Defining child abuse in Hong Kong

Definitions of child abuse are culturally driven. Hong Kong, with a predominantly Chinese population, has managed to eradicate much of the societal abuse that children suffer elsewhere in Asia. Professional and government attention has now shifted to child abuse and neglect within the family. The paper, based on interviews with key professionals. analysis of policy documents and practice records examines traditional Chinese parent-child relationships. the status of parental authority and corporal punishment and changes in contemporary Hong Kong family life. It goes on to outline the development of responses to child abuse in Hong Kong, some of the dilemmas that professionals face in defining abuse and areas for future research.     

Gender Matters: Rethinking the Childcare Model in Hong Kong

This study aims to reveal the gendered practices in childcare under the family care model and the effects of these practices on carers in Hong Kong. Familial ideology remains a dominant welfare principle in childcare policy in Hong Kong, which assumes that family care is the best form of care provision. However, this policy assumption fails to respond to the needs in childcare arising from the social changes and development. The suggested possible solution for this issue is the shifting of the family care model to the social care model, in which childcare responsibilities are shared between the family and the state.     

Parenting and Adolescents' Sexual Initiation

This study draws on social control and social learning theories to examine the role of dating‐specific attitudes and practices as predictors of adolescents' sexual initiation. We include attention to the adolescent's reaction to control attempts as a further means of assessing family dynamics (i.e., frequency of dating disagreements). The study uses longitudinal data from 697 adolescents who were not sexually active at the first interview as well as separate interviews with parents. In models that include all parenting variables, parental caring, parents' preferences that the child should delay sex, and the frequency of dating disagreements were significant predictors of initiation of teen sexual activity.     

Parent–child relationships,friendship networks,and developmental outcomes of economically disadvantaged youth in Hong Kong

This research investigates factors conducive to the thriving of economically disadvantaged young people in Hong Kong. In particular, we examine ways in which the parent–child relationship and friendship networks, as the principal sources of support during the transition from childhood to adulthood, influence the developmental outcomes of this group of young people with regard to their mental health, positive identity, behavioral adjustment, resilience and academic achievement. Based on a survey of 479 young people recruited from community-based youth-service centers located in different districts of Hong Kong, the results of the present research support the hypotheses that parent–child relationships and friendship networks have significant positive effects on youth development among low-income young people. Our results also show that, when compared with friendship networks, the parent–child relationship is a stronger predictor of youth development, that is, a stronger parent–child relationship tends to correspond to a better developmental outcome. Moreover, our research provides empirical evidence regarding the influence that parents can have on shaping the quality of young people's friendship networks. The implications of our findings, both for future research and for service delivery to promote the well-being of economically disadvantaged young people, are discussed.     

Hong Kong Parents’ Perceptions and Experiences of Involvement in Homework: A Family Capital and Resource Management Perspective

This qualitative study examines Hong Kong Chinese parents’ perceptions and experiences of involving in their primary school children’s homework process. It draws upon the theoretical frameworks of family capital theory and family resource management perspective to explicate the role of parents in enhancing children’s homework outcomes. Information was collected through individual and focus-group interviews with 52 parents who had at least one child attending primary school. Findings of this study provide a glimpse into the range of homework-involvement strategies used by Chinese parents, and reveal parental goals and cultural values embedded in the generation of family capital. Such understanding on parental involvement is helpful for schools and policy-makers in cultivating parents’ participation in home-based learning processes for children.     

A family ecological analysis of child care use in Hong Kong

This study examines the views on and use of day care for young children among white‐collar working women from a family ecological perspective. Discrepancies between perceived ideal and actual choice of child care were observed. Care provided by family kin was an ideal used with reservation, the employment of foreign domestic helpers was a reluctant choice, while the use of formal care was largely unexplored. The findings of this study demonstrate how individual families' child‐rearing goals are supported and constrained by contextual factors within the ecology. Implications for policies on child care in Hong Kong are discussed. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Model Hong Kong malls and their development in mainland China: consumer iconicity and the trans/national capitalist class

