April 05, 2018
Dialogue With The Last Governor
For those watching the rain-drenched Hong Kong Handover ceremony two decades ago on the misty shores of Victoria Harbor, Central’s skyscrapers looming ominously in the background and the Royal Yacht Britannia waiting in the wings to whisk away Prince Charles and his entourage, a few select images remain forever fixed. One is that of the Prince and Lord Patten of Barnes, the Governor of Hong Kong, sitting side by side with hard set faces looking out over the mass of dignitaries and honor guard taking in the full meaning of the last moments of the colony.To get more Shanghai business news, you can visit shine news official website.
Twenty years later, Chris Patten remembers this day well and fondly speaks of his time in Hong Kong. "Those years were the most interesting and happiest of my life, and my family would say the same,†Patten recalls on the eve of publishing his autobiography First Confession: A Sort of Memoir. "I can honestly say since I first saw China in 1979, and have gone on seeing it regularly, I never had any doubt its reemergence was the most important economic event of my lifetime after the fall of the Berlin Wall. I knew this event would lift hundreds of millions out of poverty.
It is in no one’s interest that this economic marvel ends. It is good for China and for humanity.†Shanghai Business Review met with Lord Patten on a stormy spring day in London on the banks of River Thames, a stone’s throw from the Parliament in which he has sat as a member for so many years. In an exclusive interview with SBR, the former Chairman of the Conservative Party who served three Prime Ministers – Edward Heath, Margaret Thatcher and John Major – reflected on the importance of Hong Kong to China and shared his views on the shaping of the world’s economic dynamo. "There is a reason why I say re-emergence, rather than emergence,†adds Patten. "It really is important for all to have a sense of history. We must understand that until the 1820s China was a third of the world economy and China and India represented over 50% of world GDP.
Their collapse in the 19th and early 20th centuries was partly due to depredations of Western imperialism, partly due to the Industrial Revolution and partly due to decisions Chinese and Indians made for themselves. The balance between different economies can shiftFor Chris Patten – known in China as Peng Ding-kong – that July 1997 day was the end of a five-year stint that many consider one of the most important in the long diplomatic history of a nation that once ruled the Seven Seas. It was the exclamation point on a saga that began in 1842 when Queen Victoria assumed the helm of a small trading colony on the southern shores of the Middle Kingdom.
It was the end of an era that set the stage for 20 years of growth under the "One Country, Two System†vision forged by Paramount Leader Deng Xiaoping, architect of China’s Open Door Policy. "In 1979 I visited Hong Kong Governor Murray Maclehose with three other young Members of Parliament,†remembers Patten, who was 35 years old at the time. "We were taken to the border of Lo Wu to look over the rice paddies that would one day become Shenzhen.â€
Twenty years later, Chris Patten remembers this day well and fondly speaks of his time in Hong Kong. "Those years were the most interesting and happiest of my life, and my family would say the same,†Patten recalls on the eve of publishing his autobiography First Confession: A Sort of Memoir. "I can honestly say since I first saw China in 1979, and have gone on seeing it regularly, I never had any doubt its reemergence was the most important economic event of my lifetime after the fall of the Berlin Wall. I knew this event would lift hundreds of millions out of poverty.
It is in no one’s interest that this economic marvel ends. It is good for China and for humanity.†Shanghai Business Review met with Lord Patten on a stormy spring day in London on the banks of River Thames, a stone’s throw from the Parliament in which he has sat as a member for so many years. In an exclusive interview with SBR, the former Chairman of the Conservative Party who served three Prime Ministers – Edward Heath, Margaret Thatcher and John Major – reflected on the importance of Hong Kong to China and shared his views on the shaping of the world’s economic dynamo. "There is a reason why I say re-emergence, rather than emergence,†adds Patten. "It really is important for all to have a sense of history. We must understand that until the 1820s China was a third of the world economy and China and India represented over 50% of world GDP.
Their collapse in the 19th and early 20th centuries was partly due to depredations of Western imperialism, partly due to the Industrial Revolution and partly due to decisions Chinese and Indians made for themselves. The balance between different economies can shiftFor Chris Patten – known in China as Peng Ding-kong – that July 1997 day was the end of a five-year stint that many consider one of the most important in the long diplomatic history of a nation that once ruled the Seven Seas. It was the exclamation point on a saga that began in 1842 when Queen Victoria assumed the helm of a small trading colony on the southern shores of the Middle Kingdom.
It was the end of an era that set the stage for 20 years of growth under the "One Country, Two System†vision forged by Paramount Leader Deng Xiaoping, architect of China’s Open Door Policy. "In 1979 I visited Hong Kong Governor Murray Maclehose with three other young Members of Parliament,†remembers Patten, who was 35 years old at the time. "We were taken to the border of Lo Wu to look over the rice paddies that would one day become Shenzhen.â€
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