Latest news with #HongKongPolytechnicUniversity
HKFP
23-05-2025
- HKFP
Hong Kong court rejects appeal bids of 5 people jailed for rioting near besieged university in 2019
A Hong Kong court has refused to allow appeal bids filed by five people who were jailed for rioting near the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) in 2019. Chan Yin-wang, Teresa Cheung, Chu Kwok-chi, Xavier Ko, and Lam Fung-chi appeared at the Court of Appeal on Thursday for their leave to appeal application. They are currently serving five-year jail terms, handed down by a District Court judge in November 2023 after they were found guilty of taking part in a riot in Yau Ma Tei on November 18, 2019. That week in 2019, protesters and police officers were locked in an intense standoff at PolyU in neighbouring Hung Hom, as many answered online calls urging people to take to the streets to support those trapped on campus. Cheung and Lam attempted to appeal both their sentences and guilty convictions, Ko and Chan attempted to appeal their sentences, while Chu attempted to appeal her conviction. Cheung represented herself, while the other four had legal representatives. Chan's lawyer told the court that his client went to church during the 10 months while awaiting his verdict. The District Court judge did not sufficiently consider Chan's rehabilitation, the lawyer said. Judge Anthea Pang, who sat on the three-judge panel, said Chan could have pleaded guilty to show his regret, but he chose to plead not guilty. Another judge, Maggie Poon, said sentences were based on a host of considerations and not just 'saying a prayer, going to church, and doing some volunteering.' 'A war zone' Representing Ko, lawyer David Ma said the District Court judge did not take into account his client's young age. Ko was 18 years old at the time of the offence. Ma said the same judge gave a sentence discount to a young defendant who had pleaded guilty in the same case. He said that judge did not explain why a reduced sentence based on age was offered only when the defendant pleaded guilty. In response, Judge Pang cited the District Court judge's sentencing judgment, which read in Chinese: 'Being young is not a cure-all. The scene was a war zone, and even a young person would know that such behaviour would lead to serious legal consequences.' Cheung, who represented herself, did not explain her reasons for attempting to appeal to the court. The hearing was adjourned for 30 minutes, after which the judges rejected all the appeal bids. The judges will issue their reasons in writing within six months.
RTHK
25-04-2025
- Business
- RTHK
Tourism satisfaction reaches record high in 2024
Tourism satisfaction reaches record high in 2024 Hong Kong has achieved a high level of tourist satisfaction, with all sectors seeing high scores. File photo: RTHK Hong Kong's tourism sector has demonstrated robust recovery, with its Tourism Satisfaction Index rebounding to pre-pandemic levels by 2023 and reaching an all-time high in 2024, according to recent research from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University's School of Hotel and Tourism Management. The school's Research Centre for Digital Transformation of Tourism has enhanced its assessment framework by integrating large language models to analyse tourist satisfaction across six key sectors – attractions, hotels, immigration, restaurants, retail shops and transportation – from 2012 to 2024. Findings reveal consistent outperformance by the transport sector and attractions, while retail shops and restaurants lagged in satisfaction scores. Haiyan Song, principal investigator and the school's associate dean, said education and training are essential in elevating service quality. He noted that the index serves as a tool for service providers to identify areas needing improvement. "After those analyses, they will be able to identify which areas they are not doing well compared with their competitors or overall sector indices so that they can make decisions internally to improve those areas," he said. "This is to do with the human resource management in hotels, attractions and so on and so forth. "For the government, I think it is a more at the destination level. "They should provide incentives. For example, if businesses are doing well in terms of providing high quality services, they should be recognised and promoted one way or another, or there should even be financial rewards for those businesses that are doing well." Song also said Hong Kong needs to diversify its tourism offerings in light of fierce competition from nearby destinations, including the Greater Bay Area, Japan and Singapore. "In future, younger generations will become the major source of tourists for Hong Kong," he said. "We should diversify tourism products and services to meet the demands of younger generations." "For example, [we can have] music tourism, sports tourism and also cultural tourism and nature tourism and so on and so forth, so [let's] diversify the products and services with a view to being more competitive."
