| Overview | Staff | Research Programmes | Documentation Unit | Telephone Laboratory | Publications | Enquiries |
| Overview | Staff | Research Programmes | Documentation Unit | Telephone Laboratory | Publications | Enquiries |
This is the 17th and the last message I write as Director of the Institute since it was established in September 1990. I consider it proper that I should review the major progress that Institute has accomplished during this period before attention is turned to what transpired in the past year.
When the Institute was established, skepticism was expressed in some quarters if we might be presumptuous on our part to preface our Institute with the term “Hong Kong.” As it has turned out, we are indeed the flagship institute in Hong Kong worthy of bearing the Asia-Pacific label, as judged by our publication output, local recognition and overseas collaboration. Our past annual reports would bear ample evidence that we have established active and durable links with a large number of universities and research institutes outside Hong Kong. International agencies that have called on our services are too numerous to enumerate. Our special publication marking the first 15 years of our existence in 2005 would be another source to appreciate our imprint both in Hong Kong, and in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond.
It was the beginning of a momentous period when the Institute was set up in 1990, heralding a sustained phase of rapid economic transition in China with Deng Xiaoping’s famous southern tour in 1992, the promulgation of the Basic Law in Hong Kong in April 1990, and, personally, my return to teach in the Department of Geography in that year after completing a term of over four years as University Registrar. True to the original design of the programmes we made out for the new Institute, the link between Hong Kong and Mainland China in our research focus has been steadfastly adhered to up to now.
During the past 17 years, when Hong Kong and Mainland China both underwent rapid economic growth and social transformation, the need for quality social science and policy-relevant research has grown in tandem. The Institute has responded by strengthening its organizational ability and resources. In 1995, our Telephone Survey Research Laboratory was established, with Timothy K. Y. Wong in charge, and increasing community recognition in Hong Kong. Three research centres, namely Gender Research (2000), Public Policy (2005), and Quality of Life (2006), have been established.
In the period under review, the Institute has physically moved twice, first from the initial set-up in Fung King Hey Building to Tin Ka Ping Building, and since 2001, to our present premises in Esther Lee Building. However, the research and support staff personnel have been remarkably stable, apart from the normal attrition and retirement. The most noteworthy change in this respect was the appointment in 2002 of Professor Lau Siu-kai as Head of the Central Policy Unit, a position he continued to hold with the new HKSAR government in July 2007. The leadership and direction of the research programmes have essentially continued. Since its establishment, the Institute has served under four Vice-Chancellors and it is my pleasure to acknowledge their whole-hearted and unstinting support for the Institute and its activities. Thanks are also due to Professor Rance Lee, who has served from the beginning as Chairman of the Management Committee, providing effective leadership. Personally, I am indebted to Wan Po-san and Timothy K. Y. Wong, respectively Research Officer and Research Associate Professor, and Janet Wong, senior personal secretary, for dependable assistance and encouraging support all these years.
In terms of institutional collaboration, it is such a long list I hesitate to recount. Nevertheless, some of the notable links include that with Yale University, whose Council on East Asian Studies, along with our South China Programme, was the recipient of a huge US$6 million grant from Dr. Lee Shau-kee and Dr. Cheng Yu-tung in 1991 for 10 years to undertake collaborative research and training focused on South China in the area south of the Yangtze River. By virtue of my appointment as Director of the Commonwealth Geographical Bureau, 1992-1996, its Silver Jubilee Symposium was brought to this campus in 1994, as well as an earlier annual conference. The Institute was appointed the founding Hong Kong APEC Study Centre, 1998-2000, which was featured in the programme of the international conference marking the tenth anniversary of the founding of the Institute in 2000. By way of training, the Institute collaborated with the Civil Service Training and Development Institute years before the handover and thereafter in a series of training courses aimed at preparing senior civil servants with an understanding of the economic, political and social make-up of China. The Institute also conducted several rounds of training for the officials of the Municipality of Tianjin in modern techniques of public administration and management. For much of the 1990s, I was commissioned by numerous international agencies in research projects, lectures, reports and keynote addresses. My sustained association with the United Nations University in Tokyo called for many visits to that city and eventuated in two important co-edited books with Fu-chen Lo on world cities and globalization published by the United Nations University Press in 1996 and 1998. Finally, the Institute cooperated, in 2001-2003, with the Hong Kong Housing Authority in a research project to review and appraise fifty years of public housing in Hong Kong. A book bearing that name was subsequently published by The Chinese University Press.
