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There is a paucity of research exploring the use of local facilitators in cross-cultural research in Chinese cultural contexts and the impact this may have on data generation and knowledge creation. Addressing this gap, this paper critically reflects on cross-cultural interviews in Hong Kong. The reflection is centred on the experience of interviewing as an outsider to the culture of the participants and later working alongside an insider. While insider and outsider positionalities are formed from a multitude of intersectional characteristics, both gender and nationality emerged as primary influencers in this context. This paper contributes to the methodologically oriented literature by making salient the complexities of deciphering the multitude of influences originating from the researcher's positionality in relation to research others. Specifically, this paper highlights how both insider and outsider positionalities generate different, but complementary data through the exploration of participant's responses. 'It's a Chinese thing' or comments equating to it's a woman's thing were used by participants to either limit responses or expand and offer additional information, and the juxtaposition of these responses with those given to an insider help to highlight what this might mean for knowledge creation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the impacts of state policies and NGO advocacy on female sex workers' identity and how they manage stigma. Comparing three groups of sex workers – those born and working in mainland China, those born and working in Hong Kong, and those born in mainland China who later migrated to Hong Kong and entered the sex industry – this paper suggests that differences in state policies on prostitution and the different degrees of visibility of NGOs campaigning for sex workers' rights are related to three strategies used by sex workers to construct a positive self-image to counteract the stigma they face: gendered obligation fulfilment, professional work and responsible citizenship. The paper illustrates that stigmatized-identity management involves complex relationships among individual interpretation, selection and mobilization of gender, work and citizenship scripts, which are contingent on structural features of the environment and may change during migration and relocation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies of East Asian welfare regimes focus on similarities between social security schemes. In contrast, this paper explores cross-national variations in public–private pension mixes in six welfare states: China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan. Our research echoes the pension policy analysis of international organisations but takes a step forward with emphasis on the historical and institutional characteristics of the respective pension systems. The analysis identifies three institutional patterns. First, the statist pension system (Taiwan and China) primarily relies on public pensions to provide old-age security, with private pensions playing a rather minor role. Second, in the dualist pension system (Japan and Korea) both public and private pensions work in parallel to ensure retirement income, though a clear security gap exists between workers in the formal and informal economies. Finally, the individualist pension system (Hong Kong and Singapore) is characterised by genuine fully funded individual accounts, emphasising citizens' own responsibilities for ensuring old-age security. These three types of pension systems demonstrate distinct institutional characteristics and policy outcomes, illustrated by the juxtaposition of their institutional structures as well as by the comparison of key indicators collected from government reports and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development statistics. The paper concludes with a theoretical reflection of East Asian pension policies and a diagnosis of the distinct challenges confronted by each of the various pension patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports a phenomenological sub-study of a larger project investigating the way Hong Kong Chinese staff tackled their own ethical dilemmas at work. A special analysis was conducted of eight dilemma cases arising from a request by a boss or superior authority to do something regarded as ethically wrong. In reports of most such cases, staff expressed feelings of contractual or interpersonally based obligation to obey. They sought to save face and preserve harmony in their relationship with authority by choosing between "little potato" obedience, token obedience, and undercover disobedience. Only where no such obligation existed was face in relation to authority unimportant, and open disobedience chosen. In Kohlbergian terms, ethical reasoning at the conventional stages (three and four) predominated in dilemmas of obedience. Findings imply that if corruption were to originate at the top, codes of conduct recently introduced into Hong Kong may be of limited effect in stalling it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a study of the computer essay-scoring program BETSY. While the use of computers in rating written scripts has been criticised in some quarters for lacking transparency or lack of fit with how human raters rate written scripts, a number of essay rating programs are available commercially, many of which claim to offer comparable reliability with human raters. Much of the validation of such programs has focused on native-speaking tertiary-level students writing in subject content areas. Instead of content areas with native-speakers, the data for this study is drawn from a representative sample of scripts from an English as a second language (ESL) Year 11 public examination in Hong Kong. The scripts (900 in total) are taken from a writing test consisting of three topics (300 scripts per topic), each representing a different genre. Results in the study show good correlations between human raters' scores and the program BETSY. A rater discrepancy rate, where scripts need to be re-marked because of disagreement between two raters, emerged at levels broadly comparable with those derived from discrepancies between paired human raters. Little difference was apparent in the ratings of test takers on the three genres. The paper concludes that while computer essay-scoring programs may appear to rate inside a 'black box' with concomitant lack of transparency, they do have potential to act as a third rater, timesaving assessment tool. And as technology develops and rating becomes more transparent, so will their acceptability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hong Kong presents a test case of China's willingness to adapt Western liberal values of individual freedom and the rule of law in a corner of China. The Western model of governance, along with its common law system and capitalist economic system, has been permitted to operate side by side with the Chinese socialist system within the framework of Chinese sovereignty and the People's Republic of China's (PRC) political and legal system. The formation and implementation of the policy of 'one country, two systems' (OCTS) entail Chinese law-makers' selective integration of international and Western rules of governance into the Hong Kong and China context to serve the interests of the PRC party regime. This article explores the approaches taken by the PRC to the governance of Hong Kong in light of the regime's political and economic goals and how the Western concept of rule of law and autonomy is perceived and substantiated in terms of the communist ideology. The author argues that the intrinsic value of OCTS lies in seeking complementarity and coexistence between the Western liberal norms of governance and Chinese communist ideology, and that this intrinsic value should be upheld and remain in full force to serve as a normative consensus between China and the West. