Reflection on South Asian people in HK
South Asian families in Tuen Mun
It can be apparently seen that a number of South Asian families reside in Tuen Mun district in HK. However, the reality under this culture integration is not that optimistic as it seems.
First of all, what’s the main reason of so many South Asian families choosing to live in Tuen Mun? Cheaper housing price and living expenses are the strongest force. In other words, South Asian families don’t enjoy a decent living standard in Tuen Mun.
Life is not easy for South Asian families to live in HK. It’s not only because of low standard of living, but also the culture encounter---They are not integrating well into HK culture. The first reason is that they own many different living habits from HK people. Taboos in their own culture are often unknown to or neglected by HK people, thus causing cultural conflict to some extent. For example, South Asian people are quite traditional and conservative, so one taboo is that they cannot be touched by people of another gender. Another factor causing their difficulty in integrating into HK people is that most of them are living underprivileged, often being looked down upon by local people. That is what I saw in a supermarket when a local shopkeeper spoke in a rude manner to a South Asian customer.
Following is my individual reflection to the phenomenon above. To maintain a harmonious community and to integrate South Asian families better into the local society, there are many efforts to be made. For South Asian residents, opening their hearts and putting down their barriers to local people can be a good way of integrating. For HK local people, they are supposed to pay more respect and care to South Asian families to make the community more harmonious. As volunteers or social workers, we serve as a bridge between South Asian families and Tuen Mun community (or HK society). We can do more to help build a harmonious community through service learning. For example, what we have learned in psychology
It can be apparently seen that a number of South Asian families reside in Tuen Mun district in HK. However, the reality under this culture integration is not that optimistic as it seems.
First of all, what’s the main reason of so many South Asian families choosing to live in Tuen Mun? Cheaper housing price and living expenses are the strongest force. In other words, South Asian families don’t enjoy a decent living standard in Tuen Mun.
Life is not easy for South Asian families to live in HK. It’s not only because of low standard of living, but also the culture encounter---They are not integrating well into HK culture. The first reason is that they own many different living habits from HK people. Taboos in their own culture are often unknown to or neglected by HK people, thus causing cultural conflict to some extent. For example, South Asian people are quite traditional and conservative, so one taboo is that they cannot be touched by people of another gender. Another factor causing their difficulty in integrating into HK people is that most of them are living underprivileged, often being looked down upon by local people. That is what I saw in a supermarket when a local shopkeeper spoke in a rude manner to a South Asian customer.
Following is my individual reflection to the phenomenon above. To maintain a harmonious community and to integrate South Asian families better into the local society, there are many efforts to be made. For South Asian residents, opening their hearts and putting down their barriers to local people can be a good way of integrating. For HK local people, they are supposed to pay more respect and care to South Asian families to make the community more harmonious. As volunteers or social workers, we serve as a bridge between South Asian families and Tuen Mun community (or HK society). We can do more to help build a harmonious community through service learning. For example, what we have learned in psychology