Music, Culture and Education in Post-Colonial Hong Kong

Abstract

This article explores the place of music in public education in Hong Kong. Over the past twenty years, the education system has been transformed, from the first year of primary school through university. The changes were initiated in the years immediately following the 1997 establishment of Hong Kong as a special administrative region of the People’s Republic of China, after more than 150 years as a British colony. In this article, sources examine include the Education Bureau’s guidelines on curriculum and government publications that outline the place of music and the importance of quality of life in the administration’s goals. The article focuses on the senior secondary music curriculum, comparing it with the music programs in Hong Kong universities. While the comparison shows that there are strong links between secondary and tertiary studies in music, it also illustrates some of the gaps in the system, especially in the areas of music theory and history.