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper adds to a relatively new line of research investigating inadvertent transformations of urban colonial space generated by collective trauma. To the now classic iterative, and racial dynamics of Neild's ‘accommodation’ in the development of Madras,1 and of Yeoh's ‘contesting’ of the built environment in Singapore2—specifically in the tugging and pulling between local and colonial influences within the spatial discourse of colonial port cities—needs to be added that of single or multiple-event collective trauma. Such trauma, perceived as brought upon by unexpected external causes, might consolidate, perhaps accelerate, or even sever a previous sequence of spatial negotiation, particularly if that sequence was politically vulnerable or immature. The paper is a focused account of such an occurrence: the small-scale yet intensely traumatic events of Hong Kong Island while still in its colonial infancy in 1843, the year of the ‘Hongkong Fever’. It argues that a new conception of malaria—considered then a miasma—now linked both to location and construction, led to the first reactive, yet decisive, reconfiguring of a previously improvised urban colonization process, consequently salvaging Hong Kong's position within a wider imperial context. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Ever since its sovereignty reverted to China, Hong Kong has been torn between its national (in terms of China and its ‘soft’ power) and global status (as ‘Asia's World City’). In this special context, Hong Kong's singular, ambiguous but prolific existence ceased. This paper endeavours to map ‘Cantopop’ (Chinese popular songs) on the new media landscape and examine its decline in the context of the rise and fall of cover versions. Cantopop was once very popular, not only in Hong Kong but also in its neighbouring regions. Its rise in the 1970s was a result of its typical hybridity, an important aspect of which was influenced by the use of cover versions that changed its soundscape. In the mid-1990s, the Cantopop market started to shrink significantly. A radio campaign for localisation advocated the release of original songs aimed at enhancing the development of Cantopop, but in the end proved to have the opposite effect. In the new millennium, ‘Mandapop’ (Mandarin popular songs) has taken on the role as the trend setter of the Chinese popular music industry. We argue in this paper that Cantopop's decline is the result of Hong Kong's loss of hybridity. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

By the nineteenth century, with the advance of British colonial activities, British corporate laws had been transplanted to maritime Asia with varying degrees of vigour. In British Hong Kong, these laws often clashed with native customs. Through a reconstruction of the legal disputes found in urban Hong Kong, this paper discusses how British and Chinese business traditions interacted with each other during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Before assessing the historical implications and consequences of these legal decisions, this paper will also explore whether the Chinese institution of tong is compatible with British law in urban Hong Kong. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the existing GPS, the replenishment of GLONASS and the launching of Galileo there will be three satellite navigation systems in the future, with a total of more than 80 satellites. So it can be expected that the performance of the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) will be greatly improved, especially in urban environments. This paper studies the potential benefits of GPS/GLONASS/Galileo integration in an urban canyon - Hong Kong. The navigation performances of four choices (GPS alone, GPS+GLONASS, GPS+Galileo and GPS+GLONASS+Galileo) are evaluated in terms of availability, coverage, and continuity based on simulation. The results show that there are significant improvements in availability, coverage and continuity, by using GPS+GLONASS+Galileo compared with the other choices. But the performance is still not good enough for most navigation applications in urban environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Generativity refers to activities that help to establish and guide the next generation. This paper explores the nature of generative concern among older people and how it manifests itself in an era of rapid social and technological changes that have produced wide generation gaps. Eight focus groups were conducted with 51 women and 20 men who were recruited from social centres in Hong Kong on the basis of age, socio-economic status, and level of participation in the centres. The discussions were transcribed verbatim and analysed using grounded-theory principles. The elders frequently referred to the superior educational level and technological knowledge of their offspring, as well as the differences in values and lifestyles between the generations, which they thought had made their own knowledge and wisdom obsolete. They had concerns about social and technological changes, however, and they aroused a sense of urgency to protect the younger generation from contemporary evils, while many considered that passing on moral and behavioural codes nowadays was the most important generative role. Although they wanted to help, their efforts were often criticised. In order to maintain harmonious relationships and to avoid conflicts with their offspring, many participants adopted passive generative roles. Attempts to stabilise the generative self by redefining generativity were also observed. The final section of the paper discusses the implications of the findings for the maintenance of the generative self in personal situations of declining resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since colonial times to the present day, Hong Kong's position as a global financial centre is one of the enduring economic strengths of the territory. This success is often attributed to the distinctive role of the state, coined in the 1970s by the-then financial secretary, Sir Philip Haddon-Cave, as “positive non-interventionism.” The relationship between the market and the state has also been characterized as a form of corporatism, particularly in the financial sector as bankers were able to influence policy. However, closer examination of the behind-the-scenes relations between bankers and the state reveals a much more complex relationship, with the banks seeking protection that the government was not willing to provide. Moreover, the reluctance to regulate financial markets resulted in piecemeal interventions and weak implementation that undermined the stability of this sector and of the economy as a whole. This paper demonstrates the confusion over the concept and practicalities of positive non-interventionism, even for Haddon-Cave, and how the concept evolved towards a policy of “when in doubt, do nothing” during a period of financial instability. Along the way, the paper presents new evidence about the origins of Hong Kong's current banking structure. