The Young Reporter Vol. 53 Issue 2

Volume 53

HE YOUNG REPORTER Issue 02 - New Normal

Cover Story Concerns emerge amid plant-based meat fad

Editor’s Letter December has come and we can finally say goodbye to this desperate year. This year, we saw a lot of changes due to the volatile pandemic.

With the recent resurgence of COVID-19 cases in Hong Kong, we’re again seeing tight epidemic precautions, closed shops, and zoom meetings, but we will pull through with experience and courage. I believe next year we will be strong enough to face all the coming challenges and eventually overcome the pandemic.

Let me introduce our last issue for the year featuring some of the lasting impacts COVID-19 has brought to our lives — the new normal that we’ve learned to live with.

The Young Reporter Vol. 53 No. 2

And coming to the end of the year, we wish you a merry Christmas, but please do pay attention to protecting yourself and others from the virus. See you next year.

Printer Department of Journalism School of Communication Hong Kong Baptist University

Sincerely, Eurus Yiu Editor-in-chief

Editor-in-Chief Eurus Yiu

Janice Lo Jasmine Tse Justy Lai Kitty Wang Icy Chen Samuel Li Sara Cheng Shameel Ibrahim Simran Vaswani Stacy Shi Summer Li Sumnima Lama Tobey Chan Vikki Cai Yuri Kwok Yvonne Chung Yvonne Tung

Deputy Editors Mereen Santirad Carol Yuan Jay Ganglani Moon Lam Mark Chen Art Designers Carine Chow Clara Ip Liony Xue Moon Lam Sunny Sun Reporters Bell Chan Bowie Tse Cara Li Cora Zhu Emily Poon Esten Amalvy Eunice Lam

Editors Alec Lastimosa Bella Huang Cassie Zhang Carine Chow Cherry Lee Clara Ip

Cynthia Lin Han Xu Hong Wong Jay Ganglani Kawai Wong Liony Xue Mereen Santirad Moon Lam Nicole Ko Olivia Tam Ronald Fan Samuel Mo Suey So Sunny Sun Yanni Chow Yetta Lam Advisers Jenny Lam Robin Ewing

In This Issue

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Concerns emerge amid plant-based meat fad

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WeChat e-commerce community marketing is becoming the main market of Social Commerce under COVID-19

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PE lessons and inter-school competitions under COVID-19

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Islamic content in textbooks spurs discussion on religious education

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Hong Kong legislation fails to curb animal cruelty

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Adding insult to injury: pandemic leads the HK film industry into a cold winter

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14

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Foreign domestic helpers were treated as “modern slaves� during pandemic

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Beyond Meat products are available at the local vegetarian store Green Common. Hong Kong and Singapore are the first places outside the US to have plant-based meat in retail stores.

Local vegetarian cafe Green Common provides plant-based fries. At least 700 local restaurants are providing alternative meat menus now.

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Concerns emerge amid plant-based meat fad Reported by Cora Zhu Edited by Mark Chen

Plant-based meat, a vegan alternative marketed as tasting like real meat, has been building its reputation in Asia during the pandemic, as demand for plant-based products soars.

“Nowadays, more and more people have changed their eating habits for health reasons,” said Tiffany Cheung Tak-yi, a nutritionist and assistant program manager of Green Monday, which owns the Hong Kong-based pork substitute producer OmniFoods.

As coronavirus puts personal health in the spotlight, people are re-evaluating their dietary choices to improve their immune system, said Ms Cheung. Plant-based meat, she said, is one of the options people are turning to.

Before the pandemic, the alternative meat market in Asia-Pacific region grew to US$15.3 billion (HK$118.6 billion) in 2019, according to the UK-based market researcher Euromonitor International. They expect the market to reach US$17.1 billion (HK$132.6 billion) in 2020.

“It contains no cholesterol, and some products also have no saturated fat,” said Ong Chiu Yen, a 38-year-old Malaysian nutritionist. She added, unlike some meat, plant-based products have no hormones or antibiotics.

Earlier coronavirus outbreaks in seafood and food markets in Wuhan and Beijing have raised concerns over the safety of raw meat and encouraged consumers to seek alternative protein

sources, the South China Morning Post said.

Likewise, a drop in pork on the mainland due to African swine fever and the following rise in pork price means artificial meat is cheaper, said Ms Cheung.

“The microwaveable alternative meat products sold really well,” she said.

OmniFoods retail sale surged by 120% during the peak of the pandemic in April compared to January, according to Nikkei Asia, a regional news outlet.

With restaurants closed and people less willing to go out, many are cooking more. Ms Cheung said this partly contributed to the surging demands in meat substitute products.

