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The purpose of this paper is to critically examine the youth narratives of Mr Leung Chun-ying, the Chief Executive (CE) of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government between 2012 and 2017, which steered the directions of youth policies in Hong Kong.

Informed by the ideational school of institutionalism, a qualitative documentary study was conducted to analyse the policy addresses, speeches, and blog posts delivered by the then CE, which were all available on the website of the HKSAR Government. It was through a thematic analysis of the database that themes and sub-themes were generated for the discussion. Representative verbatim quotes are used for illustrating some of the youth policy ideas and discourses promoted under the Leung’s regime.

The findings suggest that the governing youth narratives could be categorised into two interrelated themes: behavioural patriotism and economic opportunism. The notions of youth development constructed in the narratives of Leung shape the definition of youth-related problems and solutions in relation to national identity and global competition.

This study focusses on the previous term of HKSAR Government that cannot fully reveal the extent of policy continuities and changes. Yet, it could outline the overall picture and address the shortcomings of Hong Kong’s current youth policies viewed from both normative and cognitive perspectives. Methodological and analytical implications can be drawn for further studies on policy ideas and discourses.

The paper has two major contributions; the first of which is the illustration of an analytical framework connecting contents, tools, and justification of policies for capturing the dynamics and complexities of youth policies. Second, the findings of this study develop a critical understanding of neoliberal youth policies in both economic and moral senses that pose new challenges to young people and policy makers.

The purpose of this paper is to gain insight into the generalized self-efficacy (GSE) of youth in the New Territories of Hong Kong. Youth issues have been at the forefront of political discourse in the region and often youth are presented in the media as having fundamental deficits, which are tied to growing inequality and lack of social mobility. This study offers more perspective of the characteristics of Hong Kong youth to contribute to the literature as well as influence the discourse on youth and youth issues.

The study is based on a community survey of youth in the New Territories of Hong Kong with over 2000 respondents. The survey was based on a valid and reliable instrument on GSE to measure the GSE of youth in the region. GSE characteristics are analyzed using descriptive statistics, Cronbach’s α for internal consistency, factor analysis to verify the dimensional nature of the scale. The relationships between GSE and age and gender were analyzed using multiple linear regression model.

Findings indicated that despite a slightly higher, yet statistically significant GSE scores for females, and little impact of age on GSE, Hong Kong youth have normal levels of GSE. This finding offers a counter to the pathologizing of youth’s individual characteristics, and implies the need for a shift in discourse toward more targeted examination of the structural issues that act as barriers to social mobility of today’s young people in Hong Kong.

The study focused on GSE, which is correlated with other constructs such as confidence, but not established in causal relationships with other variables. More research is needed to link GSE and confidence in these groups, as well as links to structural issues that may impact various youth characteristics.

The study offers insight, which could be used to inform Non-Governmental Organizations and educational programs targeting disadvantaged youth. Programs that pathologize youth characteristics may be able to employ the findings to shift approaches toward more targeted skills-building as well as programming addressing structural barriers.

The study offers a counter-narrative to the contemporary deficit view of today’s youth in Hong Kong. This study provides basis for shifting the discourse away from situating social issues in Hong Kong at the individual level with youth, and toward structural, societal level influences on inequality and social mobility of younger generations.

Although GSE has been measured across the globe, this study sought to target the GSE of a group that has been framed in the media and political discourse as lacking in a variety of important characteristics. This study’s findings offer a counter-narrative to the generally negative attitudes toward youth as shy, lacking in confidence, antisocial and without a strong work ethic.

Positive youth development (PYD) among ethnic minorities is important to building a socially inclusive and rapidly aging Hong Kong. There are very limited empirically driven with evaluation among ethnic minorities in Hong Kong and in the region. This study aims to fill the research-to-practice gap by examining the implementation process and impacts of a school-based PYD school program for ethnic minorities in Hong Kong developed empirically based on the data of the larger sequential mixed-methods research project.

Along with a non-governmental organization the authors co-developed, implemented and evaluated an eight-week pilot PYD program for youth from South Asia and newly arrival mainland Chinese backgrounds. Although a quasi-experimental mixed-methods research design was adopted and included 18 young people in the intervention group and 12 young people in the control group, this paper reported the qualitative interviews of three students, two of their teachers and two PYD interventionalists who commented about the content and process to further improve future PYD programs for ethnic minorities young people in Hong Kong.

Students stated their positive experience about the program while other participants (interventionalists and teachers) provided insights for further program effectiveness enhancement. This includes organizing social activities in the program, such as basketball or football matches would enhance the level of engagement of the participants. Teachers and interventionists suggested to develop age-appropriate programs as younger groups may have different needs or interests compared to their older counterparts.

This study provides insight into how to improve the implementation process, effectiveness and quality of evidence based PYD education research and practices from a culturally appropriate perspective, particularly for South Asian youth residing in Hong Kong and beyond.