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper examines the diffusion of activism in post-colonial Hong Kong through the lens of the political regime and eventful analysis. It first reveals the institutional foundations of the hybrid regime that allowed the creation of a nascent movement society. It then explains how the historic 1 July rally in 2003 and a series of critical events since 2006 have led to a shift in scale and the public staging of street politics. A time-series analysis and onsite survey further capture the dynamics that spawned the collective recognition of grievances and reduced participation costs, leading to the Umbrella Movement. While the spontaneous, voluntary and decentralized organizational structure sustained protest momentum, the regime has adopted hybrid strategies to counter-mobilize bottom-up activism. The result is widening contention between the state and civil society and within civil society, or the coexistence of regime instability and regime longevity, a trend that is increasingly common in hybrid regimes encountering mass protests. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper examines how flows of people, media, money, technology, and ideologies move through the world, with attention to how these scapes (Appadurai 1990, 1996, 2013) shape identity construction among language learners, both in and out of classrooms. After illustrating intersecting scapes in sociolinguistic terms, I explore the relevance of these ideas to identity formation among language learners, using three case studies. First, I examine the mediascape of hip hop in the ideoscape of education in Hong Kong, where an ELT Rap curriculum was designed for working class students in a low-banded secondary school. Next, I discuss how the confluence of transnationals and cosmopolitan urban residents in Tanzania provides a range of identity options for learners of Swahili that challenge nation-state-based associations of language. Finally, I consider how learners’ engagement in anime and manga from the mediascape is taken up in an introductory university-level Japanese language classroom in Hawai’i. These examples demonstrate how individuals are increasingly learning and using additional languages in the contexts of cultural mélange and new identity zones. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper the authors employ a case study approach to investigate the transition process for a student with special educational needs from a Hong Kong subsidised primary school into a secondary school. An analysis of transcripts from individual and focus group interviews with the student, his parents, his 4 primary teachers and his 10 secondary teachers, as well as government documents and notes of school observations, indicated that a lack of formal procedures for supporting a student's transition can result in a range of significant difficulties. The discussion focuses on the urgent need to develop strategic guidelines at a systemic level within Hong Kong, with a much greater focus on a collaborative school approach rather than the current overreliance on the parents to lead this process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the studies of Japanese society and culture undertaken by Hong Kong-based sociologists and scholars in related disciplines. It presents information on research projects funded by the Research Grants Council, Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), and Arts and Humanities Citation Index (A&HCI) journal articles, authored and edited books, book chapters, non-SSCI and non-A&HCI journal articles, as well as master and doctoral theses written by scholars and graduate students associated with Hong Kong's major universities. It is found that the main topics of research are Japan's capitalist development and corporate growth, meanings and social ramifications of traditional and popular culture, education, gender, and marriage, as well as aspects of work and employment, whereas the major research methods include document analysis, ethnography, and in-depth interviews. The limited amount of research and the preoccupation with economic development and popular culture reflect in part Hong Kong's unique political conditions and the government's indifference to the pursuit of social and political policy analysis. In recent years, the growth of academic exchanges between scholars in Hong Kong, Japan, and other East Asian regions and the heightened emphasis by university administrators on academic research will hopefully bring about advancements in such academic endeavors. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Hong Kong's hospital system has long been the territory of Western medicine. However, during the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak in 2003, an integrative approach, combining Chinese and Western medicines, was used in some hospitals in Hong Kong, suggesting a revival of Chinese medicine in the hospital system of this former British colony. This paper will explain how this could happen, by situating the event in the over 160 years' long history of Chinese medicine in Hong Kong. Specifically, it will focus on the role of ‘Chinese medicine’ and ‘traditional Chinese medicine’ in Tung Wah Hospital, a local charity established in 1870, which grew subsequently into one of the largest voluntary organizations in Hong Kong. It will also show how the fall and revival of Chinese medicine in this hospital were related to two epidemics: the bubonic plague in 1894, and the SARS outbreak in 2003. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Political trust is a cornerstone of political survival and development. This paper makes use of data from the 2006 AsiaBarometer Survey to examine the level of political trust in Hong Kong and Taiwan. It finds that the people of Hong Kong have a high level of trust in their government and judiciary, but a relatively low level of trust in their legislature. In contrast, the Taiwan people have a lower level of trust in all of their executive, judicial, and legislative branches, reflecting a serious problem with political confidence in Taiwan. A further analysis shows that institutional factors such as ratings of government performance, life satisfaction, and satisfaction with democratic rights and freedoms, and cultural factors such as interpersonal trust, post-materialism, and traditionalism have varying degrees of effect on the different domains of political trust in Hong Kong and Taiwan, but institutional factors appear to be more powerful than cultural factors in explaining the experiences of both societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last two decades, educational and curricular reforms in Hong Kong have been designed to prepare students for the challenges of the return of Hong Kong's sovereignty from the UK to the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1997. This paper focuses on students' and teachers' attitudes towards a multicultural music education, which includes Chinese music, in response to this socio-political change. A mixed method design, involving a content analysis of relevant official educational and music documents, a questionnaire survey to 3,243 school students, and semi-structured interviews with 20 music teachers have been employed to further understanding of the development of politics and culture in Hong Kong society, which was investigated between winter 2006 and spring 2007. This paper argues that access to various musical cultures is a necessary but not sufficient condition for the development of music education in Hong Kong. Questions of how to integrate both Chinese music and other musical cultures in music education will remain a challenge for the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information about several papers discussed at a conference sponsored by the International Association for World Englishes (IAWE) held at the City University of Hongkong in China on December 1-5, 2009 on the English language is presented. Topics include linguistic variation, analysis of phonetic techniques and language teaching. The conference highlighted the conference banquet where Professor Edward Thumboo of the National University of Singapore was given the Lifetime Award by the IAWE.