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A customer looks at products from Green Monday, which raised US$70 million (HK$542.7 million) in September, according to the company’s website.

Hong Jinxia, 24, who worked at vegetarian restaurant Zhong Shan Su Shi in Guangdong province, said she has cut down on meat consumption and adopted a more vegetarian diet.

“I’ve followed the development of plant-based meat for a long time...And I’m really satisfied with its taste,” she said.

Major players such as Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods have been backed by Bill Gates, Leonardo DiCaprio and Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing. Both the US-based alternative meat producers are expanding their businesses in mainland China.

Because of the Buddhist culture, Asian countries, such as China, already have a long history of vegetarian foods, including plant-based meat.

In Hong Kong, 70% of people wanted to have vegan meals at least once a week, said a survey conducted by the pro-plantbased diet company Green Monday in 2019.

“The nowadays’ plant-based meat fad also drives people to try this new food technology, just like people checking in trendy restaurants. You can’t say you haven’t tried that,” Malaysian nutritionist Ms Ong said.

Lora Wong, the 25-yearold analyst who once ate plant-based pork dishes in a restaurant, said she will try new products out of curiosity, but will probably not become a regular customer.

Shedding light on the potential downsides of plant-based meat, however, Ms Ong said both the latest meat substitutes and traditional vegan barbecue pork are highly processed food.

“While there are some fatty parts of beef, beef is beef. It’s natural real meat,” she said.

Meat substitute producers try to make their products as similar to real meat as possible,

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from the same cooking ways to the same flavours. “So the ingredient list is really long here,” said Ms Ong. “To make it taste like a real meat burger, the producers may further add extra ingredients, whether natural or not, depending on producers’ choices. It should be noticeable on the long ingredient list,” she said.

Jiang Yiming, a 27-year-old vegan, said she won’t have too much plant-based meat because it has additives and may affect her health.

She also pointed out that some plant-based meat menus in restaurants in Hong Kong offer nothing but high-calorie and high-fat unhealthy food such as burgers.

McDonald’s and McCafes in Hong Kong started to offer six plant-based meat dishes to more than 400 outlets from Oct. 13. The alternative luncheon meat is made by Hong Kong-based food tech company OmniFoods.

Some nutrients that are found in real meat don’t exist in the alternative plant protein sources. “How to add those vitamins into plant-based meat? …To put it simply, it’s like grinding the pill into powder and then put it into the product,” said Ms Ong. Customers, especially in Hong Kong where life pace is fast, often will just grab the products they perceive as healthy, most of which is marketing hype, he said.

Green Monday plans to expand to more than 20 markets globally, doubling the retail partners to 40,000 in the next six months, the company said to South China Morning Post.

“People will feel healthy when they hear ‘plant.’ Besides, if that product also tastes like real meat, then you’ll think it’s incredibly great,” Ms Ong said. “But I’m still not entirely convinced of it.”

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WeChat e-commerce community marketing is becoming the main market of Social Commerce under COVID-19 Reported by Kitty Wang Edited by Cassie Zhang

It is 12pm and Sun Yue, 41, starts her workday. She really wants to sell some Australian cotton napkins, 30 yuan a pair.

She opens WeChat and quickly starts promoting the napkins to the 235 people in her private group. Sold. In just a minute the napkins are gone and Ms Sun starts looking for the next product to promote. She finds a special on lily perfume oil.

She knows her customers will like that. She writes a quick promotional text, posts it and waits.

As the COVID-19 pandemic stops people from going out, WeChat e-commerce community marketing, a brand-new way in purchasing products, is now all the rage in China. More and more people start to use their free time to be

“WeChat group organizers,” and some purchase agents even find it a more effective way to earn money.

Every registered group organiser has to get the goods’ link from an e-commerce platform called Ming Yi Chu Ping, a light luxury community group buying platform using commercial mode of “limited time purchase.” The platform records the trace of each organiser and their group members. Each day, the group organisers will receive the sale links provided by the platform from 12am and 9pm, and they will forward the message to their own groups which are full of customers.

Ms Sun tells The Young Reporter that she often needs

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to compete with time while sharing the link to the group — as the supplies of products available are limited. Once a consumer in a group orders a product, the group organiser can gain corresponding profits. Profits on selling hot commodities and newlydeveloped products will even be higher.

Clicking the goods’ links in the group, completing simple registration on the purchase page, then clicking the “buying” button and sharing your purchase experience in the group with acquaintances.

That is the purchase procedure of a consumer in Sun Yue’s WeChat Purchase group.

