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Once feted, Hong Kong has recently become a centre of civil unrest. In this paper, we situate these emergent politics through a case study of corruption and everyday life in Kowloon Walled City, a mainland Chinese enclave in British Hong Kong, which developed notoriety as a freestanding grey economy. Drawing from oral testimonies of police officers, triad members and local residents, we excavate the lived experience of confinement within this contested space. These accounts reconstruct the Walled City as a 'quasi-carceral' site of enclosure, a zone of colonial exceptionalism and a hybrid cultural space. Through this case study, we historicize current debates in carceral geography, humanize recent interventions in urban scholarship and analyse the shifting politics at the frontier of Chinese expansionism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates how community policing takes on its actual meanings in the specific circumstances of contemporary Hong Kong. Hong Kong people place tremendous stake on the rule of law, which has always become one of the acclaimed 'core values' distinguishing the post-handover Hong Kong from the rest of China. Against this social background, this paper argues that largely due to the non-democratic structuring of local governance, law is inadequate to maintain a locally given order, and then community policing vested with the necessary police discretion is very often adopted to accommodate the real needs in the local community. This argument is based on the inductive analysis by using a case study of the policing of a marketplace in Hong Kong. It has been found that the local governmental institution consistently calls for the police's strict enforcement of law in order to resolve the community problems generated by the routine operation of the marketplace. On the other hand, the police are actually working against such a call by discretionarily handling the extra-legal arrangements in the marketplace. Taken together, the current study reveals that one of the actual meanings of Hong Kong's community policing is defined by the contradictory juxtaposition situated between the official ideal and local reality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whenever high-stakes assessment/curriculum reforms take place, new textbooks appear on the market. These textbooks inevitably play a significant mediating role in the implementation of any reform and on teaching and learning. This paper reports on a small-scale study which attempts to investigate the role of textbooks in the mediation of a high-stakes assessment reform: the introduction of school-based assessment (SBA) as part of the 2007 Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination in English Language. The introduction of SBA represented a major challenge for teachers accustomed to a system of external examinations and ‘teaching to the test’. The paper examines the extent to which SBA textbooks align with the SBA principles and rationales. It then investigates the extent to which teachers rely on textbooks to prepare their students for SBA and the kind of materials that teachers feel they need most in order to prepare their students for SBA. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In view of the smuggling out of democratic leaders after the Tiananmen crackdown in 1989 and China's resumption of sovereignty of Hong Kong in 1997, China applied a ‘united front’ tactic to recruit Hong Kong triad societies to the Communist camp. Consequently, triad leaders were able to set foot in China and bridge up with officials and state enterprises. Against this backdrop, this paper argues that when political dynamics is involved, both the traditional structural and social network approaches are insufficient to explain triad-organized crime. Therefore, social capital perspective is proposed. Using two case studies, it was discovered that the triad leaders converted the social capital they developed in mainland China into economic capital through illegitimate means in the stock market. The paper concludes by highlighting the similarities and differences between this triad-organized crime and other forms of Chinese organized crime. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The United Nations Sanctions Ordinance is the primary legal basis of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) for implementing the United Nations Security Council's resolutions. However, there are concerns that the Ordinance is potentially violating the separation of powers in its delegation of regulation-making authority to the executive. There are also criticisms against the expediency of the Ordinance as a mechanism lot enforcing Security Council sanctions. Against this background, this paper attempts to examine the separation of powers doctrine, its place in HKSAR's constitutional system and its relevance to the Ordinance. On the issue of expediency, this paper focuses on the scope and speed of implementing the sanctions, and the human rights and criminal justice pro blems it involves. For comparative purposes, references are to be made to the law of the USA, Canada and Singapore. