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How did Chinese leaders Deng Xiaoping and Zhao Ziyang feel about Hong Kong? The existing literature has tended to see the Sino-British negotiations over the future of Hong Kong through the economic lens favoured by the British side and described the Chinese side as primarily motivated by nationalism. However, 'nationalism' remains a vague concept in need of further definition. This paper focuses on the Chinese side of the negotiation table. It unpacks what 'nationalism' meant to Deng and Zhao within the context of the negotiations by examining three interrelated components: history, identity and emotion. This paper then analyses how the Chinese side used history, identity and emotion strategically during the negotiations, focusing on the September 1982 leaders' meetings as a case study. Adopting a constructivist lens, this paper examines historical documents against frameworks and theories from the social sciences, producing an interdisciplinary analysis of Chinese negotiation tactics. It unravels how China's leaders used the country's past to broadcast the Party's stance to the people, bolster their leadership position and win the advantage over Britain in the Hong Kong negotiations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A considerable body of work now exists on the role that identity plays in understanding teachers and teaching. Developing and sustaining teacher identities in higher education can, however, be challenging given the subordinate positioning of teaching in some educational contexts. Despite the growth of English for Academic Purposes (EAP) programmes in many parts of the world, recent research suggests that EAP practitioners are especially vulnerable to being assigned marginalized identities within the academy. Therefore, this paper reports the results of a study which used a short story approach to investigate the tensions and triumphs one EAP practitioner in Hong Kong experienced in constructing her language teacher identities (LTIs). Findings suggest that her identity tensions and struggles take place across space and time and play out at different scales, including classrooms, educational institutions, and within broader societal discourses. However, the short stories presented in this paper speak not only of tension and struggle, but also of determination and resilience to construct LTIs in the academy. Consequently, the results of this study can help to raise awareness amongst stakeholders, including policy makers, leaders of higher education institutions, and language teaching practitioners, of how they can support and sustain the construction of LTIs within the academy. Implications for professional learning for language teaching practitioners and suggestions for future research are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the countryside, where intensive rural development and rising property values have been observed since the late 1970s, the preservation and meaning of traditional dwellings have emerged as crucial considerations in shaping Hong Kong's countryside conservation policy. The focus of this paper is on the conservation of temples, as we are drawn to these structures not only for their architectural merit but also for their role as public buildings within the countryside. Consequently, their cultural significance is heavily influenced by the stakeholders they are associated with, distinguishing them from other types of dwellings. This paper examines the coastal landscape of South Lantau, which includes several villages with distinct traditions that have undergone significant transformations since the 1960s. Located at the southwest edge of Hong Kong, Lantau Island had a rural lifestyle that was relatively undisturbed before WWII because of the difficulty in accessing the island. However, in response to the large people influx from China's mainland after 1949, the Hong Kong government introduced the Lantau Development Plan in 1953, mainly to open up new sources of freshwater resources for Hong Kong Island. The construction of South Lantau Road in 1955 and Shek Pik Reservoir in 1957 gradually led to the decline of agricultural activities in South Lantau and the population exodus of local villagers, resulting in a rupture to regional traditions. In multilineage communities such as the villages on South Lantau, worship of a common deity provides a vital source of social bonding, particularly for an area long beset by typhoons, piracy and banditry. Local people pray for safety and prosperity through collective rituals and celebratory activities. Therefore, temples are not only religious establishments but also embody the sense of social solidarity among villagers on South Lantau. Through the case study of three rural villages on South Lantau, this paper examines how temples play an important role in the continuity of the communal network amid repercussions from the postwar disruption of traditional rural life. Significantly, this pilot study also draws attention to the functions of temples in their historical context. It emphasises the importance of recognising and re-evaluating these buildings for cultural enhancement as part of community engagement. This study provides valuable insights for future conservation efforts for religious buildings in the countryside. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Qianhai—an innovation park in Shenzhen—has the possibility of boosting innovation in Hong Kong, Shenzhen and in the wider region. This paper reviews the existing evidence about which policies have promoted profitable innovation in the Qianhai region (Hong Kong and Shenzhen) in the past. We also point to the importance of profitable innovation—rather than just innovation for its own sake. Profits attract and keep firms in an international financial centre. Yet, until we know exactly how much profitability these innovative firms require and how to promote such profitability, the advice given in the literature to Qianhai's and other policymakers will remain woefully inadequate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid urbanization has resulted in the substantial population growth in metropolitan areas. However, existing research on population change of the cities predominantly draws on grid statistical data at the administrative level, overlooking the intra-urban variegation of population change. Particularly, there is a lack of attention given to the spatio-temporal change of population across different urban forms and functions. This paper therefore fills in the lacuna by clarifying the spatio-temporal characteristics of population growth in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) from 2000 to 2020 through the methods of local climate zone (LCZ) scheme and urban–rural gradients. The results showed that: (1) High population density was observed in the compact high-rise (LCZ 1) areas, with a noticeable decline along urban–rural gradients. (2) The city centers of GBA experienced the most significant population growth, while certain urban fringes and rural areas witnessed significant population shrinkage. (3) The rate of growth tended to slow down after 2010, but the uneven development of population-based urbanization was also noticeable, as urbanization and industrialization varied across different LCZ types and cities in GBA. This paper therefore contributes to a deeper understanding of population change and urbanization by clarifying their spatio-temporal contingences at landscape level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contributes to the ongoing debate on the nature and characteristics of the volatility transmission channels of major crash events in international stock markets between 03 July 1997 and 09 March 2021. Using dynamic