When pro-democracy candidates won an unprecedented 327 seats on the 1200 member Election Committee, some commentators started to discuss whether the group – making up more than a quarter of the body that nominates and elects the Chief Executive – could act as a “kingmaker”. What does this mean?
Who is Beijing’s Pick?
Reporters: Marilyn Ma, Rivers Zhang
Veteran China watcher Willy Lam Wo-lap says he believes the Chinese central government fully supports Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, not John Tsang Chun-wah in the Chief Executive Election.
“It is beyond doubt that Beijing would support Carrie Lam,” says Lam. He explains that John Tsang may win more support from pro-democracy groups, but Carrie Lam is better at knowing how to please the Chinese government and takes a harder-line than Tsang on the execution of policies important to the central government, such as legislation of Article 23 and the interpretation of the Basic Law.
Sing Pao Daily News has played an important role in triggering a wave of conspiracy theories about Beijing’s real preference for Chief Executive. Lam says many people believe the conspiracy theories that President Xi Jinping prefers Tsang and doubt National People’s Congress Standing Committee chairman Zhang Dejiang can represent the real will of the central government.
However, Lam disagrees with the theory that there are two “cores” in the Chinese central government because Beijing’s backing for Chief Executive has to be determined by a consensus in the Politburo Standing Committee of the China. The all powerful group includes members from the different factions in Chinese politics, including the so-called Shanghai clique and Xi’s faction.
Lam says it is unreasonable to assume that Zhang, described as a member of the Shanghai clique, to openly challenge Xi, especially as Xi has expanded his power following his anti-corruption campaign.
“Chinese politics is opaque and operates in a black-box. So we can only surmise which faction supports which candidate based on trends we can see, we black and white evidence,” he says.
Lam says Beijing is showing its backing much earlier than it did five years ago. In the last chief executive election, Leung Chun-ying won 689 votes while there were only two candidates competing for 1200 votes. He says the central government has learnt its lesson and wants to ensure Carrie Lam can win comfortably with a large margin.
Editor: Lynette Zhang, Minnie Wong
Graphics: Doris Yu
In the first of our election buzzwords, we bring you D-Day:
Where do the four main would-be candidates for the Chief Executive election stand on issues like tax, education and housing?
People with Down Syndrome live long and meaningful lives, but will they soon disappear?
Reporters: Fiona Chan, Rammie Chui, Jessica Li
Editor: Tiffany Tsim
Down Syndrome, a condition where babies are born with an extra copy of chromosome 21, is the most common genetic disorder, affecting around one in every 792 live births. The anamoly affects physical and mental development, and people with Down Syndrome have varying degrees of usually mild to moderate intellectual disabilities.
However, with advances in medical care, knowledge and support, people with Down Syndrome are increasingly integrated into mainstream society, lead rich, meaningful lives and make full contributions in the workplace.
Ho Kit-ting and Fong Ho-pong both work seven hours a day as cleaners in the Down’s Kwan Ngai Service Team, doing tasks that range from car “beauty work” to cleaning public facilities and offices. They have received positive comments from employers for their diligence and sense of responsibility.
Outside of work, people with Down Syndrome pursue their interests and develop their talents. The Down’s Cantonese Opera Group was set up by the Hong Kong Down Syndrom Association (HKDSA). The troupe consists of 13 members who have Down Syndrome, and some of their parents. In December, the group put on a public performance at The Chinese University of Hong Kong after months of practice.
Most of the group’s members have been performing Cantonese opera for years. For example, Wu Hoy-yue, who played the boatman in the performance of “Legend of the White Snake”, has already been learning Cantonese opera for 10 years. Wu enjoys performing on stage and hopes to keep doing it for many more years to come.
His hope is not far-fetched, given that people with Down Syndrome typically live well into their sixties and beyond. This is a huge improvement to decades ago when life expectancy for people with Down Syndrome was much lower, and in 1910, a baby with Down Syndrome would probably not live to 10 years-old.
Advances in medicine and technology have also improved pre-natal tests for detecting Down Syndrome. In the past, such tests would involve the extraction of fluid from the uterus or placenta using a needle or probe. This invasive test carries risk of miscarriage and a chance of false-positive results.
In recent years, the director of the Li Ka Shing Institute of Health Sciences, Professor Dennis Lo and his team developed a non-invasive procedure testing fetal DNA found in maternal blood plasma. This procedure is much safer and more accurate than the invasive tests.
However, it has not been completely free of controversy. In some western countries, there has been concern in the Down Syndrome community that the new test may lead to an increase in the number of foetuses with Down Syndrome being aborted. They think this may lead to the “extinction” of Down Syndrome people.
