2011-2012 Practice Paper
Liberal Studies
Sample Script
Paper 1 Question 1
(a) The message conveyed by the cartoon is that consumers in Hong Kong are not confident on the food
produced in the Mainland China. And there is a possibility of the toxic China rice being imported into
Hong Kong. People think that their own rice is safer. According to Source A, they do not feel confident
because many rice samples in China were found to be polluted and contaminated. For instance, it
contains a heavy metal called cadmium that can cause physical health problems, such as bone problems
due to industrial pollution and excessive use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Besides hybrid rice
which absorbs heavy metals more easily is common in Southern China can be easily imported to Hong
Kong.
(b) Industrial and agricultural development refers to the growth of the industry and agriculture, as well as
modernization of them. Quality of life refers to the satisfaction of one’s life and can be measured from
material and non-material level.
First, let’s begin with how the industrial development brings negative impacts on our quality of life.
With reference to Source A, heavy polluting industries, such as chemical plants, are responsible for the
release of toxic cadmium. The cadmium released by the chemical plant can enter the food chain and be
consumed by us. It may harm our physical health and cause more problems if consumed. Also, the
worries of being affected can deteriorate psychological health. Therefore, the rapid industrial
development has negative impacts on our quality of life.
Besides that, as shown from Source A, the absorption of cadmium is boosted in acidic soil. Industrial
development leads to the release of acidic gases, like nitrogen oxides and sulphur dioxides. They cause
acid rain. It further exacerbates the problem and leads to the deterioration of the quality of life.
The agricultural development also has significant negative impacts on our quality of life as shown from
the issue. In the agricultural development, the use of fertilizers to improve crop’s yield and the use of
hybrid rice are commonplace. However, these increase the absorption of cadmium by plants. If
cadmium enters the food chain and plants, they are more likely to be consumed by humans. If we
consume them, there is physical health impact on use. If we do not consume them, we are also likely to
be worried. They worries harm our psychological security. It leads to the deterioration of the quality of
life.
(c) The risk of Hong Kong people consuming rice from mainland containing excessive levels of cadmium can
be reduced effectively with the joint effort of different stakeholders, including the factory owners, peasants,
the governments, restaurants and the public.
For the factory owners, they can prevent the release of the toxic cadmium by installing a better sewage
treatment plant and better waste control. Also, they should reduce the release of acidic gases so as to
prevent acid rain. As a responsible factory owner, the sewage and waste treatments should be considered.
By preventing the release of cadmium into the environment and maintaining a slightly alkaline soil by the
prevention of acid rain, the absorption of cadmium by plants can be prevented and the risk of consuming
cadmium contaminated rice can be reduced effectively.
For the peasants, they should reduce the use of fertilizers and hybrid rice. Fertilizers are shown to
increase the absorption of cadmium by plants. Also, hybrid rice absorbs more cadmium. By reducing
the use of fertilizers and hybrid rice, the risk of consuming cadmium contaminated rice can be lowered.
For the governments, both Hong Kong and China governments can actively check the quality of rice.
Hong Kong government should clearly inform the public of the seriousness of this pollution problem,
alerting the public to avoid or reduce eating mainland rice for safety reasons. The quality of the rice can
be monitored and cadmium-contaminated rice can be screened out and removed from the market before
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consumption. While assuring all the rice imported have been such, heavy penalty will be imposed by
both governments. The risk of consuming cadmium contaminated rice is lowered. Such two-way
policy (scrutiny and promotion) reduce the chance of Hong Kong people consuming contaminated rice.
For the restaurants they can choose rice not coming from the contaminated areas and choose the rice from
countries of better control instead. The risk of consuming cadmium rice can be further lowered by
importing from a reliable source. The retailers and wholesalers should also seek other sources of rice,
instead of China, for example, Thailand. If all the imported rice come from mainland, it is difficult, if
not possible to avoid the import of contaminated rice as consumers have no choice and are forced to
consume the contaminated rice. Therefore, the supermarkets and the wholesalers should import the rice
from other reputable and safe places to allow more choices to the consumers.
