Last week, a debate was held in the Legislative Council touching on what Confucius and his teachings mean to the Hong Kong community. I would say that his spirit is still very much alive and well here.

Confucius defined the Chinese concept of what it meant to be a gentleman. It is a definition which goes beyond appearance, demeanor, language skills and the general external facade, to plumb the underlying substance of a man.

Confucius summed it up when he said that a gentleman is not afraid because he has courage; not confused because he has wisdom and not worried because he has charity in his heart.

All of us are prone, at some time or other, to experience fear, confusion and anxiety, and Hong Kong has had more than its fair share of all three. Some of us, in Hong Kong, are most afraid that our freedom is compromised, that our liberty is restricted and that our rights are not upheld and defended. Some of us, in Hong Kong, can be most confused about our identity, confused about how we relate to our motherland, and confused about how we should position ourselves as citizens in a Special Administrative Region. Some of us, in Hong Kong, are most worried about losing our competitive edge, worried about our future in the face of a globalized economy, worried about the insidious erosions of that inner tenacious strength that we call the Hong Kong spirit and Hong Kong values.

However, if we analyse the causes, we find the Confucian principle still holds true. What we most fear in Hong Kong is our loss of freedom, and most particularly our freedom of speech. But we have had the courage to speak out in its defence and, by giving voice to our fear, we have not only protected freedom of speech but asserted it more vehemently than ever before.

At no other point in our history have we been more vociferous, more strident, than in championing our right to be both. We have full faith in the Basic Law, through which provisions are made, such that our freedom and rights are guaranteed, and the guiding principle of "One Country, Two Systems", not to mention the various public institutions we have in place to safeguard these rights, and a very robust media community.

We have at times also been assailed by confusion - as to our role now that we have rejoined the motherland, as to how best to relate to the fast-rising new economic forces apparent there, as to which is the best road to take. Fortunately, in mapping out our future development, we can call upon the wisdom and common sense we acquired from all those years of self-reliance. Through soul-searching into our cultural depths in full realization of our common legacy, coupled with accurate assessment of modern development of imminent conditions, the perceptive instinct which is so very much Hong Kong provides the comforting solution of reconciliation as we rediscover our modern niche.

And finally - as Confucius long ago foretold - we should not be worried, because we have charity in our hearts. We have acquired the arts of civic behavior, the skills of interacting with each other to deal with our social problems and the compassion to understand each other better in all our multiplicity and diversity.

Curiously enough, if we examine our present position, we find ourselves no longer the economic animals we used to be, concerned solely with our own and our family's survival. We have come of age as citizens, proud of our civic achievements, our renewed outlook, and fiercely protective of our freedoms. We have also come of age as a community, actively supported by civil society organizations sharing responsibilities and rights, celebrating social diversity and yet maintaining harmony.

In doing so, we are veering closer to the Confucian understanding of what it meant to be a gentleman, demonstrating that the age-old wisdom and principles are still very much alive here with us in this 21st century.

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

(HK Edition 01/20/2010 page1)