Customer Ms Li receives her goods purchased from Ming Yi Chu Pin.

At 12:10 am, just 10 minutes after the “12 am Purchase alarm,” the “Real Madrid tailored seamless vest” was sold out. At 12:15, 15 minutes have passed, with the grey “Sold out” page appearing on “Decompression lumbar pad pneumatic version” and “Moissanite key sweater chain.”

“The product’s amounts are limited and the purchase time is limited,” said Ms Sun. So the group acts as a reminder for the purchase time, helping the customers to get what they want in the everyday’s shopping spree.

Provided with a various range of goods, customers can get foods, cosmetics, clothes and small electronics in this group.

With big data technologies, the goods in the WeChat group are selected from the hottest product in the market by the Ming Yi Chu Pin platform.

WeChat, the ‘‘super app’’ benefits Ming Yi Chu Ping due to its commercial functions.

Many people become group organisers to sell the products in their “acquaintances group,” utilizing WeChat friends as a network and cooperating with e-commerce platforms.

Currently, according to Ms Sun, there are about eleven

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group organisers for Ming Yi Chu Pin platform in Hong Kong, reaching around 2,000 customers. In the mainland, from May to July 2019, the members in the platform have reached over 1 million, with daily revenue exceeding seven digits according to Ming Yi Chu Pin Platform.

Not only offering a platform for online purchasing, the commercial mode also provides one-stop service from delivery to after-sales services, which are super-convenient for customers.

However, this service is only implemented in mainland China. Hong Kong consumers have to use concentrated transportation for products’ delivery.

Thanks to the acquaintances commerce mode, the group members have trust on the group organiser, which

Ms Sun sends links of goods and promotional content to her WeChat e-commerce community every day.

contributes to their cooperation in delivery. For money and time saving, many Hong Kong consumers choose the same delivery date, and also the same delivery destination — Ms Sun’s home.

is her first year doing WeChat e-commerce community marketing as her original job had become difficult for her to earn money during the pandemic.

And WeChat procurement agents see this newly-emerging industry as the elixir of the plight that they’re facing right now.

Previously a WeChat procurement agent, Ms Sun has been doing WeChat commerce for 4 years, but 2020

“Owing to the public health policy [of Hong Kong], it is impossible for WeChat shopping agents like me to bring goods to my mainland customers from Hong Kong in person as before,” she sighs.

After receiving advice from friends, she finds group buying as her opportunity to deal

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"

With zero cost and zero difficulty in establishing the business, I can make money by just clicking a button at home,”

"

Sun Yue Hong Kong resident and the WeChat group organiser of Ming Yi Chu Pin platform

with the dilemma. With her own customer base, it is easy for her to form a 100-people group, which meets the basic threshold of opening the business. In April, she had started her very first WeChat e-commerce community business, and she is now the organizer of a group of over 200 people, earning an average of HK$4000 per month.

More like a forum for shopping experience discussion, the group keeps popping up messages every day, while almost 30% of them are group members discussing and sharing their shopping experience.

“Communicating with customers through groups is much better than messaging them individually,” said Ms Sun. “In the group, we are more like friends rather than sellers and customers.”

can also do daily chat in the group,” she said.

In addition to the information about the goods, Ms Sun also shares some inspiring articles and greetings to the group everyday in order to maintain daily communication with her customers. She says that the group is like a forum for friends to share shopping experiences with each other, also an easier way to raise a topic.

Zhu Meng, currently a 21 year-old university student in mainland, is also a group organiser of Ming Yi Chu Pin. She started the business for the purpose of earning some allowance for herself, as well as reducing her parents’ financial burden.

“No matter if her customers are buying the product or not, they

“This contributes a lot in maintaining a long-term, stable relationship between sellers and customers.”

Unlike Ms Sun who maintains conversations with customers everyday, Ms Zhu rarely speaks in the group except forwarding

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links to the group — but still, she can earn around HK$3000 per month on average.

“It really provides a convenient and comfortable shopping experience to me,” Li Mei, 46, who lives in Hong Kong, said she enjoys this mode quite a lot.

When she started shopping in the group at the beginning, she had no idea how to fill in the address and log in procedures.

However, the group organiser helped her to grab a lot of things she wanted before they were sold out.

“I feel so much warm about it, like all of us in this group are friends,” Ms Li said.

Although numerous conveniences are brought by this fresh mode of commerce, the view on the new form in purchasing products on WeChat remains diverse.

"

"

As I have my own social network, it's easier for me to register as a group organiser,

Another group member Hao Shuanglong, 47, is a bit disturbed by the mass text messages.

