Renaissance 2nd Issue

8/3/2019 Renaissance 2nd Issue

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H K U G A C s . S C H O O L . M A G A Z I N E

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Sapientia ipsa libertas

Dear readers, the support we received from you for our previous issue is deeply appreciated. This magazinewas established in hopes that we could encourage our readers to be well-informed and cri cal, and when one of youcontributed an analy cal ar cle to us (pg. 15), we were thrilled that the power of words was acknowledged.

Last me, we covered topics ranging from the Jasmine revolu on to William and Kates royal wedding. In thisissue, we hope to live up to our mo o and provide more info-packed ar cles for your perusal. Various topics suchas the Wenzhou Express Railway accident and the News Interna onal phone-hacking scandal are explored. We havea piece of travel wri ng on New Zealand. To top it o , our Chinese Department has been expanded to include qualitywri ng that probes at issues surrounding our daily lives, like tutorial schools and poverty. Whats more, we now havelanguage learning corners! You can now mull over some elementary Spanish phrases and impress your friends.

As an independent student organiza on, we have also covered the Student Council Elec ons, from start to n -ish, in our e-magazine: h p://www.wix.com/hkugacrenaissance/renaissancehkugac. We guarantee that readers andSC cabinet members will be pleasantly surprised.

This me, our magazine logo represents an all too familiar hand gesture of power in HKUGAC (Can you guesswhat it is?). We wish that you will nd this issue empowering, entertaining and educa onal; a er all, sapien a ipsalibertas (knowledge itself is liberty).


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Interview wiW e are sure manystudents are cu-rious about our

new Principal Mr. Ip. Hedefinitely has a shiny CV:he graduated from the Im-perial College of Science

and Technology in Englandand received his teachingdiploma from the Universityof Nottingham, majoring inMathematics. He had taughtat a boys grammar school

in London for five years as well as a private schoolfor girls for seven years before coming back to HongKong to teach at schools like Yew Chung InternationalSchool. But you know this already. So heres an exclu-

sive interview with Mr. Ip which we hope could let usall get a glimpse of what our new principals like andwhat he has in store for us.

I: Interviewers (Ben Kong, Katrina Poon, Priscilla Chan)P: Principal Ip

I: Hi, Mr. Ip. Whats your first impression of HKUGAC?

P: Everyone seems to be very friendly and approach-

able. Students here are quite courteous, responsibleand keen to learn. Thats my first impression anyway(laugh). But, of course, theres a lot more to it thatmeets the eye. And I think the teachers are very co-operative, very dedicated and committed.

I: What do you think are the strengths and weak-nesses of the students in this school?

P: It is a little bit too early to pinpoint all those things just yet. But I would say from what Ive seen so far,the strengths are that you folks seem to be keen tolearn, and are quite capable and responsible. With

these qualities you are bound to do well. Weaknessesthough, if I may suggest, lies in the overall English en-vironment. The general picture seems to be that a lotof students, when they are walking along the corridorsoutside the classrooms, between lessons, they tendto communicate with each other in Chinese. There isnothing wrong with that, of course; but I think that

as an EMI school, we should make an extra effort tomake the environment a little more English

I: What do you plan to do to address this need for abetter English environment?

P: Well, I hope that the very fact that I use Englishto communicate with you lot and by being seen usingEnglish around the campus will set a good role model.We can form an English debate team and encourage

people to take part in competitions. We can also pro-mote our English drama club by making a few moreproductions. Moreover, we want to enforce the Englishenvironment within the classroom.

I: We used to enforce English only rules in schoolcorridors too.

P: In my present knowledge of the situation it is notwise to enforce that because it would be difficult

and would create a lot of resentment because peoplewouldnt like it at all. I always believe in positive rein-forcement as opposed to punitive measures; in otherwords to punish others for doing this instead of re-warding people for doing that. I think at the end ofthe day, if one wants to improve his/her English, theywill have to practice it. It doesnt happen just like that,you have to put a lot of effort into it.

I: You may be aware that some students have beencriticizing the school in the previous years with theuse of the internet, letters and petitions. Does thatstrike you as rebellious?

Ben Kong


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h Mr. IpP: No, I dont think I know the students well enoughto make a judgement, but so far, my impression isthat you are not. The thing is, we have to give youngpeople freedom to do what they think is right to do,but at the same time there should be rules. We haveto be sensible and strike a balance between the two.Recently as you know, there was this business about

the freedom of expression (e.g. the violent disruptionof a consultation forum on by-election arrangements);but is it freedom? Or is it an abuse of freedom?If I give you freedom and then you abuse it, thenthats not freedom anymore. Your freedom should notinfringe upon my rights, or my personal safety. Us-ing the example of smoking, you might say, I shouldhave the freedom or the right to smoke. But thenyou havent got the right to give people lung cancer. Iknow these are still quite controversial issues, but then

the principle behind is the same. Once your freedominfringes upon other peoples rights, then it gets verycomplicated. So I hope that by having a balance ofrules and freedom, we can lead happy lives.

I: So when infringement of other peoples freedomhappens, do you recommend the implementation of apunishment system?

