Hong Kong

This article considers the (re)production of Hong Kong’s urban space in cyberpunk cinema, specifically in the American interpretation (2017) of Mamoru Oshii’s Ghost in the Shell (1995). How Chinatowns and Asian cities have inspired cyberpunk environments in both literature (e.g. Neuromancer 1984, Snow Crash 1992) and film (e.g. Blade Runner 1982, Ghost in the Shell 1995) has been extensively explored (e.g. Bruno 1987, Doel and Clarke 1997, Wong 2004). Asian urbanities have fed imaginations about density, verticality, and alienation. Wong (2004, 100) argues that, as filmic configurations of urban futures, Asian cities can be seen as prototypes of what capitalist world cities might become (King 1990 in Wong 2004, 100). Davis (2010, 140) points out, however, that while these cinematic cities signal certain Asian mobility, imaginaries of high-tech futures in the cyberpunk genre particularly emphasise the dark side of life, presenting grubby alleyways, shady business, and images the like.

This is a pilot research of the life experiences of Pakistanis in Hong Kong, targeting working class Pakistani adults living in Kwai Chung, Tsuen Wan, Tsing Yi or the nearby districts. The research was conducted by Centre for Social Policy Studies of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University and by S.K.H. Lady MacLehose Centre. Our aim was to explore the difficulties faced by the Pakistanis and delineate the macro forces shaping their lives. Through this, we see that ethnicity is one of the key dimensions of social stratification and inequality in contemporary Hong Kong society. We also hope that this research can well serve as a case to illustrate the relationship between ethnicity and social exclusion.

This research consists of a questionnaire survey and focus group interviews. The questionnaire survey was conducted between February and May of 2002. We have completed 200 questionnaires through snowball sampling. The questionnaire covered five broad areas: social activities and friendship, utilization of community resources, work and employment, children's education and sense of belonging to Hong Kong. The part on focus group interviews aims to further explore the complex dynamic of life experiences that could not be described by quantitative data in the survey, as well as to develop recommendations for improving social policy and social services. Two focus groups, with a total of ten male and female participants were conducted at the end of October 2002.

On social activities, we found that the major activities of the respondents are staying at home, meeting friends and going to worship. Participation in other social activities such as going to see arts and cultural programmes, engaging in sports activities, going to the library, and joining activities in a community centre, is limited. In terms of establishing friendships, most of the respondents interact only with their own people. They reflect that it is difficult to make Hong Kong friends. Cultural and language differences are some of the major barriers to making friends with Hong Kong people and to participating in social activities.

On housing, a majority of the respondents live in private rental housing. Some of them do not know how to apply for public rental housing and some believe that they are not eligible to apply, even though they are in need. Most of the respondents have had problems in looking for private housing, and identify expensive rent or housing prices as the main one. Some of them say that they have a problem communicating with agents in Cantonese and believe that they are rejected by landlords simply because they are Pakistanis. This shows that some Pakistanis have difficulties gaining access to housing resources, both in the public and private sector.

On social security resources, in fact, few respondents are receiving Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA). Most of them clearly state that they do not want to depend on the government or do not need to do so.
Almost all of the respondents were not engaged in part-time studies or in an employees retraining course. They are discouraged for various reasons, such as high course fees, the fact that the courses are taught in Cantonese, or because they do not know of any educational or social institutes nearby.

On access to social services and community resources, very few respondents have approached social workers for help on everyday needs; instead they rely almost solely on their family, relatives and friends. Some respondents do not even know of any nearby social service centres and have never brought their children there. Their poor access to various community resources is not only due to language problems, but also because many government departments, educational institutes and social service centres do not target non-Chinese.

On work and employment, many respondents encounter great difficulties. Twenty-three point nine per cent of the respondents are unemployed. About half of the respondents have been unemployed at some point in the past two years. Most of the employed respondents are engaged in elementary occupations where the working hours are generally very long. The median number of working hours is 60 per week. However, their monthly income is comparatively low.

On looking for jobs, most respondents identify not knowing Cantonese and low educational qualifications as the major difficulties. It is alarming to learn that about one-third of the respondents claimed that they are rejected because they are Pakistanis. Some employers systematically eliminate them from selection and treat them unfairly at work. In the workplace, the respondents face various difficulties including problems communicating with supervisors and colleagues, bullying by supervisors and colleagues, conflicts due to cultural and/or religious practices, and diverse forms of racial discrimination.

