In celebration of the 25th Anniversary of the Establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) in 2022, primary and secondary school students and the public are now invited to take part in the WhatsApp sticker design and four-frame photo competitions organised by the Information Services Department (ISD) to send their blessings and share their aspirations for the future of Hong Kong in a creative way.

     Under the theme of "Blessings for HKSAR 25th Birthday", the WhatsApp sticker design competition welcomes primary school pupils to unleash their creativity and design a series of fun, lively and useful stickers to send their birthday blessings for Hong Kong.

     The four-frame photo competition, with the theme of "New Era with a Bright Future", comes in two categories – one for secondary school students and the other open to the public. Participants can take photos of the diverse facets of Hong Kong – its cityscapes and its people – to create a four-frame visual story, expressing their hope and confidence in the bright future of the city. Participants must enrol as an individual in either one of the categories and submit only one entry. The open category welcomes residents of all ages to join.

     The competitions are organised by the ISD and supported by the Education Bureau, with Ming Pao as a co-organiser. Interested students of primary and secondary schools, and members of the public can download the enrolment form from the dedicated website (www.hksar25contests.com). Entries can also be submitted online via the website. The enrolment deadline is March 11.

     Each category of the WhatsApp sticker design competition (primary school category) and the four-frame photo competition (secondary school and open categories) will have one champion, a first runner-up, a second runner-up and five merit awards. To encourage participation of more students, a top participating school award will be given out to three schools each in the primary and secondary school categories.

     Scholarships or cash prizes ranging from $1,000 to $8,000 and trophies will be awarded to winners while winning schools will be awarded book vouchers and trophies. Winning entries may be displayed at a roving exhibition to celebrate the HKSAR 25th anniversary and other venues. The winning sticker designs will be made available online for the public to download.

     For more details, please visit www.hksar25contests.com or call 2595 3029 (Ming Pao).
 

     The effective exchange rate index for the Hong Kong dollar on Tuesday, January 4, 2022 is 95.5 (up 0.4 against yesterday's index).

The following is issued on behalf of the Judiciary:

     The Judiciary today (January 4) announced the appointment of Ms Yvonne Cheng Wai-sum, SC, as Judge of the Court of First Instance of the High Court. The appointment will take effect on January 5, 2022.

     The appointment is made by the Chief Executive on the recommendation of the Judicial Officers Recommendation Commission.

     Ms Cheng, who now holds office as Recorder of the Court of First Instance of the High Court, will cease to be Recorder with effect from the same date.

     The biographical note of Ms Cheng is as follows:

     Ms Yvonne Cheng Wai-sum, SC, was born in 1973 in Hong Kong. She obtained a Bachelor of Arts (Jurisprudence) degree from Magdalen College, University of Oxford, United Kingdom, in 1995. She completed the Bar Finals Examination of the General Council of the Bar of England and Wales in 1996. She was called to the Bar of England and Wales (Gray's Inn) and to the Hong Kong Bar both in 1996. She has been in private practice since 1998. She was appointed as Senior Counsel in 2013. She was appointed as Deputy Judge of the Court of First Instance of the High Court for periods in 2014 and 2015. She has been appointed as Recorder of the Court of First Instance of the High Court since 2018.

     With the tropical cyclone Rai affecting the northern part of the South China Sea and skirting past to the south of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Observatory (HKO) issued the Standby Signal No. 1 on December 20, 2021. It was the second time on record in Hong Kong since 1946 that it was necessary to issue the tropical cyclone warning signal in December.

     â€‹December 2021 was warmer than usual with a mean temperature of 18.9 degrees, 0.7 degrees above the normal figure of 18.2 degrees (or 1.0 degree above the 1981-2010 normal figure). It was also drier than usual with a total rainfall of 19.5 millimetres, about 32 per cent below the normal of 28.8mm (or about 27 per cent below the 1981-2010 normal of 26.8mm). The annual total rainfall of 2 307.1mm in 2021 was about 5 per cent below the annual normal of 2 431.2mm (or about 4 per cent below the 1981-2010 normal of 2 398.5mm).

     Dominated by a dry northeast monsoon and the subsequent replenishment, the weather was generally fine in the first two weeks of December. The weather was very dry from December 1 to 4. With the moderation of the northeast monsoon and a cloud band covering the coast of Guangdong and the northern part of the South China Sea, local weather became mainly cloudy with a few light rain patches on the night of December 14 and the following day. Apart from a few rain patches in the morning, it was rather warm with sunny periods during the day on December 16. The maximum temperature recorded at the HKO that day was 25.8 degrees which was the highest of the month. Under the influence of an intense northeast monsoon, the weather became appreciably cooler and dry on December 17 and the next two days.

     Meanwhile, after wreaking havoc in the Philippines, Super Typhoon Rai weakened into a severe typhoon and continued to move westwards entering the southern part of the South China Sea on December 17. It re-intensified into a super typhoon on December 18, making it the first super typhoon occurring in the South China Sea in December since 1961. Rai gradually turned to move north towards the northern part of the South China Sea on December 19 and weakened progressively. With Rai weakening into a severe tropical storm and tracking northeastwards towards the coast of Guangdong, the HKO issued the Standby Signal No.1 on the morning of December 20. Breaking the record of Irma in 1974, Rai became the storm which necessitated the issuance of the latest tropical cyclone warning signal in a year since 1946. Rai continued to move northeastwards across the northern part of the South China Sea and progressively weakened into an area of low pressure on December 21.

     Affected by the rain-bearing cloud band associated with Rai, it was rainy and cool from December 20 to 21. More than 20mm of rainfall were recorded over Lantau Island and the northwestern part of the New Territories on these two days. Local weather remained mainly cloudy with a few rain patches from December 22 to 24.

     An intense winter monsoon reached the coast of Guangdong on the morning of December 25. Locally, the weather was mainly cloudy with sunny periods during the day and became cool that night. Under the influence of the winter monsoon and an upper air disturbance, it was cloudy and cold with a few rain patches from December 26 to 28. The minimum temperature recorded at the HKO plummeted to 9.9 degrees on the morning of December 27, the lowest of the month. With the prevalence of the dry northeast monsoon and thinning out of clouds covering the coast of Guangdong, the weather turned generally fine and dry with cool mornings for the rest of the month.

     Two tropical cyclones occurred over the South China Sea and the western North Pacific in December 2021.

     Details of issuance and cancellation of various warnings/signals in December are summarised in Table 1. Monthly meteorological figures and departures from normal for December are tabulated in Table 2.

The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority:

     Exchange Fund Bills tender results:
 

 
*"Pro rata ratio" refers to the average percentage of allotment with respect to each tender participant's tendered amount at the "highest yield accepted" level.
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     Hong Kong Monetary Authority tenders to be held in the week beginning January 10, 2022: