East Asia (EA) is conventionally defined to comprise China and Japan, the four newly industrialized economies (NIEs) of South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore, and the Association of Southeast ...Asian Nations (ASEANs) economies. The EA region is well known for its dynamic economic growth through the past 50 years. The first wave of EA's high growth was led by Japan, and it soon spread to the four NIEs and some ASEAN economies. This marks the first rise of EA or EA-I. Japanese economists used to explain such a phenomenon as the 'flying geese pattern'. The second wave of EA's high growth was led by China, and it is currently spreading into the whole of the EA region. The second rise of EA or EA-II is economically much more formidable than EA-I because of China's vast economic scale compounded by its high rates economic growth. The China-led EA-II today accounts for 24.4% of global GDP (higher than the US share of 21.5%), as compared to 15.2% of the Japan-led EA-I. Increasingly, China's economy operates not just as an engine of growth for the EA region but also a catalyst for regional economic integration. After the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, global economic gravity has clearly shifted to EA. However, individual EA economies are still beset by problems of structural imbalance. Above all, the future of EA-II critically depends on the continuing economic rise of China, i.e. the ability of China's economy to sustain its dynamic economic growth without falling into the 'middle-income trap'. EA economic growth has been taking place in the kind of regional order that is, from time to time, undermined by bilateral discord and regional conflict. China as the region's largest economy will no doubt continue to lead the region's economic growth and shape the pattern of economic relations among the EA economies. Increasingly trade and investment in the region are gravitating towards China. However, for a long time, China will not be able to shape the region's geo-political landscape. China's message of 'peaceful rise' has not been unequivocally accepted in the region. China's overall relations with other EA economies will continue to be 'hot in economics and cold in politics'. The growing political and strategic role of the USA has further complicated China's relations with other EA economies in the region. For years to come, China's geo-political leverage in the region will remain limited as opposed to its expanding geo-economic influence. The existing regional order in EA will, therefore, continue to be marred by uncertainty and instability. It is still a long way from the East Asian Community, which is to be based on not just sustainable economic growth and increasing integration, but also harmonious political and security relations.
This paper aims to test if traditional literature on both internal residential mobility and international migration hold up in explaining the driving forces behind the home-moving behaviours of Hong ...Kong residents to the Chinese Mainland, under a mixture of economic integrations, past connections along with present structural and identity differences. The multi-dimensionality of this behaviour, in comparison to other forms of residential movements in the literature, is shown as there is no single attribute, albeit all necessary conditions, sufficient enough to encourage such movement on its own. Instead, the cross-border residence is primarily a middle-class, middle-aged phenomenon, due to one’s past connections with Mainland China throughout his/her life course and the possession of financial resources insufficient to afford larger living space in Hong Kong yet enough to benefit from the remarkable living cost advantages on the other side of the border. It provides some directions for studying similar forms of residential mobility in the era of globalization when the functions of national borders have become more obscure than before. Implications from this residential behaviour are then discussed.
Resident satisfaction is contingent not only on housing design and construction, but also on neighbourhood quality. However, many neighbourhoods around the world are distressed by neighbourhood ...nuisances or unacceptable behaviour of the residents. While interventionist approaches and incentives have been adopted in many countries to curb these problems, a punitive measure is used in Hong Kong instead. The Housing Department launched the Marking Scheme for Tenancy Enforcement in Public Housing Estates immediately after the SARS epidemic. The scheme operates as a penalty-point system where sitting tenants will be expelled from public housing if they receive sixteen points for the misdeeds they have committed. Yet, the marking scheme itself was put onto the stage without any prior public consultation. Besides, it has been criticised for its unfair and tenure-biased enforcement. Also, whether the scheme is widely accepted is highly doubtful. Against this background, this study aims to explore the tenants’ views regarding residents’ unacceptable behaviour and the marking scheme in Hong Kong’s public housing. The findings of this research offer valuable insights into the perceived extent and causes of the neighbourhood problems. Moreover, this research lets the public administrators know the acceptability of the marking scheme among public housing tenants.
► I examine tenants’ views to unacceptable behaviour and its control in Hong Kong’s public housing. ► Littering is perceived the most serious problem in public housing. ► Poor parenting is found the main cause of the neighbourhood problems in public housing. ► The marking scheme is not well-received and supported by the tenants. ► The marking scheme creates unfairness and undermines social cohesion in public housing estates.
Albert Cheng (鄭經翰), Wong Yuk-man (黃毓民), Allen Lee (李鵬飛), Ng Chi-sum (吳志森) and Lee Wai-ling (李慧玲), etc. are names of ex-radio talk show hosts well known among Hong Kong people. They became influential ...by their sharp and daring criticisms toward the government. Phone-in programmes on public and commercial radio channels have been a staple of popular Hong Kong politics since the 1990s. In the absence of a fully democratic system, they have played an important role in channeling and mediating public opinion. Drawing on interviews with radio personnel, analysis of radio and newspaper content, and audience surveys, this book explores the vital world of such programmes.