On children’s education, the respondents encounter various difficulties including unreasonably long waiting times in finding school places, expensive school fees, conflicts due to cultural and/or religious practices, and being rejected because they are Pakistanis. The focus group participants also highlighted problems for Muslims involving food in school canteens and the dress codes of female Pakistani students.

Though they face numerous difficulties in Hong Kong, about half of the respondents like Hong Kong very much and treat the place as their home. However, this does not mean that they enjoy being with Hong Kong people. Some focus group participants also held ambivalent attitudes toward Hong Kong and Hong Kong people.

Based on the problems reflected in the questionnaire survey and the opinions expressed in the focus group interviews, we recommend policy changes in the following areas: employment, housing, and educational services, as well as a review of the policy on granting Hong Kong SAR passports to non-Chinese residents. To improve the general situation, we recommend anti-racial discrimination legislation to protect the right of ethnic minorities, and to promote a policy of multiculturalism in which cultural differences and ethnic diversity are respected. The aim is to build Hong Kong into a just and caring society.

Two Systems, Two Countries is an unabashedly heterodox addition to a growing body of critical work on the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) suppression of local identity and political freedoms in Hong Kong. What Carrico’s contribution uniquely provides is a penetrating analysis of the various schools of thought that make up the diverse landscape of Hong Kong nationalism.

The past 10 years witnessed a resurgence of youth activism in East Asia. While some may consider it as simply reflecting a broader, general trend of young people reacting to the neoliberalizing world, this paper pays special attention to the changing cultural geographies of East Asia that underlie part of the picture. In 2014, the Sunflower movement in Taiwan was triggered by a group of young people who occupied the Legislative Yuan, paralyzed the establishment for 23 days, and brought about alternative politics, which soon was echoed by the Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong during 26 September to 15 December the same year. This paper is interested in understanding how young people, walking away from the aforementioned urban uprising with their memories of participating in a sort of exceptional city for short time, carried on their aspiration for alternatives in their everyday lives. Finding inspiration from Victor Turner’s notion of liminoid and anti-structure, it attends to the activism embedded in everyday life. It also attends to the translocal, transnational interaction among young actors across cities in East Asia, with a focus on the act of place-fixing, which enables connection, collaboration, and circulation (of resources) through materialistic, transactive practices and can be compared to place-making.

To address the theme of urban divides,  this essay focuses on acts of commoning and their potential for overcoming social,  political, and  spatial divides—divides that  have become deeply entrenched  in  cities  and societies today, as manifested in new and old spatial forms,  including  gated commu- nities, privatized public spaces, and enclaves of migrant workers. They also  include  non- spatial barriers such as patented seeds and privatized natural resources that are equally, if not more, significant in their impact  on the everyday life and struggles in the contempo- rary society,  with worsening economic dis- parities, stagnant wages, and growing social tensions. Such  disparities have contributed to the widening divides  between the haves and have-nots, privileged and disenfran- chised, and  documented and  undocument- ed in today’s  neoliberal systems.

It is precisely against this  background of enclosures and  divides that the  expanding"acts of commoning around the world are significant and intriguing  to observe. Through acts of commoning, citizens and activists engage in self-organized social  and  spatial configurations that enable individuals and communities to thrive in niches within market-based economic and  state institutions. They create alternative social and economic networks and relationships across economic and class divides and put social justice  and equity ahead of financial and self-interests. In the context of the planning and design profession, these acts of commoning suggest ways to move away from the current paradigm of neoliberal, market-driven practices to rethink how architects, landscape architects, and planners can play a more  critical and  proactive role for social  change, which citizen groups and community organizers have already started to do.  These acts of commoning represent hopes and  possibilities in overcoming the ever more entrenched urban divides that characterize cities and societies today.

Objective: To evaluate a 3-week program comprising cooking demonstrations with free food samples in motivating elderly adults to cook more and improve their nutritional status. Design: An experimental pre-post study. Setting: Three districts in Hong Kong. Participants: Sixty aged 59-95 home-living adults. Intervention: Group A (one 1-day food sample given free weekly) and Group B (three 1-day food samples given free weekly). Main Outcome Measure: Satisfaction questionnaires were conducted every week. Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) scores were assessed at baseline and 6 months after the program's completion. Analysis: Nutritional status was assessed before and after intervention. Repeated analysis of variance measures of compliance, appetite, easiness of program at 3-week time-points were calculated to differentiate a more frequent (Group B) and a less frequent (Group A) provision of food sample reinforced their cooking skills to a greater extent. Results: The compliance rate of Group B was higher than that of Group A. More than 60% of the participants intended to continue cooking and a third of the participants expressed satisfaction with the program. The MNA scores had improved 6 months later (combined data from both groups). Conclusions: Nutrition education through cooking demonstrations and the community-based distribution of food ingredients can improve the nutrition status of the elderly population.

