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The completion of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge marks not only a record-setting achievement in engineering, but also a materialisation of ongoing efforts by the People's Republic of China to engage in cooperative projects aimed at expanding and deepening integrative connections with the semi-autonomous Special Administrative Regions of Macau and Hong Kong. This paper explores the colonial and post-colonial social construction of Hong Kong as a political-economic island, and the implications this carries into the tensions and open conflicts that have unfolded under the One Country, Two Systems agreement. Using the bridge as a case, it critically examines the geopolitical and biopolitical dimensions of infrastructure as a practice of subnational (de)bordering. The case renders visible a contemporary moment where infrastructure occupies a central position at the conjuncture of technology, advanced governmentality and shifting geographies of sovereignty in the People's Republic of China, within subnational city-regional development plans, as well as internationally in projects, such as the geographically expansive Belt and Road Initiative. A close examination of the Bridge project highlights the constructed and contested nature of borders, as well as the complex identities and ideologies that define them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a study comparing paper-based marking (PBM) and onscreen marking (OSM) in Hong Kong utilising English language essay scripts drawn from the live 2007 Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination (HKCEE) Year 11 English Language Writing Paper. In the study, 30 raters from the 2007 HKCEE Writing Paper marked on paper 100 scripts that they had marked on screen 9 months previously. Subsequent to the rating, they completed a questionnaire, from which it was concluded that, technologically, raters had no problems with OSM. Statistical results indicated no bias favouring either form of rating. Attitudinal differences surfaced, however, between new raters who had solely rated on screen as against veteran raters, whose previous rating experiences had only been with paper-based rating. The paper concludes with the prediction that as OSM becomes more prevalent, it will be accepted as the norm, with prejudice about fairness or convenience gradually fading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to construct a scale for Jupsang leadership orientation (JSLO). We first provide a theoretical background for the concept of Jupsang, which originates from the ancient literature of Sun Tsu and Lao Tsu and the modern literature of Maoism and Deng Xiaoping in China. We used a grounded theory approach to obtain five dimensions of the Jupsang concept: agility orientation, innovation orientation, vigilant orientation, market awareness orientation, and visionary orientation. Items were generated through 12 in-depth interviews in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and mainland China and were included in a questionnaire, which we used to collect data from two large forums in Hong Kong, where 440 middle and senior executives from China attended. Using SPSS Version 25 and following the scale development procedures provided by Churchill and De Villis, we found the Jupsang scale reliable and valid. This paper contributes to providing a brand new scale for strategic leadership. Practically, it can enhance the relationship between a leader and his/her followers. Finally, we provided limitations and directions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal's role in protecting fundamental rights under China's One Country Two Systems practice. It starts by giving an account of the constitutional and legal framework for Hong Kong's judicial protection of human rights. It examines the Court's efforts in obtaining constitutional jurisdiction, employing generous interpretation approach to rights guarantees, reforming standards such as proportionality and reasonableness for scrutinising rights restrictions, and broadening reference inputs by comparative approach and amicus curiae for interpretation of rights provisions. It indicates that through these ways the CFA has developed freedom-friendly common law constitutionalism and formed judicial preferences in favour of personal liberty. It advocates that the so-called conservative performance of the CFA on rights issues in national security cases may be its efforts to secure judicial independence and the common law system in a changing political climate. The article posits that due to the CFA's strong foundation in judicial protection of human rights, and its recent efforts to incorporate national security law into common law, it is well-positioned to play a crucial role in preserving the way of life for Hong Kong residents as China's Hong Kong policy enters a new era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops a multivariate spatial model for the joint analysis of daytime and nighttime crash frequencies by injury severity in traffic analysis zones (TAZs). The model specification allows for spatial correlation across TAZs, heterogeneous effects specific to crash time and severity, and correlations across response types under a Bayesian multivariate conditional autoregressive framework. One hundred and thirty one TAZs in Hong Kong, China, with traffic crash, traffic flow, roadway network, and land use data for a one-year period are selected to calibrate the advocated model. Considerable spatial and heterogeneous effects are found for each type crash frequency. Significant correlations exist in the heterogeneous effects for various severity levels and those for daytime and nighttime. The Bayesian estimates of the regression coefficients reveal that there are significant inconsistencies in the set of factors contributing to zonal daytime and nighttime crashes at various severity levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The People's Republic of China has increasingly become an attractive location for foreign capital. The flow of foreign capital into mainland China includes the so-called northbound cash flow which is a colorful term that is often used to describe capital flowing into the mainland from Hong Kong. Two markets that have become an attractive destination for northbound cash flow is the Shanghai stock exchange and the Shenzhen stock exchange. This paper investigates the impact, if any, of northbound cash flows on investor sentiment for investors residing in mainland China. In other words, the paper attempts to ascertain whether the extent of northbound cash flows influences the extent to which mainland investors feel either bullish or bearish about the market. The research objective is addressed using quantitative models and focuses on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchange. Research results indicate that northbound cash flows from Hong Kong significantly impacts investor sentiment in mainland China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper documents the process and outcome of the development and validation of a