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As the 2024-2025 academic year begins, Hong Kong's educational landscape is undergoing a profound transformation. The Hong Kong Education Bureau has announced the integration of “patriotic education” (愛國教育) and “Xi Jinping Thought” (習近平思想) into the junior high school curriculum. Since the crackdown on pro-democracy protests in 2019-2020 and the adoption of the National Security Law (NSL) in June 2020, the Hong Kong Education Bureau has been laying the groundwork for a shift in the school curriculum to bring it in line with the ideology of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). On October 24, 2023, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress in Beijing passed the “Patriotic Education Law of the People's Republic of China" (中华人民共和国爱国主义教育法). The law, which came into effect on January 1, 2024, aims to promote patriotism, national unity and security, as well as cultural identity among the citizens. In his 2023 Policy Address delivered on October 25, the Beijing-app

A Hong Kong photographer has been convicted of insulting the national anthem of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and faces up to three years in prison. The 27-year-old Cheng Wing-chun (鄭榮進) appeared before Magistrate Minnie Wat Lai Man at the Eastern Magistrates’ Courts on Wednesday (July 5). He was found guilty of insulting the PRC national anthem "March of the Volunteers" after he replaced it with the protest song "Glory to Hong Kong" in a video he uploaded online. Baycrest - Wikipedia user - CC-BY-SA-2.5 He is the first person to be convicted under the National Anthem Ordinance . Enacted in June 2020, the law makes “insulting” or “misusing” the PRC national anthem punishable by a fine of up to HK$50,000 (US$6,400) and a maximum penalty of three years’ imprisonment. Cheng was prosecuted after he allegedly created and uploaded a video of Hong Kong fencer Edgar Cheung winning a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics in July 2021, with the protest song "Glor

Hong Kong's Sports Federation has urged the Hong Kong government to pressure Google to stop showing the pro-democracy song "Glory to Hong Kong" high up in search results.  The Federation's statement comes after the song was played by mistake at a sporting event in Bosnia and Herzegovina on February 28 instead of the "March of the Volunteers", the official anthem of the People's Republic of China (PRC), which also serves as Hong Kong's anthem.  " Crowd singing Glory to Hong Kong at New Town Plaza shopping mall in September 2019 " by Studio Incendo is licensed under  CC BY 2.0 . _____ Pui Kwan-kay, honorary vice-president of the Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, China, said on Thursday (March 2) that the solution to the problem is to ensure that the wrong song is no longer placed high up in search engine results.  " Glory to Hong Kong " (願榮光歸香港) was written by a local musician in his mid-20s who identified hims

When I lived in Hong Kong I often passed by a residential apartment complex commonly known as the " monster building ".  " Interior of the Yick Cheong Building November 2016 " by  Nick-D  is licensed under  CC BY-SA 4.0 . _____

PRC and Hong Kong flags (photo by Alan Mak via Wikimedia Commons) China has deployed the so-called "Great Cannon" tool to launch a malware attack aimed at taking offline Hong Kong's popular pro-democracy website LIHKG , according to a report published by AT&T Cybersecurity. The Great Cannon is a "distributed denial of service tool (“DDoS”) that operates by injecting malicious Javascript into pages served from behind the Great Firewall ", the report states. "These scripts, potentially served to millions of users across the internet, hijack the users’ connections to make multiple requests against the targeted site. These requests consume all the resources of the targeted site, making it unavailable," the report adds. LIHKG is an online forum launched in November 2016. During the anti-extradition bill protests it became popular among Hong Kong activists , which used it as a platform to discuss politics and organize protests. On August

Hong Kong, Central Hong Kong is one of the most expensive cities for expatriates, not only because of its notorious housing problem , but also due to the price of food and clothing. According to a recent survey, in 2017  Hong Kong was the 9th most expensive location in the world and the 2nd most expensive location in the Asia-Pacific region after Tokyo.  Nevertheless, there are many ways to save money in Hong Kong, if you really want to. Although many Hongkongers claim that eating outside is not much more expensive than cooking at home, in my own experience making your own food will help you save a lot of money. In this post, I would like to share some tips about eating on a budget in Hong Kong. 1- Avoid Convenience Stores Many people are tempted to buy food from convenience stores like 7-Eleven because they think it's cheap and easy. Well, it might be easy to pour hot water into a cup of instant noodles, or heat a prepackaged meal in the microwave, but thi

