Society

The World Press Photo exhibition, scheduled to open on Mar. 1, was cancelled prematurely by its host Hong Kong Baptist University. On Thursday, four days before the opening, HKBU released a statement saying that now was “not an appropriate time” to hold the exhibition due to “consideration to campus safety and security” and “the need to maintain pandemic control.” Senior Lecturer and Director of International Journalism concentration at HKBU, Robin Ewing, said, “The university management made the decision not to hold the exhibition for safety reasons. We are disappointed that our students and the people of Hong Kong will not be able to see the exhibition in person. It’s a real shame that the current political climate doesn’t allow for such a compelling global work of visual journalism to be shown. ” Ms Ewing is a faculty advisor to The Young Reporter. Organizers of the exhibition had planned to implement pandemic-control measures, including the mandation of mask-wearing, completion of a health declaration, temperature screening and limited entrants for social distancing. The Netherlands Consulate General in Hong Kong that funded the exhibition was “disappointed” about its cancellation.  “The exhibition bears testament to the important work photojournalists do all over the world in bringing us the stories that matter,” the Consulate General said on Facebook. “In these uncertain times, it reminds us that a free and independent press is vital for maintaining stable and resilient societies.” Users on Twitter speculated the cancellation was due to exhibition photos of the Hong Kong pro-democracy protests in 2019. Dot Dot News, a pro-Beijing online propaganda site based in Hong Kong, published an article on Feb. 22, saying that the exhibition would “display photos taken during the period of ‘black violence’ a year ago that aimed to beautify rioters and provoke anti-police sentiment.”  The article specifically …

  Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po announced HK$934 million for the pandemic-stricken tourism sector in the budget address on Wednesday morning. He said, HK$169 million of the allocated budget will be used for local cultural, heritage and creative tourism projects, such as the Yim Tin Tsai Arts Festival and the City in Time. More than HK$2 billion has already been injected into the tourism industry. An additional HK$765 million will be reserved for the Hong Kong Tourism Board.  He added that the relaxation of social distancing measures will allow local tour groups to resume as long as public health can be protected. “Sectors such as airlines, travel agents, tour operators and some retail, it [the pandemic] has been disastrous,” said Professor Brian King, Associate Dean at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University School of Hotel and Tourism Management. In Hong Kong, the tourism industry is one of the city's major economic sectors. According to HKTB, Hong Kong received over 59 million visitors in 2019 and only over 3 million in 2020.  Hong Kong’s airport has been closed, only allowing the city's residents from overseas to land following strict quarantine and immigration measures. The two other borders -- the Shenzhen Bay Port and the Hong Kong-Macau-Zhuhai Bridge -- have been shut.  Mass-layoffs have been made in airline industries such as Cathay Pacific, the city’s flagship airline. It’s sister company, Cathay Dragon, permanently shut down. The unemployment rate, which is at 7%, is the highest Hong Kong has seen in 17 years.  A low-interest loan scheme for unemployed Hong Kong residents was also announced in the budget address. The loan is capped at HK$80,000 per person targeting some 250,000 unemployed residents.  Prof King said that the loan scheme will aid tourism sector workers, who can now find other sources of income as the …

Students from about 2000 schools can now resume half-day classes while schools can have a full half-day resumption if all members of staff have the COVID-19 test every 2 weeks. But The Professional Teachers Union doubts if the frequent testing is needed for teachers.  

Hong Kong’s mosques opened on Feb 19 for prayers after being shut for almost three months.  Members of the Muslim community flocked to the mosque following the announcement from the Incorporated Trustees of the Islamic Community Fund of Hong Kong - the official body representing the city's Muslims. All five official mosques are open to conduct prayers with social distancing measures in place.  The city's mosques have been closed since December intermittently every two weeks which were put in place to combat the fourth coronavirus wave.  “It was a sense of relief, a sense of joy,” said Adeel Malik, chairman of the Muslim Council of Hong Kong.  He added that many Muslims were longing for the mosques to open, but also noted that the government implemented strict measures for the larger good of the community.  The opening of the mosques coincided with the weekly Friday prayers, which is an important day of the week for the Islamic faith.  Religious sermons are held during Fridays on issues in both the Muslim and wider communities in Hong Kong.  One of the weekly sermon topics were "Lessons from Lockdown", where Mufti Muhammad Arshad, the chief Imam of the Kowloon Mosque and Islamic Centre urged the community to unite against the pandemic regardless of race or religion.  Muslims came to the city as sailors in 1829, working for the British-owned Jardine Matheson, a shipping company.  By the 1850s, the growing Muslim community led to the formation of the Incorporated Trustees of the Islamic Community Fund, which became the official representative body for Muslims in Hong Kong.