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Dear [FIRSTNAME],
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Issue No.3 2012/6/5 |
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Exploring Sustainable Living Practices
Sharing and Reflecting on the Japan Study Trip
An important orientation of PCD’s programmes is to work for the welfare of human beings, to strive for harmonious coexistence with Nature and to practice sustainable living.
To explore ways to practice sustainable living, a 10-day trip was organized last September for 18 PCD staffs and partners from Hong Kong and mainland China to visit the prefectures of Shiga, Nara and Mie in Kansai, Japan. The objectives of the trip was to enhance PCD staff’s and partners’ knowledge of concepts and practices of sustainable living, to explore ways of community capacity building, and to deepen our knowledge of eco-agriculture so that we would feel love and respect for Nature, as well as act out our feelings in everyday life.
Thanks to our hosts, we have gained a lot from the trip. The excited and intelligent exchanges and constant interactions between Chinese and Japanese participants in the trip have brought us positive energy and the sparks that have been ignited can be observed in discussions among ourselves and in our reflections. In this issue, we invite Mr. Andrew McAulay, chairperson of PCD’s Management Committee and our partners who took part in the trip to share their experience which left them with deep impressions.
- Mr Andrew McAulay, Chairperson of Management Committee, PCD: "Reflections on PCD’s Trip to Japan in September 2011"
- Partners' Sharing:
- Introduction to Main Visits:
- PCD Japan Study Trip Itinerary
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Dreaming of the countryside amidst concrete and steel──A study trip on urban farming in Hong KongSince most people feel close to earth naturally and every city warms to its own memory of life of farming, urban farming has been an approach that we and our partners are interested in as part of our exploration on sustainable urban living…… [More] |
A "Petrol Station for the Human Body" under Rapid Urbanisation"Are you joking? You are coming to observe and study farming in Hong Kong?" The impression that Hong Kong gives me has always been "contradictory". How can there by "farming" in the cities? However agriculture is really being undertaken in various corners of this city. Why does this occur?…… [More] |
The multiple social functions of "Urban Farming"Very often urban farming also enable us to reflect on why rural youths are forced to leave their villages to work in cities, and why urban dwellers may rediscover the warmth of the land only through urban farming? Is this a sickness caused by development ?…… [More] | |
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Venerate all things
Bulang-Nationality people protect the forest with their religionIn recent years, under the influence of the outside world, some villagers tried to grow tea surreptitiously in the forest. PCD launched a programme in collaboration with the villagers to conduct a community survey to raise other villagers’ awareness to this issue. In the end villagers agreed to remove most of the tea trees and to do their best to prevent the forest from being damaged.…… [More] |
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Autonomy and Nature
—Reflections on the building of a well In a healthy or ecological community, self-reliance is the norm. However, this is only an ideal depicted in theories. Without self-reliance, it is impossible to have ecological sustainability because the dynamic environment would gradually lose its balance. This is already happening in Wayao as cash crops are replacing traditional crops…… [More] |
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Self-reliant and independent Liu Zhanhong
"If I don’t do it, who will?"
The rosy cheeks of Liu Zhanhong appear before us again. Yes, this is one of his mantras, and true to his promise, he has taken up the important responsibility of facilitating the ecological agriculture (EA) group of He Ai in the last three years. Undaunted by difficulties, he has held up under pressure from all sides and has managed to pay attention to both EA and community-supported agriculture (CSA). The story of how he has done both doggedly is touching. 2011 is a critical year for the development of the EA group...... [More] |
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Understanding Uncle Wu, understanding handicraftEighty-year-old Uncle Wu is still healthy and strong. He drinks one to two catties of rice wine everyday. Optimistic and easygoing, the master of handmade fuzhu prefers local soybeans and insists on broiling his fuzhu over fire and drying them in the sun. He never uses any bleaching agent. The fuzhu he produces looks great and tastes great. After 20 years of making fuzhu, Uncle Wu has developed his own set of skills that makes his products very popular among consumers. His products often fall short of demand...... [More] |
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Rethinking happiness after the 5.12 earthquakeLi Maohui, a worker of DORS, was a victim of the mega-earthquake that struck Wenchuan on May 12, 2008. After the earthquake, Li Maohui took up the programme, "Healthy Village" which is being implemented in two villages of Hanyuan County—Chalin Village and Moduo Village. As a victim of the earthquake and having lived in Wenchuan for many years, Li has firsthand experience of the earthquake and its impact on herself...... [More] |
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Video Sharing: Experiencing "The Way of Soil"
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In the last three decades hybrid seeds, chemical fertilisers and pesticides have been used to raise crop outputs. But they have not helped farmers move closer to a sustainable life of happiness. Today more and more farmers are choosing to practise ecological farming, and to preserve traditional farming culture. Their efforts are bringing results. A group of ecological farmers from Southwest China pour out their hearts in front of the camera...... [More] |
Video Sharing: "Vanishing of the Bees", Chinese Version
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"Vanishing of the Bees" is a film that, like "An Inconvenient Truth," caused huge reverberations. It explores, from different angles, why cultivated bees are vanishing in large numbers. To enable more people to understand the ecological crisis behind this phenomenon, PCD has sought and gained permission from the producer of the film to translate it into Chinese for the purpose of internal education. Any partner interested in watching the film may enquire with us. We look forward to your feedback, suggestions and actions after you watch the film. |
Good Book for All: Brothers and Sisters at the Youfangchang
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Hearing young people sighing about this and that, I remember a sociologist once said: "The history of the Miao people is that of hardship and suffering. They have gone through deprivations that we could never imagine." In the face of hardship and suffering, the culture of Miao people has changed but never disappeared. Because of this, we can also believe there is something precious in the new generation of Miao people which will live on...... [Click here to down load (Chi only)]. |
Good Book for All: "Enrooting our Dreams"
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"Enrooting our Dreams" is a new publication of PCD which has been developed for four years. The book is a collection of dialogue among a group of youth and facilitators documenting their growth and thoughts...... [Click here to down load (Chi only)]. |
Report on CSA : Review on CSA network development and outlook
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Since 2009, community supported agriculture (CSA) has become much more popular in Mainland China. There are more actors joining the movement, particularly in developed cities such as Beijing, Chengdu, Chongqing, Shanghai, Wuhan and Guangzhou etc. Last year, we conducted a review to analyse the CSA movement in Beijing, Guangzhou, Guangxi and Sichuan. The review covers an overview of CSA development history in Mainland China. Besides, it also gives us an idea about possible opportunities and challenges that we face in future...... [Click here to download the report (Chi only)]. |
You may be interested in the following information:Our Vision and Mission / History of PCD / Our Publications / Primary Approaches – Training of Facilitators / Where We Work |
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| Though we are based in different regions and have different work approaches, we are all striving to practise sustainable living, and the ripples we create will definitely benefit other partners. Please share your experience and reflections with us and send your stories to enews@pcd.org.hk. The subject of your stories should be related to your programmes. Please provide your name, project background and photographs. Please do not exceed 3,000 words. |
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 Established in Hong Kong in May 2001, Partnerships for Community Development (PCD) is a community development NGO set up and funded by the Kadoorie Foundation (via a stream of funds allocated by the Hon. Mrs McAulay). The Foundation is a Hong Kong-based trust founded in 1970 by the late Sir Horace Kadoorie, who believed in the principle,"Help people to help themselves".
PCD believes that everyone, however deprived in material terms, has the right and the ability to lead a dignified and sustainable life in harmony with others, with nature, and with the world at large. Individual well-being is crucial in maintaining a harmonious and sustainable community. PCD believes that the community has to work together to reflect on its relationship with nature and on its cultural traditions. |
Hong Kong Head Office:
3/F, Highgrade Building,
117 Chatham Road S.,
Tsim Sha Tsui
Kowloon, Hong Kong
Tel: (852) 2458-0011
Fax: (852) 2430-7099
Email: info@pcd.org.hk
Webpage: www.pcd.org.hk
Programme Offices:
Sichuan Programme Office
Guizhou Programme Office | |
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