Tag Archives: Country: Hong Kong

CNSNews: Hong Kong’s top court granted a transgender woman the right to marry her boyfriend Monday in a watershed ruling that falls short of allowing same-sex marriage.

The Advocate: A transgender woman in Hong Kong is asking the city’s highest court to overturn a lower court’s ruling that she cannot marry her boyfriend because she was assigned male at birth.

South China Morning Post: Religious groups say their freedom of speech is threatened by move to protect the rights of sexual minorities.

Telegraph: Thousands of protesters surrounded Hong Kong’s government headquarters on Monday over a plan to introduce a pro-China school curriculum that they describe as an attempt to brainwash students.

Washington Times: “The curriculum only paints a rosy picture about the Communist Party… This is just an attempt to introduce the mainland agenda in Hong Kong schools,” she said.

Washington Times: A pro-democracy heckler interrupted a speech by Chinese President Hu Jintao at the swearing-in of Hong Kong’s new leader Sunday, and tens of thousands of residents marched to protest Chinese rule on the 15th anniversary of the Asian financial hub’s return to Beijing’s control.

theStar.com: Over the last decade the number of mainland babies born in Hong Kong has risen from 620 in 2001 to more than 40,000 in 2010 — almost half the total 88,000 births in the territory. Some experts estimate that upwards of 60 per cent of these are second children.

Catholic Culture: Cardinal Joseph Zen has embarked on a 3-day fast to protest legislation that he sees as a bid by the Chinese government to seize control of Catholic schools in Hong Kong.

Asia News: The retired bishop of Hong Kong, attacks the Chinese government proposal that imposes separate classes for “national education”. According to the prelate, “they want to foment nationalism, the Church does not accept this situation.” Hong Kong deputies also express doubts.

LifeSiteNews: A leading fertility clinic in Hong Kong revealed this week that they aborted two embryonic children after clinicians had implanted them in the wrong woman. The Victory A.R.T. Laboratory realized the mix-up quickly and, according to the BBC, then had the embryos “taken out and discarded.”

Catholic Culture: Catholics in Hong Kong rallied on June 29, under the leadership of Cardinal Joseph Zen, to call for religious freedom in mainland China and the release of the imprisoned bishops and priests of the “underground” Church.

Asia News: Wang Guangya wants students to foster understanding of Chinese history, especially from Mao until today. The Office for public education makes a “popular” request to dedicate up to 50 hours of national education per year to issues. Many fear a form of “brainwashing”.

Union of Catholic Asian News: “The Hong Kong government has proposed increasing the number of voters in religious sub-sectors on the Election Committee that will select the territory’s Chief Executive in 2012 . . . According to the proposed arrangement, representation from each of the six designated bodies in the religious subsector will increase to 10 seats.”

The Standard: “Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun warned yesterday Catholic schools may be forced to close if an appeal to overturn the Education Bureau’s management policy is rejected by the highest court.”

Christian Science Monitor: “‘Shanghai-China’ outperformed all other global participants in an average of the three areas of evaluation (math, science, and reading). South Korea (2), Hong Kong-China (4), Singapore (5), and Japan (8) also placed in the the top 10. Non-Asian countries in the top 10 were Finland (3), Canada (6), New Zealand (7), Australia (9), and The Netherlands (10). The US was no. 17.”

Catholic Culture: “In a significant victory for freedom of expression, the Hong Kong diocese has won approval to hold a prayer vigil for religious liberty in China, despite strong resistance from government officials.”

Boston.com (AP): “Roman Catholic activists accused Hong Kong’s government on Thursday of trying to block an upcoming prayer meeting aimed at showing solidarity with underground believers on the Chinese mainland.”

Mercury News (AP): “A Hong Kong court began reviewing Monday a government decision to bar a transgender woman from marrying her male partner in the first such case to be heard in the city’s legal system, the woman’s lawyer said.”

Associated Press: “Hong Kong’s legislature on Friday agreed to add 10 elected seats, completing a set of Beijing-backed electoral changes that critics say reinforce the territory’s undemocratic political system.”

Christian Today: “Protestant churches in Hong Kong are blooming with an annual growth rate 6.2% over the last five years and the number of Protestants in the former British colony drawing close to 300,000.”

Taiwan News: “[U]nder new laws that came into effect in 2005, the Hong Kong diocese is required to name some outsiders, such as parents and alumni, to the school boards although it still controls 60 percent of the board seats. The Hong Kong government says the new laws are designed to improve school management by making it more democratic. But the Catholic Church believes the provisions violate its autonomy and challenged them in court, arguing that they violate Hong Kong’s constitution, which promises religious freedom despite Chinese rule. Hong Kong also maintains a legal system separate from the mainland’s.”

Xinhua: “The Domestic Violence (Amendment) Ordinance 2009 will enable a party to a cohabitation relationship, whether of the same sex or opposite sex, to apply to the court for an injunction order against molestation by the other party.”

Via Earth Times: Hong Kong recorded its highest ever annual number of HIV infections in 2007 as the virus spreads rapidly among gay men practicing unsafe sex, doctors announced Tuesday. The city of 6.9 million saw 414 new cases in …