Bulletin Autumn‧Winter 2000

UNDERSTANDING THE PAST BUILDING THE FUTURE Hong Kong is a melting pot of different immigrant communities, largely from the mainland. One approach t o understanding Hong Kong culture is to look at it in terms of the different groups wh o have made Hong Kong their home over the years. Although the distinctions between them have gradually fade d with time and a new generation of 'home-grown' Hongkongers ha s emerged, whose affinity lies purely with Hong Kong, there are still traces of their customs and cultures. One still finds shops catering to Chiu Chow style funerals in Kennedy Town, schools for the Fukien community i n North Point, Shanghainese food stores in Tsim Sha Tsui and Kowloon City, and Hakka villages t h r o u g h o u t the N ew Territories. These u n i q u e cu l t u r es are essential for t he understanding of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong identity. To understand how different ethnic and social groups have helped to create wha t is known as the Hong Kong miracle in the last century, and how they have developed common institutions and their own cultural identity, it is necessary to study and reflect on them from multiple perspectives. Hence members of the University have engage d themselves in in-depth research, trying to uncover Hong Kong's past so as to throw light on the present and plan for the future. Such efforts span many different disciplines, and the Bulletin can only afford to give a bird's eye view of some of these attempts in this issue. The ultimate aim of all these efforts is to preserve the quintessential plurality that ma k e s Ho n g Kong culture wh at it is against the curren t of u r b a n i z a t i on a nd redevelopment, so that Hong Kong does not sever itself from its history an d traditions, so that Hong Kong will not become a soullessly homogeneous city as it strives to become a world-class metropolis. Understanding the Past, Building the Future 99