Passtimes Issue 6 by Hong Kong Public Affairs and Social Service Society University of Warwick

Message from President Dear readers,

CONTENTS

I would like to welcome you to the sixth publication. We are very excited to bring you some fascinating articles written by students at University of Warwick. It has been always challenging to build upon the success of PASSTIME over the previous years. This year we reform the structure of the magazine. A cover story comments on the immigration policy and draws a contrast between our home, Hong Kong and where we are, the United Kingdom. Apart from this, we as well include loads of interesting articles written by our members, like what we did in our previous editions.

Message from President & Chief Editor

I would like to thank all of the contributions from our Chief Editor Christopher Li and all members of the editorial team and design team. Without their hard work and dedication we would not be able to produce the magazine.

Freshers’ Life

Timeline

Warwickpoly

On behalf of WHKPASS, I hope you enjoy reading the magazine and that you have enjoyed our past editions.

Cover Stories Immigration Are Mainlanders Saviours or Enemies?

Best wishes for the coming year! Best Regards, Chi Man Cheung President 2013-2014

Meaning of Life Social Does it have to be one or the other? 我看中港邊界

Message from Chief Editor

Commentator 心靈計程車 All bad things ain’t bad Should we create a universal language

Hi everyone, This year, the editorial team and I tried to find a common issue between the UK and Hong Kong to be our cover story. Eventually, we have chosen the issue of immigration.

Sport and Health You are what you eat “Lemon” The countdown of a “Brizilian” World Cup Needle-Free Vaccination

This issue is always controversial. On one hand, skilled or young immigrants are crucial to the economic growth of a country, especially one with an aging population. On the other hand, some of them may also put more pressure on the welfare and public health services. By showing you the current situations, we hope our articles can assist you to find a solution, to strike a balance between the advantages and disadvantages of accepting immigrants to come to our homeland.

Our Team

I would like to sincerely thank the editorial team, the design team and all the writers. Their great contributions have made this magazine happen.

Have a nice day

4 6 10 12

14 16 22

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Finally, I hope you will enjoy reading this magazine, or even find it inspiring.

Christopher Li Chief Editor Public Affairs Director 2013-2014

Desi gner:Lucas Chan

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Are Mainlanders Saviours or Enemies? I

mplementation of the One Way Permit (OWP) Scheme since 1980 has played a crucial role in regulating the flow of immigrants from the Mainland. Mainland residents who wish to settle in Hong Kong for family reunion must apply for OWPs from the Exit and Entry Administration Offices of the Mainland at their household registration. At present, a daily quota of 150 immigrants from Mainland are granted a “oneway permit” to leave the Mainland and settle in Hong Kong and this policy is justified by the HKSAR government in the context of “facilitating family reunification at a rate that Hong Kong’s economic and social infrastructure can absorb without excessive strain”.

population aged 65 or above has been increasing in recent years. Advancement of medical system and greater health consciousness have resulted an increasing elderly dependency ratio thereby contributed to the ageing population in Hong Kong. As a consequence of the Court of Final Appeal ruled in July 2001 that babies born in Hong Kong to Chinese nationals have the right of abode in Hong Kong, there has been an obvious upward trend of birth rate from 6.7% in 2001 to 13.6% in 2012. This highlights the undoubtable contribution of the OWP arrivals to the expansion of population growth facilitated by cross-boundary marriages therefore we cannot deny the fact that the OWP scheme is of vital importance According to Hong Kong Annual in a sustainable population policy. Digest of Statistics, Census and Statistics Department, comparing to the past, the death rate has However, it is generally impossible declined to a great extent from for anywhere in the world to accept 9.0% in 1981 to 5.1% in 2012. “taking the advantages without As a large amount of babies born paying the price”, the influx of after the WWII (i.e. after 1945) mainlanders has aroused several approached their retirement age, concerns recently. In 2014, Hong

Kong was ranked No. 1 in the world for the most ‘unaffordable’ housing thanks to the mainland speculators in popping up the housing bubbles. The housing prices have risen dramatically over the past ten years to which rendered the local grass roots turn to cubicle apartments. In addition to that, the unanimous court of final appeal ruling has declared it unconstitutional to deny comprehensive social security assistance (CSSA) to new immigrants in Dec, 2013, which means the seven-year residency requirement for CSSA benefits has been dismissed. Protesters argued that the decision would lead to an increase in the financial burden on our government by adding a few hundreds of million annually which is not legitimated by popular support. Ho Hei-wah, director of the Society for Community Organisation, said the ruling may lead to an annual increase of 5,000 to 7,000 applications from new immigrants and add HK$750 million annually an increase of 3.5 per cent - to the CSSA bill.