conditional correlations (DCC) for conditional correlations and volatility clustering, GARCH-BEKK for the direction of transmission of disturbances, and the Diebold-Yilmaz spillover index for the level of volatility contagion, the paper finds that the climbs in external shock transmissions have long-lasting impacts in domestic markets due to the contagion effect during crisis periods. The findings also reveal that the heavier magnitude of financial stress is transmitted between Asian countries via the Hong Kong stock market. Additionally, the degree of volatility spillovers between advanced and emerging equity markets is smaller compared to the pure spillovers between advanced markets or emerging markets, offering a window of opportunity for international market participants in terms of portfolio diversification and risk management applications. Furthermore, the study introduces a novel early warning system created by integrating DCC correlations with a state-of-the-art deep learning model to predict the global financial crisis and COVID-19 crisis. The experimental analysis of long short-term memory network finds evidence of contagion risk by verifying bursts in volatility spillovers and generating signals with high accuracy before the 12-month crisis period. This provides supplementary information that contributes to the decision-making process of practitioners, as well as offering indicative evidence that facilitates the assessment of market vulnerability for policymakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large-scale assessment of window views is demanded for precise housing valuation and quantified evidence for improving the built environment, especially in high-rise, high-density cities. However, the absence of a semantic segmentation dataset of window views forbids an accurate pixel-level assessment. This paper presents a City Information Model (CIM)-generated Window View (CIM-WV) dataset comprising 2,000 annotated images collected in the high-rise, high-density urban areas of Hong Kong. The CIM-WV includes seven semantic labels, i.e., building, sky, vegetation, road, waterbody, vehicle, and terrain. Experimental results of training a well-known deep learning (DL) model, DeepLab V3+ , on CIM-WV, achieved a high performance (per-class Intersection over Union (IoU) ≥ 86.23%) on segmenting major landscape elements, i.e., building, sky, vegetation, and waterbody, and consistently outperformed the transfer learning on a popular real-world street view dataset, Cityscapes. The DeepLab V3+ model trained on CIM-WV was robust (mIoU ≥ 72.09%) in Hong Kong Island and Kowloon Peninsula, and enhanced the semantic segmentation accuracy of real-world and Google Earth CIM-generated window view images. The contribution of this paper is three-fold. CIM-WV is the first public CIM-generated photorealistic window view dataset with rich semantics. Secondly, comparative analysis shows a more accurate window view assessment using DL from CIM-WV than deep transfer learning from ground-level views. Last, for urban researchers and practitioners, our publicly accessible DL models trained on CIM-WV enable novel multi-source window view-based urban applications including precise real estate valuation, improvement of built environment, and window view-related urban analytics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper introduces an approach that facilitates whole-class curriculum co-creation and presents a case study conducted in a higher education institution in Hong Kong where it was implemented. The approach enables students to actively contribute to constructing a curriculum in partnership with teachers and practitioners, using scenario development techniques within the technology-enhanced learning environments. In this sense, the study is compatible with and contributes to contemporary higher education requirements for future-ready students, able to work in fast-changing, digitalized and globalized working environments. The case study describes the implementation of the approach in undergraduate and postgraduate knowledge management courses. The mix-method design was employed, including content analysis of scenarios, a questionnaire asking for students' feedback, and teacher's observations. The findings revealed that the approach enabled students and the teacher to work more collaboratively and co-create some aspects of the knowledge management courses (e.g., identifying and compiling relevant subject trends), even if some challenges were experienced. The paper points to the need for students' ownership when it comes to developing curricula that better consider students' experiences and meaning-making processes. The paper contributes to contemporary higher education discourse by providing conceptual and practical guidance on how to enact whole-class curriculum co-creation for teachers interested in such practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the cocreation of an emergent place-identity in a Hakka household in the Hong Kong countryside triggered by architectural restoration. Located in Kuk Po, a quintessential Hakka village that was established over 300 years ago, Yeung House was restored by the research team under a government-funded initiative to regenerate architectural values. Rebuilt in 1967, Yeung House has experienced decay and evolution over the years. It signifies the adaptive lifestyle of Hakka immigrants through its adapted siting, hybrid tectonics and modernised features. After restoration, Yeung House was repurposed into a base for education and research managed by the three house-owning villagers. Different activities were initiated by the villagers and coarranged by the research team. As a serendipitous outcome, the front yard of Yeung House has been activated into a multifunctional communal space. Subsequently, it is argued that a place-identity has emerged in Ng To and is influenced by the distinctiveness of the restored Yeung House and the continuity of the front yard. New meanings of the place have been created by the villagers through the practice of a potential, alternative lifestyle in the rural-urban parallel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper applies Appadurai's notion of scapes in globalisation to study international student mobility. Thirty mainland Chinese students were interviewed; the majority of whom studied at prestigious institutions in the West before enrolling in their current PhD programmes at a research-intensive university in Hong Kong (HK) in the immediate aftermath of HK's large-scale social protests and amidst the Covid-19 pandemic. We seek to understand why these students relocated to HK to further their studies given these turbulent circumstances and how their mainlander identity and sojourns in the West influence their perceptions of HK's social movements from the perspectives of ethnoscape and ideoscape, respectively. Our findings reveal that HK represented the 'best' compromise for our participants, mitigating their nostalgia for home (i.e. mainland China) whilst offering a superior education to the Chinese mainland. Most participants perceived HK as a nationalistic ideoscape, wherein HK people's pursuit of autonomy is subordinated to the putative Chinese national interests. Moreover, ethnoscape and ideoscape dynamics were found to crisscross other scapes. Generous scholarships (i.e. financescape) provided additional incentives driving student relocations. The persistent consumption of Chinese social media (techno-mediascape) was found to have resulted in worldview conformity between our participants and the Chinese state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The existing literature primarily examined the impact of unexpected events on the stock market at a single scale, posing the challenge of a