A measure of the success or otherwise of a research institute is the quality and quantity of its publications. While quality is for other people to pass judgment on, we have succeeded in distinguishing ourselves as the most active publishing unit on campus after the CU Press. To date, we have published 71 monographs, 190 occasional papers, in addition to many other scholarly books published by the CU and other universities presses abroad. In addition, the Institute has been responsible for producing several series of publications arising from the work of the Shanghai-Hong Kong Development Institute, a joint research set-up since 2001 between this university and Fudan University in Shanghai. I have doubled up from the outset as this Institute’s Director and overseen its administrative and publication needs.
Since the establishment of the Institute in 1990, strong links have been established between the government and ourselves. That Lau Siu-kai was tapped to lead the Central Policy Unit is probably the most telling evidence of how favourably the government has viewed the quality of our research. In addition, Liu Pak-wai, Sung Yung-wing and I have been appointed to many government or quasi-government committees, at which we have made our contributions to policy-making and socio-economic development in Hong Kong. In recognition of our contributions in this regard, Liu Pai-wai have been awarded SBS and JP, and I was conferred SBS, OBE and JP.
Moving on to review the progress of the past year, the most important event for Hong Kong is, of course, a series of activities leading up to the tenth anniversary of the establishment of HKSAR in July 2007. With the election of Donald Tsang as the Chief Executive of the third HKSAR government, the second decade of Hong Kong as an SAR began in that month. As a university contribution to the HKSAR recognized events for this milestone, the Institute was invited by the Vice-Chancellor to organize an international conference on the HKSAR at Ten held on campus on 18 June 2007. A book arising from the papers read at the conference is at the final stages of preparation for publication by the CU Press. The book is anticipated to appear in the near future.
Having just been established in July 2006, the past year also saw the Centre for Quality of Life as a new centre of research activity within the Institute. It has held its annual quality of life survey and the results were announced in a news release. Many activities are being planned for its longer future. Further details of the activities of this research centre and other research centres/programmes can be found in the following pages.
The mention of quality of life brings to mind another related and important research activity that the Institute has been undertaking for the past three years for the Research Centre for Sustainable Development Strategies of the Macao SAR government. As a joint project between our Institute and the Centre of Asian Studies at The University of Hong Kong, we launched the third phase of the Quality of Life Survey in April-May 2007, with the first round of surveys undertaken two years ago. This time, we were requested to undertake special studies apart from the Macao-wide survey, on population policy, social class and urban planning. The project is scheduled for completion in late 2007.
In January and September 2006, the Institute jointly organized the inaugural regional forums with the Hong Kong Commercial Daily, Asia TV, and Singtaonet focused, respectively, on Western Guangdong, and Northern/Eastern Guangdong, highlighting cooperation between these respective sub-regions and Hong Kong/Macao. Both forums attracted a large turnout of key government officials, scholars, entrepreneurs and media representatives. Both forums have resulted in a book each, the earlier one published by the Institute. A continuation of these forums is in the works, as the responses to the high-profile gatherings were enthusiastic and very positive.
With regard to line functions, we have had another bountiful year in publication. Three monographs have appeared, but a total of 17 occasional papers have been published, way exceeding our nominal standard of one occasional paper every month. In external liaison, the Institute has received 90 scholars from the mainland and overseas, held 11 seminars, forums, conferences and press conferences. A total of 47 commissioned surveys were conducted by the Telephone Survey Research Laboratory, making a cumulative total of over 660 commissioned surveys since its founding in May 1995. The reorganization of our Documentation Unit is near completion. The ambitious project of digitizing our Hong Kong newspaper collection of 450,000 clippings since 1998 is almost complete, after the latest round of financial assistance from the Lee Hysan Foundation. It is anticipated that this project will be completed before the end of 2007, when active redeployment of the relevant clerical staff will follow.
I wish to conclude this message with a genuine expression of appreciation and thanks to my colleagues at the Institute who have grown and mellowed with me as it is about to complete its adolescence and enter a youthful stage. The staunch support by the University at different levels and from different directions has also contributed to the Institute’s continued vitality and growth. The community support we have received over the years from the government, donors and friends has likewise given us the energy and drive to innovate and search for research excellence. I am leaving my directorship to more youthful leadership in a comfortable frame of mind, knowing that the Institute will continue to grow from strength to strength. In any event, I shall remain, at least for the coming year, as Research Professor and Co-Director of the Urban and Regional Development in Pacific Asia Programme. I am confident that under new leadership, the Institute will enter another period of renewed growth and wider participation and, in the process, scale another rung in the progress for further recognition and success.
| September 2007 |