Bulletin Spring‧Summer 2001

The Honourable Donald Yam-kuen Tsang JP Aesthetic sense, attention t o detail, and pride in a good j ob well done are qualities needed in a first-rate carpenter. Observation, persistence, carefu l tracking of evidence and putting it together, courage when needed, and resourcefulness in times of threat, are qualities one can find in a first- rate policeman. Our Financial Secretary seems to draw quite naturally on the legacy of qualities I have mentioned, for his grandfather was a carpenter, his father a policeman. Yet his unexpected love of the elegant bow tie signals his own special kind of creative flair. This very personal flair allows him to arrive at creative solutions to some o f the problems that beset his government; his sober, intelligent grasp of practical matters; his stubborn will to succeed; his focused energy; all these have served him and his beloved Hong Kon g extremely well. His love for Hong Kon g is unconditional. He was homesick for it when he was a year at Harvard. A third generation Hong Kon g person, he was born in 1944, when there was stil l no end in sight to the war with Japan. He grew up as th e eldest of six children i n the post-war re-establishment of British rule and has lived to se the demise o f the British empire, the difficult birth pangs of the People's Republic of China, the creation of a new kind o f market-force socialism, the pragmatic doctrine o f one country two systems, and most recently, the magnificence of Beijing's fiftieth anniversary celebrations. I n such times individuals cannot but be moved. An d senior civil servants with the talents of Mr. Tsang cannot but be aware of a solemn and yet exciting sense o f destiny in the unfolding of human history. For him, Hong Kon g is a place where many different peoples may bring their talents to keep Hong Kon g striving to maintain its free, risk-taking spirit, its internationalism, its dynamic energy, its sense of adventure, and its peoples' entrepreneurial skills. For him, Hong Kong people have now found both an identity that is thei r own and a great pride of place. Mr. Tsang, like many others, takes great pride in local achievements. He was educated at Wah Yan College, a local Roman Catholic school, where he maintains strong ties. His religious education by the Jesuits gave h i m a sense o f duty, service, and determination; his teachers were at times excruciatingly demanding. Yet he found time to read widely for pleasure and improvement outside the confines of the curriculum. This method, always advised by the best teachers, including Dr. Samuel Johnson, helped him to deepen his command of English and develop a powerful and independent mind. Now that he is buried almost up to the Chinese Universit y Bulletin S p r i n g • Summer 2 0 00 38