Relational geographies of capital and consumption between Hong Kong and mainland China have been forming through tourism engagement in Hong Kong and the development of model Hong Kong malls in China. This analysis of urban restructuring for the consumer economy identifies how landmark Hong Kong malls are reproduced in major cities of China by networks of Hong Kong property firms and mainland elites. Adapting Leslie Sklair's formulation of architectural iconicity in the culture‐ideology of consumerism, this economic relationship, which restructures urban space, constructs iconic built forms and develops Chinese consumerism, marks hegemonic opportunities of a national capitalist class, suggesting how Chinese state capitalism and its Hong Kong networks limit and incrementally engage transnational capital while instantiating Hong Kong‐style consumer iconicity. New malls in mixed‐use developments in China often occupy sites of historical markets and thus affirm Sklair's prediction that iconic architecture increasingly proclaims consumer space while claiming historic forms of public space.     

Reshaping tradition? Women negotiating the boundaries of tradition and modernity in Hong Kong and British families

In debates on social change and personal life, modernity has generally been conceptualized in opposition to tradition, though some have pointed to the persistence of traditional values and practices within modern family relations. In this paper we seek to extend these debates beyond their largely Eurocentric context. Drawing on a comparative qualitative study of women and social change in Britain and Hong Kong, we argue for an understanding of the traditional and the modern that takes account of the ways in which tradition is reshaped in the context of modernity. The accounts of young adult women and their mothers in Hong Kong and Britain reveal varied interpretations of family obligations and practices in relation to normative ideals of family life in each context. We consider how configurations of family life deemed ‘modern’ are inflected by the differing traditions and histories of Hong Kong and British society and argue that these differences are not only cultural, but also attributable to the material conditions under which family relationships are forged and negotiated.     

KUNG FU: NEGOTIATING NATIONALISM AND MODERNITY

‘Kung fu’, as a cultural imaginary consecrated in Hong Kong cinema since the 1970s, was constituted in a flux of nationalism. This paper argues that the kung fu imaginary found in Hong Kong kung fu cinema is imbued with an underlying self-dismantling operation that denies its own effectiveness in modern life, and betrays an ‘originary’ moment of heterogeneity, an origin of itself as already ‘impurely Chinese’. Having been British-colonized, westernized, capitalist-polluted and culturally hybrid, Hong Kong's relation with ‘Chineseness’ is at best an ambivalent one. This ambivalence embodies a critical significance of Hong Kong as a defusing hybrid other within a dominant centralizing Chinese ideology, which is itself showing signs of falling apart through complex changes imposed by global capital. Hong Kong's kung fu imaginary, which operates in a self-negating mode, is instructive when read as a tactic of intervention at the historical turn from colonial modernity to the city's reluctant return to the fatherland. The kung fu imaginary enacts a continuous unveiling of its own incoherence, and registers Hong Kong's anxious process of self-invention. If Hong Kong's colonial history makes the city a troublesome supplement, then the ‘Hong Kong cultural imaginary’ will always be latently subversive, taking to task delusive forms of ‘unitary national imagination’.     

Discursive opportunity structures in post-handover Hong Kong localism: the China factor and beyond

The discourses of localism have been redefining the political spectrum, cultural practices, and identity politics of Hong Kong. A growing body of literature considers how China’s domination has fueled the rise of localism in Hong Kong. Drawing on the content and textual analyses of news media and other empirical evidence, this article scrutinizes the opportunity structure in post-handover Hong Kong to show that it facilitates the formation of localist discourses. It situates the localism of Hong Kong as the response to the social changes and China’s encroachment on the city in the post-handover years. Specifically, it focuses on the emergence of progressive localism prior to the recent deterioration of the China–Hong Kong relationship, the radicalization of social movements, and the continuing effects of critical post-handover events in Hong Kong. The study re-conceptualizes the localism of Hong Kong from the central–peripheral tension arising from China’s hegemony to the dynamic discursive formation of an evolving post-colonial city.     