For the citizens, they can choose to dine in restaurants importing rice from reliable areas. Japan is known
to have better control over the quality of imported goods. We may dine these restaurants offered rice
supplied from reliable areas. Besides that, we may consume other carbohydrates other than rice during
the high-risk period. There are still a wide variety of carbohydrates other than rice, such as noodles,
spaghetti and potatoes. By reducing the consumption of rice, the risk can be further lowered.
In conclusion, if we want to reduce the risk, the cooperation among different stakeholders is inevitable and
essential.
Paper 1 Question 2
(a) First, the statistics show that HK young people aged 18-22 are better educated than the past. The
percentage of people with tertiary education has been on a rise, from 7.46% in 1981 to 39.5 in 2006. It
shows that HK young people are better educated.
Second, paradoxically, the unemployment among young people in HK is getting more serious. The
percentage of unemployment increases from 3.87 in 1981 to the peak of 11.92 in 2001. Although it
slightly decreases to 11.84 in 2006, it is still a high rate of unemployment.
Finally, the income of the HK young people has been decreasing. According to Source A, the median
earnings of young people aged between 18 to 22 relative to the median earnings of the general working
population decreases from 0.80:1 in 1981 to 0.55:1 in 2001. It reflects although the young people are
having a better chance of receiving tertiary education, their job opportunities and earnings do not rise up at
the same time.
(b) As reflected in Source A, the young people aged 18-22 in 2006 are facing the challenges of difficult in
enjoying upward social mobility and low job satisfaction.
Firstly, they encounter the challenge of low social mobility. According in Source A, more and more young
people are unemployed now and their income is also low when compare with 20 years ago. It implies that
young people are now more difficult to accumulate their wealth and they may find they are still in the
bottom social strata even they have received tertiary education. Thus, the upward social mobility becomes
difficult now.
At the same time, they also face the challenge low job satisfaction. As there are more young people
receiving tertiary education as reflected in Source A, which means that the competition in the job market is
more intense than before. As a result, some young people with tertiary education or even professional
training maybe forced to accept relatively inferior jobs, and their income is also lower than before. As a
result, their job satisfaction is low.
(c)
SAMPLE A:
I disagree with the viewpoint of the principal official on the actions of the post-80s youngsters in a large
extent. From the Source B, the principal official commented the actions of the post-80s youngsters are
originated from the pursuits of ideals and dissatisfaction with the existing society. And he implies that
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young people should compromise and not to do some ‘violent clashes’ to attract attention, so as to take up
their responsibilities, respects others rights and freedom and refrain from dictating the thoughts of others.
Firstly, I do not agree that the post-80s youngsters are only pursuit for something ‘ideal’, it is for the basic
living and dignity. As Hong Kong is getting richer and richer generally, the employment rate of highly
educated young people keep decreasing as reflected in Source A. This is an abnormal phenomenon as
people with higher education level are expected to have better jobs and better salaries. The young people
cannot share the prosperity of the society and their situation keep worsening so they are actually pursuing
something basic, which are their dignity and a better livelihood. They are dissatisfied with the government
policy that creates uneven distribution of wealth, but not the hatreds against the entire society.
Secondly, I do not agree that the young people are not taking up their responsibilities but abusing their
rights. Freedom of speech is the right of Hong Kong people. They have their own rights to express their
views and this surely not related to abuse of rights. Challenging social injustice and unfairness is actually
the responsibility of a citizen in a civil society. Therefore the post-80s, who are challenging the abnormal
phenomenon in Hong Kong, is actually supervising the government and exercising their responsibilities.
Thirdly, I think it should be the government’s responsibility accounting for the post-80s’ ‘violent clashes’.
The government herself is doing nothing responding to the requests of the post-80s’ demands, e.g. unfair
wealth distribution exists for a long time. However, the government do not take care about it when the
young people choosing a peaceful and moderate way of expression. The young people can only attract the
public and government attention by doing something which is considered as ‘radical’ by the government.