“Whenever I am busy with work and look at WeChat, those messages just can’t leave me a moment of peace,” said Mr Hao, who joined the group in May, 2020. To prevent more disturbances, he’d rather mute the group and check all the messages at night together.

The new mode of commerce has been welcomed by citizens around the country and building up a brand-new Zhu Meng system in online e-commerce.

21 year-old university student in Mainland, Fenxiang Life, another a WeChat group organiser community group, had recorded sales of 10 billion yuan last year.

Ms Li receives delivery from the Ming Yi Chu Pin platform. “My daughter loves these snacks,” Ms Li said with a smile.

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“I have been looking forward to my facial cream for a long time!”

Ms Li said, looking at her delivery with joy.

”The quality of the product is quite nice,” Ms Li is opening and checking the products she purchased in Ms Sun’s Wechat group.

Group organizers like Ms Sun hope that the goldmining industry will continue to develop and thrive in the future.

“The future is bright,” she said.

“I have full confidence in the future of the industry.”

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PE lessons and interschool competitions under COVID-19 Chan obey T , m Ko La icole nice u N E , y m b on La rted y Mo Repo b d Edite

Under social distancing measures, exercise turns static when students stretch and relax in PE lessons while teachers are striving for ways to encourage students staying active.

“Everyone is assigned a seat at the hall and separated from other students, stretching out with a resistance band and watching sports videos,” said Cheung Wai-ho, a high school

student at Po Leung Kuk Wu Chung College. .

“We do not sweat a lot by doing these activities, it depends on students’ needs to change the mask,” he added.

Students are required to wear the PE uniform instead of getting change during recess to avoid clustering in the changing room. Hand sanitizers will also be given before and after class.

Mr Cheung finds the PE lessons less enjoyable than before, as he can no longer play ball games with classmates.

“We used to play ball games and chit-chat together, which I think is the best part of PE lessons,” said Mr Cheung, “but now we are separated and do everything individually.”

Chan Wing-kiu, a secondary school PE teacher at Immaculate

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Mr Cheung plays as goalkeeper in his school football team.

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Heart of Mary College , says that students are not allowed to do sports that involve close body contact, such as basketball, volleyball and football, since the school has provided guidelines on PE lessons that students should always keep distance from each other.

“We need to remind students to pay attention to their body condition when doing the sports activities and stop immediately if they don’t feel well,” he said.

However, Mr Chan argues that the prohibition of having ball games during PE lessons is illogical, as students can still play after school.

“They always ask me why they can’t do the same thing at school. In order to cater their needs, I try to let them play games, but I do not allow them to have any competition. I let them do basketball shooting and do some lay up exercise,” Mr Chan said.

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Meanwhile, Mr Chan complains that students are not motivated to learn during COVID-19.

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confused by the social environment. They don’t know when COVID-19 will end in the future.”

He thinks students are confused about the reason for attending the PE lesson, given the anti-epidemic measures such as the compulsion of wearing masks and social distancing.

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The biggest challenges at the moment are that we need to modify the scheme of work and the content of the lesson, in order to balance the health issue and motivate students to participate in the lesson,” he adds.

Mr Chan is also the school field and track team coach and is waiting for principal’s approval on school athletic team training He predicts that this year’s inter-school competition in is likely to be U ion ucat d E delayed and , tion cancelled.

“Sometimes students may feel a little bit disappointed, but they understand why such arrangements are made,” he says.

He is relieved some of his students are reasoning that it is practically impossible to take part in sports competitions in the current situation.

“I told my students that as an athlete, we cannot guarantee when the competition or the

training can resume. Therefore, we should prepare every day in order to be ready,” Mr Chan said.

Mr Cheung, a school football team member, feels unfortunate that the inter-school football competition was cancelled due to the pandemic.

“This would have been my very last chance to train and play with my team. It’s such a pity because there aren’t many chances to play inter-school competition and get to have that hot-blooded experience,” he says.

Kam Wai-keung, senior lecturer in Education University of Hong Kong, believes that rhythmic activities such as teaching creative dance can be added to the course, so as to make the classes more entertaining.

Mr Kam suggests that teachers can let students create their own dance steps and patterns, which helps to motivate students to exercise in class.

“I think this is one of the ways, in such a limited situation, to do physical exercises,” says Mr

Kam. Mr Kam also mentions that there are six strands in the current PE curriculum, including “motor and sports skills,” “sports-related values and attitudes” and “knowledge and practice of safety.”

Mr Kam believes that apart from physical activities in PE lessons, the values and attitudes behind are also important.

