https://www.scmp.com/rss/315266/feed Spirit of Hong Kong 2014 is a series of stories that examine the vital yet sometimes unnoticed contributions by remarkable indivduals and groups to the everyday success of Hong Kong. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com There is more to Hong Kong than just street protests. But with so much tension and bickering going around, it is easy to forget there are still good stories to tell. Recently, traditional and new media have been awash with depressing news, giving an incomplete picture of our city. For the second year, the South China Morning Post has held the Spirit of Hong Kong Awards. Initiated to mark the paper's 110th anniversary last year, they seek to give recognition to lesser-known individuals who... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1619526/local-heroes-who-set-example-us-all?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1619526/local-heroes-who-set-example-us-all?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 18 Oct 2014 20:31:58 +0000 Eight winners have been chosen for the Spirit of Hong Kong Awards this year, organised by the South China Morning Post and were given their awards on Tuesday evening at a dinner ceremony at the Conrad Hong Kong Hotel, with guest of honour Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah. “Each and every one of the award recipients is central to the continuing success of Hong Kong as a player, a force, in the fiercely competitive global market place,” said Tsang in a speech before the ceremony. “They... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1616417/spirit-hong-kong-winners-shine-scmp-awards-dinner?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1616417/spirit-hong-kong-winners-shine-scmp-awards-dinner?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 14 Oct 2014 13:45:15 +0000 Over the past few weeks, the South China Morning Post has highlighted some of the city's unsung heroes, community givers and others who inspire us - the nominees for the Spirit of Hong Kong Awards 2014. There is the villager who loves to show students his heritage and culture and traces his ancestry back 28 generations; the budding young swimmer whose debilitating illness reduced him to a wheelchair within a month, but who then rallied to become a fencing champion; the social worker who visits... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1591968/post-readers-get-chance-vote-hong-kong-people-who-inspire-them?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1591968/post-readers-get-chance-vote-hong-kong-people-who-inspire-them?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 13 Sep 2014 22:15:15 +0000 Sheila Purves is back in Hong Kong before heading back to the mainland. The Canadian with a British accent - "I was born in the UK and never lost it" - arrived in Hong Kong 30 years ago and has spent most of the past two decades across the border. Purves, director of the Hong Kong Society of Rehabilitation's international and China programmes, says she's constantly learning from her work on the mainland. There are frustrations, but there are also lessons learned that while a local staff member... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1590304/director-recognised-25-years-training-rehabilitation-methods-hong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1590304/director-recognised-25-years-training-rehabilitation-methods-hong?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 11 Sep 2014 19:45:15 +0000 Some elderly people have embraced the internet and have become quite multimedia-savvy, but there are still many others who simply do not enjoy computers and hi-tech gadgets. In Hong Kong these days, weekend family meals in restaurants present a sad picture where mum, dad and kids all sit absorbed in their smartphones while grandparents are isolated. So Joe Wong Chi-yin of Medisen, a medical solutions and devices design company, set out to address the widening technology gap between young and old... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1590303/firm-nominated-spirit-hong-kong-award-its-seniors-family-channel?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1590303/firm-nominated-spirit-hong-kong-award-its-seniors-family-channel?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 11 Sep 2014 19:45:15 +0000 There are a number of green pot plants at the offices of Richform Holdings. According to a recent report, foliage in the office increases productivity. The people who work here aren't called employees, they're called associates, in a harmonious partnership with their associate or boss Jimmy Lau Fu-shing. When Lau, 55, joined Richform, which distributes the Everpure Drinking Water System in Hong Kong and Macau, he brought his corporate social responsibility ideals with him - and they go far... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1588030/bright-ideas-cure-workplace-blues?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1588030/bright-ideas-cure-workplace-blues?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 08 Sep 2014 19:30:30 +0000 Nelson Yip Siu-hong uses crutches to get around, the result of cerebral palsy, which affected his lower body but not his speech. He describes how, until the age of 16, he wouldn't leave the house by himself. That has changed dramatically in recent years. Yip runs three firms, founded the non-governmental organisation Hong Kong Rehabilitation Power in 1995, and serves as its executive director. He has always had a great love for horses, and often has private lessons now, but the highlight of his... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1588031/nelson-yip-inspires-words-and-actions?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1588031/nelson-yip-inspires-words-and-actions?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 08 Sep 2014 19:30:30 +0000 Robert Hau Kun-sun can trace back his family's ancestry an incredible 28 generations. He takes pride in showing visitors, including hundreds of schoolchildren every year, village life in the New Territories, where the Hau family has lived for centuries. Hau has converted a village house into a museum with many implements used for both food and farming. He enjoys showing schoolchildren the traditional way of life and the crops that are still grown in front of the village as they have been for... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1586060/living-dictionary-keeps-family-history-culture-and-language-alive?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1586060/living-dictionary-keeps-family-history-culture-and-language-alive?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 05 Sep 2014 21:00:00 +0000 Donating bone marrow hurts. That's a fact. What isn't true is that it is in any way detrimental to one's health. Gryphon Sou, bone marrow donor, would like to emphasise that. Because sometimes there is just a one in 10,000 chance of providing a bone marrow match for a person dying of a blood disease, and getting that message out there may just increase their odds of survival. Sou, 52, works at the airport's Superterminal 1 - the single largest cargo terminal in the world - as a senior Customs... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1586059/donors-plea-submit-little-pain-save-life?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1586059/donors-plea-submit-little-pain-save-life?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 05 Sep 2014 21:00:00 +0000 Doraemon, the robotic cartoon cat from Japan, was the early inspiration for a young Rex Sham Pui-sum and the reason he got into robotics. On the day he discovered that Doraemon did not exist in real life, the then schoolboy set about creating his own. Sham, 29, studied engineering at Chinese University before starting his own company, then called Hong Kong Robotics. His first foray into business involved creating custom designed circuit boards for factory automation and education. But an... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1586061/engineers-fiery-passion-robots?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1586061/engineers-fiery-passion-robots?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 05 Sep 2014 21:00:00 +0000 It's hard to imagine what a nightmare that month must have been five years ago, when Jake Leung Siu-lun went from being a top student and very capable swimmer and sportsman, to life in a wheelchair, paralysed from the waist down. "I started not to feel anything in my legs and then my arm. It wasn't so much about pain, just a numbness," says Leung, 23, over a coffee at Polytechnic University, where he is about to start studying for a degree in medical laboratory science. His condition is known as... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1585754/fighting-fit-student-looks-future?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1585754/fighting-fit-student-looks-future?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 05 Sep 2014 05:00:45 +0000 Friends say David Bellis has an infatuation with obelisks and tunnels. While Freud would have had a field day with that, Bellis' dedication has seen him build a website on many aspects of Hong Kong's history. Some of his findings come simply from wandering about, discovering former air raid tunnels in Central, fire hydrants, the boundary markers from 1903 to mark the city of Victoria. Having fallen in love with Hong Kong in 1989 on his way to Australia, the Briton has lived here permanently... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1585762/davids-tunnel-vision-sheds-light-citys-heritage?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1585762/davids-tunnel-vision-sheds-light-citys-heritage?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 05 Sep 2014 05:00:15 +0000 Want to know how to make concrete? That's simple for civil engineers. Let's try another. A community in South Africa discovers a crack in their church wall and needs to find a way to reinforce the wall. What do they do? Ask Vincent Chu! Vincent Chu Tun-hon, 38, is a government civil engineer. He loves the subject so much that he regards simple matters, such as constructing a drain, or complex ones, such as the expansion of the Hong Kong airport, all part of the civil engineer's job to solve. The... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1585282/civil-engineers-got-answers?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1585282/civil-engineers-got-answers?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 04 Sep 2014 20:00:00 +0000 Joe Kwok Chun-hoi, 22, likes to take photographs. Photographs of flowers, water droplets, roots of trees and empty hallways. He has had an album put together, annotating images with his thoughts on life, family, God and the soul. He calls the work Listen to Hoi. Kwok cannot speak. He was born with spastic cerebral palsy and does not have control of the muscles that enable speech. He is wheelchair bound, his limbs having been impaired by spasms. He has control of one hand though, which he uses to... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1585281/unable-speak-cerebral-palsy-youth-finds-voice-through-photography?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1585281/unable-speak-cerebral-palsy-youth-finds-voice-through-photography?