This century will be special for China and we are marking it with a series of events focusing on young Chinese leaders from around the world. Dragons in China – the First World Chinese Youth Forum will take place this month in Beijing, bringing together 2000 young delegates. They will discuss the theme New Opportunities in a Global Economy, led by renowned guest speakers. The forum will nurture leadership potential and encourage the growth of networks among young Chinese that can encompass the globe, enabling mutual exchange and the sharing of a common

vision. These events embrace Hong Kong youth leaders and their Chinese counterparts everywhere. The series began with Dragon at the Great Wall. Thousands of young people from overseas, the Mainland, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau took part in a spectacular dragon dance. Next came The Music of the Dragons – a youth concert which brought together ten thousand young Chinese percussionists. And now the long-awaited First World Chinese Youth Forum. This meeting will generate synergy and emphasize Chinese commitment to global development. Want to know more? Visit www.hkfyg.org.hk/dragons in china/

Belle and Chun-kong on China

Exchange trips to China have taken place for decades but since ’97 they have grown in number and significance. Belle and Chun-kong went on an early Federation study tour to earthquake-devastated Tangshan. Like many other young Chinese people who have come to know China through exchange trips, they were surprised how much at home they felt. Belle went again in 2000 to take part in the Dragon Dance at the Great Wall – the first event held to celebrate the Century of the Dragon. Belle and her cohort talked about their experience of study tours to China and agree how forcibly they can bring out the Chinese sense of identity while also bringing home the idea that despite cultural and linguistic differences we all have a great deal in common.

Belle: Do you remember Tangshan? An earthquake hit the city in 1976 and nearly a quarter of a million people died. Half as many again were injured when 93% of all the homes in the region were reduced to rubble. Fortunately 80% of those buried survived but the memories linger. That’s where we went on the study tour.

HKFYG: Did you meet many local people?

Belle: Yes, we did community service at a primary school and a home for the elderly. One day we visited Jin, a Tangshan student, and talked to his mother who remembered the earthquake well. We also visited the hospital and the memorial to the dead which carried an engraved plaque with hundreds of names. The impact of the disaster was still so palpable, it was impossible not to imagine the crying faces amid the rubble.

HKFYG: What are your lasting impressions of that first trip?

Chun-kong: The most impressive fact was the ability of the people to turn this terrible experience into a driving force. With their combined effort Tangshan has been rebuilt as a prosperous city.

HKFYG: Then you went again in 2000 didn’t you Belle?

Belle: Yes I was one of the Hong Kong delegates on the Beijing Youth Conference.

HKFYG: How did it go?

Belle: First we did the Dragon Dance. It was fantastic, so cold but there was blue sky and brilliant sunshine. It was my first time there and we were all dressed in warm yellow jackets and red shoes. Imagine, over three thousand of us doing a dragon dance on the Great Wall. The dragon was ten thousand feet long and we even had Jackie Chan with us, at the dragon’s head. I’ll never forget the sense of co-operation and teamwork, together with young Chinese people from all over the world, all dancing together.

HKFYG: What do you think is the best thing about exchange trips Chun-kong?

Chun-kong: In the past I had misunderstandings about people from the Mainland. I thought they were very backward. This tour made me see how biased I had been. The people of Tangshan were not only friendly but skilful – they were equipping themselves for the future of their country. In fact I think they have a much more positive attitude towards life than the people of Hong Kong.

Postscript: Delegates who have participated in other HKFYG Dragon exchange programmes since 2000 agree with Belle and Chun-kong:

Sometimes I suffer from identity crises but during this period, by sharing these thoughts with others…I have become more confident to be a descendent of the Dragon.
Zhu Ting, UK
We saw such disparity of living standards between the coastal and rural areas of China. One of the delegates could not help but cry to express her deepest sympathy about the situation, despite the fact that she is from the US – the bonds of brotherly blood are so thick. Antony Yiu Tsz-chung, USA

Term time problems

The months at the beginning of the 2003-04 school year brought the Federation’s Youthline 2777-8899 seven times more calls from students than they received at any other time of year. Naturally, the callers wanted to talk about the problem of adapting to life back at school after the summer holidays. During the year as a whole the Federation handled a total of 52,625 calls seeking help. Among the calls, 18% overall (9,485) related to problems faced at school, 9% (4,737) to emotional problems and 6.6% (3,447) to family problems. Youthline received most of its calls, a total of 20,263 (38.5%), from youngsters aged between 6 and 17, the majority (38.1%) of whom were concerned about inter-personal relations and academic pressure (21.8%). To ease their worries, Federation counselors encourage youngsters to develop a caring attitude, use effective time management strategies, face their studies with optimism and learn from failure.

Training programmes welcome

The Youth Pre-employment Training Programme (YPTP) and the Youth Work Experience and Training Scheme (YWETS) received encouraging feedback from the young people who took part this year and comment from the community was also very favourable. More than 21,000 applications for YPTP and YWETS were received by the Labour Department, providing F.5 school leavers with useful vocational training which will certainly improve their employability. Such a positive response shows the community’s concern for the problem but also their recognition of the good such programmes do.