Maggie Yeung Pin-mui, director of the Hong Kong Down Syndrome Association says she has not observed any obvious drop in the number of the new cases of Down Syndrome people in Hong Kong so far. But regardless of how many people there are in Hong Kong’s Down Syndrome community, she hopes mainstream society can put aside their prejudices and treat them as people just like everyone else but who may just have a different way of learning.
Redevelopment is threatening To Kwa Wan’s unique culture
Reporters: Maggie Suen, Verena Tse, Ryan Li
Editor: Cindy Gu
For years, To Kwa Wan was a working-class residential and commercial urban area in Kowloon. Many of the buildings are relatively low-rise due to the height restrictions set because of nearby Kai Tak Airport.
Not connected to the MTR system, and less well-connected by public transport than some other urban areas, To Kwa Wan mostly kept its grassroots, local character, after the airport closed, complemented by a vibrant ethnic minority community.
Now, redevelopment, a subway station and with it gentrification is coming to this corner of Kowloon. Several redevelopment projects have been and will be carried out in the area. Instead of redeveloping the area building by building as they do most of the time, the Urban Renewal Authority has said it has adoped a community-based approach instead.
But for Paddy Ng, a social policy analyst, this is little more than lip service. Ng says the government has neglected the human part of a community. Human connections are the most important element of a community, says Ng. Merely putting up buildings and arranging similar facilities for the shop owners and residents is not enough to keep the community complete, he adds.
For example, in a neighbourhood known as “13 Streets” there are many car repair shops and among them there are some Cha Chaan Teng local diners, which serve the car repair shops workers nearby. If the car repair shops have to move away, the Cha Chaan Tengs would also vanish. The mini-economy would be destroyed by the redevelopment, says Ng.
Hendrik Tieben, Associate Professor at the School of Architecture of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said To Kwa Wan is an arrival district for immigrants. He says the government is not doing enough in urban planning to cater for the needs of the minorities and keep the cultural diversity in the area.
The area’s ethnic minority residents have long had a raw deal from the government. Most of the time, they are unable to get even basic information about policies that will affect them. For instance, many notices regarding the redevelopment are in Chinese-only and they say government officials did not explain clearly to them about the redevelopment projects.
To Kwa Wan may be old and rundown, but it is also a vibrant community with both a strong local culture and rich cultural diversity. Residents, community workers and academics are working together to try to preserve the character and spirit the area, but they face an uphill struggle.
Social enterprises struggle to keep their shops under a new tender system
Reporters: Eunice Ip, Venice Lai, Karin Li
Editor: Karen Yu
On the face of it, social enterprises are thriving in Hong Kong. There are 574 such businesses in the Social Enterprise Directory 2016, an increase of almost 9 per cent compared with 2014. The term “social enterprise” generally refers to companies which bring social benefits and operate as a business. The government has put a lot of effort into supporting social enterprises since 2007. For instance, enterprises can apply for up to HK$3 million in funding under the Enhancing Self-Reliance Through District Partnership Programme of the Home Affairs Department and HK$ 2 million under the Enhancing Employment of People with Disabilities through Small Enterprise Project of the Social Welfare Department in their intitial years.
However, with increased market competition, sustainability is an issue for social enterprises. A number of them, such as Gingko House Restaurant in Lai Chi Kok and Fantastic Ladies Café in Tsuen Wan were forced to close in October and August respectively. Both were unable to renew their rental contracts under a revised tender system.
Fantastic Ladies Cafe had been operating for six years. Anaka Ma Lai-wah, general secretary of the Free Methodist Church of Hong Kong Social Service Division, says they had intitially been invited to rent the Tsuen Wan space by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department itself. Ma says the tender system back then would consider a company’s background, operations, employment criteria and terms, food quality and price in awarding a contract. However, according to Ma, the quotation system used now solely takes into account the price offered in a bid.
“[There is] No way to complain. No way to appeal. We have to close the café and give the business to another one,” says Ma.
Ma wants to run her social enterprise like a professional business, but that does not mean just making a profit. Through working for a social enterprise, she believes members of underprivileged groups can gain self-esteem and earn their own living rather than relying on welfare.
Health and medical supplies retailer Cheers Gallery was started up by MentalCare Connect, a social enterprise overseen by the Mental Health Association of Hong Kong. The business received initial funding from the government to start operations, but lost two stores in Hospital Authority premises under the new tender system early this year. Chief Executive Officer Chung Wai-shing says the Hospital Authority puts a high weighting on price and this put them in a disadvantaged position. However, the Hospital Authority says it looks at a wide range of factors.
Chung suspects some companies are likely able to offer higher rents by cutting staff pay and benefits. He says the tender system is causing vicious competition no different from the commercial world.
Many social enterprises struggle to self-sustain their operations.
