What’s it like to Participate in a Hong Kong March ?

Photostory

What are Functional Constituencies?

Showdown Set for May 2010: The “Five Districts Referendum”

Hong Kong’s Bumpy Road to Universal Suffrage

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Protest organisers estimated that 30,000 people took part in the march (the police estimate was 4,600).

Hong Kong is known as a city where freedom of speech is protected and the rule of law is upheld but only half of the city’s lawmakers are voted for by the electorate — the former British colony is not yet a “full democracy”.

Half of Hong Kong’s lawmakers are elected by members of “functional constituencies” (see below), who represent various interest groups. The chief executive is selected by a committee known to be generally pro-Beijing.

Many of the city’s pro-democracy advocates call for full universal suffrage by 2012.

Beijing has indicated that the election of Hong Kong’s leader and legislature may be possible in 2017 and 2020 respectively. But these dates are not guaranteed.

A political reform package unveiled in November 2009 disappointed pro-democracy groups, as it put forward proposals to increase the sizes of the legislature and the chief executive election committee, rather than steps towards universal suffrage (see the “Timeline to Democracy” below).

Watch video footage of the march, featuring brief narrated background information

View a photostory of the march, featuring portraits of individual participants, snaps of prominent Hong Kong political leaders and Hong Kong police out to keep the peace

The marchers also protested against the 11-year sentence of Liu Xiaobo, a key drafter of a manifesto called Charter 08, which calls for mainland democratic reform. The sentence was handed down on Christmas Day, 2009. Beijing found Liu to be guilty of subversion.

The below depicts the two types of constituencies represented in Hong Kong’s Legislative Council, the number of lawmaker seats in each, and information on the numbers of voters who can vote for each type of constituency

• Functional constituencies are made up of individuals and entities that represent particular interest groups (see list on left).

• Some of the smallest ones – such as Transport and Insurance – have less than 200 members each.

• Functional constituencies allow a relatively small percentage of voters to elect half of the city’s lawmakers.

• Voters who are members of functional constituencies effectively have more than one vote.

On 26 January, 2010, five lawmakers from the Civic Party and the League of Social Democrats resigned from their respective seats. The resignations have triggered a  controversial Legislative Council by-election, which will be held on 16 May 2010.

The by-election, dubbed the “five districts referendum” by its supporters, is intended to provide Hong Kong citizens a chance to show their support for universal suffrage by re-electing the members who have resigned at the upcoming by-election.

Official referendums (which allow for voters to accept or reject particular proposals) are not provided for under Hong Kong’s Basic Law (see more on the Basic Law below).

The lawmakers who resigned are:

• Tanya Chan Suk-Chong (Civic Party)
• Alan Leong Kah-kit (Civic Party)
• Raymond “Mad Dog” Wong Yuk-man (League of Social Democrats)
• Albert Chan Wai-yip (League of Social Democrats)
• “Long Hair” Leung Kwok-hung (League of Social Democrats)

Members of pro-Beijing parties in Hong Kong have indicated their opposition to the plan (the chairman of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong called it a “waste of taxpayers’ money”).

The controversial move has fueled further debate about how and when universal suffrage in the city is to be achieved.

Hong Kong’s Basic Law, which came into effect on on 1 July 1997, when sovereignty over the former British colony reverted to China, serves as the territory’s constitutional document.

It provides that the “ultimate aim” is that all members of the Legislative Council and the chief executive will be elected by universal suffrage. However, it does not set out when this is to be achieved.

Early elections to the Legislative Council were “indirect”, whereby members were appointed by council members, electoral colleges and functional constituencies.

The first direct elections for some seats were held in 1991. See the below timeline for further details on major political events relating to Hong Kong’s steps towards universal suffrage. Please note the following tips for viewing the below:

• Move the sliding bar on the left up to change to zoom setting of “5 years” to view all events

• Click on the events below for more details and links to original documents (such as Hong Kong’s Basic Law promulgated in 1990, and the political reform package proposed by the Hong Kong government in November 2009)

Oyang Ping Chi – Artist of the Underworld

“I sell goods for the dead,” said 32-year-old Ping Chi, “You see, each family spends from a few hundred to tens of thousands of Hong Kong dollars on these paper offerings. And the next day, they just burn everything up.”

