目光短視賺錢至上的功利主義限制了香港人的思維﹐亦是做成今天香港眾多社會問題的元兇。在該文後半部與第一部份其後的文章中﹐作者提出對目前這些問題的決解方案。不過他的浪漫思維就有點不切實際﹐認為只要做好文化工作﹐把香港改造成他理想中的文化烏托邦﹐就可以解決所有問題。

第二部份探討流行文化﹐可閱讀性最高是介紹坎普﹐垃圾﹐刻奇文化理論和愛富族字典的兩篇文章。可能只是我自己見識少﹐從來沒有聽過Susan Sontag的大名。陳冠中把她的坎普文化理論娓娓道來﹐正好解答了多年來我對這種文化現像的疑惑﹐讓我茅悟頓開。原來我一直喜歡那些明明表面上很差﹐但不知何解會覺得很好的東西是有個名堂﹐還在文化學術界這樣出名﹐甚有相知恨晚的感覺。愛富族社交語寫得很有趣﹐雖然字典內的英文字我差不多全部也懂﹐但從沒有想過可以這樣歸類﹐組成新上流社會常用言語。剩餘的幾篇文章有的寫影評有的寫流潮生活﹐不過那些電影我大部份沒有看過﹐流潮生活並非我的興趣﹐所以沒有多大共鳴﹐看過知道了便算。

第三部份收錄作者的其他文章﹐取題十分多樣化﹐主要是討論左派知識份子通常關心的議題。不外是對資本主義的批評﹐民主法治政制扶貧﹐中國政情評論﹐綠色環保動物權益等。這部份的文章沒有統一主題﹐加上文中大量引經據典﹐讀起來不易明白﹐給讀者花多眼亂的感覺。作者本身的觀點比較溫和﹐他沒有完全否定西方現行的政治體制﹐算是中間偏左的立場。雖他的有些觀點不能絕苟同﹐例如動物權益和城市規劃等﹐但閱讀起來沒有令人反感。不論支持還是反對那些理論﹐他的文章都是很好的入門材料﹐給讀書一個深入淺出的基本認識﹐並例出理論的原著供進一步參考。

嚴格來說我並不是陳冠中那一代的香港人﹐生於七十年代﹐沒有經歷過暴動與左派思潮﹐在懂事前己移民外國。雖然仍常留心香港的新聞時事﹐但沒有親身經歷過香港從高處跌入谷低﹐一直只是個冷眼的旁觀者。我閱讀這本書﹐談不上是想去了解自己香港人的身份﹐書中大約只有一半形容香港人的特性適用在我身上。不過若想知道如何解讀香港人的思維﹐這本書應該屈指可數的參考資料。這本書除了客觀地分析香港文化外﹐作者想藉此宣揚他的文化價值觀的意圖很明顯。這方面他可以說做得十分成功﹐一來他的文章頗有說服力﹐若一時三刻不接受他的立場﹐亦已引起讀者自行尋找這些理論的興趣。雖說我立場一向中間偏右以至極右﹐但說不定這本書已在我心中種下些轉左的種子。不論是否在香港居住的人﹐只要與香港有聯系﹐或想多點了解香港這個城市﹐一定不可以錯過這本書。

anobii.com

Today, I came across book sharing website at anobii.com. It is pretty much like Douban.com, except this one is focus only on books and have a better user interface. Naobii.com is based in HK, which is kinda an unusal place to start a new web 2.0 venture. The website allow users to create and share their books collection. User can enter title of the books, rating and comments, then Naobii.com will take care of the database and provide other information of the book like cover picture, publisher, etc. The website connects users share comon reading interest. The website is still in beta stage, but it has already built up a large book catalog and user base. When Douban.com first come out, I thought about using it to keep track of my books. However, I found it too inconvinent to use and dropped the idea. Naobii.com seems addressed most problem of Doubai and it also provide easy integration to your blog and export your book shelf in plain HTML for backup. The website is still in its infancy, it needs many improvement. It is still too much hassle to add a book, the book search function is not fast enough. I think Naobii.com can post a serious thread to Douban.com, which is slowly turning into an anti-intelligent getto. Probably including music and movie reviews is not a good idea, espeically music, it really dumb down the intellectual content of the users.

