Education Bureau advises Hk students to quell sexual desire by playing badminton.

By Cindy Lee and Daniel Koong

Playing badminton has become a code for sex in the wake of a set of government sex education teaching materials asking young boys and girls to quell sexual desire and avoid premarital sex.

The 70-page document released by the Education Bureau in August last year suggests young people should focus on study. When experiencing sexual impulses, they should go out and play badminton together in a sports hall.

It also includes a form called “My Commitment” aimed at getting “young lovers” to attest that they would exercise “self-discipline, self-control, and resistance to pornography”. 

Since then, people across the city could not resist poking fun at these suggestions that “playing badminton” has become Hong Kong’s version of “Netflix and chill”.

“Students now use terms like “playing badminton” to refer to sex. I think Hong Kong is still quite conservative when people talk about sex. Many young people have sex without really understanding what it means,” Shatin Pui Ying College form six student So Wing-fung says. 

Eighteen-year-old student Patrick Lam Paak-Hin who is also studying at Shatin Pui Ying College thinks the government rolled out the new teaching materials out of good intentions. “But they ended up being a subject of ridicule. The materials should be revised,” he says.  

“Teachers should not just explain how to use a condom but should actually demonstrate it,” Lam says. 

Form Four student Clarinda Lee Cheuk-yau from Baptist Lui Ming Choi Secondary School finds sex education is almost nonexistent in Hong Kong education curricula. 

“Students have to seek advice elsewhere rather than learning about sex in school. I think more should be done in schools,” Lee says.

“Sex education is not properly taught in school. Teachers only mention a little about birth control preventive measures. I hope the subject can be included in the curriculum and students can have more in-depth knowledge about sex,” the 15-year-old student says. 

In August 2024, the Education Bureau launched an updated curriculum for sex education under the Citizenship, Economics, and Society, a new subject for Form One to Form Three students in Hong Kong.

Under the new teaching curriculum, sex education will be taught in Form Three in secondary school to students aged 13 to 14. It also covers advice on building a correct value system and what teenagers should do to control their sexual desires. 

Education manager of the Family Planning Association of Hong Kong Grace Lee Ming-ying points out that sex education should be introduced to children once they are born.

“The training should start when they are babies, starting from the family. Kids spend most of their time with their parents and have trust in them. Parents sharing what they believe with their children is the best way to guide them,” she says.

Lee says school time is very limited and that it is impossible to teach students everything. 

“The school schedule is very tight and there are only one or two lessons spare for sex education every year which means not much can be covered,” she adds.

Lee believes the government’s suggestion is to encourage young people to handle their sexual desires positively.

“We often encourage young people to face their sexual urges by focusing on proper communication with their partners. The most important thing is to have an open discussion and agree on healthy boundaries for intimacy,” Lee adds.

Sky Siu, the Chief Executive Officer of Mother’s Choice, notes sex is a taboo in Hong Kong, making it difficult to do sex education in schools. 

“It’s a pretty uncomfortable subject matter that most people and families don’t enjoy bringing into conversation. People need to realise that sex is a normal part of our life and our relationships,’ she says.

“When we first started our comprehensive sexuality education program, it was targeted at young girls to make sure young people have the right information so that they could make informed choices for themselves,” Siu says. 

Since its establishment in 1986, the charity organisation has helped over 54,000 young girls with crisis pregnancy.

Siu points out that the updated sex education curriculum has been much needed since it was last updated in the 1970s. 

“The curriculum has more room for improvement, but it is a promising start. We hope to see the curriculum become mandatory so that it doesn’t get lost in the difficult challenges of scheduling in an academic setting,” she says.

In a written reply, the Education Bureau says it will “continue to maintain contact with the academic sector and various relevant groups to provide and optimise sex education courses and teaching materials that meet the growth needs of primary and secondary school students in Hong Kong”.

The bureau adds that teaching materials were compiled by the School of Education and Languages of the Metropolitan University of Hong Kong, which was commissioned by the Education Bureau in 2021. The production team is composed of experienced experts and scholars, senior social workers, and teachers.

FancyWall has carved out its own niche, sharing its journey from classroom to centre stage.

By Ivonne Deng

FancyWall, a Chinese indie band, pledges to keep concert ticket prices low so that more people, especially students, can watch its live performances even though it is famous now and has been recognised by one of the most prestigious music awards.

Formed in August 2015, the band was nominated for Best New Artist at the 2023 MIDI Music Awards, an annual award presented by the Beijing Midi School of Music to honour outstanding musicians in the country since 2009.

“We still hope to bring down the prices of our band performances. We will not raise the price unless we cannot keep us alive,” says Xu Yuhan, the founding member of FancyWall.

A student only needs to pay RMB￥150 (US $20.50), whilst others can watch a live show of the band by paying RMB￥200 (US $27.60). Bands of a similar stature to FancyWall usually have their ticket prices doubled.

