Rosh Hashanah, in Hebrew means “head of the year”. It is the beginning of the year according to the traditional Jewish calendar and a time of inner renewal and divine atonement. This year’s celebration started last Monday on September 6th and ended on the evening of Wednesday, 8th. Rosh Hashanah is the first day of the High Holidays or “Days of Awe”, which ends with a 25-hour fast called Yom Kippur or "Day of Atonement" that begins on the evening of 15th September. It is the holiest Jewish holiday of the year, filled with traditions and meaning. Carol Man, a Hong Kong Chinese artist who has adopted the Jewish faith, has long been intertwining her cultural identities in her artistic journey. At Tang Contemporary Art gallery, co-curators Giuliana Benassi and Michela Sena, have selected over 15 works by six young Italian artists that address the current period of instability and uncertainty in our world. The exhibition is called “Ineffable Worlds”. The artists taking part are Marta Mancini, Andrea Martinucci, Alessandro Giannì, Luca Grimaldi, Marco Eusepi, and Giulia Dall’Olio. Among the themes and subjects they examine are technology and the digital world, pop culture, nature and temporality, abstraction and figuration, space, and a “mythology of the future”. The life expectancy of Hong Kong’s population, like that of many places elsewhere in the world, is longer than it used to be. Many societies are having to make new adjustments for ageing populations. The good news though is that in general, older people are staying healthier and active for longer. Old age is being redefined, and more of us are realising that getting older shouldn not necessarily mean giving up your sense of fun or your passions. The men who make up the local band, “Men of Winds” are all 50 or older. And their passion for music is undiminished.

Hong Kong’s population and building density are among the highest anywhere in the world. According to government figures, we have 6,930 people per square kilometre. Every living and non-living thing is fighting for space. We build taller and live higher. No other city has more skyscrapers than Hong Kong. Added to this is a pretty advanced transport infrastructure, both under and above the ground. Recently however there has been a greater focus on another form of civic planning: emphasising the creation of a liveable city that promotes the wellbeing of the community. What this means is enhancing the liveability of the city on several levels including physical, social and cultural aspects. In today’s episode, we’re looking at attempts to make Hong Kong a more walkable city, and what is being done about conserving history through heritage buildings. It might surprise you to know that Hong Kong has more than 8,000 of them.

In order to protect public health and gradually bring the society back to normal, the government has launched a citywide Covid-19 vaccination programme to provide all Hong Kong citizens with free jabs. This episode records what people think about the vaccination with over a million people already having received the first dose in the two months after the programme began. In order to go to mainland China, some elderly are determined to get vaccinated, until more and more people have felt unwell after getting vaccinated. As an old lady starts to hesitate, she tries to get a physical examination at different clinics and hospitals to ensure that vaccination is suitable for her. There are also different opinions on vaccination within families, while elderly homes have different considerations on whether to let their residents get jabbed.

On the roofs of the old buildings in the Sham Shui Po area, there are a lot of illegal rooftop structures in different sizes, and it has been a view of the city. WAI Kar-fu (nicknamed Uncle), a Surveyor of the Buildings Department, works with LUI Fei-tong, a newly recruited Surveyor Officer, on the unauthorized building works in the area. During an inspection, they find that there are eight illegal rooftop structures on the roof top of Chung On Building. As the building is a “three-nil building” (a building without an owners’ corporation, a form of residents’ organization and engaging a property management company), it is hard to find a counterpart or a property owner to talk to, which makes enforcement difficult. After a lot of hard work, they finally help Brother Wing, one of the illegal rooftop structure tenants, move out. Who would have thought that after a few days, they discover that there are new tenants in that structure? They are very discouraged as their effort is wasted and they don’t know when the demolition could be obtained. At that time, Uncle gives Fei-tong an advice – when encountering difficulties, he should maintain his professionalism and perseverance, he should not look only at the illegal rooftop structures of the platform, but at the restored rooftop after the demolition. Fei-tong finally understands that the issue of unauthorized building works is a marathon of confidence and perseverance. Director: AU Ta-hoi Cast: CHAN Kwok-pong, Kaki SHAM, YEUNG Ying-wai

Tai Po Old Market Public School (Plover Cove) places great importance on the teaching of General Studies, where there are a number of specialised teachers in this subject. CHEN Chi-chung has been teaching for more than 20 years, and he considers that General Studies is a subject that can achieve the objective of interdisciplinary education. General Studies is by no means “a subject of no importance”. The subject emphasises much on whole person development, and students can learn about natural environment, communities, history and culture, and arts and creation through diversified activities. It aims not only to impart knowledge but also to cultivate students’ values and humanistic qualities. Regarding the curriculum design, teachers attach more importance to experiential learning activities, such as letting students work on the farmland in school to experience farmers’ hard work; students can also acquire general knowledge of farming and at the same time learn about science and astronomy. In addition, gaining on-hand experience in the community is one of the major teaching targets. Every year, TSANG Sui-lun takes his students on a tour to the Fu Shin Street market, which has a long history , so that students can observe people’s livelihood and at the same time learn about the history and culture of Tai Po . These experiential learning activities are much more effective than teaching by just reading aloud from textbooks.