coding scheme to analyse mathematics classroom discourse in the context of Hong Kong primary schools. The objective of this coding scheme was to systematically analyse teacher discourse behaviours before and after an intervention programme; the programme aimed to assist in-service teachers to develop conceptual and practical tools for engaging students in dialogical discourse in mathematics classrooms. This paper provides a detailed outline of what took place in designing and refining the coding scheme as well as improving its validity and reliability. The developed coding scheme can be effective for highlighting dialogic discourse, authority structures and student participation in mathematics classrooms and beyond. Consequently, it was possible to assess the efficacy of the teacher intervention programme. On the other hand, the developed coding scheme could be used to help teachers to gain a sense of efficacy over their instruction by giving them a roadmap for what they can do before and during instruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explores teachers' endorsement of pastoral care, based on their socially and historically developed and interactively shaped understandings of teacher care, and how it surfaces in their practices. Participants are 25 academics in a self-financing teaching-oriented college in Hong Kong, in which teachers are also academic advisors for an assigned number of students and professional counselling is provided as another form of student support. The study identified three groups of teachers regarding their endorsement and enactment of pastoral care, namely, the supporters who are the overwhelming majority, the opponents and the bystanders. The author suggests that the relatively high level of endorsement and enactment of pastoral care found among the participants can be explained by its institutional, societal and cultural contexts. Implications of encouraging and facilitating teachers taking pastoral care as shared responsibility with professional counsellors in higher education are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The existence of an uncovered liability has historically benefited foreign banks and lead currencies. Using the case of China's efforts to fund its foreign exchange needs by exploiting loopholes in the international financial architecture, the paper examines whether using state-owned settlement banks as a means of intermediating a specialised 'non-deliverable' financial asset in offshore markets can substitute the institutional and technical prerequisites that developing economies typically lack. The findings show that while offshore money markets can reduce US dollar dependency in areas such as trade invoicing that do not depend on currency delivery, increasing the offshore holdings of RMB is more challenging. The reasons for this are to be found in the way the governance, geographic and credit generating limitations of state settlement banks reinforce the constraints imposed by the uncovered liability problem. The findings distinguish the historical evolution of the RMB's offshore use from other offshore markets and reinforce the impossibility of separating issues related to trade infrastructures from those related to the structure of the international financial system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gender norms, roles and relations differentially affect women, men, and non-binary individuals' vulnerability to disease. Outbreak response measures also have immediate and long-term gendered effects. However, gender-based analysis of outbreaks and responses is limited by lack of data and little integration of feminist analysis within global health scholarship. Recognising these barriers, this paper applies a gender matrix methodology, grounded in feminist political economy approaches, to evaluate the gendered effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and response in four case studies: China, Hong Kong, Canada, and the UK. Through a rapid scoping of documentation of the gendered effects of the outbreak, it applies the matrix framework to analyse findings, identifying common themes across the case studies: financial discrimination, crisis in care, and unequal risks and secondary effects. Results point to transnational structural conditions which put women on the front lines of the pandemic at work and at home while denying them health, economic and personal security – effects that are exacerbated where racism and other forms of discrimination intersect with gender inequities. Given that women and people living at the intersections of multiple inequities are made additionally vulnerable by pandemic responses, intersectional feminist responses should be prioritised at the beginning of any crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the proceedings of the 9th meeting of the International Clinical Phonetics and Linguistics Association held in Hong Kong, China in 2002. Topics; Participants; Publication of papers and articles.

Divining the future of development, not least of all of China, from Hong Kong has long been fraught. Taking up Jamie Peck's call for 'conjunctural theorizing' that destabilizes idealizations of the state and market, through examples drawn from the Pearl River Delta, this paper explores how the colonial and contemporary accumulation of political power and financial capital by wealthy individuals, families and their corporations renders divisions between the two institutions superficial. It then considers the local and global geopolitical effects of Hong Kong's transformation into an entrepôt for international trade and, more recently, offshore wealth – increasingly from Mainland China, a dynamic which will again reshape state–market relations. These reflections support Peck's demonstration of the productive possibilities of starting rather than ending theory from cases such as Hong Kong. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents a critique of persistent tendencies in (macro)economic theorizing to draw binary distinctions between states and markets, and between liberal-market capitalism and its (more statist) others. Against this dichotomous perspective, a case is made for conjuncturally sited investigations of reconfigured capitalisms and recombinant economic forms. The ambitious scheme to construct a 'Greater Bay Area' (GBA) in China's Pearl River Delta, with its inchoate remit to transcend the two-systems divide between 'free market' Hong Kong and the 'state capitalism' of the mainland, is taken as a case in point. The GBA scheme entails the construction of a new political economic scale, imagined as a developmental horizon and as a space for experimentation in economic statecraft. