Culture Club | An honorary degree for Eason Chan is the best marketing campaign for a British university aiming at the Chinese market

Over the past week, the news of Eason Chan Yik-shun being awarded an honorary doctor of arts by his alma mater Kingston University in the UK has gone viral in Hong Kong and across mainland China. Fans were delighted that the Canto-pop star received such high recognition from an overseas institution. Those who aren’t fans of Chan were also happy for him – an honorary doctorate degree carries a much more profound meaning music awards. In some ways it has put Canto-pop back on the world map.

There’s no need to argue about Chan’s status as king of pop in the Chinese speaking world – Forbes China Celebrity 100 ranked him number six last year. But cultural bridge?

Although the 12,000 tickets to Chan’s last London O2 concert were reportedly snapped up in 20 minutes – a rate faster than a Lady Gaga concert – I wonder how many of them were sold to non-Chinese. Westerners seldom go to Canto-pop concerts in Hong Kong even if they live in Hong Kong. Just walk up to a Westerner who calls Hong Kong home and ask him or her to sing the melody of an Eason Chan song, I bet 99 per cent would fail to do so. And would a Brit living in London who doesn’t understand Cantonese or Chinese go to a Canto-pop concert? I seriously don’t think so.

Perhaps the “cultural bridge” was referring to the connection between the university and the lucrative China market.

Over the years mainland China and Hong Kong have been major sources of overseas students for Kingston University. In 2004, out of a total of 2,339 overseas students, 131 came from mainland China and 99 came from Hong Kong, making them the second and sixth largest contributors of overseas students respectively. The number of mainland Chinese students went up to 182 last year, the fourth highest, while Hong Kong was 13th with 82 students.