lack of multiscale analysis. This paper investigates the impact of COVID-19 on stock markets (China, the U.S., and Hong Kong) from a multiscale perspective using an improved ensemble empirical mode decomposition (EEMD)-based event analysis method. First, the stock price series is decomposed into several independent intrinsic mode functions (IMFs) and a residue. Second, a novel composition method is proposed to reconstruct the IMFs into three components: high-frequency, low-frequency, and long-term trend. We find that the composition of low-frequency and long-term trend components is dominant, which is used to estimate the strength of COVID-19 impact on the stock markets. In addition, the outbreak of COVID-19 significantly increased the intensity of short-term fluctuations in stock prices. Finally, the high-frequency component is analyzed to capture the volatility spillover effects among the three stock markets by the BEKK(Baba-Engle-Kraft-Kroner)-GARCH model. The results show that before the outbreak, there are two-way volatility spillovers between any two of the three markets. After the outbreak, there is no spillover effect between China and Hong Kong, and Hong Kong has no spillover effect on the U.S. However, volatility in the U.S. market still has a significant spillover effect on the other two markets, implying that a mature market can absorb new information more quickly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past three decades, fire engineering has experienced fast development worldwide. Fire regulations for building industry were moved from prescriptive description to performance-based specification. This trend started in the UK in the 1980s and spread to other western countries. Hong Kong closely followed the UK development and adopted the approach of performance-based design (PBD) for the Hong Kong International Airport and MTR stations in the early 1990s. The Government of Hong Kong SAR formally recognised the PBD approach in the prescriptive codes of practice in the mid-1990s and developed the performance-based code (PBC) in the 2000s. This PBC was promulgated in 2011. The evolution in fire engineering impacted the fire community in Mainland China. The State Key Laboratory of Fire Science (SKLFS) was established in University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) in 1991. Then fire science and fire engineering stepped into the fast development track. The building industry in Mainland China started to adopt the PBD approach in the early 2000s for the significant developments including large airport terminals, railway and metro stations, super high-rise buildings, and mega commercial centres. However, a structured PBC system is not available within the regulatory framework to date. Adoption of PBD approach is slowing down in recent years. This paper presents a review of fire engineering development in Hong Kong and Mainland China. The review focuses on the development of the PBC in Hong Kong, and the PBD approach and fire research in Mainland China in the past 30 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports an intervention study in the teaching of fraction concepts at a village school in Hong Kong. The classes consisted of 60 Grade three students with different cultural backgrounds, including African, Chinese, Filipino, Korean, Nepalese, and Pakistani. The study represents one of the relatively few studies that investigate the effectiveness of storytelling in teaching mathematics to ethnic minority (EM) students in the East Asian context. The quantitative analysis in a pre/post-test intervention/control group design shows reduction in achievement gap between EM students in rural settings and their Chinese peers in urban districts, including concepts such as part–whole interpretation, fraction language, and mathematics vocabulary. Analysis of classroom discourse based on the culturally responsive mathematics teaching (CRMT) framework reveals the multimodal features of storytelling provide greater access for EM students in acquiring language-related conceptualizations of fractions. Based on our analysis, we argue that mathematics teaching is inseparable from language teaching, which is often ignored or not planned explicitly in the lesson. Storytelling integrates language with mathematics content authentically and allows students to cope with the language demands in learning mathematics and to encounter the mathematics in real-world context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) is threatened by potential tsunami hazards from the Littoral Fault Zone (LFZ) and the Manila subduction zone (MSZ), and may suffer huge damage because of its dense population, concentrated infrastructure, and low-lying coasts. Previous tsunami studies for the GBA made simple assumptions on the mechanisms of LFZ earthquakes, and used coarse bathymetry data in tsunami simulation, which limited the prediction of detailed tsunami hazard characteristics. In this paper, we develop a parallel dispersive tsunami model PCOMCOT to efficiently simulate dispersive, nonlinear, and breaking tsunami waves. We also construct large-scale and high-resolution bathymetry models for the GBA by correcting and integrating various data sources. Dynamic rupture simulation is performed for the LFZ to obtain a more reliable earthquake source model. We propose several representative earthquake scenarios for the LFZ and MSZ, and use PCOMCOT to calculate the resulting tsunami waves, currents, and inundation in the GBA. Our results indicate that if an Mw7.5 oblique-slip earthquake occurs in the LFZ off the Pearl River Estuary (PRE), the subsequent tsunami will primarily impact Hong Kong, causing maximum positive and negative waves of around 1 m and −2 m, respectively, along with slightly destructive currents (⩾1.5 m/s). An Mw9.0 MSZ megathrust earthquake can lead to widespread inundation with >1 m depth on the outlying islands of Macao and in the urban areas of Hong Kong around the Victoria Harbour. Besides, it will also cause catastrophic tsunami currents along the narrow waterways in Hong Kong and Macao, and the spatial distribution of strong currents (⩾3 m/s) shows a considerable discrepancy from the areas of serious inundation. Thus, more attention should be paid to the potential impacts of tsunami currents on the GBA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The information technology industry has been identified as a priority industry for development in Hong Kong. Within this sector, there are a growing number of "new collar" jobs that may not require a traditional four-year degree. However, these jobs require a combination of technical and soft skills that are not often taught in secondary schools. The Applied Learning course titled "Tech Basics" was introduced to five secondary schools in 2019. It has the unique feature of bringing together secondary schools, a local public university, and industry partners in curriculum design and program delivery, to provide students with work-integrated learning. The curriculum includes authentic work environment exposure components such as company visits, mentorship programs, industry-led project competitions, and internships. This paper is a case study presenting detailed information on the program's model of work-integrated learning as. well as its evaluation. It explains the different roles of secondary schools, higher education institutes, and industry partners. To assess the impact of the program, three rounds of surveys were conducted among students taking the course and a control group over a three-year period. The theoretical framework of work integrated learning and mentoring was reviewed. Survey results and additional qualitative data are presented. Feedback from secondary school teachers and mentors from the industry is