“Physical activities are the core [of PE lessons], we can use this as a teaching tool,” said Mr Kam. Mr Kam thinks that the current curriculum enables students to gain knowledge besides actual sports skills. Teachers are now exploring more activities that can be conducted in PE lessons during COVID-19 and within the curriculum.

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Islamic content in textbooks spurs discussion on religious education in Hong Kong

Reported by Shameel Ibrahim Edited by Jay Ganglani & Han Xu

A history textbook and Liberal Studies DSE guide with information about Islam has caused concern in the city’s Muslim community.

When Adeel Malik, an English teacher at a local school in Kwai Chung, saw messages on social media linking terrorism with Islam, he was upset. ”They are basically explaining a social issue, but then they are connecting [terrorism] to Islam in a way which [the] Islamophobes knows best,” Mr Malik said.

Screenshots of the two books, Journey Through History: New Topic-based Series and the Liberal Studies (LS) Advanced 2020, have been circulating in Muslim WhatsApp groups.

The liberal studies book said some Muslims wanted to “safeguard” Islamic doctrines and cultures and they “started wars and attacks” against Western cultures.

That ignited discussions on Islamic education among members of the Muslim community in Hong Kong.

More disturbing for Muslims living in Hong Kong was that a history textbook contained false information about Islamic history.

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The book, among other things, claimed that Prophet Muhammad’s face was shown in several paintings in the 15th century, but were discarded later to prevent idol worship of the Prophet and to focus on Allah [God in Arabic].

That’s false, according to Islamic teachings. Islam prohibits drawings of any image of human beings.

Raza Nasir Razi, an LS teacher at the Islamic Kasim Tuet Memorial College, is not surprised by what’s in the books.

During his career as a teacher in Canada, similar misunderstandings of the religion were common in the school curriculum. He found that misunderstanding of Islam to be “universal,” referring to the common misconceptions of Islam in the West.

“

“Muslims believe that Prophet Muhammad was the final prophet and believe in all the prophets mentioned in the Abrahamic faiths,” Mr Nasir said.

But, Mr Malik is optimistic about the city’s effort towards including Islamic education in the school curriculum.

Despite its mistakes, he said that the history textbook included “fantastic material” such as important historical achievements for Muslims.

“This is the first time that we’ve seen something like this being used to show Islam to young people in Hong Kong, who most of the time connect Islam to terrorism, or with oppression, because that’s what they [see on] TV,” he stated.

Mr Malik appreciated the efforts that Hong Kong has made to

educate the public about the Islamic faith. “Even in the West, we don’t see that,” he said.

He knew that the publishers were not Muslims and might have made mistakes that were not intended to demean the religion.

Aristo Publishing, the publisher of the history book, stated in an email that they have consulted The Incorporated Trustees of The Islamic Community Fund of Hong Kong, the official representative body for Muslims in the city.

The publishing company also linked a video of Mr Mufti Muhammad Arshad, the chief Imam of Hong Kong, explaining the controversy and acknowledging the issue.

Mr Arshad added that the chief editor of Aristo Publishing approached the Trustees

A primary mistake is that the textbook author [said] that Prophet Muhammad is the founder of Islam.

Raza Nasir Razi

”

an LS teacher at the Islamic Kasim Tuet Memorial College

The LS DSE guidebook includes remarks linking Islam and terrorism. The publisher has issued a statement to clarify their stance on the matter.

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and have accepted the offer to amend anything deemed offensive to the Muslim community.

The editor mentioned that the amended version would be published in the following academic year.

Hillway Education Publishing, the publisher of the Liberal Studies guidebook issued a statement on Instagram clarifying their stance on the book’s content on terrorism.

According to the statement, the publisher noted that terrorist groups do not represent Islam or Muslims. After concerns were raised on the book, the publisher admitted that they were not able to clarify the common misconceptions of Islam.

The publisher also stated in an email that the “new version” of the book is currently in production and promised to include “voices of different stakeholders,” including both Muslims and racial minorities in the city.

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Members of the Muslim community are upset over the content of the history and Liberal Studies books.

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Hong Kong legislation fails to curb animal cruelty Reported by Janice Lo & Jasmine Tse Edited by Carine Chow & Yanni Chow

More than a dozen dead and injured animals, including hamsters, rabbits and cats, were found on a slope near Sham Tseng in Tsuen Wan in February. They were thrown from a building while still alive.

Two suspects were not charged, and the Department of Justice dropped the case, claiming there was a lack of evidence. Details of their deliberation were never made public.

The decision shocked many, including Fiona Woodhouse, Deputy Director of Welfare of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. “It was beyond my expectation, beyond everybody’s expectations involved in that case,” she said.

