Hong Kongs Research Articles

The Emergence of Cantopop from Hong Kong's Cultural History from the 1930s to the 1980s

In the 1980s and 90s, Hong Kong-born Cantopop music reached a climax of popularity throughout Asia. The genres development serves as a lyrical mirror reflecting Hong Kongs unique cultural history. First inspired by popular musical forms from the 1920s, its development serves as an artistic resolution to the competition between Asian self-awareness experienced by the British colonys Chinese majority and local pride generated by living in a wealthy Western oasis sheltered from much of the instability that plagued neighboring countries. Cantopop as a distinct cultural product is defined by major historical shifts in Hong Kongs history, from rebellion against British colonial hubris to the aftermath of World War II, international relations during the Korean War, the immigration of musical artists from Mainland China and Taiwan, local reactions to events in China, and Hong Kongs uneven economic advancement as an Asian Tiger. These events would leave a mark on the local Hong Kong identity, expressed musically through Cantopop, as waves of immigration and borrowing from foreign traditions formed a new and distinct political, social and cultural identity. This paper traces and explains this musical development by juxtaposing Hong Kongs history with changing musical trends.

From Policy to Practice: The Operational Mechanics of Hong Kongs Public Housing Allocation

From Policy to Practice: The Operational Mechanics of Hong Kongs Public Housing Allocation

The Discussion of the Influence of Public Art on the Cultural Status of Filipino Community in Hong Kong

The topic of public art and the role of public art in enhancing the cultural status of the Filipino community in Hong Kong is significant. This paper begins by introducing the Filipino community in Hong Kong, outlining its contributions to the citys economic and social structure as well as the difficulties it has had assimilating into Hong Kong society and dealing with issues like discrimination, cultural identity, poverty, and living conditions. Using specific examples, this article analyzes how public art may be a tool to encourage social and cultural development as well as how it might improve the cultural standing of the Filipino population in Hong Kong. The Filipino community in Hong Kong faces challenges related to cultural identity and social standing. They have made significant contributions to the citys development but have a tenuous social standing, often working in low-wage jobs with limited prospects for growth. And the community also faces difficult living conditions. The article as a whole emphasizes the value of public art in fostering cultural identity and fostering a more inclusive society. Additionally, it makes recommendations for how to change the current situation and the issues facing the Filipino community in Hong Kong, including defending their rights and interests and fostering their assimilation into Hong Kongs social culture.

An Analysis of Hong Kongs National Identity Struggle Through Secondary School History Education Perspective

Hong Kong's July 1st Conflict took place on the anniversary of the founding of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, when protesters clashed with the police and caused chaos resulting in huge losses in terms of public transport safety, finance and trade. The protesters stated that they only recognised Hong Kong citizenship and refused to be recognised as Chinese, and read out the Hong Kong People's Declaration of Resistance. In recent years, more and more studies have shown that Hong Kong's young generation identifies more with their Hong Kong citizenship and has a declining sense of belonging to the mainland China. This paper is dedicated to examining how Hong Kong and the Mainland differ in shaping the national identity of their citizens from the perspective of history education textbooks.

The Local Dynamics of Industrial Growth in Hong Kong Under the U.S. Embargo Policy in the 1950s

When people think of Hong Kong in the 1960s, most will recall the industrialized prosperity of Hong Kong. Most scholars regard the industrialized prosperity in the 1960s as a direct consequence of the U.S Embargo Policy launched in the 1950s, during the Korean War. However, a no less important driving force, the impacts of the dynamic role of local businessmen and local chambers on the growth of industries has been overlooked. Given the current academic neglect of the local dynamic role, this paper aims to analyze the driving force played by local actors such as associations, chambers of commerce, and even merchants in promoting Hong Kongs industrial growth, especially in the shipping industries. This paper will demonstrate the effect of embargo policy as well as the contribution of local dynamics, which altogether provides a comprehensive understanding of the factors affecting Hong Kongs industrial growth in the 1950s.

The Big Mac Index And Real-Income Disparity

The Big Mac Index was introduced to (semi-humorously) test the theory of purchasing power parity and measure the disparity in currency values. Instead, in this paper, we consider this index to find out the per capita real-income disparity across 54 countries. We find that the per capita real-income can be very low in some countries even when Big Mac burgers are very cheap, like in India. Among these countries, Hong Kongs per capita Big Mac affordability is the highest with 47 burgers daily whereas Pakistans people could afford just one a day. Additionally, we find that Russia and Chinas Big Mac affordability has been significantly increasing over the last decade, Brazils has remained more or less constant, however USAs Big Mac affordability has been falling, indicating that per capita real-income of Americans has been decreasing over the last decade. Finally, we find that increased role of the government might be negatively correlated to per capita real-income. Czech Republic has been experiencing increased Big Mac affordability as the country has been reducing the governments role; whereas Argentina has been experiencing reduced Big Mac affordability as the country has been moving left and increasing the governments power.

