Poverty:

Poverty refers to the situation in which people live below a certain standard
and have insufficient incomes to meet their basic needs. They need help
from others in society in order to improve their standards of living.

Measuring poverty in Hong Kong:

 Recipients of CSSA
 Individuals or households whose income is below or equal to half of
the median income

Median Income:
It refers to the household or income that is in the middle when al
households or individual incomes are arranged in an ascending order.

Poverty in Hong Kong

Elderly, working poor, children are the three major groups of people living
in poor

Gini coefficient:
 It is an indicator that measures the distribution of wealth.
 It ranges from 0 to 1
 The greater the value, the wider the gap between the rich and poor
 No society or country has absolutely equal or unequal distribution of
wealth

Decile groups
 Analyse wealth distribution by ‘income distribution by decile groups’
 Arrange households or individuals monthly incomes in an ascending
order
 We devide them into 10 equal groups (decile groups)
 The 1st group has the lowest income and the 10th group has the
highest income
Effects of a rich-poor gap in Hong Kong
Social Conflicts
 High property prices
 High living cost
 High inflation
Which causes
 Live difficult for the grassroots
 People resent the rich and the business sector
 Which damages the social harmonious and social cohesion
 Social cohesion means the sense of belongings to society

Decreased in government’s popularity

 Experts believe the government should make long term policies to
help the poor.
 However, the government just made policies which benefits large
corporations
 Therefore, the government’s popularity decreased a lot

Intergenerational poverty
 People were poor
 Which made their sons or daughters are also poor
 Poverty are passed from generation to generation
Efforts made by different sectors to narrow the rich-poor gap
Government
1. Education
 The government launched the 12-years free and compulsory
education
 The younger generation can be more highly educated
 Which makes them to find better jobs in the future
 Which can lead their family to go out of the poverty

2. Employment support
 The government launched the statutory minimum wage in 2011
 Which can ensure the grassroots to receive a reasonable amount of
wages
 The government also offered Vocational training to people
 Which can enhance their work skills, making them easier to find jobs
in the society in the future
 The government also creates job opportunities in large infrastructure
projects for the grassroots in the construction sector

3. Social welfare
 The government provide CSSA for the people in need
 So they can pay for daily expenses
 The government also build public estates
 Provided health care services, textbook assistance, Internet access
subsidies
 To help relieve their financial burden
 4. Progressive tax system
 The people need to pay taxes according to their income
 The higher the income, more tax is needed to pay
 Some grassroots do not need to pay for the taxes
 To redistribute wealth to those in need

Non-governmental organisations
1. Setting up social enterprises
 The social enterprises will help the disadvantaged from the money
earned
 It also creates job opportunities for the disadvantaged
 Which improves their standards of living
 Which includes New Life organic shop/restaurants

2. Providing social services

 It provides different social services
 Such as education, healthcare, care for the elderly, financial support
and food assistance

Individuals
1. Helping each other
 Help each other through donation
 Voluntary work

2. Making good use of the freedom of speech

 People can demand the government to make long term policies
for the poor
 3. Striving for a better life through self-improvement
 We should be self-relaint and not just rely solely on outside help
 People who do not have a work should actively find a job
 People who are working should also learn some new skills to
enhance their competitiveness
 Teenagers from low-income family should study hard
 So they can get better jobs in the future and help their family to
escape poverty

Constrains on narrowing the rich-poor gap

1. Decreased public trust in government
 The trust in government has been dropping these few years
 Government faces oppositions when a new policy is introduced
 When the government introduces a policy to narrow the rich-poor
gap, it will take a long time to gather enough support

2. Limited resources
 Narrowing the rich-poor gap requires large amount of resources
 Government manages public finances based on the principle of ‘living
within our budget’
 Government will not substantially increase its social welfare even if it
has budget surplus
 Resulting in the NGOs can only provide limited assistance to the
needy

3. Free market policy

 Hong Kong adopts a free market policy
 Social development is market-driven
 Under the ‘big market, small government’ principle, government only
takes a small role in redistributing the resources to narrow the rich-
poor gap
 The free market policy may prevent the government from doing
more to narrow the rich-poor gap
1. Housing developments
 Hong Kong’s population increased rapidly after the
__________. In __________, the __________ was set up
to provide public housing. Yet, there was still not enough
housing for the growing population. The government
therefore let people build __________ on the hills and
_________ roads. After _________, the __________
played a greater role in dealing with the housing
__________ of local people.
2.
In the __________, about __________ percent of the
population in Hong Kong lived in __________ and __________
houses. The houses caught __________ easily. __________
were also poor.

On __________, a serious fire broke out in __________.

More than __________ people became __________. This
prompted the government to construct __________.

In __________, the __________ was introduced by the

government. __________ were built for the __________
population.

In 1972, the government announced the __________ to

increase public housing. In __________, the __________ was
introduced. The government built flats and then__________
them to __________ families below _________.

