Physical activity and Confucianism : relationships between Hong Kong children and their parents

This chapter first provides a backdrop of research relating to Hong Kong children’s and young people’s physical activity patterns before introducing Confucianism as a significant, defining social and cultural phenomenon that shapes how physical activity is located in the lives of young Hong Kong Chinese. The voices of parents and young people in relation to their perceptions and priorities around physical activity were accessed via two qualitative data sets from studies recently conducted in Hong Kong (Ha et al. in press; Pang 2008). All interviews were conducted in Cantonese and were transcribed verbatim using back translation method; that is one author translated the results from Chinese to English, while another author did the counter translation to ensure the consistency between the two languages (Brislin 1976). These data are then discussed in terms of how Confucianism may shape physical activity engagement in particular ways, just as the many other socio-cultural markers (e.g. socio-economic status, geographical location, ethnicity) explored in this book.