Ten years after the handover, Hong Kong's media faced multiple pressures. There were few cases of outright prosecution of the media, but there were subtle political and economic pressures. Co-optation of media bosses, fear of losing advertising revenue and media takeovers by pro-Beijing figures brought some of the media into line. This brought editorial shift and self-censorship, as the media systematically shied away from stories that might antagonize Beijing, underplayed negative news for the government and gave the democrats less favourable coverage. Interviews with journalists showed little evidence of ostensible intervention from government officials or media bosses, but newsroom socialization and editorial gatekeeping are effective constraints. The constitutional guarantee of freedom of the press and the moral force of professional ethics lent the media the room to defend and negotiate their freedom, but the pervasive fear induced by the political environment invariably overpowered the resistance and constrained press freedom in Hong Kong. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An update on the world's newest lexicographical services. The computer and the Internet have become indispensable to the lives of educated people. As a result, ways of obtaining information have greatly changed. The readership of the printed media appears to have been gradually decreasing, something that may also happen with dictionaries. It has for example been noted that three mediums for dictionaries — paper, electronic gadgets, and the Internet — are now about equally popular with students. Gone therefore are the days when paper dictionaries dominated the reference world. For example, more than 70% of students interviewed at Hong Kong Polytechnic University claim that they use e-dictionaries more often than the traditional bulky paper products: among them, the most ‘bookmarked’ is the online version of the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Online dictionaries are now therefore the main force in word reference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gerontologists have recognised the important influence of leisure activity on the mental and physical health of older adults. To date, however, there have been few studies of the patterns of participation in leisure activity among older adults in Hong Kong. This study examines a large representative sample of Hong Kong older adults and the associations between their socio-economic and health characteristics and their leisure activities. The data are from a cross-sectional survey of 2,180 respondents aged 6o or more years, conducted in 2000 by the Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department. There were full records for 2,144 respondents. Among the participation rates in the seven categories of leisure activities, watching television or listening to radio was the highest, while the lowest was for playing mahjong or cards. The characteristics that significantly correlated with the level of participation differed by the activity. Although no consistent pattern emerged, gender, education, employment status, receiving welfare benefits, self-rated health and functional impairment were the strongest correlates for most types of leisure activity. The paper is concluded by comparing the results with previous findings, and by discussing the service implications of the findings, the limitations of the study, and directions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adult incontinence violates social norms and values and undermines the personal expectation of being independent, dry and clean. Urinary incontinence is widely known to have a psychological impact on elderly people. This paper reports the findings of a study of the impact of incontinence on a convenience sample of older people in Hong Kong. Several of the results concur with those of studies in western countries. It was found that the prevalence of urinary incontinence increased with adult age, and that the condition affected women more than men. Over half of both men and women respondents had suffered for less than three years. It appeared that the period of suffering was not strongly associated with the level of incontinence. There were no significant differences between the duration and the level of incontinence, or between health status and years of suffering. About 80 per cent of the incontinent respondents had negative psychological impacts. There were significant differences between the sexes in the impact of urinary incontinence as indicated by the following items: elderly men found incontinence more stressful than their women counterparts; and elderly men more often strove to hide their incontinence from their friends. In summary, older men reported more negative psychological effects than older women. This study is not able to conclude that the psychological suffering of those who reported more negative effects is greater than that of those who reported fewer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of China Quarterly is the property of Cambridge University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Evidence has accumulated to suggest that the mean IQs of Orientals in the United States and in the countries of the Pacific Basin are higher than those of Whites (Caucasoids) in the United States and Britain. This paper presents evidence from IQ tests on 4858 6-year-old Chinese children in Hong Kong. On the Coloured Progressive Matrices these children obtained a mean IQ of 116. Samples from Australia, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Romania, the UK and the US obtain IQs in the range 95–102. It is suggested that these results pose difficulties for the environmentalist explanations commonly advanced to explain the low mean IQs obtained by some ethnic minorities in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Introduction: The 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a global health crisis that originated in China. As an adjacent city to the origin of COVID-19, Hong Kong has been facing different public health challenges raised by the epidemic. Objectives: This paper examined the prevalence of common physical symptoms, psychological symptoms, somatic symptoms, and health anxiety among the Hong Kong youth population. Methods: HKYES is an on-going territory-wide epidemiological study collecting youth mental health data with randomly stratified sampling. Participants aged 15-24 years were to complete a physical symptom checklist, Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21), Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), Patient Health Questionnaire-15 (PHQ-15), and Short Health Anxiety Inventory (SHAI). Results: A total of 594 participants have completed the survey since April 2020. The three most common physical symptoms were headache (n=106, 17.8%), fever (n=94, 15.8%) and fatigue (n=78, 13.1%). The mean scores of DASS depression, anxiety and stress subscales were 7.98 (SD 8.14), 5.81 (SD 6.32), and 8.83 (SD 7.93) respectively. Among all, 135 (22.8%) participants reported moderate to severe levels of depressive symptoms, 133 (22.4%) reported moderate to severe levels of anxiety symptoms, and 71 (12%) reported moderate to severe levels of stress. There were 40 (6.7%) and 60 (10.1%) participants showing significant levels of insomnia and somatic symptoms, while around one-third of the participants reported a high level of health anxiety. Conclusions: Youth is at risk of severe psychological impact during the coronavirus. Monitoring the mental health trajectory for youth should become routine practice during times of crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identification of modifiable factors and mediators linked to low and heavy birth weight is crucial in reducing infant mortality and health care expenditure. The present paper explores the associations of socio-demographic factors and immigrant status of parents with adverse pregnancy outcomes in Hong Kong. The analysis compares very low birth weight (VLBW: <1500 g), low birth weight (LBW: ≥1500 g and <2500 g) and heavy birth weight births (HBW: ≥4500 g) with births of normal weight (≥2500 g and <4500 g) using multinomial regression modelling of a large dataset of 828,975 births of singletons occurring between 1995 and 2009. The findings indicate the expected significant adverse associations between teenage and advanced age of the mother with compromised birth outcomes; teenage motherhood, however, has a protective effect against HBW births. A strong socioeconomic gradient is apparent, more marked among LBW births; low educational attainment of the father, low occupational class, public housing and single motherhood are strongly related to adverse pregnancy outcomes. Regarding immigrant status, women born in South and South-East Asia exhibit consistently higher odds of a compromised outcome. Women born in Hong Kong have significantly higher chances of LBW births while Mainland Chinese and parents from developed countries face higher odds of HBW births. The study identifies high-risk groups such as teenage, older and single mothers, South-East Asians and couples of low socioeconomic profile. Implementation of policies supporting these groups would be beneficial. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Copyright of Financial History Review is the property of Cambridge University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

07–533Anh Tuan, Truong & Storch Neomy (U Melbourne, Australia; neomys@unimelb.edu.au), Investigating group planning in preparation for oral presentations in an EFL class in Vietnam. RELC Journal (Sage) 38.1 (2007), 104–124.07–534Bada, Erdogan & Bilal Genc (U Çukurova, Turkey; erdoganbada@gmail.com), An investigation into the tense/aspect preferences of Turkish speakers of English and native English speakers in their oral narration. The Reading Matrix (Readingmatrix.com) 7.1 (2007), 141–150.07–535Beasley, Robert (Franklin College, USA; rbeasley@franklincollege.edu), Yuangshan Chuang & Chao-chih Liao, Determinants and effects of English language immersion in Taiwanese EFL learners engaged in online music study. The Reading Matrix (Readingmatrix.com) 6.3 (2006), 330–339.07–536Campbell, Dermot, Ciaron Mcdonnell, Marti Meinardi & Bunny Richardson (Dublin Institute of Technology, Ireland; dermot.campbell@dit.ie), The need for a speech corpus. 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ReCALL (Cambridge University Press) 19.2 (2007), 202–223.07–545Hellermann, John (Portland State U, Portland, Oregon, USA; jkh@pdx.edu) & Andrea Vergun, Language which is not taught: The discourse marker use of beginning adult learners of English. Journal of Pragmatics (Elsevier) 39.1 (2007), 157–179.07–546Hwu, Fenfang (U Cincinnati, USA; hwuf@ucmail.uc.edu), Learners'' strategies with a grammar application: The influence of language ability and personality preferences. ReCALL (Cambridge University Press) 19.1 (2007), 21–38.07–547Karlsson, Leena (Helsinki U, Finland; leena.karlsson@helsinki.fi), Felicity Kjisik & Joan Nordlund, Language counselling: A critical and integral component in promoting an autonomous community of learning. System (Elsevier) 35.1 (2007), 46–65.07–548Karlström, Petter (Stockholm U, Sweden; petter@dsv.su.se), Teresa Cerratto-Pargman, Henrik Lindström & Ola Knutsson, Tool mediation in focus on form activities: Case studies in a grammar-exploring environment. ReCALL (Cambridge University Press) 19.1 (2007), 39–56.07–549Kim, Yongho (Korea National U of Education) & David Kellogg, Rules out of roles: Differences in play language and their developmental significance. Applied Linguistics (Oxford University Press) 28.1 (2007), 25–45.07–550Liaw, Meei-Ling (National Taichung U, China; meeilingliaw@gmail.com), Constructing a ‘third space’ for EFL learners: Where language and cultures meet. ReCALL (Cambridge University Press) 19.2 (2007), 224–241.07–551Matsuzaki Carreira, Junko (Tsuda College, Japan), Motivation for learning English as a foreign language in Japanese elementary schools. JALT Journal (Japan Association for Language Teaching) 28.2 (2006), 135–157.07–552Mozzon-McPherson, Marina (U Hull, UK; M.Mozzon-Mcpherson@hull.ac.uk), Supporting independent learning environments: An analysis of structures and roles of language learning advisers. System (Elsevier) 35.1 (2007), 66–92.07–553Napier, Jemina (Macquarie U, Australia), Effectively teaching discourse to sign language interpreting students. Language, Culture and Curriculum (Multilingual Matters) 19.3 (2006), 251–265.07–554Reinders, Hayo (U Auckland, New Zealand; system@hayo.nl), Supporting independent learning environments: An analysis of structures and roles of language learning advisers. System (Elsevier) 35.1 (2007), 93–111.07–555Stracke, Elke (U Canberra, Australia; Elke.Stracke@canberra.edu.au), A road to understanding: A qualitative study into why learners drop out of a blended language learning (BLL) environment. ReCALL (Cambridge University Press) 19.1 (2007), 57–78.07–556Stroud, Christopher (U West Cape, South Africa; cstroud@uwc.ac.za) & Lionel Wee, Anxiety and identity in the language classroom. RELC Journal (SAGE Publications) 37.3 (2006), 299–307.07–557Taguchi, Naoko (Carnegie Mellon U, USA), Task difficulty in oral speech act production. Applied Linguistics (Oxford University Press) 28.1 (2007), 113–135.07–558Webb, Stuart (Japan), The effects of repetition on vocabulary knowledge. Applied Linguistics (Oxford University Press) 28.1 (2007), 46–65.07–559Yihong, Gao, Zhao Yuan, Cheng Ying & Zhou Yan, Relationship between English learning motivation types and self-identity changes among Chinese students. TESOL Quarterly (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages) 41.1 (2007), 133–155.07–560Xuesong, Gao (U Hong Kong, China; Gao@hkusua.hku.hk), Strategies used by Chinese parents to support English language learning. RELC Journal (SAGE Publications) 37.3 (2006), 285–298.07–561Zhenhui, Rao (Jiangxi Normal U, Nanchang, China), Understanding Chinese students'' use of language learning strategies from cultural and educational perspectives. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development (Multilingual Matters) 27.6 (2006), 491–508. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Educational inequalities in cardiometabolic diseases (CMD) are globally recognised; nonetheless, the evidence on potential explanatory mechanisms and effective strategies for CMD prevention and inequality reduction is relatively scarce in Asia. Therefore, the current study examined the extent and potential mediators of the association of education level with CMD conditions (i.e., hypertension and diabetes) in an advanced economy in Asia.Design: A cross-sectional study.Setting: This territory-wide cross-sectional Population Health Survey in 2014-2015 was performed in Hong Kong. Demographic, socio-economic and lifestyle factors were collected via questionnaire, while clinical data on blood pressure and glucose levels, lipid profiles and anthropometric measures were obtained during health examination. Hypertension and diabetes statuses were objectively defined by both clinical data and the use of relevant medications.Participants: 2297 community-dwelling adults aged between 15-84 years recruited via systematic replicated sampling of living quarters.Results: Multivariable binary logistic regression analysis showed that lower education level was significantly associated with hypertension among women but not men, whereas similar pattern was also observed for diabetes and other related clinical risk factors. Also, general and abdominal obesity were independently associated with hypertension and diabetes among both women and men, and substantially mediated the observed inequalities across education levels among women. Specifically, abdominal obesity was a particularly strong risk factor and mediator for diabetes.Conclusion: Educational patterning of CMD was more apparent among women in Hong Kong. Obesity control appears to be important for both overall CMD prevention and reduction of educational inequalities in CMD among women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigates the factors influencing the downfall of Hong Kong in China on 1941. Socio-political conflict with Europe; Failure of the British Far Eastern strategy and imperial security during the inter-war period; Incompetence of the military administrators in the region.

Examines the evolution of press in Hong Kong, China. Introduction of the English Language Press; Role of the newspaper in industrialization; Circulation of the 'Qiribao' newspaper.

Discusses the early perception of communism and its importance in Hong Kong from 1921 to 1934. Dual society of the colony with the British as the ruler and the Chinese as the ruled; Feelings of the main segments of the Hong Kong Chinese population in their first encounter with communism; Significant political events which were related to communism and Hong Kong.

Objective: This study examined Na intake and identified the major food sources of Na in healthy Chinese adults aged ≥50 years in Hong Kong.Design: Participants who completed a baseline assessment of a randomised controlled trial assessing the effectiveness of exercise and nutrition supplementation on improving physical and cognitive functions were included. A single 24-h urine sample and a 3-d diet record were used to measure urinary Na excretion and dietary intake, respectively. The compliances to the WHO (<5 g/d) and China Nutrition Society (<6 g/d) recommendations for salt intake were assessed based on the urinary Na excretion. The relative contribution of sixteen food groups to the dietary Na intake was expressed as percentages. Associations between food groups and urinary Na excretion were analysed using multiple linear regression.Setting: Community facilities.Participants: Totally, 114 healthy Chinese adults (mean age 60·6 years, 55 % women).Results: The mean urinary Na excretion over 24-h was 2876·6 ± 1249·4 mg/d (7·3 ± 3·2 g salt/d). Overall, 22·8 % of participants met the WHO recommendation and 34·2 % met the Chinese Nutrition Society recommendation for salt intake. The major food sources of dietary Na intake were condiments (42·4 %), cereals and their products (16·8 %) and soups (13·5 %). Higher intakes of seafood and nuts were associated with lower urinary Na excretion.Conclusions: Public health strategies should target healthy Chinese adults in Hong Kong to modify the current patterns of Na intake. Targeting condiments, cereals and their products and soups will be an important strategy to reduce their Na intake. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The suitability of complex financial products for household investors is an important issue in light of consumer financial protection. The U.S. Dodd–Frank Act, for instance, mandates that distributors check suitability when selling structured products to retail investors. However, little empirical evidence exists on such transactions. Using data from Hong Kong, we find that investors purchase 8% more structured products, on average, when the suitability is not checked. The effect of suitability checks is more pronounced for less financially literate investors. Moreover, investors tend to buy products with lower risk-adjusted returns when product suitability is not checked. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Examines popular song in the twilight of Hong Kong's colonial period, from the mid-1980s to 1997. Focus on popular singer Anita Mui Yim-Fong; Manifestation of local identity in musical culture; Extra-musical associations of popular music in indigenous cultures; Influence of performers on songs and musical styles.