analyzed. Challenges for the future development of the Tech Basics course are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the opening of the Stock Connect programs, the mainland China and Hong Kong stock markets are becoming more closely linked. In this paper, we develop a China's stock market risk early warning system. The proposed early warning system consists of three components. First, we use value at risk (VaR) to identify the stock market risk in which stock market risk is divided into multiple categories instead of two categories. Second, we construct a comprehensive indicator system in which basic indicators, technical indicators, overseas return rate indicators, and macroeconomic indicators are considered simultaneously. Third, we use four machine learning models, namely long short-term memory (LSTM), gate recurrent unit (GRU), multilayer perceptron (MLP), and EXtreme Gradient Boosting algorithm (XGBoost), to predict China's stock market risk. Experimental results show that: (1) Considering the macroeconomic indicators and basic indicators of Shanghai Composite Index (SSEC), ShenZhen Component Index (SZCZ) and Hang Seng Index (HSI) can significantly improve the performance of predicting China's stock market risk. (2) The opening of SH-HK Stock Connect program improves the predictive performance, but the opening of SZ-HK Stock Connect program decreases the predictive performance. (3) The indicators related to Hong Kong become more important after the SZ-HK Stock Connect program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social inclusion indicators inform policy advocacy and intervention. However, a critical piece of information is often missing: public opinion. Efforts to enhance social inclusion could backfire if they provoke opinion backlash or intergroup hostilities. In this paper, we explain the importance and nuances of inclusive attitudes and develop an easy-to-use survey instrument that tracks public opinion regarding different marginalized groups and support measures systematically. Using evidence from a representative telephone survey in Hong Kong (N = 1010), as well as a parallel online survey (N = 1000), we demonstrate the multidimensional nature of public attitudes toward social inclusion and our instrument's excellent psychometric properties and potential for use in various research settings. Although developed in the context of Hong Kong, the survey items can be decomposed and adapted to suit diverse urban societies. By highlighting the importance and complexity of public opinion, we hope to foster a more participatory approach to promoting social inclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The heterogeneity of autism is well documented, but few studies have studied the heterogeneity of gesture production ability in autistic children. The present study aimed to identify subgroups of autistic children who displayed heterogeneous gesture production abilities and explore the underlying factors, including autism characteristics, intellectual ability, and language ability, that were associated with the heterogeneity. Methods: A total of 65 Chinese autistic children (mean age = 5;3) participated. Their autism characteristics and intellectual ability were assessed by standardized measurements. Language output and gesture production were captured from a parent-child interaction task. Results: We conducted a hierarchical cluster analysis and identified four distinct clusters. Cluster 1 and Cluster 2 both had low gesture production whereas Cluster 3 and Cluster 4 had high gesture production. Both Clusters 1 and 2 had relatively strong autism characteristics, in comparison to Clusters 3 and 4. Conclusions: Our findings revealed that children with stronger autism characteristics may gesture less often than those with weaker characteristics. However, the relationship between language ability and intellectual ability and gesture production was not clear. These findings shed light on the directions of intervention on gesture production for autistic children, especially those with stronger autism characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current understanding of financial decision-making among racial/ethnic minority young adults is limited: day-to-day financial decisions of racial/ethnic minorities are underexamined, younger racial/ethnic minorities receive limited attention, studies on racial/ethnic minorities are mainly conducted in Western societies, and research on financial literacy and decision-making is predominantly quantitative in nature. Against this backdrop, this study utilized a qualitative approach to examine a range of financial decision-making among ethnic minority young adults in Hong Kong, including personal budgeting, spending, financial planning, the use of financial products, debt management, and the detection of financial fraud. Individual interviews were conducted with 53 Pakistani, Indian, Nepalese, and Filipino participants aged 18 to 29 who employed various budgeting strategies and faced challenges. Their spending was modest, and they espoused various spending philosophies. Many saved approximately one-third of their income using saving tactics and setting financial goals, and investing in both Hong Kong and their home countries. Informal borrowing was common, though some sought alternative loans. One-third used credit cards, with accompanying occasional risks. Despite employing protective tactics, they still fell victim to scams. Factors facilitating their financial decision-making include family social capital, intrapersonal characteristics, social dynamics factors, command of knowledge, and facilitative contextual circumstances. This study addresses knowledge gaps by providing an in-depth understanding of financial decision-making among ethnic minority young adults in a non-Western context. It has significant implications for timely and tailored financial literacy education for minority societal members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The full understanding of the importance of submarine cables as part of the global network infrastructure in the digital economy era, along with decades of knowledge accumulation in this field, has not prevented Hong Kong from facing increasing difficulties in gaining more access to submarine cable systems since 2017. Given that geopolitical differences between China and the U.S. are dividing the international network infrastructure, the business interests of Hong Kong enterprises and the urban development prospects of the Hong Kong government have been forced to defer to Beijing's security concerns. Meanwhile, in recent years China has been acquiring data power by modelling the "data collection – data sharing – data space governance" path that the United States and its allies set previously. During this process, the power shaped by China's unique technological, social and institutional characteristics offers an alternative to American dominance, although it exacerbates the global divergence of internet infrastructure. Many projects along the Belt and Road Initiative and the Digital Silk Road are the examples of China's data power projection, and will bring opportunities for Hong Kong's own submarine cables sector and for the city's role as a super connector in the coming years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Street performance or busking is common in public spaces. The literature highlights two psychological issues: the effect of street performance on public space perception and the complexity of the appreciation of street performance, regarded as street audience experience (SAE). The present study aims at verifying the effect of street performance on public space perception, while examining SAE as a mediator of this effect. We conducted a