Queen Elizabeth II.

[Voice of Hope, March 15, 2023](comprehensive report by our reporter Zheng Xin)

“Run Xue” hit “Little Red Book” surprises Hong Kong’s famous school “Baolu” agency

The number of mainland students enrolled in the University of Hong Kong has continued to increase in recent years, but the supply of places is still in short supply. Seeing the huge market, some overseas study intermediary companies in mainland China have launched “reservation” services one after another, claiming that through “internal referral” or even falsified academic qualifications, students can be admitted to prestigious schools in Hong Kong, but they will charge huge fees.

According to a report by “Sing Tao Daily” on the 15th, recently, “Little Red Book” has posted posts from overseas study agencies, claiming that they can help 100% of mainland students to enroll in Hong Kong universities.

The intermediary pointed out that one of the channels to guarantee admission to the University of Hong Kong is “internal referral”, that is, to obtain internal recommendation letters from university professors through intermediary agencies, but the number of places is limited, and a certain academic level, including language skills, is also required. However, the admission requirements are far lower than those of the normal route. “As long as you can score 5.5 in the IELTS test, you can enter the three major schools in Hong Kong (Hong Kong University, Chinese University, and University of Science and Technology) through “internal referral” without considering the results of the (Mainland) college entrance examination.” ).”

Another channel is to “change background” by forging academic qualifications, asking cooperative international schools to register students who plan to enroll in undergraduate courses, and then forging international exams by taking exams on behalf of students, memorizing answers in advance, or directly “giving scores”. Good grades, and then apply to Hong Kong universities. For master’s degree courses, the intermediary even said that they can purchase diplomas from overseas universities such as Britain and the United States, so that Chinese students can successfully enter the courses.

According to the fee chart of the intermediary, the fee for assisting admission to the University of Hong Kong is 2 million yuan (RMB), HKUST and CUHK are 1.6 million yuan, PolyU and City University are 1.2 million yuan, and Baptist University is 1 million yuan.

Many universities in Hong Kong stated that they have not entrusted any intermediary agency to enroll or admit students on their behalf, and there is no so-called “internal referral” mechanism for professors to recommend non-local students for admission. Regulations, expulsion of their student status.

Hong Kong universities are in line with international courses and have a high level of scientific research. They have always been a popular choice for mainland students to apply for overseas study. Affected by the social movement in 2019, the demand for mainland students to study in Hong Kong once declined in 2020, but it rebounded to the original level in 2021 and continued to show an upward trend.

In August last year, mainland college entrance examination candidates applied to Hong Kong universities again “hot”. Many Hong Kong universities said that the number of applications from mainland students increased by more than 50%. The University of Hong Kong received more than 15,000 applications from mainland students, and the competition ratio was as high as 50:1.

In stark contrast, the youth population in Hong Kong has decreased significantly in the past three years. The Hong Kong government is considering opening up more places and bringing in more mainland students to “supplement” the population, even breaking the current cap of 20% non-local students.

Some analysts pointed out that many overseas students from mainland China have the background of the children of high-ranking officials or the next generation of state-owned enterprise executives. They are already regarded as a privileged class in the mainland. Once these international students graduate and stay in Hong Kong to develop, they are likely to form a new privileged class. For local students in Hong Kong, an unequal competitive environment will be formed, and they will face unfair competition in the workplace in the future. This will bring more difficult opportunities for upward mobility to the younger generation who have been suppressed in recent years.

Li Zhiying, the founder of Next Media, was accused of “colluding with foreign forces” and has been remanded in custody for more than two years since the end of 2020. His son Lai Chong-en, together with an international team of lawyers, criticized at the UN Human Rights Council meeting that the Hong Kong government abused the National Security Law and related anti-terrorism regulations to persecute journalists, and called on the UN Human Rights Committee to pay attention to the case of Jimmy Lai and take action to get him released as soon as possible .

Li Zhiying’s son, Li Chongen, testified at the UN Human Rights Council meeting held in Geneva on the 14th that his father chose to stay in Hong Kong to defend the freedom of speech and association he believed in, but he was prosecuted for this and faced a series of charges. A trial for crimes including incitement and endangering national security could see him spend the rest of his life behind bars.

Lai Chong-en criticized the Hong Kong government for abusing the law, which sounded like a death knell for the rights and freedoms enjoyed by Hong Kong people. He called on UN human rights experts and the international community to condemn these acts, and try their best to get his father released and restore hope to Hong Kong.

