TOP STORIES
Job seekers find it tough despite falling unemployment
- 2021-07-20
- Society
- The Young Reporter
- By: WANG Jingyan 王婧言Edited by: Jenny Lam
- 2021-07-20
More than 1,800 jobs are on offer at the “Embracing New Opportunities” job fair. Some 40 companies from different industries are taking part in the two-day event. There are vacancies for store clerks, security guards, programmers, nurses and much more, according to the Labour Department. The fair is held by the Labour Department and the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions at MacPherson Stadium in Mong Kok. Ms Au, who was not willing to reveal her full name, was one of the representatives for Mou Mou Club Limited and Gyukaku Yakiniku Restaurant, offering opportunities for waiters and cooks. She said they have received more applications this year than in the past few years. “Competition for jobs (in the catering industry) has become more and more intense, so people are now seeking jobs in other industries,” she said. Most of the vacancies at the fair offer monthly salaries from HK$10,000 to HK$20,000. Around 81% are full-time jobs, nearly 98% require senior high education or below and 61% do not ask for relevant job experience. Ms Cu, who was not willing to reveal her full name, is among the job seekers. “ I used to work in the retail industry, but I have been unemployed since the beginning of this year because of COVID-19,” she said. Mr Ho, who didn’t provide his first name, also lost his job when the company he worked for downsized during the pandemic. “I used to be a civil engineer, but most of the jobs ( at the fair) are for clerical work, such as office assistants, and I’m not suited for that,” he said. He added that most of the jobs at the fair didn’t require specific knowledge, and he was worried that means he can easily be replaced. CJ was a …
Hong Kong Government Land Confiscation Scheme Forces Closure of Popular Farmers Market at Mapopo Community Farm
- 2021-07-19
- Society
- The Young Reporter
- By: Jayde CheungEdited by: Editor
- 2021-07-19
After more than a decade in operation, Mapopo Community Farm held its last farmers market on Sunday before permanently closing due to the Hong Kong government’s Land Resumption Ordinance. The farmers market sells locally produced vegetables, mainly from the northeastern part of Hong Kong’s New Territories, including Ping Che (Fanling), Tsiu King (Sheung Shui) and Kwu Tong (Sheung Shui). At two in the afternoon, about 15 people lined up outside Mapopo Community Farm to snatch up locally grown fruit and vegetables, including winter melons, pumpkins, longan and dragon fruits. Most products were sold out within the first hour. Chatting and laughing during their visit to the market, customers filled shopping bags with green vegetables and fruits. Some visitors brought their pets and kids to the market, to witness the decline of Hong Kong local agriculture. People expressed gratitude to the farmers by leaving messages and colorful drawings in the farmer markets’ autograph book. “The villagers are exhausted fighting for their lands,” said 26-year-old Ms. Wong, who withheld her first name. She said she has heard of the land resumption scheme since she was a student. The scheme, officially announced in 1998, allowed the government to claim the land for residential purposes, in order to handle the growing population in Hong Kong. Farmlands in Kwu Tong North, Fanling North and Ping Che/Ta Ku Ling have been identified by the Hong Kong government to be new development areas.The rural areas in northeast New Territories will be used for commercial and residential land. However, the development plan was rejected by the farmers. They worried that the residential and commercial land development would reduce the amount of farmland, thus deteriorating the farmer’s livelihood. Following several legal challenges by residents of Ma Shi Po Village, …
Serving the Community is the Ultimate Mission For All District Councillors Stay or Leave
- 2021-07-16
- Politics
- The Young Reporter
- By: Jayde CheungEdited by: Alison Leung
- 2021-07-16
Opt to make a declaration, Ramon Yuen Hoi-man, a member of the Democratic Party, said he will stay to complete his 4-year tenure in the district council. The 34-year-old councillor of Sham Shui Po district is one of the 174 district councillors who still uphold their identity. According to the notice in the Gazette declared today, 214 out of 388 elected seats in the 18 District Councils are vacant. The Civil Service Bureau has issued circulars to all government departments, requiring all existing civil servants and those who join the Government on or after 1 July 2020 to declare that they will uphold the Basic Law, bear allegiance to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), be dedicated to their duties and be responsible to the HKSAR Government. After considering the risks of disqualification and the requirement of returning the