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the accelerated opening up of China's financial sector, international investors have increasingly become a key investment group. To describe the international investor sentiment towards Chinese stock assets, we select sentiment proxies from the transaction data in the China A-share market, the Hong Kong stock market, and the US market and aggregate the information from four proxies by principal component analysis. We propose this newly synthesized index as the International Investor Sentiment Composite Index for the Chinese stock market. The results show that international investor sentiment has significant predictive power for the future returns of the Chinese stock market. We also find that international investor sentiment has asymmetric prediction characteristics, and negative international investor sentiment has a more significant impact on stock returns than positive investor sentiment. Furthermore, using the copula model, we show that there is an asymmetric tail correlation between the International Investor Sentiment Index and future market returns, and international investor sentiment also has an early warning label effect on the extreme market conditions. Therefore, this paper will extend the existing literature about the role of international investor sentiment on asset prices on a global scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Young people across many societies face growing problems in making the transition from the parental home to independent living. Rising house prices and the lack of affordable alternatives to home ownership is most commonly blamed. This paper explores these issues in relation to young people in Hong Kong. The paper argues that the housing question in Hong Kong has distinct local characteristics and cannot be disconnected from wider political and economic tensions. It also shows that the housing choices and views of young people are shaped by more than issues of cost and access. The paper draws on a unique data-set which explores the attitudes and expectations with regard to housing among young people in Hong Kong. Addressing the housing problem is widely regarded as a political priority and essential to maintain social cohesion. However, political imperatives and economic interests are pulling in different directions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Though there has been an increased focus on climate change in Hong Kong's educational policy and curriculum over the last decade, little is known about the impact of curricular implementation on young people's environmental and climate change-related views, attitudes, awareness, or behaviors. This paper examines the state of climate change education in Hong Kong based on findings from a multi-pronged investigation. The main research questions addressed are: (1) what are Hong Kong secondary students’ understandings of and attitudes towards climate change issues? and (2) is there any significant difference between students studying in local and international schools in Hong Kong? The paper provides a content analysis of climate change curriculum in local and international schools. It reports on a large-scale survey of international and local school students’ environmental attitudes, and on qualitative interviews of their awareness and behaviors related to climate change. We conclude with reflections on the implications of this study for climate change education in Hong Kong in the future and vital areas for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the Q method with a Hong Kong dataset, this paper identifies four types of expert advisors in a hybrid regime. These four types have shared and distinct preferences for managing tensions between scientific knowledge and value/interests, between scientific and layperson' knowledge, and the different preferences of policymakers, citizens, and experts. Their degrees of involvement in policymaking and varied strategies to influence policymaking reflect the features of the hybrid regime. The findings provide useful lessons for expert advisors to manage tensions between science and politics over contested issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historical texts have much to offer young researchers in Hong Kong and Mainland China. Yet, many students feel that such resources are of no value to them. Consequently, academic library usage rates for historical East Asian texts are low, and continue to drop. In Hong Kong and Mainland China, however, there still remains a widespread appreciation of Chinese calligraphy. Through leveraging this interest, academic libraries in East Asia can motivate university students to engage with historical texts and discover what they have to offer. This paper will recount and reflect upon the Calligraphy Connections Project, an initiative aimed at getting students to engage with historical East Asian texts through the creation of calligraphy artworks, which were subsequently exhibited to the public. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper makes a parallel reading of two recent urban protest movements: the 2013 Istanbul Gezi Park Movement (GPM) and the 2014 Hong Kong Umbrella Movement (UM). As regional centers at both ends of Asia, Istanbul and Hong Kong might at fırst sight appear to be incongruent cities for comparison. Istanbul’s recent past has been defined by contrasting opinions about the city’s post-imperial identity, while Hong Kong’s recent past has been shaped by competing visions around the city’s post-colonial status. Directing attention to the striking parallels between the GPM and UM in terms of the nature of the events themselves, the profile of the participants and opponents, the government response that they received, and the cultural sensitivities concerning the questions of belonging and identity that they rekindled, the paper argues that comparative studies of the new urban protest movements would provide significant insights for discerning the dynamics of emerging illiberal democracies across the world. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper seeks to question what impact education vouchers have on the process of school choice. The context examined in the paper is the Pre-primary Education Voucher Scheme (‘Voucher Scheme’) introduced in 2007 in Hong Kong. Using a Straussian grounded theory method, data collected from 40 parent interviews are coded, analysed and developed into categories. The paper analytically situates the findings within a model, derived from the data, which is based on two properties:orientation and time.Orientation differentiates and emphasises the significance of choice factors in relation to the school versus the family, andtimeis related to focus on the present versus the future. The paper subsequently presents the data related to these properties and reflects on the intricate dynamic of parents’ school choice decisions under the Voucher Scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A central issue in the class size debate is that while cutting class size might lead to improved teaching and learning, it is also possible that it may not if teachers do not seek to exploit the advantages of a smaller class size through an alternative pedagogy. Research suggests that teachers do not change their pedagogy when moving from large classes to smaller ones. This paper focuses on pedagogical practices in large and reduced-size secondary school classes where the teacher is the same in both contexts; a research design that has not been employed in previous class size