The government should change herself of listening to the public attentively and actively but not only
accusing the youth of being too ‘radical’
Some people may think that the freedom and right of others should be respected. I understand the young
people’s violent clashes may annoy others sometime. However, I think to force the government to change
to work for a better society is much more important than only upholding the right of using the road and
having a silent society.
SAMPLE B:
The principal officer commented that the violent acts of post-80s are not accepted by the general public
and the public tend to accept peaceful and rational means of expression. He also described the actions of
post-80s as irresponsible and selfish.
To a large extent, I agree with his viewpoints. I also believe that the general public does not recognize
their actions. Some of their actions are selfish and harming the social order.
First of all, the general public does not recognize the violent crashes of post-80s. As shown in the recent
district election, the radical representatives, like Wong Yuk-man and Leung Kwok-hung have lost. Also,
their related political parties also suffered from this. It reflects the low acceptance of the public towards
radical and violent behaviour. It is in line with the viewpoint of the officer.
Also, some of the actions of post-80s are selfish and irrational. For example, they surrounded the
Legislative Council building in the XRL protest. The public fears that the reputation of Hong Kong would
be ruined by the behaviours of post-80s and generally do not recognize their violent clashes.
Furthermore, some actions of post-80s have destructed the social order. In a recent protest, they occupied
the major road in Hong Kong Island and lead to traffic congestion. It aroused discontent of the drivers and,
therefore, the action of the post-80s is not successful to arouse the sympathy of the public. Instead, the
public believed that their behaviour is selfish and inconsiderate.
However, some people may believe that everyone has the right to participate in socio-political activities
because all of us are granted with political rights, such as the freedom of assembly and the freedom of
speech. The truth, however, is that rights should come after responsibilities. Only when we consider the
rights of the others and to be considerate, can we be entitled with the political rights. Abuse of the political
rights can deteriorate the standard of living of the others. It is consistent with the view of the officer.
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However, the officer should pay attention that his comment is only valid to the violent clashes, but not the
entire post-80s generation. If he makes too much generalization and simplification on his comment, it
would be unjust to the peaceful people in the same population. It is my reservation towards his viewpoint.
All in all, I agree with his viewpoint to a large extent.
Paper 1 Question 3
(a)
SAMPLE A:
According to Source A, most of the population prefers work-life ratio is in 40%-60%, 50%-50% and
60%-40%. There are more than 20% of people prefer in each of the ratio. It shows that the preferred
work-life ratio should the time spent is near to the time spent on own activity.
Moreover, many of the population did not prefer too much work or too much in own activity. These are
less than 10% people prefer 10%-90%, 20%-80%, 30%-70%, 70%-30%, 20%-80% and 10%-90%. The
pattern is more people prefer in near percentage of work and activity. Less people prefer too much work
or too much activity.
SAMPLE B:
Most of the people think that the preferred work-life ratio should be balanced at around 50:50 shown in
Source A. And a few of people prefer extreme work-life ratio.
According to Source A, more than 60% of the interviewees said that the preferred work-life ratio should
be 4:6, 5:5 or 6:4 which are all around 50:50. And less than 5% of the interviewees in total prefer 1:9, 2:8
or 9:1, 8:2 of work-life ratio.
(b)
The actual work-life ratio is much higher than the preferred one.
The first reason may be due to the wage system. In Hong Kong, the wage system is usually time-based,
i.e. the amount of income is based on how long you work, usually $28 per hour for low- income group.
Take low-income group as an example. They always prefer longer working hours to earn more income
so as to deal with daily needs under hyper inflation in Hong Kong. Since their income based on how
long they work, they then tend to work longer hours and sacrifice their leisure time to earn money and
support the family. Therefore, even though they preferred a balanced life in working and leisure, the
reality and the fact force them to work under long hour. Therefore the actual work-life ratio is far higher
than the preferred one.
