School’s Out Forever?

November 14, 2013

Buildings lie empty despite a shortage of school places in the northern New Territories

By Emily Chung and Natalie Tsoi

The roof has collapsed, the windows are shattered, trees and foliage have taken over. Except for the crumbling walls and doorframes, there is little to show there used to be a school here.

Tucked away in the village of Wai Tau in Tai Po, Lam Tsuen No. 3 Public School closed 30 years ago. It was one of the 66 schools shut down before 2003, a group that represents around a third of the 172 school premises in Hong Kong to be closed and abandoned to date.

The year 2003 is significant because that was when the Education Bureau (EDB) launched a scheme to close and consolidate what it called “high cost and under-utilised” primary schools in response to a decline in the birthrate in preceding years. The total school age population aged between six and 11 years was estimated to drop from more than 493,000 in 2002 to around 410,000 in 2010.

As result of the scheme, 106 schools have been shut since 2003, the majority of them in Yuen Long and North District. Meanwhile, 117 new school premises have been built to meet different demands in the same period.

Ironically, the districts hit hardest by school closures are those where school places are most in demand due to the growing number of cross-border students living in the Mainland but attending school in Hong Kong.

There were 3,500 cross-border students in all kindergartens, primary and secondary schools last year; that figure has risen to 16,300 this year. Meanwhile, the territory’s birthrate has continued to rise steadily since 2003.

Ip Kin-yuen, a Legislative Council member for the education functional constituency is critical of the EDB’s 2003 decision. “It was wasteful of us to leave the schools abandoned, especially primary schools,” Ip says. “I think the closing down scheme is worth challenging.”

Ip believes the reopening of vacant school premises in North District and Yuen Long would not only relieve the shortage of school places in the border districts in the short term, but also make extra classrooms available to make small-class teaching possible if student numbers drop again in the future.

Ip maintains the vacant schools should be used for educational purposes, as intended in the Town Planning Ordinance, which states that areas marked as “land for education” can only serve this one purpose.

The reality is very different. Of the 106 empty schools, only 45 premises have been re-allocated for school uses or other education purposes, whilst another 11 have been earmarked for further education uses. The EDB has informed the Planning Department that the remaining 50 are no longer suitable for educational use, as they are either too small or in remote locations.

These premises are then returned to the Lands Department or Housing Department for disposal. The Lands Department can then decide to rent out the premises to interested government departments or private organisations through short-term tenancies, usually of two to three years.

These former school premises have attracted a lot of interest. Man Chen-fai, vice-chairman of the Tai Po District Council, applied to transform Tai Hang Public School in Tai Po, which closed nine years ago, into a community centre that provides community services and features exhibits of Wen Tianxiang, a patriotic hero of the Southern Song Dynasty.

Crowdfunding makes dreams come true

November 14, 2013

Online platforms open up alternative way to fund creative projects

By Tommy Lee

David Wong had always dreamed of producing a spy movie on his smartphone but he thought it would be a hard slog saving up the money to make it. He never imagined he would be able to release the finished 10-minute movie this month, let alone that his project would be funded by internet users he has never met.

The amateur filmmaker used a local crowdfunding platform, FringeBacker to raise the funds. Crowdfunding is a way to collect money from individuals online to support projects or works. Creators post their ideas on crowdfunding platforms and set a funding goal for a specified period. In return, backers are given rewards which can range from a sample of the product they backed, a credit, a share in the profits or a souvenir. In recent years, online crowdfunding has become increasingly popular in the United States and Europe, although it is less well known in Hong Kong.

Wong tried crowdfunding following a friend’s suggestion. He checked out the platforms and saw there were innovative art projects online that were similar to his proposal, so he gave it a go last year.
He set a goal of raising HK$ 25,000 in two months and offered backers a range of rewards according to their contribution – from a DVD of the film, to T-shirts, a cameo appearance and even an executive producer credit.

The target sum was achieved after just three weeks and Wong ended up raising HK$85,400. Wong says he feels lucky that he raised so much money. “I’d never tried crowdfunding before, so I wasn’t too confident about getting a lot of money from a crowdfunding platform, especially as artistic creations don’t always guarantee monetary rewards. That’s why I went for a small amount.”

Wong’s initial plan was to supplement what he raised with his own savings, but he ended up being able to pay for the whole production, including location shooting in Japan, from the crowdfunding payments.

Wong thinks his success could inspire others. “It’s not that Hong Kong doesn’t want to do anything or doesn’t like to create.” Wong says. “It’s just that there isn’t a way to get started.”