one and a half years’ salary to the government, Mr. Yuen rather takes an oath that includes upholding the Basic Law and swearing allegiance to the HKSAR. “I will stick to my principles, including voicing for the people and monitoring the government,” he said. “I had promised to serve the people in the district at the beginning of the election, so the decision to retain the seat was made at an early stage.” “I will do the most I can, especially since my colleagues have left,” Mr Yuen said. People around Mr Yuen had asked him to leave. However, Mr Yuen thinks that he should stay and persevere with Hong Kong people, when the risks are still tolerable. “People have retreated, while Hong Kong is collapsing,” Mr Yuen said. “From press freedom, councils, to the education and social work industry. Shouldn’t we voice more actively?” As the Chairman of the Working …
China’s GDP growth slows to 7.9% in Q2 after strong economic recovery from COVID in Q1
- 2021-07-15
- The Young Reporter
- By: WANG Jingyan 王婧言Edited by: Alison Leung
- 2021-07-15
China’s economic growth slowed to 7.9% in the second quarter year-on-year from a record growth the previous quarter, showing increasingly steady trends in the second-half year, the National Bureau of Statistics of China said on Thursday. The gross domestic product (GDP) figure came in below the median forecast of 8.1%, polled by Reuters, and was lower than the 18.3% year-on-year increase in the first three months of 2021, which was boosted by the low base due to the pandemic. “The country’s economy continues to recover steadily with production and demand picking up, employment and prices remaining stable,” said Liu Aihua, Director of the National Economic Comprehensive Statistics Department of the bureau, at today’s news conference. She said market expectations were positive and major macro indicators were within the reasonable range. Industrial production increased 8.3% year-on-year in June, and 15.9% in the first half of the year compared to the same period last year. Retail sales rose 12.1% in June from a year earlier and grew by 23% in the January-June period. Fixed-asset investment also grew 12.6% year-on-year in the first half of the year, and the jobless rate decreased 0.5% year-on-year to 5% this June, but Ms Liu predicted at the conference that the rate may increase as an estimated of 9.09 million university graduates would flood into the job market this year. “The pandemic is not yet stable globally, and the recovery of the domestic economy is not yet even,” said Ms Liu at the conference, adding that China's economy would sustain a steady recovery in the second half of the year despite facing such difficulties. She estimated that increasing domestic demands, enhancing market confidence, more policies to help small and medium-sized enterprises, and global economic recovery would further support the economic recovery. The Chinese government announced several measures …
Few books with “sensitive” content on sale at HK Book Fair 2021
- 2021-07-14
- People
- The Young Reporter
- By: Jayde CheungEdited by: C.K. Lau
- 2021-07-14
Books that contain politically sensitive content can hardly be found at the Hong Kong Book Fair 2021, the first such event held after the Hong Kong National Security Law was introduced last year. Publishers say fears about breaching the law, which bans acts of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces, have discouraged them from pubishing some titles. Hillway Press is the only publisher that has released books whose content may possibly be regarded as sensitive, including The Journey Through the Brick Wall and 21 July 2019. The first book is an autobiography of Raymond Yeung Tsz-chun, a liberal studies teacher who was shot in the eye in a protest on 12 June in 2019 during the anti-extradition bill movement. The second is written by Ryan Lau Chun-kong, one of the victims in the so-called 721 incident, who offers his account of what happened in the evening of July 21, 2019, when a number of people deemed to be sympathetic to the anti-extradition bill protests were attacked by alleged gangsters in the Yuen Long MTR station. Mr Yeung, who has since quit teaching to start Hillway, also revealed that the company was prepared to publish three other books that contain sensitive content, but no printers were willing to print them. He did not disclose what those three books were about. Jimmy Pang Chi-ming, president of the publishing house Subculture, said fears over the “white terror” of unintentionally violating the national security law now pervaded the whole publishing industry. “Under the vague standards of the national security law, we have abandoned some books that only contain cultural content,” said Mr Pang. “For example, Liu Xiaobo (the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize winner who was jailed on the mainland for inciting subversion of state …
Lucky draw to tempt nursing home staff to get Covid jabs