“According to the Basic Law, China’s Ministry of Public Security is responsible for the application acceptance, approval and issuance of OWP, hence Hong Kong government cannot ‘take back’ or ‘fight for’ the approval right.” Ms. Carrie Lam Cheng Yuetngor said in July 2013. The openly indication from the chief secretary for administration has triggered widespread public concerns, activists criticized that “outsourcing” of the OWPs approval right is not confined with the basic law as article 22(4) of the Basic Law clearly provides that: “for entry into the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, people from other parts of China must apply for approval. Among them, the number of persons who enter the Region for the purpose of settlement shall be determined by the competent authorities of the Central People’s Government after consulting the government of the Region”. Therefore the number of Mainland immigrants should be decided after consultation with Hong Kong,

however the 150 quota is not an invariable number so that is not set in stone in the Basic Law. In addition, the loss of OWPs approval rights has violated the Basic Law Article 154, which provides Hong Kong with the power of immigration control, and deprived Hong Kong from a very important safeguard. Family reunification is merely a policy matter and it is neither an internationally recognised human rights nor written in the basic law, therefore HKSAR need not to foster family reunion for the sake of it. Apparently, OWPs scheme has already led to a series of societal issues ranging from the unaffordable housing and retail prices, misallocation of resources due to the accelerated financial burden, upward capacity pressure on our infrastructures as well as the growing confrontation between mainlanders and Hong Kong people. This increasingly alarming societal conflict is deeply embedded in the city and it casts a shadow over the future of Hong Kong which deserves the

government a close attention. The government should not promote an irresponsible immigration policy under the pretext of rejuvenating the ageing population. Hong Kong government should always review the effectiveness of the immigration policy as well as carry out a frequent and thorough assessment in order to evaluate the city’s capacity on accommodating immigrants. Every endeavor should be tried to remedy the societal issues without procrastination. If they want to make Hong Kong a better and more independent city-a commendable aim, to be sure-strike a balance between the impact of the immigrants and the livelihood of our community instead of juggle the competing demands of china’s leaders and Hong Kong people. I believe in the end, warnings from Beijing about sowing chaos will not scare the people of Hong Kong. Rather they would be emboldened.

Written by Marc Lai

心

靈

入夜

的香港仍掛著最美艷的濃妝，霓虹燈總把街頭照得熱烘烘的。我坐上了計程車，往家的方向奔馳回去。離開旺角，途經燈火闌珊的街道，熟悉的唐樓，再看晚風輕拍松樹，靜夜中的香港總是愈看愈美麗。熟悉的偌大倒影倏忽檔住玉盤灑下的遍地銀光，原來是到家了，我潛意識的掏出錢包來，才撇見咪錶是關掉的。也許是太累了，我平靜的說：「師傅，咪錶還是關著的。」他望望咪錶，搖了搖頭，像是準備迎接我一番咒罵：「算了罷，你就依平常價錢大概給我罷了」。事情原本到這裡就解決了，但大概我本性也太坦率：「可我沒試過這般回家呢，還是你來算好了」。他猛地粗豪的豁然大笑：「姑娘，要是香港地能多有幾個像妳般好心腸的乘客，我們當司機我也不用當我那麼苦了！」，然後他就滔滔不絕的跟我訴說這十多年來遇過那些「怪獸乘客」的無理行為，反倒常常把他當作不講理的野人看待。雖然他口邊總是掛著一句「看化了」，記掛了這麼多年的事，壓根底兒也定必很難受。離別前他叮囑我要好好讀書，也祝福我在這邊生活一切順順利利，就這麼結束了愉快一天。豈料事隔三個月，我竟反倒成「怪獸乘客」一員。復活假期間，我與朋友們到英國內陸旅行去。雖然享受固中分秒，畢竟人生路不熟，防人之心不可無，況且人在異鄉，甚麼也要打醒十二分精神。景點間交通不太方便，我們直截租了部計程車。司機是廣東人，碰著我們這夥「同鄉的」，也就雀躍的聊起來。也許是車廂太大了，我看不清咪錶，問了句：「師傅，請問咪錶在跳嗎？」－－只見倒後鏡中本來還在高談闊論的一張笑臉突然沈下來，我與他一雙怒目於倒後鏡中交投：「妳這是說我騙你們錢嗎？當然在跳！不滿意大可投訴我公司呀！都把我當成那些不三不四的歹徒了？」車內立時陷入一片怪誕的寂靜，再說下去也是沒意思了：「只是確認一下罷了……」。以後的路途中，車廂內都是鴉雀無聲的，空氣中倒是彌漫著「不信任」的氣息，撕裂著我們脆弱的靈魂。離車前我淡淡回頭，「不好意思，麻煩了」，只冀盼這短短一句話能修補我們淌血的心。當天剩下來的時間，心裡總是藏著說不出的難過。

