The much-awaited annual youth celebration — 2025 youthfest@HK — kicked off on Tuesday in Chai Wan, with ambitious promises of a vast range of resources and events to delight the keen eyes of Hong Kong’s young generation looking for empowerment and opportunities.
Opening the festival at Youth Square, Chief Secretary Eric Chan Kwok-ki underscored the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government’s commitment to championing youth development.
Chan revealed that since the 2022 release of the Youth Development Blueprint — which outlines the government’s vision and principles for promoting youth development — around 150 specific initiatives have been implemented in response to societal and youth needs.
Chan framed the festival as key to help fuel a way for youngsters to grow into a new generation equipped with global perspectives and positive thinking while harboring a deep sense of belonging to Hong Kong and the country.
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This year’s festival — continuing to uphold its high profile as one of the cornerstone initiatives promulgated in the blueprint — carries a tripartite theme of “Nurture Positive Thinking,” “Promote Innovation,” and “Inspire Creativity,” set out to keep building on the momentum of the past two editions that embraced over 400 activities and more than 400,000 participants, said Chan.
It will feature a packed, diverse calendar of over 100 activities spanning history workshops, tech hackathons, sports challenges, and cultural exchanges that cater to young people’s varied learning needs and interests, in a bid to shore up their holistic development.
As this year marked the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45), Chan also called for more activities to be held to mark the occasion.
Dedicated commemorative events under the festival’s banner will certainly deepen Hong Kong youth’s understanding of national history, fostering a stronger sense of belonging and pride in the nation, and strengthening their patriotic spirit, said Chan.
Lester Garson Huang, steward of The Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) – the principal sponsor of the festival through its charities trust – shared a personal connection with the festival at the opening ceremony while reinforcing HKJC’s pledge to the empowerment of youth, which he described as “a vital driving force for societal development”.
“Last year, I participated in the festival’s ‘Youth Fest Youth Quest’ event, engaging in candid discussions with 300 young people,” he recalled.
“We shared visions for Youth Square’s new development plans, injecting fresh impetus for the partial conversion of the square into a new interactive space.”
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Part of YS will be upgraded to a video studio for young people to produce videos showcasing their positive stories, and to offer relevant training on video production and filming, a conversion to dovetail with the forthcoming roll-out of the “Good Stories of Hong Kong Youth” programme led by the Home and Youth Affairs Bureau.
The upgrade will be sponsored by a Hong Kong Jockey Club grant of HK$1.4 billion ($178 million) to support five youth development initiatives announced in Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu’s 2024 Policy Address to mark its 140th anniversary.
Contact the wanqing@chinadailyhk.com
