Poverty Campaign: Speak Up

Updated on Jan 17, 2024

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Starring Hong Kong citizens Original language(s) Cantonese Running time approx. 35 minutes Final episode date April 2008 Number of episodes 3		Country of origin Hong Kong No. of episodes 3 First episode date April 2008 Network TVB
Genre Televised forum, society show Languages Standard Cantonese, Cantonese

Poverty Campaign: Speak Up (Chinese: 一百萬人的故事) is a society show on Hong Kong's TVB sponsored by general manager Stephen Chan. The title literally means "The story of a million people" as the show allows the poor to speak out about their poverty experience. Most complaints are against the way the Hong Kong government and major corporations treat them unfairly. Much of the theme is about the increasing gap between the rich and the poor.

Episodes

Poverty Campaign: Speak Up: Donation operations (一百萬人的故事 - 捐贈大行動)

Poverty Campaign: Speak Up: Learn and care (一百萬人的故事 - 了解‧關懷)

Poverty Campaign: Speak Up: Citizens open talk (一百萬人的故事 - 全民開講)

Government problems

Lack of minimum wages

Uneven and unfair distribution of government wealth

The government only listens to the rich, then make laws that favor the rich

No actions are taken to help the poor

Some comparisons are made for government standard before and after the 1997 handover

Society problems

Lowered living standards, instead of increasing

Large families often supported by 1 working member in the household

Growing numbers of children born below the poverty line

Participants

An example of a participant of the show is Ah Ying. She was a toilet cleaner employed by contractors hired by the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department. Her hourly wage cut from HK$23.50 to HK$20, when her job title was changed to "washroom attendant" in 2005.

Celebrities who have taken part

Eason Chan

Kelly Chan

Eric Tsang

Carina Lau

Sandra Ng

Stephen Chan

References

Poverty Campaign: Speak Up Wikipedia

(Text) CC BY-SA