Last year, 656 cases of suspected animal cruelty were reported, with only 56 prosecutions made by the Hong Kong Police Force and the Agriculture, Fisheries, and Conservation Department,

according to data provided by an AFCD spokesperson.

This is only a slight increase from the 6% conviction rate between 2013 and 2017, according to Legislative Council statistics.

“When I read the animal abuse cases, when I hear about the news, when I see cases of cruelty, it hurts me, deeply,” said Kim McCoy, founder of the Hong Kong Animal Law and Protection Organization.

Stating that the legal system should provide a voice for the voiceless, Mr McCoy criticised the Cap. 169 Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Ordinance for being outdated and said the lack of duty of care does not prevent cruelty from happening, resulting in the low conviction rate for animal abusers.

The ordinance was introduced in 1935 and based on the United Kingdom 1911 Protection of Animals Act. While

the UK act was replaced by the 2006 Animal Welfare Act, Hong Kong’s law was briefly revised in 2006 to increase the maximum punishment to three years’ imprisonment and a fine of HK$200,000.

All animals — mammal, bird, reptile, amphibian, fish, or any other vertebrate or invertebrate, whether wild or tame — are protected under the Hong Kong ordinance. Such a broad scope makes it difficult for courts to implement consistent sentences.

In 2017, a woman running a breeding farm in Yuen Long, was charged with animal cruelty, including cutting dogs’ vocal cords and keeping them in poor living conditions so that they suffered from malnutrition.

The abuser was jailed for seven weeks.

In Tai Po this year, a woman was sentenced to eight-months imprisonment for beating ten dogs with bamboo sticks.

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In 2017 the Department of Justice requested sentencing guidelines for animal abuse cases, but the Court of Final Appeal denied their request. “[The Court of Appeal] finds it very challenging, so they declined to do that,” Mr McCoy said.

Dr Woodhouse was disappointed with the court’s decision, saying that the lack of sentencing guidelines makes it more difficult to prosecute suspects. “If you’re not specifically setting a sentence, you may get very different sentences as they are all decided by different magistrates,” she added.

Animal abuse cases are tried as summary offences, meaning in

SPCA plays an important role in safeguarding the rights of animals and helps prevent animal cruelty from happening.

“If you’re not specifically setting a sentence, you may get very different sentences as they are all decided by different magistrates,” Fiona Woodhouse

Deputy Director of Welfare of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

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magistrate courts — the lowest courts in Hong Kong — and the prosecution has a time limit of six months starting from the offence taking place to pressing a charge.

Sept. 2. “No matter what happens, you can’t do anything with that case anymore,” said Mr McCoy. “It’s just not enough time, and something needs to be done about that.”

Mr McCoy said it is time-consuming to investigate animal cruelty cases, making the six-month timeframe really tight. “One of the reasons why people escape from punishment is because charges are just not laid in time. It’s a real shame actually,” he said.

It is often difficult to catch the suspects for cases involving animal traps or animal poisoning. “I don’t think we’ve ever managed to find anybody who’s put down an animal trap,” Dr Woodhouse said.

The Sham Tseng case was first discovered on Feb. 15, and the six months were already exhausted when the DOJ decided to drop the case on

And even in suspected cases, authorities do not have the power to enter premises.

“Even for the police to go inside premises to get a further

investigation, they’ve got to have good, strong evidence that there has been some cruelty happening,” Dr Woodhouse said.

If the police are unable to collect evidence, a witness statement could be effective in getting a warrant. Yet, people in Hong Kong tend to refuse to be the witness. “Sometimes, they don’t want to be the witness because they don’t want to have that conflict,” said Dr Woodhouse.

Hong Kong also has the Dogs and Cats Ordinances and Wild Animals Protection Ordinance, but they are also summary offences and have the same six-month time limit, again making it difficult to lay charges for prosecution.

Kim McCoy founded HKALPO in 2020 to change Hong Kong animal legislation so as to better protect animal welfare.

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After suggesting changes to Cap. 169, Fiona Woodhouse is awaiting the Legislative Council to adopt a new legislation soon.

Hong Kong should implement a positive duty of care towards animals, holding a person responsible for an animal’s wellbeing, wrote Dr Woodhouse and Amanda Whitfort, Associate Professor of the Department of Professional Legal Education at the University of Hong Kong, in their Review of Animal Welfare Legislation in Hong Kong in 2010.

“It’s trying to nudge people’s behavior as opposed to waiting for the situation where the animal is suffering and is at risk of dying,” Dr Woodhouse said.

The proposal also suggested public officers to compel pet owners to take relevant steps

to improve the animal’s welfare.

