Chairs at the Front Porch

February 21, 2024

by See-ming Lee

Residential Houses in Tai O, Hong Kong

Chairs at the Front Porch, Residential Houses in Tai O, Hong Kong / SML + BAI /SML.20231219.6D.38441.BW

This is a typical front porch of the houses in Tai O. There’s nothing special about this except how representative it is of the type of front porches from a long gone era. In some ways, Tai O is a wonderful place to visit, for it has kept all the charm that you would see as common place in Hong Kong — before that culture was swept away by the waves of modernity.

The front porches in these houses are never gated. It has two arm chairs, and a stack of plastic chairs. Usually, these chairs that are decorated are reserved for the elders of the family — the grand parents, or the great grand parents. The older generation would sit outside of the house to enjoy the fresh air. The kids will “know their place,” so to speak, and sit in the plastic chairs.

These unspoken rules are not really taught in the traditional sense — you just learned to look at the room and know where you’re supposed to sit (LOL) — both in a random front porch like this or at a dining table.

And should someone is so “uncultured” and sit at the “wrong” seat, no one would tell you either, but you’ll know — you’ll get these really funny looks for the entire time you were there so that hopefully you’ll figure it out yourself (LOL). It‘s not uncommon for parents to give their kids a “talk” privately just coz they picked the wrong seat. I know this is very funny but I never even think about these things until you realized that in some cultures, people could just sit anywhere they want to.

Chinese is a fairly hierarchical society — you are supposed to respect the elderly — so this preferential treatment does not only apply to people within your family (e.g. grand parents or great grand parents). As a culture that places emphasis in the collective, you learned from a very young age that you would respect the elderly even if they’re simply someone older than you are within the same community that you live in.