P: I find the term punishment a very negative term. I

would say people should take responsibility for theirown actions. What does that mean? It means thatonce the mistake has been made, try to do somethingto remedy it. If in the process of remedying or recti-fying the mistake you have to suffer, well, so be it. Butwe shouldnt punish people for the sake of punishing.If someone made a mistake and you punish the per-son, and it doesnt help to remedy the situation, thenits useless.

I: HKUGAC is a local school, and local schools areusually stereotyped as schools that spoon-feed mes-sages to students and are very exam-oriented. Do you

agree with the exam system right now in Hong Kong?

P: I believe that theres nothing wrong with the examsystem itself. Examinations are essential; its part ofthe learning process. What we have to be careful ishow we handle the exams. This is difficult though,because we all want to study in a way that we can

enjoy, especially by interacting with each other andwith teachers; and yet there is always so much thatteachers want to cover in their lessons and there-fore, it is quite tempting for the teacher to just giveyou a lot of information, hence the spoon-feeding.Teachers may drill students on exam skills simply forthe sake of drilling them, too. How the examinationsdictate how teaching is done is quite unfortunate. Butthats the past. Now with NSS, we hope that it is trulycriterion-referenced instead of norm-referenced, so

a students abilities can be objectively evaluated. Wemust find a balance between learning and the exams.

I: Because the S6s are the first batch that goes in thisschool to sit in the HKDSE examination; do you haveany words of encouragement or advice for them?

P: Work consistently hard, and also smartly; meaningthat you must have a balance of work and leisure. Butif you are determined enough, you should be able to

find your goal. Examinations are not the be-all andend-all of education; there is much more to educationthan examinations. I think if the students are deter-mined enough and persistent enough, they will be ableto find the goals in life. For example, even if I know Imnot very good at English Literature, it doesnt matter;I will do enough of that so that I will be reasonablywell read or informed. But there must be some areaswhere Im very good at, and then I will explore thearea and take advantage of my talent. Everyone isgood at something, and its just a matter of findingout what the person is good at.


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Priscilla Chan

R emember Woody, Nemo, and Light-ning McQueen? From Toy Storyto Wall-E, theres a reason this

small computer animations studio can con-sistently churn out acclaimed, nancially suc -cessful, and universally adored movies.

Pixar has long been known for setting ridicu-lously high standards for computer animationand lm-making. Almost all of their movieshave received a rating of 9.0/10 or above inRotten Tomatoes. Thus far, Pixar has rackedup 26 Oscars, seven Golden Globes, and threeGrammies.So what is Pixars recipe for success? Quality.

I nnovate & C reate DreamsIts really that simple.

With the use of memorable characters, heart-warming stories, brilliantly drawn sights,catchy music, cutting dialogue, and muchmore, Pixar manages to wow their audienceevery time with lms that are utterly original.They take common objects that we rarely no-

tice, from toys, sh and bugs to cars, rats androbots, and create dramas that are utterly hu-man. Its lms are often populated with dark,pessimistic yet realistic themes, like love,loss, death, letting go, growing up, thwarteddesires, and even pollution, but they alwaysmanage to be spiritually engaging and uplift-ing for all who are human.

The company's movies may seem exotic andunfamiliar at rst glance. Surely we wouldntlike a sci- lm with nearly half an hour of

zero dialogue or an ode to a rat that wantsto be a chef in Paris. But the movies alwaysend up triumphing over industry cynicism andtimidity because of Pixar's creativity, sophis-tication and brilliant artistry.

John Lasseter, chief creative of cer at Pix -ar and creator of Luxo the lamp, once said,"When someone comes in and says, 'This issomething no one has ever done before, weall get excited. We have a company culturethat celebrates being pioneers."

Pixar is not afraid to try new things, and theytry hard every time. This explains why Pixar'sone movie is always better than all of Fox's20 movies. Pixar's daring attitude and high

self-standards stands as an anomaly to a Hol-lywood industry that is dominated by mind-less test marketing and rigid money-orient-ed group think. Pixar does not make moviesfor money or reputation. They care aboutthe movies themselves, and they care abouthow to make each lm outshine the previousone. We realized having lower standards forsomething is bad for your soul, Ed Catmull,

Pixars President, has once pointed out.

Another reason for Pixars continued successis its unwavering commitment to a cultureof authentic feedback. Every two or threemonths while a lm is being made, the di -rector gets direct comments from a group of other lmmakers at Pixar, and every time he/she would see this as their responsibility touncover honest, even brutal feedback. Evenafter a lm has been released and achievedsuccess, Pixar goes through postmortemevaluation sessions. Ed Catmull explained


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that Pixar leaders do whatever it takes tomake sure the lmmakers dont get compla -cent and make the feedback session into an-other praise party. For example, one effec-tive facilitation method theyve used is tohave everyone in the room come up with vethings they would do again, and ve thingsthey wouldnt do again.

We, as students, can learn from Pixar. Do notbe afraid to be innovative, because thatshow everyone achieves greatness. Do not beafraid to ask others (or yourself) about howyou could have done better, because thatshow everyone attains and sustains their suc-cess.

GrounDeD In r ealIty , but not H elD b aCk Pixars road to success though is all butsmooth.

