TOP STORIES
Art Basel 2021 returns to Hong Kong
- 2021-05-25
- Culture & Leisure
- The Young Reporter
- By: WANG Jingyan 王婧言、WANG YichunEdited by: WANG Yichun、WANG Jingyan 王婧言
- 2021-05-25
Art Basel 2021 has returned to Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center after a one-year suspension. With a shrinking physical exhibition scale this year due to the Covid-19, the exhibition features 104 galleries from 23 countries, adding more local and Asian artists’ works. Have a tour with The Young Reporter on Art Basel! Reported by Ayra Wang Jingyan and Kitty Wang Yichun Edited by Ayra Wang Jingyan and Kitty Wang Yichun
Parents Happy to See Schools Return to Full Capacity
- 2021-05-24
- Society
- The Young Reporter
- By: REN Ziyi DavidEdited by: Robin Ewing
- 2021-05-24
All local schools and kindergartens returned to face-to-face teaching today for the first time in six months after the relaxation of Covid pandemic restrictions. Classes are at full capacity on a half-day basis. “I am happy to have my kid back to school,” said Manto Hong, a 43 year-old father with a daughter at a primary school in Kowloon Tong. Mr Hong said he wishes the schools could be allowed to open up longer. “She will be able to meet more friends,” he said. “Learning in the classroom might be more effective.” Kelley Mang, a 42 year-old mother with two daughters studying in a primary school in Kowloon Tong, said full-time school might not be a good idea right now since the vaccination rate is too low. “It is good to send my kids back to school,” she said. “I am still a little bit worried about the close contact problem.” The Hong Kong government is considering expanding vaccine eligibility, following the US decision last week to open up Pfizer-BioNtech shots to age 12 and up. The number of fully vaccinated Hongkongers is close to 900,000, or 12% of the population.
HKBU Students Worry University to Follow CUHK and HKU in Requiring Vaccination for Hall Residents
- 2021-05-21
- The Young Reporter
- By: REN Ziyi DavidEdited by: Robin Ewing
- 2021-05-21
Hong Kong Baptist University students are concerned the school will follow the Chinese University of Hong Kong, The University of Hong Kong and Lingnan University in requiring vaccinations for hall residents. Many HKBU students are opposed to the policy and cautious about the vaccines. “I don’t agree with the compulsory vaccination for residents since it is a personal right for everyone to choose whether to get jabs or not. I would rather give up living in the hall if my university requires me to do so,” said Kwok Yuk-kit, 21, an HKBU business student who lives in the hall. “I am against such policy. Living in halls and attending universities are free for students to choose. Right now getting vaccinated is not necessary in Hong Kong, the infected case is very stable. I have lived in the hall since the outbreak of the pandemic, but I am still healthy and safe. Meanwhile, no hall resident is reported infected,” said Emily Ling, 22, a business student and hall tutor. The University of Science and Technology will require vaccinations or testing of all students and staff, not just hall residents. “As for (universities) requiring residents to get jabs, it is even more unreasonable. But if the hall could test each resident before check-in, that would be more acceptable,”said Li King-sang, 23, a business student at HKBU. HKBU saw 15 covid-19 cases on campus since September, in some cases causing classmates to be sent to government quarantine centres. “Getting all the residents vaccinated is not going to largely enhance our protection against the virus. The pandemic has been more than a year now, but no infection case is discovered in the hall,” said Ms Li. Vaccination rates remain low in Hong Kong. The government extended vaccine eligibility for the BioNtech vaccine to …
Poly University Makes Contribution to China’s First Mars Landing
- 2021-05-21
- The Young Reporter
- By: REN Ziyi DavidEdited by: Robin Ewing
- 2021-05-21
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University analysed the topography of the landing area and provided the Mars Landing Surveillance Camera for China's Tianwen-1 Mars exploration mission, two professors said in a press conference today. “We evaluated the elevation and the slope of the selected landing area,” Bo Wu, the Associate Head of the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Information, said at the press conference. His team used AI-based deep learning to extract and analyze the density of craters and rocks. “Two million rocks and 670,000 craters were picked for density analysis,” he said, “to guarantee the safety of landing.” Chair Professor of Precision K.L. Yung said he designed the surveillance camera to ensure the landing is smooth. The camera, which weighs 390 grammes, can bear an impact of 6,200g and work under -70 degrees celsius, he said. “The temperature on Mars is low, which has different requirements on the camera compared to the normal ones,” said Prof Yung. He said he had to guarantee that the quality of pictures captured by the surveillance camera remains high regardless of the environment, which is challenging. “The biggest difficulty is that we don’t have our own data like the US or Europe, and the time is tight,” Prof Wu said. “We only have one and a half months to analyze the images sent from Beijing.”