This study investigates the relative importance of living with adult children and social participation for the elderly's subjective wellbeing (happiness) in three Chinese societies (Hong Kong, urban China and Taiwan). We use data from the 2011 wave of the Hong Kong Panel Study of Social Dynamics (N = 1,658), the 2010 China Family Panel Studies in mainland China (N = 3,198) and the 2010 wave of the Taiwan Social Change Survey (N = 790). The ordinary least squares regression shows that, as the family value of society moves forward on a traditional–modern continuum, the elderly benefit more psychologically from social participation and less from living with children. The older people in Hong Kong who live independently with a spouse are in a significantly better emotional state than those living with adult children. Social participation is positively associated with subjective wellbeing among the aged in Hong Kong but not among those in urban China and Taiwan. The findings suggest that encouraging social involvement is important for effective public policy to tackle rapid population ageing in Chinese societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article looks at how globalization in the nineteenth century was inextricably entangled with localization in the Canton–Hong Kong–Macau nexus on the southern fringe of China by tracing the growth of its unique medical culture. It explains the 'glocalizing' process by tracing the development of this medical culture, which consists of knowledge construction and institution building, in the context of highly volatile epidemiological conditions aggravated by increasingly heavy inter-regional trade and migration. It traces the dynamic circulation of people, materials, ideas, and practices in this southern edge of China, which was traditionally connected to southeast Asia and shared ecological backdrops that produced similar epidemiological experiences. The Canton nexus in the nineteenth century saw the growth of native medical knowledge that focused less on theoretical innovation than on the efficacy of therapeutic strategies. These ideas were likely to have been informed or reinforced by new anatomical knowledge disseminated by Western medical missionaries on the ground early in the century. The medical culture in the region was also marked by the formation of a series of local institutions that were fusions of Western-style hospitals and native merchant-run charity halls where diseases were studied and treated, and new public health management negotiated and implemented by experts from different traditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines civic solidarity in Hong Kong and Taiwan at key democratic moments. Using political cartoons published during the 1995 LegCo election campaign in Hong Kong and the 2000 presidential election campaign in Taiwan, our findings indicate that the cultural codes of liberty, though not typically considered part of traditional Chinese values, have become the dominant cultural source for discourse in civil society. Values of caring and state paternalism, which resemble subsets of Confucian values, exist as competing, alternate cultural codes. In Taiwan, politically-divided members of civil society appear to share the same cultural language, thereby fostering a basis for mutual engagement. Nevertheless, little mutual engagement is actually found among politically divergent discourses. In Hong Kong, even a shared cultural language cannot be documented. The conclusion discusses the broader implications of these findings for the inclusive potential of civic discourses, amidst competing identity claims, in Hong Kong and Taiwan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conventional wisdom assumes that increased censorship will strictly decrease access to information. We delineate circumstances when increases in censorship expand access to information for a substantial subset of the population. When governments suddenly impose censorship on previously uncensored information, citizens accustomed to acquiring this information will be incentivized to learn methods of censorship evasion. These evasion tools provide continued access to the newly blocked information—and also extend users’ ability to access information that has long been censored. We illustrate this phenomenon using millions of individual-level actions of social media users in China before and after the block of Instagram. We show that the block inspired millions of Chinese users to acquire virtual private networks, and that these users subsequently joined censored websites like Twitter and Facebook. Despite initially being apolitical, these new users began browsing blocked political pages on Wikipedia, following Chinese political activists on Twitter, and discussing highly politicized topics such as opposition protests in Hong Kong. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The directly elected representatives to Hong Kong's Legislative Council are chosen by list proportional representation (PR) using the Hare Quota and Largest Remainders (HQLR) formula. This formula rewards political alliances of small to moderate size and discourages broader unions. Hong Kong's political leaders have responded to those incentives by fragmenting their electoral alliances rather than expanding them. The level of list fragmentation observed in Hong Kong is not inherent to PR elections. Alternative PR formulas would generate incentives to form broader, more encompassing alliances. Indeed, most countries that use PR employ such formulas, and the most commonly used PR formula would generate incentives opposite to HQLR's, rewarding broader electoral alliances rather than divisions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article aims to explore the effects of quasi-SNTV (Single Non-transferable Vote) under the Largest Remainder Proportional Representation (LRPR) in Legislative Council (LegCo) elections in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) after the British handover of 1997. Although the quasi-SNTV results from the inability of political parties to control their candidates, the Democratic Party (DP) and the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB) can obtain more seats in total than they could by coordinating around one single list if they can successfully control their party label and the political camps can coordinate different parties and candidates. The quasi-SNTV in Hong Kong is notable for the strategic coordination found in its alliances, a key aspect that differentiates it from Colombia's quasi-SNTV. The DP's failure can be attributed to its internal conflicts and the lack of coordination among the pro-democracy alliances. In contrast to the democratic camp, which lacks any overriding authority to coordinate different parties and candidates, the pro-China's united front machinery facilitates coordination and helps the DAB perform better than the DP in quasi-SNTV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One salient characteristic of twin studies and the related behavioral genetics paradigm is the requirement of a large sample size. Countries or regions that are large in size and highly populated are at an advantage when implementing twin studies. However, given the fascinating and promising results obtained from twin studies, many researchers based in smaller countries or regions may still want to conduct twin studies in