Xu, keyboardist of FancyWall, recalls the band was formed when he was a secondary school student with his schoolmates. He is the only remaining founding member, the other current members are guitarist Yang Yutong, lead singer Min Haoyang, bassist Lyu Shang, and drummer Liu Yangming.

The band’s most famous song is the Pink Lightning, which has over 260,000 likes and five thousand comments on NetEase Cloud Music, a leading interactive music streaming service provider in China. Regarded as the most commercially successful song by its fans, the song is about a couple falling in love at first sight and hoping to treasure every moment. 

This song is always the highlight of FancyWall’s live performances and the audience would sing along loudly and interact with the band.

The band believes live performance and a wide variety of music styles are its biggest charms.

“Live shows and recorded music are just like sketching and comics. We have instinctive expressions based on the occasion and audience during live performance, ” Min, the band’s lead singer, says. 

Underground bands in the mainland, including FancyWall, have only become popular in China due to the popularity of a famous entertainment show – the Big Band in 2019. Aired between 2019 and 2023, it was one of China’s biggest music competition television shows. Not only making rock music better known in China, the show also brought many less-known rock and indie bands to the fore.

While FancyWall did not get a chance to participate in the show, FancyWall still says thanks to it as many Chinese people become interested in indie music that they would go to small-scale live music clubs to watch live performances of these alternative rock bands.

FancyWall’s keyboardist remembers vividly the live performance marking the release of the band’s first album Millennium Eden in a small venue five years ago.

“On that day, the livehouse was packed with 250 people. I checked everyone’s ticket behind the table, ” Xu recalls.

More people enjoy watching its live performance nowadays. In their latest tour in 2024, FancyWall performed in 22 cities across China in 2024 and each of the 22 performances attracted more than 500 people.

The band’s drummer adds that FancyWall’s audience base has grown and not only students but middle-aged people would also watch its performances. 

“Many of them jumped happily during our show,” Liu says.

Apart from live performances, the band’s unique music style also attracts many audiences.

In its third album ROTOR HEART published in 2024, the band members liken themselves to a rotary engine that never stops spinning.

“Diversity is one of the core features of this band. Bands are like movies: comedies, literary films, documentaries, and even commercial romance films. FancyWall is a personal Vlog covering all the elements above,” Min, the lead singer says.

While each band member has his own music preference and style, Min stresses the band has never wanted to simply come up with only one single style but hopes the audience would appreciate a wide range of music.

The band says it is hard to attract a larger audience because the music tastes of many people are relatively restricted.

Vowing to walk its own way, the band stresses it would not just produce music purely for the commercial market.

“If we just ‘cater to’ the market, we can only reproduce the existing music,” Xu adds.

The band is now preparing for their next album after performing in Tokyo and Seoul. 

Joining FancyWall when he was a secondary school student, the lead singer urges youngsters to chase their dreams.

“I still highly recommend students to form a band now. It is romantic and touching to do music together with people sharing the same interests,” Min says.

Edited by Daniel Koong

Sub-edited by Cindy Lee

*Theme picture (photo courtesy of FancyWall)

Drinking bottled fruit juice is unhealthy.

By Belle Yip

Office worker Jane Lee used to suffer from constipation. The problem has improved after she started eating more vegetables and fruits instead of drinking bottled berry juice after dinner three to four times a week. 

“I suffered from constipation when I drank bottled fruit juice. Sometimes, I stayed in the lavatory for an hour. I could only poop every four days. But now I can do it every day after I have started to eat more fresh vegetables and fruits,” Lee recalls

Lee used to believe she could easily get nutrients like vitamin C and dietary fiber by drinking bottled fruit juice. 

“I also found it refreshing to drink bottled fruit juice after dinner. I thought bottled juice was nutritious enough, so I didn’t eat other fruits or vegetables,” she says.

The office worker changed her habit half a year later after learning that it is healthier to eat more whole foods. “I now eat more fresh fruits such as tangerines and cherries,” she says.

Like Lee, university student Sally Chan finds her skin problem has improved after drinking water or tea instead of her favorite bottled apple or mango juice.

“I drank bottled fruit juice for two years. I often got acne on my face when I had it for breakfast,” she recalls.

Chan also had stomach pain a few times a week when she was a frequent bottled fruit juice drinker.

“I started to drink more water and tea and have a proper breakfast such as noodles and rice balls after finishing the HKDSE (Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education). My skin problem has greatly improved, and I do not have stomach pain anymore,” she says.

Varsity reporter surveys food labels on bottles of fruit juice in supermarkets in Hong Kong. Findings show that dietary fiber content in bottled fruit juice is mostly absent. 

The sugar level in bottled fruit juice is comparable to that in soft drinks like Coca-Cola. For example, Welch’s bottled grape juice contains 15.2g of sugar, even more than normal Coca-Cola with 10.6g of sugar per 100ml.

