The significance of a resource centre for curriculum innovation in Chinese language at the junior secondary level in Hong Kong

1981 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sik-hon Mak
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Chinese Language ◽  
Secondary Level ◽  
Curriculum Innovation ◽  
Junior Secondary

The Long March to Biliteracy and Trilingualism: Language Policy in Hong Kong Education Since the Handover

2013 ◽  
Vol 33 ◽  
pp. 302-324 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Evans
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
Secondary Level ◽  
Fine Tuning ◽  
Medium Of Instruction ◽  
Junior Secondary ◽  
Daunting Task ◽  
Chinese And English ◽  
Chinese Subjects ◽  
Hong Kong Education

Since the handover, policymakers in Hong Kong have faced the daunting task of determining the educational roles of two major international languages (Putonghuaand English), as well as a vibrant local language (Cantonese), which is the mother tongue of around 90% of the city's predominantly Chinese population. Their response to this unprecedented challenge has been to set the ambitious goal of developing students’ ability to read and write Chinese and English and to speak Cantonese,Putonghua, and English. At the same time, however, they are pursuing policies that in some respects run counter to this commendable if ill-defined aim. This article examines the background to and rationale for the promotion of biliteracy and trilingualism and reviews recent research into the government's major language-in-education initiatives since 1997, namely, the adoption of a compulsory mother-tongue policy at junior secondary level, the recent fine-tuning of this controversial policy, and the use ofPutonghuaas the medium of instruction in Chinese subjects at primary and secondary levels.

scholarly journals Stigma, Discrimination, and Hate Crimes in Chinese-Speaking World amid Covid-19 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianhua Xu ◽  
Guyu Sun ◽  
Wei Cao ◽  
Wenyuan Fan ◽  
Zhihao Pan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Data Mining ◽  
Hong Kong ◽  
Political Ideology ◽  
Chinese Population ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Chinese Language ◽  
Hate Crimes ◽  
Overseas Chinese ◽  
Mainland Chinese ◽  
Media Reports

AbstractThe Covid-19 pandemic has given rise to stigma, discrimination, and even hate crimes against various populations in the Chinese language–speaking world. Using interview data with victims, online observation, and the data mining of media reports, this paper investigated the changing targets of stigma from the outbreak of Covid-19 to early April 2020 when China had largely contained the first wave of Covid-19 within its border. We found that at the early stage of the pandemic, stigma was inflicted by some non-Hubei Chinese population onto Wuhan and Hubei residents, by some Hong Kong and Taiwan residents onto mainland Chinese, and by some Westerners towards overseas Chinese. With the number of cases outside China surpassing that in China, stigmatization was imposed by some Chinese onto Africans in China. We further explore how various factors, such as the fear of infection, food and mask culture, political ideology, and racism, affected the stigmatization of different victim groups. This study not only improved our understanding of how stigmatization happened in the Chinese-speaking world amid Covid-19 but also contributes to the literature of how sociopolitical factors may affect the production of hate crimes.

scholarly journals Cultural Differences in the Hedonic Rewards of Recalling Kindness: Priming Cultural Identity with Language

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 80-90
Author(s):  
Lilian J. Shin ◽  
Seth M. Margolis ◽  
Lisa C. Walsh ◽  
Sylvia Y. C. L. Kwok ◽  
Xiaodong Yue ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Emotional Experience ◽  
Chinese Language ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Cultural Identities ◽  
Weak Ties ◽  
Recent Theory ◽  
Emotional Experiences ◽  
The Usa

AbstractRecent theory suggests that members of interdependent (collectivist) cultures prioritize in-group happiness, whereas members of independent (individualist) cultures prioritize personal happiness (Uchida et al. Journal of Happiness Studies, 5(3), 223–239 Uchida et al., 2004). Thus, the well-being of friends and family may contribute more to the emotional experience of individuals with collectivist rather than individualist identities. We tested this hypothesis by asking participants to recall a kind act they had done to benefit either close others (e.g., family members) or distant others (e.g., strangers). Study 1 primed collectivist and individualist cultural identities by asking bicultural undergraduates (N = 357) from Hong Kong to recall kindnesses towards close versus distant others in both English and Chinese, while Study 2 compared university students in the USA (n = 106) and Hong Kong (n = 93). In Study 1, after being primed with the Chinese language (but not after being primed with English), participants reported significantly improved affect valence after recalling kind acts towards friends and family than after recalling kind acts towards strangers. Extending this result, in Study 2, respondents from Hong Kong (but not the USA) who recalled kind acts towards friends and family showed higher positive affect than those who recalled kind acts towards strangers. These findings suggest that people with collectivist cultural identities may have relatively more positive and less negative emotional experiences when they focus on prosocial interactions with close rather than weak ties.