Seeking identity: the transborder lives of mainland Chinese families with children born in Hong Kong

Between 2001 and 2013, Hong Kong regulations permitted pregnant women from mainland China to travel to Hong Kong to deliver their babies. In this article, based on 30 in‐depth interviews, I explore the transborder lives and identities of these mainland Chinese families who, motivated by cost considerations, citizenship and anticipated benefits for their children, chose to give birth to their babies in Hong Kong. In some cases, family networks providing flexible residential practices and family care, supported these transborder activities. However, the complexities of transborder life reveal the diverse ‘identifications’ within Hong Kong society and mainland families. Because neither administration totally accepts them, they are not full members of either society and so the identities they form are both plural and fragmented.     

Parenting Practices,Child Adjustment,and Family Diversity

The authors used data from Waves 1 and 2 of the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH) to test the generality of the links between parenting practices and child outcomes for children in two age groups: 5–11 and 12–18. Parents' reports of support, monitoring, and harsh punishment were associated in the expected direction with parents' reports of children's adjustment, school grades, and behavior problems in Wave 1 and with children's reports of self‐esteem, grades, and deviance in Wave 2. With a few exceptions, parenting practices did not interact with parents' race, ethnicity, family structure, education, income, or gender in predicting child outcomes. A core of common parenting practices appears to be linked with positive outcomes for children across diverse family contexts.     

Parent-Child Relationships,Parental Relationships and Children's Self-Esteem in Post-Divorce Families in Hong Kong

Abstract

In recent research on post-divorce families in Hong Kong, there has been a shift away from the assumption of pathology, and in favor of a trend of increasing attention to children's resilience and the benefits of a continuous parental relationship. There remains, however, a lack of empirical knowledge to guide social work practices in this area in contemporary Hong Kong. The present study is designed to examine how children's relationships with both parents and the different patterns of parental relationships impact children's self-esteem. Sixty-nine post-divorce families participated in the survey. The findings of a positive impact of quality relationship with both parents supported the promotion of active involvement of both parents. The likelihood of increased parental conflicts, however, makes the co-parental involvement a double-edged sword as far as the children are concerned, while an avoidance/low-conflict pattern of parental relationship is found to be the most beneficial pattern for the children. To enhance the well-being of children, a secure residential parent-child relationship with a noncompetitive nonresidential parent-child relationship is deemed beneficial.     

Why Do Women Want Children? The Case of Hong Kong,China: A Lowest-Low Fertility Context

ABSTRACT

Governments in low fertility countries tend to tackle low birth rates by addressing macro-level factors rather than the meaning that having a child holds for men and women. Yet whether or not an individual decides to have a child depends in part on what they think having a child will mean for their lives. This study examines the meanings that constitute reasons for wanting a child among a sample of middle-class, married, Hong Kong Chinese women who wanted children. These women were living in Hong Kong when it had one of the lowest total fertility rates in the world and the lowest in its history. Using semi-structured, in-depth interviews, it finds that for these women, to have a child makes one’s family complete; is the next stage of life; provides happiness, fun, and enjoyment; brings care and company in old age; and children are “lovely” and “cute.” Governments concerned about low birth rates can use research on what having a child means for women to improve policy so as to make having a child more attractive, and to create messages that hold greater appeal to women.     

Indonesian Chinese in Hong Kong: re-migration,re-establishment of livelihood and belonging

This paper describes the re-migration and adjustment of Indonesian Chinese to living in Hong Kong and their cultural belonging to Hong Kong, China, and Indonesia. Known in China as guiqiao or ‘Returned Overseas Chinese’, these were Chinese who re-migrated from Indonesia to mainland China in the 1950s and 1960s. By the early 1970s, many were allowed to migrate to Hong Kong. Although arriving with very little money, many have succeeded in establishing a fairly good life in Hong Kong, although there are also many who survive on low incomes. This paper discusses the experiences of the Indonesian Chinese in relation to local and transnational belonging, the perception of homelands, and the re-establishment of a Southeast Asian lifestyle in Hong Kong.     

