Interview with Linlin
Linlin’s profile
Linin was born and raised in Chiu Chow and she is a native speaker of Chiuchownese. She started to self-learn Cantonese since she was small so she is also fluent in Cantonese. She came to Hong Kong 2 years ago to study and she is now working as an editor at the Federation of Hong Kong Chiu Chow Community Organisations. We interviewed her about the activities they organised, as well as her thoughts on sustainability of Chiu Chow language and culture in local context.
1ST iNTERVIEW -
Federation of hong kong Chiu chow community organisations
INTRODUCTION OF THE ORGANISATION
Federation of Hong Kong Chiu Chow Community Organisations is a leading association of around 38 Chiu Chow associations in Hong Kong. Considered as one of the largest Chiu Chow organisations in Hong Kong, there are over 100,000 members in the federation. It aims at uniting Chiu Chow organisations, Chiu Chow people and local community. Through organising and participating actively in community activities, it strives for social and economic benefits of Hong Kong.
Target Participants
The organisation targets on all local people with or without Chiu Chow background. Majority of the participants do have Chiu Chow background but some of them don't speak Chiuchownese. Also, the organisation hope to preserve and promote Chiu Chow culture to all generations. Linlin mentioned that participants are from different generations but more of them are at their 40s - 50s. Nonetheless, the organisation welcomes people from any cultural backgrounds and at any ages to take part in their events.
Medium of Communication
Linlin explained that all of their events are organised in Cantonese in order to encourage wider participation of the public and attract people without Chiu Chow background. They welcome people from different backgrounds to join their activities and they are happy to promote Chiu Chow culture to the public. Out of our expectation, Chiuchownese is only used very occasionally with some native Chiuchownese speakers (usually elderly), while Cantonese is the official medium of communication in their events. At work, Linlin needs to use Cantonese for most of the time and Chiuchownese is only used among some colleagues are are also native Chiuchownese speakers.
DETAILS OF EVENTS ORGANISED
Sustainability - Events for the Younger Generation
In terms of sustainability, Linlin believed that the organisation has worked a lot on promotion of Chiu Chow culture to the younger generation and the youngsters are connected to the organisation and the culture. Here are some examples of how the organisation has reached out for the younger generation.
1. Establishment of youth organisation
The Young Executive Committee Hong Kong Chiu Chow Chamber of Commerce is established to unite and liaise with the younger generation. It collaborates with primary and secondary schools to organise cultural events for students. It also supports students' learning through seminars and competitions.
2. Cultural Activities
There are many experiential events organised for the youngsters. Some examples are listed below:
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Chiu Chow cultural experience (to be organsied in November)
- Cooperates with Lee Shing Primary School and St Antonius Primary School
- Introducing traditions, food culture
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‘Out of the Garden’ (Becoming an adult)
- targets on teenagers aged 13 - 15
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Short movie making competition on Facebook
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Traditional costumes wearing (Hua Fu competition)
3. Developing New Promotion Channels
The organisation has developed new promotional channels to attract younger generation. In addition to the traditional channels such as publications and connections (promotion through volunteers, committee members, companies and schools), it expands promotional channels through internet. The organisation establishes website and Facebook for events promotion. It also organises events and competitions through social media to connect with the younger generation.
OUR OBSERVATION
We observe that the organisation allocates a lot more resources on promotion of Chiu Chow Culture rather than the language. Due to the low participatory rate in language courses, there is just 1 introductory and 1 advanced Chiuchownese courses opened each season. Moreover, Chiuchownese language is not used in all cultural events organised and those events are rarely related to the language. The organisation provides limited language learning environment and resources for people to acquire the language. However, the organisation is still supportive to cultural events and promotion of Chiu Chow culture to younger generation.