- 2021-07-13
- The Young Reporter
- By: YANG ZhenfeiEdited by: Jenny Lam
- 2021-07-13
The Elderly Services Association of Hong Kong (TESA) is offering prizes totalling more than a million Hong Kong dollars for staff in nursing homes who take the Covid vaccine. They must have received two doses of the vaccine in order to take part in the lucky draw. TESA will also provide 100 free pre-vaccination health assessments for those who might be worried whether they are fit for the vaccine. Nursing homes which have at least half of the staff vaccinated can also participate. Those who qualify can register on the TESA website from 9pm tonight. TESA also hopes to encourage more elderly people to get the vaccine. Speaking at a press conference today, Mr. Kenneth Chan Chi Yuk, chairman of TESA, said the current process of getting the Covid vaccine is not convenient for many elderly people. "For example, the queues are very long at some vaccination sites, which is inconvenient for wheelchair-bound people," Mr. Chan said. "We hope the government can provide special help at the vaccination centres for the elderly, arrange vaccination at nursing homes or provide door-to-door vaccine services in the community," he added. He also suggested that public hospitals and clinics can provide vaccination and he urged the authorities to discuss how to deploy its manpower in order to do so. Government figures show that so far, less than 20% of people aged 60 years and above in Hong Kong have been vaccinated. As of the end of May, only 9368 members of nursing home staff had received at least one dose of the vaccine. That’s about 23 percent of the total number of nursing home staff in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong to ban plastic tableware at restaurants from 2025
- 2021-07-12
- Health & Environment
- The Young Reporter
- By: WANG Jingyan 王婧言Edited by: Editor
- 2021-07-12
The Hong Kong government planned to ban all types of disposable plastic tableware at restaurants from 2025, according to an announcement made on Friday. The city’s Environment Protection Department, which is seeking public opinion on the proposal during the next two months, said parts of plastic cutlery often packaged in take-away services would also be banned. A consultation paper, released by the government on Friday, proposed to ban the local sale of disposable expanded polystyrene (EPS) utensils and discontinue their use at restaurants within four years. Wong Kam-sing, Secretary for the Environment of the HKSAR Government, wrote in the consultation paper that, “ practising ‘plastic-free’ at the source is the most fundamental way to achieve ‘waste free seas’.” “Countless waste plastics enter the natural environment, including the ocean, each year,” he wrote in the document. “They will eventually be fragmented into microplastics and enter the human food chain.” The department also suggested regulating the use of non-EPS plastic tableware for dine-in and take-away services in phases. The first stage was to ban all types of disposable tableware offered to dine-in customers at restaurants, with disposable cutlery, such as straws, knives and forks, banned in take-away food and beverage services. Take-away services would be regulated the same as dine-in services in the second stage, according to the statement. Chung Wai-yi, the owner of a ramen restaurant, said they were using recyclable plastic chopsticks and plastic food containers for take-away services. She supported the ban on disposable plastic tableware. “I always support the environmentally friendly promotion in Hong Kong, but this time, I hope the government can make it a reality rather than just talking,” she said. She expected the government to make laws and regulations on plastic use in the catering industry to ensure fair competition, and also find good substitutes …
University LGBTQ groups in China “muted” following social media account closures
- 2021-07-09
- Society
- The Young Reporter
- By: WANG Jingyan 王婧言Edited by: Editor
- 2021-07-09
With no warning and little objection, more than 10 social media accounts for university LGBTQ groups in mainland China were shut down on July 6, according to members of the LGBTQ community in China. Posts and content published on the WeChat accounts, including WDH Purple from Tsinghua University, ColorsWorld from Peking University, and Zhi Heshe from Fudan University, were removed, according to members of those accounts. All of the account names were changed to “unnamed official account” by Tuesday evening. The closure of the accounts may have been connected to a student protest at Wuhan University in April 2021, according to the founder of an NGO in Wuhan that focuses on LGBTQ issues. The protest, in support of feminist issues in China, may have crossed the government’s “red line,” the person, who wished not to be identified by name, had written in a recent WeChat discussion with Cheung Kam-hung, a Hong Kong LGBTQ activist. During the protest, Chinese feminist activists, who are accused by the Chinese government of having been influenced or helped by foreign politicians, were mentioned. The activist wrote that, following the university protest at Wuhan University, the Chinese government probably began to collect information about the social media accounts belonging to the university LGBTQ groups. These digital social media accounts, mostly organised by student communities and teachers, were often used to share stories and research about LGBTQ groups. A message on the main page of the closed accounts stated, “(WeChat) received relevant complaints that (the account) violates The Internet User Public Account Information Service Management Regulation. All the content in the account has been blocked and usage of the account was stopped.” RucSGS, an organization at Renmin University of China advocating discussion on gender issues, said it was affected. The …
Think tank calls for land supply to double
- 2021-07-08
- The Young Reporter
- By: YANG ZhenfeiEdited by: Jenny Lam
- 2021-07-08
Local think tank, Our Hong Kong Foundation (OHKF) estimates that the land supply currently planned by the government is only half of what’s needed to satisfy housing demand over the next 30 years. The Foundation released a report today titled Building a Global City of the Future— Envisioning Sustainable Urbanisation of the New Territories. Speaking at a press conference organised by the Foundation, Richard Wong, a professor in Political Economy at the University of Hong Kong, said Hong Kong is bogged down by the “triple lows”, that is spade-ready land supply, housing completions, and quality of living reflected by the shrinking average size of new housing units. “If no resolute action is taken promptly, the society will continue to bear the poor living environment with great despair,” Prof Wong warned According to the report, it is estimated that at least 9000 hectares of land will be needed in the next 30 years. However, taking into account the Lantau Tomorrow Vision , and the two ongoing New Development Areas (NDAs), namely Hung Shui Kiu and Kwu Tung North / Fanling North , the land supply of 5080 hectares currently planned by the government is only half of what’s needed. Apart from reclamation, the report suggests that large-scale development in the New Territories is the only way to create more land. Mr Ryan Ip, the Head of Land and Housing Research of OHKF, considered the New Territories to have huge development potential. “For example, the New Territories can provide development space for industries that cannot afford the soaring rent in the core business district, making Hong Kong's economy more diversified. Moreover, with its superior position adjacent to the Greater Bay Area, Hong Kong can further strengthen its advantages in connecting the mainland and the world market, ” Mr Ip said. The OHKF …
Discount scheme will benefit all diners, not just those having supper
- 2021-07-07
- Society
- The Young Reporter
- By: Jayde CheungEdited by: C.K. Lau
- 2021-07-07
A scheme by which 500 restaurants will offer a 30% discount for dinner from July 15 and a 20% discount in August will be expanded to cover lunch and other meals as well. The Dining Discount Bonanza scheme was earlier launched by the catering industry to encourage people to spend the $5,000 electronic consumption voucher they each get from the government on meals. As originally conceived, participating restaurants will offer a 30% discount to dinner customers between July 15 and July 31, and a 20% discount in August. Speaking at a press conference yesterday, Mr Tommy Cheung Yu-yan, the Legislative Councillor who represents the catering constituency, said the restaurants would be allowed to implement the scheme flexibly by offering the discounts not just for dinner, but also other meals, as they wished. Mr Cheung said the scheme would have no strict rules because the restaurants should handle the personal needs of the diners generously. Organised by eight catering associations, the scheme has drawn support from more than 500 restaurants serving different cuisines. Participating restaurants used to be confined by strict rules and regulations, and the discounts were applicable to four vaccinated diners sitting at one table. However, the website of Dining Discount Bonanza now says that individual merchants are allowed to “change the information and offers they provide without prior notice”. “We have no right or the ability to monitor the implementation of the scheme, and so we don’t have to,” Mr Cheung said. “We expect that HK$15 billion to HK$20 billion could be spent on the catering industry, among the HK$35 billion dollars (worth of electronic consumption vouchers) offered by the government.” Mr Cheung, who is also a member of the Executive Council and chairman of the Liberal Party, said he appreciated the contributions of participating restaurants, as it …