Ms Wendy Ho, Dear Teachers and Students of Belilios Public School, Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is indeed a great honour for me to stand here this afternoon to address all of you. To tell you the truth, this is the first time I am addressing a school gathering. It is a first-time which I am very fond of, particularly at this Prize-giving Day of Belilios Public School.
I do not claim to have any connections with Belilios Public School. I was very surprised that Ms. Wendy Ho invited me to be the Guest of Honour at this very important function of the School. I can tell you that Belilios Public School is one of the few schools in Hong Kong for which I have held great respect and admiration since I was a student, many years ago. I didn't hesitate for more than 2 minutes before I accepted the invitation of Ms Wendy Ho.
Since I accepted the invitation, I tried to learn more about the Belilios Public School, about the features and culture of the school which distinguish it from many, many other established schools in Hong Kong.
As a professional in performing arts and singing, I naturally turned to your School Song. The lyrics of "Find Understanding, Truth and Harmony" immediately struck accord with my philosophy and outlook in life. "Harmony" is the buzz word in the politics of our country today. It is a theme promoted by President Hu Jin-tao. Our country, at this stage of economic development, is best served by sustained political stability and harmony of all its people. In line with this theme in the politics in China, the SAR Government is also calling for " Harmony " among all of us to replace daily bickering of the respective political parties. I have no doubt that all of you here, Students, Teachers and Parents, can be the torch-bearers of the Belilios spirit to foster "Harmony" in our society. When Hong Kong finds our own harmony, we can contribute to the harmony of the greater family of our country.
2008 is coming to an end soon. It will be recorded in history as a most eventful year for our country. Some of these events are happy ones: the successful organization of the Beijing Olympics, the accomplishment of Shen Zhou No. 7 spaceship with our astronauts walking in the outer-space. Some of these are events which we all want not to have occurred: the snowstorm early in the year in Central China, the unprecedented earthquakes at Sichuan in May. Both the happy and the unhappy events helped unite all of us Chinese closer as a nation. We are all very proud of our achievements in the Beijing Olympics and the space-walk. We are proud to be Chinese for all these achievements. At the same time, we are all more proud to be Chinese when all of us, in all the provinces and cities, including Hong Kong, jumped to the rescue of and assistance to victims in the snowstorm and earthquakes in our country. I am very pleased to learn of the good financial donations which the School managed to collect from its Students, Teachers and Parents for these two worthwhile causes. It is a testimony of the huge success of the School in its promotion of civic, moral and national education among all its students which goes beyond the boundaries of the classrooms.
I am given to understand that the Vision of the Belilios Public School is Balanced Development, Public Spirit and Scholastic Excellence. I appreciate, in particular, its adoption of a Whole-person approach to the development of its students, and its endeavours to create a stress-free environment for its teachers. These approaches are probably what make the difference between Belilios and other schools in Hong Kong. The results of the students of Belilios, in academic examinations, in inter-school Music and Sports competitions, speak volume of the good dividends for all the efforts of the teachers and management of the School. A great crop of responsible and well-educated young girls is produced every year, which I am sure that Ms. Ho and the teachers find great satisfaction and pride in. A lot of Belilios graduates has become champions in the professions and industries which they got themselves involved in after graduation. I have confidence that those of you here today will follow the footsteps of your elderly schoolmates and will one day excel in the careers you choose to pursue in the years ahead.
Belilios is a girls school. It is one of the oldest girls schools, if not the oldest in Hong Kong. My understanding is that Belilios has a history of over 118 years. It was a far-sighted vision of the then Government to establish a public girls school in the nineteenth century, which obviously must have borne in mind that a good girls school would produce well-educated and good-quality graduates who could become the catalyst of change in our society, a change which would see the growing important role women were to play in the economic and social development of Hong Kong. Being a woman myself who has been committed to serve the community apart from my own career, I am pleased to see that Hong Kong has become a modern city in which men and women are equal in all business and working opportunities. All of you Students of today do not need to face discriminations after you enter into your working lives. You can be bold to take any initiatives which you have developed in this great school for the good cause of your careers, social and political responsibilities, and the pursuit of your own happiness and those of the people of Hong Kong in the large.
The years at the secondary school constitute one of the most important periods of all of us in the shaping of our characters. In looking back, I can certainly attribute to the years at Jiangsu-Zhejing Secondary School during the formative years of my character some of my strengths of today and the past forty years, such as the incessant quest for excellence and unbending spirits in difficult times. I owe my character building and mentality of working to the training of my teachers in my Secondary School days. All of you Students here today will find the stamping of the Belilios spirit in you for the rest of your life which will help guide you to scale new heights all the time in future. All your teachers will be very proud to learn of every single achievement you will make after you leave the School.
You may not know it yet; but it will dawn on you very soon after you leave School. The longer you leave School, the more you will find the classmates you have at Belilios remaining your best friends forever. Some of you will continue to be in close contact with each other in the years ahead. However, for those whom you may not have the blessing to be with them as much as you like, you will find that anytime you meet in the distant future, you will be as natural and friendly with each other, just like you are in class today. Friendship and comradeship established in secondary schools will last. I always find time for my classmates in my Secondary School. Everytime we get together, we can reminisce the past when we were all carefree young girls and boys having different dreams and aspirations in life. The bond between us is unmatched with any friends I have developed after my school days.
I hope all of you, especially the young Belilios girls, like some of the random thoughts I am sharing with you today. I would like to congratulate all the girls who have excelled in various activities in the past year. At the same time, I would like to encourage those who have not received any prizes today to continue to work hard and I am sure that your hard work will pay you good dividends in future.
To Ms. Ho and the teachers of Belilios, my heartiest congratulations to another good year of great achievements. Let this be continued.
Thank you and wish all of you good health and all the happiness.