Shopping

I went to shopping with Pat this afternoon.  Unfortunately, after spending 3 hours in the mall, the only thing I bought is a polo shirt.  Not a very productive shopping trip.  I first went to Mountain Equiment Co-op then head towards Park Royal.  This two places has totally different shopping style.  I feel very comfortable selecting clothings in Mountain Equiment Co-op, while I am quite uneasy finding the right clothings in Park Royal.  I don’t know much about the clothings in general.  The clothings in Moutain Equiments are all functional, there are specification for me to look up.  I can compare their water-proof, warm-keeping, breathness, price then make an objective judgement.  On the other hand, the selection criteria of the clothings in Park Royalother is subjective.  I know what kind colour I like and whether the clothes is comfortable or not, but I can never tell I bought the right clothes.  If clothing style is purely subjective and there is no dispute on tastes, then at least I don’t have to care what others people think about my clothes.  But this is obviously not the reality, people judge you by what you wear.  Yet there is no objective rules to capture how people may judge you.  To make it worst, try to use statistic approach by simpily getting the most common fashion style won’t work.  Fashion is something contradictary on its own, it has to follow the trend, but at the same time blame the lack of uniqueness or character.  Almost policy in the old communist China is wrong, but at least they have done one thing right by making everyone wear the same style uniform everyday everywhere.  This policy is probably the only way to my problem in clothes shopping.  Ok, I do agree the Mao style unifrm is ugly.  Maybe we can fix the system by hiring some top fashion designers to make a better looking uniform.

Practical Joke

In grade school or junor high, people love practical jokes. If the joke is harmless, at least physically, it is nothing but some nonsense fun. However I can’t believe someone who is in his mid-thirties still play practical jokes pulling the chair when someone trying to sit down. Yes, I was the victim this time and luckily I was not hurted. Actually, it is my own fault, I should be more aware of that baka colleague. You just can’t let your guard down one second when he is around. It is not the first time his stupid jokes offended friends in the group. I am just the lastest name added to the long list. I won’t even bother to demand for an apologize, since we all know he is shameless, never will, probably not able to, express any sense of sorry to anyone. Judging from his past records, you cannot trust him he to be mature enough to distinguish when is ok to have fun or when is not. I suspected he does not have any awareness about the responsibility of his own action. So you can’t really upset with someone who is simplily retarded. You can only feel sorry for him, maybe pray for him if you are religious. Well, maybe God can’t do much about him except writting him off as a counter example for the rest of us. Nor you can ignore him, he is just part of your work life. Just like everything else in life, it is full of unpredictable events. The only thing you can do is always be prepare and react fast to stay way from harms. The moral of this story is thy shoult never get close to that guy. I had paid my price for not listening to the advice of the previous victims. It is really my own fault.

教院合併與改名之外的選擇

HKIED

香港教育學院的事件最近越鬧越大﹐從校長莫時禮不獲續約開始﹐到教職員因發表文章反對政府教策而被辭退﹐演變成教統局官員有否干預學術自由的風波。追朔事情的起末﹐整事件源於教院未來的發展方向﹐教統局主張把教院合併入其他大學﹐而教院本身則力爭升格改名為大學。可是不論是政府還是教院的爭論﹐妨忽認為除了合併與改名外﹐就沒有第三個可行的選擇。為什麼教院不可以安份守己﹐繼續發揮它專上學院的功用呢﹖