studies. The paper explores the relationships between class size and the pedagogical practices adopted by four experienced teachers in Hong Kong who are each responsible for one large and one reduced-size English language class of the same grade level. Drawing on mostly qualitative data, this study’s findings show that teachersdidvary their teaching from one class to another with important differences noted in teacher–student interaction patterns, classroom organisation, the establishment of classroom rules and the teacher’s use of humour. At the same time, interview data reveal that teachers could not always explain or theorise their pedagogical decisions. Implications for professional practice are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong in 2014, which was the city's largest scale civil disobedience movement, was first initiated by two university professors and a Baptist Reverend. They advocated the use of non-violent civil disobedience to fight for universal suffrage and genuine election of the Chief Executive in Hong Kong. Though the Umbrella Movement did not end up in successfully changing the electoral system of Hong Kong, its impact on students, academics and the civil society was far beyond the few months of occupation. At the same time, activist scholars had to pay the price for their political activism outside the academia. This paper reflects on the experience of activist scholars in the Umbrella Movement, evaluates their roles in pursuing social change, the challenges they faced, and their impact on students, the academia, and the civil society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the concerns of residents in Hong Kong, China over nuclear plant safety as a neighboring Chinese nuclear power plant nears completion. But it is difficult to separate their worries about nuclear plant safety from their fears about Hong Kong's political future. Less than 50 miles from Hong Kong, China's Daya Bay nuclear power station in Guangdong province is a showpiece development. Others may have lingering fears of Chernobyl: Chinese energy planners do not. In August 1986, Jiang Xinxiong, then China's minister of nuclear industry, rejected a petition reportedly signed by one million people in Hong Kong protesting the construction at Daya Bay. The 3.5 billion dollar Daya Bay project is a joint venture between a specially created subsidiary of China's Ministry of Nuclear Industry, the Guangdong Joint Venture Nuclear Power Company, and Hong Kong's China Power and Light Corporation. Chinese officials often emphasize their devotion to safety, but also reaffirm their nation's commitment to nuclear power. In April 1991, in their most recent effort to ease concerns, the Chinese government agreed to install a sand filtration system at the site to control leakage of radioactive hydrogen in the event of an accident. Technical difficulties and fear of a devastating earthquake aside, Hong Kong's worries about Daya Bay may be less technical and more psychological in nature.

This paper seeks to question what impact education vouchers have on the process of school choice. The context examined in the paper is the Pre-primary Education Voucher Scheme (‘Voucher Scheme’) introduced in 2007 in Hong Kong. Using a Straussian grounded theory method, data collected from 40 parent interviews are coded, analysed and developed into categories. The paper analytically situates the findings within a model, derived from the data, which is based on two properties:orientationandtime.Orientationdifferentiates and emphasises the significance of choice factors in relation to the school versus the family, andtimeis related to focus on the present versus the future. The paper subsequently presents the data related to these properties and reflects on the intricate dynamic of parents’ school choice decisions under the Voucher Scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Cities have increasingly become the focal point for climate change initiatives. However, how cities respond to climate change challenges and through what mechanisms have remained largely unexplored. This paper develops a framework for local governance to examine and explain climate change initiatives in cities. Based on the analysis of 20 climate change initiatives in major cities and a detailed case study of Hong Kong, this paper has two main findings. First, local governments at the city level have an important role to play in climate change policies by embracing some key strategies (such as deliberation and partnership) and values (such as equity and legitimacy) of good governance. Second, by comparing and contrasting the experience in other cities, our case study of Hong Kong provides insights about the barriers that may limit a city's ability to adapt to new forms of governance that would enable it to better respond to climate change. The paper concludes by exploring the potential role of local governance as a model to strengthen climate change initiatives at the city level. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Harsh levels of social inequality stunt social mobility and progress towards equality of opportunity in Hong Kong. There are also strong connections between levels of social inequality and educational attainment in this “global city”. This paper seeks to contribute to the important body of work on equality studies and attainment research by examining two inter-connected aspects of educational inequality in higher education in Hong Kong: first, the relative shortage of degree places available for local students at local universities, and second, the relatively strong correlation between income and educational attainment across the districts in Hong Kong. It adopts a discursive sociocultural approach in examining, and commenting on, both the context and statistical trajectory of post-secondary education in Hong Kong. The paper also assesses government initiatives that claim to encourage higher levels of post-secondary participation, in particular through the rapid development of self-financed sub-degree programmes. A secondary argument discusses how university rankings criteria have a deleterious effect on the commitment to promote mass higher education, especially in terms of participation rates at publicly-funded full-time degree programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Student teachers' learning in the field experience is seen as being at the heart of their professional training in initial teacher education. This paper reports a qualitative case study of preservice student teachers' learning experiences in school placements in Hong Kong. A multi-case study was conducted in a concurrent teacher education programme for secondary school teachers, with the examination of seven student teachers' professional learning journeys over two years. Methods of data collection included interview, field observation, document analysis and audio-recording of supervisory conferences. Progressive focusing characterized the research process. Student teachers' professional learning is conceptualized as learning how to frame teaching situations. By exploring pre-training influences, the