OPINION: I am wondering, why would we not observe, embrace and apply the good things – the sharp ‘tippy-toes’ of basic decency, respect and work ethic from other cultures and see – test for ourselves – if it works for us.
REMEMBER that scene in Rush Hour 2 where Jackie Chan, who plays the part of officer Lee, practically ran up some bamboo scaffolding to beat the stuffing out of some bad guys?
It was hilarious when Chris Rock, who played the part of Carter, Lee’s partner, starts to climb up to assist Lee but realises what a dangerous prospect that would be after one of the bad guys comes plummeting down in front of him.
“Oh hell no,” Carter says to himself, shaking his head and climbing back down the three rungs he had gone up. He then looks up and shouts: “Lee! I’m taking the stairs!”
Being a bit timid when it comes to heights myself, I understood Carter’s misgivings about following Lee.
But with Action star Jackie Chan ‘kloutering’ up these structures so confidentially, I always assumed that they were pretty sturdy as well as very solidly planted on Mother Earth.
You may find it strange, but I was always interested in these structures for some reason. In South Africa I had only seen metal scaffolding, and I always wondered how people in the Far East could put their faith in what essentially is sturdy grass.
I mean, why trust organic bamboo over manufactured steel?
So you can perhaps imagine my delight when one day, close to the apartment where I was staying in Hong Kong, I noticed a building ‘spider-webbed’ with bamboo scaffolding.
Now try to imagine my surprise when I learned that the scaffolding that people use to stand on while doing all sorts of labour – painting, plastering, building or maintenance – is standing, supported and rooted on sharpened points?
Yes, the entire weight of that entire network of lashed-together poles is bearing down on, as it were, the bamboo’s little ‘tippy-toes’. Obviously my tummy did a flip when I looked up at the multi-storey structure; yet although it stood on points, it was far from precarious.
“If the base was flat, the poles would split,” one fella who knows a bit about construction – to put it mildly – explained to me. “The points actually ensure that everything doesn’t come crashing down.”
Then, over the next few days the “bamboo scaffolding on points” metaphor began to make more and more sense. Here’s why …
Just like bamboo scaffolds are organic structures built on pointy sticks, it seems – from my limited observation – that the Hong Kong society is built on a few basic, simple principles.
I have noticed that, over here, in this neck of the woods, rules are embraced and followed.
For example, you take your life in your hands if you should attempt to jaywalk in this place. There is signage everywhere encouraging crossing at pedestrian crossings and that, by the way, only when the green man is flashing on the traffic light.
Cars, buses and taxis zoom down the streets seemingly unconcerned about hitting a pedestrian. And this is simply because in Hong Kong pedestrians should know to stay off the streets – that’s where cars drive. If you are walking, use the sidewalk. It’s that simple.
Rules are so important that in Hong Kong people don’t barge to the front of the queue. There’s something akin to silent shaming where everybody knows that such behaviour is unacceptable, so just by the looks and the energy of the people in the queue, a person who tries to get ahead will be made to feel pretty awkward … but without anyone making a fuss.
Another ‘pointy stick’ principle upon which this society seems to be standing is their work ethic. Labourers work. They put in a full day’s work. I know that in some places some people may think back to a time when hard labour was associated with oppression, so therefore it follows that freedom and leisure are lumped together in the ‘desirable pile’.
I can understand how that association could be made. Apartheid was mean-spirited, wicked and demeaning and for people to still be carrying scars is understandable.
However, Hong Kong under British rule was no bed of roses either.
One example of the oppression imposed on the natives of the British colony takes us back to 1843 when a law was passed stating that “all Chinese, besides the usual watchmen, are forbidden to walk the streets after 11 o’clock at night and whoever shall violate this prohibition shall be arrested by the police”.
But this law was “upgraded” into “The Light and Pass Ordinance” in 1888, a law exclusively requiring Chinese residents to carry a lamp when travelling along the roads at night, under threat of legal action and harsh penalty.
And you can probably bet that Chinese workers were driven pretty hard under the Brits. Hard enough for them too to associate labour with oppression.
But that association didn’t stick over here.
I say that because a week or so ago, I watched a moving company move the contents of an apartment on one island, Hong Kong – furniture, pot plants, and, and, and – to another island, Lantau, roughly 40km away by road.
Six burly young lads arrived at the apartment at 9am and started dismantling and wrapping furniture and emptying the house of its contents.
By 2.30pm, they had arrived in Lantau and had to cart everything from the truck to the house which was about a kilometre away down a winding paved bicycle path too narrow for motor vehicles.
Soon, all the furniture (including gym equipment with dumbbells and all), around 70 boxes and pot plants by the dozen arrived at the three-storey house. The movers, now down to four men, started lugging boxes, beds, couches, chairs and gym equipment up the stairs.
They had insisted that boxes should not be heavier than 20kg each, and now I understood why … the men were carrying the boxes up the stairs, on their backs, two at a time.
Long story short, by around 6pm, just short of four hours, the job – as labour-intensive as it was – was done and the movers took leave of us to enjoy a well-earned rest.
Now don’t get me wrong; I am not saying that Hong Kong is Utopia or that it is the blueprint for every society on earth on how things should be run.
I am not even suggesting that South Africa – my beloved country – has to do things exactly like they are done here.
I have heard of the cage apartments in the city, the increasing interference from the government of China and its ruling Communist Party of China in Hong Kong’s internal affairs. I have heard of the prejudice toward Filipino workers, and heard rumours of heavy-handed crackdowns on free speech.
Now assuming that the worst-case scenario were true, please do not miss the point. I am not suggesting that South Africa becomes a Communist-led, human rights denying colony.
But I am wondering, why would we not observe, embrace and apply the good things – the sharp ‘tippy-toes’ of basic decency, respect and work ethic, for example and see – test for ourselves – if it works for us over here.
After all, it’s the little things, the sharp little tippy toes, that could determine whether a country stands or comes clattering down.
We could just find that the ‘organic bamboo’ of decency, respect and ethics could benefit us as a nation.