Oyang and his first modern paper offering – scooter

Fewer young people are interested in this ancient tradition.“Most young people in Hong Kong are well educated,” he said. “They have bigger dreams than playing with bamboo and wrinkled papers all the time.” But Oyang is dedicating his energy in promoting this traditional craft. And he does it the most innovative way. When children’s scooters were a hit a few years back, Ping Chi made one using bamboo and paper. He hung the paper scooter outside the shop and within three days it was sold to a young mother who had just lost her son. With gratitude, she bought the scooter without even bargaining. Ping Chi’s first experiment was rewarded with HK$300.

After the discovery of the business opportunity, he started making more modern paper offerings: Macintosh computers, digital cameras, Sony Aibo electronic dogs, video game machines, basketballs, and even sushi. Local newspapers dubbed him an “artist of the afterworld”. As news spread, orders came in from both young and old customers, asking for very specific paper offerings. Fans of the local rock band Beyond ordered an electric guitar for the late lead singer Wong Ka Kui. One customer ordered a parrot for his bird-loving dead friend. “There’s a potential market for artistic and trendy paper offerings” – Oyang Ping Chi Ping Chi has decided to dedicate his energy and time to updating and perhaps even saving this traditional craft by combining it with modern ideas. He plans to open an online paper offering shop this year to attract more business.

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Po Wah – The Oldest Paper Offering Shop in Hong Kong

Making paper offerings is now a sun-set industry in Hong Kong. But it used to be quite prosperous. Po Wah Paper Offering, the oldest paper offering shop in Hong Kong has witnessed the ups and downs of this trade.

Po Wah Paper Offering in a larger map

Oyang Wai Kin in his Po Wah paper offering shop.

Oyang Wai Kin, Oyang Ping Chi’s father, fled to Hong Kong from neighboring Guangdong province during the Chinese civil war in the 1940s. He started out as an apprentice in a relative’s paper offering shop. Later he founded his own shop, Po Wah Paper Offerings, which now has a history of almost half a century. At the age of 73, Wai Kin still sits in the shop everyday, overseeing the work of his son. “The dragon heads and lion heads we made, used to be exported to the United States.” – Oyang Wai Kin

(Please turn on the soundslide caption to view English subtitles.)

The Tradition in Hong Kong

Burning paper offerings – replicas of money and various everyday items – to commemorate the dead has long been a Chinese tradition.The Chinese believe their dead relatives can receive and use the items in the afterworld. Chinese people buy and burn paper offerings on important days. Such as the Tomb Sweeping Festival, Ghost Festival, Double Ninth Festival, Chinese New Year and other traditional holidays.

But in China, no one does it better than the Hongkongers.The ancient tradition is preserved well in this financial center. Not having undergone communist doctrine and the rampage of the Cultural Revolution, Hong Kong people have been better able than their mainland counterparts to preserve many traditional Chinese customs. The city where “the East meets the West” is in many ways more “Chinese” than China.

The tradition of burning paper offering is taken seriously in this modern economic metropolis.And a lot of money attests to this.On a typical day, Po Wah Paper Offerings has a daily turnover of around HK$5,000 HKD, which triples during busy seasons. There are 227 registered paper offering retailer shops like this in Hong Kong, according to Hong Kong Paper Offering Workers’ Union. Chen Kiang, chairman of this union, estimates that at least 500 million HKD are spent on paper offerings each year by Hongkongers in total.

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Facing Threat

As less and less young people are interested in learning the craft of making paperofferings and more and many turn to the mainland to buy the paper offering products, Hong Kong’s paper offering industry is facing threat.

The paper offering shops in Hong Kong are now facing the problem of recruiting young apprentice. Very few young people are interested or even paying attention to this tradition.

According to the Paper Offering Workers’ Union, the number of paper offering craftsmen in Hong Kong has dropped in the last 30 years, from a few thousand in to barely a hundred. The skillful masters are fewer than ten. They are all over 70 years old. The craft of making paper offerings is dying fast in Hong Kong. In the mean while, Hong Kong’s paper offering industry is facing the cheap labor competition from Mainland China.