The company started in 1979 as a small Graph-ics division of Lucas lm, owned by a very for -

ward-looking lmmaker George Lucas. Theymake special effects, the most successful onebeing the Genesis Effect in the movie Star TrekII: The Wrath of Khan. At that time, there wasno such thing as computer animation. JohnLasseter tried once in 1981 to convince hisemployers, the Walt Disney Company, by cre-ating a short computer animated lm. Theyhated it and deemed the technology as costlyand time-consuming. John was red immedi -ately after. In need of a job, he joined Luca-s lm.

Then, Steve Jobs came in 1986. Jobs, shortlyafter he left Apple Computer, purchased thesmall Lucas lm division and renamed it toPixar. Even then, the company was always onthe verge of bankruptcy. It sold computers tothe government, and did commercials for var-ious companies, like Tropicana. All this time,John Lasseter, Ed Catmull and Steve Jobs hadworked on the then-groundbreaking use of CGI

animation, waiting for its moment to shine.

l essons W ell - learneDThen an opportunity arose in 1992 as Las-saters animation team landed its rst moviedeal with Disney for Toy Story. They turned inan initial cut of the movie and were shockedwhen the Disney executives hated it. In fact,Disney hated it so much they halted produc-tion and scrapped the whole project.

Despite their massive disappointment, Pixarsanimators regrouped and looked at their lmagain. They discovered that they agreed withDisney the lm was awed in many ways. Sothey spent a whirlwind three weeks reworkingthe entire story and presented a revised cutto Disney.

Disney loved the new cut and the project wassaved. In the end, Toy Story proved to be araging sensation.

Heres where we too can learn from Pixarsculture of authentic feedback. It would havebeen easy for the company to assume thatthe evil executives at Disney just didnt getit, but they were able to honestly critiquetheir own work. Think about how many timesyouve blamed others for your failure, or howothers have judged you and made you feellike youre nothing. What did you do aboutit? Pixar didnt just give up. They re ectedupon themselves and took others criticism asa form of advice. From 1995 on, they went onto become the pioneer of computer anima-tion and lmmaking, and Disney has to playcatch up with them. You can do that too. We,as future pioneers, should not ever give upon doing the things we love, no matter howmany times others have sneered at our work.In fact, we should ask haters about their viewsand use them as stimuli to improve ourselvesand continue our work.


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M alaga Jonathan Cheung

Santi Carzorla is presented before the Malaga faithful in a packed Roselada Stadium.

Last season in Spain, Barce-lona spent 58.5 million euroson players while their eternal

rivals, Real Madrid spent 56.5 mil-lion. Their closest rivals, Valencia,spent 33 million. In fact, Valenciahad 400 million euros of debt andwas only able to spend this amount of money by selling their two star play-ers (Villa and Silva), which raisedabout 75 million euros. In fact, thishuge disparity is not only seen in theextravagant spending of Barca andReal but also in how the TV revenueis distributed in Spain: a staggering50% of the money is divided betweenthe big two, while the other 18 teamsare forced to share the remaining half.In fact, Valencia, Spains third largestclub, earned less TV money than WestHam last year (West Ham nished

bottom in the Premier League). Thisseasons transfer window has beenroughly the same with Barcelona andReal Madrid already splashing out 37and 50 million respectively while therest of the teams have been forced tosell their prized assets to solve their

nancial woes (Namely AtleticoMadrid selling Kun Aguero and Va -lencia probably selling Juan Mata).However, there has been one team

that has reversed the tide. Not onlyhave they held onto their best play-ers, they have also been able to (out-rageously) spend more money thanReal Madrid. With 58 million eurosalready spent, that team is Malaga CF.

Taken over by a member of the Qa-tari royal family last year, Malagaappointed Jesualdo Ferreira as headcoach and promised their fans hugesignings to prevent the club from be-ing relegated. They did spend 18 mil-lion euros and also signed striker JoseRondon from Las Palmas for a recordfee of 4 million. However, thingsdidnt go well and by mid-season theyhad slumped to the bottom of the ta-

ble. Ferreira was sacked and the club bought in Manuel Pellegrini, who was previously the coach of Villarrreal andReal Madrid. Further signings camewith Julio Baptista joining the clubfrom Roma during the winter. Unfor-tunately, Pellegrini started his tenurein a fashion similar to Ferreira and theteam continued to stay at the bottom of the table. Somehow, towards the endof the season Malaga enjoyed a resur-gence that saw them win 5 consecu-tive matches. Eventually they nishedin the mid table, avoiding relegation.

However, that was only the beginningof Malagas rise. In June, it was an-nounced that Van Nisterooy had signedfor the team on a free transfer. Dayslater, the signings of Joris Mathijens-en, Nacho Monreal, Sergio Sanchez,Martin Demichelis were announced.Many noticed that Van Nisterooy,Mathijensen and Demichelis were allreaching the end of their careers andthus questioned the long term plans of the club. Further signings came. Jere-my Toulalan, previously the captain of the French National Team joined fromLyon for another record breaking feeof 10 million euros. However, thisrecord merely stood for a month asSanti Carzola was signed from Villar-real for another record sum of 21 mil-lion euros. Between that period, theclub also signed Joaquin Sanchez andIsco (both from Valencia) for a com-

bined sum of 10.5 million. Overall,the club has already splashed out55 million in this spending spree. Infact, nobody in the world except for PSG (from Ligue one) has spent moremoney than Malaga this summer.Even Real Madrid and Barcelona trailMalaga, which is something unheardof in La Liga over the past few years.


