Our Community

For many people, charities should spend all the money they raise to help those in need; fundraisers should be volunteers. The reality is many groups in Hong Kong, and around the world, use part of their donations to hire street fundraisers. Varsity finds out why.

Parents of Hong Kong's gifted children fear that without adequate resources to support and nuture their children, the territory's brightest kids could become underachievers. By Dora Chiu and Lotus Lau

Earlier this year, the Ombudsman called the Leisure and Cultural Services Department to task for throwing away hundreds of thousands of books and other printed items from public libraries, instead of donating them. With ever increasing purchases and falling lending rates, is it time to rethink how our public libraries are stocked and run?

Talking and learning about death can help us to embrace life but death is a taboo subject in Chinese culture. In Hong Kong, death education used to be associated with the elderly and the terminally ill. But this is beginning to change. Varsity talks to those who are pioneering life and death education for young people, in the hope that understanding more about death will help them appreciate life.

The popularity of mobile apps presents some of the best I.T. opportunities since the bursting of the internet bubble burst in 2000 and some Hong Kong developers are grasping those opportunities. Varsity asks what they need to survive and thrive in this competitive field?

Unions have been fighting for collective bargaining rights for Hong Kong's workers for more than a decade. Yet the government and business sector insists that voluntary negotiations are good enough. Labour groups tell Varsity all they want is a fairer footing at the negotiating table.

Speech problems and communication disorders can have a devastating impact on a child's learning, development and personality. With timely professional intervention, these problems can be significantly lessened and even overcome. But as Varsity learns, Hong Kong suffers from an acute shortage of qualified speech therapists and lacks a recognised standard professional accreditation system.

Why would young people who were in kindergarten when Hong Kong was handed over from Britain to China feel nostalgic about colonial Hong Kong? Is nostalgia for a seemingly rose-tinted past a kind of escape from disatisfaction with the present? Varsity explores.

Sha Tau Kok - with its famous Chung Ying Street - is the last closed area in Hong Kong. Now, some residents are calling for it to be opened up to boost economic development. But others are strongly opposed to such moves and want to preserve their way of life.

Current Hong Kong law dictates that men cannot be raped and Hong Kong society tends to think men cannot be victims of sexual abuse. The Law Reform Commission has published proposals to introduce a gender neutral approach to rape and other non-consensual sex offences, but so far there's been little progress on legislation.