文︰劉嘉然，影像無國界實習教學助理 | Text: Lau Ka-yin, Teaching Assistant Intern of All About Us

“To be honest, before this program, I was like the typical Hongkongers, I don’t like them……”

Lau, Ka Yin. Teaching Assistant Intern of All About Us 2019/20.

As we all know, ethnic minorities in Hong Kong are discriminated against by the locals. Because of their race, they suffer a lot in our society. To be honest, before this program, I was like the typical Hongkongers, I don’t like them. But after knowing more about them, I found that they are not as bad as we thought.

The standard images of ethnic minorities to the locals in Hong Kong are selfish, greedy, cunning, etc. People with these stereotypes will refuse to get in touch with them, which let people harder to understand their situation and who they are. Therefore, I think that the root of discrimination in Hong Kong is that people do not know much about them.

In this program, I was required to produce a video with a group of ethnic minority children within several weeks, in between the production, I had a camp with those children for 3 days. After our production, different groups will have their movie handed in, and we had a screening day of those movies.

“Each section of the program allows me to know more about them.”

Yin, during All About Us Creative Camp 19/20, shooting with the participants

In the first event, which is the camp, I lived with them and produced a short video clip with them. I found that they are passionate and creative, and unlike the stereotypes in our minds. They are willing to pick up the responsibilities and willing to work as a team. They are fun, naive and cute. They always come up with many creative ideas.

The most memorable part in these few days is an activity called “Act like Charlie Chaplin”, each group of people has to make a video in the style of Charlie Chaplin, and the plots were decided by the children. At the very beginning of the activity, the children actively gave out their ideas and divided their job on their own, and they are just like us, eager to learn, to participate in activities.

Maybe sometimes they might act a bit odd to some people, like too aggressive to conduct their opinions to others, but the reason why they are behaving like that is that they want attention from people. As they had always been omitted by others in their life, and thus, they are eager to show themselves to others. If people do not know much about their inner mind or background, perhaps they might act like too offense and thus refusing to communicate to them but also label them as the “rude”. And it’s a cycle that once people got a stereotype on them, they will then not get in touch with them, and knowing nothing about them, and then the stereotype continuous.

During the production period, I can observe them in detail as teaching assistants. Director, me and the other teaching assistant suggest they do whatever they want, to express their real side through the project. In this way, we can more or less know more about their mind through their theme, most of the themes are about themselves, and a story about their life, their life goals, and also some of the struggles that they faced during chasing their dream, they wanted to be understood.

“And it’s a cycle that once people got a stereotype on them, they will then not get in touch with them, and knowing nothing about them, and then the stereotype continuous…”

Yin, teaching participants about camera movement during All About Us Creative Camp 19/20

Video making as one form of art, and in this program, it served one function of act, which is to express. Through expression, we can more easily understand their inner mind, meanwhile, cause some of the feelings that we don’t know how to express in words. From the theme of the video, the camera movement, to the script, those can all reflect the feeling of the producer. Therefore, though the production, we can know more about them.

The dreams to them seem even harder to achieve than ours because the opportunities for them to achieve their dream is lessened by many factors, like languages and social status. For my team, the movie is about the life of one of the groupmate who was raised in a broken family and living in a subdivided unit. Poverty and the family situation keep her out of getting advanced education or leisures, which let her even harder to achieve her dream. As a typical local living in Hong Kong, I once thought that ethnic minorities contribute nothing to our society. If I did not attend this program, I would not have seen their works and get along with them, I think I will not know much about their situation, and limitations. But now, I will more or less understand their behavior and willing to get along with them.

“Indeed, I am not an expert on the cultural policy, but what my experience taught me is no need to label them. Let them be part of our society, not in their ethnic minorities circle…”

Yin with his group of participants in All About Us Creative Camp

To conclude, the root of the discrimination in Hong Kong is people don’t understand them. To eliminate the root, I think education is not enough. Because if we are taught not to discriminate against the ethnic minorities, the action itself is already labeling them as differentiated from us. People will then take more care to them, then the action itself is already discrimination to them.

Indeed, I am not an expert on the cultural policy, but what my experience taught me is no need to label them. Let them be part of our society, not in their ethnic minorities circle. Labeling them as differentiation is the first step of discrimination. The more we know about them, the less discrimination will occur in the future.

(只提供英文版本)