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The signing of Carzola was also sig-ni cant in the sense that it was the rsttime in six years since one of the best

players in La Liga (outside the bigtwo) has been purchased by a teamin Spain that is not Real Madrid and

Barcelona (since Joaquin was bought by Valencia for 25 millions). Previ-ously, most of the star players fromthe other 18 teams had either beensnatched up by Barcelona or RealMadrid or have left Spain for another league, with the latest casualty beingKun Aguero, who left Atletico Madridfor the riches of the English Premier League. Carzola has been one of these

players, who was previously linked tothe Real Madrid. And also Liverpool,one of the larger clubs in England.Finally, a team outside the top twohas done something groundbreaking.

Will Malaga challenge for La Liganext season? Quite frankly, theywwill struggle to make it to the topfour places. The problem with Malagais that almost all of the best players

in the world are owned by Real Ma-drid and Barcelona. Arguably, the

best strikers, the best wingers, the best mid elders and probably eventhe best defenders of football playin the big two. Last season, Barce-lona and Real Madrid racked up 96and 92 points respectively whilethird placed Valencia nished with71 points. While some have sug-

gested that this shows that La Ligaonly has two large teams and 18 low-quality teams, around the world fewcould boast such impressive statisticsas Barcelona and Real Madrid. For

instance, Manchester United, whowon the premier league, managedless than 80 points. Thus it would beextremely dif cult for any team inthe world to challenge the Big Two.

Also, with up to 10 new players inthe squad, Pellegrini will need time tosort out his best starting XI while Realand Barca already have a stable squad.Furthermore, Spains mid-tier is prob-ably the most competitive in the worldwith teams like Valencia, Villarreal,Sevilla, Athletic Bilbao, Atletico Ma -drid, and Espanyol (if they manage tokeep their best players) all able to com-

pete for a place in top 4. Thus Malagastill has a long way to go before beingable to compete with Real and Barca.

SpaniSh Corner : B ienvenidoS !Goethes famous line he who

knows no foreign language, knows nothingof his own seems to bear the impress oftruth in our modern society which prizesthe ability to speak and understand multi-ple languages.

The Spanish language wasspread to different continents (even thePhilippines) with the expansion of theSpanish Empire in the medieval times andis currently spoken by around 500 millionpeople around the globe. With a balloon-

ing Hispanic population, some businessesin North America now require employeesto be reasonably conversant in Spanishespecially if they work in education andhealthcare.

If your native language is Eng-lish, learning Spanish can help to broadenyour vocabularies immensely since Span-ish is a Romance language whose rootsare derived from Latin. For example, theSpanish translation of the English word

repugnant is repugnante, and antiqueis antiguo. In a lot of cases, they soundand look similar.

While you are learning Spanish,

dont forget that you are also imbibing theSpanish culture. Some of them such asthe fierce tussling with bulls in a Spanishplaza de toros (bullring), or the flamingflamenco extravaganza in Andaluca, orthe most renowned Spanish dish tor-tilla espaola (Spanish omelette), shouldsound very familiar to modern ears.Knowing Spanish also allows you to ap-preciate, without undue difficulty, the liter-ary masterpiece of prolific Hispanic writ-ers ranging from Miguel de Cervantess

magnum corpus, Don Quixote to FedericoGarcas lyrical poems.With around 1000 Span-

ish phrases and words under your belt,gallivanting around Spanish little townsceases to be an insurmountable chal-lenge. Bantering with the local folks andmingling with Spanish speakers there, youcan experience an entirely new dimensionof travelling and you will be more thanwelcomed by the ever so passionate

Hispanics. To whet your appetite for thiswonderful language, I have included somepractical Spanish phrases below.

USEFUL PHRASESHola! = Hello!Cmo ests? = How are you? (infor-mal)Buenos das = Good morningBuenas tardes = Good afternoon

Buenas noches = Good nightHasta luego = GoodbyeLo siento! = SorryGracias = Thank youDe nada = Youre welcomePerdn! = Excuse meEncantado = Nice to meet youSi = YesNo = NoNo s = I dont knowPor favor = PleaseIgualmente = Same hereClaro = sureCallate! = shut up!

USEFUL QUESTION/ANSWERDe dnde eres? = where are youfrom?Soy de = Im fromCuntos aos tienes? = how old areyou?Tengo aos = I am years oldHablas ingls? = do you speak Eng-lish?Hablo ingls = I speak EnglishEntiendes? = do you understand?Entiendo = I understandPuede ayudarme? = can you help me?

Claro que s = of courseQu es esto? = what is that?Qu pasa? = what is happening?No tengo ninguna idea = I have no idea

John Leung


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have always wanted to go to New Zealand.Its Gods own country and the paradise of the Paci c. The seemingly rural but highly de -

veloped island country is about the size of the UnitedKingdom, and is situated at the southeast of Austral -ia, across the Tasmen Sea. Ive always imagined thatthe second I arrive at the place, I would be able to

feel fresh air brush past my face and hear a crowd of sheep with jingling bells. What I would give to wan -der among the silent mountains and vast grasslands!