Failure to comply would be considered an offence and may lead to prosecution.

“We want to educate them and improve the situation so that they look after their animals better,” Dr Woodhouse said.

Mr McCoy believes educating the public and making reforms in the legislation will be a long yet worthwhile journey.

“Animals don’t have a voice, and we need to speak for them.

We need to do our best to protect them by fighting for their welfare, fighting for their freedom and their right, effectively,” he said.

“Animals don’t have a voice, and we need to speak for them. We need to do our best to protect them by fighting for their welfare, fighting for their freedom and their right, effectively,” Kim McCoy

Founder of the Hong Kong Animal Law and Protection Organization

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Adding insult to injury: pandemic leads the HK film industry into a cold winter

Reported by Icy Chen Edited by Carol Yuan

Derek Yee Tung-sing, the chairman of the board of directors of the Hong Kong Film Awards Association, sits alone in the spotlight, holding a stack of cards and recites the winners and their works one by one.

Between one name and another, there should have been thunderous applause, but now there was only a subtle pause.

This was the scene of the 39th Hong Kong Film Awards in

early May this year, the first time since the inception of the award that it was broadcast live without an actual event. The 40th awards, originally scheduled for early 2021, have been postponed to 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Derek Yee Tung-sing is holding a stack of cards and reciting the winners and their works one by one on the livestream 39th Hong Kong Film Awards on May 6.

The local film industry, which has been suffering from a lack of market and restrictions on subject matter for years, has experienced a near shutdown under the pandemic with cinemas closed and outdoor shooting banned. The sharp decline in production has endangered the livelihood of the entire industry.

“I used to have a steady job, with extra micro films and commercials to shoot every month,” said Cheng Ka-kit, a 24-year-old local actor. “My screening of two micro-films have been postponed due to the complete shutdown of the industry.”

Hong Kong’s box office revenue plummeted this summer by 94% compared with the same period in 2019, according to the Hong Kong Theatre Chamber of Commerce.

And with collaboration with the mainland in limbo, co-productions have been delayed indefinitely.

“I need a steady income,” said Mr Li. “I don’t hear any of my peers working on feature films currently.”

“Young industry newcomers are unfortunate,” said Zevia Tong, Administrative Officer of the Federation of Hong Kong Filmmakers, adding that the local industry provides fewer opportunities for newcomers to participate in large-scale production. Most local films are small and medium-sized productions, which do not stimulate new jobs.

The government earmarked around HK$260 million this year under the Film Development Fund to re-energise Hong Kong’s film industry by nurturing young filmmakers and strengthening training programs.

“They can only find out by themselves, or change careers,” said Ms Tong.

“The measures can undoubtedly stimulate the creation,” said Ms Tong. “But it is a long time before it can be put into the market and increase production, while production is the key.”

Li Jiarui, a 2019 film school graduate, stopped working as a freelance film editor in July, switching to the new media industry as a video director.

It is estimated that many post-production companies will have to close down by next year due to the sharp production decline, said Chan Shu-chi,

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President of the post-production staff association, in a press conference in April. “I can foresee zero income in the coming year,” said Mr Chan.

Most lost jobs are in photography, lighting and editing, which require technical skills. A mass exodus of staff could leave a hole in future productions.

Some producers are looking for other ways out. Mr Li, the young producer, has tried to use virtual production, or digital technologies to manufacture scenes, to substitute for live scenes, which he said can help cut costs and tackle the limitations on the use of locations.

“However, there is a cost threshold for making virtual production,” said Mr Li. “And there are few people doing it in

Li Jiarui is seen working on a remix for the short film titled “The Islanders.”

Hong Kong at present despite it being a global trend.”

Ms Tong said Hong Kong films should think out of the box.

“They should not be confined to the traditional limited theatre mode,” she said.

“If possible, I still want to go back to the film industry,” said Mr Li.

Cheng Ka-kit is shooting a micro film “A Dream on a Journey,” which was originally planned to be shot in January and February, but was postponed to June due to the pandemic.

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Foreign domestic helpers were treated as “modern slaves” during pandemic It was 6:30 am. The alarm clock woke Emma Estrera up from the sofa on which her employer asked her to sleep ever since the start of the pandemic. She had finished work 6 hours earlier and was now preparing for the coming 18-hour work day.

“My employers consider me as a COVID-19 spreader. So, during the pandemic, they requested me to sleep on the sofa of the living room,” said Ms Estrea, a domestic helper from the Philippines who has worked half a year for a middle-class family in Hong Kong.

