HONG KONG - A youth exchange program named "Belt and Road Journey" kicked off here Thursday, aiming to raise awareness of the opportunities brought about by the Belt and Road Initiative.Twenty young people will travel by train at the end of this month to cities including Urumqi, capital of Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region and Kazakhstan's Almaty.The 20 young people, aged between 18 and 25, were selected from more than 500 applicants.During the six-day trip, they will visit local businesses and landmarks, and interact with local university students, one of the organizers, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) said at a press conference.In this way, the young people from Hong Kong will get "first-hand knowledge of the economic and cultural landscape of different Belt and Road regions," the organizer noted.The journey will be filmed and broadcast as a special TV series in September, as part of the HKTDC's ongoing efforts to promote the Belt and Road Initiative through the media and social media channels to attract more young people to get involved.HKTDC Deputy Executive Director Raymond Yip described the program as a flagship Belt and Road promotion event for young people this summer.He hoped that through direct interaction with local youths and visits to companies, the trip will help young people here gain a deeper understanding of the initiative.The initiative, proposed by China in 2013, refers to the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, aiming at building a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient trade routes of Silk Road. plastic wristbands ukcustomize your own bracelet
Early childhood education in Hong Kong has become big business, attracting more entrepreneurs and increased investment in the industry. [Provided to China Daily] Trade wars and rising interest rates have taken away much of the shine of stocks and properties. If you, like many other Hong Kong investors, are thinking of selling out while the times are still good, you may want to know there's a new game in town that has whetted the interest not only of local entrepreneurs but also millionaire investors on the Chinese mainland. You don't have to be an educator or a social analyst to notice the obsession of many parents in Hong Kong and on the mainland with giving their toddlers a head start. Many children as young as two years of age are drilled by their eager parents to prepare for examinations to qualify for admission to some of the most prestigious nurseries and kindergartens. The strong demand has turned pre-school education into a big business, sucking up hundreds of millions of new investment funds from entrepreneurs, as well as investors who have grown wary of the stock and property markets. As a result, some of the better known play schools and kindergartens have become prized take-over targets. Even the special schools, especially those that teach local pre-school children usage of the English language, are in demand. Investors in pre-school education reportedly include young entrepreneurs who are interested in running the schools. There's no shortage of passive investors who are interested only in the earnings potential of these facilities. A mainland investor has reportedly bought a well-known kindergarten in Hong Kong because he can't get over the fact that he couldn't find a good kindergarten for his children when they were young. In Hong Kong, all kindergartens are privately owned and operated although they have to register with the government and subject to regular inspections by the Education Bureau. Since the introduction of the Quality Assurance Framework in 2012, the government regularly publishes a set of Performance Indicators for public reference. But, it's word of mouth that determines the popularity of a kindergarten. The more famous one can charge a fee of up to several thousand dollars per student. That's good business.