New Zealand is world renowned for its dazzling anddiverse natural beauty. Imagine soaring mountainpeaks, ords, lakes, rivers, and ac ve volcanic fea -tures all around you. While the less energe c canenjoy the magni cent scenery simply by immersingthemselves into the clean green environment rightbefore their eyes, the ac on-crazed can de nitelysmell New Zealands adventurous side. In fact, NewZealand is the home of jet boa ng through shallowgorges and bungy-jumping o anything high enoughto give a thrill. In New Zealand, one can experiencethe literal meaning of hugging the lakes and moun -tains.

Numerous landmarks and dis nguishing tourism

sites exist in New Zealand. One of the top picks of tourists is the Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers. Discoverthe centuries old icy grandeur, stretching from the pof the Southern Alps down into untouched rainforestbelow. According to a local legend, the glacier wasformed by freezing the ood of tears of a girl whofell from the local peaks due to the grief of losing herlover. Another worthy site to visit is the Abel TasmanNa onal Park. You can experience the Golden sand

beaches and walk on the Abel Tasman Coastal Track,with waves lapping at your feet on one side andmountainous inland looming over you on the otherside (just like how stars do it in movies). If youre

looking for more natural landmarks, Fiordland is anop on for you. Fiordland is a na onal park contain -ing major tourist a rac on such as the Browne Fallsand Sutherland Falls, which are among the tallest wa-terfalls on earth, as well as Milford Sound, which is along and narrow inlet with steep sides, created in avalley carved by glacial ac vity. It is acclaimed to be

New Zealands most famous tourist des na on.

Nature and the country side are what made NewZealand dis nc ve, but its thriving and unique ci esare prominent as well, especially the following four:

Auckland, a volcano-ac ve but most populated re -gion in New Zealand, also a famed cultural and shop -ping centre; Wellington, the na ons capital, alsoknown as The windy city and Wellywood (a erHollywood) with its signature beehive governmentbuilding; Christchurch, the magical and beau ful gar -den city with streets lined with trees; and Queens -town, the adventure centre of the world where youcan skydive, bungy jump, jet-boat do prac cally

anything that stands for extreme excitement.

If you nd yourself wondering where youve seenthis place before in New Zealand, do not be sur -

I


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prised. You may have seen the scenery from famousmovies lmed in New Zealand. New Zealand-borndirector Peter Jackson lmed the Lord of the RingsTrilogy in various loca ons around his home country;you may have no ced how the rolling hills of Mata -mata became Hobbiton, or how the volcanic regionof Mount Ruapehu transformed into the ery Mt.Doom where Sauron forged The Ring. This real-lifemiddle-earth is s ll very appealing to LOTR fans. TheChronicles of Narnia directed by Andrew Adamsonwere set in New Zealand as well. The White Witch'sCamp is in the Woodhill Forest, north-west of Auck -land. Aslan's Camp is situated at the Elephant Rocks,the rolling hills near Duntroon in the Waitaki district

of the South Island. Marvel at how perfectly c onalplaces spring to life as you visit them. Can you thinkof a be er place to lm these movies?

Another characteris c feature of New Zealand is itssmall, diverse and mul cultural popula on. Once aBri sh colony, New Zealand adopted English as theirna onal language and its people are Mostly of Eu -ropean and Maori descent. Maori means the Poly-

nesian people, the indigenous groups that have in-habited the central and southern Paci c Ocean. NewZealand respects and celebrates its original peopleand their culture. As the Maori culture con nues toplay an important part in everyday New Zealand life,places and streets are named in the Maori languageand there are plenty of opportuni es for the visitorto understand and experience the history and thepresent day form of Maori life. The local people of New Zealand are friendly, if not a bit calm-looking

as many would put it, which probably resulted frombeing in harmony with nature for a long period of

me. Tourists are a very common sight among NewZealand se lements, as the number of tourists visit -ing New Zealand each year is over half of the localpopula on. Also, the islands are inhabited many spe -cies of unique fauna, including the mysterious kiwi,which has become the na onal symbol.

In New Zealand, everything is perfect, except onething: You will have to constantly ll up your walletwith money, because New Zealand is one of the mostexpensive countries in the world; even basic trans -porta on, food and accommoda on fees will costa fortune. I may never had the chance to go there.But if you do have the money and are not afraid of volcanic erup ons, earthquakes and very large openspaces, then I demand that you book a cket to NewZealand NOW.


10/2010

N ews UNITED KINGDOM2000 Charities Funding CutMore than 2000 charities across England havehad their funding cut or even withdrawn by lo-cal councils. This amounts to over 110 millionpounds, but the actual amount might be even

higher, according to anti-cut website FalseEconomy. Many see this as a consequence ofDavid Camerons big society, small govern-ment initiative. The opposition Labour Partysdeputy leader Harriet Harman said the impactof cutting funding to charities will be devas-tating and demands the government to con-duct a review. Critics also suggest that this willhave a terrible effect on charities.

