Hong Kong has been rated the most competitive city in China, and people often comment on the hectic pace of life and the energy here in Hong Kong. But why do people get that impression? Is it simply because there are lots of people hurrying here and there, anxious to close a business deal, catch a train, or perhaps even to buy the latest and most trendy mobile phone model? Is it because of the way the city is built, with high-rise buildings dominating the skyline and thousands of neon signs shining in the streets - does that atmosphere instill in people a sense of urgency, action or progress?

To a certain extent, all of that is true. Hong Kong people live life with a passion, passion for ourselves and for what we do, and passion for what we believe in. Passion is Hong Kong's "heartware". Passion is what makes Hong Kong interesting and is what makes the Hong Kong experience different -also because we live in a very complex and diverse society made up of a lot of interesting people with sharply contrasting backgrounds, inclinations and dispositions, juxtaposed and rubbing shoulders day after day in this confinement called Hong Kong. If passion is Hong Kong's "heartware", then it should follow that diversity is Hong Kong's "soulware".

We are not a uni-dimensional community. There is enormous contrast here - from the trams and ferries that have carried passengers the same way for more than 100 years, to the private jets parked at the airport to fly business executives around the world; from glistening highrise to humble squatter hut; from concrete canyons to quiet country park track; from bustling street markets to the silver sheen of shopping malls.

There are quite distinct social and ethnic groups in Hong Kong. There is a constant diversity of races and cultures and expectations living here and passing through. We are an overwhelmingly Chinese society, but a Chinese society influenced by more than 150 years of Western, colonial administration. Expatriates from around the world have made Hong Kong their home, and in the process added yet more layers and color to the fabric of our makeup. Large communities of domestic helpers from The Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand and Sri Lanka add yet another dimension to our society. We are a natural attraction for overseas Chinese - people who have emigrated to the West, or grown up there, but feel more at home in an Oriental city blended with an Occidental outlook on life. More and more of our mainland cousins are also venturing to Hong Kong for work and leisure - drawn by the lure of the international market and our different social, economic and legal systems.

All of these contrasts create a dynamic tension within our society, which in turn generates a driving force and vibrancy that keeps this city on its toes. This tension keeps modulating the ambit of our city, so that every day we are forced to keep learning to live with ourselves and to keep learning to love with passion, to hate with passion, or to do both at the same time and equally with passion. That's the Hong Kong way.

The author is former secretary for home affairs of the Hong Kong SAR government.

(HK Edition 05/12/2010 page1)