The changing responsibilities of the state and family toward elders in Hong Kong

With a predominantly Chinese population and a cultural tradition of respecting the old, Hong Kong has long relied on the family to support its elderly members. Economic success has, however, not spared Hong Kong from encountering the same problems as other industrial societies, such as the loosening of its traditional values. This article examines the changing responsibilities of the state and the family in Hong Kong in supporting the old, and in particular, the effectiveness of the "care in community" policy, which the Hong Kong Government has adopted since the mid-1970s. The examination concludes that the responsibility must now be shared between the state and the family.     

Mobility and work-residence matching for new immigrants in Hong Kong

Due to their prominence in contributing to Hong Kong's population growth in recent years, new immigrants' housing preference play a crucial role on shaping housing demand. However, previous studies have not focused on their characteristics. This study aims to identify the factors which influence residential mobility and work-residence matching of households with new immigrants, based on the most recent Population census data in Hong Kong. The findings indicate that households which contain Mainland Chinese immigrants are more mobile residentially and have better work-residence matching than those with non-Chinese immigrants. Besides, the work-residence matching preference is stronger for a household with all of its members immigrating to Hong Kong together. In addition, it is found that both district poverty and housing affordability keep households from obtaining better work-residence matching in general. The impact of the latter is particularly remarkable among households with foreign immigrants. These new findings would provide valuable implications for policy and market development.     

Contributions of Family Factors to Career Readiness: A Cross‐Cultural Comparison

The authors examined the contributions of perceived family intrusiveness to career decision‐making difficulties (CDMD) and the mediating effect of family orientation as a personality trait in different cultural settings. In Study 1, a web‐based survey of 1,563 Hong Kong college students showed that perceived family intrusiveness significantly contributed to CDMD. This relationship was mediated by the relational personality trait emphasizing family orientation. Study 2 compared this pattern of relationship between a Hong Kong sample of 392 college students and a U.S. sample of 367 college students. The mediation model was only supported in the Hong Kong sample. Specifically, although the contributions of family intrusiveness to CDMD were demonstrated across the 2 cultural settings, the significant influences of family orientation were only supported in the Hong Kong sample. Implications for career development and counseling with college students from different cultural backgrounds are discussed.     

Perceived acquaintanceship and interpersonal trust: The cases of Hong Kong and China

The relationship between a person's perception of others and how many acquaintances he thinks he has is analyzed with data from a quota sample of 978 respondents in Hong Kong and 94 in China. Respondents in Hong Kong perceive one another as not trustworthy, selfish and unfair, much as in Japan, but this is not the case for China, nor for the U.S. It is competitiveness rather than culture that seems to account for this. People who don't trust one another tend not to perceive themselves as having many acquaintances.     

FIGURES OF HOPE AND THE FILMIC IMAGINARY OF JIANGHU IN CONTEMPORARY HONG KONG CINEMA

Through an extensive allegorical reading of films, this paper attempts to capture a certain cultural form of imagination in Hong Kong during the transitional period leading up to the historical handover of power in 1997. Dwelling on the world of signification conjured up through what I call the jianghu filmic imaginary,the analysis focuses on the ideological and utopian impulses registered in relation to a whole emotional complex of anxiety, bewilderment and despair in the works of some highly creative local filmmakers of the genre: Ching Siu-Tong, Ann Hui, Tsui Hark and Wong KarWai. The study draws theoretically from Castoriadis's notion of the social imaginary and Bloch's aesthetics of hope, to focus on the textual and contextual re-constructions of a number of very unconventional martial arts swordplay (wuxia) films made in Hong Kong in the last two decades: namely, Tsui's Butterfly Murders (1979), Hui's Romance of Book and Sword (1987), Ching/Tsui's Swordsman II (1992), and Wong's Ashes of Time (1994). By identifying the ideological and affective moments in the filmic imaginary,I want to trace what has been left in a ruined culture for utopian longings, and point to the presence/absence of ‘hope’ as the cultural imagination for an unknown and unknowable future (beyond 1997). It is my contention that an understanding of that peculiar form of popular imaginary at the unusual juncture of Hong Kong's history can begin with a critical attempt to cope with this subtle practice of hope, so as to recognize (or reject) it as mediation in the process of our collective cultural crisis, anticipation and identification.