Preface: Below is a journal entry I wrote while I was studying abroad at Hong Kong University of Science
and Technology. It is in response to a prompt to write about the way people move and exist in space
differently than we do at UVa.
Journal 6
3/22/2012
Andrew Tucker
One thing that sticks out in particular to me is walking here. It’s a concept that I have not yet quite
figured out, despite striving to since the beginning. It relates to space, time, and personal space. I don’t
know if I can write about this fully yet, as I’m still running my own investigations as to why things are the
way they are.
In America, any person walking in any given hallway or corridor goes with the flow of those around him
or her. Normally, it seems like people walk on the right—same as when we drive our automobiles. This
makes sense to me: do things one way and stick by it. If, for whatever reason, you encounter a group of
people walking on the opposite side, the oncoming foot traffic simply switches their side. When we see
a complication, bottleneck, blockage, or any matter of disruption in the foot traffic ahead of us, we
immediately scheme a way to get past it. This is generally the approach I use and have seen in use.
For the most part, things are the same here in Hong Kong. The one glaring difference is this: they don’t
have a designated side to walk on. As I mentioned above, we walk and drive on the right. When I noticed
that they drive on the opposite side (left), I figured they’d probably walk on the left as well. Nope. Well
then, surely they must walk on the right? Nope. They basically just walk wherever they are. Well, you
might think to yourself, “As long as they pick one side for the each instance, it can’t be too bad. I mean,
just enter the hall, determine the flow, and join in.” However, this simply is not the case I’ve
experienced. Instead, there can be multiple streams of people in each hallway. The streams going the
same direction don’t naturally converge as I would expect them to, and their courses seem to be
decided by each individual. Every person in the stream has the power (and will, on a decent number of
occasions) to break away from the stream and create a new stream. It’s basically one or two levels up
from a constant free-for-all to get to your destination.
But then, I discovered the subway station. In some parts of the station, the hallway will have a yellow
line running down the middle, with arrows indicating the direction of flow. When I saw this, I thought I
now had conclusive evidence as to which side was the “correct” side to walk one. However, at another
station, the sides were reversed! To add to all this, the locals seem to disregard the markings anyway.
Sometimes they will stay on one side of the yellow line or another, but this doesn’t mean that they’re
following the suggested flow direction. I’ve even seen in some stations a physical barrier between the
two sides to try and maintain a standard direction and help maximize flow. This works, but every once in
a while I see people cut across the barrier anyway.
One final area that I’ve seen an “odd” flow is at doors, namely those leading to staircases. In particular,
I’m considering portals that have two or more doors. What I’ve seen happen is that one door will be
open to admit regular flow, and then all of a sudden a swarm of people will come to the portal. This
happens a decent amount—maybe a class just let out, or perhaps an elevator emptied people into the
hall. The people will try to alternate going through the single open door. Whenever I come upon a
situation like this, and find myself behind 15-20 students slowly making it through the one open door, I
just walk past them, open the other door, and go on my way. Once the other door is open, they use the
additional room to get through quicker. This situation surprises me because it is very rare that someone
will make the additional effort to open the other door. Instead, they seem to prefer to wait until their
turn comes to go through the single door.
The reason why all this confuses me is that it conflicts with other things I’ve seen. In general, I’ve noticed
that the locals value rules and order very highly. In fact, they’ll go far out of their way to see that a rule is
followed. To me, walking on one designated side or another is just a societal rule. It preserves order and
increases the possible flow rate through a corridor. If you remember one of my prior journals, I talked
about how hurried the locals seem to be—especially with elevators and doors. By not choosing a side,
they’re undermining this walking efficiency. I simply do not understand.
I’ve talked to two people about this. In response to the door example, another exchange student said,
“It’s just their problem solving skills. It seems like they are great at taking solutions that are already
solved, but can’t think outside of the box. They’re so rigid.” When I asked a Mainland student about the
doors, he said, “Why should we open the other one? This one is already open.” These two views seem to
complement each other in an odd manner. As far as I’m concerned, I still have not been able to figure
out a reason for all of it. To me, it challenges the main thing I thought I understood about the locals:
their adherence to rules and their constant drive towards efficiency. My only resolve from all this is
when I walk down the halls here, I try not to run anyone over.