計程車 24

原來我們每天都帶著這顆傷痕纍纍，埋於圍牆裡的心過活著──把內心的不安、困倦、怨恨都困在圍城裡，在人生的旅程中，傷痕儼如無止境的計程車咪錶，隨著我們的心臟遞增跳動著。也許卸下圍牆，讓溫煦陽光照進心田，讓柔柔綿雨洗滌心靈，那腐爛的荒土也終能遍地開花！ By Harold Lai

All Bad Things ain't Bad,

a.k.a. Salvage Yourself by Savouring Your Life

ust yards off the platform heading back to Coventry, while still pondering how I could fill these columns, the tedium of the journey was dispersed by an unexpected yet joyful and refreshing arrival of the ticket inspector. There are ticket inspectors and ticket inspectors, this is unquestionably the latter. He made an entrance by singing, like Gene Kelly in Singing in The Rain. Not only did he sing, he made a rhyme as well, I passed him the ticket and he responded drolly, “I get into groove, and have you approved!” I was stoned. Speechless. Jaw-dropping. The coup de theatre then hit me twice, “You are in the right line and you are fine!” He soon after continued his tour, like Jay Z, like a boss. Albeit being a ticket inspector and harvesting circa a thousand quid a month, he enjoyed it very much. What’s his little secret? As a Hongkonger, this is the question of the century. Being overwhelmed and preoccupied for so long, the penny dropped as the train continued its third leg leaving Derby:

Chris Rock said, and I quote, “All bad words ain’t bad. It’s about the context in which they are said.” Likewise, all bad things ain’t bad, it’s about the way you see them. A little disclaimer here, I am not suggesting being ticket inspector is a bad thing per se, it is just an example. I did appallingly in the A-Level Exam. At first glance, it appeared to be my apocalypse: Without a degree? Live a refugee. On second thought, it may serve nicely as a wake-up call. I recall Cho Yan Chiu had his own theory about failure: One must meet his Waterloo, as the saying goes, “No pain, no gain”; and should meet it before thirty, because that gives you enough time to restart. My lovable English teacher Mr. Daswani once enlightened me, “Never ask ‘Why?’, ask ‘What next?’ instead.” All these people (giants in my mind) have their unique way to see ‘bad’ things. The former is not against failure, he welcomes it; the latter instilled such a beautiful notion into me: don’t let what seems to be a cul-de-sac stumps you, just move on and conquer it.

Now I am here, reading law, sculpting my path to be a lawyer. The Waterloo turns out to be a Shangri-La. Or does it? Law is no slouch, one has to fight tooth and nail to tame this beast, there are always complicated essays to tackle, let alone the convoluted reading and societies activities. However, all bad things ain’t bad, the study yields precious critical thinking skills, a well-trained mind to deal with pressure, a coveted degree and, joy of joys, a promising future. At this point I run out of cliché to say, thankfully a slight delay in Burton-on-Trent buys me another half an hour to pen the other. See, all bad things ain’t bad.

By Harold Lai 27

! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

WEIGHT LOSS

can help you lose some weight by naturally making you eat less. Lemons contain pectin, and this chemical will help you feel “full”.

Before a meal, you can make yourself a glass of lemon juice, and you will ﬁnd that you will

from your studies and work, or if you cannot

ABOLISH ACNE

One of the key chemical found in lemons is

citric acid, and it does wonders for treating acne. The alkaline nature of the substance helps kill many types of bacteria, which causes

acne. You can treat your acne by drinking

lemon juice daily, or you can apply lemon juice

on your face directly. To do this, you will squeeze your own fresh lemon juice and apply

the juice with a cotton ball over you face. This

Philip Li

! !

sleep. So if you are under too much pressure

sleep at night worrying about assignments

coming up, try having some lemon balm

extract (600mg) for 7 days. It will signiﬁcantly increase your mood and calmness. 5. The

IMPROVES IMMUNITY healing

powers

the

lemon

are

extraordinary; it works both internally and

externally. Internally, it helps by supplying vitamin C to your defense cells, and externally

with its antiviral and detoxiﬁcation properties.

