彭定康在香港1997回归中国的告别演说

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彭定康在香港1997回归中国的告别演说

对全香港来说,今天是值得庆贺而不是叫人伤感的日子。然而某些人也许多少有点感触。任何惜别的埸合,都难免引起离愁别绪。容我稍后再细说。

历史不单是一连串的年月日。历史不仅是我们记忆所及的日子,还有那些日子前后发生的事情。要说香港的成功故事,得从今夜之前的年月说起,也必定会说到光辉美好的未来岁月。

香港的故事,当然并不限于英国管治下的一段历史,尽管今夜正标志着这段一百五十年历史的终结。

这段历史,是由上一世纪的一些事件揭开序幕。对于那些往事,在百年后的今天来看,当然没有人会试图为之解说。可是,我们该注意到,今天香港大多数人之所以在这里生活,是由于本世纪发生了一些事件,而对于这些事件,相信今天也没有多少人会加以辩护。这一切都提醒我们,有些时候,我们应认清过去,这样便能够抛开过去,走向未来。

今天我们要庆祝的,是本港市民凭着冲天的干劲和无比的毅力,辛勤创业,为本港历史写下了光辉的一页。他们当中,绝大部份是中国人,最初来到这里时,一无所有,只是一群平凡的人,但是他们努力不懈,终能克服种种困难,取得了非凡的成就。

英国在香港的管治即将终结。我相信我们可以总结说,英国对香港的贡献,是在这里建立了一个完善的架构,使香港人能够力争上游,创造美好天地。这个架构包括法治精神、廉洁开明的政府、自由社会的价值观、已具雏型的代议政制和民主社会制度。香港是一个华人社会,一个典型的华人社会,而又带有英国特色。从来没有一个属地,在脱离殖民管治时,能够像香港这般繁荣昌盛,这般具备文明社会应有的结构和特质,既有各行各业的专才、不同的宗教、众多的报章杂志、蓬勃的慈善事业,还有正直忠诚、此志不渝地为市民和社会谋福利的公务员。

我深信,只要香港人坚守他们一向珍视的价值观,香港的前途必定越来越光明。香港的价值观正面积极,放诸四海而皆准。这些价值观也是亚洲以至其它地区未来的价值观。在明日的世界里,一个欢迎快乐、民生富足、充满信心和安定繁荣的社会,必定像今日的香港一样,是一个能够恰当地把政治自由和经济自由加以融合的社会。

今天晚上,我们以及远在他方观看这个盛典的英国国民,都向香港特别行政区行政长官和他领导的优秀班子,致以深挚祝福,祝愿他们顺利展开新工作。董建华先生和他的夫人,必定全心全力、竭诚为香港服务。全港市民以及海外人仕,都衷心希望他们面对未来挑战时,能够有卓越的表现和成就。

我刚才提到,对一些人来说,今晚的庆典难免夹杂了丝丝愁绪。

临别依依,我和我的家人,以及其它即将告别香江的人,心中都带着离别的伤感。我是第二十八任总督,也是最后一任总督。跟历任总督和他们的家人一样,内子、女儿和我,定会把香港的一点一滴铭记心中。大家待我们一向是那样亲切、友善,这份温情暖意,我们难以忘怀。过去五年,能够与你们共同生活在这片美好的家园,并且能够为你们的将来尽一点力,实在是我毕生莫大荣幸。如今,会由香港人管治,那是你们得到的承诺,也是一个不容改变的进程。

一九九七年六月三十日

Governor's Speech at Farewell Ceremony of Hong Kong Handover 1997

For Hong Kong as a whole, today is cause for celebration not sorrow. But here and there, perhaps there will be a touch of personal sadness as is true of any departure, a point to which I shall return.

History is not just a matter of dates. What makes history is what comes before and what comes after the dates that we all remember. The story of this great city is about the years before this night, and the years of success that will surely follow it.

Of course, Hong Kong's story is not solely that of the century and a half of British responsibility, though it is the conclusion of that chapter that we mark tonight.

This chapter began with events that, from today's vantage point, at the end of the following century, none of us here would wish or seek to condone. But we might note that most of those who live in Hong Kong now do so because of events in our own century which would today have few defenders. All that is a reminder that sometimes we should remember the past the better to forget it.

What we celebrate this evening is the restless energy, the hard work, the audacity of the men and women who have written Hong Kong's success story. Mostly Chinese men and Chinese women. They were only ordinary in the sense that most of them came here with nothing. They are extraordinary in what they have achieved against the odds.

As British administration ends, we are, I believe, entitled to say that our own nation's contribution here was to provide the scaffolding that enabled the people of Hong Kong to ascend. The rule of law. Clean and light -- handed government. The values of a free society. The beginnings of representative government and democratic accountability. This is a Chinese city, with British characteristic. No dependent territory has been left more prosperous, none with such a rich texture and fabric of civil society, professions, churches, newspapers, charities, civil servants of the highest probity and the most steadfast commitment to the public good.

I have no doubt that, with people here holding on to these values which they cherish, Hong Kong's star will continue to climb. Hong Kong's values are decent values. They are universal values. They are the values of the future in Asia as elsewhere, a future in which the happiest and the richest communities, and the most confident and the most stable too, will be those that best combine political liberty and economic freedom as we do here today.

All of us her tonight, and I am sure all my fellow countrymen and women watching those events from afar, wish the Chief Executive of the Special Administrative Region and his excellent team the very best of luck as they embark on their journey. C H Tung and his wife, Betty, will serve Hong Kong with dedication, strength and enthusiasm. Everyone here, and people outside Hong Kong as well, will be willing them to succeed in the challenging years that lie ahead.

I said that tonight's celebration will be tinged for some with sadness.

So it will be for my family and myself and for others who like us will soon depart from this shore. I am the 28th governor. The last governor. Like all the other governors and their families, my wife, my children and myself will take Hong Kong home in our hearts. You have been kind to us. You have made us welcome. It has been the greatest honour and privilege of my life to share your home for five years, and to have some responsibility for your future. Now Hong Kong people are to run Hong Kong. That is the promise. And that is the unshakeable destiny.