order to address local and theoretical issues. In this article, we have outlined the development of twin studies in Hong Kong, one of the Special Administrative Regions of China. The historical development and design of the two major twin studies of language and reading development implemented within Hong Kong are discussed, providing insights to researchers who also aspire to conduct twin studies in small regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Patients with schizophrenia have intact ability to experience emotion, but empirical evidence suggests that they fail to translate emotional salience into effortful behaviour. Previous research in patients with chronic schizophrenia suggests that working memory is important in integrating emotion and behaviour. This study aimed to examine avolition and anhedonia in patients with first-episode schizophrenia and clarify the role of working memory in emotion- behaviour coupling. Method. We recruited 72 participants with first-episode schizophrenia and 61 healthy controls, and used a validated emotion-inducing behavioural paradigm to measure participants' affective experiences and how experienced emotion coupled with behaviour. Participants were given the opportunity to expend effort to increase or decrease their exposure to emotion-inducing photographs. Participants with schizophrenia having poor working memory were compared with those with intact working memory in their liking and emotion-behaviour coupling. Results. Patients with first-episode schizophrenia experienced intact 'in-the-moment' emotion, but their emotion was less predictive of the effort expended, compared with controls. The emotion-behaviour coupling was significantly weaker in patients with schizophrenia with poor working memory than in those with intact working memory. However, compared with controls, patients with intact working also showed substantial emotion-behaviour decoupling. Conclusions. Our findings provide strong evidence for emotion-behaviour decoupling in first-episode schizophrenia. Although working memory deficits contribute to defective translation of liking into effortful behaviour, schizophrenia alone affects emotion-behaviour coupling. Conclusions. Our findings provide strong evidence for emotion-behaviour decoupling in first-episode schizophrenia. Although working memory deficits contribute to defective translation of liking into effortful behaviour, schizophrenia alone affects emotion-behaviour coupling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In February 2003, Hong Kong was hit by a community-wide outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). During the period of the outbreak, 10 patients with SARS with psychiatric complications were referred to our Consultation and Liaison Psychiatry Team for assessment and management. We found that both the direct and indirect effects of SARS such as symptom severity, total isolation during treatment and administration of steroid were probable causes of psychiatric complications. In this paper, we report on the nature of their psychiatric problems, challenges to management and psychiatric treatment strategies used during the acute phase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the global spread of English and the emergence of different varieties of English around the world, World Englishes (WE) researchers have argued for the recognition of ‘Englishes’ in the plural and called for the need to acknowledge the diversity of English (Kachru, 1985, 1997). Apart from WE researchers who are interested in investigating nation-bound varieties of English in different parts of the world, a growing number of researchers have begun to examine the phenomenon of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) communication, given the growth of intercultural exchanges worldwide (Jenkins, 2000, 2007; Seidlhofer, 2011). Whilst WE researchers are primarily concerned with how varieties of English differ from each other, ELF researchers are interested in exploring how speakers of different Englishes communicate with each other in contexts where English is the common language. For example, these ELF researchers have studied the communicative and pragmatic strategies which people from different lingua-cultural backgrounds use to communicate with one another through English as a common resource in order to achieve mutual intelligibility (Seidlhofer, 2011). Despite their different focuses, both WE and ELF researchers deal with the same global phenomenon of English use and the pluricentricity of English, and share similar ideas about the ownership of English, and language contact and change (Seidlhofer, 2011). A relatively new field, Global Englishes (GE) (Galloway & Rose, 2013, 2014; Jenkins, 2014), has thus emerged to bring together researchers from both WE and ELF. With an inclusive orientation, GE places less emphasis on native speaker English, emphasizes the diversity of English, and questions the relevance of native speaker norms for English Language Teaching (ELT) (see Galloway & Rose, 2015). [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article examines the ‘greening’ of Hong Kong in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, with an emphasis on the afforestation of the colony's ‘barren’ mountainsides from the 1880s. To date, histories of Hong Kong have tended to focus on the colonial state's urban interventions, particularly on the draconian measures it took to ‘sanitize’ Chinese districts. In contrast, this article connects Hong Kong's urban development with the history of green space and the cultivation of ‘nature’. While the state sought to transform the ‘barren rock’ into a visible correlate of the colony's aspiring status as an imperial hub in Asia, the promotion of hygiene and health provided a further rationale for tree-planting. The article argues that colonial Hong Kong provides insights into the ‘tropicalization of modernity’ and the constitutive processes by which colonial power was naturalized and legitimated through planning practices that extended from the urban to the natural. A study of Hong Kong's afforestation underscores the importance of the natural environment as a ‘contact zone’ between colonial and ‘native’ cultures; it also reveals the extent to which the equation of a ‘green’ landscape with economic (re)production and colonial order, functioned as a critical trope for framing race and labour. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Unlike Western common-law jurisdictions where plea bargaining has been acknowledged, official discourse in Hong Kong denies the existence of plea bargaining. However, defence lawyers are staunch supporters of its use behind the scenes. Using in-depth, semi-structured interviews with Hong Kong criminal defence lawyers, it was found that lawyers' justifications are based on four main grounds: it is non-coercive because the final decision is left to the accused; negotiations avoid the risks of trials; plea bargaining is a practical solution that is in the best interests of the client and the state; and the courts implicitly tolerate the practice. The findings can be explained by Eisenstein and Jacob's (1991) courtroom workgroup model. The present study seeks to bridge the gap in the literature where plea bargaining has only been discussed predominately in the context of Western common-law jurisdictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]