teacher education programme and the student teaching context, the paper seeks to examine the dynamics and complexity of learning how to frame teaching situations. It develops an integrated framework for understanding student teachers' professional learning as the dynamic interaction of the teaching self, knowledge construction in the teaching repertoire and the framing process. This framework can be used as an analytical tool for understanding the dynamics and complexities of student teachers' professional learning and exploring the contribution of coursework and fieldwork to such learning in initial teacher education. The findings of the study reveal that the strength of the teaching self, the richness of the teaching repertoire and the appropriate mix of challenge and support in the student teaching context are important variables that constitute student teachers' productive learning experiences. Implications for practices in initial teacher education are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While much media and scholarly attention has been paid to the growing tension between Hong Kong people and Indonesian foreign domestic workers, the underlying reasons of cultural difference are largely ignored as an explanation for the challenges Indonesian domestic workers face in Hong Kong. Most often, Islam is one of the primary cultural differences that Hong Kong people overlook. This paper begins with an overview of the significance of Indonesian Muslim foreign domestic workers in Hong Kong society and the domestic sphere. Then, the paper suggests that the Indonesian Muslim domestic helpers have been politically weak, struggling and accommodating to the mainstream Chinese culture. Generally speaking, Indonesian Muslim domestic workers in Hong Kong have been powerless under the global labor market and the local socio-cultural forces of Chinese society. Nevertheless, there has been an emerging visibility of Islam through their re-assertion of Islamic piety in Hong Kong everyday life via, for example, veiling, practicing daily prayer, and seeking to follow ahalaldiet. Visibility, however, does not mean accommodation and understanding. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In response to the early Education Reform Proposal's recommendation to provide more diverse opportunities for lifelong learning at the senior secondary level and beyond, there has been a considerable expansion in the post-secondary education sector – Professional and Vocational Education (PVE) – in Hong Kong over the past ten years. The curriculum intention underlying these PVE programmes is straightforward: to equip youth with the necessary knowledge and skills to face future work challenges and continue their studies. However, this ideal is being challenged with regard to the extent to which students are ‘culturally literate'. This paper reports 214 Hong Kong PVE students' views about how important it is for people to possess the knowledge and skills for cultural literacy, and how well they think they are performing in relation to the corresponding indicators. Supported by qualitative interviews, the results indicated that the proposed eight constructs are critical to understanding cultural literacy in the Hong Kong PVE context. Also, while students agreed that these sets of knowledge and skills were important, they were not performing them well. A paired samples t-test suggested a significant difference between their perceptions and performance, and large values of Cohen'sdconfirmed the size of the effect was medium to large. Among the measured eight constructs, nurturing students for ‘social and civic responsibility' was found to be critical. This paper will contribute to the discussion about how to better position the PVE curriculum in Hong Kong to nurture students' cultural literacy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

For stocks traded on the Hong Kong Exchange, the median of five prices taken over the last minute of trading is currently chosen as the closing price. We introduce a stochastic control formulation to target such a median benchmark in an empirically justified model which takes the key microstructural features into account. We solve this problem by providing an explicit and efficient algorithm which even has applications beyond this paper as it can be used for the dynamic linear approximation of any square-integrable random variable. Implementing the algorithm on the stocks of the Hang Seng Index, we find an average improvement of around 6% in standard deviation of slippage compared to an average trader’s execution. We conclude by providing a novel decomposition of the trading risk into that which is intrinsic to the median benchmark and that due to execution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This short paper identifies from archival and published materials plans for a place called Kowloon City which had an Imperial Chinese military purpose and is now a public park (officially called ‘Kowloon Walled City Park’) after a long period of dispute over its jurisdiction. These plans were mostly produced by the colonial Hong Kong government that made the first planned attempt to clear the place of Chinese residents for a public garden in the 1930s, but this garden could only be built after the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration. They testified to the fact that the City has always been planned. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper examines occupational attainment of Chinese immigrants in Hong Kong by comparing immigrants from Guangdong province with people who stayed in Guangdong and Hong Kong natives. Taking advantage of comparable data from the Hong Kong Panel Study of Social Dynamics (HKPSSD) and the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), we find that Chinese immigrants have significantly lower occupational attainment, measured by International Socioeconomic Index (ISEI), than their counterparts in both the origin and the destination. We further examine whether immigrants’ occupational attainment differs by mode of migration and age at arrival. Results show that disadvantages exist for documented immigrants and those who arrived in Hong Kong at age 13 or older, whereas undocumented immigrants and those who arrived younger than 13 do not differ significantly from either Guangdong stayers or Hong Kong natives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of the dynamic finite element analysis of the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau immersed tunnel, conducted to study the effects of the random soil properties and the wave passage effect. According to the results of the free-field analysis, it was found that the wave passage effect could decrease peak ground acceleration (PGA) and causes a time lag in wave arrivals. Conversely, the random soil properties enlarge PGA sharply. The ‘low-frequency amplification, high-frequency filter’ phenomenon also occurs. The results of the structural dynamic analysis indicate that the soil properties and the wave passage effect have a significant influence on dynamic responses of the immersed tunnel. Although