The Influences of Corporate Social Responsibility to Customer Repurchases Intentions, Customer Word-of-Mouth Intentions and Customer Perceived Food Quality of Fast-Food Restaurants in Hong Kong and the Mediating Effects of Corporate Reputation

Aims: Market studies indicate that Hong Kong consumers are affluent and generally live a trendy, refined lifestyle. As such, besides traditional food markets, Hong Kongs free market economy has spawned various forms of food retailers, such as supermarkets, fast foods chains and fine dining restaurants, that contribute tremendously to its economy. In the face of fierce competition, companies in the food retail service industry are moving to differentiate themselves byembracing non-traditional,contemporary means of demarcation. One such means is by adopting corporate social responsibility (CSR) as a strategy for evoking positive customer behaviour towards the service. However, there is a dearthof research on CSRs contribution to corporate reputation and its direct relationship with service industry eminent marketing concepts. This research investigated the role of CSR in building a better brand through corporate reputation and its effects on w

English

Over half of Hong Kongs secondary students receive private supplementary tutoring, and in the last grade of secondary schooling the proportion exceeds 70%. Such tutoring is widely called shadow education because it mimics the regular system − as the curriculum in the schools changes, so it changes in the shadow; and as the regular school system expands, so does the shadow. The scale of private tutoring has grown significantly in the last two decades, and has become a standard feature of the lives of many families. Some tutoring is provided one-to-one by professionals, semi-professionals or amateurs; other tutoring is provided in small groups; and yet other tutoring is provided in lecture formats. Such tutoring demands significant financial investment by households, and also consumes substantial amounts of students time. Some tutoring has benefits in helping slow learners to keep up with their peers and in stretching further the learning of high achievers. Parents may also prefer to pay other people to manage homework and related stresses. However, tutoring can also increase pressures on young people, and is not always effective. This paper presents Hong Kong data within a framework that compares local patterns with those in other parts of the world. It raises questions about the implications of patterns and about appropriate responses for families, educators and policy makers.

Occupational Exposure to Asbestos: Mortality and Liability Issues Arising in Hong Kongs Shipping Industry

This article evaluates a range of legal responses to issues of causation and compensation arising out of occupational malignant mesothelioma claims. A survey of the common law in the United Kingdom leads to an assessment of the law and policy settings which Hong Kong should adopt in relation to these issues. It is argued that Hong Kong is underprepared for the steep rise of asbestos-related litigation on the way to its shores and that the absence in Hong Kong of local common law on mesothelioma liability means that it will draw on English approaches which are, themselves, unsatisfactory and unsuitable to local conditions. In particular, is argued that (1) the high sympathy culture toward patients in Hong Kong’s healthcare system and (2) the high level of personal and corporate bankruptcy mean that stringent English compensation approaches to mesothelioma in cases of pre-cursor conditions and multiple employer apportionment of liability (respectively) are not a good fit for Hong Kong.