The 35-year-old takes care of her employer’s infant and a 4-year-old. Though she said the workload is unreasonable, she does not want to lose her job.

Ms Estrea is one of 390,000 foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong. Many domestic workers have reported discrimination, abuse of rights and exclusion from government policies, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

More than 80 percent of 427 helpers said they have experienced increased discrimination since the pandemic struck, according to a survey by Hong Kong Federation of Asian Domestic Workers Unions.

The survey reported that some domestic workers feel discriminated against in public places — for instance in the market, on the street and on public transportation — and in their employers’ homes. They have been chided for unintentionally touching someone and some reported being forced to shower after returning from shopping at the market.

“Some people look at me strangely, like I am the carrier of the virus,” said Ms Estrea.

Some said the discrimination began after the Department of Health disclosed that 32 Indonesian domestic workers had been in close contact with an infected domestic helper.

In September 2020, as reported by SCMP, a Filippino domestic worker died a month before after being stage 4 ovarian cancer. She had constant abdominal pain and had lost considerable weight. Her request to go to the hospital was denied by her employer. While she asked to go to the hospital repeatedly, her female employer always objected saying, “Hospital Covid, Covid, Covid!”

Around 80% of domestic workers do not know how to seek

Reported by Emily Poon Edited by Mereen Santirad &Carol Mang

help from the Equal Opportunities Commission and do not know about the discrimination ordinance, according to the FADWU survey.

As domestic workers are legally required to live with employers, they often gather in public places on Sunday.

Under the current social distancing measure, they are required to stay in groups of four with 1.5 meters of distance between each group. They can be fined HK$2,000 for violating the rules.

“I just need somewhere to take rest. I feel frustrated that we are labelled subjectively.

They treated us as COVID19 spreaders and criminals,” said Ms Estrea. She said that domestic workers are targeted by officials.

Staying at home on her day off would stress her out, she said, adding that she has no privacy.

She said she suffers from emotional fatigue and headaches.

“When I was facetiming with my family from the Philippines, my employer’s baby’s crying disturbed me from talking.

I don’t feel comfortable,” said Ms Estrea. “My employers place a burden on me to take care of their baby, I will

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get tongue-lashing if I do something wrong.”

Karen Ng, case manager of HELP, an organization providing free advice to foreign domestic helpers, said that they received many requests for assistance from domestic workers whose employers refuse to let them take adequate days off or even refuse to provide food during Covid-19. Domestic workers reported that they have received stale food or a portion of their employers’ leftovers.

Domestic workers feel angry at exclusion from coronavirus relief measures, union says.

Some domestic workers who told their employers they didn’t want to stay at home on their day off were threatened with contract termination. Many, such as Ms Estrea, chose not to challenge their employers.

Demanding workers to stay at home on their day off is unfair, unjust and discriminatory, said a spokesperson of The Asia Pacific Mission Migrants, an advocacy group. Employers should remind them to consider personal hygiene by avoiding crowded areas, rather than depriving them of fundamental rights, they said.

“It is a stigma for workers. They are workers instead of modern slaves,” the spokesperson said.

Domestic helpers in Hong Kong gather on their day off .

In September, the Hong Kong government announced a onetime handout of HK$10,000 to non-permanent residents in need. However, foreign domestic helpers were excluded from the payment.

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Venus Due, 45, a domestic helper, said she is faced with financial difficulties as she needs to carry out regular appointments with specialists for pancreatic cancer treatment.

She has to take a loan from an agency and now she could not repay her debt.

According to the survey taken by the government, the average domestic helper salary is HK$4,630 with no pay rise during COVID-19.

Ms Due’s said her employer refused to pay for her medical treatment and said that the expenditure was not included in health insurance. Her employer even refused to bring her to a public hospital as they were afraid of COVID-19 infection at the hospital.

Chairwoman of the Overseas Domestic Workers Union Rowena Borja said they had received dozens of complaints from workers who had been fired after falling ill.

Once fired, they were required to leave Hong Kong within two weeks if they can’t find a new job. They cannot access free medical care service and no subsidy is provided after dismissal.

“The most vulnerable always seem to carry the heaviest burden. I feel like I am a modern slave with no rights to resist,” said Ms Estrea.

As stated in employment guidelines, employers have the legal opportunities to pay for the medical treatment of domestic helpers. The advocacy groups said that many domestic helpers did not know they could seek help from the labour department.

“There is no health benefit or assistance for us. Once we are sick, we could not earn anymore,” Ms Due said.

Ms Due said her employers then terminated her contract.

Most of the workers reported that they have to do more and feel more stressful during a pandemic, according to THE HELP.