random soil properties only alter bending moments slightly, it can enlarge axial forces by up to 230% and the deformations of Gina gaskets. The wave passage can increase bending moments, Gina gaskets deformations and especially axial forces. The inertial force is the main cause for the sharp increases in axial forces. The combined effects of the random soil properties and the wave passage effect are remarkable. In some cases, Gina gasket deformations will exceed their upper and lower limits of compression, raising the possibility of joint failure and leakage. Thus, it is necessary to consider the influences of the random soil properties and the wave passage effect when conducting a practical seismic design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information and communication technology (ICT) in construction facilitates integrated work processes, but low user acceptance of the technology can be a hindrance to its implementation. This paper examines individual’s ICT adoption from the person-environment (P-E) perspective with respect to person-culture fit and person-task fit. An exploratory study with a questionnaire was conducted primarily in the Hong Kong construction industry with 113 valid responses to examine if person-culture fit and person-task fit are contributory to an individual’s intention to adopt ICT, how person-task fit relates to organizational and personal variables, and which ICT type has the best person-task fit. It was found that person-task fit predicts an individual’s ICT adoption but person-culture fit does not. Person-task fit is related to the person’s age, employment level and the ICT adoption period (especially within the first five years) in the company. Person-task fit does not differ significantly amongst the different construction participant groups (contractors, consultants, and owners). The person-task fit of building information modeling ranks the lowest and is significantly lower than the procurement information packages with the highest person-task fit. It is suggested that the person-task-technology interaction models be taken into account in future research to refine the investigation of the role of the ‘person’ in ICT adoption. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper addresses the current political predicament in Hong Kong. However, rather than offering a casual political commentary on the current state of identity politics of Hong Kong, it offers a critical and historical evaluation of the ideas and practices of ‘Reunion in Democracy’ in the past decades. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The integration of children with disabilities in mainstream early childhood settings is a common practice in many developed and developing countries world-wide. A number of key points have been raised concerning such integration, including the increased attention to civil education about the rights of persons with disabilities, training for teachers, and close communication between the government and the mainstream schools. This paper presents a qualitative study of these critical issues in the context of integrated early childhood centres in Hong Kong. These centres operate under an integration policy inherited from the British colonial period. This policy lies within the larger philosophical context of Confucianism with its commitment to excellence, which makes for an intensely competitive schooling environment. Thus, the story presented in this paper is a collection of multiple perspectives of parents with and without children with disabilities, teachers, and school principals on the topic of integration. Looking at the bigger picture, we argue that rather than simply inheriting a policy that is prone to bureaucratic machinations, the policy must be adopted and owned within the local settings if it is to work properly. The implications of this study resonate with integrated education in settings that may be very different from the ones described herein. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Around the world, increasing numbers of students receive after-school private supplementary tutoring. Such tutoring may be provided through informal channels or by companies, and it may be received one-to-one, in small groups or in large classes. The tutoring is commonly called shadow education since its content mimics that of regular schooling. The spread of shadow education is part of a global shift of balance with increased roles for the private sector. Hong Kong is among the societies in which shadow education enrolment rates are particularly high. Much of the shadow education focuses on techniques for performance in external examinations, and is not consistent with the emphases stressed by teachers and the government. This paper focuses on a newly introduced subject called Liberal Studies in which the tensions are especially visible. Although the official curriculum emphasizes creativity and critical thinking, many students have sought large-class tutoring focused on formulae for passing examinations. Interviews exposed the needs that the students felt were not being met in their schooling. The findings illustrate some of the complexities in relationships between the public and private sectors. Viewed in a wider context, the paper illuminates some of the mechanisms and effects of marketization, which are increasingly evident globally. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The growth and resilience of Hong Kong's public rental sector has occurred in the context of an apparent guiding political ethos of minimal and reluctant intervention. This paper offers an account of why this has occurred. A brief account of economic change and housing policy development over the last three decades is followed by an analysis of changes in the social role and social composition of the tenure. This discussion is complemented by some new data on current popular attitudes towards public rental housing in Hong Kong. The paper then explores various theoretical perspectives to provide an explanation of why it has remained as a substantial part of Hong Kong's housing system and points to the key drivers that will shape its future role and trajectory. The empirical data are drawn mainly from an analysis of five waves of the census and a survey of 3000 adults across all housing sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As teacher educators, preparing student–teachers who are able to address diverse student needs is our main concern. It has been suggested in the literature that teachers who are adaptive to students’ needs are those who possess adequate pedagogical content knowledge or pedagogical understanding. However, it is not uncommon for teacher educators to find student–teachers with diverse pedagogical understandings even at the point of graduation from the teacher education programme. This paper aims to explain and analyse the development of pedagogical understanding among student–teachers in an initial teacher education programme. The findings are drawn from a study conducted at the Hong Kong Institute of Education where in-depth interviews were carried out during the