Online Class Notes (Jesse) [4.5]

An Exhibition in Tai Kwun

I went to Tai Kwun with my friend this Friday night. We enjoyed one of the free exhibitions there, Vital Signs. The Neon sign is a unique visual identity in Hong Kong, which is appealing to tourists from all over the world. Unfortunately, many neon signs have disappeared in recent years due to the fact that the cost of maintaining the signs was really high. This exhibition is about the neon culture in HK.

Firstly, they introduced us the principle of how neons shine through an interesting interactive installation. Neons can shine by electrifying specific rare gases. The installation displayed five glass tubes already filled with different rare gases, and visitors could trigger the neon by pressing the button to power on the tube. The color of the neon depended on the composition of gases inside the tube and the color layer of the tube. Following that, they showed us the neon craftsmanship and the neon culture in HK. Before learning this part, the only purpose of neon signs in my mind was to attract people to come into the shop. However, at the time when neon signs were first popularized in HK, many places in China were facing severe power crises, which led to economic crises. To go over these challenges, governments controlled the use of electricity, but the use of neon signs was not included. Neon signs were important signals for HK residents at that time, showing to the world economic crises didn’t influence their lives. Following that, we walked to the outdoor part. At the huge outdoor stairs, a loft of neon signs in real-size settled there. Visitors could get close to them and take pictures.

An Exhibition in Tai Kwun

I went to Tai Kwun with my friend this Friday night and we enjoyed one of the free exhibitions there, Vital Signs / Friday night where we enjoyed one of the free exhibitions called Vital Signs. The Neon sign is a unique visual identity in Hong Kong, which is appealing to / which appeals to tourists from all over the world. Unfortunately, many neon signs have disappeared in recent years due to the fact that the cost of maintaining the signs was / is really high. This exhibition is about the neon culture in HK.

Firstly, they introduced to us the principle of how neon / neon lights shine through an interesting interactive installation. Neon lights can shine by electrifying specific rare gases. The installation displayed five glass tubes already filled with different rare gases, and visitors could trigger the neon by pressing the button to power on the tube. The color of the neon depended on / is dependent on / depends on the composition of gases inside the tube and the color layer of the tube. Following that, they showed us the neon craftsmanship and the neon culture in HK. Before learning this part, the only purpose of neon signs in my mind was to attract people to come into shops. However, at the time that neon signs were first popularized in HK, many places in China were facing severe power crises, which (in turn) led to an economic crisis. To fix / solve / deal with these challenges, governments controlled the use of electricity, but the use of neon signs was not included. Neon signs were important signals for HK residents at that time, showing to the world (that) economic crises didn’t influence their lives. Following that, we walked to the outdoor part where a lot of neon signs in real-size were set up / placed / installed and visitors could get close to them and take pictures.

Grammar

I need to think a lot and choose the vocabulary to instead of the vocabulary i usually use.

instead (prep)
replace (v)
eg. You should use A to replace B / You should replace A with B.
eg2. You should use A instead of B

I introduce you X Y Z – I introduce X Y Z to you (spoken) / I introduce to you, XYZ (formal)

Vocabulary

crisis – 1
crises – 2+ – “cry seez”

in turn 
eg. Kids learn to swim, and in turn, they swim without drowning.
eg2. My boyfriend learned English with a teacher and improved a lot, so I, in turn, want to do the same.

middle process – go through / go over / work through / deal with / sort out
result – fix / resolve / solve / deal with / sort out 

are there less / fewer neon signs these days?

policies and regulations (rules)
eg. they published some new regulations related to X Y

strict < > lenient
eg. I think the policies are more lenient in other cities but stricter in Shanghai and Beijing…

tier 1 cities – biggest cities

shoulder strap

duffel bag – big, travel bag that opens down the middle

side handle / side strap

i heard about this event through instagram due to the fact that i followed TK’s official account and the pictures they post on insta were really appealing to me and for this friday my friend booked a restaurant not far away from TK so i suggest that after dinner we should go to the exhibition. She thought it’s a good idea and she also interested in neon culture in HK. I think it’s the first exhibition related to his topic because neon signs were too common in HK. I think maybe 5 years ago nobody would choose to go to an exhibition to see neon signs. After I came here, during this years a lot of neon signs not far away my home have disappeared.

i heard about this event through instagram due to the fact that i followed TK’s official account and the pictures they post on insta were really appealing to me / were really fascinating / interesting to me / really attracted me / were interested me / really drew me in / caught my eye and for this friday my friend booked a restaurant not far away from TK so i suggested that after dinner maybe we could go to the exhibition. She thought it’s a good idea and she was also interested in neon culture in HK. I think it’s the first exhibition related to his topic because neon signs were too common in HK. I think maybe 5 years ago nobody would choose to go to an exhibition to see neon signs. After I came here, this year  / over the past 8 months / during the last year or so a lot of neon signs not far away my home have disappeared.