In the fall semester of 2017, I was finally onto my first semester as an International Business major after a rigorous application process. That semester I was enrolled in the introductory course to the International Business major called IBUS 310, “Globalization and Business”. We analyzed how businesses operated abroad, how different political systems affect the way a business is run, how stocks were affected by recent global news, and much more. However, little did I know that some of the lessons in this class would help me understand and shape the way I viewed certain situations across the globe.

 

In my opinion, one of the most important lessons we learned in IBUS 310 was the inner workings of culture, how cultures are structured, and how they are different from each other. This was demonstrated in “Riding the Waves of Culture: Understanding Cultural Diversity in Business” a book by Dr. Fons Trompenaars, who is an organizational theorist, management consultant, and author in the field of cross-cultural communication. Usually, when we think of culture, we may think of a steaming bowl of chicken noodle soup when we are sick, or our beloved family members all gathered around a board game after dinner, or even enjoying a baseball game on a hot sunny day with our friends. But this is only the very outer layer of what a culture is. There are multiple layers of what constitutes a culture. The outer layer consists of products that the culture produces, which would be language, food, buildings, brands, monuments, fashions, entertainment, and much more. This is what people first experience when they start to explore another culture different from their own. These products are the symbols of a deeper level of culture. In Hong Kong, some of the products of the culture that I experienced were dim sum, pineapple buns, the way almost everyone rode the public transportation systems, and the radically different way people styled themselves in comparison to the United States.

 

The middle layer of culture consists of norms and values. Norms are a mutual sense a group has of what is ‘right’ and ‘wrong’. Values determine the definition of ‘good’ or ‘bad’, and these reflect the ideals that the group shares. It takes shared meanings of norms and values that are stable and salient for a group’s cultural tradition to be developed, elaborated, and passed down from generation to generation. In Hong Kong, it was normal to take off your shoes before heading into someone’s home or to serve those around you before digging into a meal. The people in Hong Kong also value clean streets, so they have laws in place to fine you for littering. Their laws clearly state what is ‘good’ and ‘bad’, and law enforcement are so good at their jobs that one can feel safe walking down the streets at night by oneself.

 

Then comes the core of what defines different cultures. The core of a culture are assumptions about existence. The most basic thing that people strive for is survival, this affects how groups of people interact with nature. As well, culture directs and forms the roots of our actions. Those actions are a part of everything we do, they are man-made and confirmed by others which makes certain actions stronger because they are normalized by culture and other actions weaker because they are shunned by culture. A different aspect of the core of culture is how cultures are unique in how they come together and organize themselves to take on challenges and solve problems. You can find my notes on the layers of culture below. In this case, I will talk about the political and social atmosphere of autonomous Hong Kong and its relationship to mainland China.

 

In under thirty years, Hong Kong will be assimilated back into mainland China. In other words, it will be Hong Kong’s “homecoming”. The British colonized Hong Kong in 1842 when the First Opium war concluded, and then returned Hong Kong back to China in 1997. During the talks between Britain and China when the deadline for the return was almost realized, China agreed to leave Hong Kong autonomous for 50 years beyond 1997. This means the border that separates mainland China from Hong Kong will dissolve and disappear on July 1st, 2047. This border is not only physical, but in many ways represents a cultural and social border as well. China’s culture is vastly different from that of Hong Kong, and most of the world is oblivious to that fact. For generations, ‘Hong Kongers’ grew up in autonomous freedom, different from that of their neighbors up north. The people of Hong Kong can vote for whomever they wanted to represent them in their government as Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China, which means it’s government is different and separate from mainland China. They can march in demonstrations to prove a point, for examp,le while I was there I observed a ‘March for Our Lives’ demonstration through the streets of Central in protest of the way that the United States has handled its gun control. However, the rights and freedoms that Hong Kong has had in the past will vanish in 2047, and it will rock the culture of Hong Kong to its very core.

 

During my four and a half months in Hong Kong, I spent time with people originally from Hong Kong, and people from mainland China. The students originally from Hong Kong that I had come to know would lament about other students from mainland China and would share their parents’ fears of losing their jobs to people from mainland China with me. However, when I would speak to the international students from mainland China, they were just grateful that they were there in Hong Kong. The people of Hong Kong are afraid of giving up their way of life to assimilate back into mainland China. China’s one party system, the government’s domination over the economy, and its restriction over social media will drastically halt and could possibly reverse the culture that is thriving in Hong Kong today. The assimilation is happening right now, slowly, but it is taking place. For example, Mandarin is slowly making its way onto the screens of the news, which I have seen on public transportation, and this is important because ‘Hong Kongers’ speak Cantonese. We already see the influence of Chinese culture trying to impose on their southern neighbors.

 

Another experience I had on my exchange in Hong Kong was actually crossing the border from Hong Kong into Shenzhen. It took approximately half an hour to travel by the MTR system from my university to the border of China. On the way there, I saw families, workers, and individuals traveling to Shenzhen. I learned from my friends that families, workers, and individuals come to Hong Kong to work or shop. In fact, in a shopping mall in an area called Shatin in Hong Kong, people from mainland China would bring suitcases for the items they bought and would lug it back to China. It was bizarre to cross a border into the same country, but in reality, this border is for the feeling of security of the people of Hong Kong.

 

This assimilation, however, is not happening without protest. Several protests have taken place in the streets of Hong Kong in response to China asserting more and more influence over the city. This is because one’s affiliation with identity is so strong that the vast majority of people will stand up and protect what they deem important.

 

From an outsider’s perspective, I have never truly understood and probably will never truly understand what someone from Hong Kong would be going through. Having one’s way of life tarnished and possibly vanish is not something to take lightly. This conflict was never really brought to my attention until I understood what exactly culture stood for and how it impacts everyone across the globe. Especially coming from the United States, from a Westernized country I value freedom and self-expression. It saddens me that one day, the people of Hong Kong won’t have the freedoms that they used to. This lesson I have learned in IBUS 310 about the construct of culture has really helped me understand the situation in Hong Kong better than I ever would have without it.

 

When I learned about the relationship that has festered between Hong Kong and China, these experiences really opened my eyes about how strong and significant a culture can be. I can use this practice of carefully looking at the relationship between different people to truly understand their cultures from the model of the layers of culture and how these different cultures conflict. It also taught me that a culture is much more important and much deeper than the products it produces; it explains the very core of one’s identity.