2006 Hong Kong International Youth and Children's Choir Festival

Invited by the Hong Kong Treble Choirs' Association, the Federation will once again co-present this year’s World Children’s Choir Festival. The Festival will be held from 10-12 July, and comprises of choral competitions, concerts and workshops for local and overseas participants. The aim of the Festival is at improving choral professionalism among participants, as well as exploring the diversity of global culture. The Federation’s other contribution will be the recruitment of more than 200 volunteers from the Youth Volunteer Network (YVN) to help receive and assist the overseas guests and participants. For more information, click here:
http://www.hktreblechoir.com/
2006hkiyccf/

2008 Beijing Olympics Youth Volunteer Leaders Training Programme

The Youth Volunteer Network, in collaboration with the Volunteer Service Centre of Tsinghua University, will organize a training programme for 24 youth volunteer leaders from Tsinghua University aged 19-26 in July for the Beijing Olympics. The participants will be staying at the Federation’s Jockey Club Sai Kung Outdoor Training Camp. The programme involves training programmes, a volunteer leader forum on the theme “ Gathering Hong Kong Youth Volunteers for the 2008 Beijing Olympics” with 50 local youth volunteer leaders, as well as visits to local volunteer groups. The programme aims to facilitate youth participants to become competent volunteer leaders for the 2008 Olympics. They will also use this opportunity to learn more about youth volunteerism in Hong Kong.

Garfield 2 movie tickets donated by Kentac Investments Limited

Kentac Investments Limited, Twentieth Century Fox Film's Hong Kong sub-distributor, has generously sponsored 200 preview tickets for the fun-filled movie Garfield 2. We are grateful for this generous donation and are pleased that members of the Federation's u21 Youthnet were able to attend the preview on 28 June to much enjoyment. The trailer of the movie, along with Garfield games, can be accessed on u21 youthnet: www.u21.org.hk

"Understanding Youth Today"
Mainland-Hong Kong Youth Research Roundtable meeting cum Public Forum

The Federation, along with Peking University, will be organizing a roundtable meeting to discuss their findings on youth development on the Mainland and in Hong Kong regarding how young people adapt to university life. The meeting will involve professionals and academics and will be taken place on 6 July at JW Marriott Hotel. A public forum under the theme, ‘Do we understand our youth?’, will be taken place on 7 July at Rayson Huang Theatre, The University of Hong Kong. Parents, teachers, youth workers and young people are welcome to join in. For further enquiries, please contact our Youth Research Team at 2575 6666.

Journal of Youth Studies Volume 9
“The Emerging Poverty Cycle”
跨代貧窮 is now available

To obtain copies, contact our Youth Research Team 2575 6666

Global Citizenship: networking young Chinese leaders

The theme of the 2006 Global Citizenship Programme was “Challenges and Opportunities for the Emerging Economies of China, Russia, and India.” The emphasis, as usual, was on developing leadership and teamwork while raising awareness of the economic situation in other parts of the world.

In the coming year the key features of the trip will be backed up by creating a support network among programme participants with clear ideas about the need for global awareness. Three of them told us about their concept of global citizenship. First was Antony Tam, in his third year at Chinese University’s School of Journalism:

Wong Kwan, in her fourth year at Baptist U, continued:

For me it means awareness and openness to the environment, politics, the economy. Take manufacturing and household names like Adidas, for example. We associate Adidas with the US but the products are made in China where labour is cheap. When we contact an international company we may use a call centre in India. Knowing about this is one small step towards global awareness. In Hong Kong, many people just take things on face value. The main thing is to be curious about how the world works, how it all fits together.

Wong Kin-kei (KK), a first year student of Global Business at HKUST said:

“I think open-mindedness is the first step in acquiring a global mindset. We need to be aware of international events but we get only one perspective through the news. Exchange programmes like this give us real experience. I will go with open eyes and an open mind.”

Asked why he thought global awareness was important, KK continued:

“Many young people are thinking of living, working or studying overseas. Even if we only travel on holiday we need to be well informed, especially because of the role of China….and we need good English if we are really going to be global citizens.”

When asked for his views on the need for awareness of the wider world, Antony said:

“Teenagers are often criticised for their lack of awareness of current issues. It’s true we need to read more and see the world’s problems from different angles. The world has a daily impact on our lives. We cannot ignore it. Instead, we can try to make it a better, more sustainable place.”

Kwan, who has recently been studying in Europe as part of her European Studies degree course, has had the benefit of extended exposure to the world outside Hong Kong. She commented:

“Hong Kong people are always demanding their rights but many are politically apathetic and reluctant to accept responsibility. There is no excuse for this despite our unclear cultural roots. The further we go and the more we know, the more interesting the world becomes.”

49% of all Hong Kong mothers in a group of 500 recently interviewed in a research project* commissioned by RTHK said they enjoyed eating at home with their children more than anything else but in London this summer mums are finding a very different way of enjoying their children. They have discovered a new way of baby-sitting while keeping fit.**

It is called power pramming and is all the rage in Britain, the US, Spain, Japan and new Zealand. It begins with a jog through the park and apparently babies really enjoy their high-speed ride being pushed along in the prams. Next comes circuit-training when babies substitute very well for dumb-bells on exercises like biceps curls and dead lifts. The potential is enormous. All you need is a co-operative offspring. Watch out for it in Victoria Park this summer.

*Reseach by Lingnan University reported in South China Morning Post 12 May 2006
** South China Morning Post 24 May 2006

Up to 20% of the population of China is learning English according to recent reports* and estimates say that by 2025 there will be more English speakers in China than in the rest of the world put together. The Mainland government has lowered the age at which English is first learned from twelve years to nine years and some estimates say that up to 20% of the country’s book sales are English textbooks. This is partly in response to the demand for staff by foreign companies operating in China.

There are approximately 30 million people around the world learning to speak Putonghua. A 2003 US survey of high schools found 2,400 which wanted advanced placement courses in Putonghua. That compared to 50 wanting Russian, 175 wanting Japanese and 240 wanting Italian. In Britain, a recent government initiative means that a growing number of schools offer Putonghua as an optional subject and in at least one school in Britain it is compulsory.** A report from the Ministry of Education in Beijing on 22 May called for an improvement in Putonghua in Hong Kong pointing out that only 0.9% of local people spoke it frequently.

*The Economist 15 April 2006 p59
**South China Morning Post 18 January A7
*** South China Morning Post 23 May 2006 A1

The Dragon Foundation is managed by a Board of Directors and its Secretariat is administered by The Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups. It runs a series of programmes to forward its mission. Chinese youth leaders from around the world are given opportunities to meet, explore topical issues, exchange ideas and network on the Global Citizenship and Dragon 100 programmes. In Hong Kong, there is a lecture series for youth leaders with prominent, international speakers. Field trips and meetings are also held in Hong Kong, Mainland China, Macau and Taiwan to stimulate and encourage present and past participants.