Speech by C,USA Donald Tong
at the “Hong Kong at the Fulcrum Point” music performance
(19 May 2009, Thorne Auditorium of Northwestern University)

Thank you Sophia!

Good evening, Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a great pleasure for me to present to you the “Hong Kong at the Fulcrum Point” concert tonight, which is a joint musical performance by Hong Kong’s own “Chinese Music Virtuosi”, a six-member Chinese music ensemble, and Chicago’s Fulcrum Point New Music Project.

Music is an international language, a unique form of communications that see no boundary among people of different nationalities and cultural backgrounds. Tonight you will see brilliant young musicians from the East and West playing violin, horn, harp, and what not, in unison with huqin (Chinese two-sting fiddle), zheng (Chinese mouth organ), yangqin (Chinese ducilmer), and a few other instruments on the stage.

This concert vividly demonstrates how “East meets West”, a paraphrase popularly used to qualify the diversity of the Hong Kong cultural environment.

Hong Kong is a signature of the successful crossover of western culture with Chinese rituals and traditions. We celebrate Christmas and Easter, as well as Chinese New Year and the Mid-Autumn Festival, and go crazy about Halloween and the Valentine’s Day, at the same time, the Cheung Chau Bun Festival and Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance.

The fact is Hong Kong, the Asia’s world city in its own right, is an open, pluralistic society where people of all nationalities celebrate their own culture, beliefs, and pastimes. Today, Hong Kong people continue to run Hong Kong with a high degree of autonomy and enjoy our freedom and rights, buttressed by the rule of law and an independent judiciary. All these are guaranteed by the Basic Law, our min-constitution, under the “One Country, Two Systems” principle which has survived the most rigorous test since our reunification with China in mid-1997.

The concert tonight is part of the month-long Hong Kong Comes to Chicago 2009 festival, organized by the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, New York to showcase Hong Kong’s creativity, entrepreneurship, as well as cultural and economic vitality. It offers you the chance of a glimpse into the diverse culture of Hong Kong, which owns a legacy of its colorful past and the vitality of its present.

Hong Kong has a lively art and entertainment scene, offering something for everybody throughout the year, from western and Cantonese opera to major rock concerts, modern dance, contemporary art exhibitions and Canto Pop.

At the forefront of developments in the Asia-Pacific region, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government has earmarked US$2.8 billion for a major project to turn the city into a regional cultural hub.

We are creating a world-class integrated arts, cultural, entertainment and tourism district on a prime 100-acre harbor front site in West Kowloon, which is approximately four times the size of the Millennium Park. The first phase of the project will be on stream by 2015.

When fully commissioned, the West Kowloon Cultural District, as it will be called, will house 15 new performing arts venues, including a Chinese opera venue, two concert halls, two grand theatres and a museum for 20th and 21st century art.

A project of such a magnitude will generate manpower demand which will spill over from construction, art and creative management to architectural, administrative, and many other disciplines.

Hardware aside, Hong Kong is also working towards nurturing an environment to embrace its future status as a cultural hub. In recent years, numerous internationally renowned performing groups have passed through Hong Kong and showered the Hong Kong audience with world class cultural performances.

With the booming economy on the Mainland and in the region, it will trigger a rising demand for cultural, creative, and artistic qualities. Hong Kong eyes this as an opportunity to add to our pursuit for excellence.

Chicagoans are admired for your rich cultural heritage and your passion for art and music. I would like to take this opportunity to extend my sincere invitation to you to visit Hong Kong, the Asia’s world city a fusion of creativity and dynamism.

Thank you.