The second reason is about the unsound company policy. This means that the company does not set an
appropriate working hour for the employees and even forced them to have long-working hours. The
workers may be passive in this case that they cannot reject the demand of the boss or else he may be laid
off. Moreover, there is no legislation of standard working hours. The boss will not be punished for the
exploitation of worker’s right by having them to work long hours. So the workers cannot have leisure
time as they expected.
(c)
To a large extent I agree with this viewpoint.
Firstly, set working hours at eight hours can guarantee the physical health of the workers and to ensure
that they have a physical health. Since from Source B, the worker due to working for a long time, she
suffered from sore of hands and legs. This shows work for a long time without regulation can negatively
affect health of the workers and cause them having pain. Therefore, to ensure the physical health of
workers, it is important to set up a regulation on working hours at 8 hours, so that this can guarantee their
health so as to achieve public health that every individual have a healthy life and relieve the medical
burden.
Also it is to ensure the social health which is the family relationship of the workers. As the workers in
Source B, says the long working hours cause her not having time to communicate with the family
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members. This shows that the long working hours weaken the relationship and tie between the
employees and the family members. With a regulation of working hours, the workers will have more
leisure time to meet with their family members or may have a family day and more communication with
them. Hence, this can ensure the social health of the workers as they will build up a harmonious
relationship with the family members which can create social harmony and stability as they will have less
discontent.
Furthermore, this can ensure the workers have a healthy mental health. As work in a long hour will
cause them suffer from a great stress and pressure. Without appropriate rest and relaxation, they may
develop mental illness, like depression. So with the regulation of the working hour, they can have more
time to relax themselves or do exercises. This can alleviate their stress and maintain social health. Also,
this can ensure the workers not be exploited to require to work for a long hours after the plan is
implemented.
However, some say that this will increase the cost of business as more labour is needed to be employed
and more salary have to be offered so as to maintain a continuous working force in the business. So they
disagree with the set up. However, I think a healthy worker is needed for maintaining the productivity
and the competitiveness of the business. Once the worker is not healthy, they may not be able to work
for the company, so this will lower the competitiveness of the company.
Also, if workers are physically injured due to long working hour, the business company would also have
to pay for compensation and this will increase the burden on the business. Thus to prevent compensation,
the regulation of working hour at 8 hours is needed.
All in all, I support the viewpoint of the labour organization in a large extent.
Paper 2 Question 1
(a)
To a large extent, I think that flower-giving on Valentine’s Day reflects gender stereotyping in HK society.
Gender stereotyping refers to the characteristics and the general value on men and women. General value
will set men and women into some fixed characteristics and habits. For example, men are stronger and
women are weaker. General value supposes most men and women are fitted into the characteristics.
On Valentine’s Day, men usually send flowers to women. It reflects gender stereotyping that men have the
responsibility to concern women as they are stronger; and women are weaker that being concerned and
protected by men. So on Valentine’s Day, men send flowers to women to show that their concern and love
on women. As Valentine’s Day is the festival of lovers, the lovers usually express love by sending presents.
Usually the presents are sent by men to women. It shows that the general value think that men is stronger
to concern and love women first by sending presents, and then women can give feedbacks to men on
White Valentine’s Day.
Secondly, men are sending flowers to girlfriends on Valentine’s Day can also reflect that gender
stereotyping that men are more active and they are braver to date and pursue love than women. As men
have greater power over women in general value, they are also braver and more active in pursuing love.
Oppositely, women are regarded as more passive and weaker in pursuing love. So men are sending flowers
to women to show that they are more active in love. And women are usually regarded as more valuable in
love so they will only admitting the requests by boyfriends and receiving flowers. They usually do not
express their love actively to men.
Thirdly, sending flowers on Valentine’s Day shows that it emphasizes the outlook of women instead of
men. It stereotypes that women emphasize outlook. Like the cases in the source, someone said that only
the girls who look like the wilting flowers would be sent rotten flowers. It shows that in stereotyping, it
emphasizes the outlook of women. But men do not emphasize outlook in stereotyping. As general value
thinks that women should be beautiful and clean.
