An Ecological Look at Chinese Elderly Person in Hong Kong

This exercise helps you to become more sensitive to how different experience shapes the thinking and feeling of people and how they make each one a unique person. You are required to conduct a study of oral-history by in-depth interview of an elderly person whom you know, preferably someone you know quite well and have a concern level of trust so that you do not have to use extra energy trying to convince her to help you. They can be your grand-parents, grand-auntie, etc. who understand that this exercise is to help you develop an experience of conducting an oral history. Elderly persons who are not articulate or are mentally confused may not be suitable. This interview would probably take a few hours as you may want to give your interviewee sufficient time to tell the details of his/her stories. The interview can also be conducted over 3-4 time periods so that there can be sufficient time to talk. If you have difficulties identifying an elderly person, you can go to visit an elderly social centre or parks, or HKU early in the morning and invite some elderly persons playing tai-ji there to help you.

The purpose is to develop a strength-based perspective of how people overcome difficulties in life. There may be times when the interviewees may feel distressed by revisiting their past wounds and hard times. Do not avoid their pains, listen to them and thank them for disclosing it to you. Try to appreciate their experience and feel their pain by putting yourself into their shoe. After appreciating them, ask them what are the things that they have done, people whom they sought help from, events or practice that had been helpful for them in enduring those hard times. We want to learn how they persevere their pain and humiliation, but become a more resilient person.

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A retrospective look at a Chinese elderly person to increase understanding of their life courses and to learn what environmental factors influences their lives. Ask them to tell you about their life from their (i) childhood, (ii) teenage, (iii) adulthood, (iv) mid-life, and (v) old age.

• Education, spouses and children, parents' background, birth places, and occupation
• geographical location (before and now)
• changes over time: political circumstances and impact on their lives
• economic conditions: income, investment, security (before and now)
• health issues: self, family members, deaths in the family, starvation, disability
• family relationships: support, frustrations, intimacy, violence, communication, in-law relationship, mate selection, having children

• spirituality: religion, rituals, regular cultural practices
• source of joy in life: fun, recreation and social activities, volunteer work and meanings in life

Important historical landmarks: what was their experience during the Japanese occupation, the British occupation, the 1967 riot, the 1973 oil crisis, the 4th June,1989 crackdown of democratic movement in China, 1998 Asian financial crisis…

The paper would probably composed of a brief overview of the oral history of the person whom you had interviewed (1/3), an analysis of how s/he has overcome his/her difficulties (1/3), and insights on what is important in your life that you have developed from this interview (1/3).