Club initiates FAMILY project to prevent family discords and promote family health, happiness and harmony

18 October 2008

The Hong Kong Jockey Club today (18 October) unveiled a citywide project designed to help build healthy and happy families and make Hong Kong a harmonious society. The project, entitled "FAMILY: A Jockey Club Initiative for a Harmonious Society", is being supported by funding of HK$250 million from the Club. The project was officially launched by Club Chairman Mr John C C Chan, Chief Secretary for Administration the Hon Henry Tang Ying-yen and Professor Lap-chee Tsui, Vice-Chancellor and President of The University of Hong Kong (HKU), partner of the project.

The Club has a strong commitment to promoting a harmonious society. Over the years, the Club has worked closely with the Government and non-governmental organisations and supported various community projects to provide solutions to different family problems. In order to identify the trend and magnitude of family problems and devise suitable measures to address these problems at source, the Club decided to take its own initiative to launch a citywide family research and public education project. This farsighted project is launched in collaboration with the School of Public Health of The University of Hong Kong.

The project will carry out a five-year household survey from December 2008 targeting a total of 20,000 households in Hong Kong. Based on the results of the survey, intervention strategies and programmes which aim at preventing the occurrence of family discords and promoting family health, happiness and harmony ("3Hs") will be devised in collaboration with government departments and non-governmental agencies. Trial intervention sessions will be conducted at different districts in Hong Kong to test the effectiveness of the programmes. The 3Hs message will be disseminated to the general public through various channels and different public education programmes to enhance their awareness on traditional family values as well as influence their attitude.  

Club Chairman John C C Chan explained that the Chinese name of the project illustrates the Club's interpretation of a "harmonious family", "'Love' and 'Person' are the core components in a harmonious family. We link people and love together by placing the symbol "+" between these two words. It also reminds the public to love their family members." Mr Chan commented that people who have a harmonious family not only have a better and healthier life, but also a more positive attitude towards their career or studies, "Care and concern from family members are invaluable."

Vice-Chancellor and President of The University of Hong Kong Professor Lap-chee Tsui said "HKU will continue to serve the community through education and research, as it has done for generations. I believe the FAMILY Project will help to spread the message of the 3Hs - Health, Happiness and Harmony - to all families in Hong Kong, so that together, we can continue to build and strengthen the big family - Hong Kong."

Apart from working closely with the University of Hong Kong, the Club is also strongly supported by the Government and the Family Council on its FAMILY project. The Hon Henry Tang Ying-yen, Chief Secretary for Administration and Chairman of the Family Council, noted the Club's commitment to promoting a harmonious society. "The Hong Kong Jockey Club will provide HK$250 million for promoting the 'FAMILY: A Jockey Club Initiative for a Harmonious Society' project. This is a forward-looking project in collaboration with the University of Hong Kong. It adopts a scientific approach to collect data and information, analyses the sources of family problems, and devises evidence-based preventive measures. I trust the results of the project would provide useful reference for the Government in formulating family policies for Hong Kong," Mr Tang said.

"Like our project slogan, an ideal family life should be healthy, happy and harmonious," Mr Chan said. "I do hope the FAMILY project will find more ways to help build a harmonious society."