“The minimum daily wage for a Hong Kong craftsman is 400 to 500 hundred HKD Hong Kong dollars. But workers in Guangdong (China) works on a monthly salary of 2000.” –Kuang Jeoi, a paper offering master in Hong Kong

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The Environmental Concern However, Hong Kong’s huge paper offering market has shrunk as people’s awareness of environmental protection increased in recent years.

Paper offerings shops had their peak during the 60s and 70s. But things started to change in the ‘90s. “The government launched a series of environmental protection and fire control regulations,” said Ping Chi “The paper offering business was seriously affected.” The main materials of paper offerings are bamboo, plastic foam and colorful papers, which generate black smoke during combustion. The local environmental protection department applied a range of rules under the Air Pollution Control Ordinance, including specific controls on dark smoke emissions and open burning. Burning of paper offerings in public housing was banned. The environmental problem caused by burning paper offerings is more serious in Mainland China. Watch a soundslide of “paper offering pollution” in China.

And offerings must go into iron bucket during open burnings on the street. Violators can be fined up to HK$5,000. This was a major blow to paper offering shops. There were fewer customers, and the offerings they bought were smaller.“Now people go for small paper offerings which can fit in the bucket,” said Ping Chi. “If they wish to burn bigger offerings, they have to go to the authorized temples and turn in a HK$1000 service fee.” Fu Loujoeng, a consultant with the Association of Chinese Culture of Hong Kong, said although the traditional craft is in danger, the consumer market of paper offering products is still huge in Hong Kong. “The production has mostly moved and will continue to move to China,” said Fu. “Small paper offering workshops in Hong Kong will give up production and gradually become just retail shops.” “There might be changes and adoption,” said Ping Chi, “but wherever there are Chinese, there will always be people burning paper offerings.”

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- Vangi Fong, founder of Hong Kong Complaints Choir.

- Addis, co-organizer of Hong Kong Complaints Choir.

- Henry Wong, choir member.

- Huang, Yew Kang, co-organizer of Hong Kong Complaints Choir.

Others like the dance as it helps them get away from work,  keep fit, and as a perfect companion to their favorite jazz music.

Content Guide

• Hit the Dance Floor
  
• Meet the Dancers
• Know the Dance

Hit the Dance Floor

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The first, and so far the only, social group dedicated to swing dance in Hong Kong, Hong Kong Swings has more than 400 fans on its Facebook page since its establishment in 2006. On average, close to a quarter shows up on a regular social night.

With a life band, a relaxing atmosphere, a friendly swing community and a free class to beginners, many can’t help swinging.

Co-Founder of Hong Kong Swings society

Lawyer

Member of the performance team at Hong Kong Swings

TV Presenter and Actress

To her, swing is a happy, casual dance – different from the more sexy dances like salsa, and Hong Kong Swings is a small but close-knit community of friendly, fun-loving people from all walks of life.

Working as a lawyer, Karen also teaches several dance classes at night organizes both dance and social events for the group throughout the year.

Dressed in retro style and her hair in a side pony tail – to suit the dance, the TV presenter-actress is a part of the performance team in Hong Kong Swings.

She thinks dance is a great way to mingle and make friends, sometimes even to meet future girlfriends or boyfriends. “But it shouldn’t be the main motive,” said Kylie.

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Meet the Dancers

In addition, he also takes two dance classes to build the foundation.He thinks swing helps him get away from the stress and the intensity at work.

“I believe in the body leading the mind,” he said, “so however tired or unhappy I am [because of] work, the physical aspect of the dance, the music, the people – they make me happy, relaxed and calm me down. “

He is a fan of jazz music and thinks swing dance makes a perfect companion of the music.

“It’s very taxing,” he said, comparing the coursework in Hong Kong to situation back at home, “but still I need to find time to do something fulfilling.”

After two hours of dance classes on Thursday, “my pants are quite baggy now,” she said, chuckling.

Seeing the swing scene in the city just growing, long-time dancer, Alex teaches part-time to help promote swing in Hong Kong.

To his satisfaction, he found more and more people joining the classes.

He said he was not teaching so much about the footwork, but the culture, the attitude, the feel of the dance, and how to connect with someone on the dance floor.

“It’s a social dance, a street dance, and an all-round great experience,” said Alex.