This article discusses the reasons and discourses adopted by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government (Hong Kong SAR Government), with Mr Tung Chee Hwa as the Chief Executive, in preparing young people to become more mature and responsible. In the Hong Kong context this means they should be willing to fulfil community obligations and opt for consultation rather than confrontation should individual or community rights be sought. Confucianism, named after Confucius (551‐479 BCE), has been and still is a vast and complicated system of philosophies, morals, rituals, and ideas, which for well over 2,000 years has informed and inspired the thinking and practice of countless people in Chinese societies and Asian countries in all important areas, including the economy and the polity (Tu, 1998a; Berthrong & Berthrong, 2000; Yao, 2002). Put simply, the goal of Confucian life is to create a peaceful world, with its ethical emphasis placed on the cultivation of the self and the promotion of harmonious and respectful relations with other people in different spheres of human activities.

The purpose of this paper is to compare and analyse the role and implementation of nationalistic education in Hong Kong and Macau special administrative regions (SARs) since their respective handover of sovereignty to China in the late 1990s. Both SARs face the educational need to cultivate a Chinese national identification among the students after the sovereignty changes. While Macau SAR has enjoyed a relatively smooth implementation of nationalistic education towards which Macau’s schools and students are largely receptive to nationalistic programmes since its handover in 1999, Hong Kong SAR Government’s nationalistic education was met by reservation from some parents, students and civil society’s groups under allegations of “political indoctrination” and “brain-washing”. The Hong Kong civil society’s resistance to National Education culminated in the anti-Moral and National Education protest in Summer 2012 and then Hong Kong schools and society. This paper attempts to provide an overview and analysis on the development of nationalistic education in both Hong Kong and Macao SARs, and to give some possible explanations on the factors that lead to differences of perceiving and responding to the nationalistic education between both places.

After conducting a literature review, this study utilises different sources of data such as curriculum guidelines, previous studies and other scholarly findings in examining the development of civic education and national education policy in both SAR societies, as well as in discussing the possible developments of nationalistic education in both SARs by making references to previous studies of citizenship and nationalistic education.

This study found out that different relationships between the two SAR Governments and their respective civil society, the extent of established socio-political linkages with China, as well as the introduction of a core subject of Liberal Studies in Hong Kong secondary schools, which emphasises on multiple perspectives and critical thinking skills, are some plausible factors that explain different stories and developments of implementing nationalistic education in Hong Kong and Macao SARs.

For giving suggestions for a nationalistic education in both Chinese SARs, first, there should be an exploration of multiple citizenship identities. This will allow people to choose their identities and thus facilitate their belongingness in terms of local, national and global dimensions. In addition, there should be an exploration of a Chinese national identification with different emphases such as knowledge orientation and critical thinking so as to cater for youth values. Promoting the idea of an informed and reasonable-in-thinking patriot could also be a way to ease the concern that building a national identity negates a person’s freedom of thinking.

This paper attempts to compare and analyse the different responses to the same policy of enhancing nationalistic education development in both Hong Kong and Macao SARs of China. Some plausible explanations were given based on political, social and educational factors, as well as youth value oritentations. This paper would be an attempt to show that a top-down single-minded orientated nationalistic education may not work well a society such as Hong Kong, where civil society and youth values are quite different than that can be found in China.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the cause and nature of the 2014 Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong and the role of the youth in the movement.

This paper analyzes the relationship between the serious social and economic problems in Hong Kong, of which the youth often feel the greatest impact, and the demands for a real democratic system made by the Umbrella Movement. It examines the structural roots of the Movement and the role of youths in it.

The Umbrella Movement is not simply a movement of anger and frustration, but also a movement reflecting some of the serious and legitimate concerns of the people of Hong Kong, especially the youth, who have a high and growing sense of local identity and citizenship. The movement links the major policy and social problems of the post-Handover era to its root cause, which is an undemocratic political system combined with crony capitalism. Unfortunately, the approach taken by the government toward the Movement has been to emphasize its illegal nature and to attempt to divide the opposition by adopting “united front” strategies that pay no serious attention to the problems the Movement has raised. Eventually, this approach will only lead to an outcome of “strong government, weak society” where strong government action in opposition to reformers will weaken the cohesion of society and expose the actual weakness of the state that has no popular legitimacy, going on to create more chaos as a result of its weak governance.

This paper will help both scholars and policymakers to understand the structural and root causes of the Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong and explain why Hong Kong is suffering from a serious problem of weak governance.

Developing a sense of belonging among immigrant youth in multicultural contexts has attracted significant attention from scholars during the last few decades. Studies have already underscored how various educational factors hinder or facilitate students’ sense of belonging to the school or the larger society. Although most students in Hong Kong schools are ethnic Chinese, a significant number of non-Chinese children make students diversity an essential aspect of schooling. The study investigated how schools can develop a sense of belonging among ethnic minority youth in Hong Kong.

