Tea can teach us a lesson to remember Recently, I read a book called Tea Thing. It is about the history and culture of tea, which was first found in China about 1,500 years ago. It made me think that, nowadays, we often forget about our Chinese heritage. We know many things about other countries like Japan and America, but not about China. In our daily life, too, we often eat fast food, rather than dim sum. I think we should take more time to learn about our culture. Tracy Fung Law Ting Pong Secondary School Practising English for fun and friendship Recently, my classmates and I went to Pope Paul VI College for an English oral practice session. We were joined by students from five other schools in Tsuen Wan and Sha Tin. Most of the students from the other schools were very friendly and talkative. They were good at English and spoke fluently. I enjoyed the session a lot. I learned how to present my thoughts more clearly and I improved my pronunciation of some words. If there is another session like this, I'll be the first one to sign up. Not only did I improve my English, but I also made new friends. Leung Wing-ting Tsuen Wan Public Ho Chuen Yiu Memorial College Pressure problem Many Hong Kong students suffer from too much pressure in their lives. This happens because we worry too much about whether we will succeed or not, and set targets which we may not be able to reach. If you are feeling stressed, you should tell your parents as they can help comfort you. You should also relax by exercising regularly. Most importantly, you should not be too tough on yourself. We are still young and, even if we fail a few times, there are still many opportunities ahead of us. Anthea Sham Po Leung Kuk No. 1 W. H. Cheung College Coping with the hikikomori trend Recently, many newspapers have reported that the hikikomori phenomenon has reached Hong Kong. The social withdrawal condition occurs when young people stay at home for months at a time, do not communicate with anyone and are not interested in doing anything. I think hikikomori could be caused by a number of things. Some young people, for instance, have difficulty finding jobs. Discouraged, some of them simply give up and would rather stay at home, play computer games and watch TV. Other young people are forced to go to school or university by their parents but they are not really interested in studying. They are unhappy and may have poor relationships with their classmates. They would rather stay at home and escape from their problems. I think the hikikomori phenomenon is closely related to city life. Many parents are so busy working longs hours that they don't have time to talk to their children or find out how they are feeling. We need to stop hikikomori spreading. As young people we need to establish our goals in life. We should set ourselves clear targets so that we know what we are working towards. We should also take time to notice any sudden changes in our friends, listen to their problems and show our love. We all need to take care not only of our physical health, but also of our mental health. Justine Chau Wing-yin SKH Lam Kau Mow Secondary School Hong Kong people are kind-hearted I have just joined a volunteer service where we need to arrange all our fares, materials and even our lunch by ourselves. It's challenging as we can't spend any of our own money so we need to ask other people for support. Not all my attempts at asking for donations were successful, but many people have donated what they can and that is really encouraging. This experience has taught me many things. I've learned that we shouldn't give up too easily and we should keep trying. I've also learnt that most people in Hong Kong are kind-hearted and helpful. Ida Yau Pui-Yu Yan Oi Tong Tin Ka Ping Secondary School Let park bands be I'm a Tuen Mun resident and I go to school every day through Tuen Mun Park. Recently, there have been complaints about the noise made by bands in the park. I have noticed that the crowds listening to the bands have grown constantly over the past few years. It started off with a small group of people playing Chinese musical instruments, then came dancing and singing and all sorts of public shows. I don't oppose the musicians because I think that the bands are doing a very good job of entertaining elderly people, while also protecting a Chinese tradition. However, I think that they should keep the volume down just a little bit for the sake of people living nearby. Chan Chun-sing