scholarly journals Formation of Hong Kong’s Administrative System in the 1840-1870s

2021 ◽  
pp. 61-65
Author(s):  
G.Z. Papashvili
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
British Empire ◽  
Chinese Language ◽  
Colonial Administration ◽  
Qualitative Characteristic ◽  
Chinese Community ◽  
Administrative System ◽  
Qing Empire ◽  
Administrative Control ◽  
Control Pattern

The article considers the process of Hong Kong’s administrative system formation after its placement under the administration of the British Empire in 1842. A brief description of the local Chinese and expatriate communities is given and the character of their interaction is identified. The transformations of Hong Kong’s administrative system at the various stages of its formation are analyzed and its qualitative characteristic is given. The significant language and other barriers to the establishing of interaction between colonial administration and the Chinese community and inefficiency of the administrative control pattern in the 1840-50s are identified. Inefficiency of this pattern is considered as a prerequisite for its development by establishing of the new scheme of civil servants’ selection with the aim of teaching them Chinese language and creation of the team of interpreters ready to communicate with the local Chinese. The abovementioned scheme turned out to be efficient and practically laid the foundation for creating Hong Kong’s administrative system. The author comes to the conclusion that the new scheme trained specialists made an important contribution to the development of Hong Kong, which from the periphery of the Qing Empire was transformed to the autonomous outpost of the British Empire.

Colonial governance and state incorporation of Chinese language: the case of the first Chinese language movement in Hong Kong

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chi Keung Charles Fung
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
Chinese Language ◽  
Historical Case Study ◽  
Official Language ◽  
Historical Case ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Colonial State ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
Symbolic Process

Purpose Despite the importance of the first Chinese language movement in the early 1970s that elevated the status of Chinese as an official language in British Hong Kong, the movement and the colonial state’s response remained under-explored. Drawing insights primarily from Bourdieu and Phillipson, this study aims to revisit the rationale and process of the colonial state’s incorporation of the Chinese language amid the 1970s. Design/methodology/approach This is a historical case study based on published news and declassified governmental documents. Findings The central tenet is that the colonial state’s cultural incorporation was the tactics that aimed to undermine the nationalistic appeal in Hong Kong society meanwhile contain the Chinese language movement from turning into political unrest. Incorporating the Chinese language into the official language regime, however, did not alter the pro-English linguistic hierarchy. Symbolic domination still prevailed as English was still considered as the more economically rewarding language comparing with Chinese, yet official recognition of Chinese language created a common linguistic ground amongst the Hong Kong Chinese and fostered a sense of local identity that based upon the use of the mother tongue, Cantonese. From the case of Hong Kong, it suggests that Bourdieu’s conceptualisation of state formation paid insufficient attention to the international context and the non-symbolic process of state-making itself could also shape the degree of the state’s symbolic power. Originality/value Extant studies on the Chinese language movement are overwhelmingly movement centred, this paper instead brings the colonial state back in so to re-examine the role of the state in the incorporative process of the Chinese language in Hong Kong.

Chinese Culture and Internet E-Commerce

2011 ◽  
pp. 267-288
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Hsu
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Web Sites ◽  
Chinese Culture ◽  
World Wide ◽  
Chinese Language ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Cultural Aspects ◽  
The World ◽  
Practical Guidelines

The potential for the Internet and e-commerce in China and Chinese-speaking nations (including Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore) is huge. Many experts believe that China will have the second largest population of web surfers, after the United States, by the year 2005 (McCarthy, 2000). Currently, the Internet population in China is doubling every six months (CNNIC, 2001). There are many issues relating to China’s cultural aspects and society, which can impact the design and content of web sites that are directed towards Chinese audiences. Some of these issues include basic differences between Chinese and American/Western cultures, family and collective orientations, religion and faith, color, symbolism, ordering and risk/uncertainty. Attention is given to the differences between the cultures of China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore, as well as addressing issues brought up by related theories and frameworks. A discussion of important considerations that relate to using Chinese language on the World Wide Web (WWW) is also included. Finally, insights are gained by examining web sites produced in China and Chinese-speaking countries. This chapter will focus on many of these issues and provide practical guidelines and advice for those who want to reach out to Chinese audiences, whether for e-commerce, education, or other needs.

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