The first "Policy Address" of the new government will be released tomorrow (19th). Outsiders speculate that in addition to saving the local economy, youth affairs and the development of culture, arts and sports are also expected to be one of the priorities of the current government.
Member of the Legislative Council of the Federation of Trade Unions, Chen Yingxin, together with 12-year-old violinist Zhou Ruhua, who is studying at the Academy for Performing Arts, was interviewed by Hong Kong 01. They talked about the lack of support provided by the Hong Kong government to local young talents in the arts, sports and arts, such as restrictions on local education courses and training. Low allowances, unclear career development blueprints, and lack of suitable training venues.
Chen Yingxin said frankly: "Chief Executive Li Jiachao proposed a 'cultural blueprint', but many policies have not been able to keep up. The future (development) of the Department of Culture, Sports, and the Arts is a new driving force. It is necessary to cultivate talents and allocate resources in advance, so that young people and their parents can feel at ease. Local talent.”
Chen Yingxin (left) invited Hong Kong musician Zhou Ruhua, who won the third place in the International Violin Competition, to talk about the difficulties of paralleling her studies and performing arts.
(Photo by Zhang Haowei)
There are more opportunities for young foreign musicians to participate, and there are more restrictions on education in Hong Kong
Zhou Ruhua has been learning the violin since she was 6 years old and has reached the level of a performance-level diploma in just 4 years. In August this year, she went to Germany at her own expense to participate in the "Kloster Schöntal International Violin Competition" and won the third place.
Zhou Ruhua is full of love for music, but the lack of government support for music development has also brought a lot of pressure to the family.
Zhou Ruhua, who has studied in a local traditional famous school, said that she wanted to develop on the path of music since she was a child, but the education system in Hong Kong has many restrictions: "There is a lot of homework to do after school, so I don't have a lot of time to practice, and I worry that it will be difficult to progress." The local education system has many restrictions, making it difficult for students to take time off to compete in foreign countries, or to become a constraint on the development of young people.
Zhou Ruhua also pointed out that during the European competitions, she found that many foreign musicians of the same year as her had rich performance experience and were less timid during competitions.
On the contrary, due to the lack of sufficient venues in Hong Kong and the low level of government attention to local young musicians, it is difficult for her to accumulate performance experience: "There is less government support, and the performance venues are relatively small and detailed, mainly at the Academy for Performing Arts and the Cultural Center. (Performance).” Zhou’s mother added that even if the government held concerts, it preferred to invite Western orchestras rather than local musicians.
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After going to Germany at his own expense to win the third runner-up and returning to Hong Kong, "no one cares"
Zhou's mother pointed out that her daughter has never received any government subsidy for her musical journey, except for the tuition subsidy from the Academy of Performing Arts, and she paid for it out of her own pocket for the competition in Germany.
After winning the world competition and returning to Hong Kong, relevant departments such as the Home Affairs and Youth Affairs Bureau, Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau did not take the initiative to contact Zhou Ruhua to provide her with assistance such as training qualification certification, industry development and connection education.
When asked if the government has provided a clear blueprint for career development, Zhou's mother said, "It's all up to us to explore all the way, and many parents say: 'With so many resources to cultivate a person, I don't want to be able to make it out of the net. "Teaching the violin", I can't see the development (opportunities) in Hong Kong." Zhou Ruhua also sighed: "If there is no support from the house and enterprise, it will be very difficult for (violinist) to become a lifelong career in Hong Kong."
Chen Yingxin: It is difficult for the youth to express themselves if the policy cannot keep up with the youth
Chen Yingxin said that talent is an important resource for Hong Kong, and it is also the key to the success of developing new industries and new economy in the future. He believes that the government should not only attract top talents to Hong Kong, but also focus on nurturing local talents: "We always talk about 'culture'. The four modernizations are popularized, event-oriented, industrialized, and elite, respectively, but the point is that after many years, young people have to fly to Europe for competitions, and they cannot hold international and local competitions in Hong Kong, and support local competitions. Does talent have a stage and platform to develop? Why don’t we have to wait for talents like Zhou Ruhua to show off foreign talents, and then attract foreign talents?” She believes that the Hong Kong government has not provided appropriate channels or one-stop platforms for local performing talents to help them face the audience.
Chen Yingxin believes that the government should no longer use merit as the criterion for funding or not, but should think about how to help young people turn their interests into careers, and expand support to areas such as music, art and culture, and improve the ladder for young people to move up the ladder: "When After the popularization of culture and art, there will be an industry if there is a lot of money. If a concert is held in Hong Kong, it can become an industry development. It can also cooperate with the "14th Five-Year Plan", so that local talents have more opportunities to develop their strengths. It can prevent them from giving up because of economic problems in order to develop.”
Advocate additional practice venues and performance venues
In addition to the lack of venues for local musicians to perform, Chen Yingxin believes that the government has not reserved practice venues for emerging sports or niche sports development: "There are not many venues in Hong Kong, and the equipment and supporting facilities for music development are not enough. Earlier Visiting the Hong Kong Chinese Martial Arts Dragon and Lion Association, the government started from the new town of Hung Shui Bridge, and has already said that land will be reserved for the association, but when they arrive, they still practice at the bottom of the flyover... They are healthy Lux World Records... The government should plan ahead and reserve the space for development." However, she pointed out that Liu Zhen, deputy director of the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau, told her earlier that in the "Policy Address" "There will be "good news", and we will start to solve the problem of insufficient practice venues.
Chen Yingxin also hoped that the "Policy Address" will focus on supporting the diverse development of youth, and suggested that the government should allocate more resources to provide sustainable and constant support. , Long-term planning, vigorously promote the development of young people in the fields of special sports, emerging sports, music, art and culture, including research and expansion of fund-funding schemes in different fields, and the construction of practice and performance venues for related projects, so that young people can take care of their studies.
Advocating the dual-track vocational education system and choosing the linking majors in two stages
In terms of the education system, Chen Yingxin suggested to implement the "dual-track vocational education system", which provides career or interest development pathways in the junior and senior high school courses in stages, so that students can choose related articulation professional education in these two stages to help them integrate with the industry Development, early career planning.
It is also suggested that colleges and universities should study and follow up on occupational mismatch, and provide college-level retraining courses to promote the gap year (Gap Year), so that young people have space to explore their own strengths.
In order to reduce the financial burden of youth development directors, Chen Yingxin believes that the government should also review the "income-free" student debt interest rates of student financial aid and loan schemes.
She also suggested that when creating new jobs or promoting community activities and youth development projects, priority should be given to hiring local talents.
In addition, Chen Yingxin proposed to expand and optimize the certification of local arts, sports, and academic qualifications, so that those engaged in academia, arts, and special sports have more opportunities to connect with specialized colleges in the Mainland and overseas.
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