[ 메디채널 김갑성 기자 ] 500 family volunteers distribute over 10,000 free flags to encourage the public to share their feelings

HONG KONG, Oct. 18, 2025 -- Manulife Hong Kong and JUST FEEL, a Hong Kong-based NGO dedicated to emotional education, successfully held the city's first-ever "My Flag Day" today. A total of 500 family volunteers from Manulife and nine of JUST FEEL's partner schools engaged with 10,000 citizens across the city, encouraging them to select a flag to wear, which would represent their current feelings. This initiative aims to raise public awareness of self-care by acknowledging and sharing different emotions.

"My Flag Day" introduced a creative concept that encouraged individuals to focus on their own well-being and express their feelings through personalized flags. The Feeling Flags, which were distributed for free, were winning designs from the "My Flag Day" Flag Paper Design Competition held earlier this year. Illustrated by local primary school students, the flags represent six positive and negative feelings, including "happy", "warm", "excited", "sad", "angry", and "scared". By putting on these flags, people brought otherwise unspoken feelings into life, reinforcing the message that feelings are neither right nor wrong. These flags also served as conversation starters, inspiring people to share and, in turn, deepen mutual understanding and care.

Since April 2025, Manulife and JUST FEEL have forged a multi-year strategic charity partnership to nurture students' emotional well-being and cultivate a "Compassionate School Culture". The collaboration also aligns with Manulife's Impact Agenda, underscoring the company's strong commitment to empowering sustained health and well-being within the community. As one of the flagship initiatives, "My Flag Day" brings this shared vision of emotional wellness beyond schools and into the public. It advocates for active listening, acceptance, and expression of feelings as a way to prevent emotional suppression. By mobilizing 500 family volunteers, Manulife and JUST FEEL also inspired families to explore feelings together, strengthen parent‑child relationships, and engage with their neighborhoods in more caring ways.

"Mental well-being is a vital pillar of overall health and is essential to living a fulfilling life. At Manulife, we are committed to fostering mental wellness as part of our broader mission to empower sustained health and well-being. We believe that creating space for people to openly express and embrace all feelings is key to building a healthier, more resilient society. We are pleased to partner with JUST FEEL to launch Hong Kong's first 'My Flag Day' – a meaningful initiative that advances public awareness on emotional well-being and promotes empathy and compassion across our communities," said Celia Ling, Chief Marketing Officer of Manulife Hong Kong and Macau.

"Expressing our feelings with courage and sincerity is crucial for fostering well-being and building healthy relationships. We are grateful to Manulife and our partner schools for their continuous support and for joining us on this journey. Through 'My Flag Day', we have extended emotional education from schools to families and the wider community. Looking ahead, we will continue to work closely with Manulife to promote compassionate communication and social‑emotional learning across local schools, transforming the communication culture in schools and families, thereby enhancing students' emotional well-being," said Raymond Yang, Co-founder and Executive Director of JUST FEEL.

About Manulife Hong Kong
Manulife Hong Kong has been a trusted name for more than 125 years. Since our operations started in Asia in 1897, we have grown to become one of the top-tier providers of financial services, offering a diverse range of protection and wealth products and services to over 2.6 million customers in Hong Kong and Macau. We are committed to helping make decisions easier and lives better for our customers.

Manulife Hong Kong, through Manulife International Holdings Limited, owns Manulife (International) Limited, Manulife Investment Management (Hong Kong) Limited, and Manulife Provident Funds Trust Company Limited. These entities are all subsidiaries of Manulife Financial Corporation.

About Manulife
Manulife Financial Corporation is a leading international financial services provider, helping our customers make their decisions easier and lives better. With our global headquarters in Toronto, Canada, we operate as Manulife across Canada, Asia, and Europe, and primarily as John Hancock in the United States, providing financial advice and insurance for individuals, groups and businesses. Through Manulife Wealth & Asset Management, we offer global investment, financial advice, and retirement plan services to individuals, institutions, and retirement plan members worldwide. At the end of 2024, we had more than 37,000 employees, over 109,000 agents, and thousands of distribution partners, serving over 36 million customers. We trade as 'MFC' on the Toronto, New York, and the Philippine stock exchanges, and under '945' in Hong Kong.

Not all offerings are available in all jurisdictions. For additional information, please visit manulife.com.

About JUST FEEL
JUST FEEL is the first charity to systematically promote Compassionate Communication and Social-Emotional Learning in local schools in Hong Kong. With the motto of "Connection before Solution", JUST FEEL is dedicated to transforming the communication culture in schools and families, empowering educators and parents to enhance the emotional well-being of children. Since its establishment in 2018, JUST FEEL has collaborated with over 65 primary schools, supporting over 55,300 students, 8,900 teachers, and 87,300 parents. For additional information, please visit https://www.justfeel.hk/.