Shining a light on forefathers who helped make HK a great city
Utility creates documentary film to trace city’s rise from fishing village to global financial hub
For more than a century, CLP Holdings, founded in 1901, has provided electricity to the Kowloon Peninsula and New Territories. It has witnessed the rapid social, industrial and economic development of Hong Kong. The Kadoorie family, the company founders, has grown steadily in line with Hong Kong, sharing in the fortunes and prosperity the city has earned through the years.
It was the wish of Sir Michael Kadoorie, CLP chairman and third-generation member of the Iraqi Jewish family which came to Hong Kong from Shanghai 135 years ago, to commission a documentary to recount the beginnings of the company and their roots in Hong Kong, and mirror the splendid growth of the city from a fishing village to an international financial hub, as well as the Lion Rock Spirit of the Hong Kong people.
It is against this backdrop that the documentary, A Century of Power was filmed. On Oct 9, a premiere was held, attracting some 700 guests from different quarters of the community, with Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor being the officiating guest at the premiere.
The production of the documentary coincided with the 20th anniversary of the return of Hong Kong to the motherland, said Quince Chong Wai-yan, the chief corporate development officer of CLP.
“Since our centenary year in 2001, CLP has quickly emerged from a locally listed company to expand its operations beyond Hong Kong in the Asia Pacific, covering the Chinese mainland, Taiwan, India, Australia and Thailand.
“In the 20 years since 1997, a very strong fury has loomed in society, with young people unhappy with their prospect of upward mobility, and people feeling uncertain of the future and disgruntled with the government.
“If people understand history, the hard work and fighting spirit of the older generations who laid the foundations of Hong Kong, they will not fear challenges and cherish the good side of the city that has come a very long way,” Chong said.
“In recent years, it has been Sir Michael’s hope to create a kind of positive energy, enabling young people to realize the can-do spirit and entrepreneurship of the older generations and to enhance their cohesion and confidence for the future. People who were born in the 1980s and 1990s have not encountered the hardships of their forefathers; economic and living conditions in those years were not as affluent as those today.
“The Kadoorie family has lived in Hong Kong for five generations and called it their home. With Hong Kong dear to their hearts, they love Hong Kong while Elly Kadoorie (Sir Michael’s grandfather) had a broad vision in the early years to invest in the electricity business which has powered the social, industrial and economic development of Hong Kong,” she described.
Electricity has become a basic necessity of daily life that people cannot live without in modern times. It generates light and provides power for manufacturing and industrial development. Furthermore, electricity is vital to the operation of mass transit trains, the airport, computerized systems of the stock market, medical equipment in hospitals, and the soon-to-be-completed cross-boundary transport infrastructures — Hong KongZhuhai-Macao Bridge and the Express Rail Link.
“Hong Kong is a very prosperous city with many skyscrapers. About 50 percent of the citizens live or work on or above 15th floors of the high buildings, making elevators, which are powered by electricity, an absolute necessity,” she said with reference to a government building index.
As a power generator and supplier, Chong said CLP strives to provide safe, reliable energy with green fuel at low prices — although these criteria seem to conflict with one another. The average tariff is HK$1.10 per unit, she noted, which is cheaper than that in London and Singapore.
At present, CLP uses more or less the same proportion of coal, natural gases and nuclear power for electricity generation. As required by the government, up to 50 percent of natural gases will be used by 2020 to reduce carbon emissions, but she added that coalfired generation will remain to maintain lower costs and tariffs.