Let the West listen to the East

Gai Tung Aap Gong? That's right, it's "chicken and duck talk". Speaking Cantonese to people who don't understand Cantonese is the same; speaking Mandarin to people who don't understand Mandarin is the same.

If the company cannot communicate with the same voice, how can it take the initiative to attack the outside world? For a hundred years, the English and Western-style thinking that came with the colonists has become the "Mandarin" of Hong Kong enterprises, allowing them to grow freely in the global economy. However, this history also destined Hong Kong to play more of a listening role.

It is the tenth anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the motherland. In mainland enterprises with more Hong Kong people and in Hong Kong enterprises with more mainlanders, Putonghua is replacing chicken-and-duck communication, and the West cannot but listen to this voice from the East.

From English to Mandarin

Peter Li, an American manager who had studied Chinese in Beijing for three years, expressed his "dissatisfaction" with Hong Kong: "Originally I wanted to learn Cantonese in this language environment, But my colleagues around me knew that I had studied Chinese in Beijing, and they all spoke Mandarin to me, and they often asked me for Mandarin pronunciation." As a result, the American's Mandarin was better, but his Cantonese was limited to "Oh," and "Morning." "such as.

Maybe he should go back to Hong Kong ten years ago. At that time, whether it was internal communication within the company or asking for directions on the street, the preferred language was Cantonese or English, followed by Mandarin. In the past ten years, what force has made the tongues of Hong Kong people start to learn to roll?

"Hong Kong lacks natural resources, and our prosperity is all due to our most precious assets - flexible, hard-working and enterprising people." This is the description of Hong Kong people on the official website of the Hong Kong government. Since 1997, with the opening of the "Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement" (CEPA) and the "independent travel" of mainland residents, more and more Hong Kong people have colleagues and customers from the mainland, and they no longer speak Mandarin. Means "cousin", "Acan". Hong Kong people who are good at grasping business opportunities immediately found that Mandarin today is as important as English yesterday.

Like discovering the "blue ocean" of plastic flowers and the real estate market, this time "Li Chaoren" has stepped forward again. Li Ka-shing once said with a smile that "my Mandarin is really ordinary", but in every public speech with a majority of mainland audiences, he still insists on speaking in Mandarin with Chaozhou accents and English words.

Li Ka-shing, who is nearly 80 years old, can do it. From elementary school students to Hong Kong people who are about to retire, he is also a good student. The chairman of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, who is over 60, has an Indian father. He specially invited a tutor to learn Mandarin. "I had been studying for two weeks before, but when I was on vacation, I couldn't remember it when I came back. It was very difficult, but I will continue to study."

Now, a mandarin teaching industry group has become popular in Hong Kong. Various Putonghua training courses, video tutorials and TV programs are widely welcomed by Hong Kong people. Therefore, as long as you meet a mainlander, whether it is a counter lady or a company secretary, they will seize this opportunity to practice Mandarin seriously, word by word for two seconds.

Some scholars have pointed out that this is due to the "practical first" tradition of Hong Kong people. However, without this spirit of survival of the fittest, how could Hong Kong develop from a small fishing village of 5,000 people to today's Pearl of the Orient?

“Who am I?”

“Know yourself and the enemy” is not only the principle of decision-making, but also the premise of communication. Ten years after the handover, Hong Kong enterprises have begun to re-examine themselves. A language education policy formulated by the Hong Kong Government has actually answered this question.

Beginning in 1997, the Hong Kong government has not pursued Putonghua first, but "biliteracy and trilingualism" (English and Chinese are the modern standard Chinese; Chinese is Putonghua, English, Cantonese). This is not just a language policy, but also Hong Kong's positioning of its own role - where the East and the West meet, and where the cross-strait, three places and overseas Chinese converge. A century-old history of port opening in which humiliation and pride coexist, so that Hong Kong enterprises and the whole world can reach a consensus on this point.

On October 27, 1842, the smoke of the Opium War had just dissipated from Hong Kong Island. From here, Sir Henry Pottinger, the plenipotentiary representative of the British side, announced to the world: "Hong Kong is a tax-free port and allows all countries to trade. , and respect Chinese customs." A fishing village wharf, which opened a short time ago, has since been deeply involved in the east-west convection of people, wealth and goods.

Cotton from India and, of course, opium, a ship sailed into the port later named after Queen Victoria of England; boxes of tea and silk from China also began their journey across the ocean from here. Britons, Southeast Asians, Chinese provinces, with ambitions, fantasies or hopes, have achieved miracles unimaginable elsewhere in this small place. One of the great miracles is that the violent collision of Eastern and Western languages and cultures did not create a "Tower of Babel".

The 100 years that this city has grown from nothing is also the 100 years that Hong Kong people have learned to deal with the world. Until 1997, the management communication of most Hong Kong enterprises was still based on the half of the earth where Europe and the United States are located.

From a cross-border transaction to a conference call, communication with Western companies in Hong Kong has never been a problem. Because the mixed language habits of Chinese and English have already been integrated into the blood of every Hong Konger in the bargaining of traders for hundreds of years, and in the teaching of English since the age of three. Even the two giant pandas that were donated to Hong Kong also quickly realized that Down means "get down" and Up means "get up", and the compliment to the breeder "Good boy" was very useful.

More Chinese, more international

Peter Drucker said: "People can't communicate with just one sentence, they always have to communicate with the whole person." The west wind that sneaked into Hong Kong with language has nurtured the ability to listen to the West The oriental people have also made this Far East seaport backed by mainland China.

During the economic take-off of the 1960s, Hong Kong was a natural hub for the Asia-Pacific headquarters of multinational corporations. In the reform and opening up of the mainland that began in the late 1970s, Hong Kong was both a pioneer in the north and the largest bridgehead from the west to the east. It was from then on that Hong Kong people who were accustomed to speaking Cantonese began to learn Mandarin, which is often tongue-rolling. When the world's attention is focused on China, Hong Kong companies have already taken the lead in the mainland market.

Undoubtedly, it is Hong Kong's innate advantage to be based on the global economy that it shares the same roots and voice with the motherland. Ten years after the return of Hong Kong, at the crossroads between history and the future, Hong Kong enterprises have continued the century-old tradition of international communication, and at the same time have begun to express their voices in Mandarin.

Compared to what happened to the East and the West a hundred years ago, today's Hong Kong is welcoming a truly equal listening and dialogue between the East and the West. The enterprises in it are the best witnesses and the biggest beneficiaries.

The author is an associate editor of the CEConline website.