The __________ was launched in 1988 to help

__________ and __________ families buy flats in __________
sector.
The __________ was first launched in 1998, which
allowed tenants in __________ to buy their flats.
  __________ in Hong Kong in the early 1950s
 __________ fire on __________ 1953
 __________ in Shek Kip Mei in the _________
 A public estate in __________ in the 1960s
 A __________ estate in __________ in the 1990s
 A __________ of the __________ Scheme

3. Education developments

After then__________, the government spent more

resources on education. It built more schools and
introduced _________ and __________ education for
_________. Hong Kong people got more chances to
receive education. The became better educated and this
contributed to the __________ development of Hong
Kong.

In 1950s, to keep up with the growing school-age

population, the government expanded __________.

At the same time, more __________ colleges were set up

to meet the rising __________ for teachers.

In the 1950s and 1960s, there were not enough schools.

Therefore, _________ schools were built in _________.
Usually there were __________ classrooms in a
__________ school, one at each end of the __________,
leaving __________ in the middle, It was common for
children to hear what the teacher in the other class was
__________. In _________, it was especially _________.
The teachers were poorly __________ and most of them
were __________.
 4. In 1960s, to expand the tertiary education, the __________ was
established in _________. It was the __________ university in
Hong Kong.
5. In 1970s, Hong Kong’s manufacturing industries became
__________ in 1970s. Therefore, the government set up
__________ schools to provide __________ education for
young people.
In 1971, the government introduced _________ year
__________ education. In _________, a __________ year free
and __________ education was introduced
6. In 1980s, Hong Kong gradually developed into an __________
centre. This raised demands for a more __________ new
generation. The government then expanded __________
education and built more __________ to meet this demand.
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology was set
up in __________,

1981 1991 2001

No schooling
Primary
Secondary
Matriculation
Tertiary

7. Social welfare developments. In the early years, local Chinese

in Hong Kong relied ton social services provided by voluntary
organizations, such as the _____ and _____. After the Second
World War, the government started to play a more _____ role in
providing social services for local people.
8. The _____ was set up in 1948. Its primary role was to
coordinate the work of different _____. It did not directly provide
social services. In 1958, the Social Welfare Office was renamed
the _____. Then, it became the main provider of social services
for local people, including social _____, family and child _____,
_____, services for the _____, young people and offenders,
and so on.
9. The economic and social developments of Hong Kong since the
1950s greatly _____ people’s _____. Wages of people _____.
_____ in education, housing and _____ welfare also raised.

10. _____ refers to activities and products enjoyed by the

majority of people in a society, such as _____, _____ and
_____. People had more _____ and _____ to spend on
entertainment.

11. Hong Kong’s first television station, _____ was set up in

_____. People had to pay a monthly fee of _____ for its
programmes. Because of the _____ cost, it was _____ popular
at the time. In 1967, _____ was setup. It provided _____ TV
broadcasting services. Since then, watching TV had been a
common form of entertainment for Hong Kong people.

12. In the 1970s, the development of Hong Kong’s television

broadcasting industry was _____. This period is regarded as
the _____ of television broadcasting. At that time, watching
television was a way of _____ for the general public in Hong
Kong. To watch TV drama series, many people rushed home
for _____ at that time.

13. Radio broadcasting started in _____ when the Hong Kong

government launched _____. In _____, Rediffusion (Hong
Kong) was set up. It was the first _____ radio station in Hong
Kong. As most people at that time could not afford to buy a
radio set, they would go to _____ and _____ to listen to radio
 programmes. In _____, _____ was set up. Listening to radio
broadcasting gradually became a common form of
entertainment for Hong Kong people.

14. Movie. The movie industry began in Hong Kong as early

as the _____. As going to the cinema was very _____,
watching movie was not _____ at that time. In the _____,
several movie companies were set up and more movies were
made. At the same time, people could _____ to go to the
cinema. The Hong Kong film industry quickly _____.

15. Development of Hong Kong’s film industry

a. 1950s-1960s, Features: _____ films, _____ films, dramas
and _____ were popular.
b. 1970s, Features: Kung-fu films of _____ and comedies of
_____ were the most popular.
c. 1980s, Features: _____ and _____ films were dominant.
d. 1990s, Features: Comedies were popular. _____ was one
of the most famous comedians in this period.

16. Pop Songs refer to songs that are popular with the _____
of a society. The type change with the times.
a. 1950s. Feature: ______ songs as dominant. Background:
Soon after the _____, many mainland Chinese came to
Hong Kong. They brought their _____ with them.
b. 1960s. Feature: _____ songs as dominant. Background:
The _____ generation was affected by _____ culture.
c. 1970s. Feature: _____ songs as dominant. Background:
As _____ and _____ became popular, they became the
mainstream.
d. 1980s-1990s. Feature: _____ types. Background: Local
people loved to listen to _____, ______ and _____ songs.

17. Popular Literature. Many Hong Kong people love reading

novels and comic books in their spare time. _____ were
popular in the 1950s. In the 1960s and 1970s, many people
 enjoyed reading _____ comic books. Later, _____ comic books
became more popular.

18. Between the 1950s and 1970s, reading comics was one
of the few forms of entertainment for children. However, parents
did not have much money for their children to buy comics. At
that time, some _____ were set up to _____ comic books at a
_____ price to children. Children would sit on the _____ to read
the comics. Besides this, one way of reading comics for free
was going to the _____.