Hospital Authority: Vaccines Prevent COVID Variations; Recovered Only Need One Jab
- 2021-05-20
- Health & Environment
- The Young Reporter
- By: REN Ziyi DavidEdited by: Robin Ewing
- 2021-05-20
Both BioNTech and CoronaVac vaccines reduce the risk of infection from the British and South African variants, though the effectiveness is lower, the Hospital Authority said at a press conference today. The efficacy of BioNTech against the British variant is 89.5% while the one against the South African counterpart is 75%, according to Qatar research. CoronaVac, the Chinese-made vaccine also known as Sinovac, which is around 50% effective according to some tests in Brazil, is only 30% effective against the South African virus variant, said Dr Owen Tsang, the Medical Director of the Hospital Authority Infectious Disease Centre. “Sinovac is just so-so in dealing with the South African virus,” he said, “but getting vaccinated would definitely be protective.” No data is currently available to show the effectiveness of the vaccines against the Indian variant, which has been discovered in more than 17 countries. “Since the variant is relatively new, many clinical manifestations are not clear,” said Dr Tsang. Dr Tsang also said that natural infection could prevent reinfection at 84%. Symptoms after reinfection, such as feeling tired and breathing with difficulties, are much lighter compared to the first infection. “Those who have been infected only need one shot for further protection,” he said, “and I believe even one shot could protect most people from being infected.” Hong Kong had the first reinfection case in the world in August. The 33-year-old man was infected early in March and tested positive again after staying in Spain for a week. He recovered in five days.
Trip.com returns to profit in Q1 as China’s domestic travel recovers from pandemic
- 2021-05-19
- The Young Reporter
- By: WANG Jingyan 王婧言Edited by: Alison Leung
- 2021-05-19
Chinese travel service provider Trip.com Group Ltd (TCOM, 9961) posted net profit attributable to shareholders of 1.8 billion yuan in the first quarter of 2021, reversing net loss of 5.4 billion yuan the same period a year ago, as domestic travel rebounded strongly from the impact of Coronavirus pandemic. Excluding share-based compensation charges and fair value changes of equity securities investments and exchangeable senior notes, non-GAAP net loss attributable to shareholders for the three-month period narrowed to 204 million yuan, from non-GAAP net loss of 2.2 billion yuan the previous year, it said in a statement. Trip.com, which provides one-stop travel services, including accommodation reservation, transportation ticketing, packaged tours and corporate travel management, said revenue decreased 13% year-on-year in the first quarter to 4.1 billion yuan as the strong growth of domestic travel service in mainland China was partially offset by the reduction of cross-border travel affected by COVID-19. “Long-distance travel in mainland China has fully recovered, and short-distance travel has shown a continuing growth trajectory,” said Sun Jie, Chief Executive Officer of Trip.com Group, in the conference call on Wednesday. However, net revenue was down 17% quarter-on-quarter as cross-border travel suffered heavily from travel restrictions. The re-emerged COVID-19 infections during the Chinese New Year this year also affected the company’s performance in January and February. Accommodation reservation revenue for the quarter increased 37% year-on-year to 1.6 billion yuan and transportation ticketing revenue also increased 37% year-on-year to 1.5 billion yuan. But on a quarter-on-quarter basis, the revenue of the two services decreased 30% and 11%, respectively, due to the travel restrictions introduced by the Chinese government at the beginning of 2021. “We will continue to see Trip.com Group transform from solely purchasing platforms to hubs of travel inspiration postings the best travel deals,” said Liang Jianzhang, Executive chairman of …
Hong Kong’s Bishop-elect promises to listen to young people
- 2021-05-18
- The Young Reporter
- By: Hamish CHANEdited by: Jenny Lam、Robin Ewing
- 2021-05-18
Hong Kong’s newly appointed bishop said in a press conference at the Catholic Diocese Centre today that he will listen to young people with empathy, but he has “no working plan” on how to do so.“ Young people are not homogenous and their views of Hong Kong are not homogenous. We need to understand them, discuss with them, not to debate but to have a dialogue,” Stephen Chow said. Bishop-elect Chow, 62, was appointed by the Vatican on Monday. The position has been vacant for two years since the death of Bishop Michael Yeung Ming-cheung in January 2019. As a religious leader, Fr Chow said he is going to help people who have been neglected by society. “Unity is not the same as uniformity. Unity is plurality and we need to respect plurality,” said Fr Chow. “Empathy means understanding other people’s opinion. You do not have to agree, but understanding is already a good start,” he said. “It is better to communicate in a small group rather than communicate in a lecture hall.” “It is vital to allow space for thinking. Students cannot grow without it,” said Fr Chow, who has been the Supervisor of Wah Yan College since 2007. Fr Chow said he did not know whether the Vatican consulted Beijing before his nomination. The China-Vatican Agreement gives China the right to appoint bishops but at the same time, recognises the Pope as the head of the Catholic Church. The 2018 Agreement was extended last year. Fr Chow has joined the commemoration of the June 4th Tiananmen Square crackdown at Victoria Park in the past. He said commemoration can be done in “different ways”. “I will pray for China, ” said Fr Chow. Whether or not he will join any public gathering this year depends if it is legal …
