A Further Study of Grasping

The aim of the present study is to examine prospectively the quality of social networks of Hong Kong Chinese adults. A randomized household survey was employed. A total of 1170 Hong Kong Chinese respondents were recruited to the study. Participants ranged in age from 18 to 79 years, 43% of respondents were male. Findings revealed a negative association between familial trust and social network size. Network trust, social identification, and structural networks were all found to be positively associated with social network size and perceived respect from social network. The importance of family and the prioritization of the needs of the family over individual needs has implications on social network size and formation for Hong Kong Chinese individuals. More research is needed to further examine the importance of familial relationships and the prioritization of family and the impact this has on social network development and maintenance among Hong Kong Chinese.     

Examining the role of moral foundations in promoting intergroup contact willingness

Improving people's motivation to seek meaningful intergroup contact is considered key to facilitating intergroup harmony. Based on moral foundations theory, this study examines how moral foundations as individual traits predict contact willingness with three minority groups (foreign domestic helpers, LGBT, and Chinese expats) and how moral emotions mediate such associations. We tested our hypotheses based on survey data across Hong Kong and Singapore. We found that care/harm foundation positively predicted contact willingness with foreign domestic helpers and LGBT people, mediated by compassion. Sanctity/degradation foundation negatively predicted contact willingness with LGBT people only in Singapore. Loyalty/betrayal foundation served as a positive predictor of willingness to contact Chinese expats. We also found care/harm foundation to be exclusively associated with compassion and promoted willingness to contact with helpers and LGBT people. Our findings highlight the influence of moral foundations, and possibly norms and intergroup dynamics at the societal level in predicting willingness to contact outgroups.     

Male/Male Sex in Hong Kong: Privacy,Please?

In August 2005, the age of consent for male/male sexual activity in Hong Kong was held to be arbitrarily and discriminatorily targeting gay men and thus in violation of an individual’s right to privacy and his right of equality on the basis of sexual orientation. While the decision has since been affirmed on appeal, it has been argued that judicial recourse to equality rights where privacy rights would have sufficed for the provisions to be struck down was a misguided, if not mistaken, effort that merely reinforced the stereotype that gay men are “hypersexualized” and was a setback for the gay rights movement in Hong Kong. This article examines whether the argument is a well-founded one and discusses the implications of confining a man’s right to have consensual sex with another man to his privacy rights alone.

Ideological Orientation and Political Transition in Hong Kong: Confidence in the Future

In the two-component model of ideological orientation, a person's ideological position is jointly influenced by attitudinal and affective components. The present study adopted this conceptual model to predict confidence in the future of Hong Kong. Questionnaire responses were collected from 395 adults (56.8% men and 43.2% women) in Hong Kong in April 1995, some 2 years before its transfer from British to Chinese control. The results show that the level of confidence in Hong Kong was related to both attitudinal and affective identification with Hong Kong and China. These findings suggest that the transfer of government may have brought to the surface a collision of the divergent political cultures of Hong Kong and mainland China, resulting in two antagonistic political orientations that predicted confidence in the future of Hong Kong.     

Current teaching practice for religious education in Hong Kong: implications for ‘learning from religion’

The human development (HD) model for religious education (RE) emphasises how students benefit from studying religion. However, detailed teaching practices for ‘learning from religion’ are not fully understood. In this article, lesson observations, school documents and interview data were collected from two Christian primary schools in Hong Kong (HK) . Two lessons were analysed as paradigmatic examples of the teaching for student development in RE lessons. This study found that the teachers helped their students engage in religion by giving them opportunities to associate religion with their lives through religious and moral-related contents. The use of daily life and religious experiences with discussions was the pedagogical approach for moving RE from just ‘the teaching of religion’. Moreover, various opportunities for student reflections to enhance personal and moral development were observed. Future studies should consider examining the theory of the adopted model and its classroom practice, which can aid understanding regarding the role of RE for student development and its global identity.     

The Satir Model and Cultural Sensitivity: A Hong Kong Reflection

This paper addresses cultural sensitivity in applying the Satir model in the Hong Kong Chinese cultural setting, focusing on congruent communication. The authors contend that Satir was sensitive to the demands of culture. Her focus on individuality, equality, and freedom responds aptly to the egalitarian individualist ethos of the United States. In Hong Kong the family is generally dominated by hierarchical collectivist values. Applying the Satir model as it is being practiced in the United States totally ignores prevailing cultural conditions. Following the spirit of Satir, the authors propose the adoption of an emic approach, drawing inspiration and resource from traditional Chinese culture and maintaining continuity with hierarchical collectivism while protecting individual quests for equality, freedom, and independence.     

Help-seeking behaviour and attitudes towards counselling: a qualitative study among Hong Kong Chinese university students

This study examined Hong Kong university students’ perception of general help-seeking and seeking of professional help. Thirty-two students, aged from 25 to 46 years were interviewed. A grounded theory approach was adopted. The results indicated four domains to categorise culture-influenced factors: attitudes towards speaking, relational concern, nature of the problem and assumptions about counselling. Hong Kong students are not reluctant to receive help but are reluctant to seek help from outsiders. Help is expected to be received from those within their social network. Passive coping strategies are normally adopted for finding relief and solving problems. These issues may greatly hinder people from consulting professional counsellors, or may limit the counselling process to something superficial and short term. The implications for counsellors are discussed.     

Religious belief and its association with life satisfaction of adolescents in Hong Kong

The present study seeks to understand the association of adolescents’ religious belief with life satisfaction in Hong Kong. Data of 5,812 adolescents’ key demographic information and life satisfaction were gathered through stratified sampling in order to reflect four distinctive adolescent groups in Hong Kong: Hong Kong Mainstream Chinese Students (HKMCS), Non-Chinese Speaking South and south-east Asian Students (NCS), Chinese Immigrant Students (CIS) and Cross-Boundary Students (CBS) from Mainland China. The Multidimensional Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale (MSLSS) was used to explore life satisfaction of the four student groups. Results indicate that there were significantly different levels of life satisfaction across the four groups. Key demographic variables were significantly but dissimilarly associated with different groups of students’ life satisfaction. Religious belief was substantially important for the life satisfaction of NCS in particular. Implications for research, policy and practice are discussed.     

宋代学人对两宋非孟思潮的理论回击

在宋代声势浩大的孟子升格运动中,出现了一些非孟者,他们对孟子的批评成为孟子升格运动中的不和谐音。以胡宏、张九成、余允文为代表的宋代学者对非孟者进行了直接的回击。他们的回击不仅对于消除人们对孟子的疑虑和巩固孟子的历史地位有积极作用,而且也维护了正在兴起和发展的理学的地位,可以从中把握到各自思想的脉膊及宋代学术发展的多种路径。     

The role of social axioms in predicting life satisfaction: a longitudinal study in Hong Kong

Data from a 1-year, longitudinal study were utilized to explore the role of five pan-cultural beliefs about the world (social axioms) in predicting life satisfaction. It was hypothesized that higher levels of social cynicism would predict lower satisfaction with life because cynical persons set in motion a self-fulfilling prophecy of unrewarding social outcomes. The negative social feedback thus engendered results in lower levels of self-esteem, which mediates the effect of socially cynical beliefs on life satisfaction. These findings were confirmed in a longitudinal study of Chinese undergraduates in Hong Kong. Their implications were explored by considering the role of beliefs about␣the world upon additional mediators of life satisfaction in different cultural settings and for engaging in therapeutic interventions with distressed clients.