The Young Reporter
Elderly Hong Kong caregivers bear crushing load amid service gaps
- 2026-03-12
- Society
- The Young Reporter
- By: SIU Tsz Hang、CHENG Tsz Sen SeanEdited by: CHAN Hiu Ying
- 2026-03-12
In a cramped public housing flat in Wong Tai Sin, Li Yuet-siu, 74, spends almost every hour of her day caring for her 89-year-old husband, who has been bedridden since he broke bones in both hips and legs in 2018. He can still stand and walk a few steps with a cane, but only as far as the toilet, clinging to furniture and walls for support. After the accident, Li said her husband was hospitalised and moved into two different government-funded care homes. But he repeatedly shouted and begged to go home, making it impossible for carers to help him. Since he has moved home, every need – from getting out of bed to going to the bathroom – has rested on Li’s shoulders. “Every day, I help him eat, wash and use the toilet. He refuses to wear adult diapers, saying they’re too hot and uncomfortable, so I have to wake up at midnight when he needs to urinate,” Li said, adding that her husband sometimes gets up by himself but falls. “Lifting him hurts my back badly, but if I drop him, it’s worse... Once when he fell, I couldn’t lift him, so I called the ambulance service. The staff said moving him could dislocate bones or injure him further, but I had no choice. I had no training and no one to help,” she said. Hong Kong’s rapidly aging population is straining family caregivers, many of whom are elderly themselves and face chronic exhaustion, injuries and emotional turmoil without adequate support. An expert estimates there are around 180,000 elderly caregivers in Hong Kong. According to the Census and Statistics Department, the number of elderly persons aged 65 and over is projected to nearly double over a 25-year period, from 1.45 million in 2021 to 2.74 million in …
Long queues for special child care centres: what does over a year’s wait mean for families?
- 2026-03-11
- Society
- The Young Reporter
- By: SHI Puxuan Amy、MA Yifan ChloeEdited by: QIN Ziyang
- 2026-03-11
In a sunlit activity room of the Cheung Sha Wan Special Child Care Centre, young children are drawing with a therapist’s help. Nearby, another repeats words prompted by a speech therapist. These simple moments are government-subsidised intensive rehabilitation training for children with disabilities. Cherry Lee, 41, waited nearly two years for her daughter with moderate autism to access such a facility and receive intensive training. “It would have been better if my daughter could have entered the centre sooner,” she said. “At the very least, she could have had an earlier opportunity to develop essential self-care skills.” Hong Kong’s 52 government-funded Special Child Care Centres provide full-day centre-based care and cognitive training, speech, occupational and physiotherapy programmes for children with moderate to severe disabilities aged 2 to 6 before they enter primary school. Lee’s two-year wait is far from an isolated case. According to the Social Welfare Department, the average waiting time for the centres is 19.1 months in 2024. Experts and NGOs say that this wait means a delay in development for special needs children, while families are burdened with extra costs and stress in taking care of children. The government added 64 centre quotas for a total of 2,580 places in 2025, with 513 children on the waiting list, according to the Social Welfare Department. “The supply of places cannot keep up with the speed of increasing demand; it is not enough for those special needs children,” a representative from Hong Chi Association, an NGO operating three Special Child Care Centres, confirmed. “This is the core reason for the long wait.” Lee’s daughter, Sakina Muk, was placed in a centre run by NGO Heep Hong Society when she was 5 in August 2025, meaning she only has about a year she can use the service. “Even with early …
Brisbane turns pink as 25,000 run for International Women’s Day
- 2026-03-09
- The Young Reporter
- By: CHAU Wing YauEdited by: LAU Ka Yan
- 2026-03-09
About 25,000 enthusiasts took part in Brisbane’s International Women’s Day Fun Run on Sunday. Now in its 35th year, the event marked a record-breaking milestone, raising over AUD$2 million (HKD$11 million) for breast cancer services and research. The five-kilometre course ran from South Bank Vulture Street to the City Botanic Garden between 6:15am and 7:50am, with participants wearing event-issued pink shirts. According to the Breast Cancer Trials, around 20,440 Australians are expected to be diagnosed with breast cancer this year. Among women aged 40 to 49, the incidence rate has climbed from 76.6 to 81.1 per 100,000 between 2000 and 2025. Follow the link below to watch the full reel: https://youtube.com/shorts/zVa56j68WDw?si=UbSasl1cjeBTxBqz
Back or stay? Balancing Mainland student integration and Hong Kong’s education policy
- 2026-03-09
- Society
- The Young Reporter
- By: LIU Rui Reena、PENG Yixin NaomiEdited by: YANG Shuyi
- 2026-03-09
Last September, the 14-year-old Wang Yuqi moved from Beijing to Hong Kong to study in Hong Kong, hoping a new environment would offer a gentler and more balanced approach than the mainland’s exam-driven system. But her stint in the city only lasted two months before Wang returned to Beijing, citing her inability to cope with classes being taught in Cantonese at her Pui Kiu Middle School. Something similar happened to the 13-year-old Zhao Ziheng, a top math student from Wuhan who ranked last in his class at Tseung Kwan O’s Heung To Middle School after struggling for six-months with English as the medium of instruction. As Hong Kong strives to position itself as an international education hub, experts criticize the government and local schools for failing to provide adequate transitional support. This affects retaining mainland students arriving in large batches with parents under the Top Talent Pass Scheme amid other pathways. While non-government organizations offer limited Cantonese help, it remains poorly marketed. Wang arrived with her publisher father under the Top Talent Pass Scheme. She couldn’t fathom how the lack of Cantonese would paralyze her daily life. Since 2022, the scheme has allowed high earners and top university graduates worldwide to bring their children under 18 to live and study in Hong Kong. As of February 2025, a total of 131,818 such children had arrived. Wang’s first lesson at Pui Kiu Middle School was Chinese history, taught mostly in Cantonese. “By the end of the class, the teacher asked if we could all understand what was delivered in class, and if anyone didn’t understand Cantonese. I raised my hand, but I was the only one,” Wang said. Her teacher offered her some tutorials during lunch hours, in Putonghua. Similar help was also available by appointment for other subjects. Still, the …
