Hong Kong Presentation

Submitted by Johannes

HK kids’ lack of creativity blamed on parents

As I was waiting for my wife to finish her kindergarten class, I observed that her school campus is also surrounded by smaller tutorial schools. Each of them specializes in developing certain talents such as playing musical instruments, painting and drawing, or public speaking. Surely, exposing kids to these types of training will help them discover their talents. 

But as kids toil for the sake of discovering their gifts, giving up quality time to frolic in the playground or watch their favorite cartoon characters on television, parents appear to lack appreciation for the accomplishments of their children. A study carried out by the Chinese YMCA of Hong Kong last September indicated that among the 830 children they interviewed, about a third said their parents ignored their creative work they proudly showed to them. This group of kids went on to say that their families were “full of blame and oppression”. That’s sad for a group of youngsters looking for affirmation from their parents.

Link (submitted by Johannes)

Signs indicate Beijing may be shifting on next HK leader

HONG KONG (AP) — Just days before Hong Kong’s elite chooses the southern Chinese financial hub’s next leader, there are signs that Beijing wants to dump its first choice for the winner as it tries to keep pace with public opinion. 

On Sunday, a 1,193-person committee will vote on the semi-autonomous region’s next chief executive, while the rest of Hong Kong’s 7.1 million residents have no vote. The committee is made up of business leaders and other elites, most of whom are expected to vote according to Beijing’s wishes.

Link (submitted by Johannes)

HK government HQ needs more effort to earn “eco-friendly” title

Buildings, too, can be eco-friendly if they include features such as solar panels, natural lighting or can partly supply their own energy needs. Planners who built the new government building at Admiralty’s Tamar site may have similar ideas. That is why the structure was dubbed “eco-friendly”. 

However, things didn’t go exactly as planned.

Link (submitted by Johannes)

Luxury layovers: Asia’s top 5 airports

NO matter what list you use for the world’s top airports, Asian ones feature at the top of these lists year after year. What’s remarkable about these airports is not just their quality and facilities, but they have some of the largest passenger numbers passing through and yet they retain such a high level of service, cleanliness and luxury. 

In fact in the 2011 report compiled by Skytrax, four out of the top five airports were in Asia. Using their list as a guide let’s take a look at the first five in the top 10 that are in this Asia/Pacific region.

Link (submitted by Johannes)

New reason to withdraw HK retirement money early

Mandatory Provident Fund is intended as a future piggy-bank for Hong Kong people during their retirement years. But it doesn’t always mean we have to wait until we reach 65 to get our life-long savings. 

Previously, only a few other cases were good enough to warrant to permit withdrawal of funds earlier than the normal retirement age. These include death, total disability, early retirement a 60 and having small balance in the account. Terminally ill patients may be included in the list as it makes full sense for patients to take their money. Not only because no one else deserves them but also it is expected that taking care of a terminally ill patient incurs a significant amount of money.

Link (submitted by Johannes)

Hong Kong falls in most expensive cities ranking

"Before it got permanently labelled as among the most expensive places to live on the planet, Hong Kong took a dramatic fall in global rankings — from 33rd in 2010 to 45th last year. This is according to a study made by the human resources consultancy ECA International. 

The global chart showed Tokyo as the most priciest places to live, followed by Oslo. Soaring inflation didn’t matter much as Hong Kong fell from sixth to seventh in Asia after Tokyo, Nagoya, Yokohama, Kobe and Singapore."

Link (submitted by Johannes)

Hong Kong exchanges to change tack, intensify effort to capture China commodity demand

"The operator of Hong Kong's stock exchange said it will look to commodities for growth as opportunities in the equities market slow, and as the window for capturing China's explosive commodity demand narrows, marking a radical strategy shift for the world leader in initial public offerings."

Link (submitted by Johannes)

HK electricity rate hike favors business over households

"LP Power, one of Hong Kong’s major energy providers, has made an adjustment where households in Kowloon, New Territories and Lantau island will pay up to 20 percent for electricity. But this appears to be biased towards businesses, who face a tariff increase of less than half of that."

Link (submitted by Johannes)