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This year marks the 80th anniversary of the May 4 Movement. Howmuch do young people understand of the background of the Movement? A recent territory-widesurvey conducted by the Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups found that one in four youngpeople knew nothing about the Movement. Only a very few of the respondents said they knewvery much of it. Although the rest of the respondents said that they had some idea of theMovement, their understanding of it was very limited. The Federation called on thesociety, as well as the organizations concerned, to work more closely to increase youth'scivic awareness.
The survey showed that young peoplehad reservations about the pace of democratic movement and scientific development in HongKong society. On average, they rated their satisfactory level regarding Hong Kong'sdemocratic movement and science studies development at 5.9 points on a 0-10 point-scale.
The survey required respondents toevaluate their own performance in various areas. The survey found that young people werenot satisfied with their own social participation and their concern for the country,giving themselves an average of only 4.6 points and 4.8 points respectively. Young peoplegave an average of 5.8 points to their own performance for concerning the society. Youngpeople gave a relatively high mark for their ability for critical and rational thinking,achieving an average of 6.9 points. Respondents rated their ability to think independentlyan average of 6.7 points.
Almost 60 per cent of the respondents said theywere proud of being Chinese. The largest number of respondents believed that thecharacteristic of hard-work, along with her rich and long culture, were the two most majorpositive features of the Chinese race. One-third of the respondents criticised the Chineserace for not being united, while around one-fourth accused the Chinese race of beingselfish and greedy.
In evaluating changes in personal values overthe past two years, around 60 per cent of the respondents thought that their understandingof China and their identity of being Chinese had increased since the handover. Some 53 percent of the respondents said their sense of national consciousness had become strongerover the past two years.
The survey found that young people had positiveviews of China's international status, with half of the respondents believing that herstatus was neither too high nor too low. Another 46 per cent of the respondents were ofthe view that China enjoyed a high international status. Older respondents were more eagerto hold this view.
Young people also had positive views of China'sprospects. Using the same scale as mentioned above, China's prospects ratedan average of 7 points as an indicator of youth confidence. When asked what China could doto improve her prospects, the largest number of respondents stated economic development,accounting for 46 per cent of the answers. A further one-third suggested improving China'sinformation technology.
The Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groupsconducted this telephone survey from 19 to 22 April 1999. A total of 564 young people,aged 15 to 34, were successfully interviewed. The survey found that textbooks and themedia were the most popular sources of providing information of the Movement torespondents.
Jacky Pang, the senior research officer of the Federation, saidthat young people had reservations about their social participation. He called on thesociety, as well as the organizations concerned, to do more to assist and encourage youngpeople to be more active socially.
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Youth Opinion Polls No. 66