Scholars have increasingly sought to understand how the process of school improvement differs among schools operating in different school levels, conditions, and contexts. Using Rosenholtz's (
1985
) ...conception of "moving" and "stuck" schools as a framework for thinking about school improvement, this study examines the learning outcomes of 39 Hong Kong secondary schools over a 3-year period. We examine whether features of leadership and school capacity differed with respect to these learning outcomes within the sample of moving and stuck schools. This research in Hong Kong has identified several factors that appear to synergistically contribute to differences in patterns of improvement in learning across different subjects in both moving and stuck schools. These factors include resource management of principals and school capacity in terms of professional learning community; workload of teachers; alignment, coherence, and structure; and resource capacity. This study extends the research on leadership and capacity building as a means of school improvement, in the process elaborating on their impact within a non-Western society.
Following the return of Hong Kong to Chinese jurisdiction in 1997, there has been concern about the potential marginalization of Hong Kong within China's development. We argue that far from being ...marginalized, Hong Kong together with the Pearl River Delta is becoming the most dynamic region within China.
Hong Kong is well-known as a high population density city. Residential buildings are often located near busy roads. Residential units with good environmental quality are becoming scarce. Homebuyers ...are willing to pay a premium for a better environmental quality of which indoor air quality and indoor noise level are the two most important attributes. Traffic is a shared source for noise and air pollution. The influence of distance from road on the decay of traffic-induced noise and air pollutions are of interest to homebuyers and residents. However, recent studies on the combined impact of traffic-induced noise and air are focused on the pedestrian exposures. In this study, a series of noise level and PM
10 concentration measurements were conducted at roadsides of two busy roads in Hong Kong and at ten case study residential units located nearby. The noise level measurements aim at establishing a measurement protocol to identify case study units that are directly exposed to road traffic and the air passage is free from external screening for the subsequent traffic-induced PM
10 concentrations evaluation. Regression analysis on the measurement results indicates that both the traffic-induced noise and the PM
10 concentrations at the case study units exhibit a linear correlation with the logarithm of their corresponding distance from road (log
R). The result confirms that “log
R” can be adopted as a common parameter for evaluating the combined impact of road traffic on the noise and air pollutions of a residential unit.
The greater dominance of finance in the global economic system is widely considered to have increased instability and created difficulties in constructing modes of regulation that could stabilize ...post-Fordist regimes of accumulation. Heightened competition and the discipline of global finance restrict the use of Fordist strategies that expand social wages to balance production and consumption. Robert Boyer suggested a model for a possible stable finance-led growth regime. His hypothesis is that once there are sufficient stocks of property in a nation, expenditures that are based on capital gains, dividends, interest, and pensions can compensate for diminished wage-based demand. We contend that the neglect of real estate is a serious limitation, since housing wealth is more significant than other forms of equity for most citizens, and thus that it fails to capture the impact of the perceptions and choices of ordinary citizens. We then argue that features of a finance-led regime of accumulation and a property-based mode of regulation appeared in Hong Kong relatively early. A case study of Hong Kong is used to extend Boyer's discussion, as well as to diagnose Hong Kong's experience for its lessons on the impact of such developments.
This article examines female property rights in a Chinese lineage village in rural Hong Kong in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. It demonstrates the conditions under which female villagers ...have been entitled to family property and/or cash dividends of an ancestral estate, even though the male-only inheritance rule is a deeply rooted lineage custom. Notably, female inheritance, while allowed, has applied only to land and cash, not to village houses themselves because those are still essential for the maintenance of a lineage community and its associated sense of identity. As for cash and land, particularly after the 1970s, they are not bound up with that social or symbolic meaning, and thus are considered transferable to female villagers. This article shows that in a lineage system women's property rights are permitted, but this is neither absolute nor based on the principles of gender equality, meaning that women's rights are situational and subject to negotiation.
Hong Kong not only has one of the most institutionally-involved housing markets, but also one of the most developed stock markets in the world. In the meantime, the function of real estate has become ...increasingly important, yet increasingly vague at the same time. This paper attempts to explore the significant factors in the price adjustments of residential properties. It is found that while most market fundamentals are not significant in explaining property price movements, the roles of investment concerns and of government policy changes in assisted homeownership (HOS) are much more critical in this regard. On the one hand, real estate prices are driven more by investor demand, rather than by user demand; and residential properties are used to hedge against price risks in the stock market, instead of against inflation. On the other hand, while the upgrading hypothesis is confirmed in this study, the situation of Hong Kong turns out to be a bit different from the Singapore experience. As the production of HOS flats is suspended until further notice, the resale HOS market has managed to pull a fraction of homebuyers from the private sector. This particular finding shows that the government’s decision to suspend HOS flat production and sale in Fall 2002 has not accomplished what was intended to achieve. Instead, this leads to several implications, which are then discussed.
► We explore the crucial factors in the price adjustments of residential properties. ► Most market fundamentals are not significant in explaining property price movements. ► Yet, investment concerns and policy changes in HOS much more critical in that regard. ► Real estate prices are driven more by investor demand, rather than by user demand. ► Real estate is used to hedge against stock market risk, but not against inflation.
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