The pile of writing on Wong Kit-ching's desk worried her. Page after page was filled with negative emotion jealousy, fighting, anger and retribution. These were not the themes she had expected from Primary One to Six students when she agreed to judge a creative writing workshop.
The senior lecturer at Hong Kong Institute of Education (HKIEd) lost count of the times she came across aggressive, cynical expressions more suited to writers of far more advanced years than the ones she was dealing with.
One piece already marked by some adjudicators as outstanding described how a donkey beat up a ''greedy wolf'' which repeatedly stole eggs from a farm. The donkey was quoted as saying to the wolf: ''Why don't you steal one egg less each day? Then I will hit you fewer times.''
''The children presented a world with little appreciation, but full of criticism, competition and politics. These are supposed to be features only found in an adult world,'' said Ms Wong.
But children are not to blame, the lecturer believes. Their writing is a reflection of what they read. The poor quality of many locally produced works and the failure of parents and teachers to distinguish between good and bad literature is worrying.
The term ''children's literature'' refers not only to stories, but also films, cartoons, illustrations and other art forms devoted to children. However, visual arts are largely under-appreciated or ignored in the SAR.