Hong Kong Disneyland Suffers Record Net Loss of HK$2.7 Billion in Fiscal 2020
- 2021-05-17
- Business
- The Young Reporter
- By: REN Ziyi DavidEdited by: Alison Leung
- 2021-05-17
Hong Kong Disneyland Resort reported on Monday a record net loss of HK$2.7 billion in fiscal year 2020 ending September 30, dragged by a plunge in non-local tourists during the coronavirus pandemic. The theme park had remained closed until February, 2021, which took up 60% of the fiscal year. Even the local guest reaction has been positive since reopening, the income cannot cover the high operation costs. Hong Kong Disneyland Managing Director Michael Moriarty said that the pandemic “is unpredictable” and their business strategy now focuses more on the local market. Park attendance was only 1.7 million during the reported period, a drop of 73 percent compared to prior year. Per capita spending dropped 18%, while the average hotel occupancy declined by 59 percentage points to only 15%, it said in a statement. Hong Kong Disneyland celebrated its 15th anniversary in November last year while the park only had 3 years in net profit since 2005. The net loss is the worst-ever on record and compared with a loss of HK$105 million a year ago. In order to reduce cost, Disneyland adjusted operation days to only 5 days per week and about 4000 employees have been on unpaid leave since September, 2020.
Consumer Council Finds Children’s Art Supplies Pose Safety Risks
- 2021-05-17
- Society
- The Young Reporter
- By: Hamish CHANEdited by: Robin Ewing
- 2021-05-17
More than half of the children’s crayons and fingerpaints tested were found to release toxic metals, the Consumer Council said in a press conference today. “Although there is no immediate risk, potential long term diseases may appear,” Nora Tam Fung-yee, Chairman of the Research and Testing Committee of the Consumer Council, said in the press conference. The Consumer Council tested 12 models of crayons and seven models of fingerpaints. The blue crayon from Swiss company Caran d'Ache’s “Hobby Line 1/2 watersoluble wax pastel” had the highest amount of aluminium, exceeding the EU Toy Safety Directive limit by almost five times. “Blue and black crayons contain the most harmful elements as black coal is one of the raw materials,” said Prof. Tam in the press conference. Children’s paints in Hong Kong must comply with one of four standards, including the EU standard used in the test, according to the Hong Kong Toys and Children's Products Safety Ordinance. Over half of the tested fingerpaints failed to comply with the EU Toy Safety Directive which requires children’s paints to taste bitter so they won’t be eaten. Fingerpaints produced by Spanish companies Jovi and Jar Meló, Korean company Mungyo and US company Crayola did not contain embittering agents at the EU standard, according to the Council. The council said parents should read package instructions and select paints based on the child's age. Parents should also consider purchasing crayons with a plastic barrel to reduce risk for ingesting harmful substances and be sure children clean their hands after use. Caran d'Ache responded to the council that the product involved stopped production in 2013 and had complied with the EU standard then. New products comply with the latest standard, said the company. Jar Meló and Mungyo responded to the council that they had added embittering agents …
Mainland man jailed for more than six years for stabbing Hong Kong protester
- 2021-05-14
- The Young Reporter
- By: KOO Chi Tung 顧知桐Edited by: Editor
- 2021-05-14
A mainland Chinese man was sentenced to six years and four months imprisonment in a Hong Kong court today for wounding with intent a young protestor who was distributing leaflets in Tai Po during the anti-extradition bill movement in 2019. Liu Guosheng, a 24-year-old cook, slashed the neck and stabbed the abdomen of a 19-year-old student in a pedestrian tunnel near the Tai Po Market MTR station on Oct. 19, 2019. Judge Andrew Chan Hing-wai said the attack was premeditated as the defendant purchased a fruit knife a day before the incident despite the victim being randomly chosen. He added the defendant was persistent in his attack and his intention was to kill the victim. He also said the injuries of the victim were serious and far-reaching, including physical pain for a long period of time and psychological impact, which was the most difficult to treat. “The life of a very young man has been ruined,” the judge said. He described the case as “one of the senseless episodes” during the protest in 2019. The judge said the use of violence did not and would not resolve any political differences. He said six months remission was given to the defendant for his voluntary surrender.