ISTM in Hong Kong

I have been here for a month, and I already attended two receptions !

The first one was the Welcoming reception for exchange and non-local students (=students from Mainland China). I discovered later it is because Chinese people always give a reception for you when you did a long journey. That is nice ! (and thanks to this reception, I found a kungfu course !!!)

Wednesday, it was the annual reception of the Faculty of Science and Engineering. This time, it is to welcome the new teachers, as well as congratulating either teachers and students who got prices for their research or work... it was quite...astonishing because we do not have that kind of reception in France...at least, all the students are not invited (even if, I should confess that most of the people who attended this reception were the staff...) ! Then, this reception seems more a show which purpose is to let people know how smart you are and so on... something crazy and useless for French people I guess ! (not so useless in fact...because we had a very good buffet after the speech ! And I met other exchange students I have never met before !)

But I was wondering why here, your work is so rewarded ! Then I found out it is maybe because Hong Kong people work so hard that they want their works to be recognized...