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However, the gender stereotyping is changing nowadays. Some people will accept that women may not
weak, passive and emphasize outlook. Women can dress in neutral stereotype. So that this kind of women
may not want to receive flowers as it is too girlish to them. They may want to receive some other useful
things.
Moreover, the gender stereotyping and the habits of women change that they may not be passive. So they
may send presents to men on Valentine’s Day too. They may not wait for the invitation but take action to
invite men to go out. They can control what they want to do.
All in all, from the above reasons, I agree in a large extent that flower-giving on Valentine’s Day reflects
gender stereotyping in HK.
Teacher’s comment:
- The mark of the answer is 8/10.
- The stance is clear and the organization of the argument is systematic.
- The counter argument and then the refutation are not accurate. Since the stance of this answer is
‘agree’, good counter arguments should point out that flower-giving does not reflect gender
stereotyping. In other words, counter arguments should argue that there is no sense of gender
stereotyping when men give flowers to women on Valentine’s Day. Poor counter arguments would claim
that many women do not accept flowers.
(b)
To a large extent, I disagree with this statement. Valentine’s Day is more popular than the Yuan Xiao
Festival is not due to the reason that HK people identify Western culture more than Chinese culture. It
only due to commercialization of Valentine’s Day, lack of promotion of government on the Yuan Xiao
Festival, and the fading out of traditional Chinese culture.
Firstly, Valentine’s Day is more popular than the Yuan Xiao Festival is due to commercialization of
Valentine’s Day by the businessmen. For the businessmen, Valentine’s Day is a great opportunity for them
to earn profit as there are a large number of customers. Different ages of people will celebrate Valentine’s
Day with their wife, husband, girlfriend or boyfriend. They will buy goods and services to celebrate that
day, thus businessmen can earn lots of money through Valentine’s Day. Thus businessmen will carry out
promotion of Valentine’s Day each year, such as decorating the shopping centre, advertisement and
promotion on TV. They produce products which involve the elements of celebrating Valentine’s Day such
as chocolate of the Valentine’s Day and gift sets. Also, the businessmen create a romantic and warm
atmosphere for the Valentine’s Day that it turns into a day which expresses love and warmth. People are
attracted by and happy with the atmosphere, thus they will consume a lot and celebrate for Valentine’s Day.
They enjoy in the romantic atmosphere constructed by the businessmen.
However, they may not identified with western culture and sometime they even don’t know the underlying
value, but they are willing to enjoy the romantic atmosphere and have a happy day with their
girl/boyfriends on that day. In contrast, the Yuan Xiao Festival has little promotion as this traditional
festival have less business opportunities for the businessmen. The Yuan Xiao Festival does not like
Valentine’s Day which promotes materialism, thus there is less promotion and less people celebrate the
Yuan Xiao Festival.
Secondly, there is a lack of government’s promotion of the Yuan Xiao Festival. HK government is not
enthusiastic to promote the Yuan Xiao Festival as a Chinese cultural festival and to promote its value, thus
HK citizens are not familiar with the Yuan Xiao Festival, so it is less popular than Valentine’s Day which
has lots of promotion by the businessmen in HK.
Thirdly, the Yuan Xiao Festival is fading out and becoming less popular. HK people are not familiar with
this traditional cultural festival, and as time pass, it fades out. It is not related to whether Chinese culture is
less identified than the Western culture or not.
Some may argue that the Yuan Xiao Festival become less popular as HK people is less identified with
Chinese culture than Western culture. However, Chinese culture has been deep-rooted in our society, it has
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fundamental importance in our life such as filial piety, faith and honesty. These are still promoted by us.
The case of the Yuan Xiao Festival is only a special case, other Chinese festivals like the Chinese Lunar
New Year is still promoted by Hongkongers very much. We still respect our Chinese culture and it is
impossible for Western culture to replace our 5,000-year history of Chinese culture.
