Hong Kong Cantonese university students’ tonal errors in Mandarin and their relation to L1 influence

2020 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuen I. Chan ◽  
Hsueh Chu Chen
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Speech Learning Model ◽  
Hong Kong Cantonese ◽  
L1 Influence ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
Mandarin Tones ◽  
Speech Learning

Abstract After the change of sovereignty from the United Kingdom to People Republic of China, Mandarin has become increasingly important in Hong Kong society. However, it is observed that many native Cantonese speakers have problems mastering Mandarin tones despite the less complex tonal system. This study attempts to investigate the Mandarin tonal error patterns made by Hong Kong learners and the possible causes for these errors. A reading aloud test and a follow-up interview were designed to collect the data. The findings of the study show that a large number of students were confused about Mandarin tones and found them difficult to master, especially between tone 1 and tone 4 and tone 2 and tone 3. All the participants made these two mistakes in the test. This study hypothesizes that L1 negative transfer is the key factor that helps Cantonese speaking learners’ ability to establish a new tone in the L2. However, the reason for participants’ tonal mistakes is not due to one single cause; instead, the errors are caused by multiple factors, including lack of tonal knowledge, incomplete tonal acquisition, and tonal errors explained by the Speech Learning Model.

Leading the Way: The United Kingdom's financial and trade relations with Socialist China, 1949–1966

2016 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
ROBERTO PERUZZI
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Industrial Development ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
Trade Relations ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
British Colony ◽  
Foreign Office ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The Cold War

AbstractThis article aims to deepen scholarly understanding of the special political and economic connection between Britain and Socialist China during the 1950s and the 1960s. After 1949, the British government had substantive reasons to preserve a link with Beijing, despite the unfolding of the Cold War. First, British assets in China were numerous. Second, the Crown colony of Hong Kong was an indispensable strategic enclave, although militarily indefensible. Third, the Foreign Office considered that Asia should represent an exception to unquestioned British loyalty to the Atlantic alliance, since the United Kingdom needed to prove that it was able to represent and preserve Commonwealth interests in the area. The article will point out that the United Kingdom maintained a privileged role as the main trading partner of the People's Republic of China (PRC) outside the Socialist bloc, thanks to the financial and commercial role played by Hong Kong. This is proved through an analysis of the fate of British financial institutions in China, which represented a favourable exception in the bleak scenario of the PRC nationalization process, as well as of the industrial development of the British colony, which was based on importing food and labour from the mainland, while serving as a financial hub in support of the PRC economy.

scholarly journals The Hong Kong Riots and the Sterling Empire Last Stand

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberto Peruzzi
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
People’S Republic Of China ◽  
Economic Relation ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
People's Republic Of China ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Economic Future

The years 1966 and 1967 are crucial for British Crown’s Colony of Hong Kong and for United Kingdom’s economic relation with the People’s Republic of China. Few studies on the subject addressed this reality only partially, whereas a thorough vision remains to be achieved. The 1967 left-wing riots marked a point of no return in UK’s perception of the Hong Kong issue from a political standpoint as the events showed the British the exact measurement of their weakness in the area. But while agreeing that UK’s decolonization strategy might have an earlier start, we have to point out that the years 1966 and 1967 need to be studied as crucial dates, which marks the acquisition of a new consciousness by the Hong Kong financial and industrial milieus: from then on, the economic future of the colony will look towards the Mainland and not anymore towards the United Kingdom, thus acknowledging the strong, though not problem-free, links built over the years by the Hong Kong capitalists with the People’s Republic of China establishment.

Ideologies of Language Standardization

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine H. Y. Chen
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Chinese Culture ◽  
Language Ideologies ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
Language Standardization ◽  
Political Sovereignty ◽  
Interesting Study ◽  
Community Boundaries ◽  
Hong Kong Cantonese ◽  
And Shifts

Virtually all Hong Kong Cantonese speakers know of 懶音 (“lazy pronunciation”), which refers to the colloquial pronunciation of Cantonese that differs from prescribed dictionary pronunciation. Speakers of the colloquial variety are essentialized as “lazy” and said to be responsible for “destroying Chinese culture.” These language ideologies about the aesthetics and cultural qualities of Cantonese are part of a process of differentiation associated with the renegotiation of local Hong Kong identity in the period of political change around the handover of Hong Kong from Britain to China in 1997. Thus the standardization of Cantonese is at the center of social, cultural, and political negotiation with regard to community boundaries and identities. The changes in Hong Kong’s political sovereignty, from its position as a Chinese Qing dynasty–ruled rural island, to a British crown colony, and then to a Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China, make a unique and interesting study for language standardization processes and shifts in language ideologies.