As the education system in Hong Kong lacks a multicultural education policy, how can schools help develop a sense of belonging to the school and the larger society among young ethnic minority people? To answer this question, this paper consolidates the two sets of data originally gathered for two research projects. The data was collected through semi-structured in-depth interviews with nine secondary school teachers (Chinese and non-Chinese) and 15 students (non-Chinese) and analysed thematically.

The thematic analysis of the qualitative data identified several challenges and opportunities for developing ethnic minority students’ sense of belonging in Hong Kong.

Researchers in comparative education can further explore how multicultural education and inclusive education approach together can help ensure inclusive and equitable quality education for all and cater to students' diverse learning needs across the education systems.

Given that the aims of multicultural education and inclusive education resonate with each other, schools can focus on the Whole School Approach to developing a sense of belonging among ethnic minority youth in Hong Kong. However, policymakers and practitioners may need to adopt a multifaceted perspective on inclusive education that strives to ensure equitable quality education for all.

The study contributes to the existing body of scholarship on multicultural education and inclusive education. The study findings underscore the importance of an interdisciplinary research framework in education and advocate an integrative approach to supporting students with diverse learning needs in multicultural contexts.

Hong Kong youth's general attitudes toward government publicity were studied and their responses to two public service advertisements promoting green lifestyles were measured. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Thirty‐four Chinese youths in Hong Kong aged 17 to 22 were questioned about their understanding of and attitudes toward public service advertising in face‐to‐face interviews. Their opinions of two government television ads promoting “green living” were then solicited.

The interviewees described government publicity in general as credible and practical. Some liked the green living ads for their creativity but others disliked them as boring, unrealistic, irrelevant and uninformative. Recommendations are presented for designing public service campaigns that target youth.

The results were based on a small convenience sample. More than one interviewer participated, so the results were subject to differences in interviewing techniques.

The study developed useful information for those organizing public service ad campaigns, especially campaigns aimed at Chinese youth.

This has been the first study to measure youth's attitudes toward public service ad campaigns in the Hong Kong context.

The recent mobilization of many Hong Kong youth to engage in what are regarded as radical political activities is not a new area of investigation. Much has been discussed about this growing political activism and localism often giving an impression that Hong Kong youth are radical and disengaged from China as a nation. Yet little is known about the possible antecedents of such disengagement. The purpose of this paper is to identify whether there is empirical evidence of growth or decline in civic trust and national attitudes amongst Hong Kong young adolescents over the ten-year period from 1999 to 2009.

In this study latent profile analyses were used to classify cohorts of Hong Kong secondary students according to the levels of their self-reported trust in civic institutions and attitudes toward the nation. The cohorts were separated by a ten-year gap. Comparisons were made across groups and across the ten-year time span, in order to trace changes in civic attitudes of young adolescents following the return of Hong Kong to China in 1997.

Three distinct groups were identified in both cohorts – Activists, who had negative attitudes to trust and toward the nation, Nationalists who had positive attitudes toward trust and the nation and Moderates who endorsed average responses to the, two variables. The gaps between the groups tended to be greater in the 2009 group compared to the 1999 groups suggesting greater polarization amongst adolescents on these measures.

Young adolescents cannot be assumed to be politically neutral or lacking social values. Citizenship education needs to take this into account so that values can be clarified and major issues can be discussed in a safe and supportive environment.

This paper aims to unravel how the formation of Hong Kong citizenship intertwines with controversies over global citizenship, national identities and local identity in post-handover Hong Kong. It aims to engage the case study of Hong Kong to the academic dialogue surrounding global citizenship, especially its contested compatibility with national identities and various political communities.

The data of this paper came from the territory-wide survey data conducted by the Public Opinion Programme of the University of Hong Kong (HKUPOP). The study cleans the survey data from 2008 to 2018, performs various regression models and concludes the findings based on longitudinal analyses of the dataset.

Drawing upon the survey data from 2008 to 2018, this study shows that the identities of Hong Kong people, Chinese in general, ethnic Chinese and citizen of Chinese regime demonstrate varying compatibility to the identity of Global citizen. Such discrepancies are more pronounced when the data are broken down into the youth (aged 18-29) and the adults, and a temporal comparison was exercised before and after the Umbrella Movement in 2014. The identity of Global citizen is compatible to the local identity of Hong Kong people when comparing with its congruence with national identities. On the contrary, the statist national identity (citizen of People’s Republic of China) indicates the least level of compatibility with the notion of Global citizen in Hong Kong.

This paper unravels that the identity of global citizen could be more compatible with local identities at sub-national level than the national identities in Hong Kong. While scholarly deliberation of global citizenship contemplates on the moral and political responsibility beyond national interest, the case study of Hong Kong illustrates the multi-facets of national identities, and the local identity at sub-national level could have different compatibilities with the identity of global citizen. The findings could bring research implication to the studies of global citizenship.