All in all, as the Yuan Xiao Festival is less popular than Valentine’s Day is due to the lack of
commercialization, lack of government’s support and promotion, and the fading out of it; but not due to
the reason that Chinese culture is less identified than Western culture.
Teacher’s comment:
- The mark of the answer is 8/10.
- The stance is clear and the organization of the argument is systematic.
- The third supportive argument needs further elaboration, e.g. the reason of fading out of the YXF.
- The counter argument was not clearly explained. Since the stance of this answer is ‘disagree’, good
counter arguments should explain higher degree of westernization in HK leads to higher popularity of
VD but lower popularity of the YXF.
Paper 2 Question 2
(a)
Recently, China is rapidly developing its economy and its GDP roses quickly. The 12 th FYP proposes that
the reduction of economic growth and energy consumption together in the plan.
The first reason is due to the rapid economic growth consumers a large amount of energy, like burning a
lot of fossil fuels which will discharge a lot of air pollutants and causes serious pollution. To alleviate the
pollution problem, the government plans to reduce the economic growth and energy consumption
altogether. Since a rapid economic growth requires a lot of fuels to generate energy for the industries and
factories to use in order to speed up the economy by a series of industrialization and urbanization. This
causes a large amount of fuels are being burnt and causes serious air pollution as exhaust gases are
discharged during the burning process. Hence, the economic growth must be slowed down and the energy
consumption also has to be slowed down so as to alleviate the environmental pollution caused by the rapid
economic growth of China as well as the high energy consumption, and to maintain the sustainable
development of China with less environmental pollution.
Another reason is due to the alleviation of the energy shortage problem in China. In China, due to the
rapid economic growth, a large amount of fossil fuels which are non-renewable are burnt. More and more
fuels are burnt to supply more energy to support the development of China’s economy through
industrialization and urbanization. Thus, the amount of fossil fuels is decreasing rapidly and nearly used
up. To ensure there is an adequate supply of fuels for the coming future and ensure the sustainability of the
fossil fuels, the economic development and energy consumption should be slowed down so as to consume
less fuels and maintain the source of fossil fuels in the future.
The third reason is due to the immaturity of the technologies in developing alternative energies. Since
China nowadays is in economic growth rapidly with high energy consumption, the present amount of
fossil fuels is not sufficient for the future use since it is nearly used up very soon due to its limited supply
but high demand. Meanwhile, the development of alternative energy source like solar and wind energies in
China is not well-developed due to geographical restrictions and technological restrictions. Therefore,
there may not be other energy sources to replace the shortage of fossil fuels in the future. Thus, to ensure
there is an alternative energy source that can supply and prevent shortage of energy in the future, the
economic growth must be slowed down and this also leads to the slow down of energy consumption since
fewer fuels will be burnt.
So we have to wait for the mature and advanced technologies in producing alternative energy which can
provide a clean energy source to China and prevent from energy shortage in the future. Once the economic
development is still rapid, the fossil fuels may be used up but meanwhile there is no other alternative
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source of energy to replace the insufficient supply of fuels and energy, this may cause energy shortage and
badly affect the quality of life of the citizens as the lack of electricity to support living.
All in all, there are totally three reasons that lead to the economic growth and energy consumption to be
reduced together.
Teacher’s comment:
- The mark of the answer is 8/8.
- It is good that the relationship between economic growth and energy consumption was clearly
explained at the beginning, and all reasons were clearly related to the reduction in economic growth
and energy consumption at the same time.
(b)
There are many stakeholders in this issue. Chinese government, citizens and vehicle companies are
supporters of the 12th FYP; while workers, factory owners, urban developers, farmers would oppose to the
12th FYP.
First, workers and factory owners will have conflicts between them. It is because the reduction of
economic growth, the income and productivity should be lower than before, to maintain the average
income of the factories, the wages of workers will be reduced. However, workers will not be satisfied with
their employers who cut their wages. Therefore, there will be a conflict between workers and factory
owners after the plan is in action.
