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Fluent Putonghua Incumbent on Hong Kong People, CE
Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee Hwa Thursday stressed the importance of fluent Putonghua for Hong Kong people to maintain effective connection with mainlanders.
Tung made the remarks at the opening ceremony of the First Putonghua Day of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, adding that it is a meaningful event organized by the Putonghua League of Hong Kong in response to the State Council's "National Putonghua Week" campaign.
"As Chinese citizens, it is incumbent upon us to learn Putonghua. It is also a useful tool for us to maintain effective connection and communication with our fellow countrymen in the mainland," he noted.
"Since our return to the motherland, our partnership and links with the mainland in areas such as trade, tourism, education and cultural exchanges have become increasingly closer," Tung said. " To acquire proficiency in Putonghua will help us better understand our nation's culture and strengthen our sense of identity."
It is also of great importance to Hong Kong's economic development, the chief executive said. "China's imminent accession to the WTO will bring us tremendous opportunities. All of us should equip ourselves by acquiring proficiency in Putonghua in order to capitalize on these opportunities, upgrade our competitiveness, develop Hong Kong into Asia's world city and fully perform our role as a bridge between the mainland and the rest of the world."
"We have strengthened our efforts in helping our students to develop their language abilities and become biliterate and trilingual. With Putonghua becoming an integral subject in the primary and secondary school core curricula since 1998, a systematic Putonghua learning program is now available in school for all students," Tung said.
"We will continue to explore different means to create an environment conducive to language learning in school and enhance the training of our Putonghua teachers. But school education alone is not enough for the successful promotion of Putonghua in Hong Kong. A wider use of Putonghua in our daily life should also be encouraged."
The Putonghua League of Hong Kong consists of more than 100 bodies representing various sectors of the community. It is probably the largest and the best organized of its kind in the history of Hong Kong's Putonghua campaign.
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