between-subjects field experiment (a quasi-experiment; N = 292) in Hong Kong. Participants assessed a public space without (control) or with (experimental) musical busking on essentialism, anti-essentialism, sonic restorativeness, and overall liking. In the experimental condition, unengaged passersby and engaged audience further evaluated SAE factors of emotion, intellect, novelty, place, interaction, and technique, and outcomes of overall satisfaction and donation worth. The public space with busking was perceived as significantly more sonically restorative. Engaged audience perceived the space as significantly more essentialist, anti-essentialist, sonically restorative, and likeable. Engaged audience also experienced more positive SAE and outcome variables. SAE fully mediated the effects of street performance on public space perception and outcome variables, respectively. These findings support the positive impact of street performance, which may enhance city inhabitants' well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the impact of home literacy environment (HLE) on the acquisition of English as a second language (L2) and reading skills in Chinese-speaking kindergarten children. The sample was 354 kindergarten children (mean age: 60.37 months, SD = 7.25; 186 boys, 52.5%) in Hong Kong, China. Mothers completed a questionnaire measuring family socioeconomic status (SES), parent-directed HLE, and child-initiated HLE in learning English. Children were assessed on their English language and reading skills: phonological awareness, letter knowledge, vocabulary, word reading, and rapid naming. After the role of family SES was controlled, child-initiated HLE instead of parent-directed HLE was found to uniquely predict phonological awareness, letter knowledge, and rapid naming, which jointly contributed to English word reading. Family SES was also a significant correlate of cognitive-linguistic skills and English language skills. The findings highlighted the importance of child-initiated HLE in promoting children's English language learning as L2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated a Theatresports program implemented in a social work setting in Hong Kong to cultivate all-round positive development in youth. We investigated participants' feelings of the program to generate insights for the development of youth services. Qualitative research was performed with 92 participants of the program. Thematic analysis was performed to analyze the participants' feelings and opinions of the program. Participants acquired a range of skills and abilities, in terms of intrapersonal (e.g., problem-solving skills, positive thinking, self-reflective ability) and interpersonal (e.g., collaborative skills). Besides, they established a positive identity, and obtained support from peers and viewed it as important. Meanwhile, a few of the participants had other feelings and viewpoints, showing that the social workers' role in helping participants consolidate their gaming experiences is important for facilitating participants' personal growth. Based on the results, we recommend that developmental services be extensively developed in youth settings, particularly in Hong Kong. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the rapid growth of English medium instruction (EMI) in higher education, little research has been conducted to pinpoint the challenges faced by students. This quantitative study explored the challenges posed by the secondary–tertiary transition to first-year students with different English proficiency levels in EMI higher education institutions. In addition, we also investigated students' perception of the usefulness of supplementary and mainstream education in preparing them for those challenges. 91 participants studying at two tertiary institutions in Hong Kong completed a 52-item questionnaire. The questionnaire included items in relation to three major aspects of challenges: 'academic studies and skills', 'socialization', and 'college/university life adaptation'. It was found that students with low proficiency regarded all three aspects as significantly more challenging than the high proficiency ones in their first-year studies. However, despite the different proficiency levels, students similarly perceived mainstream education to be significantly more useful than supplementary education in preparing them for those transitional challenges. The findings together suggest that more English support is needed for low-proficiency students at the tertiary level and argue that mainstream education plays an essential role in assisting students in this secondary–tertiary transition. Implications are discussed in terms of the benefits of having a general English course as perquisite for low English proficiency students before they enroll in English for Academic Purposes courses, and the development of a variety of tasks with more emphasis on communication and collaboration at the secondary level to support them in this transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present research reports the findings of three studies, with objectives to demonstrate the impacts of health-promoting behaviors on psychological well-being as well as the mediating roles of sense of control (SOC) and perceived severity of COVID-19 in these relationships. Study 1 was a cross-sectional survey conducted in 473 middle-aged and older Chinese adults before the COVID-19 pandemic to assess their health-promoting behaviors, personal mastery and perceived constraints, life satisfaction, and depressive symptoms. Study 2 was conducted during the second wave of the COVID-19 outbreak in Hong Kong (between March to April 2020), in which 292 participants from Study 1 were successfully contacted to report their emotional responses to the pandemic. Using a different sample, Study 3 was a longitudinal study that measured 495 participants' health-promoting behaviors, personal mastery and perceived constraints at baseline, and their perceived severity and mental health outcomes during the outbreak of omicron cases in Hong Kong (i.e., the fifth wave of the COVID-19 outbreak) in March 2022. All three studies demonstrate that the beneficial effects of health behaviors can be extended to psychological well-being and reveal possible underlying mechanisms through enhancing one's SOC and lowering perceived severity of the COVID-19 outbreak. These results provide important insights to future health promotion programs for improving psychological resources and psychological well-being of middle-aged and older adults in face of disease-related threats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under long-standing threat of seasonal influenza outbreaks, it remains imperative to understand the drivers of influenza dynamics which can guide mitigation measures. While the role of absolute humidity and temperature is extensively studied, the possibility of ambient ozone (O3) as an environmental driver of influenza has received scant attention. Here, using state-level data in the USA during 2010–2015, we examined such research hypothesis. For rigorous causal inference by evidence triangulation, we applied 3 distinct methods for data analysis: Convergent Cross Mapping from state-space reconstruction theory, Peter-Clark-momentary-conditional-independence plus as graphical modeling algorithms, and regression-based Generalised Linear Model. The negative impact of ambient O3 on influenza activity at 1-week lag is consistently demonstrated by those 3 methods. With O3 commonly known as air pollutant, the novel findings here on the inhibition effect of O3 on influenza activity warrant further investigations to inform environmental management and public health protection. Temperature and absolute humidity are associated with influenza