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Innovation Festival 2007
Invited by the Innovation and Technology Commission as a festival partner, the Federation will be involved with the Innovation Festival 2007 from late August till early November. Its theme is Let's Innovate…For a New Era and this year's Festival aims to enhance the younger generation's interest in innovation, technology and design. Apart from displaying the latest achievements and trends in Hong Kong at a series of roadshows, the Festival will feature over 100 design and technology workshops, 20 informative and stimulating seminars, robot competitions, an attempt to break a Guinness world record and a public vote, Wish for the New Era - the Most Wanted Technology Breakthrough, during the Innovation Expo at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre from 14-19 September.
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Celebration Photo Contest for HKSAR 10th Anniversary:
Winning photos on display
The Federation's website www.u21.hk hosted this successful photo contest with over 500 entries. Winning photos were exhibited at the Hong Kong Computer & Communications Festival 2007 from 24-27 August at Hall 1, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. We would like to thank The Chamber of Hong Kong Computer Industry for being the venue and event sponsor. The theme of the contest was The Most Representative Scene and there were two categories of entrant: student and open. Each category had 4 topics: social issues, environment and life issues, festivities, and people. The competition created an outlet for creative talent, helping to improve photographic skills and raise interest in photography while stimulating collective memory. Click here to see the winning entries. |
Indoor Sport Climbing Competition
Sponsored by NIKKO, the Federation's Tsuen Wan Youth S.P.O.T. organized this competition on 25 August. About 50 youngsters aged 13-15 with climbing experience were divided into groups which worked in teams to complete various fun-filled activities that involved climbing. The competition gave young people a platform to demonstrate their talent in sports and build teamwork skills.
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Learning about Tsuen Wan: a community project
The Federation's Tsuen King Youth S.P.O.T. is jointly organizing this project, entitled '向荃灣出發-青少年體驗計劃' with Tsuen Wan District Council this August. Secondary school and university students take part in workshops to learn about their community. They also pay social visits to learn more about the living conditions and needs of ethnic minority groups, newly-arrived immigrants, squatters and tenants of old buildings. Sponsored by Tsuen Wan District Council, the project helps young people learn about the needs of the disadvantaged in their community and reflect on their potential role in community services.
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Project on mental health
Sponsored by the Committee on the Promotion of Civic Education, the Federation's Tai Po Lions Youth S.P.O.T. is organizing a project, entitled '燈火現情真之不一樣的你' between August and October. Young people aged 16 or above will participate in training workshops on volunteer work skills and pay visits to recovered patients. They will also be given training in first-aid for the mentally handicapped and street drama techniques to demonstrate their care for the patients. In October, the young people will hold exhibitions and use street drama to raise public awareness about mental health education and show support for the mentally handicapped. For more information, you can click here: http://tp.hkfyg.org.hk or contact our Tai Po Lions Youth S.P.O.T. at 2656 3257.
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Chung Ying Theatre Co donates free tickets for young people
Chung Ying Theatre Co donated free tickets for young people to attend the drama entitled For you are with Me on 28 August at the Hong Kong City Hall Theatre. |
Mingpao donates soccer brochures to our youth members
Many thanks to Mingpao for donating copies of special brochures on the 2007-08 England Premier League for youth members. |
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readers: please send your contact details |
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| Dragon 100: Finding the Footprints of the Dragon |
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HKFYG helps to promote awareness of shared heritage through the Dragon Foundation programme, Dragon 100. Every year, it brings young Chinese leaders from other continents to China. Here they can explore their roots and exchange perspectives while building a synergistic network for communication and community-strengthening when they return home. Nourishing their sense of identity and stimulating a sense of unity are two of the goals. |
The programme this year is in Hong Kong and Henan. It includes a plenary session with Professor David Lung of the University of Hong Kong's Department of Architecture, expert on built heritage. There will also be discussions on Chinese history and customs, visits to museums and sites of cultural interest such as the ancient Chinese capital Luoyang, the World Heritage Longmen grottoes and the Buddhist Shao Lin Temple.
Professor David Lung, speaking at the launch of Dragon 100, commented on the importance of caring for heritage:
What we do today affects the environment of tomorrow. Borrowing from the concept of sustainability, we don't want this generation to deprive the next of its heritage. Heritage conservation is about the interpretation of our historical past, based on the values of today, and the will to conserve for the benefit of future generations. |
| Feature Story |
Dragon 100 2007
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Whether they live in Asia, the Americas or elsewhere, participants in the Dragon 100 programme for young Chinese leaders are given a grasp China's civilization and their joint heritage. They are encouraged to learn from what they see and remember what they learn. As Sir TL Yang reminded them in his welcome:
…to see is to remember, to do is to understand. |
When they go home, they are cultural ambassadors, passing on what they have learned, enriching and empowering others like themselves. Zabrina Law, who is doing Arts at McGill in Vancouver, is already convinced that understanding her heritage will give her a better idea of her cultural identity:
Knowledge of one's roots and where they are helps the tree grow.