So next time, if you have a fever, cold, or a

might sting a little bit due to the alkaline

sore throat, try squeezing yourself a cup of

leave it overnight, and wash it off the

water to heal improve your immunity.

properties of the juice, but bear with it and following morning. You can do this every other day or every two days, but do not apply lemon juice to open wounds as it might irritate it. 3.

WHITEN TEETH

Have you ever looked in the mirror and hoped

your teeth looked whiter? Have you tried

We have all heard of the phrase “you are what you eat”, and there are a number of foods which can help improve the functions of your body. Today we will be talking about a yellow fruit from a small evergreen tree native to Asia – lemons, and its various beneﬁcial elements to our body.

Recent studies have found that lemons help

with combination of suitable diet will help you 2.

“Lemon”

RELIVES ANXIETY

healthy weight is important. Never try to lose

lose weight in a natural and healthy way.

relive anxiety, and by doing so helps improve

weight just by eating less –doing exercises

! !

inducing a sensation of being “full” thus

eat a lot less after. But do remember, having a

Are you unhappy about your weight? Lemons

brushing your teeth with various types of

lemon juice and drink it mixed with lukewarm 6.

FIGHTS FATIGUE

Staying up late to ﬁnish an assignment?

Instead of drinking cans of Red Bull, you

might want to try the natural way, I’m sure it’ll “give you wings” as well. Just simply slice

the lemon in half and stick a straw into the lemon, suck out all the lemon juice you can,

toothpastes and found your effort in vain? Give

and

effective. Just slice a wedge of lemon and rub

explorers do this when they are tired. As

lemons a try; they’re natural, simple, and

it on your teeth (you can also add some lemon

soda onto the lemon to help boost the effects), and it would help you achieve instant

whiteness. However, be warned that you don’t

achieve

distance

instant

walkers,

refreshment.

world

travelers,

Long

and

lemon juice also boosts brain activity, so it’ll

help you focus and concentrate to whatever

you need to do.

want to rub it for too long, as it might do you more harm than good.

So the next time when you get your drink at a restaurant, you might want to ask for a slice of lemon.

Even just by sucking out all of the lemon juice in that single slice of lemon before meals can help you

achieve all of the things mentioned here. Natural remedies are always the most effective ones, as the

nature has all the answers. Why don’t you give it a try?

The countdown of a “Brazilian” World Cup

To begin with, we need to start by carefully considering what a World Cup actually means to a country such as Brazil who has won it five times in the previous tournaments, with the last coming in 2002. This country unparalleled records have no doubts produced the best players in the past and has the most triumphs out of all the participating nations. But what has the upcoming WC done to the country not just economically but also socially? Dating back to 1958 when Brazil first won the most precious award in Solna, Sweden featuring the likes of FIFA Ballon d'Or Prix d'Honneur winner, Pele in which they dominated the match by wining 5:2 against the host. The award he later received in 2014 reflects a winner only of his quality to have won the world cup three times in his player career. Since, many more global stars have came through the ranks in the likes of Cafu, Ronaldo, Reboerto Carlos, Ronaldinho, Kaka and more recently Neymar where the hopes of winning the world cup on home soil relies on. These are the people who have inspired many generations of Brazilian and why football has engraved as one of their religion. With only half a year till the start of the tournament, news emerged about half of Brazil’s twelve stadiums delay after a crane have collapsed onto the stadium and builders fell to his death from the roof top, prompting the Brazil high court to halt the stadium construction. This has further pushed the finish date to mid-April, barely six weeks till the grand opening match (Brazil

A ‘rush job’ as many described it. International focuses on Brazil have never been as high before, piling extra pressure on the government to correct the situation. Earlier in 2013, during the confederation cup – a curtain raiser, demonstration of protests have swept across the nation to express their frustration in the lack of basic infrastructures such as transportation and health centre instead of hosting an expensive world tournament. In fact, it wouldn’t have grown as fast and sharp as it is now. Entrepreneurships and infrastructures would have taken place gradually over the course of the next ten, twenty years according to the country’s needs. But Brazil as a nation must now take advantage of this prospect and establish a strong relationship with foreign businessmen and to improve the whole standard of the country from telecommunications through to transportation and English speaking standards in order compete with other tourist’s destination. This occasion will no matter be a once in a life time opportunity to unite the nation who grew up with glimmers of hope of witnessing the triumph on home soil, but will this be a win or lose situation for a country which is in its current state? Only time can tell the truth about this joyful event and as a passionate football fan, I have my utter faith in Germany to triumph since their last in 1990.

An article based on the social and economic impacts at the Brazil World Cup 2014. Please bear in mind that it is a century of days of countdown until the start of the World Cup when I am preparing for this article. By Pok Yin Liu, Brian.