Hong Kongs CEPA with China: Round Two

Concluded in June 2003, the Mainland-Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA I) came into effect on 1 January 2004, providing enhanced access for Hong Kong products, service providers and professionals to the Mainland market. It gave Hong Kong an early start in tapping the Mainland market ahead of foreign competition under the Mainland's World Trade Organisation (WTO) commitments. The CEPA II took effect from the beginning of 2005 with the scope of the liberalisation further expanded in both depth and breadth. Adding 729 types of products of Hong Kong origin (or nearly all goods made in Hong Kong) to the zero-tariff list of the original 379 items covered by the CEPA I, the CEPA II allows 1,108 products that originate in Hong Kong to enter the Mainland with no tariffs. For the phase two zero-tariff products, the existing tariff rates range from 3 to 33.3 per cent, with most of the products paying 10–19.4 per cent. More significantly, the CEPA II also opens up eight new areas for Hong Kong service providers and further widens the business scope of some of the [End Page 114] 18 service sectors already opened under the CEPA I. Hong Kong service suppliers will now gain preferential access to the Mainland market in 26 service areas in total, with the audiovisual and medical sectors going beyond China's WTO accession commitments and becoming special niches for Hong Kong. Hong Kong's strong performance in 2004 was the combined result of the recovery factor and the direct benefit of the new Mainland tourism policy. The CEPA was key in boosting confidence in the Special Administrative Region. For an economy suffering from a long period of recession, this boost was precisely what Hong Kong needed, particularly for its financial market and property sector. Trade Promotion in Goods and Services Hong Kong's trade with Mainland China, in both import and total exports (both domestic exports and re-exports), has seen significant increases in absolute value and proportional share. As Hong Kong's largest trading partner since 1985, China in 2004 accounted for 30.1 per cent of Hong Kong's total domestic exports, 44.9 per cent of its re-exports and 43.5 per cent of its imports, with total trade amounting to HK$1,806 billion (see Table 1). With respect to merchandise trade, Mainland China is Hong Kong's largest trade partner in imports and re-exports, and the second largest destination of domestic exports after the US. By the end of June 2005, 5,875 Hong Kong manufacturers obtained certificates of origin that allow them to enjoy zero-tariff treatment for products including textiles and clothing — the largest beneficiary group — followed by pharmaceutical products, plastics and plastic articles (Table 2).1 The immediate benefit of tariff-free access under the CEPA is cost savings for the Hong Kong export items to the Mainland. According to China's customs statistics, Hong Kong's tariff-free exports to the Mainland reached USD127 million (14.3 per cent of total) in 2004. Tariffs have been waived up to 66.4 million yuan (USD8 million) under the CEPA agreement.2 Traditional Chinese medicine, jewellery, chemicals and information technology products [End Page 115] dominate Hong Kong's exports. Traditional Chinese patent medicine is the most notable beneficiary of the CEPA, with tariffs on its exports cut by 13.6 million yuan (USD1.6 million) in the first year of the implementation, accounting for 20.5 per cent of the total preferential tariff. Exports of polystyrene and flavourings come next. However, the overall trade generated by the CEPA is relatively small in quantitative terms. Click for larger view Table 1 Hong Kong's Economic Performance Indicators (1998–2004)

The Rise and Fall of Chinese Immigration to Canada: Newcomers from Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China1 and Mainland China, 1980–20002

ABSTRACTAn emerging perspective in the study of global diasporas stresses the effect of economic globalization and migration shifts in reshaping the population and identifying the formation of diaspora communities. This paper analyses the immigration patterns from Hong Kong and mainland China to Canada between the 1980s and 1990s, and shows that the migration shifts have been influenced by political and economic forces in Hong Kong and China, as well as changes in Canada's immigration policy. The imminent return of Hong Kong to China in 1997 and its uncertain political future in the 1990s were often cited as the main reasons for Hong Kong's large emigration in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In reality, the rising volume of Hong Kong emigration was prompted by the 1989 Tiananmen Square incident in China and its aftermath, and by the booming economy of Hong Kong in the early 1990s that created the means for many middle‐class Chinese to emigrate. At the same time, Canada's expansion of the Business Immigration Program in the mid‐1980s also benefited immigrant entrepreneurs from Hong Kong. In contrast, the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997 did not deter the economic growth of China. Immigration from China rose after 1989 when Canada allowed Chinese students studying in Canada to immigrate, but it was after the mid‐1990s that immigration from China expanded due to Canada's greater emphasis on admitting economic immigrants and to China's growing middle class. The continuous arrival of well‐educated and urban‐based immigrants from China is likely to change the population composition and identity complexity of the Chinese community in Canada.

"Together Again": Theater in Postcolonial Hong Kong

ters of the territory, restaurants and hotels catered for those who wanted company rather than cacophony at this most momentous point of Hong Kongs twentieth-century history. Some offered Western buffets until midnight and Eastern cuisine thereafter. Union Jacks and Chinese flags mingled, but everyone knew that the mainland Chinese and British legations, mutually embittered, were holding separate transfer ceremonies at separate locations. The last colonial Governor, Chris Patten, bade a tearful farewell to Government House, his home of five years, and with his family boarded the royal yacht Britannia, moored in Victoria Harbour. At the stroke of midnight more than a century of British rule came to an end, and Hong Kong stood united with China once again. Soon, the television directors were focusing on truckloads of Chinese troops crossing the border into what was now the Special Administrative Region (SAR) of Hong Kong. The soldiers stood bolt upright to attention in the back of their vehicles. The rain poured down on them, but their faces remained expressionless, unflinching.

Currency Substitution: The Use of Hong Kong Dollars in Southern China

This paper studies the circulation of Hong Kong dollars in the Chinese Mainland. It first estimates the amount of Hong Kong dollars circulating in southern China in the last fifteen years. The regression analysis indicates that the growth rate of Hong Kongs foreign direct investment in China and the growth rate of trade volume between Hong Kong and China are some of the main determinants that contribute to the widespread use of Hong Kong dollars in southern China. The difference of real returns between Hong Kong dollar denominated assets and Chinese Renminbi denominated assets, however, has no effect on the amount of Hong Kong dollars circulating in China.