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Know the Dance

Hailed as the most well-known swing dance choreography, a classic scene of swing dance from Hellzapoppin’ (1941):

Origin: Dates back to the 1920’s, when the African American community were dancing to swinging jazz. Most popular in the 1920’s – 1940’s in the US.

Types: Lindy Hop is the most popular (watch here). Also well-known is Charleston (watch here). Both are offered in classes by Hong Kong Swings.

Music: Various types of contemporary jazz music

Click Here to see Hong Kong Swings’ introduction on the dance

Hong Kong Swing Festival: in January 2010, internationally acclaimed dancers were invited by Leisure and Culture Services Department to throw a swing party at Hong Kong Cultural Center Piazza

Lindy Exchange: Dancers from around the world swing at the Avenue of Stars in Tsim Sha Tsui and tour Hong Kong over a weekend

Other social events: Lindy pub crawl and a red carpet swing party

Swing on the Great Wall or under the Sakura trees?

China: Beijing and Shanghai

Japan: Tokyo and Osaka

Korea: Seoul

Taiwan: Taipei

Singapore: Jitterburgs

Malaysia: Kuala Lumpur

Vietnam: Ho Chi Minh City

By Joy Zhou,

1. Quality Migrant Admission Scheme (QMAS)

The number of Maimigrants applying to come to Hong Kong under the QMAS has surged since 2008 when conditions started to become loose, raising concerns of greater competition in the job market.

What problems may arise from the huge influx of the so-called “quality migrants” or talents into Hong Kong? Can they find a decent job in the already competitive job market and make a good living in the world’s financial hub? Some are struggling to get a satisfactory post while suffering from loneliness parting from their beloved ones.

Brian Gao (from Shanghai) has been admitted to a temporary resident identity in HK, to graduate from the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) soon, but still doubts his ability to find a decent job in HK. Brian is planning to go back to Shanghai to settle down. He talks about the pressure and difficulties that he has gone through in Hong Kong during the past two years.

Others, however, are still preparing to join the big throng.

Julia Zhu (from Shenzhen)

Julia Zhu is an English translator working for a multinational company in the telecommunications industry. She is applying to join HK to seek for a better future.

The talent admission scheme was launched on June 28, 2006 to attract talented people from the Mainland and overseas to settle in Hong Kong. The scheme is quota-based with an initial annual quota of 1,000-1,200. Successful applicants are not required to secure an offer of local employment before entering Hong Kong for settlement.

Figures from the Immigration Department, which runs the quota-based Quality Migrant Entrant Scheme, showed that 1,479 applicants had been accepted from mid-2006 till the end of 2009. Of these, 1,157 arrived after January 2008 when the government relaxed the criteria following a lukewarm response to the scheme.

The eased rules include scrapping the age limit of 50 and giving extra points to bachelor and master’s degree holders. The minimum work experience requirement was reduced from five years to two years.

Yearly figures of quotas allocated to all and mainlanders under the QMAS are illustrated below.
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The measures attracted more applications, but also changed the make-up of the applicant group. According to South China Morning Post’s report on Wednesday, January 6, 2010, a total of 328 fresh entrants, comprising one-third of the total 1,011, had arrived in the city since 2008 despite working for less than five years. Only 24 entrants, or 8 per cent, met the qualifications demanded before the criteria were revised.

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With effect from August 1, 2001, Mainland students holding a Hong Kong university degree may apply to stay and work in Hong Kong within one year after graduation under the “Immigration Arrangements for Non-local Graduates” (IANG) scheme.

This scheme has attracted an incredible influx of mainland students to join various universities in Hong Kong. The following is a graph of Hong Kong new graduates from Mainland per year during the past decade.
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However, after graduation in Hong Kong, these students seem to leave in droves. More than half the Mainland graduates in an employment scheme launched by the government in 2008 did not apply to extend their stay after a year here. Former Mainland professionals who have worked in Hong Kong say the stressful work environment, limited career prospects and bad treatment by Hong Kong employers prompt them to head back home.

Three university students, Ula Zhang (from Beijing), Steven Yan (from Shangdong) and Sarah Huang (from Zhejiang) share their feelings about Hong Kong and their plans after graduation.

Joy Zhou reports from Hong Kong, on April 18, 2010.

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