Richard C. Bush's Hong Kong in the shadow of China: Living with the Leviathan (2016) represents an important study on post-"Handover" Hong Kong focusing on the making of the 2014 Occupy Campaign and Umbrella Movement and the impact on the coming development in politics, governance and economy of Hong Kong, taking into consideration China's Hong Kong policy and the response of the Hong Kong people as well as the perspectives ofTaiwan and the United States. This article, while reviewing the book, also provides a detailed analysis of the wider implications of the issues the author of the book has raised as regards Hong Kong-as China's policy approach towards Hong Kong and by extension Taiwan and the struggle of the Hong Kong people, as well as the Taiwan people, to protect the political freedom and democratic rights they aspire to maintain (in the case of Hong Kong) and that they have fought hard to secure (in Taiwan) have impacts that reach far beyond Hong Kong and Taiwan in the light of the PRC's current relentless global projection, riding on the wave of her economic miracle, of her hard and so-called "soft" power in a through an intricate nexus of her domestic and foreign policies that not only serves to strengthen domestic governance and enhance international influence but also involves extraterritorial actions to maintain CCP's one-party authoritarianism. <http://icaps.nsysu.edu.tw/var/file/131/1131/img/2374/CCPS3(2)-Yeoh.pdf> <https://www.dropbox.com/s/dq1z15ggssdld6v/CCPS-V3N2-Yeoh.pdf> Emile Kok-Kheng Yeoh (2017), “Hopes against Hobbes: On Authoritarianism, Regime Legitimation and Soft Power with a Review of Richard C. Bush’s Hong Kong in the Shadow of China: Living with the Leviathan (2016)”, Contemporary Chinese Political Economy and Strategic Relations: An International Journal (CCPS), Vol. 3, No. 2, July/August 2017, pp. 889-987. [Scopus]

The importance of the early recognition of shock in patients presenting to emergency departments is well recognized, but at present, there is no agreed practical definition for undifferentiated shock. The main aim of this study was to validate an a priori clinical definition of shock against 28-day mortality. This prospective, observational, cross-sectional, single-center study was conducted in Hong Kong, China. Data were collected between July 1, 2012, and January 31, 2013. An a priori definition of shock was designed, whereby patients admitted to the resuscitation room or high dependency area of the emergency department were divided into 1 of 3 groups-no shock, possible shock, and shock. The primary outcome was 28-day mortality. Secondary outcomes were in-hospital mortality or admission to the intensive or coronary care unit. A total of 111 patients (mean age, 67.2 ± 17.1 years; male = 69 [62%]) were recruited, of which 22 were classified as no shock, 54 as possible shock, and 35 ...

Although mental illness is a major suicide risk factor, some cases of suicide list no symptoms of mental disorder at the time of death. Studying suicides without psychiatric illness has important implications for social work because this group&#39;s service needs seem to have been overlooked. The authors of this article conducted a psychological autopsy study of 150 people who committed suicide and 150 age- and gender-matched living controls. Suicides without psychiatric illness showed similar detectable psychopathology as the suicide and living control groups with nonpsychotic psychiatric disorders. Though suicides without psychiatric disorders showed fewer warning signs that could be noticed by their informants, they experienced more negative life events than living controls. The suicide cases without psychiatric illness also seemed to be less protected by enabling factors (such as social support and employment) than living controls with and without psychiatric disorders. Furtherm...

A total of 182 undergraduate students from China and the United States participated in a study examining the presence of stereotypical perceptions regarding creativity and deductive reasoning abilities, as well as the influence of stereotype on participants' performance on deductive reasoning and creativity in nonverbal form. The results showed that participants from both China and the United States believed that Americans have better creativity abilities than Chinese and that Chinese have better deductive reasoning skills than Americans. Significant cultural difference in the performances on the measures of creativity was found. The cultural difference in deductive reasoning was found between Chinese participants in China and the Caucasian (not the Asian) participants in the United States, which were somewhat congruent to the stereotypical perceptions. However, the study did not find that stereotypic perceptions directly influenced participants' performance on deductive reasoning and creativity.

