01 Feb 2005

Message to the Students' of Yan Chai Hospital No. 2 Secondary School
By Dr. C.H. Leong on February 2005

To all of us, Hong Kong is a special place because it is our home. To many outside Hong Kong, this small little dot on the map off the south coast of China, Hong Kong is an amazing place, unbelievable, spellbound, difficult to fathom.

From a piece of rock, a small fishing village, infested by mosquitoes and many infections disease in 1841, now some 150 years later, Hong Kong is comparable, if not better, than any metropolis in the world – London, New York, Paris. We can unashamedly boast to be the financial centre of the East – Our stock index listing (Hang Seng Index) is taken as the gold standard in par with the Dow Jones in U.S., the Footsie in U.K. and DAX in Germany and Nikkei in Japan. Many of our close neighbours consider us as their yard stick for ultimate development.

Our health indices are second to none. We have one of longest life expectancy and we have the lowest infant mortality rate. We have perhaps the most equitable and assessable health care system and service. For $100 a day, anyone irrespective of financial status can enjoy the best of medical service that the state of the art medicine can provide. Furthermore, many who cannot afford it, the charges will be waived. All these are for us to be proud inspite of the many assaults on our health in the past – plague in the late eighteen hundreds, “Hong Kong flu” in mid 20th century, “Avian flu” and subsequently SARS recently – and we have one of the world’s lowest taxation rate.

Hong Kong had its share of other crisis, yet we stood firm and turn danger into challenges and opportunities. The fire that raged in Shek Kep Mei in mid nineteen fifties burnt almost all the hillside shacks and huts rendering thousands homeless was an opportunity to relook at Hong Kong’s housing policy. Public housing was rapidly built available to all. Today, few does not have a proper roof over their heads.

In the early fifties during the civil war in China, Hong Kong was face with mass exodus from the north. Refugees were found all over Hong Kong. No, we did not submerge nor sink, instead Hong Kong took the opportunity of the expertise and entrepreneurship of people from the north and cheap labour and dwelt into low-technology industries and garment productions and springboard into affluence. Many refugees, aiming to use Hong Kong as means to migrate to the West, found unlimited chances for development and stay on to become Hong Kong’s rich and famous.

SARS brought on another face of Hong Kong. 2003 was Hong Kong’s “Dark Age”, almost everything came to a halt. Hotels usually bursting to their seams are down to below 10% occupancy. Eating places frequented by locals and tourists alike are either closed or barely patronized. Yet Hong Kong people braved on. The health care professions stood firm, rapidly discovered the virus. All stood by their patients and duties with selfless devotion. The whole of Hong Kong came together to help – local Chinese, expatriates alike showing an inseparable unity. 18 months down the road, Hong Kong is bubbling again.

How did all these happen? How did Hong Kong turn the table and got onto the upper hand when many in the world postulate that we will sink. It is miraculous but definitely not a miracle. Let us do not forget, Hong Kong has no natural resources, our water supply is from the Mainland, our food is invariably almost all imported. Many consider Hong Kong as an academic and cultural desert.

The only thing Hong Kong has is its people. People who are willing to work hard, to tighten their belts, to walk one step more irrespective of physical, health, financial or political crisis and upheaval.

Today Hong Kong is perhaps a bit more fortunate. We have a strong backing from the Motherland – a place of growing economy, a place of advancing international status and respect, a Government that is committed to bring the concept of “one country two systems’ into fruition.

Yet Hong Kong cannot just reply on the Mainland nor our compatriots across the border. We must keep our resilience as we did when Hong Kong was a “borrowed time and a borrowed place”. For as of 1997, Hong Kong is our genuine home, a place where we can be master of our own house, a place where we can claim and exhibit ownership.

This must be the spirit and principle of the Yan Chan Hospital No. 2 Secondary School in its profound education to our future generations.

致仁濟醫院第二中學學生
梁智鴻醫生

對我們來說，香港意義非凡，因為這是我們的家。對香港以外的人來說，香港是地圖上中國南方海岸的一個小點，是一處奇異、迷人而不可思議的地方。

1841年香港是一個漁村小島，蟲豸疾疫叢生，但在150多年後，香港可媲美倫敦、紐約、巴黎等任何一個國際大都會。我們可以充滿自信地說我們是東方財經中心。我們的恆生指數，與美國道瓊斯指數、英國富時指數、德國法蘭克福指數、日經平均指數並駕齊驅，同具權威。許多毗鄰香港的地方，視我們為發展的指標。

我們的醫療指數，不比任何地方遜色。在人均壽命上，我們是最長的地區之一，而嬰兒夭折率，亦屬最低。我們擁有可能是最公平和利達的醫療系統與服務，只要付出每天100元，就可以接受目前醫學界最先進的醫護服務，貧困者還可以獲得豁免。因此，過往健康的厄運，像十八世紀末的鼠疫、二十世紀的香港流感、以至晚近禽流感和非典型肺炎等，都使我們對高水平的醫療服務深感自豪。與此同時，我們是世界上稅率最低的地區之一。

香港曾面對各種危難，但我們一直屹立不倒，轉危為機。二十世紀五十年代石硤尾大火，山坡上的木屋寮棚幾乎付諸一炬，無家可歸者數以千計；我們果斷重整房屋政策，興建公屋，迅速照顧大眾需要。今天，絕大部分人可以安居。

五十年代中國大陸處於困難時期，北方移民湧入香港，雖然到處都是難民，但我們並沒因此垮倒。我們利用移民的專才和企業能力，配合本地廉宜勞工，發展低科技工業和製衣業，迅速富庶起來。很多本來以移民西方為最終目標的人，看見香港充滿拓展的機會，紛紛選擇留居香港而成為顯富之士。

非典型肺炎呈現香港的另一面。2003年是香港的黑暗時期，幾乎一切陷於癱瘓。往常爆滿的酒店，入住率降至不足一成；高朋滿座的食肆，不是結業倒閉，便是門可羅雀。但是香港人勇敢面對挺下去。醫療界巋然穩立，迅速發現致病病源；醫護人員無私奉獻，盡責守護病人。香港人無分國籍，團結一致，同心協力支援。18個月後，香港又再繁華如昔。
香港能夠這樣是什麼原因呢？當外界預料香港會垮下來的時候，我們是如何改變逆境，重新取得優勢呢？這實在令人難以置信，但絕對是人所共知的事實。我們必須記著：香港沒有天然資源，食水得倚靠內地供應，食物也幾乎全部是進口的，很多人更認為香港是學術和文化的沙漠。

香港唯一憑藉的優勢是人的素質。香港人勤勞而吃得苦，事事願意多走一步，不管環境、健康、財經或政治局面和風波有多嚴峻。

今日香港或算是比較幸福的。我們有強大的祖國為後盾，祖國經濟不斷穩步上揚，國際地位聲譽日隆，中央政府更承諾全面落實一國兩制。

不過，香港不能只倚賴祖國和同胞。我們一定要保持我們的反彈和適應能力，就像我們過去在「借來的時間、借來的地方」所作出的優秀表現。自1997年後，香港成為我們真正的家，我們可以當家作主。

以上正是仁濟醫院第二中學致力提供優質教育所秉承的精神和原則。