Cha Chaan Ting 茶餐廳 (by Kerstin Chau)

 

          Cha Chaan Ting(茶餐廳) is playing an important role in Hong Kong food culture, I believe every Hong Kong people have been to Cha Chaan Ting. For me, I almost go there every week.

   bing dim(冰點)

          Cha Chaan Ting was evolved from three different types of tea café. The first one is Bing Sat(冰室), in which bing dim(冰點), coffee and ice-cream are being served at there. The second type is Cha Chaan Sat(茶餐室), which provide customers with coffee, cake, sandwich. And the last one is Chaan Sat(餐室), which serve tea set, set lunch, set dinner. But in order to match Hong Kong people’s busy style of life, they gradually become Cha Chaan Ting, So it is rather difficult to locate any of the above tea café nowadays.

  “Yin Yeung”(鴛鴦)                  Tit Tan Fan(碟頭飯)               

  Sim Lsp(燒腊)                             set meal

           Cha Chaan Ting has mainly three characteristics. The first and the most important one is how they combined Chinese and western food. This is due to the historical background of Hong Kong as a colony of the United Kingdom before 1997. As a result, our way of living has inevitably affected by the west and that included the way we cook and eat. It follows that there are a lot of fusion food had been created inside the tiny little kitchen of Cha Chaan Ting . Such as “Yin Yeung”(鴛鴦), a classic Cha Chaan Ting ‘s drink which mixed coffee with black tea and milk. Secondly, there are wide choices of food at there. It is safe to say you are not likely to enter a restaurant with choices as many as Cha Chaan Ting. For instance, there are bakery, Tit Tan Fan(碟頭飯), noodle, Sim Lsp(燒腊) etc. It is one of the reasons why Cha Chaan Ting become popular. Lastly, you can find all kinds of set meals in any given Cha Chaan Ting. One of the funny things about this specific characteristic is no matter which Cha Chaan Ting you happened to go to, the items inside those set are similar, if not the same.

           Although there are thousand of Cha Chaan Ting in Hong Kong, their style, food and decoration are surprisingly alike. It seems that there are some kind of unwritten rules to follow. I suppose if there is a book called “The little black book of Cha Chaan Ting” circulated among all the owners of Cha Chaan Ting. It will not be unfair to say Cha Chaan Ting are lack of originality Nevertheless, standard foods and services are expected by all customers going there and this is s also exactly why Hong Kong people like to eat at Cha Chaan Ting. Besides, most of Cha Chaan Ting are cheap to dine in and provides fast services. It really fit in Hong Kong people living style. According to David Wu, “Changing Chinese Foodways in Asia” (David Y.H.Wu 78). He said, “ Cha Chaan Ting reflects the image of Hong Kong, quick, practical, versatile and egalitarian.” I couldn’t agree more with him. Cha Chaan Ting image match perfectly with the image of Hong Kong. When you go into a Cha Chaan Ting, you will expect a quick service, a wide range of food and the waiter will treat everyone equally, regardless who you are. Efficiency , variety and equality are precisely the image of Hong Kong as a tourist’s city.It is also why Cha Chaan Ting can become one of the most important local food culture and that is why I love to eat at there.

ReferenceDavid Y.H.Wu. “East Meets West in the tea café.” Changing Chinese Foodways in Asia. The Chinese University Press, 2001. 77-79.

Hong Kong comic book ( By Wong Kai Chung)

In Hong Kong, the most of teenagers love reading the comic book. However, the market ignores the local caricaturist. The most of favorite comic book is created by Japan. It is because the Japan comic book market is mature. These are a lots of big companies monopolize the market. The division of labour is more detail. The specialist or assistant is help for drawing the background or the minor figure. It makes the comic book’s average level stable. Moreever, the drawer can focus on the most important part. It can extend the comic books’ life. Compare with the Japan comic industry, Hong Kong’s comic industry is naive. A long years ago, the comic book market depends on the Japan import. Only few local companies can exist in the market, for example Jade Dynasty Group Limited (玉皇朝). However, the most of teenagers is not reading their product. The important reason is the comic book doesn’t conform to the teenagers’ style. A lots of teenagers think that the local comic book represent bored. It maybe not the fact, but the most local comic industry’s products are talking about the fighting or the gangland. It is suitable to the males’ styles, but it is not enough. Some people doubted of the prospect of the comic industry. The local prodcuts are not popular more. It means the industries’ downfall? I thinks the answer is no, only the trend is changing. The independent caricaturist is playing the more and more important role. It may replace the traditional comic industries’ role in the future.

After the return to China, the question of culture identity is increasing. A  lots of local caricaturists are emerged, their comic is not as same as the tradtional Hong Kong comic books. It is not the popular ones, but it has more humanist story. For example, 《how blue was my valley》(錦繡藍田) is the milestone.  It is the first person uses the comic to point out the question about the local identity. The comic is talking about the drawer’s childhood. The background is 80’s Hong Kong’s public estate. The comic book can show the collective memory about this period. Hong Kong’s urban development  is so fast, this books try to represent the history of the public estate. It is not the traditional comic. The drawer Yeung Xue Tak’s (楊學德) creation is more and more to be popluar with teenagers. A few teenager magazines have his creations, for example 《Milk》.

The other special local caricaturist is ChiHoi (智海). His creations are different from others local caricaturist. The others’ comic has a whole story, the selling point is the interest story or reflect the society. However, the ChiHoi comic is not. His story has a lot of philosophical thinking. He try to show his philosophy in the book. The stories’ sight is ridiculous. It looks like the existentialism’s philosophy. His book 《THE WRITER AND HER STORY》can show this point.

The other characteristic is the style. His book has a strong style when the reader reads the book can feel  looking like watching the film. He is the special one in Hong Kong. However, he is not the favourite drawer in the local market. It is because the style is not suitable to the public. His comic only can attract the high educated people.

The traditional popluar comic cannot attract the teenagers. The independent drawer is increasing. It is the present Hong Kong comic industry’s situation. Nevertheless, it makes the market is more diversification. Compare with Japan’s comic industry, Hong Kong is lack of ability for competition. The local characteristic or the style comic maybe is the trend of Hong Kong comic industry.