Ethical behavior among businesses has gained significant prominence in recent years. Survey evidence shows that Asian consumers demand for greater social responsibility among businesses. Thus, a deeper understanding of the factors that contribute to such a demand is useful. This study examines the influence of religiosity and values on corporate social responsibility (CSR) support among consumers in Hong Kong and Singapore. Primary data collected among consumers in these cities point to a significant direct relationship between religiosity and CSR support. In Hong Kong, this attitude is due both to altruistic as well as for egotistical (or face saving) reasons. In Singapore, this is mainly due to the latter. The results imply that different motivations should guide CSR strategies in these two cities.

This paper adapts Salamon, Sokolowski and Anheier's (2000) social origins theory to argue that the nonprofit regime in Hong Kong can be characterized as statist-corporatist. This statist-corporatist regime displays the hybrid character of both a statist and a corporatist regime: its statist character can be seen in the high degree of autonomy of the state, its tendency to limit freedom of association, and the low commitment to social provision. Its corporatist character is evident in the high level of participation by designated nonprofit organizations in selected areas of social provision under state funding. I shall review how the development of this nonprofit regime was historically shaped by four factors, namely, the interest of the colonial state in maintaining domination, the economic and public financial policy, the historical formation of the welfare system, and political regime change. The findings illustrate the distinct historical forces and the path of development in an Asian state that might affect nonprofit development.

This study aimed to explore the experiences and perceptions of nurses caring for dying patients and their families in the acute medical admission setting. A qualitative interpretive descriptive methodology was used to explore the experiences and perceptions of 15 nurses recruited via purposive sampling from three acute medical wards of a hospital in Hong Kong. The nurses perceived insufficiency and experienced great mental and physiological strain regarding their caring roles in this setting. Four themes were derived from the findings: lack of preparedness for patients&#39; deaths, reflecting on their own nursing roles for dying patients, reflecting on the meaning of death and their personal experiences of the death of their own family members, and coping with caring for dying patients. There are similarities between these experiences and those of nurses in similar settings in different cultures. There is a need for further research into and educational preparation of nurses in bere...

Incorporating various new and conventional risk factors, the 2005 St Gallen risk categorization is a potentially useful prognostic tool for breast cancers. We conducted a retrospective study to evaluate its application in Hong Kong. Of the 902 included female breast cancers with median follow-up of 5.4 years, 7%, 63% and 30% patients were classified as low-, intermediate-and high-risk categories, respectively. Their corresponding 5-year distant disease-free survivals (DDFS) were 100%, 92% and 72%, respectively (po0.00005). In the intermediate-risk category, node-positive patients had marginally inferior 5-year DDFS than node-negative patients (89% vs. 93%, p ¼ 0.0551). In the high-risk category, patients having HER2 overexpressed tumors and 1-3 positive nodes had significantly better DDFS than other patients with X4 positive nodes (89% vs. 65%, p ¼ 0.0001). Overall, the 2005 St Gallen risk categorization had high prognostic value. However, the impact of HER2 overexpression might be affected by reproducibility of HER2 tests. r

The 70th anniversary of the founding of the PRC on 01 Oct 19 was marked by the biggest ever parade in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. This brief analyses the event in the midst of seminal geopolitical developments involving China, inter alia the elevation of Xi Jinping as China’s President for life, China’s geopolitical rivalry and ‘trade war’ with the US, and the popular unrest in Hong Kong. From the Indian perspective, this needs to be contextualized with China’s earnest to reorder the global order, beginning with a China-led unipolar Asia; and specifically, for the Indian Navy, its increasing military-strategic foot-print in the Indian Ocean.

A subjective sense of uncertainty is a common theme in the experience of patients with epilepsy. Lack of control has also been implicated as an etiologic factor in the development of psychosocial problems in epilepsy. Cognitive-behavioral interventions emphasizing the mediating role of thoughts and self-control appear to be particularly relevant for patients with epilepsy because anxiety and depression are the most common problems. Despite its apparent importance, very little systematic research has been published on the effectiveness of psychological treatment of epilepsy. The purpose of the present study was to conduct a seminal outcome evaluation of psychological intervention for adult patients in Hong Kong. Using a waitlist control group, the treatment program focused particularly on cognitive restructuring and seizure control. Results indicated significant gains by the treatment group in overall quality of life and self-efficacy. In particular, marked improvements were noted for emotional well-being, seizure, and stress management. The clinical implications are discussed in the context of developing specific intervention programs and outcome measures specific to the various needs of adult patients with epilepsy.