Meeting the challenge of human rights education: the case of Hong Kong

Since 1 July l997 Hong Kong has become a Special Administrative Region under the Peoples Republic of China. There is a difference in the interpretation of human rights between East and West. Even before the change of sovereignty human rights education was not an important element in the Hong Kong school curricula. The hidden curriculum is not supportive of human rights education either. During the United Nation Decade for Human Rights Education (1995–2005), Hong Kong people are torn between the dichotomy of liberalism-communitarianism over human rights. This paper examines the attitude about human rights of the Hong Kong Chinese people and the issues of human rights in Hong Kong schools, thereby throwing light on the prospect of human rights education in its relationship to education reform taking place in Hong Kong. The conclusion is that Hong Kongs education reform proposals already embody the spirit of human rights and they have laid the foundation for the development of human rights education.

Exporting professional courses: cultural and educational implications

Since the introduction of the Overseas Student Program (OSP) in 1985, courses have been marketed, often quite aggressively, by Australian universities. In most cases, overseas students have responded by coming to Australia. The cultural implications of the OSP are evaluated using a hypothetical case—Hong Kong Registered Nurses undertaking a post-graduate Public Health Nursing program in a higher education institution to prepare them for work with Vietnamese people in Hong Kongs refugee camps. The evaluation is based on an application of Dunns jurisprudential metaphor and transactional model of argument to a consideration of the contextual and cultural issues which arise from an examination of the impact of the course. It was concluded that the course would not be appropriate. Moreover, arguments developed from the hypothetical case were found to be generalisable to the export of other professional courses, and the relevance of many offerings were questioned.

Emigration and the Future of Hong Kong

Emigration is not new from Hong Kong but its volume is presently at an all-time high. This paper examines whether this exodus is in response to the return of Hong Kong to Chinese sovereignty in 1997. While the impending transfer is clearly one factor there are more important reasons to be found in the policies of potential destination countries and in those conditions which are giving rise to an increase in the movement of Chinese peoples throughout Asia. The characteristics of the emigrants are biased towards the upper end of the educational and occupational spectrum. The loss of these personnel to the local economy may cause short-term problems in particular sectors but Hong Kongs long-term viability is more likely to be associated with the potential for regional development in the Pearl River delta as a whole than with the outflow of population. (EXCERPT)

Enterprise Zones: Implementing the Unworkable

Enterprise Zones owe their origins to an analysis of economic decline, particularly in urban areas, which attributes this to government intervention, regulation and taxation. Their earliest exponent was Professor Peter Hall, an erstwhile Fabian socialist who in 1977 proposed the creation of mini Hong Kongs in the depressed inner cities, areas free of all government regulation and taxation, where free enterprise would be given full rein. The idea has had considerable appeal to the exponents of free enterprise on both sides of the Atlantic. In 1978 Sir Geoffrey Howe, then Opposition Spokesman on economic affairs, unveiled a modified version of the proposal in a speech given on the Isle of Dogs in London. Howe proposed 'test market areas or laboratories in which to enable fresh policies to prime the pump of prosperity and to establish their potential for doing so elsewhere'.

HONG KONG: The Continuing Fertility Decline, 1967

In 1967 fertility rates in Hong Kong continued the decline previously noted for 1966. For the period 1965-1967 the crude birth rate of Hong Kong fell by 15% the total fertility rate fell by 14% and the birth rate standardized for age fell by 13%. The fertility declines were greatest at the youngest ages. It is believed that to a significant degree the activity of the Hong Kong Family Planning Association was responsible for the decline. The 1967 decline while marked was much less than that for 1966 and follows on a relative decline in the number of new clients being served by the Association. Almost all of the 15% decline in the birth rate in 1966 and 1967 can be attributed to a genuine decline in the fertility of married women. The decline which occurred in the 1961-1965 period was attributed to changes in age and marital status distributions. The changes in the younger age groups were consistent with the fact that the Hong Kong Family Planning Association was especially successful in reaching younger women with their IUD program up to April 1967 the last date when the program might have affected the birth rates under study. In the 2 years between 1965 and 1967 alone the number of women aged 15-29 increased by 43000. This was a 12% increase while the total population grew by less than 4%. There will be a large increase in the number of women in the childbearing years in the next decade. Simply to keep the 1976 crude birth rate at the 1967 level would require a 14% decline in age-specific rates to compensate for changes expected in age distributions. There has been a tendency for a smaller proportion of women 15-24 to be married. According to surveys Hong Kongs married women do not want large families but many of these women are not practicing contraception. 34% of the married women aged 15-45 who said they did not want more children were not practicing contraception.