The Young Reporter

Hong Kong's enhanced coronavirus control in the restaurant industry draws controversy
- 2020-12-16
- Politics
- The Young Reporter
- By: Sumnima LamaEdited by: Sunny Sun
- 2020-12-16
On December 8, Chief Executive Carrie Lam announced that dining regulations are to be more stringent as the fourth-wave of coronavirus fast approaches Hong Kong. In addition to maintaining the two-person gathering limit, the dining time at the restaurant was further shortened to 6 pm Fitness centres, sports premises, beauty salons, massage parlours and other places that are normally open were also required to be closed. These measures take effect on December 10. These measures were taken in response to the consecutive rise in triple-digit confirmed new cases of coronavirus since December. "We experienced this before," said Percy Lam Kwok-Ming, the manager at Brotziet, a German cuisine restaurant in Tsim Sha Tsui. He referred to the third wave of Covid-19 and said that they lost around 30% of their business during that time. The food and beverage sector saw a 35.3% decrease in sales during the third quarter of 2020, according to government statistics. "We had to take a lot of no-pay leaves so it affects our salary," said Pujan Rai, a staff at Brotzeit. She said that since part of her salary goes to supporting her family, whose income is also affected during covid, "it is a bit of a struggle every time a new wave hits Hong Kong." Ms Rai thinks it's too much to ask the restaurant to close at 6 pm as they can't get more revenue from the sale of alcohol or drinks, even have to rush customers to eat as soon as possible. She found the 6 PM limit to be excessive, since Brotziet is a restaurant and bar, closing at 6 pm means they sell fewer drinks and have to rush dining customers as well since the restaurant originally opens till 2 am, "pushing the closing time back to 8 or 9 pm …

HK E-payment market expected an increase of 10.5% for 2020/21
- 2020-12-16
- Business
- The Young Reporter
- By: Vikki CaiEdited by: KawaiWong
- 2020-12-16
Liang Jia uses WeChat Pay for her groceries when shopping in Marketplace as the Chinese digital wallet operator stepped up promotion to lure users amid a booming online payment service boosted by COVID-19. Digital wallet companies want to boost their turnover during the pandemic. Digital wallets in Hong Kong like WeChat Pay, AliPay and Bank of China have launched multiple promotions for the e-payment users to be benefited from. "Since I heard of the risk of transmission of COVID-19 by cash, I use contactless payment methods more often," said Ms Liang, a 29-year-old insurance broker. Hong Kong recorded 23 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Nov. 12, including 6 local infections. The city now has reported 5431 confirmed cases with 5170 patients recovered and 108 people died. Speaking on a radio program earlier in mid-October, microbiologist and government adviser on the coronavirus pandemic, Yuen Kwok-yung expressed concerns that using banknotes to purchase increases the risk of infection. The research from Australia's national science agency CSIRO stated that the COVID-19 can survive on cash for up to 28 days at 20°C. Mr Yuen also addressed that the government should explore different digital payment methods with the business sector, contactless payment should be stepped up to reduce infection risks. Indeed, more shoppers prefer using self-checkouts to avoid contact with people. A cashier at Wellcome who refuses to disclose her name because she does not want to represent the company to speak. She said more customers have started to use self-checkout since the outbreak of COVID-19. The pandemic also creates more demands for the usage of financial technology tools as people tend to stay at home, and prefer online shopping over brick-and-mortar stores. Fintech adopts new technology to improve and automate the delivery and use of financial services. Its core is utilized to help …

New Fashion Trend: Generation Z Promotes The Rise of Second-hand Market
- 2020-12-16
- Culture & Leisure
- The Young Reporter
- By: Bell ChanEdited by: Eurus Yiu
- 2020-12-16
Nearly 30 people crowded in a 200 feet factory building units for buying clothes. Ms Athena Lau Ka Yi, an 18 years old secondary student, was holding four to five pieces of clothes in her hand, still looking for more items. Many young girls shuttled between the clothing rack, eager to hunt for treasure among the pile of clothes. In the crowded space, a secondhand clothing weekend market was organised, attracted many young girls, mainly 15 to 23 years old. There were over hundreds of clothes in the market. They all looked new, but were actually second-hand. Clothes were divided into different styles which all looked young and fresh, particularly targeting young customers. "It is so fun to shop here," Lau said, "whenever I find clothes I love, it feels like a treasure hunt." Lau enjoyed her secondhand shopping in this market so much, as the price was very affordable while quality was good. Most of them ranged from HK$50 to HK$100, some were only HK$30. "Lifexit" is the organiser of this secondhand clothing weekend market, who collaborated with three online secondhand shops, "Retrovert", "Asian Angel" and "Chan4room". Ms Coco Lam started up Lifexit to provide a space for people to relax and enjoy their peaceful moment. It locates at an industrial building unit in Kwun Tong, provides space to organise all kinds of activities. Secondhand clothing weekend market is a new try. "As I can see the secondhand clothing trend growing among young people nowadays, and the message behind buying secondhand is meaningful," Lam said, "that's why I organised this weekend market." She hoped, through this market, more people can get to know more about secondhand clothing culture in Hong Kong. Secondhand fashion trend is growing globally and rapidly. ThredUP, one of the largest consignment and thrift stores in …

Various experiences of mainland students' semi-closed post pandemic campus life--reasonable, formalised or creativity motivating?
- 2020-12-16
- Health & Environment
- The Young Reporter
- By: Kitty WangEdited by: Cassie Zhang
- 2020-12-16
As the new autumn semester began in September, 31 provinces have arranged students back to school for on-campus teaching according to the Ministry of Education. To better control COVID-19, universities have established a semi school-disclosure policy. It means students are not allowed to go out of school as usual. Universities implemented many protection measures to prevent COVID-19 as well. Among many universities' school closure policies, Tsing Hua University has done a good job according to the Beijing Municipal Education Commission. "Tsing Hua University currently implements a filing system with an app called Tsing hua zijing app," according to the Beijing Municipal Education Commission. Acting as a tracking and reporting system, it is mandatory for students to use this wherever they go. When students leave school, they need to report the reasons for leaving the school, travel trajectory, time of entry and exit on the online system in advance. After filling in advance, they can enter and exit the campus without approval. "This seems to lack the restraint of one student, but by giving students a certain degree of autonomy and inspiring everyone's awareness of epidemic prevention, it can eventually implement epidemic prevention measures," said Liyi, the Deputy Secretary of Beijing Municipal Education Working Committee, Spokesperson of Municipal Education Committee. Linked with every student's student ID, Tsing Hua zijing app tracks each student's location in Tsinghua university through their QR code scan record on campus. "When entering any interior space such as a canteen, a dorm or a classroom, we have to use this app to scan local QR code before the entrance," said Zhang Zhihao in a chat interview, a year 4 student in the department of civil engineering in Tsinghua University. Moreover, this app has a function of "Report Body Temperature", which is connected to a robot body temperature …