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Ada Wong, JP, Chair of the Wanchai District Council and both Founder and Chair of the Hong Kong Institute of Contemporary Culture, was the forum's plenary session moderator. As a pioneer of conservation in Hong Kong, we asked her how she thought the concept of heritage conservation might best be promulgated among youth:
…it has to be through our schools, and in my alma mater that means through the curriculum in civic education. Children here are brain-washed early and we have to catch them in time to raise their awareness… |
Alfred Dunn, doing a BA in economics at the University of Chicago, is originally from Peru but he was partly educated in Hong Kong. He realises that learning about heritage and its conservation should be part of the curriculum here but also understands why some barriers exist:
For many people in Hong Kong, especially those who can barely make a living, cultural heritage preservation means nothing. Education is needed to make them believe that they are part of this heritage and they are responsible for its upkeep.
We need discussion groups, forums and other grass roots endeavours, said Zabrina. A bottom-up approach could work here.
Prof Lung's talk at the plenary session was about the watchtowers of Kaiping. He told his audience that an understanding of the past and of inherited culture would also be a guide for the future. The significance of preserving it is central to continuity and through that to the sense of Chinese identity that is a main theme of this annual event. |
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One of the special features of the programme is that it brings together young overseas Chinese so that they can share the experience of living in many different countries:
At home I often feel that it's my responsibility to represent all Chinese people. That's a heavy burden, especially because so many of my peers are not Chinese, said Yang Long, a third year science student at Brown University in the States. Here the burden is shared.
Dragon 100 provides an opportunity for bright young Chinese like Alfred, Zabrina and Yang to reflect and gain an affirmed sense of identity and continuity through a look at history:
Sir TL Yang, echoing Confucius told them: |
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…study the past; it will help you define the future.
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| Upcoming events |
YBHK Seminar |
Date: Saturday 1 September
Time: 2:30-4:30pm
Venue: KPMG, 5/F Tai Yau Building, Johnston Road, Wanchai
Theme: Online Platforms
Target: 18-35 years old young people who are interested in business start-ups
More information: http://www.yen.org.hk/ybhk/ or call Gloria of YBHK at 3113 7999 |
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| Dragon Foundation Lecture Series for Youth Leaders |
Guest Speaker: Dr Louis Cha (查良鏞博士)
Date: Friday 7 September
Time: 6:00-7:00pm
Venue: Hong Kong Academy of Medicine |
| Facts & Figures |
| Heritage in youthful hands |
Youth's interest in Hong Kong's heritage sites has blossomed recently, with the reaction to the demolition of the Star Ferry pier in Central and activism at Queen's Pier. However, this was not evident from a recent survey* about Queen's Pier although 92% of the 570 18-35-year-olds interviewed paid attention to reports on the subject in the media. Only 32% opposed the demolition of the pier although 48% considered it a cultural heritage site. 50% thought that development should go ahead nevertheless. Only 24% put preservation of cultural sites before development.
The Lord Wilson Heritage Trust is funding an HKFYG pilot project in October on antiquities and monuments with training and workshops for secondary school and university students at the Federation's Jockey Club Hung Hom Youth S.P.O.T. The aim is to teach the importance of the city's heritage and preservation with seminars on Hong Kong history and workshops on the walled villages in the New Territories. More information will be available soon at http://www.hhspot.org/.
UNESCO has organized World Heritage Youth Forums since 1995 to promote youth awareness of heritage conservation. There was a forum in China in 1997 and this year's, where the Kaiping diaolou were inscribed as a world heritage site, was designated for the Asia-Pacific region and was held in New Zealand. UNESCO also runs a project on Young People's Participation in World Heritage Preservation and Promotion to encourage tomorrow's decision-makers to participate in heritage conservation.
*EastSouthWestNorth report of Hong Kong Youth Association survey conducted 1-9 August 2007 www.zonaeuropa.com/20070814_1.htm |
The
Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups provides services
and facilities for the intellectual, physical, emotional
and social development of young people in the hope
that they will lead full and committed lives as responsible,
contributing citizens. It has ten core services focusing
on youth employment, volunteering, youth-at-risk,
counselling, education, parenting, leisure, culture
and sports, youth exchange, leadership training and
e-services.
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