The Young Reporter

Melody Yin is typing the title of her work in the search box, but the first post that popped up was not hers. “I’m actually not upset at all,” said Ms Yin in one of the videos she posted talking about copyright. “Copying is so prevalent in we-media. I’ve found my post being copied twice.” “In fact, that’s much less than  other bloggers who have more followers,” she said. The 27-year-old part-time blogger has been publishing articles online since 2020, mainly focusing on self-development and daily life sharing. She has 14,000 followers on RED, or Xiaohongshu, meaning “Little Red Book”. She filed a complaint to the platform and the copycat post was removed. “That’s it. The platform did nothing else to protect the content makers’ copyright,” she said. Founded in 2013, Xiaohongshu has since gained popularity in the mainland and Hong Kong. The platform mainly features beauty and lifestyle content, as well as e-commerce. Today there are more than 12 million monthly active users, according to data platform iiMedia. It is not uncommon to see content makers like Ms Yin facing copyright infringement issues in China. But many are unhappy with the limited measures to punish and prevent future copyright tort. With COVID-19 lingering and people spending more time online, the competition among text or short video content makers to stand out is intensifying and copyright infringement. “When I’m watching Douyin, I often feel like I might have watched that piece before, or at least watched a similar one,” said university student,  Henry Wang Yun. Douyin is a popular short video platform, the Chinese version of TikTok. “There are so many posts with similar content. You can find copied versions even across different social media platforms,” Mr Wang said. Copyright refers to the owner’s “exclusive right to use the work”, …

Tap & Go, an e-payment service provider, became the first operator to announce details on the usage of the government’s HK$5000 consumption voucher set to launch this summer to boost the city’s economic activities which have been devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The government announced earlier this month that it has picked four stored Value Facility (SVF) operators to assist the implementation of its consumption voucher scheme. The selected SVFs are AlipayHK, Octopus, Tap & Go and WeChat Pay HK. Tap & Go, presented by Hong Kong Telecom (HKT) Payment Limited, is the only SVFs providing a physical debit card and it said eligible users could use it to receive the government’s consumption vouchers. “I usually shop at supermarkets, I could pay by using Tap & Go because it supports Visa and UnionPay, which is quite convenient,” said Ms Fung Ka-wai, 22, a current Tap & Go user. “There’s less options (SVFs), I have to follow the government’s regulations if I want to get these consumption vouchers,” she added. In Tap & Go mobile app, there is a separate interface for users to pay by using vouchers. Tap & Go would be provided with different payment methods through the app, for example Mastercard, UnionPay or Fast Payment System (FPS). New merchants who subscribe to HKT’s smart point of sales (POS) service could enjoy free terminal rental and no transaction fee will be charged for Tap & Go QR code and FPS QR code during consumption vouchers scheme period, HKT also said in its website.     Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said in his 2021-22 Budget speech that electronic consumption vouchers will be disbursed by instalments to each eligible Hong Kong permanent resident and new arrival aged 18 or above, so as to encourage and boost local consumption.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said she hoped more Hong Kong youth would embark on careers in Hainan on Tuesday. In a social media post, the city’s leader said Hainan officials will be thrilled to provide employment and entrepreneurship opportunities for Hongkongers. “I hope to see young people from Hong Kong go to Hainan for internship, employment and entrepreneurship and enjoy the shadow of the coconut trees and the Hainanese chicken rice that Hong Kong people love,” she said after attending the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2021. Mrs Lam’s mention of Hainanese chicken rice went viral on the internet. “Hainanese chicken rice is a Singaporean and Malaysian cuisine. You should apologize to the people of Singapore and Malaysia,” a netizen commented on her post. “Go for it, Mrs Lam! As a special economic zone, Hainan Island is full of opportunities,” another netizen commented. In April 2018, President Xi Jinping announced the entire Hainan Island will be turned into an international free trade port. The massive project is expected to be completed by 2035, with many Chinese netizens saying it is a move believed to replace Hong Kong. “I think Hainan will not replace Hong Kong, because Hong Kong has its uniqueness such as the judicial system. Although this has been continuously weakened in recent years, it is still better than Hainan,” said Jolyn Choi, a student at the University of Hong Kong. “I would not go to Hainan for Hainanese chicken rice as well. Why not go to Singapore?” Ms Choi added. Mrs Lam left Hainan for Guangzhou, where she will attend the meeting of the Leading Group for the Development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area tomorrow.

Lin Tangtang is shaking a box against his ear in a brightly lit toy shop. He is trying to guess from the sound and the weight of the box to see whether the doll inside is the one he wants. “All of my friends are buying blind boxes,” the 21-year-old university student said. “Every time I go out to eat, I will go to the store to buy one or two of the new series of dolls. It’s already a habit of mine.” He has bought over 200 figurines since July 2019, each of them costing 59 yuan (HK$70). A blind box is a type of packaging that keeps its content hidden. The box is identical in every way and nobody--including the store owner--knows which toy is inside.  In recent years, the "blind box craze" has gradually become a phenomenon in China, attracting many young consumers to buy mystery boxes and in order to collect the toys inside.  Pop Mart, the largest company in the Chinese blind box industry, launched a US$674 million (HK$5.2 billion) initial public offering in Hong Kong last year. The driving force behind China's blind box business is pop culture. The market was valued at 29.48 billion yuan (HK$35.38 billion) in 2020, a 44% increase year on year, according to a Chinese data analysis platform iMedia. The products in the blind box mainly just toys with images authorized for production by the original creators.  There are mainly two types of intellectual property (IP) rights for Pop Mart’s blind box toys: existing IP from well-known movies, cartoons, games and historical figures with a story background such as characters from the Harry Potter books. Then there are original IPs designed by artists without story content, such as a popular green-eyed blonde hair pouting lips girl, Molly, designed by …