scholarly journals Public opinion polls and covert colonialism in British Hong Kong

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Florence Mok
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Policy Formulation ◽  
Colonial State ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
The Public ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Colonial Government ◽  
Historical Methods

This article examines colonial statecraft and state–society relations in a pivotal period for Hong Kong. Using historical methods and archival evidence, it overcomes the limitations in existing research, which is often theoretically driven and reliant on published sources. The article reveals that the Hong Kong masses were made structurally invisible by the Movement of Opinion Direction (MOOD), a polling exercise introduced by the reformist colonial state. The public were unaware that their views were disseminated to policymakers and that they affected policy formulation: this was covert colonialism. The article investigates confidential MOOD reports generated by the Home Affairs Department from 1975 to 1980, demonstrating why and how the colonial administration constructed public opinion. By disclosing what these secret files reveal about changing public attitudes towards the colonial government, the United Kingdom and the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the article also provides new insights into public receptions of the state’s reforms and potential threats to the colonial regime in the 1970s.

Prisoners' Right to Vote in Hong Kong: A Human Rights Perspective

2007 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 179-194
Author(s):  
Wing Hong Chui
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Court Cases ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
The Public ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Basic Law ◽  
The People ◽  
Right To Vote ◽  
The Right

AbstractAccording to Article 26 of the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, permanent residents shall have the right to vote and the right to stand for election in accordance with the law. In the eyes of the public, voting is a fundamental right of democracy and promotes citizen participation in choosing the people to represent them in the political system. It is true to say that, 'an inclusive democracy values all of its citizens' (Right to Vote, 2005). However, does every citizen who is above 18 years old have the right to vote in Hong Kong? While prisoners are deprived the right to vote in Hong Kong, other jurisdictions such as the United Kingdom, Europe, and Canada currently practise criminal disenfranchisement in more limited ways. To fill the gap, this paper aims to examine whether laws should be reviewed and amended to remove the barrier to voting faced by the prisoner in Hong Kong. It argues that Hong Kong should grant the right of prisoners to vote through examining relevant laws and several landmark court cases.

scholarly journals Hongkong — Specjalny Region Administracyjny Chińskiej Republiki Ludowej i praktyczna realizacja politycznej idei „jedno państwo — dwa systemy”

2020 ◽  
Vol 5(160) ◽  
pp. 153-169
Author(s):  
Agata Wiktoria Ziętek
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Social Situation ◽  
People’S Republic Of China ◽  
Practical Implementation ◽  
People's Republic Of China ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Basic Law ◽  
Political Concept

On 1 July 1997, the United Kingdom officially handed over the territory of Hong Kong to the People’s Republic of China. This event had a symbolic meaning. It marked the end of a stage in China’s history which began in the middle of the 19th century and was described as a time of humiliation. Hong Kong was supposed to be an example of practical implementation of Deng Xiaoping’s political concept of “one country, two systems”, which assumed the possibility of functioning of different economic and political systems in one country. Despite the passage of time, questions remain as to what China’s attitude to the regained territory will be; to what extent the provisions of the 1984 agreement signed between the governments of the People’s Republic of China and the United Kingdom and the 1990 Basic Law for the region will be respected by China, and thus what the political, economic and social situation in Hong Kong will look like until its complete reintegration, i.e., by 2047, and what the future of Hong Kong will be.

scholarly journals The Status of Hong Kong and Macao under the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulrich G. Schroeter
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
United Nations ◽  
International Convention ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Status ◽  
United Nations Convention ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
International Sale Of Goods ◽  
High Degree

16 Pace International Law Review (2004, 307-332The applicability of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods of 11 April 1980 (CISG), the most important international convention unifying matters of international contract law, to an international sales contract according to Article 1(1)(a) CISG depends on both parties having their place of business in different Contracting States. The People's Republic of China was among the first States to ratify the CISG, meaning that all companies residing in the PRC do have - at least at first sight - their place of business in a Contracting State of the CISG. This result, however, causes difficulties when companies from Hong Kong and Macao are concerned, as these two territories were originally colonies of two States that did ratify the CISG (i.e. the United Kingdom and Portugal), and when returning to the PRC in 1997 resp. 1999, Hong Kong and Macao were given the status of Special Administrative Regions with a high degree of autonomy also in legal matters. Against this background, the present paper discusses the question of Hong Kong and Macao are to be treated as parts of a Contracting State under the CISG. It argues that the answer must be in the affirmative as Article 97 CISG expressly provides that a Contracting State comprising different territorial units has to make an express declaration if it selects not to apply the CISG to certain of its territorial units, and the PRC has not done so.

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