TNAG-0471-FCO40-536-Use-of-Chinese-as-an-official-language-in-Hong-Kong-1974 — Page 33

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CONFIDENTIAL

6. In 1969/70 the question of Chinese as an official language

was a serious public issue. To the public the most important

question has been the formal designation of Chinese as an official

language. The Hong Kong Government's steady implementation of the

Committee's recommendations and the passing of the Official

Languages Bill should therefore remove all the heat from this

issue.

7. Speaking in Legislative Council during the debate on the Bill,

Mr Hilton Cheong-Leen said that in the years to come the Official

Languages Bill would be seen to have done much to reaffirm the

cultural dignity and pride of the Chinese residents of Hong Kong.

8. An interesting question which has emerged from the Committee's

deliberations is the extent to which Hong Kong's educational

system places equal emphasis on both languages and whether it

produces graduates who are equally adept at communication in either

of the two languages. Although this subject was outside the

Committee's terms of reference, they considered that the funda-

mental implications of the educational system in a bi-lingual

society needed some comment. (Paras 17-23 of the Report). The

indications are that the dual system of secondary education, with

the Anglo-Chinese schools, where the main medium of instruction is

English, and the Chinese Middle Schools, where the main medium of

instruction is Chinese, does not tend to achieve equal standards

in both languages. This has implications for job opportunities

and could have serious repercussions on community relationships.

CONFIDENTIAL

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