Bob Welbaum: My Hong Kong Non-Adventure
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It was interesting to travel from Hong Kong to the Tokyo Disneyland Resort, where the cast has an unparalleled reputation for courtesy and service. I quickly concluded that Tokyo’s cast reputation is well deserved; I have the same types of stories of cast members there going “above and beyond” to assist us in any way they could. But I would actually give the Hong Kong cast the edge because of one aspect: better command of the English language. In any event, choosing between the two is a wonderful dilemma to face.
But what really surprised me was their nametags. My sister-in-law is of Chinese heritage; she still uses her Chinese name. Of course I was expecting an authentic Far Eastern experience, yet the vast majority of cast members I saw were sporting Western names. They were clearly of Oriental descent, yet Nikki checked us into Disney’s Hollywood Hotel and Robert was supervising the gift shop. This was quite a revelation, and names quickly became a kind of game with me. I couldn’t help but ask “Is this your real name? How did you get that name? What is your Chinese name?” I was feeling pretty proud of myself, thinking I had exposed a clever Disney marketing ploy to encourage Western guests to visit. Then we went sightseeing elsewhere, and the young lady who sold us tickets for the Ngong Ping Skyway was named Helen. I’ve since done some research and have been told that many Chinese names are very difficult to pronounce (properly in Chinese) by English speakers. To solve this problem, many Chinese take English names around their fifteenth birthday to ease interactions with Westerners. Some like Tony are common, and others like Quest are not so common. I don’t know how widespread this practice is in mainland China, but it certainly is the norm in Hong Kong.
Cast Member Nikki
Cast Member Tony
Cast Member Quest
Cast Member Nancy
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Posted: 11/30/08