Bulletin Number One 1985

to Hong Kong alone, but must rather keep in close touch with events and changes throughout China. Besides, it would also be unworthy of us, who even though residents in Hong Kong nevertheless have grown up and have been educated as Chinese, to think of but our own rights, and forget that we also owe something to our people and ou r culture. In fact, there have always been a number of people in Hong Kong who have concern for China and have made contributions to China. During the past five or six years, China has adopted an open-door policy in order to pull in outside resources and expertise for accelerating her economic and technological development and expanding her manpower training programmes, thus providing the entrepreneurs, professionals and intellectuals in Hong Kong with fresh opportunities of further expanding their activities and fully utilizing their talents. While i n a country of one billion people their influence cannot but be limited, they have nevertheless by drive and enthusiasm started a great deal. Witness, for example, the investing in and building up of hotels and industries in many different areas, including the Special Economic Zones, a number of coastal cities and even areas in the remote northwest; the building of schools and universities through generous donations; expanding academic cooperation and exchange ； as well as providing assistance in the training of management personnel at many levels. Some results have already come out of these endeavours, and indeed it may be said that this is the way in which the people of Hong Kong have demonstrated their sense of responsibility towards China. From now on, as the relationship between Hong Kong and China further grows, this kind of work will no doubt increase in importance and variety, and inevitably so will our responsibility. However, for China to become truly modernized, it would not be enough to simply increase investments, improve industrial enterprises, expand education and introduce new technology. Efforts at a more fundamental level are called for: she would have to achieve no less than the transformation of her ethos and of her institutional framework. This crucial point first dawned on the far-sighted thinkers of the country as early as the end of the last century, when attempts to catch up with the West through direct industrial and arms build-up proved a failure. Yet China being an immense country with a strong tradition stretching over several millenia, it has been difficult for her to quickly respond to the challenges of modern civilization, which is itself making progress at ever increasing speed at the same time. That is why China is still underdeveloped today in her institutions and ideas despite the continuous effort of many thinkers to wake her up throughout the better part of a century. It is therefore of great significance that China recently announced the adoption of a long-term open-door policy' as a cardinal and irrevocable state policy; that she emphasized time and again the importance of 'liberating one's thinking', and the need for reassessing the essence of socialism and its course of development. This shows that China has learned the painful lesson from her recent history, and has come to fully realize the disastrous effect of a close and inward-looking mentality. She is therefore now determined to learn from others and seek change in the most fundamental way. Indeed it may be said that recent reforms in economic and management policies have all sprung from this realization and determination. The people of Hong Kong are well aware of the significance of this major transformation, and they are truly heartened by this change. The fact that the Sino-British Joint Declaration on Hong Kong's future has been accepted by the majority of the local people is no doubt closely related to the inevitability of historical and political developments, but surely it must also owe something to the contents of the Joint Declaration which are both reasonable and detailed, as well, as to the innovative and dynamic new face of China which we now witness. Will this determination to reform persist and reach every area of national life? How can it gain sufficient support to launch China into a new and modem era? These are questions which concern every single Chinese, and the search for their answers is surely a task from which the Chinese intellectual cannot escape. This is not to overlook that for many years China has been under a highly centralized political system, within which many intellectuals were conscious that not much weight would be attached to their humble views, and some even felt they really had no right to make themselves heard. I believe this situation is now changing. A modern society must value the intellect. It must therefore be an open society which is decentralized in decision-making, in order that it can draw upon the talent and wisdom of all of its educated people in the most effective manner. In such a society, the value of an intellectual does not merely lie in his ability of solving practical problems by use of specialized knowledge, but also arises from the fact that he can, on strength of his learning and foresight, voice opinions and take stands on major national issues. While such opinions and stands may not always be correct, and may not have direct bearing on the political process, nevertheless in the long run they may well shape the overall NEWS 3