HK, Guizhou to boost trade, education links
A Hong Kong delegation has wrapped up a visit to Guizhou with various agreements signed to step up cooperation between the SAR and the southwestern mainland province.
Besides trade and business, deals on education and youth development were inked, according to Liu Lin, directorgeneral of the New Territories Sub-Office of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region — the senior counselor of the delegation. He said one concrete result is that Hong Kong will host a fair later this year to promote agricultural imports from Guizhou. “One of Guizhou’s key development goals is to sell its products in the special administrative region, and this has been made possible by the fast developing transportation network between the two places,” he said.
Kong Tak-ho, president of the Hong Kong Industrial and Commercial Association and leader of the Hong Kong dele- gation, said the SAR can repackage and promote Guizhou’s products to help them reach more Hong Kong customers.
Collaboration between Guizhou and Hong Kong in education and youth exchange also received a major boost.
Hong Kong students will have more opportunities to witness the country’s development in science and technology as study tours to Guizhou, focused on astronomy and big data, will be organized, according to Xie Jinwen, counselor of the delegation.
He told China Daily that a highlight of the intended study tours will be the radio telescope, “Eye of Heaven”, as well as Guizhou’s big data industry.
The “Eye of Heaven”, which was set up in Guizhou’s Pingtang county in September last year, is the world’s biggest radio telescope. The wokshaped telescope — 500 meters wide and 400 meters deep — has the size of about 36 football courts. The facility excels in receiving and identifying signals from deep space. According to official data, the “Eye of Heaven” could reach 13.7 billion light years away — the farthest distance that can be covered by existing radio telescopes in the world.
Yu Tai-wai, principal of Yan Chai Hospital No 2 Secondary School and a member of the 650-strong Hong Kong delegation, said he was “overwhelmed and proud” when he saw the giant telescope.
Yu, who is also chairman of the New Territories School Heads Association, said Hong Kong schools could consider organizing study tours to the “Eye of Heaven” to foster STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education.
On the educational front, Xie said 10 Hong Kong secondary schools have become sister schools with 10 middle schools
in Guizhou’s provincial capital Guiyang, and exchange programs between sister schools are under discussion.
In youth development, internship programs to Guizhou will be organized during next year’s summer holidays, said Yip Kam-hung, chairman of the Federation of New Territories Youth, who signed the cooperation agreement with the Guizhou provincial government on Friday. Hong Kong college students can also participate in internships under the program to gain first-hand experience in the wine, tea and big data business.
Guizhou is also home to Moutai — the world famous Chinese spirit with a history of more than 800 years.
With the support of the cen- tral government, the landlocked province set up the country’s first pilot zone for the big data industry, attracting tech giants like Baidu, Alibaba and Microsoft to invest.
The Hong Kong delegation included representatives from the business, trade, education, youth development and women affairs sectors. The visit was organized by Hong Kong Celebrations Association (New Territories) as part of celebrations marking the 20th anniversary of the handover.
Liu said his biggest inspiration from the trip is that through increased cooperation, the SAR and mainland cities can complement each other’s advantages to thrive under “One Country, Two Systems”.