循環更新：全球化時代香港人力資源的競爭性

日期 Date:

2006 年 1 月 3 日 （星期二）

講者 Speaker:

蕭鳳霞教授

講題大綱／概述Lectures Outline / Synopsis:

「一國兩制」並非專為後九七香港而設的概念。自香港開埠伊始，這片土地就同時是中國與世界的一部份。彈性定位是香港得以超越有形邊界的關鍵。她在戰後的成功，很大程度繫於其地處新生國際貿易與金融網絡的樞紐。高度自主的殖民地政府完善了商業法、港元、金融與通訊體系、廣泛的教育、專業信託及熟練英語等制度性建設，並為其提供彈性。

香港是片移民土地。戰後湧入的人口，帶來了 1960 年代急驟增長的充沛勞動力。然而，過去幾十年出生率日趨下降以及移民入香港受到限制，使香港人口漸催老化。經濟力旺盛的城市，都靠人口持續循環更新來擺脫老化的命運。由於中港之間存在的「半封閉邊界」，使香港只能以教育投資來生產本土的人力資源與技術人材。香港擁有大學學位的工作人口百份比落後於紐約、倫敦等世界城市，北京、上海、廣州、深圳等中國城市則奮力追趕。經濟學家指出，假如政策沒有重大轉變，那麽到了 2031 年，香港受高等教育比率最高的一群已步入暮年。

最近幾波中國移民對香港人力資源有甚麼衝擊？據資料顯示，邊境的鬆緊與中國重大政治事件有關。1978 至 1981 年間，約有50萬移民（大部份是非法的）湧到香港，當中以來自貧窮農村的單身男性居多，他們來港後通常會返鄉討老婆。1990 年代的新來港人士，多是這群人的配偶及子女。這些新移民的社會背境，令部份香港人質疑貧窮階層的情況會否愈來愈差。他們在生活上所面對的適應問題，經常成為大眾傳媒的焦點；社會給予的支持與提供的援助，似乎也未能有所成效。把社會支援投放於這樣一個看似不能解決的處境，也耗竭社會善意與資源。跨境家庭面的團聚問題不易被理解，邊境兩頭的官僚障礙無助情況改善。

新近的資料顯示，跨境婚姻有增無減，輪候單程證來港的主要是配偶及兒童。然而，這些人士的來源地與以往不同。早期移民多來自廣東偏遠農村或福建省，但1990年代末，則集中在珠三角的城市、工業中心。他們來自中國各省，曾多次來港，能操城市的廣府話，在大陸有不想放棄的工作與家庭。清楚辨識、繪測這些新移民的地域與文化散佈，將幫助我們有效地與他們融合。

香港若要擴展未來的競爭力，就必須反思我們的行政參數。周邊地區其實遍地機會。中國全力走向全球化與自由化，使其成為製造業與消費活動的樂土。此類活動以長三角與珠三角最為活躍。歷史上，香港與這些商業區域關係密切。她能啟動自身的彈性定位以掌握每一個機會。但若要成功，就不能只著眼於具體的基礎建設，而必須兼及社會、文化與歷史等各層經驗。

用人力資源的行話說，盡可能加速香港內部不同人材的循環更新是至關重要的。只要有健全的制度，那些在其教育、生活、工作等不同階段停駐香港的人將直接裨益香港社會，當離開時也會把種種關係網絡帶回原居地及世界其他地方。由於他們頻繁地循環更新帶來各種明顯的轉變，因此我們必須對社會歷史脈絡、對這些人材的結構處境，以及他們如何尋得新的文化資本等環節有一深刻了解。

Uncivil Urban Spaces in Post-Reform South China – Rethinking Modernity and Marginality

日期 Date:

5 January 2006 (Thursday)

講者 Speaker:

Prof. Helen Siu

講題大綱／概述Lectures Outline / Synopsis:

China is “hot”. The new century sees China as world factory. In South China, post-Mao reforms, global capital, and massive rural-urban migrations have created new patterns of regional modernity and urbanization. Established social boundaries are transgressed, moral assumptions challenged, and statuses remade. 

Major stake-holders in this dynamic regional development are: local officials, urban middle class consumers and entrepreneurs, migrant workers and villagers. In their everyday lives and aspirations, one feels the feverish energies as they move in a fast forward mode towards China’s future.

