Boston Mayor Will Kick Off Hong Kong Week

Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino will speak today at the opening ceremony of Hong Kong Week, a seven-day conference sponsored by Harvard's Hong Kong Club and several area universities.

The mayor's speech launches a series of discussions and exhibitions entitled "1997: Destiny of Hong Kong," which is scheduled to run through March 3.

Conference organizers expect a turnout of at least 3,000 students, according to Hong Kong Club President Joseph L. Ngai '96.

The opening ceremony will be held this morning at the Back Bay Hilton hotel.

"We hope to provide an objective setting for discussions and to raise the awareness of a variety of business, political and cultural issues," Ngai said.

"It's our belief that constructive criticism can be generated only through discussion and through understanding," he added.

Hong Kong to Boston

According to Ngai, Hong Kong Week was created to bring the realities facing Hong Kong closer to the Boston community.

Currently under British sovereignty, Hong Kong will become a special administrative region of the People's Republic of China in 1997.

After the opening ceremony, the Governor of Hong Kong, Christopher Patten, will discuss the colony's upcoming political and economic transition.

According to Ngai, Patten has proposed an expansion of Hong Kong's electorate in order to strengthen democracy in the colony before Communist rule.

A panel will also discuss economic issues facing Hong Kong. Panelists will include Alex Fong, senior representative of Hong Kong in New York, and Jerome Cohen, the author of China Today.

Williams Professor of History and Political Science Roderick MacFarquhar will participate in a panel on Hong Kong's future political autonomy under the People's Republic.

The panel will be held Sunday at 3 p.m. at the Kennedy School of Government.

Also participating on the political panel will be: Ambassador Richard Williams, former U.S. consul general to Hong Kong; Dr. Allen Lee Pang Fei, chair of the Liberal Party in Hong Kong; Bing Leung, vice-chair of Hong Kong's Democratic Party, and Jonathan Mirsky, East Asian correspondent for the London Times.

A film festival featuring Hong Kong's history and culture and an exhibit on population, culture, economy, social security, politics, transportation and telecommunications will run throughout the week at Babson University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

"The exhibition will attempt to increase the awareness of the U.S. public through a presentation of different, important aspects of Hong Kong," said Victor W. Chan, the exhibition director and a sophomore at Babson.