Dietitian Chloe Lee Wai Hang states that excessive sugar consumption can lead to skin problems. 

“Bottled fruit juice is a high-sugar beverage. Higher sugar intake increases chances of inflammation response such as redness and swelling of skin,” Lee says.

She also points out that the consumption of dietary fiber and gut health are closely related.

“Insufficient fiber intake is the main cause of constipation. Packaged fruit juice is very thin and smooth which means insoluble fiber is not retained when fruits are compressed to make juice. Cold-pressed juice is thoroughly filtered, and that makes dietary fiber content even lower,” she says. 

The dietitian from Gleneagles Hospital suggests that busy city dwellers can purchase packaged fresh fruit cups from chain stores as afternoon snacks.

She suggests putting grapes or blueberries in a freezer so that the fruits can be consumed for a few days.

Lecturer Peggy Yip Pui-Sze from the School of Life Sciences at the Chinese University of Hong Kong says sugar content in bottled fruit juice is higher than eating the fruit itself.

Yip warns excessive sugar absorption can lead to obesity, which causes other health problems such as hypertension and cardiovascular diseases. 

She adds that vitamin C is very sensitive, and it oxidizes when fruits are being compressed, leading to loss of vitamins in bottled fruit juice.

The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) under the Department of Health suggests that adults and teenagers aged 12-17 eat at least two portions of fruits and three portions of vegetables per day. 

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends a population intake goal of 25g per day for dietary fiber to reduce the risks of many chronic diseases.

Edited by Zora Yan

Sub-edited by Bliss Zhu

Micro drama, a new form of entertainment is becoming increasingly popular in China.

By Isa He

University student, Zhuang Yan, is an avid fan of micro dramas and spends at least five hours watching them weekly.

“I like watching dramatic micro dramas, where mother-in-law and daughter-in-law can become romantic rivals,” the Year Four student majoring in Integrated BBA says.

Micro dramas, or short dramas, typically featuring 50 to 100 episodes in a series with each episode lasting between two to five minutes, captivate her with cliffhangers and constant unexpected turn of events.

“Compared to conventional dramas, micro dramas are funnier, and the pace is faster so that they waste less of my time,” the 22-year-old girl adds.

Another notable characteristic is their vertical screen format, which closely resembles short videos, enhancing phone user’s viewing experience.

“It’s more convenient for me because they can be watched in portrait mode on my smartphone, so I don’t need to rotate the screen orientation,” Zhuang adds.

Zhuang’s interest in micro dramas started last summer when she came across micro drama advertisements while browsing Douyin, a mainland Chinese short video platform.

“There are lots of twists and suspense, leading me to wonder what the plots are. That’s how I first got hooked,”  she says. 

Another short drama fan, Cai Hanjun, also learnt about micro dramas through advertisements on Douyin.

“I love drama about a protagonist who is betrayed in her past life and has a second chance to take revenge on enemies, and finally win a perfect man’s heart,” the 20-year-old university student says.

“I know it’s trashy. But then that’s why I love it. They are so addictive just like novels,” she adds.

Compared to TV dramas, micro dramas are sold by episode. On average, the cost of each episode ranges from a few cents to RMB ¥2 (US $0.28) or RMB ¥3 (US $0.41).

As of June 2024, the number of users for Chinese micro dramas reached 576 million, accounting for 52.7 percent of the total internet users in the country, even surpassing the user base for online food delivery services, according to the China Netcasting Services Association (CNSA).

The market size of Chinese micro drama in 2024 has reached RMB ¥50.40 billion (US $6.93 billion), exceeding the box office of Chinese movies for the first time, according to White Paper on Micro-Short Drama Industry 2024 published by DataEye, a Chinese mobile advertising big data intelligence analytics company.

Lin Jian, an assistant professor from the Journalism and Communication School of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, explains micro dramas are popular now because they are very similar to short videos that many people watch in TikTok. 

“On the other hand, compared to most of those short videos, they are more professional and refined with more completed and coherent stories like fiction or movies,” he says.

Professor Lin adds micro dramas are full of dramatic twists and turns in a short period of time in order to boost viewing. 

“These fast-paced dramas filled with thrilling plots, which might lead viewers to favour quick, highly entertaining content more and more,” he adds.

Lin is concerned by such a trend. “When users prefer to consume a cultural product which continuously stimulates people’s senses and emotions, might the more reflective aspects of culture that provoke deeper thought gradually diminish?” he says. 

He believes the industry will develop in two extreme directions in the future.

“Some top companies may start to focus on producing high-quality and premium micro dramas, while others may continue making controversial or borderline practices, or so-called ‘gray area’ dramas,” he adds.

Edited by Celina Lu

Sub-edited by Lunaretta Linaura