FAMILY TV Series promotes family Health, Happiness and Harmony

17 January 2010

People living in fast-paced cities like Hong Kong always face a lot of pressure.  Love and care from family members not only provides a fortress to help those affected cope with such challenges, but also leads to happier family relationships.  In order to uphold traditional family values and promote family Health, Happiness and Harmony (the "3Hs"), "FAMILY: A Jockey Club Initiative for a Harmonious Society" is launching a nine-episode TV series produced by Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK).  Officiating guests at the announcement of the series today (17 January) included The Hong Kong Jockey Club's Executive Director, Charities, Legal & Corporate Secretariat, Douglas So; Director of Broadcasting, Franklin Wong; FAMILY Project Principal Investigator, Prof T H Lam; and FAMILY TV Series Ambassador Eason Chan.

Mr So said the Club had a strong commitment to promoting a harmonious society over the past years and firmly believed that it had to start from home. Through public education initiatives, a household survey and intervention programmes, "FAMILY: A Jockey Club Initiative for a Harmonious Society" aims to provide more ways to enhance Health, Happiness and Harmony in families. He added, "The TV series is one of the major public education initiatives to strengthen public understanding of traditional family values and remind them the importance of communication and understanding."

The FAMILY TV Series will comprise nine half-hour episodes to be broadcast on TVB Jade between 8:00 pm and 8:30 pm every Saturday from 23 January onwards (except 30 January).  The programmes can also be viewed online on the RTHK website (http://tv.rthk.org.hk).  Befitting the "3Hs" theme, the programmes will feature topics of importance to families such as how to cope with challenges affecting the family, communication amongst family members, how newly-weds adjust, grandparenting, family commitment, and community and neighbourhood support.

To generate advance interest in the TV series, a FAMILY Love Letter Writing Competition has recently taken place, which received over a thousand entries.  Prizes were presented at today's event to the winners, whose love letters were read out by participating artistes.

Further details of the FAMILY TV Series can be viewed at www.rthk.org.hk/special/lovefamily2010.

FAMILY: A Jockey Club Initiative for a Harmonious Society is a citywide project launched by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust with HK$250 million funding, in collaboration with the School of Public Health of The University of Hong Kong.  The project aims to identify the sources of family problems, devise suitable preventive measures and promote family Health, Happiness and Harmony (the "3Hs") through a citywide household survey, intervention projects and public education programmes.

125th Anniversary of The Hong Kong Jockey Club

Founded in 1884, The Hong Kong Jockey Club is celebrating its 125th Anniversary in 2009/10 season.  Over the past 125 years, it has become one of Hong Kong's best known and respected organisations, providing the public with world-class sporting entertainment as well as being the city's major non-Government community benefactor, now donating more than HK$1 billion a year to charitable and community projects.  It has been a part of Hong Kong through good times and bad, sharing the city's growth and development with its people, and is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for future generations.