activity, and recent data from Hong Kong have suggested ozone as an additional environmental driver. Here, the authors investigate the relationship between ozone and influenza transmission using surveillance data from the USA and find evidence for an inhibitory effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is considerable evidence that word reading in Chinese is predicted by morphological awareness. However, does learning to read contribute conversely to the later development of morphological awareness in Chinese? This two-year longitudinal study of Chinese children from Beijing and Hong Kong demonstrated that word reading predicted morphological awareness in Chinese. The findings from a latent growth curve analysis suggested that both the initial level and the growth rate of word reading predicted morphological awareness, with phonological awareness statistically controlled across the two Chinese-speaking societies. However, the association patterns were slightly different in the two cities. In Beijing, phonological awareness was found to partially mediate the prediction of reading growth in morphological awareness, but this mediation effect was not found in Hong Kong. Overall, these findings highlight the importance of early reading experience in the development of morphological awareness in Chinese children across different Chinese-speaking societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aimed to investigate whether and how Chinese single character reading and 2-character word reading can reflect somewhat different processes. Tasks of Chinese rapid automatized naming (RAN), morphological awareness, phonological awareness, orthographic knowledge, along with vocabulary knowledge and nonverbal intelligence tasks, were administered to 283 Hong Kong Chinese kindergarteners (Mean age = 66.08 months, SD = 5.15), who were followed up one year later at grade one. Results demonstrated that, concurrently, morphological awareness and RAN explained unique variance in Chinese word reading at kindergarten when character reading was statistically controlled; character reading had no unique cognitive-linguistic correlates when word reading was statistically controlled. Longitudinally, word reading at grade one was predicted by character reading at kindergarten. In contrast, character reading at grade one could not be predicted by word reading at kindergarten. These findings suggest that Chinese children's processing of 2-character words and single characters should be treated differently in Chinese reading acquisition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a major carbon emitter, the power sector plays a crucial role in realizing the goal of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality. This study constructed a low-carbon power system based on the LEAP model (LEAP-GBA) with 2020 as a statistic base aiming of exploring the low-carbon transformation pathway of the power sector in the Guangdong–Hong Kong, and Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA). Five scenarios are set up to simulate the demand, power generation structure, carbon emissions, and power generation costs in the power sector under different scenarios. The results indicate that total electricity demand will peak after 2050, with 80% of it coming from industry, buildings and residential use. To achieve net-zero emissions from the power sector in the GBA, a future power generation mix dominated by nuclear and renewable energy generation and supplemented by fossil energy generation equipped with CCUS technologies. BECCS technology and nuclear power are the key to realize zero carbon emissions from the power sector in the GBA, so it should be the first to promote BECCS technology testing and commercial application, improve the deployment of nuclear power sites, and push forward the construction of nuclear power and technology improvement in the next 40 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dyslexia and developmental language disorders are important learning difficulties. However, their genetic basis remains poorly understood, and most genetic studies were performed on Europeans. There is a lack of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) on literacy phenotypes of Chinese as a native language and English as a second language (ESL) in a Chinese population. In this study, we conducted GWAS on 34 reading/language-related phenotypes in Hong Kong Chinese bilingual children (including both twins and singletons; total N = 1046). We performed association tests at the single-variant, gene, and pathway levels. In addition, we tested genetic overlap of these phenotypes with other neuropsychiatric disorders, as well as cognitive performance (CP) and educational attainment (EA) using polygenic risk score (PRS) analysis. Totally 5 independent loci (LD-clumped at r2 = 0.01; MAF > 0.05) reached genome-wide significance (p < 5e-08; filtered by imputation quality metric Rsq>0.3 and having at least 2 correlated SNPs (r2 > 0.5) with p < 1e-3). The loci were associated with a range of language/literacy traits such as Chinese vocabulary, character and word reading, and rapid digit naming, as well as English lexical decision. Several SNPs from these loci mapped to genes that were reported to be associated with EA and other neuropsychiatric phenotypes, such as MANEA and PLXNC1. In PRS analysis, EA and CP showed the most consistent and significant polygenic overlap with a variety of language traits, especially English literacy skills. To summarize, this study revealed the genetic basis of Chinese and English abilities in a group of Chinese bilingual children. Further studies are warranted to replicate the findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although it has been widely acknowledged that hope, career competency, and outcomes of social well-being (i.e., social integration, social contribution, and civic engagement) are key components of youth's career and life development (CLD), those interrelationships, their predictive relationships, and the relative importance of the variables in the relationships remain poorly understood. To fill that gap, we conducted two network analyses on three waves of data collected in the CLAP@JC Community Intervention Project. A total of 4,220 non-engaged youth (NEY) from Hong Kong participated in the project, all of whom were 13–29 years old (M = 18.66, SD = 3.20) and 53.3% of whom were boys and young men. The first network analysis, conducted on the data at baseline, revealed a moderate correlation between career competency and hope and a strong correlation between civic engagement and social contribution. The second network analysis, conducted on the aggregated three-wave data, showed that career competency could predict all other variables and that only hope could positively impact career competency over time. We also observed that social contribution can positively influence hope. Overall, our findings highlight the central role of career competency in networks while also revealing the different roles of the examined variables within the networks. Our new findings on the functions of and the relationships among those variables provide insights for further theorizing CLD, while the information obtained can also help practitioners to develop effective intervention strategies for promoting CLD among NEY. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parent–child and teacher–child relationship closeness have been shown to be crucial for children's development of socioemotional competencies from preschool to school-age stages. However, less is known about the importance of developing close relationships with young infants and toddlers attending childcare group settings for their early socioemotional development. The current study aimed to address this gap and to explore how child gender may influence the associations. Participants included 378 Hong Kong Chinese children (196 girls; Mage = 22.05 months, SD = 9.81 months) enrolled in childcare centres, along with their parents and teachers. Parents reported on children's socioemotional competencies as well as their relationship closeness with children; teachers reported on their relationship closeness with children. Multiple group structural equation modelling was used to analyse the results. The findings showed that both parent–child and teacher–child closeness were positively associated with children's social competence, while teacher–child closeness was negatively associated with children's anxiety behaviour. Parents of girls reported greater parent–child closeness, higher levels of social competence, and higher levels of anxiety behaviours compared to parents of boys. Furthermore, teacher–child closeness was significantly associated with social competence exclusively among girls, while parent–child closeness was significantly associated with anxiety behaviours solely among boys. Findings are discussed in terms of the role of child gender in influencing the associations between parent–child closeness, teacher–child closeness, and children's socioemotional competencies in the earliest years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the Cold War era, translation constituted an integral part of the ideological confrontations of US cultural diplomacy. Scholarly discussions on US-associated cultural products have provided insights from the perspective of American patronage, yet have not adequately addressed the diverse role of unofficial agencies in their cultural practices with multiple intentions. This study analyzes Chinese translations in the magazine Children's Paradise (CP) operated by the Union, an entity involved in the network of American covert cultural diplomatic activities. It delves into the Union's agenda of furthering a progressive Chinese nation that continues and revitalizes Chinese civilization by analyzing three marked characteristics of the translated texts and their underlying rationales. It finds that, through deliberate omissions, substitutions, and additions, CP demonstrated a relentless commitment to the Union's China-centric agendas in its domesticated and adapted translations. Despite sharing the anti-communist conviction associated with American interests, CP leveraged localized practices to engage with the social-political issues of the British-ruled Hong Kong of the 1970s. As a result, it generated cultural outcomes exceeding the Cold War polarities, and left a lasting legacy on the younger generation of Hong Kong. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies indicate an increased carditis risk among adolescents following the two-dose messenger RNA COVID-19 vaccine. Several jurisdictions have extended the interdose interval between the first and second doses to reduce the risk. However, the effectiveness of such an extension policy remains inconclusive. Using the territory-wide vaccine record-linked electronic health records in Hong Kong, we conducted a nested case–control study from February 23, 2021 to August 15, 2022. Adolescents aged between 12 and 17 who received two-dose BNT162b2 were included for comparing risks between standard interdose interval (21–27 days) versus extended interdose interval (≥ 56 days). The carditis cumulative incidence within 28 days following the second dose was calculated. The adjusted odds ratio was estimated from multivariable conditional logistic regression. We identified 49 adolescents with newly diagnosed carditis within 28 days following the second dose. The crude cumulative incidence is 37.41 [95% confidence interval (CI): 27.68–49.46] per million vaccinated adolescents. Compared to the standard interdose interval group, adolescents with an extended interval had a significantly lower risk of carditis [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 0.34 (95% CI: 0.16–0.73)]. Sensitivity analysis of carditis occurring within 14 days following the second dose yielded a similar estimate [aOR 0.30 (95% CI: 0.13–0.73)]. Extending the interdose interval of the BNT162b2 vaccine from 21 to 27 days to 56 days or longer is associated with 66% lower risk of incident carditis among adolescents. Our findings contribute towards an evidence-based vaccination strategy for a vulnerable population and potentially informs product label updates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The notion of mental health–friendly churches has been proposed recently by some church leaders. However, effective strategies for translating this aim into reality have not yet been realized. This study conducted two focus group sessions with four pastors, five fellowship leaders, and one lay church member in Hong Kong to solicit their experiences and observations about churches' responses to mental health issues. Through the conceptual lens of the theory of planned behavior (TPB), three interrelated themes were identified: (a) church members have a fearful attitude toward people with mental health difficulties, (b) mental health problems are regarded as nonissues in churches, and (c) church leaders and lay members lack the capability to deal with people with mental health difficulties. Accordingly, churches may become more mental health–friendly by making efforts to improve these issues. More fundamentally, churches may need to seriously re-examine their role in tackling mental health issues from a broader perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little is known about the moderation effect of social support on youth's civic engagement and meaning in life. To address this research gap, the current study examines the relationship among civic engagement, different sources of social support (family, significant others, and friends), and sense of meaningfulness in life. 1330 High school students in Hong Kong were recruited to participate into a survey in this study. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to examine the possible moderation effect of social support on youth's civic engagement and meaning in life. The results indicate a positive association between civic engagement and the sense of meaningfulness in life. Social support from family and significant others is also found to be associated positively with the sense of meaningfulness in life. Surprisingly, a negative moderation effect of social support from friends is found in the relationship between civic engagement and the sense of meaningfulness in life, which reminds us to reconsider the nature of friendship support. The results suggest that the government and social workers should continue to facilitate youth participation in civic engagement. Further, more focus should be put on nurturing positive family relationships and support from significant others, from which youth's sense of meaningfulness can be enhanced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores how master's students perceive their research experiences and interpret the concept of research. Master's education has been regarded as a steppingstone for doctoral study for several decades in many higher education systems; however, the meaning of 'master' has transformed academically and socially. Accordingly, the research requirement in many master's programmes has become flexible or been replaced by other learning outcomes. This raises the question: what meanings do 'thesis' and 'research' have in the context of master's education? In this study, we interviewed 73 master's students from various universities and fields of study in Hong Kong to explore their perceptions of research. The thematic analysis showed that research was interpreted via multiple