The talk pays attention to village enclaves (chengzhongcun) in Guangzhou that are encircled by the rapid development of the city. The phenomenon is part of an unprecedented commercial, industrial and urban expansion. Most of the residents no longer farm but their village land has become prime real estate. By developing rental properties collectively, they enjoy unimaginable income. However, most are unable to turn their resources into cultural capital. The city government ignores the needs of their cramped physical environment. Urban neighbors see them as unproductive, unseemly, and even criminal.

The villagers cling to their rural hukou (household registration), which has given them entitlement to the village land. They thrive on being landlords to recent migrants who are seeking their own fortunes in Guangzhou. The villagers display similar discriminatory attitudes toward the migrants as city dwellers would reserve for them. Their positioning remains ambiguous. They juggle with fragments of a socialist legacy privileging the collective, a compelling market stressing commodity consumption and survival of the fittest, and a state agenda promoting modernization and national pride. The circumstances of these urban villagers illuminate the contradictory and at times self-defeating strategies of groups and individuals when an entrenched rural-urban divide is reworked.

The talk hopes to understand processes of “othering” in moments of intense boundary crossing. By exploring the flux of everyday life, one appreciates the making of dichotomy and difference. In China’s energized embrace of global markets, historical baggage continue to have an ordering impact. While enjoying agentive moments to reposition themselves, villagers and migrants reproduce institutional channels that reinforce marginality. 

Survival Strategies for the Chinese Family Firm in War and Revolution.
Lecture 1: Managing Family Businesses during the Sino-Japanese War of 1937-1945
Lecture 2: Choosing between Hong Kong and Shanghai as Business Bases during the Communist Revolution of 1949

日期 Date:

Lecture 1: 10 January 2006 (Tuesday)
Lecture 2: 12 January 2006 (Thursday)

講者 Speaker:

Prof. Sherman Cochran

講題大綱／概述Lectures Outline / Synopsis:

These lectures are based largely on 1,500 letters exchanged by members of a business family, the Lius of Shanghai. In these lectures, Sherman Cochran will focus on family survival strategies during wars and revolution, especially the Sino-Japanese War of 1937-45 and the Communist Revolution of 1949. When Japan invaded and occupied eastern China between 1937 and 1945, some members of the Liu family remained in Shanghai under Japanese rule, some fled to western China and worked under Chiang Kai-shek's regime in exile, and one joined Mao Zedong and the Communists in northwest China. When the Revolution of 1949 brought the Communists to power, some members of the family were in China and others were abroad.

In these turbulent times they tried to keep the family together and manage the family business, and they debated with each other about the best strategy to adopt. During the war, with some living under the Japanese and others under Chiang's Nationalist government, how could they communicate with each other, maintain their family solidarity, and manage their overall business? After the founding of the People's Republic in 1949, should they all return to Shanghai to live and work under socialism or stay abroad and take jobs in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the West?

In their letters they debate these questions as national and even global issues, but they always address each other as family members in poignant, personal language. The macro history of China and the micro history of a family merge into one.

城市經濟及其在中國的地位――以上海為中心。
第一講 ― 上海：城市經濟的歷史成長 1842-1949

日期 Date:

2006 年 1 月 17 日 （星期二）

講者 Speaker:

張忠民教授

講題大綱／概述Lectures Outline / Synopsis:

• 1842 年前的上海：
  • 上海得名之由來
  • 上海的貿易地位
  • 兩大支柱產業
• 上海經濟成長的路徑及發展階段：三個階段及其特點
• 上海城市經濟的機制與功能：
  • 法律與制度因素
  • 海派精神
  • 自由市場經濟
• 上海城市經濟在全國的影響和地位：
  • 上海的競爭力
  • 與國內其他城市的比較
  • 在全國的地位和影響

城市經濟及其在中國的地位――以上海為中心。
第二講 ―上海：從老工業基地邁向世界城市 1949-2004

日期 Date:

2006 年 1 月 20 日 （星期五）

講者 Speaker:

張忠民教授

講題大綱／概述Lectures Outline / Synopsis:

• 城市經濟的改造
• 老工業基地的形成以及對全國的影響
• 改革開放初期的上海經濟
• 90 年代以後上海城市經濟的重新定位：
  • 土地批租
  • 城市建設
  • 產業結構改造
• 邁向世界城市的的上海經濟及其在中國經濟中的地位：
  • 一個龍頭、四個中心：經濟、金融、貿易、航運
  • 兩大機遇：世博會、浦東綜合改革試點
  • 三大發展區域面臨的問題：製造業（核心競爭力、自主知識產權、科技） 與現代服務業（比重）的關係