Aim. This paper is a report of a study assessing pressure ulcer incidence and factors affecting pressure ulcer development among older nursing home residents. Background. Previous researchers have shown that demographic, clinical, health status, risk and ...

Objective: Research from Western countries reported that the incidence rate of dementia patients getting lost in the community ranged from 30 to 60%. It had imposed significant burden on the caregivers. In the current study, we investigated the situation on the incidents of getting lost in a densely populated as well as homogenous community environment. Methods: Two hundred and fifty one caregivers of older adults with demented people who had either used dementia day care service or participated in a community survey were interviewed on the telephone. Respondents were asked on older adult's experience of getting lost in the community and their mode of care. Correlating factors of such incidents were examined. Results: The overall prevalence of lost history in our subjects was 27.5%. The subjects recruited from day care center were much more likely than those recruited from the community survey to have lost history (39.2% vs. 7.5%, p < 0.0001, x 2 test). Greater degrees of cognitive decline were associated with greater chance of having had lost episodes. Immobility was associated with lower risk. Both the older people and their caregivers had reported significant degrees of psychological disturbances after the incidents. Conclusion: Demented people with greater degrees of cognitive decline and with mobility maintained are at greater risk of getting lost.

On 31 August, China's legislature, the People's National Congress1 (NPC), adopted recommendations for the first-ever direct election of the Hong Kong's Chief Executive, to be held in 20172. The ruling was long awaited, both in Hong Kong and the EU. The European Parliament has previously reminded the government of Hong Kong that its Basic Law provides for its Chief Executive to be elected by universal suffrage, and that the European Parliament expects 'the electoral system to be based on the principles of multi-party democracy, accountability of the government to the legislature and genuinely effective governance'3.

The global movements of healthcare professionals and patient populations have increased the complexities of medical interactions at the point of service. This study examines interpreter mediated talk in cross-cultural general dentistry in Hong Kong where assisting para-professionals, in this case bilingual or multilingual Dental Surgery Assistants (DSA), perform the dual capabilities of clinical assistant and interpreter. An initial language use survey was conducted with Polyclinic DSAs using a logbook approach to provide self-report data on language use in clinics. Frequencies of mean scores using a 10-point visual analogue scale (VAS) indicated that the majority of DSAs spoke mainly Cantonese in clinics and interpreted for postgraduates and professors. Conversation Analysis (CA) examined recipient design across a corpus (n=21) of video-recorded review consultations between non-Cantonese speaking expatriate dentists and their Cantonese L1 patients. Three patterns indicated were: dentist designated expansions; dentist directed interpretations; and assistant initiated interpretations to both the dentist and patient. The third, rather than being perceived as negative, were found to be framed either in response to patient difficulties or within the specific task routines of general dentistry. The findings illustrate trends in dentistry towards personalized care and patient empowerment as a reaction to the predominant product delivery approach to patient management. Implications are indicated for both treatment adherence and the education of dental professionals.

Background: Previous studies demonstrated the effects of progressive muscle relaxation training (PMRT) on improvements in the health outcomes of cardiac patients. This study examined the effects of PMRT on the psychologic status and symptoms of older Chinese patients with heart failure. Methods: In a longitudinal, randomized, and controlled study, 59 patients were allocated to receive a PMRT program and 62 were provided with the attention placebo. The PMRT program included two PMRT sessions, one revision workshop, twice-daily PMRT home practices, and a biweekly telephone follow-up call. The attention placebo included a regular telephone call at a schedule similar to that made by the interventionist of the PMRT program with the intervention group. Main outcome measures, including psychologic distress, dyspnea, and fatigue, were taken at baseline, the 8th week, and the 14th week. Results: A medium effect on psychologic distress in favor of the PMRT program was detected.

