Brother Thomas, Josephians, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am delighted to have been invited here today to the College's 123rd Anniversary Open Day.

One hundred and twenty-three years is a very long time in Hong Kong's history. There are few institutions in modern Hong Kong that can claim even to have survived that long, let alone prospered as St. Joseph's has.

One of the keys to the College remaining one of our leading schools for all these years has been the versatility and energy of the students and staff. For example, not only does St. Joseph's have a fine record for academic achievement, it has also been a training ground for some of our leading sportsmen.

I should quickly add that, while I take a keen personal and professional interest in Hong Kong sport, I do not regard myself as one of those leading sportsmen! But even though I have never been a gold medal contender, I am convinced that organized sports activities and competitions as part of school life provide an important balance to the rigours of academic study.

Having said this, it is very often difficult for student athletes to balance the demands of intensive training schedules with the volume of academic work required to pass exams and further one's education. Choices have to be made between the desire to become a professional athlete and the need to build a solid base of academic achievement which will help in establishing a career later on.

Nonetheless, a career in sport itself can be very rewarding and meaningful - and for athletes who reach the top it can also be very lucrative, if demanding. A leading football manager in England once said of the game: "Football is not a matter of life and death - it's more important than that!". This goes to show that people are wrong to think that professional athletes are just "playing" at a career. To be a professional sportsman or woman is every bit as tough as having a top job in business, law or medicine. Perhaps the only profession which requires more dedication, self-sacrifice and application is teaching!

For the past two and half years as Secretary for Broadcasting, Culture and Sport I have come to appreciate more fully the contribution that sport makes to our society. I have also been able to learn more about our cultural life, in particular those elements that help us to find out more about our civilisation and heritage.

As with sport, St. Joseph's has always fostered a keen appreciation of cultural issues, and I note that the College has a thriving Chinese Culture Society. This society organizes a range of activities, including a Chinese Culture Festival, aimed at promoting a better understanding of Chinese civilization.

Hong Kong's reunification with mainland China lends these types of activity a special significance. For many years our knowledge of the mainland has been rather superficial and our place in China's overall cultural development has not been easy to define.

This difficulty in placing Hong Kong in the overall context of China is of course not confined to these shores. I am sure that many of you will have heard stories of overseas visitors who have mistakenly thought that Hong Kong Island is across the water from Singapore, or that our native language is Japanese!

Before we can correct these misunderstandings in the world at large, we need to learn more about our own status as part of China. Culturally, we need to make the journey from the edge of our country to its heart.

This does not mean that we should not continue to progress as an international economic, trading and financial centre. As I am sure many of you know, I myself will shortly be moving on to take up the post of Secretary for Trade and Industry, and I intend to devote my energies to ensuring the primacy of Hong Kong's position in the global market place.

But building the future does not require us to knock down the past. Yes, we can take pleasure and pride in the building of the Tsing Ma bridge, the new airport and the container terminals. Yet we can be just as proud of initiatives which preserve our churches, our temples and our ancestral halls. In this context I am particularly pleased that we will soon be able to declare the North Block and Chapel Block of this College historical buildings. This will mean that not only St. Joseph's, but also a piece of Hong Kong's tradition will be protected for the enrichment of our present and future cultural life.

In another one hundred and twenty-three years' time it will be the year 2121 - I think the maths is right? While a lot of Hong Kong will then be unrecognizable from what we see today, this small corner of our city will serve as a reminder of our cultural heritage.

By the same token, St. Joseph's College, as an institution, will I am sure still be one of Hong Kong's leading schools. And like today's students and staff, future stewards of this College's own cultural heritage will continue to preserve the traditions and good name of St. Joseph's through the presentation of splendid and varied events like this Open Day.

Finally, I urge you all to enjoy today's activities and exhibitions, and thank you once again for inviting me to share the day with you.

Thank you.