Inside Myanmar’s tightened passport system
- 2026-03-08
- Society
- The Young Reporter
- By: LI Yuzhou Asher、Pann Hnin Nay Chi PannEdited by: ZHENG Xinyi
- 2026-03-08
In early 2023, 28-year-old Scarlett, not her real name, queued up to enter Thailand at the Thai-Myanmar border, clutching her passport as she waited for her turn at the checkpoint. This was not for studying abroad, but an escape for survival. She feared that staying longer would permanently strip her of the possibility of leaving legally. “If my passport were scanned at the airport, I am afraid that it would be flagged,” said Scarlett. “That’s why I chose to leave from the Thai-Myanmar border,” she said, referring to its less stringent procedures. When she stepped up to the counter, the officer flipped through her red passport and looked at her briefly. “Okay, next,” said the immigration officer. He waved her through without running the passport through a scanner. Scarlett exited the gate and dared not slow down until she reached Thailand. Since the 2021 military coup, Myanmar’s passport system has increasingly functioned as a tool of exit control rather than merely a document for international travel. According to a 2025 report by the Danish Immigration Service, Myanmar authorities have circulated files of blacklisted people to airports and border checkpoints, allowing immigration officers to identify individuals and bar them from leaving the country with a passport scan. Those barred from leaving include participants in the Civil Disobedience Movement — a nationwide non-violent protest campaign that started in February 2021, in which civil servants went on strike in protest of military rule following the coup. More than 417,000 civil servants had joined the movement, according to an official brief from the National Unity Government of Myanmar. The movement was even nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022. Scarlett was one of them. Before the 2021 movement, she worked as a doctor at a public hospital. After the military seized power, she joined …
Space Museum cancels lunar eclipse viewing due to bad weather
- 2026-03-06
- The Young Reporter
- By: CHEUNG Ka Yi Ann、LIU Rui ReenaEdited by: ZHANG Yiping
- 2026-03-06
A total lunar eclipse — the so-called “blood moon” — was expected to be visible across eastern China on March 3, coinciding with the Chinese Lantern Festival. Due to bad weather, the Hong Kong Space Museum cancelled its total lunar eclipse rooftop viewing and live stream scheduled from 7:15 to 9:30 pm. Many visitors expressed disappointment over the cancellation. Follow the link below to watch the full reel: http://youtube.com/shorts/O5BWAlsmmbA?si=nJnPp04W4o-kn-qf
Shelters and government housing for street sleepers don’t meet needs, experts say
- 2026-03-04
- Society
- The Young Reporter
- By: LI Jinyang Carlos、ZHANG Jiahe RoysEdited by: CHEN Ziyu
- 2026-03-04
At night, Wong Hiu-fan, a 46-year-old former street sleeper, returns to her temporary home at the Jockey Club Hostel in Lok Fu, a single bed in a dormitory room she shares with other women. She stores her personal belongings in a small locker she has a key for. For her, it is a warm harbour and a place to restart her life after a period she described as “full of worries". Wong became a street sleeper six months ago -- after losing her job at a temple -- which she had relied on for income, meals and accommodation. After sleeping on the street for a while, Wong moved into the temporary shelter in Lok Fu. According to the Labour and Welfare Bureau, Wong was one of around 750 street sleepers in Hong Kong last year. To get off the street, many look for places in temporary shelters funded by the Social Welfare Department or NGO-funded hostels like this one in Lok Fu. Those who are eligible and lucky can move into government transitional housing units. The Lok Fu hostel where Wong lives in is a shelter managed by the NGO Neighbourhood Advice-Action Council that provides six-month accommodation, including 16 beds for men and 26 for women for street sleepers and needy persons with a monthly rent of HK$2,000. Residents facing significant financial difficulties can apply for rent reduction. It is now fully occupied. Law Sze-ha, 35, a hostel supervisor of Lok Fu, said the hostel does not have enough beds to meet demand. While many residents wish to stay longer than the maximum six months allowed, the hostel must accommodate new applicants waiting for a spot. “A stable place to live is the foundation for starting a new life. We offer guidance and information to our residents for applying to …
Budget 2026: Paul Chan addresses concerns in press conference
- 2026-02-26
- The Young Reporter
- By: ZHENG WU Anny、SIU Tsz HangEdited by: SIU Tsz Hang
- 2026-02-26
Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po announced the 2026 Budget Plan on Feb. 25. During a press conference, Chan and the permanent secretary for the Financial Services and the Treasury Andrew Lai Chi-wah, responded to concerns over the newborn baby schemes, absence of consumption vouchers, civil servants’ pay review, and policies on the MPF and Exchange Fund.