Xinjiang has in recent years introduced education and vocational training, and worked to sinicize Islam in the region. The United States and other western countries responded by alleging human rights violations, and even repeatedly issued sanctions. Relations between Han people and ethnic minorities in Xinjiang had previously been tense due to past terrorist attacks. However, there has been no terror attack there for over four years. What has the government done to unite people from different ethnic groups? RTHK was authoritised to report in Xinjiang, to find out more about the latest situation.

Practice - Eastman Cheng (Artist) Eastman Cheng_Practice With repetitive movements and the toing and froing of needle and thread, Eastman Cheng creates pillowy sculptures using fabric. The colours of marshmallows and soft textures constitute familiar objects, as well as her imaginings of the world. The endless desire to create and incessant practice are constants in her daily life. Producer: Freda Hui Footprints - Alice Ma (Dancer / Choreographer) She is dancing solo, but also dancing with the times. Alice Ma likes to create experimental contemporary dance performances, through which she explores human nature and the current state of society with her body, and also finds an outlet for venting the hysterical emotions deep within her. Choreography enables her to leave traces of her own growth journey a step at a time. From these faint footprints, she searches for rhythm and direction relentlessly, determined to advance with the times at her own pace. Producer: Pui-ki Lun

There are numerous reasons why birds choose Hong Kong as their home or only a stop of their migration. This shows that Mother Nature is constantly moving and ever-growing. In the post-war period, the forests in Hong Kong had been revitalised, and there were also an increasing number of types of forest birds. We will observe the interesting behaviour of forest birds. On the other hand, resident waders’ way of living has created a comparison to that of their migrant kinfolks. Today, the behaviour of birds is inevitably affected by human activities, and the situation is even more predominant in urban areas.

On an ordinary day after the outbreak of the coronavirus, Hin was using the hand sanitizer provided by the residence, he suddenly thought of the residents in the tenement houses, who cannot enjoy free hand sanitizers. Therefore, he initiated the Hand Sanitizer Sharing Scheme For Tenement Buildings In 18 Districts. He was funded by some charity foundations; and he gathered a group of volunteers. Every weekend, the team visited tenement buildings all over Hong Kong and installed hand sanitizer bottles for free. Hin is passionate about voluntary work; he was a volunteer at the Missionary for Charity established by Mother Teresa and the vice-chairperson in a large-scale charity organization. In 2015, he founded the Build & Wish Voluntary Team, a non-religious, non-profit, and non-governmental voluntary organization. Through a variety of projects in these years, they have connected multiple welfare organizations and gathered a group of volunteers. The team has installed hand sanitizer bottles in more than 1,600 tenement houses. They have also connected a group of helpers in the neighbourhood to help refilling hand sanitizers. After establishing the voluntary team, Hin met Joe, the founder of Footprint Voluntary Services Association. They have a similar vision and therefore become partners for many charity programs. For instance, debugging and home cleaning for underprivileged residents, furniture recycling and delivery service for the poor, free delivery service, and home refurbishing service, and more. These charity programs were resumed when the situation of coronavirus was slightly calmed. Hin works as a structural engineer; while Joe works in an engineering company. When they and the other volunteers served the community, they always emphasized that they were not celebrities, and were not trying to promote themselves through social services. Therefore, they have never used their actual name when it comes to voluntary works - a group of genuine "anonymous angels" they are.

Episode 8 “Latter Life Leisures” Host: Vivian KONG Dave hurt his wrist when he was 50 years old. He was waiting in the hospital for a follow-up consultation when the public address system made the announcement: “LAU Wing-ming who is 50 years old, please go to Room 9.” “Maybe someone has the same name as mine, so the age is revealed for identification. At that moment, it was like God announced to me: You’ve entered your fifties!” Raymond and Alissa also share similar experience of “growing old”. The three seniors and Vivian KONG all laugh heartily. Age gap does not obstruct them from communication and opening their hearts to one another. Dave is 75 years old, Raymond and Alissa are over 60 years old. All three of them are not young anymore, but Vivian is deeply impressed by their active and optimistic characters. The three elderly persons are part-time models, and they love doing exercise and learning new things. These are the secrets for maintaining good physical and mental health in old age. Sometimes, the tricks are just common sense like “mom is a woman”. However, it is always easier said than done. “We need to have targets in every stage of our life.” This is an effective prescription to prevent depression in the elderly and mood disorder. When we reach older age in life, we may be retired, and our children may become grown-ups. We no longer need to put ourselves under the spotlight of workplace and family, so it is time for us to explore a new world for ourselves. Dave, Raymond and Alissa are role models of seniors who are still energetic and charming. Our life is long, and our clothes are thin. Nothing in the world is more intimate to us than our own bodies. In fact, our body is a container which saves our emotions and memories. For the elderly, the most familiar signal from their bodies may be pain. The three seniors follow the teacher to explore their bodies and feel the pain points, because they understand that it is better to listen to their bodies and take good care of themselves instead of escaping from the problems. Although Vivian is younger than the seniors, she has deep feelings about her physical condition. As athletes are more sensitive to the changes in their bodies than the general public, will their have special feelings on “aging”? There may be a fear behind injuries that they dare not to touch. The teacher says, “It is time to learn how to slide down elegantly … ” The elderly learns about balance and fall prevention, while youngsters should also learn to overcome failure. Let us be optimistic, open-minded, curious and active to cosily walk through the final stage of the journey of our life.