Although the development of Asia adolescents’ citizenship values has been widely discussed, limited attention has been paid for the role of religion in shaping those values. The possibility has been suggested that Asian religious contexts may be understood differently from those in the West and research findings in those contexts are not necessarily applicable to Asia. This study, therefore, sought to understand further the association between the religious engagement of Asian adolescents’ and democratic values. The results indicated that attitudes to equality were moderately influenced by an understanding of democracy while religious engagement showed small, negative or non-significant associations with equality. Students’ understanding of democracy did not mediate the effect of students’ religious engagement. These results provide further support for the view that in Asian contexts religious engagement may not necessarily provide a conductive environment for supporting traditional democratic values. Copyright © 2020 British Association for International and Comparative Education.

In the 2014 policy address, the Hong Kong SAR government decided to offer a grant for expanding the support of life planning education in secondary schools. It aimed to help students be better prepared for the transition from education to work. However, globalization and innovation of technology have increased future uncertainties. Students are suggested to have better preparation for different stages of life. Moreover, the expectations toward schools and education have changed. It is not limited to knowledge transfer but also whole-person development. Therefore, they were urged to provide life-based education to help students cope with various challenges in their life. This article discusses Life Planning Education promoted by the Education Bureau in terms of a Lifelong Learning perspective. It suggests expanding the current Life Planning Education to Life Education for covering all aspects of life and for achieving the goals of Lifelong Learning and whole-person development. It helps the student to be prepared for 21st century challenges.自 2014 年起，特區政府透過增加對學校的撥款用於推廣生涯規劃，協助學生訂立目標和計劃，從而面對畢業後在工作上所帶來的挑戰。然而時代的轉變，社會對教育和學校的期望亦有所提升和不應止於傳授知識。本文以終身學習的角度去討論現行生涯規劃教育，並帶出教育應該以生命為本。作者建議在現行教育局所提倡的生涯規劃教育加入生命教育元素，這不單有助培育學生發展終身學習的態度，亦能協助他們達至全人發展去面對 21 世紀所帶來的挑戰。 Copyright © 2019 Hong Kong Teachers' Centre Journal.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the differences between Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) and Mainland in terms of education and also the influence of it on doing comparative educational research. Hong Kong SAR is ruled by the Chinese Government under the framework of "One country, two systems." It makes Hong Kong SAR different from other Mainland cities based on different aspects including, education. The finding of this paper provides a systematic review about the differences between these two Chinese societies in terms of education and also implication for conducting comparative educational research in these two societies and also generating some implications for cross-national and cross-cultural study in education.Design/methodology/approach: This paper made references from the framework proposed by Bray and Thomas (1995) in relation to comparative educational research to make comparison between Hong Kong SAR and Mainland China. Multi-level comparison is conducted between two societies in terms of education, especially aspects relating to conducting educational research sat social, school and individual levels.Findings: This paper identified the influence of “One county, two systems” on education at different levels such as ideology, school management system and use of languages in teaching. Such differences affect the choice of topics, sampling strategy, research design, data analysis and interpretation and also ethical considerations when conducting comparative research between Hong Kong SAR and Mainland China.Originality/value: This paper is an integrated analysis of conducting educational research in two Chinese societies and provides insights for further discussions and possible research about this topic. Copyright © 2019 Emerald Publishing Limited.

The major characteristic of religious education is to equip students with a set of values with reference to its religious doctrines. Vermeer (2010) pointed out that religious education may influence students with some basic democratic values like equality, tolerance and non-discrimination. Various Western literature highlights the influence of religion on students' civic and social values development (see Grundel and Maliepaard, 2012; Pike, 2008; Vermeer, 2010; Gates 2006). However, the study of this topic in Chinese contexts is quite limited (Zhai & Woodberry, 2011; Cheung et al., 2016). Hong Kong and Taiwan are part of East Asia with similar set of values (Cho & Kim, 2013; Karsten et al., 2002). Religious bodies like Buddhist organizations and Christian churches play a significant role in both Hong Kong and Taiwan education development (Cheung et al., 2016; Zhai & Woodberry, 2011). They operate various secondary and primary schools. Religious education is part of their curriculum and makes these schools different from secular schools. This paper aims to explore the influence of religion on secondary students' civic and social values development in both societies. By making use of the focus group interview, this study collected data from schools with four different types of religious background, including Buddhism, Catholicism, Protestantism and Atheism (no religious affiliation) and making comparison between Hong Kong and Taiwanese students. The findings provide a better understanding about the influence of religion on Chinese students' citizenship development in both societies but the results differ from those found in Western studies. The implications of these results for theory building and policy are discussed.