Figure 1.--Cooking while camping is an activity persued by Scouts around the world. In Hong Kong it is done in an urban setting. Of course what the Scouts cook varies greatly from country to country.

Hong Kong Scouts participate in the same Scout activities as other Scouts around the world. Hong Kong is, however, is a city, a very heavily urbanized city. Thus Hong Kong scouting is urban Scouting and the Scouting activities reflect this. Scouts in other cities have many opportunities for hiking and camping in parks and wilderness areas outside the city. In the case of Hong Kong, political boundaries make this very difficult. This may not have been the case in the early years of Scouting, but after the Communist Revolution the border between Hong Kong and the People's Republic was a highly militarized border. After the Cultural Revolution, tensions declined, but it is unclear if uniformed Scouts were permitted in China. Since unification in 1997, I'm not sure if China allowed uniformed Scouts to enter China. Scouting is not permitted in China, only the Young Pioneers.

Urban Scouting

While Hong Kong Scouts participate in the same Scout activities as other Scouts around the world, there are some destinctive characteristics to Hong Kong Scouting. Hong Kong is, however, is a city, a very heavily urbanized city. Thus Hong Kong scouting is urban Scouting and the Scouting activities reflect this. Scouts in other cities have many opportunities for hiking and camping in parks and wilderness areas outside the city. In the case of Hong Kong, political boundaries make this very difficult. This may not have been the case in the early years of Scouting, but after the Communist Revolution the border between Hong Kong and the People's Republic was a highly militarized border. After the Cultural Revolution, tensions declined, but it is unclear if uniformed Scouts were permitted in China. Since unification in 1997, I'm not sure if China allowed uniformed Scouts to enter China. Scouting is not permitted in China, only the Young Pioneers.

Specific Activities

Hong Kong Scouts participate in the same Scout activities as other Scouts around the world.

Camping

Camping is of course a centrsl ctivity in Scouting. This was true from the very beginning of Scoting at Brown Sea Island. The idea of getting city boys out into the fresh air and sunshine was an important concern which inspired the creation of the Scouts in the first place. We wonder how Hong Kong Scouts approched camping. There doesn't seem to be a lot of country in Hong Kong where camps could be held. Hong Kong isone of the most densely populated placs in the world. A HBC reader writes, "Hong Kong may be densely populated, but that is true only for Kowloon, the northern slopes of Victoria Island and part of the New Territories. There are large rural areas in the New Territories and especially in the outlying islands. HK has at least a dozen nature reserves. So, if true wilderness experiences are out of the question, there is still ample room for trekking and camping. I did some trekking on Lantau island in the 1990s, walking from Po Lin Buddhist monastery on the Western part of the island to the Roman Catholic monastery on the Eastern end. We also hiked on Lamma and in the New Territories and we saw some beautiful and quiet rural and mountain areas." Of course other urbsan Scouts simply went cmping in the surronding country side. This was not popular for Honh Kong Scouts because the surrounding country side meant Red China. Since Mainland China resumed jurisduction over Hong Kong in 1997 this theoretically changed. We are not sure, however, that is has. Chinese Communists authorities may not look on Scouting benignly. It is of course banned in the rest of China. Authorities may not permit Hong Kon Scouts to persue activitides in China proper. Joprefully our Hong Kong readers will provide us some indights here.

Cooking

Cooking while camping is an activity persued by Scouts around the world. In Hong Kong it is done in an urban setting. Of course what the Scouts cook varies greatly from country to country. The Hong Kong Scout here is preparing a rice dish (figure 1).

Games

One of the fun aspects of Scouting is games. Hong Koing Scouts play both indoors and outdoors games. The outdoor games are the most populsr because they can be the most boisterous. Games are one of the most popular aspects of Scouting, espdecially for the younger boys. Here there are a wide range of different games. As far as we can tell, Hong Kong Scouts played msany of the standard games adopted by Scouts all around the world. We do not know of any games developed by Hong Koing Scouts. There may well be games developed by Hong Kong Scouts, we simoply do not know what they were.

Map reading

Map reading as part of a camping and hiking experience is an important activity for Scouts around the world. The same is true of Hong Kong, only the activity has to be conducted in an urban environment. There are, however, some parks which are a little more suitable then crowded city streets.Hong Kong Scouts do not have, however, the wilderness experiences enjoyed by most other scouts around the world.