four-year programme. The findings from the three selected cases provide an explanation for why some individual student–teachers show continuous development, whereas others remain confused in their pedagogical understanding throughout the teacher education programme. While acknowledging individual differences in pedagogical understanding, we attempt to explain such differences by investigating the relationship between different dimensions of the student–teachers’ learning such as the integration of pedagogical understanding with the teaching contexts, integration of feedback from lecturers and supporting teachers, and their focus of concern. The findings reveal that the three cases demonstrate different levels of pedagogical understanding and possess varying ‘senses of agency’. Of the three cases, the first one, Peggy has the strongest sense of agency. Despite influences related to classroom management, diverse learning ability among pupils, and the teaching methods which pupils were accustomed to previously, she actively introduced rhythmic movements into her lessons, developed pupils’ ability to learn gradually and achieved an impact on pupils’ learning which was also recognized by her supporting teacher. The analysis suggests that the second case, Lilian has a weaker sense of agency as she was severely limited by influences in the teaching context in her first teaching practice and resorted to teacher-centered teaching strategies. She improved later on in the programme and started to plan her own learning, drawing on the feedback she received as well as learning from other taught modules, from feedback from various sources, and from her pupils’ responses to her teaching and her own evaluation of her teaching. The third case, Stephanie remained confused throughout the programme and struggled with the implementation of student-centered teaching strategies. The ability to practice one’s own convictions and demonstrate an active sense of agency distinguishes the student–teacher who achieves better pedagogical understanding. Drawing on the findings, the paper concludes that it is crucial for teacher educators to identify ways to nurture a sense of agency among student–teachers. Implications for teacher education programmes are discussed, including providing opportunities for student–teachers to be able to articulate and integrate their pedagogical understandings, as well as negotiate how to accomplish their learning and teaching targets despite complex classroom situations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper reports on an exploratory inquiry into the perceptions of a group of second language (L2) learners of English with regard to their identities in English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) communication contexts. Drawing upon data gathered from two rounds of in-depth interviews with nine participants from a Hong Kong university, the study found that these L2 learners displayed different degrees of affiliations with their local and global identities in ELF communication. While some participants expressed their preference to foreground either their local or global identities, some other participants reconciled their local and global identities and embraced their hybrid, glocal identities in ELF communication. The analysis suggests that ELF communication could offer a myriad of identity options for L2 learners and give rise to hybrid linguistic practices in their L2. Finally, the paper points to the need to acknowledge the role of individuality in identity construction in ELF settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses some fundamental methodological and ethical issues confronting non-Chinese researchers undertaking research in Hong Kong Chinese society. Among other things, it considers problems pertaining to data collection, the challenges of data interpretation, and the implication that this has for research. Whilst the issues are by no means unique to Hong Kong, there are a number of matters related to outsider research that require special attention in the Hong Kong Chinese context, even when the researchers may be acquainted with both the context and the participants. Understanding the context of research, including the socio-cultural context of which the research participants are a part leads to an enhanced understanding of the issues at hand. This paper intends to serve as an overview that may guide future research in Hong Kong. Issues raised in this paper will need re-theorizing in order to provide a more realistic and comprehensive view of the need to re-examine the paradigms that guide research methodology in Confucian societies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Drawing upon a project on British transnational education (TNE) programmes offered in Hong Kong, this paper interrogates the capacity development impact of TNE on the students, the Hong Kong Government and the programme providers. It addresses the questions: ‘What capacity is being developed in TNE operations?’ and ‘For whom?’ Our findings reveal multiple capacities at play. As TNE has been traded between British and Hong Kong universities and facilitated by the Hong Kong Government'slaissez-fairedoctrine, as a commodity in the neoliberal trade-in-education regime, students' interests are often sidelined. This paper calls for a critical reflection on this TNE model. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper attempts to identify the leadership practices and qualities of school principals engaged in implementing a curriculum reform in Hong Kong. Based on interview data of school principals, this paper shows that the types of instructional leadership practices that school principals adopt and the contextual conditions in which these practices occur are key factors explaining the differential effectiveness of implementation efforts. Six efficacious instructional leadership practices and two contextual conditions critical to their development were identified. This paper reconceptualises instructional leadership as a collective and transformational endeavour, functioning in communities of practice to support school development at different levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A rare open fire event in Hong Kong between police officers resulted in the death of two constables and sparked intense media interest about what caused the incident. At the request of the Hong Kong Police the author helped review the investigation of this intra-police homicide. After a coronial inquest two earlier homicides were also linked to the shooting and subsequently resolved. Through this unusual case this paper explores how efforts to reduce uncertainty help clarify the limits of forensic and behavioural analysis. Uncertainty over motivations and the mental health of the suspect led to different psychiatric, psychological, behavioural profiling and criminological explanations of this complex event. This case study compares the different approaches to uncertainty in the expert opinion offered by these disciplines. The paper concludes by advocating the explicit recognition of uncertainty as a means of advancing an investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to analyze the leadership of Chief Executive C.Y. Leung who took office to govern Hong Kong in July 2012 under China's political framework of “One Country, Two Systems.” As Hong Kong enters into a new period of politics in the process of democratization, there are several major political tasks that the Hong Kong chief executive must handle. These include the search for a consensus on the methods of electing the chief executive in 2017 on the basis of universal suffrage; the response to the call for reforming the Legislative Council in 2016 to prepare for the election of the whole Legislative Council through direct election in 2020; the resolution of conflicts between China and Hong Kong. It is therefore significant and timely to evaluate Leung's leadership so as to project Hong Kong's political development in the remaining four years under his leadership. This paper argues that Leung's leadership stresses “incremental development” based on the status quo, a “reflector model” of governance, “transactional mediation,” and a “role-determined leadership.” In the context of the existing Beijing–Hong Kong power relationship and Leung's conservative political outlook, it is a matter of doubt whether Leung's leadership can effectively withstand the political challenges ahead. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper studies the dynamic relationships between GDP, residential property prices, and stock prices in Hong Kong. The study is interesting because most people put their wealth into these two markets. We find that there are long-run feedback effects between the two asset markets, providing evidence of wealth and credit-price effects in Hong Kong. There are also long-run, bi-directional causal links between real GDP and real asset prices. Hence, real asset prices can drive long-run economic growth and vice versa. Finally, the paper discusses what policy lessons can be drawn from the empirical analyses that have been undertaken. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The integration of popular culture into English language learning has recently been formalised in the Hong Kong New Senior Secondary curriculum, with the development of critical reading indicated as one of the key objectives. Whether and how students respond to popular culture texts is, however, under-researched. The present paper reports findings from a study that investigated how a group of 33 senior secondary (Grade 11) students from three schools representing different levels of academic performance in Hong Kong conducted reading of an authentic print English advertisement. In small groups, the students articulated in Cantonese, their first language, an analysis of the text including its purpose, target audience, and intended impacts. Insights from Stuart Hall’s three major decoder positions (dominant reading, oppositional reading, and negotiated reading) were drawn on to conduct a qualitative content analysis of the students’ reading. The findings showed that three-quarters of the students irrespective of their English proficiency levels displayed evidence of critical consumption of the text, but many seemed to have constructed oppositional or negotiated reading positions due to their failure to appreciate linguistic creativity, and spontaneous evaluation of the visual images. The authors argue that language curricula in schools should strengthen students’ critical multimodal literacies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Social diversity is now commonplace in many communities in today’s globalised world. This diversity can be seen in any classroom of learners, and international studies have shown the complex ways in which disabilities, race, ethnicity, gender and social class can determine a child’s opportunity to succeed or fail in the education system. In Hong Kong, like in many educational contexts around the world, teachers are grappling with increasing diversity amongst their students, including teaching students with special educational needs (SEN) and non-Chinese speaking students (NCS) living in Hong Kong. This paper examines how three primary TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) teachers are constructing identities as inclusive practitioners as they grapple with enacting the inclusive education policy recently introduced into Hong Kong schools. The data are drawn from a small-scale collaborative reflective inquiry for teacher professional development. Drawing upon a sociocultural and critical framing of identity theory, we trace the three teachers’ identity construction as EFL teachers and inclusive education practitioners. We view the role of discourse, self-positioning and social context as key processes in teacher identity formation. Implications for furthering the development of inclusive education in EFL classrooms are offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through an examination of the Mainland Travel Permit for Hong Kong and Macau Residents, this paper argues that there is a disjuncture between the idea of home and citizenship for mobile Chinese subjects and that this disjuncture reveals the crucial and constant work of defining non-citizens in order to safeguard citizenship. That is, non-citizens are essential for the definition of citizenship. Non-citizens are not simply there, as refugees, migrants, or stateless people. Rather, the state must engage in constant project of defining them through a process that I identify as mass capture. I develop the concept of mass capture by engaging with Agre’s work differentiating surveillance from capture. Agre’s insistence upon capture as a process that has a grammar, and thus a process that demands the intricacies of reading, allows for a way of understanding the state’s large-scale collection of personal data in terms that take up surveillance as a logic of legibility. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Market reforms and the relaxation of rules governing inbound investment have contributed to the growth of foreign investment in Chinese real estate. Although the property sector remains one of the most tightly regulated, property developers from Greater China have enjoyed relative success in the mainland market. Conventional explanations of such investment outcomes have often drawn attention to economic complementaries and cultural proximities. By tracing the development of Hong Kong investment in China's real estate from the late 1970s to the present, this paper demonstrates the importance of considering (geo)politics at both the national and ground levels in analysing bilateral economic relations. The geopolitical prerogatives of national sovereignty structure economic interactions between the Chinese state and the Special Administrative Region, while popular politics from the ground level up interacts with state-level geopolitics to affect and change policy outcomes. The shifting dynamics demonstrate that the cultural meaning and value of foreign capital are not static or fixed but rather open to continuous re-negotiation and contestation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]