Maryann Hwee Teng-teng, executive director of FringeBacker, one of several crowdfunding platforms in Hong Kong, says art and cultural projects are more likely to succeed on crowdfunding platforms.

Hwee explains that in crowdfunding, there are many creative ways to interact with backers and inject fun elements when presenting a person or enterprise’s image.

In the real world, most investors only focus on the monetary return of a project. As they offer little or no monetary reward, it is hard for creative projects to get financial backing. It was with this in mind that Hwee set up FringeBacker to support artists.

“Many people have the talent but they may not have the luck,” she says. However, this does not mean that submitting proposals to the platform will guarantee “luck”. Hwee says many proposals are rejected or need to be resubmitted because they are not specific or concrete enough. The platform also charges a commission fee if a target sum is achieved. Hwee says project creators have to take the initiative to run the projects themselves, with the guidance of the platform staff. She tries to be as hands-off as she can.

“The best support is to let them try to do it themselves,” she says. “Then, they will appreciate what they did. It is not helping if we just find a backer to back you $500 or $1,000.”

Besides art and cultural projects, Hwee adds that products with good ideas are likely to succeed too, but there are no guarantees.

Sound Art – More than Noise

November 14, 2013

Incorporating everyday sounds into art

By Louie Cheng

Outside a shabby factory building in To Kwa Wan, the street hums with the sound of passing cars and trucks. Inside, the office of Soundpocket is calm and quiet, the peace slightly punctuated by soft taps on computer keyboards.

Soundpocket is a non-profit organisation founded in 2008 to promote the art of sound and listening. However, sound art itself has been around for a long time. Many artists incorporate sound art into their artistic creations, which range from performance art to installations.

Sitting on the floor around a round table are three young people working for or receiving support from Soundpocket. The morning light shines in and they start discussing what sound art is.

Alice Wong, the manager of curatorial affairs at Soundpocket, suggests that in Hong Kong, the sounds that we hear, such as the noise of traffic, have actually undergone several reflections, bouncing off the surrounding buildings before they enter our ears. She says these sounds are not merely noise. We can build a relationship with them.

Nowadays, many artists no longer use a single medium but emphasise the interactivity of sound art with other art forms. “Sound as art” and “sound in art” are terms that underpin what Soundpocket is trying to do. They do not want to isolate any art form but would like to link different art forms with sound.

“We actually avoid using the term ‘sound artist’. We usually refer to these people as ‘artists working with sound’,” explains Wong.

Jantzen Tse Chun-sing, who graduated from the Fine Arts Department of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), is a supported artist under Soundpocket’s Artists’ Support Programme. He received musical training from a young age and is now working on experiments and artworks with sound.

In one of Tse’s works, he used different exhibition spaces to illustrate human beings’ desire to search for their ideal work and living environment. When audience members walk into the different exhibition spaces, they hear a mixed track of ambient sounds.

Tse explains he wanted to create a virtual environment where virtual sounds were derived from reality. “I have an artist’s statement, or a self-perspective, for each of my works. But I seldom explain all these to the audience. I won’t restrict the audience by giving them a frame. The interesting thing is they will have their own reflections on the artwork, and will express them if there is something underneath my work that resonates with them.”

Rocking His Second Shot at Fame

November 14, 2013

Sixty-year-old rocker Simon Chung, former vanquisher of the legendary Leslie Cheung, is in the limelight again after Voice of China stint

By Katrina Lee

Dressed in a casual outfit of red T-shirt, jeans and a bandana and wearing a pair of bold square frame glasses, Simon Chung Wai-keung, took to the stage as a contestant in The Voice of China Season 2. The nationwide singing contest tops the ratings in China and at 60, Hong Kong rocker Chung was its oldest competitor.

In the second round of the competition, Chung battled with a young contestant by performing a duet of the Beatles classic Hey Jude. Chung took the lead to mentor and encourage his rival and their performance worked up to a rousing finale, with the audience swaying along to the melody and joining in singing the chorus.

Chung’s performance won him plaudits from the judges and audience alike, one of the judges was even moved to tears. But he lost out to his much younger rival, who ended up making it to the semi-finals. On the record, Chung says the elimination did not hit him hard and that enjoying his time on stage is more important than winning a title.

After all, early on in his career, he won a big award, beating the late Cantopop and movie legend Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing into second place, and harboured dreams of becoming a rock star. But life did not turn out that way.