FRANCE:

Millions to fund Libya Rebels

The Government of France announced that it has transferred $259 Million

in frozen fund from the Libyan government leader Muammar Gaddafi to therebels National Transitional Council. The fund will be used for humanitarianpurposes such as food and medicine purchases, said the Foreign Ministryof France in a statement.

Image Source : BBc

Image Source : F rance 24

ITALY 25 BODIES OF LIBYAN REFUGEES FOUND

Italian coastguards have found 25 bodies in a boat near the Island of Lampe-dusa. Official media reports that the 25 men died from suffocation in theboats engine room. They appeared to be Libyan refugees seeking asylum inthe European Union. Italian investigators believe that the refugees were al-

ready dead when the boat was in international waters. The Island of Lampe-dusa has been the biggest gateway to the European Union for refugees fromNorth Africa, with a vast amount of Libya refugees who fled their countryamidst the civil war.

NORWAY

PM CALLS FO

Norways Prime Minis

that the country shosion at the parliameand his fellow collea

Image Source : aF

The Byte Out Of Apple

"10 years ago we used to have Bob Hope, JohnCash and Steve Jobs. Now, we got no hope, nocash and no jobs..." Communication has always been essential for theintellectual development of mankind. We have ex-perienced revolutionary changes in the field ofcommunication technology for the past 5 decades,and one man stood out more than any other. He re-defined the modern world with inventions that arenow widely used among all of us: from the firstPersonal Computer to the most popular portabletelecommunication device, their very existence allowe a great deal to Steve Jobs. The globe grievesthe lost of a world-changing, ingenious revolution-ary, who passed away on October 5th 2011. We

would like to thank him for the great advancementshe has brought to this world. Rest in peace Steve.

F or a short liFe biography For s teve J obs ,

please visit our website .


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SWITZERLAND

Fickle Physics redefined

In Physics, the speed of light is known as the universes ultimate speedlimit. Einstein believed that once an object reaches the speed of light, it

can actually travel through time and space.

This fundamental principle has been challenged by a recent calcula-tion made by CERN (Conseil Europen pour la Recherche Nuclaire), theworlds largest physics lab. Located in Geneva, Switzerland, the teamsent a beam of Neutrino particles through an underground tube/tunnel/laboratory to Gran Sasso, Italy where another underground lab would de-tect its arrival. It took the neutrinos 0.0024 seconds to travel that 723km, stretching from Switzerland to Italy, the result was 0.00000006seconds faster than expected. To many this may be an amount too trivialto matter, but to many others, especially physicists, it is a small step

that can lead to a giant leap for mankind, enough to change the manythings we have taken for granted. For example, time travelling, telepor-tation the possibilities are endless. But before you get excited, I amobliged to tell you that many scientists have doubts about the result andbelieve it could merely be a human error yet to be detected.

11

RESTRAINT AND TOLERANCE

er, Jens Stoltenberg, addressed to the public

uld not start a witch-hunt. In a special ses-nt, Mr. Stoltenberg urged citizens, politiciansues to show restraint and tolerance.

Image Source : aFP

PALESTINEThe state of the State of Palestine

Palestine refers to the land between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jor-dan River. Historically, this patch of land was inhabited by the Canaanite

tribes. Later came the Jews, Romans and Arabs who each in turn cap-tured it and ruled it.

After WWII when the Jews returned to the land after approximately2000 years of diaspora, they tried to establish a Jewish state of theirown on the same territory as historical Palestine. The problem here was,Palestinian Arabs who have been living on this land all this time did notwant to share their homeland with the newly arrived Jews. The Jews;however, believed they are the descendants of the people of Israel andfelt they had the right to reclaim it. Although the extent of the ancientJewish kingdom of Israel under King David and King Solomon, on whichthe above statement is based, endured for only about 73 years. Evenif we allow independence to the entire life of the ancient Jewish king-doms, from Davids conquest of Canaan in 1000 B.C. to the wiping outof Judah in 586 B.C., we arrive at only a 414 year Jewish rule.

Wars were fought and in 1948 modern Israel was formed. The expelledPalestinians were forced out of their homeland and confined to a smallarea of land under Israeli blockade within the State of Israel known asthe West Bank and Gaza.

The stateless Palestinians now want to create a state of their own,known as the State of Palestine. The border of which is still under de-bate.

The Palestinians are trying to get recognition from the United Nationsof their State and of their proclaimed State boundaries. Israel, US andFrance are against it. No matter how this turns out, Im sure the lastthing everyone would like to have is more bloodshed.

Neutrino


12/2012

Chinas Wenzhou Railway Incident:The cost China pays for her rise to power

Source : tccmau.com

T hree months ago, we were shocked by oneof the most serious railway accidents inChinas modern history. On the 23rd of July,two high-speed trains in Wenzhou collided due to sig-

nal problems, killing 40 people and leaving 192 peopleinjured (and those are figures from the Chinese gov-ernment). While we pay our condolences to those whoare related to the unfortunate victims, we cant helpbut wonder why such a horrible thing could have hap-pened. Isnt the new railway, equipped with advancedtechnology and emergency systems, supposed to besafe? And shouldnt the governments railway ministrybe able to prevent the accident from happening, or at

least be able to conduct an efficient rescue opera-tion after its occurrence? These doubts lead to onequestion: was the Wanzhou crash really an accident?