This book discusses whether labor migration can affect democratization processes and what impact the political order of the host country can have on this potential effect. In migration research, studies on the influence of return migrants on the societies in their home countries are still few and predominantly concentrate on the economic dimension of migration. The literature on democratization has likewise paid only scant attention to the external factors that play a role in the transition of states in the process of becoming more democratic. Cognizant of these lacunae in research on migration and democratization, this book sets out to argue that return migrants can play an important role in the consolidation process of young democracies. The goal is to explore the nature of this influence and to discuss its stabilizing as well as destabilizing aspects with regards to democratization. As a case study this book analyzes a “labor exporter par excellence,” the Philippines. Research is...

Good results have been reported with combined use of octreotide and bromocriptine in acromegalic Caucasians. Data concerning the efficacy and tolerability of this combination treatment in Chinese acromegalic patients are scanty. The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy and tolerability of combined therapy using bromocriptine and octreotide in the treatment of acromegaly in Chinese patients and to compare the cost-effectiveness of various regimes. Sixteen Chinese acromegalic patients with growth hormone (GH) concentration not suppressible to below 5 mU/L (2 microg/L) during an extended OGTT were recruited to undergo four phases of the study. During the study period, the patients were given bromocriptine alone, bromocriptine and low dose octreotide, bromocriptine and medium dose octreotide, and medium dose octreotide alone. Plasma concentrations of GH and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) were measured before and after the completion of each phase. The number of patients re...

An evaluation framework, called the Hong Kong Healthy Schools Award, has been developed to enable comprehensive collection and analysis of data reflecting the status of health-promoting schools (HPS) in Hong Kong. The key findings revealed a high prevalence of emotional problems, unhealthy eating habits, physical inactivity and risk-taking behaviours, leading to both intentional and unintentional injuries among students with higher prevalence among secondary school students. The results indicated a substantial lack of health policies in schools; it also indicated health services in schools not readily accessible to students and staff, and insufficient staff training in health promotion and education. However, most schools have made initiatives in environmental protection, established safety guidelines and strategies for managing students with emotional problems. The success of HPS depends largely on teachers' understanding of its building blocks. Evidence from the comprehensive mapping of the status of HPS in Hong Kong and from student surveys does show encouraging outcomes as well as identifying priority issues to be addressed in the next 5 years.

The H4IIE rat hepatoma cell line was employed as a cell model to screen 7-ethoxyresorufin O-deethylase (EROD)-TCDD equivalents (EROD-TEQ) of human breast milk samples collected from Hong Kong and Guangzhou, China. The screening methods employed a 96-well plate spectrofluorometer-EROD assay. For cell-line validation, our results demonstrated a dosedependent increase in the Ah receptor-mediated response (i.e., CYP1A1 mRNA and EROD) of the cells upon exposure to a number of known Ah receptor agonists, including 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD), 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzothiophene, benzo[a]pyrene, and b-naphthaflavone. TCDD induced CYP1A1 mRNA and EROD was in a close positive correlation ðr ¼ 0:98Þ: For the screening of dioxin-like compounds, breast milk samples collected during lactation weeks 3-5 were used. One hundred (from Hong Kong) and 48 (from Guangzhou) breast milk samples were assayed, of which 65% and 68% of the samples, respectively, showed detectable dioxin-like activities using the H4IIE cell EROD screening method. For sixty-five samples from Hong Kong the mean EROD-TEQ values ranged from 58.1 to 96.5 pg/g of milk fat for those aged 21-36 years while 32 samples from Guangzhou had mean values of 98.8-202.1 pg/g of milk fat. In comparisons of the EROD-TEQ values for different age groups from both cities, there were no significant differences ðPo0:05Þ: However, the mean and median EROD-TEQ values of the Guangzhou population were in general higher than those of the Hong Kong population. The results of the present study indicate that it is feasible to use the H4IIE cell-line as a model for screening dioxin-like compounds in human breast milk. In addition, the method is rapid and costeffective, particularly for a routine and high-throughput sample screening analysis, compared to the costly and time-intensive chemical analytical techniques.

