Eric Kwong Fu-shing
The most memorable experience for me during the Beijing Trip is to visit Peking University and to listen to the speech by Donald Tsang Yam-kuen, the chief executive of HKSAR.
Peking University was established in 1898. It was the birthplace of the New Culture Movement, May Fourth Movement, and the earliest place to propagate Marxism as well as democracy and science.
The architectures in the university, including the historical buildings, pagodas, pavilions and gardens, are in the traditional Chinese style. The most notable place is “Weiming Lake”. The reflected images in the water construct a beautiful Chinese landscape painting. Meanwhile, there is hearsay that many people committed suicide in “Weiming Lake”.
A number of academic and non-academic societies set up booths in the university. I was impressed with the effort by the music society, as it had a live band which was composed of the university students. When they sang “Hotel California” in front of the traditional Chinese buildings, I became intoxicated due to the integration, if not a fusion of both eastern and western cultures. This is what a university should look like. A university should be multicultural and tolerant to different cultures and theories, and students can choose what they want.
The venue that Donald Tsang gave his speech is the office building of Peking University, previously known as Bashford Hall. This office building looks quite antique, for many celebrities had delivered their speeches there, such as Bill Clinton, former U.S. President; David Cameron, current UK Prime Minister; Nelson Mandela, former President of South Africa, etc.
In his speech, Donald Tsang emphasized the important role of Hong Kong during the internationalization of renminbi. He said Hong Kong was a good testing place for the popularity of renminbi and could give assistance to the mainland financial institutions in developing the related financial services. He also reiterated that Hong Kong Dollar would not be delinked from U.S. Dollar for the sake of maintaining financial stability.
When it came to the Q&A session, it was Donald Tsang’s “show time”. A student pointed out that Donald Tsang’s Putonghua needed some improvements. Mr. Tsang laughed and said he started learning Putonghua when he was over 40 years old. “So please excuse me for not speaking it well,” he added. His answer was followed by a burst of applause.
Apart from the Peking University, we also visited the Beijing Office of HKSAR Government during the trip. From the briefings given by the office staff, we could know more and understand more about the operations of the Beijing Office. The office was set up in 1999. Its main function is to enhance the liaison and communication between the HKSAR Government and the Central People’s Government. If investors from the mainland want to do business in Hong Kong, the office would support and give necessary assistance to them, and the office will also provide the same support to Hong Kong investors who want to commence their businesses in the mainland.