Now, Chung says he thinks he achieved his goals on The Voice of China by showcasing his musical talent and sharing his passion for music with a large audience. He smiles proudly when he recalls the concert-like atmosphere he managed to create in the studio with his performance of Hey Jude.

The song is one of his favourites by one of his favourite bands. Chung’s love of rock ‘n’ roll was greatly influenced by the British band, whose songs were very popular when he was young. Chung says he was struck by how close to life the lyrics were and how the melodies and rhythms expressed emotions.

Chung finds pop music too restrictive, as songs must be sung smoothly and in-key. On the contrary, he says he can express his emotions and personality in more diverse ways through rock.

For Chung, being able to perform rock music is more important than being able to merely perform on stage, even though it was his determination to stick to his musical preferences that finally dashed his dreams of becoming a singer.

Back in 1977, Chung entered the Asian Music Contest held by Rediffusion Television (RTV). He took the title with his performance of These Eyes, a song by a Canadian rock band, The Guess Who. In the process, he beat another newcomer, Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing into second place. Both men were offered contracts and for Cheung, the rest was history.

But for Chung, life as an RTV artist was different from what he had expected. There were few opportunities to perform rock songs and instead the company arranged for him to lip-synch to pre-recorded songs in variety shows. “I thought being a singer would mean I could have a live concert, but it was completely different,” Chung says.

Attitude the Key to Conquering Altitudes

November 14, 2013

Attitude the Key to Conquering Altitudes

By Tracy Chan

It is 7.30 on a fine morning with a light breeze. John Tsang Chi-sing, a tanned 41-year-old with a broad smile, is limbering up for his regular outdoor training, preparing to time himself for a run and cycle ride. Tsang is the founder of an adventure education company and a mountaineer. He is best known for being the first climber from Hong Kong to reach the summit of Mount Everest from both its south and north sides.

His mountaineering credits do not stop there. Tsang has conquered four of the world’s 14 highest mountains with summits higher than 8,000 metres. Among them is Mount Manaslu, known as the “Killer Mountain” because of the high fatality rate of climbers who attempt to scale it. But while his deeds are filled with adventure and adrenaline, his manner is composed as he tells his story.

Tsang enjoyed hiking and climbing hills as a young man and first became interested in hiking during a school trip in 1991. His love affair with mountains began on a winter climbing expedition on a snowy mountain in Nagano, Japan when he was 19 years old.

“Mountains cannot speak, but they can show you the reality in life,” he says. “If there is a gusty wind, you have to make adjustments in managing time and gathering momentum.”

Tsang says that, unlike in his childhood, people today are constantly busy. They barely have a moment to think about their lives and make plans for the future. They may find themselves putting on different masks to please others, while their true selves are hidden under a splendid cloak. For Tsang, mountains are a sanctuary, and climbing is a time for people to rediscover and better understand their authentic selves.

“On the mountain, you are not pleasing anyone. The mountain doesn’t know how to laugh, if you laugh here, it is straight from the heart and if you are displeased, you are free to lose your temper,” he says.

Heaven and Hell on Hong Kong’s Rooftops

November 14, 2013

Hong Kong’s rooftop dwellers face eviction and an uncertain future

By Vanessa Cheung, Charlene Kwan and Jeffrey Wong

PHOCUS!

November 14, 2013

Hong Kong’s first self-service studio provides a professional photoshoot experience

By Charlene Kwan

When you and your friends are taking selfies with your smartphone on the street, do you complain about the size of the lens and low quality of the photos? Have you ever wished you were holding a digital single-lens reflex camera (DSLR) instead, with one whole hour in a private room to take as many pictures as you want?

With Phocus you can do just that. Phocus was founded by four post-90s youngsters and is the first selfies studio in Hong Kong.
“Phocus means focus,” says Michelle Chau Wang-yu, co-founder and marketing designer of Phocus. “‘Pho’ is related to photography and ‘us’ means us, Phocus. [Customers can] focus here in this studio, and focus on their relationships. Photos are witnesses of their relationships.”

Here, the happiness of the customers always comes first. A Phocus session can even become a family activity. Chau has seen four generations coming together to take photos in this little world.

Since prices vary between comparatively cheap photo-taking services like sticker photos and the costly photography studios, Phocus would be a good choice to balance price with quality. It can also provide a unique imaginative experience.

The founders of Phocus noticed that Hong Kong people rarely have the opportunity to express their creativity. Therefore, they decided to make something that would let them do so.