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 04 Sep 2014 20:00:00 +0000 When staff at Ultra Active Technology felt they needed to take a more cohesive approach to volunteering, their employer's solution was to set up its own charity. The North Point-based audio-visual and video conferencing expert's organisation, the UAT Association, began fostering sport in the community and encouraging children to pursue further education. These days, the firm holds at least one volunteering event a month to help children, elderly and disabled people or low-income families, public... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1585280/corporate-charity-helps-kids-find-their-own-paths?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1585280/corporate-charity-helps-kids-find-their-own-paths?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 04 Sep 2014 20:00:00 +0000 "You have to have the respect of your students," said Savio Fok Kin-keung, 73, who worked for more than 30 years at the Aberdeen Technical School in Wong Chuk Hang. But for some former pupils, Fok wasn't just their physics teacher: he was their mentor and inspiration. Fok has been nominated for the self-sacrifice to achieve greater good category of the Spirit of Hong Kong Awards 2014 by the Hong Kong Professional Teachers Union. After retiring 13 years ago, Fok has remained keenly involved in... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1583091/physics-instructor-taught-lessons-science-life?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1583091/physics-instructor-taught-lessons-science-life?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 01 Sep 2014 20:00:45 +0000 American engineering student Scot Frank's solar-powered SolSource cooker was an idea born from spare time. About a decade ago, he had just completed a semester of Putonghua language courses at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was heading for a three-month teaching job at a university in Qinghai province, in northwestern China. When he arrived, however, he found that the professor there had neglected to tell the students that Frank, then 19, was coming, so they had all gone home for... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1583092/us-engineering-student-develops-clean-cooker-using-suns-rays?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1583092/us-engineering-student-develops-clean-cooker-using-suns-rays?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 01 Sep 2014 20:00:45 +0000 Gloria Leung Mei-yee was four years old when she was in a traffic accident that killed her father and changed her family life forever. "I couldn't see my father," she recalls. "But one of my brothers had blood coming from his head." She had a broken arm, she says, though memories of the time she spent in hospital are hazy. Her mother was seriously injured and would die when Leung was a teenager as a result of those injuries. Leung has nine siblings; she's number 10, and she describes an elder... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1583093/recruiting-officer-army-givers?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1583093/recruiting-officer-army-givers?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 01 Sep 2014 20:00:45 +0000 Ask anyone what embodies the Hong Kong spirit and you will get an array of answers - optimism, perseverance, enterprise, versatility, generosity, benevolence and tolerance. While there is no shortage of attributes to collectively define the city's character, it is the people who bring this place to life. They are the heart and soul that make Hong Kong special. The people who manifest these positive qualities do not always get the appreciation they deserve. For this the media is partly... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1581973/unsung-heroes-who-make-hong-kong-special?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1581973/unsung-heroes-who-make-hong-kong-special?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 30 Aug 2014 21:30:30 +0000 In the late 1960s, Peter Lo Wai-hung would stand by a football pitch in Tsz Wan Shan near Wong Tai Sin, where groups of young men played games or just lounged around. There would be more than 100 of them, often unskilled having left school without qualifications, and prime pickings for triad members who also frequented the sports ground. Lo would approach some of the young men and ask if they were willing to work. If so, they would help him redecorate a school. They were paid, and when the work... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1581837/creating-chances-soccer-and-life?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1581837/creating-chances-soccer-and-life?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 29 Aug 2014 20:30:15 +0000 Possibly the most traumatic sight for Dr Poon Tak-lun in the wake of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake was the trucks queuing to carry away the dead from the main areas around the epicentre in Wenchuan. "Each truck could carry 40 to 50 bodies," he says from his office in Central, while showing photographs from that time. Poon, a specialist in orthopaedics and traumatology, has served with the Red Cross as a volunteer for more than 30 years and with colleagues from Hong Kong he was helping survivors of... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1581490/surgeon-helped-quake-survivors-live-again?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1581490/surgeon-helped-quake-survivors-live-again?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 28 Aug 2014 20:30:00 +0000