7/2/2014 : The Pulse

Last September Chinese state media said that more than 400 million Chinese are unable to speak Putonghua the national language, and large numbers in the rest of the country speak it badly. Pretty much every year, the government launches another push for linguistic unity. While officials admit they will probably never get the whole country to speak Putonghua that doesn't stop them trying. And many are concerned about the way those efforts are spreading to Hong Kong, Just before the Lunar New Year holiday, the Education and Manpower Bureau issued an article on its "Language Learning Support" page in which it said that" Cantonese is a dialect but not an official used language in Hong Kong ..." This statement sparked a new wave of controversy regarding Hong Kong's identity.

With us in the studio to discuss this is Dr Ben Au Yeung of the Chinese University of Hong kong.

The government recently ended a consultation on a proposed drug testing scheme that will give the police the power to spot test anyone they suspect to have taken drugs. If the test is positive they would then be referred for treatment. Advocates say it will help, not harm, drug users. Others are concerned it's an unnecessary expansion of police powers.

Lunar New year is a time when many people turn, whether seriously or in jest, to forms of fortune telling. But if an anti-superstition crackdown on the mainland has its way, the future will be less than bright for Hong Kong's prognosticators.