Once you are in the studio, you choose your own costumes and props in a preparation room. There are all kinds of costumes such as cartoon characters and animals. You can use as many as you want to make your selfies unique.

The staff will then lead you to your room and quickly teach you how to use the remote control for the DSLR. All the settings of the camera are set by the staff beforehand so everything will be a piece of cake. You can see yourself on the live view screen and review the photo right after it is taken.

Ready? Lock the door and start taking photos. The staff won’t come in and there is no CCTV, so just play your own songs, pose as crazily as you want with friends, or as intimately as you like with your lover. You can also come out and get some new props. The hour is all yours.

You should bring your own SD card or a USB drive to save the photos. If you don’t have either, they will give you a CD of the photos for free. They also provide a printing service for 4R photos in case you want a hard copy.

To encourage more once-in-a-lifetime moments to happen in Phocus, there are discounts for special occasions. For example, if you successfully propose marriage, they will offer you a two-hour service free of charge.

So bring your friends and families and give Phocus a try. Check out their Facebook page: www.facebook.com/Phocus.HK or dial 3486 9690 to book a time slot. Edited by Amy Leung

Be an EARTH.er

November 14, 2013

Swap fast fashion for green fashion

By Vanessa Cheung

In between the shops selling shrimp paste and herbal tea, EARTH.er’s colourful products attract the attention of visitors taking a relaxing stroll in Tai O. Stepping into the shop, you are surrounded by clothes and accessories that are not simply fashionable, but also environmentally-friendly.

Benny Yuen Chun-wai is the director of EARTH.er. Thanks to his fashion and design professors, 26-year-old Yuen learned that artists and designers should be socially responsible. The name EARTH.er represents this belief. Yuen says the names of occupations often end in “er”.

“I hope there is an identity called earther, that means people who are responsible to the Earth,” says Yuen. The tiny dot in the brand name represents the human being. Yuen thinks that people should respect nature and show humility.

Fabric dyeing is a fundamental process in producing garments, but the process uses a lot of water and chemical dyes. The dyed fabric may not cause health problems for the consumers but the by-products can seriously pollute water after disposal.

In addition, workers’ health is damaged after prolonged contact with chemical dyes. This problem is particularly severe in mainland China. “They have a saying that if you want to know what the latest trendy colour is, you can tell from the workers’ skin colour,” says Yuen.

He believes natural dyeing can ease the problem so he began looking for factories that use natural dyes. He found a small factory which practices natural dyeing in northern Thailand. The materials used at the factory, which is a 10-hour car ride from Bangkok, include plants and insects. For example, yellow dye can be made from the trunks of jack fruit trees and pink can be made from the secretions of lac insects.

In addition to eco-friendly production methods, EARTH.er also cooperates with fair trade organisations and sends dyed fabrics to them for cutting and sewing. Also, EARTH.er designs, produces and sells bags, wallets and other accessories.

However, Yuen pays more to make environmentally-friendly products. Natural dyeing takes longer than chemical dyeing. It takes about a month to dye 30 yards of fabric with natural dyes but several thousand yards of fabric can be dyed with chemicals in a matter of days.

Also, natural dyes are subject to the weather – fabrics dye better in the dry season than in the rainy season and colours are unstable and often differ from expectations. This means re-dyeing may be necessary. The production cost

s of using natural dyes are 40 to 50 per cent higher than using chemical dyes.

But Yuen believes the principles behind EARTH.er make it unique. To Yuen, being responsible about the Earth also means helping people who are in need. EARTH.er gives five to 10 per cent of profits to sponsor six children through World Vision International.

If you support Yuen’s idea of being an earther or simply want to add some stylish items to your wardrobe, visit EARTH.er’s Tai O shop or the pop-up store in Causeway Bay. EARTH.er also accepts online orders and offers delivery through the mail. To know more, please visit the Facebook

page of EARTH.er: www.facebook.com/EARTH.er.EARTH

Edited by Amy Leung

Methadone Throws Lifeline to Heroin Addicts

May 22, 2013

Programme under fire for not providing value for money

Reporters: Pash Chan, Tommy Lee, Jeffrey Wong
Editors: Derek Li, Vicki Yuen

In 1960s Hong Kong, triads and drugs were a deadly cocktail. Petty crime such as muggings, pickpocketing, pilferage and burglaries were common means for heroin addicts to score their hits. Addicts were left to their last pennies, lying on the street to suffer withdrawal symptoms. The government sought a solution to the chaos and methadone emerged as an appropriate anti-addictive drug that serves two purposes: maintenance and detoxification.