perspectives among the master's students, such as learning outcomes, learning processes, and separate tasks. Three themes, namely eligibility, accountability, and agency, were identified as key elements of writing a thesis and understanding the research. The interpretations of research varied according to aspects of the students' backgrounds, such as their academic discipline and work experience. Most importantly, research supervision was found to play a central role in shaping the students' perceptions of research. This study suggests how research can be meaningfully integrated into today's master's education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent times, a new wave of scientific and technological advancements has significantly reshaped the global economic structure. This shift has redefined the role of regional innovation, particularly in its contribution to developing the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay area (GBA) into a renowned center for science, technology, and innovation. This study constructs a comprehensive evaluation system for the Regional Innovation Ecosystem (RIE). By applying the coupling coordination degree model and social network analysis, we have extensively analyzed the spatial structure and network attributes of the coupled and coordinated innovation ecosystem in the GBA from 2010 to 2019. Our findings reveal several key developments: (1) There has been a noticeable rightward shift in the kernel density curve, indicating an ongoing optimization of the overall coupling coordination level. Notably, the center of gravity for coupling coordination has progressively moved southeast. This shift has led to a reduction in the elliptical area each year, while the trend surface consistently shows a convex orientation toward the center. The most significant development is observed along the 'Guangdong–Shenzhen–Hong Kong–Macao Science and Technology Innovation Corridor', where the level of coupling coordination has become increasingly pronounced. (2) The spatial linkages within the GBA have been strengthening. There are significant spatial transaction costs in the regional innovation ecological network. In the context of the 2019 US-China trade war, the cities of Jiangmen and Zhaoqing experienced a notable decrease in connectivity with other cities, raising concerns about their potential marginalization. (3) Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong have emerged as core nodes within the network. The network exhibits a distinctive "core–edge" spatial structure, characterized by both robustness and vulnerability in various aspects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines how heterogeneous traders on both sides of transactions behave in the housing market under information asymmetry. Two types of buyers, namely, informed and uninformed buyers, correspond to local and non-local buyers in the empirical tests. Non-local housing buyers in Hong Kong pay a 2.8% premium over local buyers in the second-hand market for housing units with similar observable attributes. We distinguish real estate developers from sellers in the second-hand market. The former has an incentive and ability to reduce information asymmetry by providing a quality guarantee on the building structure and signaling with brand name, none of which can be fulfilled by sellers in the second-hand market. Empirical results show that developers' efforts to reduce information asymmetry allow them to fetch a higher price than sellers in the second-hand market, holding property characteristics constant. Such efforts are particularly valued by uninformed buyers as non-local buyers prefer to purchase in the first-hand market rather than in the second-hand market, especially when the problem of information asymmetry is serious. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Capital constraints are a major obstacle that holds back cash-poor households from purchasing a home. A workaround is to compromise the housing size and quality by buying a starter home one can marginally afford first. This study aims to investigate how capital constraints distort the pricing of starter homes. In Hong Kong, the government builds subsidized starter homes, which can be resold either to any households at full market prices through the privatized submarket or to households of limited affordability at lower prices through the affordable submarket. The subsidy in the latter case comes from the equity contribution of the government. If there were no capital constraints, the price gap between the two submarkets should simply be the government's equity. However, our empirical analysis reveals a much smaller price gap, indicating that households with limited affordability are willing to pay a starter home premium in order to relax their capital constraints. Our estimation shows that the premium is in the range of 4.5% to 6.8%, and enlarges when the housing market becomes more unaffordable. The pricing of starter homes is based not only on their quality but also on their ability to relax capital constraints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic has brought significant distress on not only the physical health but also mental health of individuals. The present study investigated the direct and indirect effects from COVID-19 distress to suicidality via psychosocial and financial well-being among young people. Methods: This cross-sectional survey recruited 1472 Hong Kong young people via random sampling in 2021. The respondents completed a phone survey on COVID-19 distress, the four-item Patient Health Questionnaire and items on social well-being, financial well-being, and suicidality. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was conducted to examine the direct and indirect effects of COVID-19 distress on suicidality via psychosocial and financial well-being. Results: The direct effect of COVID-19 distress on suicidality was not significant (β = 0.022, 95% CI − 0.097–0.156). The total indirect effect from COVID-19 distress to suicidality was significant and positive (αβγ = 0.150, 95% CI = 0.085–0.245) and accounted for 87% of the total effect (B = 0.172, 95% CI = 0.043–0.341). There were significant specific indirect effects via social well-being and psychological distress, and financial well-being and psychological distress. Conclusion: The present findings support different pathways from COVID-19 distress to suicidality via functioning in different domains among young people in Hong Kong. Measures are needed to ameliorate the impact on their social and financial well-being to reduce their psychological distress and suicidality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As global economies strive for post-COVID recovery, stock market reactions to reopening announcements have become crucial indicators. Though previous research has extensively focused on COVID's detrimental impact on stock markets, the effects of reopening remain underexplored. This study provides the first causal analysis of the effect of easing restrictions on Chinese firms' stock prices following the end of China's three-year Zero-COVID policy. Utilizing regression-discontinuity design, we find that most relaxed measures had minimal or negative impact. However, stock prices jumped 1.4% immediately after the full reopening announcement on December 26, 2022. Using a difference-in-differences approach, we also note a 1.6% increase in the stock prices of Mainland China firms relative to firms in other districts on the Hong Kong stock market two months post-reopening. Our findings offer key insights for policymakers and contribute significantly to academic discourse on the causal relationship between reopening policies and stock market performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]