Poverty Campaign: Speak Up

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 the millions of 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

Corporate problems

• Company changes salaries and job requirements anytime
• Shady company practices, make false promises to employees
• The poor has no chance to sue them in court
• Taking advantage of old citizens, people with health problems
• Wages are well below society standards
• Extremely long working hours are allowed

Society problems

• Lowered living standards, instead of increasing
• Large families often supported by 1 working member in the household
• More and more kids are born under 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

Notes

References

• TVB 捐贈大行動
• TVB April 4, 2008