Second, farmers and the government will have conflict between them when the plan is in action. It is
because when the economic growth is slower, there should be some regulations of using chemicals in
plants in order to protect the environment. However, pesticides, fertilizers and other chemicals can
increase the yield of product. Now the government says it should reduce the use of chemicals in plants to
protect the environment, the income of farmers will be reduced. They will fight for rights to protect their
incomes. The conflict will exist between the government and farmers.
Third, there may have a conflict between citizens and the government. It is because the 12th FYP shows
that China will develop new energy resources and reduce the emission of greenhouse gas, and then the
electricity fee will be higher. For example, the cost of the machine of wind power station, nuclear energy
power plants, and hydro-power plants are very expensive, so the electricity fee should be very high.
However, using coal to generate electricity is cheap, so the electricity fee will be lower. When the plan is
in action, the electricity fee should be increased. Therefore, citizens will have conflict with the Chinese
government with the increase in electricity fee.
Fourth, the citizens and vehicle companies will also have conflict. The source shows that the 12th FYP will
develop vehicles using new energy source such as electricity, solar energy and etc. However, these energy
sources are very expensive. Thus, the cost of driving will increase. Also, the prices of these vehicles are
higher. However, the old vehicles using non-renewable energy such as gasoline have lower cost than the
new vehicles using renewable energy. Therefore, the increase in the price of vehicles will make some
conflict between citizens and vehicle companies.
Fifth, the urban developer will have conflict with the government. After the reform and opening up, the
modernization brings to the urbanization of China and fast economic growth. The 12 th FYP shows that to
reduce the economic growth, it will lower the urban development rate in order to reduce the problems
resulting from urban development, such as land pollution, noise pollution and air pollution. Now the urban
should develop slowly or even stop to develop. The urban developers will have no projects and the
construction workers will be unemployed after the 12th FYP is in action.
Sixth, the workers will have conflict with their companies. It is because the reduction of economic growth
will reduce the income of companies. These companies will lay off some workers or cut their wages to
maintain the profit of the companies. Therefore, workers will be unemployed or reduced wages. So there
will be conflicts between them because the workers will fight for their rights.
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In conclusion, although the 12th FYP can reduce the environmental problem in China with reduction of
economic growth, many problems and conflicts will be caused.
Teacher’s comment:
- The mark of the answer is 12/12.
- The discussion of each conflict was confined between two parties.
Paper 2 Question 3
(a)
Nowadays, there are more and more people from ethnic minorities in Hong Kong. However, even though
the number of ethnic minorities is increasing, still the HK people feel stranger of them and have prejudices
to them. In my opinion, these prejudices pose difficulties for the personal development of the ethnic
minority groups.
First, HK people used to have a perception over the job position of the ethnic minority groups. From the
source, Viv’s father was actually a businessman and his mother was a teacher. But Viv claims that his
father is a security guard and his mother is a curry-cooking housewife. It is because he was to fit in HK
people’s image of “Ah Cha” which means that they think the ethnic minorities always perform in the jobs
with lower social position and lower income. In my opinion, this prejudice will affect the self-esteem of
the people in HK from ethnic minorities. As they are not gaining recognition from the general HK people,
they will in many times doubt their abilities and think that they cannot change other’s prejudice no matter
how hard-working they are. As a result, they will have less confident towards their abilities. Moreover,
their self-actualization need cannot be achieved as they are not feeling confidence to perform that. It
discourages them to have a well personal development.
Second, the ethnic minority groups are often considered as “different” from other people. For example, in
the source, as Viv’s name is not similar to other HK people’s name, he is always called upon to answer
questions by the teachers. From my viewpoint, I think this prejudice that the ethnic minorities are
“different” from HK people will affect the personal development of the ethnic minority groups. It is
because it will make the ethnic minorities lack of a sense of belonging to HK. They think they are not
classified by others as a member of HK people. It may make them have negative emotion and feeling not
respected by the others. It may affect their social health and thus their personal development.
