HKU Bulletin August 2010 (Vol. 11 No. 3)

32 The University of Hong Kong Bulletin 33 August 2010 HONOURS FOR first-in- the-family education fund A fund that helps students from low-income families to participate in exchanges and other learning activities outside the classroom has received international recognition. Perhaps one of the most striking features of 20th century popular culture was the emergence of the global celebrity. The new mediums of television and film fuelled a hunger for glamour beyond the reaches of the ordinary citizen, and the emergence of the Internet has taken that preoccupation to a new level. Celebrity culture, once restricted to royalty and biblical or mythical figures, is now a pervasive aspect of everyday life, and few countries have been left untouched. The People’s Republic of China is no exception. Surprisingly, however, although a substantial body of academic literature exists on celebrity culture in Australia, Europe and the Americas, in China the phenomenon has been largely overlooked. Or, at least it had been until earlier this year when the HKU Press published Celebrity in China , a collection of eleven essays exploring the various types of fame from popular culture – film, music, dance, literature, and the Internet – official culture – military, political, and moral exemplars – and business celebrities. The book’s co-editor Louise Edwards, of the School of Modern Languages and Cultures, explains: “One of the reasons we wrote the book was because we figured celebrity in China is not the same as it is in the west. It does operate with some of the same mechanisms, and some of the same patterns and, externally, it looks quite similar – people are marketed in a similar way – but there are aspects that are quite unique to China, and that are a result of a socialist system and a one party state which tries to control popular culture products.” “The other thing that celebrities in China have to do, which is common in the west but not as prescriptive, is be a philanthropist. They are expected to give back. So you have Jet Li’s One Foundation and the Jackie Chan Foundation.” The attitude, she says, reflects a mixture of Confucianism and Buddhism. “Because there’s been a long tradition in China of the big people in town being asked for donations. There is a sense that if you have achieved great things then you do have a duty to look after the less fortunate. Your success is a community success, and you have a duty to put some of it back.” One other unique aspect is the extent to which the state tries to manufacture celebrities. “Since the 1930s, the Communist Party has been really enthusiastic about creating exemplars for people to live up to – model workers, peasants, soldiers. They are still doing this, but they are trying to adapt techniques from the celebrity sphere and put it into the political celebrity mould, like military celebrities, Glorious Mothers and chastity martyrs, who have become famous as a result of party organs like the All China STARDOM, chinese style A new book from HKU Press investigates the Mainland’s unique take on superstar culture. Cindy Cheung (back fourth from right), together with other HKU students, helped to re-build an earthquake- damaged school in Sichuan. Women’s Federation and the People’s Liberation Army. To a certain degree this is successful and these are positive role models. In China, there is less of negative celebrities and the government is very keen to promote positive exemplars for the new market economy.” One chapter focuses on billionaires who are making money from sharing their knowledge on how they became rich through the sale of videos and television appearances. “This is the entrepreneur giving back by telling other people how they can become personally wealthy as well; rather ironic in a Communist state, but the government is right behind them.” In China, celebrities are also expected to be exemplars of good behaviour “and people get cross if they are not. This attitude is not just derived from the Soviet model, it comes from a combination of the interaction between a socialist system and a Confucian system which had many exemplars as well.” Celebrity, Professor Edwards explains, grew partly out of the need for heroes, for someone who could be something the ordinary person could not, someone to look up to. “But also an important sense of patriotism in contemporary Chinese concepts of celebrity. These heroes are globally circulating icons that represent China’s international rise to many ordinary people. So, if you have an internationally famous pianist, like Lang Lang, then you celebrate his international fame, and you feel proud as a Chinese person because he’s done well. Yao Ming is another example – one who’s made it big in basketball in the place that matters – the USA – makes us all happy to be Chinese.” “These celebrities represent the hopes and dreams of the nation so the reaction to celebrity is somewhat more positive in China than it is in the west,” she says. As the first book on celebrity in China Professor Edwards and her co-editor, Elaine Jeffreys, Associate Professor at the University of Technology in Sydney, deliberately chose a spread of different types of celebrity. Now they’re hoping their book will encourage further research in this fascinating area. Celebrity in China edited by Louise Edwards and Elaine Jeffreys, published by Hong Kong University Press. at the 2009 CASE awards, which were announced earlier this year. One FIFE Fund beneficiary, electrical engineering student Cindy Cheung Tsz- kwai, has stretched her grant over four trips. She has gone to Sichuan to help re-build an earthquake-damaged school, to Japan to learn about new electronic technology, to Beijing to represent HKU in the National Challenge Cup for student projects, and to France to learn more about renewable energy. Cindy’s mother is the sole breadwinner in the family and works as a cleaner on construction sites. “Without this fund, I wouldn’t have been able to join these activities because I have to consider my family’s financial situation,” Cindy says. “My mother works hard to support me and my brother, who is also in university, and I don’t want to increase the financial burden on my family.” She managed to get so much out of the grant by combining it with other funds where possible and watching her pennies. For the Sichuan trip, for example, the flights and hotel were covered as part of the project but she needed money for food and local transportation. The trip brought together students from several faculties to re-build a primary school and equip it with advanced technologies, and her contribution was to help build a solar power system. The success of that trip resulted in the Beijing competition, where her team won the Supreme Award. They presented a paper showing the technologies they installed in Sichuan could be used to bring Internet access to schools in remote regions. FIFE Fund applicants have to provide detailed calculations of their expenses and show how they will use the money. They are also required to share their experiences with other recipients and provide them with leadership. “The program is good for students because it also teaches us to pay forward. Hopefully some day we could also create opportunities for others,” Cindy says. The University’s First-in-the-Family Education Fund (FIFE Fund) has won top honours in the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) Awards, an international competition that attracted more than 2,800 entries. The FIFE Fund provides grants of up to $10,000 to students who are in the first generation of their families to attend university and who come from low-income families (less than $12,000 per month), so they can take part in enriched learning activities. It has benefited more than 450 students since its launch in 2008. The fund received the Overall Grand Gold Medal and the Gold Medal in Fundraising People Books