從政府的運用資源的角度去看﹐想把教院合併入其他大學﹐特別是沒有教育系的科大是很容易理解的。將教院變為科大的大埔分校﹐不單可以精簡行政架構﹐減少學校高層的開支﹐亦可以與科大其他學系互相調用資源。當然這個建議會損害教院高層的既得利益﹐一來飯碗可能不保﹐二來現在當土皇帝怎樣也好過將來寄人籬下﹐他們自然會強烈反對合併的建議。可是真實反對合併的理由沒有說服力﹐於是他們只好找各樣的藉口去反抗﹐由教育理念到為學生設想﹐說穿了也只是為保一己私利。以香港學生實際至上的性格﹐成績不好只能考入教院﹐卻抽條好簽拿科大學位畢業﹐對他們豈不會喜出望外﹐那有不支持之理。至於教育理念﹐反正科大沒有教育系﹐教學理念沒有既定立場﹐繼續現行路線也不是問題。

教院沒有大學之名的確可能令學生被看扁﹐可是把名稱冠上大學沒有解決問題﹐只不過僱主不說﹕噢﹗原來不是大學生﹐而改說﹕噢﹗原來是只間二流大學的大學生。單單改名字不會提升教育質素﹐亦不會吸引到成績優異的學生來報讀﹐二流學校就算改了名﹐也只會是間二流大學。好比八兩金走去把身份證上的名字改為劉德華﹐八兩金始終是八兩金﹐不會成為萬人迷金像獎影帝的劉德華。香港只有三間一流大學﹐其他大學或許有個別學系辨得很出色(如浸大的傳理系)﹐但論名氣認受性始終和三大差一截距離。普通大學生畢業出來少不了會吃虧點﹐誰叫你當年不努力讀書考不入三大﹐這就是讀次一級大學的代價。不要以為同樣都是大學學位就可以平起平坐﹐現實就一流大學的畢業生一般比讀二流大學優勝。不過世界是公平的﹐天外有天人外有人﹐三大的畢業生與外國超級名校﹐如哈佛史丹福牛津等﹐相比之下立時相形見拙﹐見工面試時也會相對地吃虧。

教院爭取改名的事件﹐反映出香港專上教育一個奇怪現像﹐所有大專院校都一窩蜂爭排名爭升格﹐不肯安分守做好自己的教育工作。在外國的大專教育生態很健康正常﹐在最高級的有研究型大學﹐負責培養最頂尖的研究人材。次一級的是教學型大學﹐為培訓社會各行業需要的人材。最下層是大專學院﹐給考入不到大學的人專上教育的機會。三種大專學校互相配合因材施教﹐把教育資源發揮最有效的運用。最重要是學生在三種院校間的流動性﹐學分互相承認﹐成績好的大專學生可以轉讀大學取得學位﹐教學型大學的學生亦可以憑努力考入研究院﹐而成績跟不上的學生不用完全輟學﹐可以轉到大專補回學分追回進度﹐才回到大學繼續完成學位。現下香港所有專上學校都想做研究型大學﹐若香港有程度足夠的學生入讀﹐倒可以大幅提升香港人的教育水平。不過精英學生的供應有限﹐次一等的大學只好削足就履﹐降低大學的入學標準﹐於是做成大學學位乏值﹐普通大學畢業生一蟹不如一蟹的惡果。加上大學的運作成本比專上學院昂貴﹐為不合水平的學生提供大學學位是浪費社會資源。成績比較差點學生﹐由學術成就低人工便宜的教授任教很公平。明星教授的寶貴時間留來指導優資生才回乎成本效益。

獨立運作不合併不改名為大學的教院 ﹐正好可以提供低層次專上教育。若教統局再把那幾間只有大學之名而沒有大學之實的大學降格(如樹仁﹐嶺南﹐公大)﹐變回傳統專上學院﹐不單可以減少不必要的教育開支﹐保持大學生的質素﹐亦可以使香港大專教育生態更加健康。當然最重要是建立師生在專上學校間流動的橋樑﹐不論是學生或教授只要能力優異出眾﹐就可以升級轉住更好的學校﹐享用更多的教學資源。新的制度比現在各院校每年與政府講數﹐各自心懷鬼胎地爭取更多撥款﹐更能夠善用香港的教育資源﹐亦能更有效培養出社會需要不同階層的人材。