In this episode of A Foreigner’s View of China, Ben Hedges returns to his birthplace, Hong Kong. After seeing images of the student protests on television, Hedges wanted to find out what exactly has happened to Hong Kong since it was handed over to the Chinese regime in 1997.
About the show:
A Foreigner’s View of China (and Taiwan), is a news and entertainment commentary show hosted by Ben Hedges speaking in Mandarin Chinese. Hedges teamed up with producer Keith Chu to make the show, which has been a success in Taiwan and is now gaining popularity in Hong Kong and other East Asian markets.
The pair’s early successes came in the form of viral videos spread through Taiwan’s online forum PTT (a social media platform popular with Taiwanese university students). These videos include Hedges making fun of various Chinese language TV shows, Korean dramas, and topics such as Westerners with funny Chinese character tattoos. Later the pair worked on episodes dealing with more serious topics such as Taiwan’s sunflower movement where students occupied parliament and most recently Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement.
Hedges was born in Hong Kong and has racked up 10-years experience living in Asia, principally in Hong Kong and Taiwan. He has also traveled extensively to countries such as Japan, Malaysia and Thailand. He is a graduate of the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London in the UK, with a degree in Modern and Classical Chinese.
