HKMU has hosted three “Talk of the Metropolis” sessions so far this year. The first talk took place on 7 January, featuring Dr Charles Chen Yidan, founder of the Yidan Prize, in dialogue with President Prof. Paul Lam Kwan-sing. Under the theme “Transforming the World through Education”, Dr Chen shared his vision for the future of education. Co-founding Tencent in 1998, he later dedicated himself to philanthropy — earning him the title “Father of China’s Internet Philanthropy” — and established the Yidan Prize in 2016, now one of the world’s highest education accolades.
The second talk on 24 March, titled “Navigating Climate Headwinds”, welcomed Ir Francis Cheng Cho-ying, Managing Director of The Hongkong Electric Company, Limited (HK Electric). Drawing on over 45 years of experience at HK Electric, Ir Cheng shared his insights on how the company tackles frequent extreme weather events threatening power supply and Hong Kong’s ecological environment, while aligning with the Government’s energy policies to achieve decarbonisation goals.
The third talk on 8 April was delivered by Prof. Edward Chen Kwan-yiu, Honorary Professor at both HKMU and the Business School of The University of Hong Kong. His talk, titled “China’s Road to a Global Economic Superpower: from Township and Village Enterprises to New Quality Productive Forces”, analysed China’s economic rise and the key role of new quality productive forces in this transformation. Prof. Chen also emphasised that society should move beyond STEM education and promote HELP (history, ethics, literature and philosophy).