Neoliberal economists, notably Milton Friedman and Friedrich A. Hayek, frequently lauded Hong Kong as a model of a free market society, where individuals could pursue their economic ambitions untrammeled by government restrictions or directives. In September 1978, Hayek’s Mont Pèlerin Society of likeminded economists and businessmen even met in Hong Kong to honour their founder’s eightieth birthday. One journalist covering this gathering rather hyperbolically described the territory as “the most libertarian major civilized community in the world today.” For decades, Hong Kong was the much admired poster child for neoliberals, who viewed its lack of democratic institutions as the epitome of a system that maximized profits while minimizing political pressures for social welfare provisions. Yet this arrangement was the product of very specific circumstances, the result of effective cooperation among the British colonial authorities, business interests within Hong Kong, and not least, if at first tacitly, the Beijing government. It also rested on the capacity of the system to function at a level that permitted the delivery of tangible if modest prosperity and the promise of additional future incremental improvements to the majority of the population. Postwar Hong Kong was never a worker’s paradise, but it offered its largely immigrant labour force stability, a certain level of security, and hope of a better tomorrow. The fundamentals of that implicit bargain have now dissolved, leaving Hong Kong polarized and bitter, with many of its once famously pragmatic residents harboring sullen resentment toward the status quo. Winning hearts and minds and attracting instilling enthusiastic loyalty are tasks that seem beyond the capabilities of Hong Kong’s current rulers, be they homegrown or from over the border. Present-day Hong Kong seems trapped in a blind alley. One is left wondering whether its state foreshadows the ultimate outcome of the free-market, anti-regulatory paradigm of globalization that around the world for several decades became a virtual economic mantra.

The self is defined and judged differently by people from face and dignity cultures (in this case, Hong Kong and the United States, respectively). Across 3 experiments, people from a face culture absorbed the judgments of other people into their private self-definitions. Particularly important for people from a face culture are public representations-knowledge that is shared and known to be shared about someone. In contrast, people from a dignity culture try to preserve the sovereign self by not letting others define them. In the 3 experiments, dignity culture participants showed a studied indifference to the judgments of their peers, ignoring peers' assessments-whether those assessments were public or private, were positive or negative, or were made by qualified peers or unqualified peers. Ways that the self is "knotted" up with social judgments and cultural imperatives are discussed.

ers. For women, little contact with relatives (rather than number of relatives), and absence of participation in community/religious activities were additional factors. Conclusion: FI is infl uenced by social and environmental factors in keeping with the concept of frailty being multidimensional. Such a quantitative measure may be a useful indicator of the health of elderly populations as well as for public health measures to combat frailty.

Introduction: Two MspI polymorphisms in the ApoA-I gene (G-75A and C83T) have been shown to be associated with plasma HDLcholesterol levels. Methods: We used a PCR-based RFLP method to determine the association of these polymorphisms with lipid parameters in 271 nondiabetic, normotriglyceridaemic Chinese subjects, of whom 104 were patients with hypertension, with 10.2% having hypercholesterolaemia and the remainder were controls. Results: As expected, the hypertensive group had higher blood pressure and indices of obesity, and a more adverse lipid profile. No differences in the ApoA-I G-75A genotype or allele frequency distributions between the controls and patients were identified. However, there was a significantly lower frequency of the CT genotype ( p=0.012) and T allele ( p=0.011) in the affected subjects with hypercholesterolaemia or hypertension. Similarly, blood pressure and triglyceride levels were significantly lower and HDL-cholesterol levels significantly higher in the subjects with the CT genotype compared to those with the CC genotype ( pb0.05). However, the G-75A genotypes did not appear to influence the lipid or blood pressure levels. The À75A allele frequency was higher in our healthy controls than an equivalent Caucasian population (31.1% vs. 18.3%, pb0.001), whereas the 83T allele frequency was similar between the healthy Chinese and Caucasian groups. Conclusion: The 83T allele may be associated with a better lipid profile and blood pressure levels in this group of Chinese subjects. D

Everybody is born into a family. Each has its own history, therefore, 'our history' is not made by us, but by previous generations. The rise of International migration and the crumbling of family structures, however, only make it harder for descendants to learn about their family history. Inhibited by language and geographical barriers as well as lost connections to the bearers of knowledge, many offspring of migrant families year for answers to questions such as 'Where do I come from?' or 'How did I get here?' Answering these requires re-establishing lost connections and meeting family one previously did not know. This paper illustrates how the juxtaposition of two generations of Chinese Australian migrants' narrative (a 'pioneer migrant' and an 'overseas born Chinese' are vital to piecing together a segment of family history.

