Delivered at Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1997, upon receiving the honorary degree of Doctor of Science from the university.

Madam Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor, member of the University Council, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen:

It’s a great pleasure for me to be asked to address this congregation on behalf of today’s honorary graduates. I’m honored to be receiving today’s degree from the Chinese University of Hong Kong with which I have had a long relationship.

In 1964 I planned to take a trip to Hong Kong where I hoped to meet with my parents, my brother and my sister, all four living in Shanghai at the time. But to obtain visas for them from the British authorities was a difficult problem. Finally I appealed for help to Dr. C. M. Li, the first Vice-Chancellor of this university, who intervened very effectively and the five of us succeeded in meeting in Hong Kong for an emotion-filled reunion of two weeks.

While in Hong Kong I was asked by D. C. M. Li to give a public lecture on ‘Modern High Energy Physics” in the then new City Hall in Central. The lecture took place on the afternoon of 30th December 1964. For some reason the Chinese University of Hong Kong made the announcement about it only one day before, on 29th December. The topic of the lecture was not very appetizing for the general public. Yet it drew a huge crowd of several thousand people, mostly young students, many of whom were to become professors now teaching in various fields in Hong Kong.

The image of thousands of young people in a long queue winding around the City Hall has been engraved in my mind ever since, for it bespoke to me the yearning of young Chinese students for modern knowledge and modern careers. It also bespoke to me the aspiration of the Chinese people to emerge from centuries of backwardness to gain a spot under the sun among the peoples of the world.

30 years have passed since that day late in 1964. The world has enormously changed. Perhaps the biggest changes are to be found right here in Hong Kong. Whether one focuses on the physical shape of the city, its economy, its socio-political system, Hong Kong has gone through bigger changes, changes for the better, than most parts of the world.

Will there again be such revolutionary changes for the better for Hong Kong in the next 30 years? No one can tell for sure. But, I, for one, am cautiously optimistic. First, there will be generation after generation of well-trained young people to maintain the vitality of this dynamic city. Secondly, the vigorous economic growth of China, now spreading towards the less-developed western areas of the country, guarantees the future prosperity of this Special Administrative Region. Thirdly, the 20th century has taught mankind how science and technology can enormously increase human productivity beyond anything dreamed of in previous centuries. With its tremendous human resources, its excellent geopolitical location and its dynamic ability to face challenges, the SAR is well poised to take advantage of the expanding horizon that future science and technology ill open up for mankind.

The next 30 years, I thus believe, will be as exciting for Hong Kong as the last 30 years have been. Let us work for the full realization of its aspirations.