Doris Leung is the founder and CEO of Diamond Cab which has been providing wheelchair-accessible taxi service since 2010. Her business requires high operation costs including license fees, salaries for drivers and administration staff, maintaining a call center, purchasing custom-made cabs, maintenance and taxes. Leung has to raise funds from various sources, for instance through selling advertising and getting sponsorships, and holding events like the Diamond Sedan Competition. This year, the event raised HK$600,000 for the company.
Like Fantastic Ladies’ Café’s Anaka Ma, Leung does not see Diamond Cab as a business that sets profit as a goal. Instead, she hopes to create a better community for the disabled. “I have the social mission. I really want to see the inclusion, the true inclusion of the community of the wheelchair [users] and non-wheelchair [users]. So I will do this kind of competition to get more income and promote the social mission,” Leung says.
Local fashion designers struggle to compete with high-end imported brands and fast fashion labels
Reporters: Rubie Fan, Gloria Lee, Megan Leung
Editor: Joey Kwan
When asked for their impressions of Hong Kong’s fashion industry, many people would probably recall the 1970s, when the local textile and garments industry was at its peak. But when it comes to the local fashion industry, they would be hard-pressed to point to home-grown success stories.
This is despite the fact that many local designers and brands have gained recognition in overseas markets. So, why is there a disconnect between how the Hong Kong public sees Hong Kong fashion and how it is perceived internationally?
Back in the 1960s, Hong Kong’s textiles industry grew in leaps and bounds with imported machinery and advanced skills. Local production lines provided a solid foundation for local fashion designers and brands to flourish. The Hong Kong Ready-to-Wear Festival held in 1968 marked an important milestone in the development of Hong Kong fashion. Many local designers made their names and brought their designs to the international stage.
But after China began its opening and reform policy in the 1980s, local textile factories relocated to the Mainland. Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s economy began to shift its focus from manufacturing to tertiary businesses. From being a centre of production, Hong Kong became a re-exporter of fashion and an international retail hub for global fashion brands. Well-heeled visitors come to buy luxury high-end European and American labels, while stores selling fast fashion brands such as Forever21, H&M and Zara have become go-to stops for local consumers.
Hong Kong has no shortage of talented home-grown designers, but the popularity of fast fashion in the local market hinders the development of local fashion.
“Emerging local brands do not have the capacity to compete with fashion empires,” says local fashion designer Tsang Fan-yu. Competition is intense as rent, labour, production and many other operational costs are proportionally higher for small scale productions.
Despite the difficulties at home, some local fashion designers have sent their collections onto the international catwalk and gained worldwide attention. With support from Fashion Farm Foundation – a non-profit organisation set up by local fashion entrepreneurs and educators – local designers like Aries Sin and Polly Ho took part in the Paris Fashion Week Programme. This is an annual international fashion convention that gathers fashion talents from all over the world.
Translating success overseas into success at home however, remains elusive. At the lower end of the market, local consumers seem addicted to fast fashion, at the higher end, many prefer to shell out for the brand cache of international labels. Local fashion insiders are still searching for the missing elements that will make Hong Kong fashion thrive in Hong Kong.
Domestic helpers do a lot more than hang around Central on their day off
Reporters: Avery Tsui, Li Sunpin, Minnie Wong
Editors: Vivienne Tsang, Achlys Xi
The number of foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong has been steadily climbing, reaching 340,380 last year, a 24 per cent increase compared with five years ago. But although they are a part of the lives of many working families in Hong Kong, many people still stereotype domestic workers them as poor and uneducated. When they are in the news, it is often in negative context – either it is about them cheating or stealing from their employers and abusing their wards, or it is about their employers mistreating them.
However, domestic helpers are not that different from us. They have friends and families, and enjoy a rich social life on their days off.
Michelle Saluta, 37, came to Hong Kong a year ago. She started a dance society and practices with her team every Sunday. She’s been dancing for more than 10 years, starting from when she was at university in the Philippines. She thinks dancing can provide a release from work pressure and help her bond with her friends. Saluta likes to make the most of her single day off every week. “We have to enjoy it rather than sitting down [and being] sad,” she says.
Lee Ann Hidalgo, another domestic worker, takes part in photography workshops. Lee Ann got into photography because it gives her positive energy. Through photography, she would like to show the talents of domestic helpers. “Don’t just say that I am just a domestic helper, no,” she says. “As a domestic helper, we may have the lowest-paid job here, but somehow we help Hong Kong in some ways.”
Beyond their daily household chores, Filipino domestic helpers in Hong Kong enjoy communal life with their compatriots. Leo Selomenio, a domestic helper who came to Hong Kong in 1996 and founded Global Alliance ten years later, contributes her weekends to organizing activities for her fellow domestic helpers. Although she faces many difficulties such as the lack of time and financial support, her employer supports her endeavours by letting her have two days off on weekends. “Wherever I go, I may be back to Philippines for good, I will never be able to forget my employer because they have already become a part of my life,” she says.