Budget 2026: Budget fails to meet grassroots housing needs, NGO says
- 2026-02-25
- The Young Reporter
- By: YAM Long Hei Jamie、Man Cheok Lam Lorraine、LI Cin Hang OliviaEdited by: YAM Long Hei Jamie
- 2026-02-25
Low-income tenants criticised the Hong Kong budget for failing to address grassroots' housing needs. This came after a joint-press conference by seven non-governmental organisations for grassroots' livelihood on Wednesday. The latest budget speech did not include new measures to support low-income earners struggling with the city’s surging rental costs. Chloe Au, a member of Concerning Grassroots Housing Rights Alliance, said there should be more housing subsidies to help subdivided flat tenants who are facing mass eviction in light of the Basic Housing Units Ordinance. The law is set to come into effect in March which will require landlords to upgrade conditions of the city’s subdivided flats by 2030. According to government estimates, there are about 33,000 subdivided flats that failed to meet government’s minimum condition requirements. The concern group also called for the reintroduction of monthly cash allowance, an amount ranging from HK$1,300 to HK$3,900, for those who are still waiting for public housing. The average waiting time for Hong Kong’s public housing unit rose to 5.6 years last year, according to the Housing Bureau. Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said in his budget speech on Wednesday that the government would finish building an additional 196,000 public housing units in the next five years. Chan reiterated the government’s target to finish building another 30,000 light public housing units by March 2028. Light public housing units are essentially modular integrated construction units that were built in factories and assembled on-site which are quicker to build to solve Hong Kong’s pressing housing shortage. Commenting on this year’s budget measures, Au also said it did not address grassroots housing needs as private rent prices surged by 4% last year. “More subdivided flat tenants are becoming homeless as landlords are evicting them batches at a time,” said Au, referring to how landlords are clearing …
Budget 2026: HK$50 million for Hongkongers to receive AI training
- 2026-02-25
- Society
- The Young Reporter
- By: LI Yuzhou AsherEdited by: FENG Zhenpeng
- 2026-02-25
Hong Kong government will provide HK$50 million to invite public organizations to hold AI training courses for residents. The government will also provide HK$2 billion to improve AI education in primary, secondary schools, and universities, said Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po in the budget plan on Wednesday. “While AI is advancing at a rapid pace, both students and teachers lack a basic understanding of it and the ability to apply it in practice; fewer than one in ten people have a grasp of it,” said Simon Wang, 48, a lecturer at Hong Kong Baptist University computer assisted language learning department. According to data research by Google, of the 4,446 US employees surveyed, only 40% of them have adopted AI in their work, and 5% are AI fluent. In the budget, Chan said public universities will launch 27 undergraduate courses that relate to AI. “HKBU has launched AI and Data Science as a new second major, and the computer science major includes Applied AI as a core course. Computer Science Department holds a supportive attitude to the application of AI in university education,” said Byron Choi Koon Kau, a professor from the Hong Kong Baptist University Computer Science Department. “Most professors still have a low acceptance of AI. Some assignments that could have been completed better with AI are not allowed to be used. It is necessary to fully implement AI training and education,” Wang said. In response to the budget plan for AI training, the Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers said, "We suggest that the government provide more systematic teachers’ AI training programs and add special subsidies to support all teachers in Hong Kong to take AI courses." According to Wen Hui Net, at the beginning of this month, the Education Bureau provided over 70,000 systematic AI training opportunities …