Bulletin Autumn 1989

Address by Professor Yuan-Tseh Lee THE FUTURE ON HUMANITY IN A PERSPECTIVE OF THE CHANGES OVER THE CENTURY Mr . Chancellor, Mr . Vice-Chancellor, distinguished guests and friends, ladies and gentlemen: First of all, on behalf of the honorary graduates today, I would like to express our heart-felt thanks to The Chinese University. Although I have never stayed for any long periods of time in Hong Kong, I have enjoyed many sojourns in this city and, on such occasions, become acquainted with people from all walks of life who care for Hong Kong. Thus, little by little, I have ceased to find myself a stranger in this place. Every time I visit this sensitive and beautiful international metropolis, I become all the more impressed by the marks left by 'the changes of the times and social vicissitudes'. I would like to take the opportunity today to voice some of my personal views on The Future of Humanity in a Perspective of the Changes over the Century'. The twentieth century is often regarded as the beginning of the eraof the common people. During the past ninety years, we have witnessed countless revolutions and wars of independence, on major or lesser scales, in various parts of the world; and we have experienced two world wars. While the social status of the man in the street has risen considerably in many parts of the world, we are also mindful of the long hard struggle ahead in many other countries and regions to give reality to the wish of the people to become their own masters and to raise their standardof living. Now towards the turn of the century and looking back on the various changes that have taken place in it, we find nothing more striking than the rapid advancement of science and technology and its profound influence on our life. Owing to highly developed transportation and the advancement of communications, our globe is relatively shrunken, while the influence of the peoples of various countries on each other is sharply increasing. In the past decades, man has not only created more and better high-tech tools and appliances but also, with the rapid dissemination of these results to every comer of the world, accumulated auniversal civilization andculture amongst peoples of diverse histories and traditions. Particularly in the past ten years or so, while the gradual internationalization of world economy has not reduced various competitions among nations to any great extent, it has, nevertheless, made us profoundly realize that in the future world, the cooperation and interdependency amongst different nations and peoples w ill become more important than ever. Of course, along with the changes of the times, the issues of common human concern have also been changing. Until recently, many people were most worried about a nuclear war breaking out between the two superpowers which would annihilate all that humanity had attained; and there were those who believed that a third world war, an unprecedented catastrophe for mankind, would be inevitable. But now many people perceive that, owing to the fact that Japan andGermany - two nations defeated in World War II and prohibited from rearmament —have gained the lead in economy and in international trade and the fact that the competition in international trade with the backing of high technology has intensified, the two military superpowers have been forced into evaluating anew their arrogant approach to the prevention of war 7