Chinas new high-speed conventional railways havehad safety issues before. I can still remember viv-idly not so long ago, the claim that the highest trainspeed by the railway department was 350km/h, whichexceeded the maximum operational speed set by thetechnology provider of the train models (300km/h).By raising the maximum speed to 350km/h, the trainhad set the record for the fastest commercial trainin the world. Yet rumour has it that even the offi-cials of the ministry did not dare to board the train.Although train speeds were later lowered back downto around 300km/h, the railway departments disre-gard for passengers safety is still a serious threat.

After the Wenzhou Railway incident, the rescue and

cleanup were handled quickly and efficiently: quicklyin the sense that the rescue operation ended aftera mere 8 hours, instead of the golden 72 hours thatmany major rescue operatives adhere to; and effi-

ciently in the sense that after only a little more thana day, services in that exact rail route was resumed,with all signs of the wreckage cleared off and bur-ied the night before. Have they carried out enough

safety tests to ensure that another accident wonthappen again? No one knows for certain. The mostunbelievable part of it all was probably when a girlwho was still alive was found on the remains of atrain cart after the cart was ordered earlier to besawed off the bridge. If it werent for the officerwho refused to execute the order, that girl would havedied, not knowing that her rescuers were respon-sible for her death. This exposes the railway minis-

trys values: that lives are unimportant when pittedagainst the greater good of national development.

Also, much can be seen from the not-surprising me-dia censorship carried out by the government aftermainland news and commentaries began pointing outfaults of the government on the management of thisincident. On the first few days after the crash, therewas wide media coverage of this event, including thebroadcasting of Premier Wens speech saying that thefirst priority in dealing with accidents like these is al-ways saving lives. However, after the railway incidentbecame too eye-catching to a degree where it couldconstitute as a threat to the government, the Public-ity board then instructed the media not to broadcastnegative news/opinions on the incident, and only al-lowed them to report directly according to informationprovided by the Xinhua agency. Editors were forced toremove pages of news and feature articles previously

prepared, leaving blank holes in their newspaper.

Despite the censorship, many of the more daring lo-cal newspapers expressed their criticism and objec-

Tom Leung


13/2013

tion indirectly by blanking the front page, blacken-ing their newspaper, publishing commentaries earlybefore they were banned, or even directly disregardthe taboo. They also criticised the government byquoting specific parts of the Premiers speech. Theydemanded the truth to be told, and the railway min-istry to be held responsible. Despite their attempts,many of the editors are now facing impending pros-ecution. The deputy editor in charge of the Shang-hai Youth Daily has already been dismissed, alongwith a producer in CCTV, whose programme hadraised questions on the motive of the railway de-partment wiping out all traces of the crash so early.

The Wenzhou incident has shown us, as numerouspast incidents have shown us, a repeated fact: thatChina is developing with heavy cost. China in the mod-ern era has risen to a height unseen in her modernpast. She is the second largest economy in the worldand plays an increasingly powerful role in internationalaffairs. But, on her way to greatness, many things areleft unattended, issues are left unresolved and basicrights are left abused. Without solving these prob-lems, history will only repeat itself. We can no longerignore the imminent need for freedom and rights;China must act to change if true greatness is to beachieved: truths need to be uncovered, responsibilitiesneed to be taken, and lives need to be respected.

The of cial crew clearing up the train with large machineries.


14/20

volved in the issue and has permitted no illicit techniques tobe deployed. The two-hour hearing was very much a wasteof time.

Rupert Murdoch is the most powerful and influentialmedia mogul in the world. As TIME magazine had stated,his business touches every corner of the media universe.Millions read newspapers and watch television programmesthat are under his ownership. It is true that the scandal isnot just one single event anymore; these unaccepted tech-niques in obtaining materials had expanded to an industrialscale. This is a common practice for many Murdoch-owned

media. Mr Rupert Murdoch created his very own media cul-ture, but it went astray. It seems that the two Murdochs, asseen from the parliamentary hearing, are being defensiveand in denial. Rupert Murdoch claimed that there are peoplewho should be held accountable rather than himself. His heirapparently denied knowing the use of unorthodox practicesbefore the media reported them.

To restore a business ethic standards is never aneasy job. Especially when it comes to a multinational corpo-ration like the News Corp. What the Murdochs are doing is

neither the right way to resolve the scandal nor the correctmethod to re-establish a reputation.

To be honest, one can hardly provide any solutionto such a tremendous disgrace. Business is business; themedia industry is getting more and more competitive. Jour-nalists are urged to get scoops to boost the sales. Thesevigorous competitions ultimately aggregated the shamefulpractices into a common practice amongst the industry.

It has never been easy to establish a widely-ac-claimed reputation; this scandal surely taught News Corp.a lesson. As the worlds largest media corporation, it ismost important that the News Corp take concrete steps toabandon such practices, as to institute an example for hercounterparts to follow.

