獨坐幽篁裏,彈琴復長嘯。深林人不知,明月來相照。 王維《竹里館》
Sitting alone, in the hush of the bamboo; I thrum my lute, and whistle lingering notes. In the secrecy of the wood, no one can hear; Only the clear moon, comes to shine on me.” [Hut Among the Bamboos : Wang Wei (701-761A.D.]
此疫由病毒所致,因其形如冠,故名曰冠狀病毒。世衛由2015年開始避免用人名、地名、動物、食物、文化、職業等為疾病命名。故是次以「年份」為此病冠名以資識別,稱此病為冠狀病毒感染-19(COVID-19)。國際病毒分類委員會(International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses, ICTV)以病毒基因排序為命名標準,每段基因逐一細心分析,其他因素不作考慮。蓋因此冠狀病毒基因排序「未夠新」,屬沙士冠狀病毒的姐妹,故稱之為沙士冠狀病毒2.0(SARS-CoV-2)。民間及國際媒體則稱之為武漢冠狀病毒或武漢肺炎,直接簡單,亦無不可。
The following is a message to those Hong Kong or Chinese kids who have escaped from a chaotic little Britain now being plagued by the much-terrified Chinese virus:
You have successfully performed Dunkirk with relief and triumph, to the amazement of the world.
Your fears are perhaps justified. And it is certainly a matter of multiculturalism and market freedom to choose to run away from your British boarding school at this moment. Above all, you all pay high fees. You have the right.
So, my congratulations first.
But I thought British boarding schools are there to train leadership rather than refugees, like Churchill from Harrow. Your rugby or canoeing games there are designed for the need to stay calm and cool, as well as team spirit during a crisis.
Especially when a whole classroom of kids from Britain and other nationalities are probably staying, waiting for further instructions or arrangements from their school, but only those from HK and China have all swiftly disappeared.
Either you don’t go back, or face a possible future whispering judgment by others in the school, as well as how the world including the West will adjust their judgment on China and Chinese after the virus is, hopefully, gone.
So good luck, and have a safe stay at home in Hong Kong.
Data suggest that prospective teachers in Japan generally come from privileged families. “Educational inequality” should be a compulsory subject in all teacher training courses, so that those prospective teachers can understand their own privilege and then empathise with their future students’ diverse upbringings.