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate and demonstrate the effectiveness of applications of available environment-friendly technologies in buildings in Hong Kong, a number of eco-building concepts are used on a small building in the Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden in Hong Kong including 4 kW photovoltaic-roof, roof rainwater collection system, grass roof design, sunroof for lighting, and double-glazing external walls for better insulation. This paper mainly reports the simulation and data monitoring results of the rainwater collection system and photovoltaic system. The supply and utilization of rainwater for different types of buildings were investigated. The findings such as the supply, the demand of flushing, feasibility, reliability and energy saving of using rainwater are also reported in this paper. The annual energy performance and green house gas emission reduction are presented for the solar PV roof installation. Data monitoring has shown that the performance of both the rainwater collection system and the solar PV system is good and meets the design expectations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect has been in operation for more than a year. It is predictable that with the implementation of this scheme, cross-border securities disputes between the Mainland and Hong Kong will be on the rise. In resolving these disputes, one of the most important problems is the determination of substantive law that should apply to them. This paper makes feasible proposals to harmonize the choice of law rules regarding cross-border securities disputes under the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect with due reference made to the approaches adopted by the Hague Convention on the Law Applicable to Certain Rights in Respect of Securities Held with an Intermediary and the Uniform Commercial Code of the US. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to provide a rendition of the care ethic in Confucian philosophy and to argue that social policy developments in Hong Kong society, including health care policy, have been significantly shaped and justified in terms of the ideal of care in the Confucian moral tradition. On the basis of this analysis, the paper raises a number of questions about a recent proposal for health care reform for Hong Kong put forth by the Harvard School of Public Health which argues for adopting the principle of equity as the overriding value for the moral foundation of Hong Kong's health care system. The paper examines how the over-emphasis on equity in the Harvard Report proposals can lead to the erosion of care and ultimately the eclipse of the vision of care in Hong Kong's health care system. It argues that the pursuit of equity, which is itself a valuable principle, should not displace the importance of the value of care or undermine the ideal of care and that health care decisions must be firmly embedded in local cultures and moral traditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change may seriously affect the energy consumption of buildings by influencing their air conditioning loads, especially the ventilation loads which vary directly with the local weather conditions. Research on how the ventilation load responds to climate change is of great significance, especially in coastline subtropical regions like Hong Kong. This paper investigated the impacts of climate change on buildings' ventilation load and building energy use in Hong Kong with the hourly meteorological data from 1950 to 2007. Results have been well validated by the simulation of a typical local hotel building during this period. The results show that climate warming increases both sensible and latent parts of the cooling ventilation load. The latent part, which occupies ∼80% of the total ventilation load, increases at a higher rate, about twice of that of the sensible one. Furthermore, it is found that the urban heat island (UHI) effect causes a much higher growth rate of the ventilation load at night, which is about three times compared with that in the daytime. The latent part of the cooling ventilation load at night, which is found to be the most sensitive component to the climate change, plays a most significant role in the energy consumption increase. The possible measures were thus suggested to avoid negative changes of the ventilation load. Besides, reducing the UHI effect by better urban planning also significantly benefits the local buildings with a long air-conditioning operation time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent phase of economic globalization has constituted a social context of deteriorating opportunity and increasing risk for disadvantaged communities in Hong Kong. While different studies have shown the ‘revitalization’ of the significance of the community in general and community work service in particular in most developed countries to further the interests of disadvantaged groups, the survival of the community development service in Hong Kong has been threatened by the government's intention to cut it. New initiatives, however, were started by the government to tap resources from the community to provide help to individuals and families in need without utilizing the existing community development programme that emphasizes community empowerment. This paper first examines the relationship between the global impact and the community work service in the developed countries. It then analyses the changing role of the service consequential upon the actions of the Hong Kong government in mediating the global impact. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper briefly reviews the change in the political status of Hong Kong from a British colony to a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, sets out the international rights and obligations of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) as evidence of its international legal personality, and discusses whether the HKSAR can be treated as a subject of international law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I shall essentially lay our five interpretive principles that the Hong Kong judiciary should observe. First. the Hong Kong judiciary can disable themselves from giving effect to National People's Congress (NPC) Acts that are inconsistent with the Basic Law. Second, the Court of Final Appeal has a duty to make a reference to the NPC's Standing Committee (NPCSC) when it needs to adjudicate over two conflicting Basic Law provisions, one whose affairs fall within the Central Government's concerns and the other which falls within the limits of Hong Kong's autonomy. Third, in reading the text of the NPCSC Interpretation narrowly while observing its central tenor, the Court would be respecting the plenary interpretive mandate conferred on the NPCSC while retaining its role as the primary interpreter of the Basic Law. Fourth, so far as a Mainland National Law has been formally incorporated into the Basic Law, it cannot be deemed in violation of another constitutional clause. Finally, I would argue that not all constitutional affairs falling within the limits of Hong Kong's autonomy are automatically justiciable; where there is a textual commitment to a coordinate branch of government, the Court may only interfere with the decisions made by the political branches on traditional grounds of judicial review, i.e. illegality, irrationality or procedural impropriety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a broad-based background to the major innovation-related organizations, policies and institutions that have shaped Hong Kong's innovative landscape over the past decade and a half and determined the trajectory of its innovation system. The examination reveals three key issues: First, the Asian Financial Crisis was the major catalyst for change in the development of Hong Kong's innovation system. Second, the ecology of Hong Kong's innovation system grew in an unprecedented manner following 1998. Finally, this growth in the elements of the system indicates promising directions in which to drive future in-depth research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the practice of informed consent in Hong Kong by drawing on structured interviews conducted with eleven physicians, three patients, and four family members primarily at a well-established public hospital in Hong Kong. The findings of this study show that the Hong Kong approach to medical decision-making lies somewhere between that of America on the one hand, and mainland China on the other. It is argued that the practice of medical decision-making in Hong Kong can be modeled by a moderate familism that is directed towards achieving the best interests of the patient (1) as understood by the physician, (2) in consultation with the family, (3) under the prima facie presumption that consent is not required for disclosure of information to the family, (4) while aiming at an eventual albeit frequently partial and vague disclosure to the patient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hong Kong is undergoing a public debate on the need to reform and future directions of reforming its health care system. This paper highlights the debates and considerations brought up by the Hospital Authority, the largest provider of public health care in Hong Kong, on the ethical principles and societal values underlying the upcoming reform. It is recognized that the exact meanings behind each ethical principle and value must be debated and clarified during the reform process. In a modern day society like Hong Kong, societal values are likely to be diversified. A health care system also has to fulfil different and often conflicting objectives of equity, efficiency, quality and choice. It would be difficult for a health care system to satisfy these different values and objectives based on a single value parameter. The Hong Kong experience shows that a society may prefer a combination of strategies in addressing different societal values. The re-structuring of the health care system in Hong Kong should therefore be based on a balanced and optimum combination of various financing and delivery strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aims of this paper are threefold. The first aim is to provide a critique of the reform proposal of the Harvard School of Public Health for Hong Kong's health care system through privatization of the public sector services. The second aim is to argue for the duty of society to guarantee every member equal access to a basic level of health care based on the values of equity, care and free choice. The third aim is to explore some suggestions about delivery structures and financial arrangements of a dual sector health care system which will better enable society to provide a basic level of health care that is sustainable and affordable, while being at the same time consistent with the values of care, equity and free choice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports that Robert M. Worcester, one of the editors of the International Journal of Public Opinion Research, and a former World Association for Public Opinion Research (WAPOR) President, has been named Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (KBE). This honor was conferred on him by Her Majesty the Queen of England in recognition of the outstanding services he has rendered to political, social, and economic research and for his contribution to government policy and programs.Robert Ting-yiu Chung from the University of Hong Kong will chair a regional conference on December 8-10, 2005 in Hong Kong. The main theme will be "Public Opinion: East Meets West." Papers on public opinion and the democratic process, on the role of the media, the academia, the government and non-government sectors, and on cross-cultural considerations in survey methodology will be considered, and other topics are also welcome. 58th WAPOR Annual Conference will be held on September 14-17, 2005 in Cannes, France.