A member of Jimmy Lai’s international legal team, Caoilfhionn Gallagher, Queen’s Counsel of the United Kingdom, said that the Hong Kong government has frequently used the crime of incitement and the National Security Law to attack journalists, writers, lawyers, and democracy activists. Opportunity becomes a “national security threat” and can be applied to anyone in the world.

Senior barrister Jennifer Robinson, another member of the international legal team, said that media workers such as “Apple Daily” and “Stand News” will face illegal detention and prosecution under the National Security Law simply because they exercise their internationally protected freedom of speech. They bring up Jimmy Lai’s case because it is emblematic of a broader trend that cites the erosion of press freedom in Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong government issued a statement on the 15th in response, expressing its strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition to Lai Zhiying’s son Lai Chong-en and the “international lawyer team” wantonly smearing the “Hong Kong National Security Law” and the judicial system of the SAR.

Li Zhiying, the founder of Next Media, is involved in the “violation of the National Security Law” case. The trial will start on September 25 this year. The trial is tentatively scheduled for 40 days and will be concluded on November 21.

Tickets for Hong Kong singer Anthony Wong’s concert tour held in four places in Europe in May this year will be officially on sale on Thursday (16th). This is his first European tour in many years.

There are four stops in this European tour, including Manchester, London, Amsterdam, and Berlin. The first stop is Manchester, and the second stop is London, which will be held at The Clapham Grand, one of Wong Yao Ming’s favorite venues. All tickets will be officially on sale at 10am UK time on Thursday (16th).

Huang Yaoming described his first European tour as being both excited and looking forward to it. He mentioned that many of the culture and pop music he absorbed when he was growing up came from the UK, so he was particularly yearning for it. He also said, “If there is a chance to live (), I will (yes) choose (choose) London, because there are my favorite things (there are my favorite things).”

Brother Ming revealed that the playlist for this tour will be very different from the Taiwan tour in January this year. And friend and illustrator Li Dadarong will redesign the poster to achieve “one station, one style”.

According to the four posters uploaded by Ming Ge on social platforms recently, Ming Ge is leisurely carrying a “earth” carry-on bag, striding forward, followed by a very cute dog.

Among them, the London stop is the postbox and the red color of the bus that Hong Kong people will associate with it when they see it, and the dog behind Ming Ge is Ge Ji. Ming Ge explained that Gogi was chosen because it was the beloved dog of the late Queen Elizabeth II.

The Hong Kong Legislative Council passed a resolution on the 15th, agreeing to appoint Patrick Keane, a former judge of the Australian High Court, as an overseas non-permanent judge of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal. This means that Qi Xianyi will become the first overseas judge to join the Final Court after the “Hong Kong National Security Law” comes into force.

Qi Xianyi was appointed by Chief Executive Lee Ka-chao as a non-permanent judge of the Court of Final Appeal in January this year for a term of three years. The Legislative Council passed a resolution on the appointment on the 15th, and the appointment will take effect within this month.

The chief secretary for administration, Chen Guoji, said that Chi Hin-yi has a high status and a great reputation. He has served as a judge in the High Court of Australia for 10 years. confidence.

Qi Xianyi, 70, was the chief justice of the Federal Court of Australia and was appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court of Australia from 2013 until his retirement in October last year.

The appointment of Qi Xianyi coincided with the implementation of the National Security Law in Hong Kong for more than two years. During this period, many overseas non-permanent judges included Australian judge James Spigelman, British Supreme Court justice Lord Reed and He Zhiyi. Hodge and others have resigned, and the judiciary is considered to have become a tool for the authorities to suppress dissidents.

In an interview with the Guardian earlier, Qi Xianyi admitted that he has been concerned about the outside world’s concerns about Hong Kong’s future development in the past few years, but believes that the court is very important in maintaining the rule of law, and it is better to play a role than to withdraw from the court.

Simon Henderson, an Australian human rights lawyer who once worked in Hong Kong, retorted that the actions of Beijing and the Hong Kong government have caused irreparable damage to Hong Kong’s judicial independence. “The participation of foreign judges has provided Hong Kong’s judicial system with undue legal sex, there are significant risks.”

Ren Jianfeng, an Australian Hong Kong lawyer and former convener of Law and Politics, also expressed that he understands and respects retired overseas judges, and hopes that by continuing to serve as a non-permanent judge of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal, he will defend the rule of law in Hong Kong and support the good will of the Hong Kong judicial system that is under pressure. However, Hong Kong’s legal system has completely deteriorated in the past two years or so, and the role of overseas judges will only whitewash and beautify a dictatorial system.

Editor in charge: Lin Li