Bulletin Autumn‧Winter 1992

The Twain Shall Meet Address by Prof. Ezra F. Vogel (delivered by Prof. Byron Weng) Mr. Chancellor, Mr. Vice-Chancellor, members of the University Council, honoured guests, ladies and gentlemen: It is an honour to share this joyous occasion w i th you, and I am grateful for the privilege o f addressing you at such a critical juncture i n your lives and i n the history of the community i n w h i ch you live. I congratulate y ou graduates on your achievement and your parents and teachers on their support that made this possible. M y presence here today, I believe, symbolizes both the value that this university places on the contribution o f Western scholarship and the commitment o f this institution to maintain a strong bridge to the West i n a new era in w o r ld history. The changes that inaugurate this new era go beyond the resumption o f Chinese sovereignty over H o ng K o ng and the end o f Western c o l o n i a l i sm i n Asia. They transcend even the end o f the Co ld War, the collapse o f the bipolar w o r ld between the C ommu n i st and anti- C ommu n i st camps, and the reintegration o f peoples formerly divided by C o ld War barriers. They include the profound transformation f East Asia and the greatest change i n its relationship w i th the West since the voyages of discovery. Japan and the four little dragons have already closed the scientific and technological gap between the West and Asia that arose w i th the industrial revolution and gave the West asuperior position for several centuries, and China and Southeast Asia are i n the proces o f closing it. A s ia a nd t he We st mu st n o w r e d e f i ne their relationship in accord w i th this new reality. Nowheris this effor t more crucial and more difficult than in the r e l a t i o n s h ip b e t w e en C h i na a n d t he We s t. T h is relationship is being shaped above all by the continuing rapid change in China and by the West's response to this change. Economic development in China's coastal areas is proceeding at an unprecedented rate. Those o f you who have witnessed the extraordinary transformation f villages like Tsuen Wan and Sha T i n into major cities w i t h in t wo decades can n ow see the same breathtaking changes i n the entire Pearl River Delta area. A n y o ne who has travelled the 300 kilometres o f roads around the delta f r om H o ng K o ng through Guangzhou to Macao has seen a continuous band o f construction that has remade every kilometre o f the entire route w i t h in adecade. It is difficult to imagine that any construction has ever taken place anywher else on this scale and at such a fast pace. As you know, H o ng K o ng has been acentral actor i n this development . For Guangdong, H o ng K o ng has played the role o f the overly successful younger brother, the gadfly, the teacher, the adviser, the financier, the manager, and the overall model. A nd n ow that Deng X i a o p i ng has visited Guangdong and praised its progress, Guangdong is playing the same roles f or the rest o f China that H o ng K o ng has been playing f or Guangdong. Wh en people elsewher in China look at Guangdong, they suffer f r om envy, f r om the 'red-eye disease' . Some of them have tried to protect their local goods against Guangdong's more competitive products and to defend their scarce local resources f r om Guangdong purchasers ready to pay higher prices. But as those in other provinces have thought through the implications o f their actions, they have come to realize that they must support policies favourable towards Guangdong i f they hope someday to receive the same privileges. A s people elsewher i n China gain a greater understanding o f markets, they encourage trade and exchange o f i n v e s t me nt w i th Guangdong because they realize that this is i n their interest. China similarly suffers f r om the red-eye disease when it looks at Ho ng Kong, the other little dragons, Japan, and the West. We w ho enjoy a high standard o f l i v i ng often have trouble appreciating the p r o f o u nd longing that those i n China have for the advantages taken for granted i n advanced societies. The transition f r om socialism to markets that makes possible the rapid spread o f such benefits is one o f the most difficult problems o f our age. Compared w i th the stagnant economies o f Russia, Eastern Europe, and No r th Korea, the Chinese economy has been reformed w i th extraordinary success, bringing benefits at a pace f ew thought possible. Westerners observing this transition find it easy to applaud those changes that correspond to their vision o f open markets and a democratic society and to criticize those that do not. Because they have their o wn view o f what p o l i t i c a l processe should be, Westerners not sufficiently familiar w i th China argue that Deng Xiaoping has achieved economic reform without political reform. But they are mistaken. Under Deng, China has initiated ma j or p o l i t i c al r e f o r ms. B y setting age l i m i ts o n government service, Deng immediately removed many of China's least competent senior officials. B y requiring entrance examinations f or China's universities and by instituting educational requirements f or advancement by 44TH CONGREGATION 10