Although in the source, the interviewee, Viv, seems not affected by the prejudice and these may even help
him find his own way and own identity. However, in my opinion, Viv is just to make himself feel better
through saying such a word. As the source reflects, if Viv is not affected by the prejudice, he would not
claim that his father and mother are doing low-class jobs rather than the real ones. It shows Viv is actually
not confident on himself as he thinks other people would accept his parents’ jobs. Also, Viv has his “own
identity” means he is having a sense of belonging and feeling himself not accepted by the HK people.
Therefore, although Viv said he is not affected by the prejudice, I still think it makes certain influence to
him and affects his personal development.
Besides, not all people from ethnic minority groups are as tough as Viv, they may really be affected by the
prejudice of HK people and have negative feelings. Thus, their personal development is affected adversely
as they always need to approach HK people in daily life.
All in all, I agree that the prejudice has posed difficulties for the ethnic minority groups’ personal
development in terms of reducing their self-esteem and sense of belonging.
Teacher’s comment:
The mark of the answer is 10/10.
This answer presents clearly some common prejudices HK people have, the difficulties facing ethnic
minority groups, and how these difficulties affect the personal development of the people from ethnic
P. 9
minorities.
Paper 2 Question 3
(b)
In order to facilitate an ethnic harmony, I think that the government and the young people can have certain
things to do.
First, the government and young people should improve the communication with the minority groups.
For the government, I think it should provide more education opportunities to the ethnic minority groups
which contribute to their communication with HK people. For example, the government can subsidize the
ethnic minority groups to take courses of Cantonese language so that they can learn Cantonese and
communicate with HK people. Through communications, the ethnic minority groups and HK people can
gain better understanding of each other, conflicts and misunderstanding can be reduced. Thus, the ethnic
harmony could be facilitated.
For the young people, as they are always open-minded and active, they can contribute to the ethnic
harmony by contacting and talking with the ethnic minority groups actively. As HK is a totally new
environment to ethnic minorities, they may feel afraid and tend to protect themselves through not
approaching the others. Therefore, it is important for the young people to communicate with them actively
and broaden their minds. By doing so, the anxiety of the ethnic minorities will be reduced and they will
attempt to get closer with HK people. As a result, a close relationship between the ethnic minorities and
HK people could be built.
Second, I think the government and young people should both listen more to the ethnic minorities’ opinion
and concern their needs.
For the government, they should ask for the need of ethnic minorities when setting or implementing
different policies. Through understanding their needs, the government can set policies accordingly to help
and assist them. It allows the ethnic minorities to think that they are being considered in the society and
feel respected by others. As a result, their sense of belonging to the society will increase and willing to
approach the government. It improves their relationship and contributes to ethnic harmony.
For the young people, as they are having lots of chance to connect with the ethnic minority groups such as
through the school or other activities, it is important for them to listen and accept the opinion of the ethnic
minority groups and show respect to them. For example, during group discussion in schools, the youth
people can encourage the ethnic minorities to voice out their opinion and discuss together. It allows the
young people to know more about ethnic minorities’ feeling and exchange ideas. It may even help to
reduce the cultural difference between them. These all help to facilitate ethnic harmony through increasing
the mutual understanding between the ethnic majority and minority.
Last but not the least, the government should educate the majority to be more acceptable to the ethnic
minority groups. They can do it through the TV advertisement and holding some talks. This can allow the
ethnic majority knows more about the ethnic minorities and have less perception and prejudice against
them. The conflict between ethnic minority and majority will thus be reduced and ethnic harmony can be
achieved.
All in all, the government and young people should work hard on their position and thus maintain the
ethnic harmony of Hong Kong.
Teacher’s comment:
- The mark of the answer is 9/10.
- The structure of this answer is easy to follow. Both the government and young people are discussed in
each area. This could guarantee that the answer is well-balanced.
P. 10