To examine Chinese women&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#39;s satisfaction with and the perceived effect of childbirth education class on their labour experience. Attending childbirth education classes is a common activity for pregnant women. Nonetheless, evidence reveals that evaluation of the effects of childbirth education classes is inconsistent. Moreover, women&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#39;s perceived effect of these classes has not been systematically examined. This two-phase study adopted a mixed-method design with Donadedian&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#39;s model as the theoretical framework. In Phase One, a random sample of 40 Chinese women was invited to complete a questionnaire after attending a childbirth education class. The questionnaire was focused on their satisfaction with specific aspects of the class. Descriptive statistics were performed to summarize participants&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#39; response. In Phase Two, six of the original 40 women were purposely selected for a semi-structured interview pertaining to the perceived effect of the childbirth education class on their labour experience. Thematic analysis was conducted on the interview data. The participants expressed overall satisfaction with the class. The area that satisfied them the most was the performance of the midwife. The areas that satisfied them the least were the date, length, size and time of the class. Three themes emerged from the interview data, namely, &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#39;learning about labour&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#39;, &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#39;contributing to a smooth labour process&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#39; and &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#39;coping with uncertainty and handling anxiety. This study supports using a mixed-method approach to evaluate client education activity, and highlights the importance of cultivating positive coping measures among the Chinese women after attending childbirth education class when facing childbirth-related anxiety.

The Tiger Balm Gardens or Haw Par Villa, built in the 1930s by overseas Chinese pharmaceuticals tycoon Aw Boon Haw, has been and remains a symbol of the positioning of Singapore’s Chineseness. In the colonial era, it marked the success not only of one man but also of the Chinese migrant community. In the later period of nation-building, it was initially considered as a challenge to multiracialism and nationhood. However, as state policy shifted towards an ethnicized cultural identity as prompted by the rise of Asia as a major economic force, especially China, the Villa was renovated first into an orientalized theme park and then resuscitated as the repository of diasporic Chinese entrepreneurship. Amidst these state initiatives, the history of the Villa and its founder were sidelined.

This study validates the psychometric properties of the PAC scale among Hong Kong Chinese informal dementia caregivers. Three hundred and seventy-four caregivers responded to questionnaires including the Chinese version of the PAC scale, Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI), occurrence of problem behaviors, caregiver bother, caregiver confidence, and self-rated health (SRH). Translation and back translation were conducted in translating the PAC scale. Results of an exploratory principal component analysis (PCA) suggest two components in the 11-item Chinese PAC (C-PAC) scale, namely enriching life and affirming self. C-PAC demonstrates satisfactory reliability. Criteria-related validity of C-PAC is suggested by significant correlations with CES-D, SRH, occurrence of problem behaviors, caregiver bother, and caregiver confidence. Our results support the psychometric properties of C-PAC among Hong Kong Chinese caregivers. This brief mea...

Population growth and urbanization have resulted in the emergence of mega cities in recent decades. While compact urban fabrics and high residential density imply intensive interactions between man and environment, the living environment may be one of the most important factors affecting quality of life (QOL) of city dwellers. With this in mind, this paper seeks to understand the manners in which the residents relate themselves to the places they live and how they derive neighborhood and QOL, in such way that the relationship between living environment and QOL can be understood. A random telephone survey (N = 1,114) was conducted in Hong Kong. Results showed that different levels of neighborhood satisfaction varied in residents of different housing types and living environment was a significant predictor of resident's QOL. Other than the architecture of housing, this paper highlights the importance of services and facilities for the development of social relations and community building. This paper may supplement to the Western QOL studies and provide reference for urban planning initiatives for Asian cities.

As radio shifts from analog to digital, the Hong Kong Radio Industry faces a challenge that they have not prepared for. To say the least, they have been running on deficit. In addition, it seems that they had become outdated, falling behind in terms of technology and exhibiting a lack of awareness about how online social media interaction between disk jockeys and listeners could attract more attention and increase their listener base. Significantly, Hong Kong radio is notable for not having archival systems for their sound recordings and radio content that could provide public and educational access after live radio sessions, and that might have helped maintain, if not increase their audiences who are increasingly used to accessing radio on demand via streaming services. This highlights the urgent need to set up a system for preserving Hong Kong's precious recordings. Using ethnographic approach, the researcher adopted a qualitative method where they observed and interacted with the study's participants in their real-life environment. Moreover, the paper applied a usability in a user-centered service design to help them analyze the problem, which includes the relevant domain, audience, process, goal, and context. Using an ethnographic study within a usability project enables researchers to thoroughly analyze the design problem and notice all associated issues to come up with a better solution. This paper focused on the radio industry in Hong Kong, particularly addressing crucial issues and questions that have been understudied in existing academic research.