being in hong kong in the 80’s, all the cool magazines were talking about east meets west. it seemed like an interesting concept back then. i was thinking maybe that was hong kong, a place where all the westerners would wear cheongsam (qipao), all the chinese would drive their mercedes benz in suits, and all the 5 stars hotels would have some vintage chinese teak furniture somewhere.
by late 80’s early 90’s, i got to study abroad at the states. and i could not find anyone talking about west meets east in new york. there are all different kinds of cultures coming and melting together, but everyone maintains their identity. the sushi restaurants were packed with westerners, but you would not see them wearing kimonos. then, what is my identity as a designer from hong kong? i realized that the marketing plot of east meets west is very damaging to the sense of belonging of all the hong kong people. maybe it could help selling a few more pieces of silk dresses from shanghai tang, but it could not be the foundation of an international brand. comparing it to prada, and you can easily see something missing in the dna of shanghai tang.
what is the east and what is the west anymore? modern technology and the internet in particular is making the world a much smaller place with information travelling with the speed of light. thus, the meeting of the 2 is no longer as interesting as it was 30 years ago. it is far more important now to maintain who we are in the east then to meeting the west. it is far more exciting to get to know more about our avant-garde artists in beijing and their works then to research about impressionism. and it is far more joyful to travel within the greater china area to gain a better understanding of us as a people then to visit the static european countries. we have been very curious about the outside world for the past 20 years, and it is time to keep that curiosity and turn it inward. what we might see could surprise ourselves.
(first published in the oct. 2010 issue of his life magazine)
需要冷却的’东西相融’
在80年代的香港，所有时尚流行杂志都在探讨着东西方文化相遇融合的问题。我那会儿在想，可能就是因为在香港这个地方，才会出现西方人都穿长衫和旗袍，中国人都穿西装开着奔驰，还有五星级饭店都会摆放着一些中国上等的柚木家具。
80年代末90年代初我到美国去留学，在纽约没有一个人会谈论“东西方文化相融”这个话题。美国融合了各种不同的文化，但是每个人保持着自己的本质文化特性。
日式的餐厅聚集了很多西方人，但是看不到他们穿和服。这时我意识到了，东西方文化相融这个概念的构定对所有香港人的文化概念来说造成了巨大的破坏。可能这种所谓的文化相融会卖掉更多的“上海滩”这个品牌的丝绸制品，但是它却始终建立不了国际大品牌。跟PRADA比一比，你很快就会发现“上海滩”这个牌子所缺失的恰恰是那份最重要，最独特的文化特性。
那么到底什么是东方，什么是西方？现代科技和互联网将世界缩小，这个话题不再像30年前那样有趣了。现在更重要的是保持东方人的本质，然后再融合西方文化。先了解更多关于北京前卫艺术家然后再去研究印象主义将会更加有意义，游览更多的本土景观要比仅游览一些欧洲国家更令人愉快。在过去20年，我们一直对外面的世界感到好奇，现在是时候让我们把眼光移到国内，你所见将会使你震惊。
(第一次发表: 2010年10月 他的生活杂志. 翻译: grace chen)
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