“My favourite part of YYGS was the seminars I attended. One that I enjoyed in particular was: ‘Can I Register FCUK as.a Trademark? Social Externalization of Intellectual Property: The Case of ‘Green Patents,’ Offensive Trademarks, and Copyright of Illegal Artworks.’ We explored the debates between freedom of speech and protection of public interests, as well as the divergent interests of encouraging innovation and public affordability with regard to patented products, especially related to medical demands.”
Every academic year, four student-led conferences are held at my school. These conferences can either have a region-specific focus or touch on prominent global topics. Being from Hong Kong and East Asia at large, I have always been passionate about representation of the East Asian population, both in the school and worldwide. Some of my East Asian friends and I decided to enter a proposal to organise the first ever East Asian conference at the school. We named it RICE Conference as an ode to the staple food that has raised the East Asian population for millennia.
Held over the weekend of 18-19 October, 2019, we offered cultural workshops, food workshops as well as standard, more academic workshops. Cultural workshops were a chance for participants to get a real-life experience of various elements of East Asian culture, such as Chinese painting, Japanese Judo, Korean folk-games, Tibetan dance and Mongolian calligraphy; Food workshops offered a hands-on tutorial of some of the most delicious East Asian cuisine such as Hong Kong egg tarts, Taiwanese bubble tea as well as Korean onigiri; Standard workshops provided an opportunity for discussions and debates about some of the most pertinent issues in East Asia. To ensure that representation was as even as possible, in workshops regarding controversial topics that concern two distinct perspectives from two different nationalities, we arranged for a person from each region to present their side of the story so that imbalanced narratives - a frequent culprit of misunderstandings and conflicts - could be, to our best effort, mitigated.
From the initial draftings of the proposal to the grand finale of the RICE Festival, I came a long way in the ongoing process of understanding exactly how being an East Asian affects and makes up my identity, as well as the sheer importance of breaking down ignorance, misinformation and implicit bias in order to make for a more cohesive effort in actually furthering intercultural understanding, both in school and in wider contexts. With this precious experience, I am now more eager than ever to continue these endeavours in fostering understanding of the place I call home, not only through ways including educating myself and those around me about East Asia, but also having some fun along the way with a dash of East Asian food making, and re-connecting with cultural roots by partaking in cultural entertainment.