Francis Wong

July 2011 is destined to be the mostshocking month of the British media industry. Peo-ple are being arrested and accused of being in-volved in several phone-hacking scandals, includingRupert Murdochs protg Rebekah Brooks, who isthe chief executive of News International Limited,a publishing division of News Corporation owned byRupert Murdoch. Whilst the operation is still understrict supervision of the British Government, policeofficers of the London Metropolitan Police are saidto have taken bribes in exchange for inside stories.Key figures of Scotland Yard including Commission-er of the Met has resigned for being linked withthese issues.

The closure of the newspaper, News of theWorld, sparked another round of hot debate onwhos-to-blame. Will the closure of one newspaperhelp the whole corporation restore its own core val-ues and ethics? Clearly, it wont. There are preced-ing phone-hacking scandals related to News Corp.

Back in 2002, it has been reported that News ofthe World hacked Milly Dowlers cell phone (Dowlerwas an abducted and murdered 13-year-old Englishschoolgirl). Though the Information CommissionersOffice investigated the issue in 2003, the unortho-dox method of obtaining inside stories has neverbeen halted.

Families of the Royal family, showbiz celebsas well as the relatives of victims who sufferedterrorist attacks were being phone-hacked. No oneis safe now; whenever you communicate throughtelephone, someone will eventually produce a tran-script of what you said.

On 16 th and 17 th of July, Rupert Murdochpublished a full-page apology in major Britishnewspapers under the name of News Internationalsaying they are sorry, realised that simply apolo-gising is not enough and will take further concretesteps to resolve these issues. Regrettably, we seeno steps are taken to resolve the public backlash,let alone the concreteness of those steps. Whileadmitting saying sorry alone is not enough, the twoMurdochs acted quite differently when they weresummonsed to a hearing held by the Culture, Mediaand Sports Committee of the House of Commons.James Murdoch repeatedly said that he is not in-

But, pray, how did you get those stories?

14


15/2015

During the closing ceremony of each schoolyear, the school gives out academic prizes tothose who ranked in the top 3 places of each

subject. Many see these awards as a recognition of their academic achievement, and many believe thelaureates are worthy of them.

However, on the topic of whether or not those prizescan really re lect upon ones academic ability, manystill have their reservations.

I came third on an arts subject a few years ago, and at that instance, I felt my hard work had really paid off.At class, I stood head and shoulders above my class-mates; I always did well in exams, quizzes and home-work. So I took it as a well deserved honour.

Feeling proud and joyful, many schoolmates loathedme for getting the prize, saying the prize has no con-nection to ones ability on that subject. At irst, I dis -missed those comments with a laugh, thinking that their hatred stemmed from pure jealousy only.

At the start of the next academic year, I was re-as-signed to the alleged elite class of that subject. Im -mediately I realised how super icial and ignorant Ionce was. Many of my fellow classmates performedoverwhelmingly better than me. If I could get a prizeon that subject, then why couldnt they? It was thenthat I knew, I should strive with all my might to makemyself more deserving of that academic award.

A year elapsed. This year, I received no academicaward for that subject. But looking back, I did makehuge improvements that surpassed any other sub-jects that year.

Maybe those academic awards arent really basedon ones ability, but aim to work up your potentialby giving you an encouragement. This years awardwinner for that subject is controversial; many saidthat person should not be given an award. I didnt feel offended when I heard the news; instead, I amglad that another huge encouragement was given toone more student.

T o hoNour ? o r To empower ?By Anonymous

It is not titles that honour men, but men that honour titles. - Niccolo Machiavelli

HKUGA College Magazine - "Renaissance" would like to express our gratitude to whoever wrote this letter.Thank you for making our magazine much more interactive.

Across1. On an upper floor6. Drunkards8. Make an accusation9. Quantity10. Pulpy11. Nurture13. One who belongs toa group15. Equine sounds17. Smart19. Resembling a mouse

22. Dreary23. Acquire24. Faculty head25. Reformist

Down2. Visible image3. Not easily broken4. Frozen treats5. Direct light of the sun6. Warrior of feudalJapan7. Rows12. County Down town14. Inhabitant of Bel-gium16. Not friendly

18. That group20. External21. Carnivorous mam-mal

Crosswords !


16/2016


17/2017


18/2018


19/20


20/20

S taFF L ISt !

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SchooL a FFaIrS DePartmentBen Kong S5HL

Tweety Cho S5CT

Katrina Poon S6LLPriscilla Chan S6LLg LoBaL ISSueS DePartment

Francis Wong Tom Leung S5HL

Ben Kong S5HLRichard Wong S5HL

c hIneSe DePartmentCurtis Wong S5NS

Eunice Li S5HL Tweety Cho S5CTFatina Pong S5LY Anson Lau S5CT

a rtS anD c uLturaL DePartment

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DePartmentLok Poon

Peter Ng S6LW t echnIcIan anD WeBSIte

m aIntenance Yoyo Fung S5CH

Adrian Lee S5HL Johnny Chan S5CH

e DItorSExecutive Editor:Ben Kong S5HL

Editor in Chief:Priscilla Chan S6LLEditors:

Alistair Wong S5HLKaren Shum S5CT

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Francis Wongt eacher In c hargeMs. Wanda Huang

Renaissance 2nd Issue

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