Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu called on Chinese talent to tell a better story of Hong Kong to the world, and to foster mutual integration of the Chinese culture with global cultures, propelling humanity toward a future that is more open and inclusive.
Lee made his remarks at the awards ceremony of the 16th You Bring Charm to the World Awards on Friday at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai.
This award was created by Phoenix TV in 2007 to acknowledge outstanding Chinese people who have made remarkable contributions and have made an impact around the world. This year, the awards ceremony, which took place in Hong Kong for the first time, honored six remarkable Chinese.
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During the ceremony, Lee said each winner represented a shining example of Chinese people working in various fields, who have shown the Chinese nation in a positive light around the world. They have contributed to making the world a better place, and their achievements are a source of pride to Chinese people worldwide, Lee said.
Hong Kong, a highly open and cosmopolitan city, will continue to nurture local talent and attract global talent, to foster global humanistic exchanges and drive synergistic regional development, Lee added.
Holding his trophy, physicist Samuel Ting Chao-chung said that receiving the award was an immense honor for him.
“Throughout the past 60 or 70 years, the majority of my experiments have faced significant opposition from most people, yet the outcomes have proved the skeptics were wrong,” Ting said.
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Ting was honored with the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1976 and has been recognized as a member of the Academy of Sciences in 11 countries. Additionally, he has made significant advancements in the field of quantum mechanics.
Another winner Lui Che-woo, is a well-known entrepreneur who founded the K. Wah Group in 1955 and developed it into an international enterprise comprising over 200 subsidiary companies. In addition to his business success, he has also dedicated himself to supporting education and scientific research. In 2015, he established the Lui Che Woo Prize — Prize for World Civilization, to recognize outstanding contributors to human welfare, such as Yuan Longping, a Chinese agronomist known for developing the first hybrid rice varieties.
After being awarded, actress Tang Wei appeared to be deeply moved, with tears welling up in her eyes.
“I will persist in facing challenges along my journey. I will harness the strengths that life presents to me and instill them into my future characters. I love the lifestyle which allows me to create and express myself,” she said.
Tang is a Chinese actress who rose to fame for her performance in Golden Lion prize-winning Lust, Caution by Ang Lee. Tang was the first and only non-Korean to have been honored at some of the most prestigious South Korean film awards, including the Baeksang Art Awards and Blue Dragon Film Awards.
Another winner Rebecca Lee Lok-sze, is an adventurer from Hong Kong and is the first female explorer to have ventured to the three poles of the Earth. She has visited the North Pole 10 times, the South Pole six times, and Mount Qomolangma (also known as Everest) four times, making an outstanding contribution to polar exploration.
Brigitte Lin is a Hong Kong cinema icon whose films have been acclaimed by critics and generations of audiences throughout Asia and even around the world.
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Li Zexiang is a prominent figure in the field of robotics. He and his students have incubated over 140 science and technology enterprises.
Over the past years, 158 distinguished Chinese people from various fields, such as cyberneticist Qian Xuesen, architect Ieoh Ming-pei, malariologist Tu Youyou, novelist Louis Cha Leung-yung, and director Zhang Yimou, have been honored at the You Bring Charm to the World Awards.
Brandon Lam contributed to this story.