Yahoo
30-03-2025
- Yahoo
'I drove 6,800 miles to university'
An exchange student who drove 6,800 miles (11,000 km) to get to university in the UK says his journey has inspired others to do the same. Yukun Tao travelled across nine countries from his home city of Nanjing, near Shanghai in China, to Durham by car last September. The 26-day trip took Mr Tao through China, Kazakhstan, Russia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Germany and the Netherlands. His parents had spent months "trying to stop me from this crazy plan", he said. "Everything was unknown," Mr Tao said. "I had not been to the other countries yet. I had not been abroad for about 10 years before this journey. "It really needs some spirit, some bravery to set off, because you're facing a world with everything unknown, everything uncertain." Mr Tao is now preparing for his return home in May and hopes to drive back via Denmark, Norway and Finland. The 20-year-old, who studies at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, spent about six months preparing for his journey. He said he chose Durham because he could do a full academic year, rather than one semester, but also because of the college system. "I think it's quite similar to Harry Potter's college so I finally chose Durham University," Mr Tao said. He decided to drive over after hearing someone else had done that but also wanted to bring his mountain bike. "For my parents, I think they would worry more than feeling proud," Mr Tao said. "They spent about two or three months trying to stop me from this crazy plan." The journey was not without its hurdles. Mr Tao set off on 1 September and, as he approached China's border with Kazakhstan, he started having trouble with his car's engine. Due to restrictions on exiting China, he needed to leave the country on 8 September or he would not be able to continue the trip. It meant he had about two days to fix the car and set off again. A friend managed to get him an appointment in the area and "a large problem" with the car's engine was found. "Usually, fixing it would take over a week," Mr Tao said. "But the engineers worked around the clock to help me get it back up and running." College principals and the chair of the Student Union welcomed Mr Tao when he reached Josephine Butler College on 26 September. "I was very surprised and moved," he said. It took him about two weeks to get used to UK roundabouts and driving on the left-hand side of the road. He has since been on road trips to the Highlands and London and hopes to visit Wales before driving back to his hometown. Mr Tao said his adventure had motivated one of his flatmates, who is also Chinese, to attempt the same trip. "He got moved with my spirit - my experience - and he plans to drive his car to Durham and take the same route." Follow BBC North East on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram. Student starts journey to remote Antarctic island Choir will 'always remember' Vatican performance Durham University
BBC News
30-03-2025
- Automotive
- BBC News
Exchange student's 6,800-mile drive from China to Durham
An exchange student who drove 6,800 miles (11,000 km) to get to university in the UK says his journey has inspired others to do the Tao travelled across nine countries from his home city of Nanjing, near Shanghai in China, to Durham by car last 26-day trip took Mr Tao through China, Kazakhstan, Russia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Germany and the parents had spent months "trying to stop me from this crazy plan", he said. "Everything was unknown," Mr Tao said."I had not been to the other countries yet. I had not been abroad for about 10 years before this journey."It really needs some spirit, some bravery to set off, because you're facing a world with everything unknown, everything uncertain."Mr Tao is now preparing for his return home in May and hopes to drive back via Denmark, Norway and Finland. The 20-year-old, who studies at Hong Kong Polytechnic University (HK PolyU), spent about six months preparing for his said he chose Durham because he could do a full academic year, rather than one semester, but also because of the college system."I think it's quite similar to Harry Potter's college so I finally chose Durham University," Mr Tao decided to drive over after hearing someone else had done that but also wanted to bring his mountain bike."For my parents, I think they would worry more than feeling proud," Mr Tao said."They spent about two or three months trying to stop me from this crazy plan." The journey was not without its hurdles. Mr Tao set off on 1 September and, as he approached China's border with Kazakhstan, he started having trouble with his car's engine. Due to restrictions on exiting China, he needed to leave the country on 8 September or he would not be able to continue the trip. It meant he had about two days to fix the car and set off again.A friend managed to get him an appointment in the area and "a large problem" with the car's engine was found."Usually, fixing it would take over a week," Mr Tao said."But the engineers worked around the clock to help me get it back up and running." College principals and the chair of the Student Union welcomed Mr Tao when he reached Josephine Butler College on 26 September. "I was very surprised and moved," he took him about two weeks to get used to UK roundabouts and driving on the left-hand side of the has been on road trips to the Highlands and London and hopes to visit Wales before driving back to his hometown. Mr Tao said his adventure had motivated one of his flatmates, who is also Chinese, to attempt the same trip."He got moved with my spirit - my experience - and he plans to drive his car to Durham and take the same route." Follow BBC North East on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
South China Morning Post
17-03-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
DeepSeek's success lies in start-up's singular focus on innovation, AI scientist says
Advertisement Yang, who serves as associate dean for global engagement at Hong Kong Polytechnic University , said at a forum last Tuesday that the Hangzhou -based company was relatively 'free from [commercial] product and business pressures, which are a constant concern' for Big Tech firms. DeepSeek was purely engaged 'in developing AI large models', she said at the event 'DeepSeek and Beyond' held at PolyU. Her assessment partly echoes the view of Alibaba Group Holding chairman Joe Tsai , who said in Dubai last month that DeepSeek's breakthrough in developing cheap-but-high-performing large language models (LLMs) was 'quite significant' and could inspire more AI developers to focus on open-source solutions. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post. LLMs are the technology underpinning generative AI assistants like OpenAI's ChatGPT and DeepSeek's namesake chatbot. Advertisement Open source gives public access to a program's source code, allowing third-party software developers to modify or share its design, fix broken links or scale up their capabilities.