Developed in Germany in 1937, methadone was first introduced to Hong Kong in 1972 in a pilot study by Doctor Robert Newman and Peter Lee. In 1974, a sudden heroin shortage gave the government a perfect opportunity to open four methadone clinics and launch an out-patient methadone maintenance programme. By 1980, 21 clinics were in operation.

The methadone maintenance programme has five characteristics: it is unrestricted, non-residential, provides regular medical treatment, counselling and has no time limit. Its biggest advantage is that it does not disrupt a participant’s schooling or work.

Each participant is prescribed a certain dosage between 30-70 mg as determined by a physician and needs to attend dosage reviews at regular intervals. The participant can opt to join a detoxification programme in which the dosage is gradually reduced till it reaches zero mg.

The Society for the Aid and Rehabilitation of Drug Abusers, or SARDA, is the only government-funded concern group aimed at helping drug addicts with methadone medication, counselling and psychotherapy and educating the general public. It currently handles 7,000 cases and organizes various activities, including weekend outings, musical bands and peer support groups, to foster a healthy lifestyle for its clients.

Methadone treatment is widely acclaimed as a useful tool to achieve “harm reduction” – effectively lowering crime rate and disease transmission rates. Drug addicts can see methadone as a substitute for heroin when there is a surge in heroin price so they do not have to commit crime to obtain quick cash. Besides, addicts can refrain from sharing needles to inject heroin so the risk of contracting infectious diseases such as HIV and hepatitis C can be minimized. Hong Kong’s success has inspired the Mainland and some Southeast Asian countries to follow suit.

Drug users and former users say methadone gives them a chance to work, to care for their family and to sustain a normal life. They say they would stand a very slim chance of quitting drugs if they were sentenced to compulsory “Cold Turkey” treatment in jail as it would arouse their resentment.

However, Jacob Lam from Christian Zheng Sheng College criticises methadone for allowing patients to “take both drugs” at the same time and cannot completely eradicate the addiction problem. He says gospel residential rehabilitation should be a better alternative, both to patients themselves and to society.

Methadone clinics also face criticism from the Audit Commissioner for not being cost-effective. As the number of heroin addicts has decreased over the years, he suggested re-allocating money to help the rehabilitation of abusers of so-called “soft-drugs”.

The clinics are also under threat from urban redevelopment projects since clinics are seldom welcomed into new neighbourhoods. A large and combined clinic would bring more addicts to the area and be perceived to pose a danger to social order.

Jobs Give Ex-Offenders a Second Chance

May 22, 2013

Former prisoners helped to re-integrate into society

Reporters: Elaine Tsang, Katrina Lee, Vanessa Cheung
Editors: Natalie Cheng, Astina Ng

With the help of sympathetic employers and support organisations, some former offenders are proving there is life after prison.

It seems that more employers are now willing to hire past offenders. According to the Correctional Services Department (CSD), the success rate of re-integration programmes for offenders after release is 86.6% in 2010.

For young offenders, the CSD provides half-day compulsory technical, commercial and services training, while for adult offenders, the department provides pre-release vocational training courses on a full-time and part-time basis.

Some employers are also instructors who teach skills like cooking and dry-cleaning in these courses. Offenders who are trained during their imprisonment stand a higher chance of being employed by their instructors after their release.

Josephine Lam Suet-wah, who has employed former offenders for more than 20 years, is also a cleaning instructor at Hei Ling Chau Addiction Treatment Centre. Lam says some of her employees are bad-tempered and do not have a good working attitude. But despite some drawbacks in hiring ex-offenders, Lam and the rest of her sector are still willing to hire them because of the labour shortage in the industry. Past offenders are regarded as a stable source of workers.

Some employers say they have made adaptations to the work environment after hiring former offenders, such as hiring more mature co-workers who may have more patience in teaching them. One said they had “Closed Circuit Television” (CCTV) to monitor their work.

Past offenders’ identities are kept confidential within the company but some ex-offenders may reveal their identities to colleagues after working for a period of time. Some past offenders are satisfied with their relationships with colleagues. They are grateful that their colleagues have not discriminated against them and are tolerant of their mistakes..

However, one past offender told Varsity that she faces discrimination in her workplace. She is not sure if her colleagues look down on her, but their stares still make her feel uncomfortable.

Most employers see hiring former offenders as a way to contributie to society, but they have their concerns when considering employees with some specific criminal records. And many employers are reluctant to hire former offenders who have committed sexual crimes or have mental health problems.