Dougan, a type of dried bean curd (by Bryan [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons ) While I was living in Taiwan and Hong Kong , vegetarian food became a fundamental part of my diet. When I returned to Europe after six amazing years in East Asia, I suddenly realized how difficult it was for me to readjust to a diet where most of the protein intake comes from meat and dairy products. In most of Europe it is hard to find suitable and affordable vegetarian alternatives to meat and fish. Of course, one can eat eggs and pulses. However, eggs   contain a lot of cholesterol. Generally speaking, eating one egg a day is considered safe for most people. One large egg has only about 6-7 grams of protein . But the body needs about  1 gram of protein per 1 kg of body weight  (0.75 grams for people who have a sedentary lifestyle). I personally found that eating more than one egg per day negatively affected me. Pulses are healthy and cheap, but, honestly, I find them quite boring on a daily b

A while ago I had a debate with two guys from South America I met in Hong Kong. They argued that Hong Kong had lost its Chinese culture and identity, complained about the fact that the city had the same kind of buildings and shops, like McDonald's and Starbucks, one can find anywhere in the world, that people behave like Westerners. I disagreed, telling them that behind the surface of modernity, Hong Kong remained culturally Chinese. One of those guys obviously didn't like to discuss with people who had a different opinion than himself - he got upset and stormed out of the room. Talking about Chinese culture is not only in itself a very complex subject, but it is also politically sensitive, because some people mistakenly assume that "Chinese" means Communist Party and People's Republic of China (PRC). So, if you tell someone that Taiwan is culturally Chinese, they might get angry and tell you that China is not Taiwan. I don't see Chinese cul

Residential high-rise buildings, Hong Kong Island On August 14 the Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) released new statistics showing that the Hong Kong population has reached 7 448 900 at mid-2018, an increase of 57 200 or 0.8% from 7 391 700 last year.  From mid-2017 to mid-2018 there was a net inflow of 49 600 persons, of whom 41 000 were One-way Permit holders and 8 500 were other Hong Kong residents. One-way Permit holders is a term that refers to person from mainland China. Mainland residents who wish to settle in Hong Kong must apply for Permits for Proceeding to Hong Kong and Macao, commonly known as One-way Permits (OWPs). The C&SD population statistics measure the Resident Population, which comprises Usual Residents and Mobile Residents. The term Usual Residents refers to two categories of people: 1) Hong Kong Permanent Residents who have stayed in Hong Kong for at least three m

The number of Hong Kong people sleeping at McDonald's restaurants has increased almost sixfold since 2013.  People sleeping in McDonald's outlets, commonly known in Hong Kong as ' McSleepers ' or ' McRefugees ',  are a common sight in Hong Kong, where the presence of McSleepers is usually tolerated by employees.   According to a recent survey by the non-profit organization Junior Chamber International Tai Ping Shan, the number of McSleepers in Hong Kong has risen from 57 to 334 individuals over the period from 2013 to August 2018.  Embed from Getty Images In densely populated Hong Kong there are a a total of 116 McDonald's outlets open 24-hours: 30 in Hong Kong Island, 42 in Kowloon, 40 in the New Territories and 4 on the Outlying Islands. The American food chain provides not only cheap meals, but also free internet and air-conditioning, thus attracting customers from the city's poorest social groups.  Hong Kong-based Wenweipo re

On July 16 the Hong Kong police notified Andy Chan Ho-tin (陳浩天), the founder and leader of the Hong Kong National Party (香港民族黨, HKNP), that his party might be banned  for threatening China's "national security."  Hong Kong Secretary of Security John Lee Ka-chiu (李家超) said at a press conference that any Hong Kong-based society may be banned in order to protect national security and public order, or to protect the rights and freedoms of others. Protecting national security means safeguarding the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the People's Republic of China, he added.  Embed from Getty Images Andy Chan was given 21 days to submit a written reply to the Secretary of Security, explaining why the HKNP should not be outlawed.  On July 26 Mr. Chan told Hong Kong-based newspaper HK01 that the previous day he had sent a letter to the Security Bureau (保安局) requesting to be given 2 months, instead of only 21 days, to respond to the government.  H