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Speech by Acting Postmaster General, Mrs Joanna
Choi, at the "Hong Kong Goldfish II" Special
Stamps Issuing Ceremony

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    Following is a speech by the Acting Postmaster General, Mrs Joanna Choi, at the "Hong Kong Goldfish II" Special Stamps Issuing Ceremony today (May 12):

Dr Zeman, distinguished guests and friends from the media,

    Good morning, and welcome to this ceremony marking the release of our "Hong Kong Goldfish II" Special Stamps.

    Ocean Park Hong Kong is a very well-known educational and amusement theme park.  And one of the park's major attractions is the goldfish aquarium, which is estimated to have more than 100 varieties, all displaying their extraordinary colours, shapes and sizes.  I am pleased that Dr Allan Zeman, Chairman of Ocean Park Hong Kong, has kindly joined me in officiating at this launch ceremony.  Our special thanks must go to Ocean Park Hong Kong for their contributions to this stamp design and for providing these beautiful aquarium and goldfish, which decorate this ceremony venue today.

    Ocean Park Hong Kong and Hongkong Post share lots of similarities.  For instance, we are both service organisations with customer satisfaction as our main focus.  And both are run as commercial enterprises with a priority of maintaining a viable business to support their operations.

    We are living in a business environment that is characterised by change.  To cope with keen competition, Hongkong Post has purposefully transformed itself in recent years.  It is no longer just an ordinary Post Office providing simple mail collection and delivery services, but now provides a wide range of services - logistic solutions, for instance, and philatelic services, gift redemption and the like.  Ocean Park maintains its competitiveness by continually upgrading its facilities and developing new entertainment and animal programmes to attract visitors.  Another similarity is that both have contributed significantly toward promoting Hong Kong to the world.  With world-class facilities and programmes, Ocean Park is regarded as a must-see attraction for overseas visitors and this helps attract them to Hong Kong, while Hongkong Post promotes local history, culture and attractions to every corner of the world through stamps.  Stamps may be small in size, but they nonetheless play an important role as international representatives of Hong Kong.

    Coincidentally, goldfish and stamps also have lots of connections.  Rearing goldfish is a good healthy pastime and so is stamp collecting.  Both can increase people's quality of life by helping them learn how to appreciate beauty.  Both hobbies are educational in the sense that they can inspire people's curiosity and motivate them to learn more.  Every stamp we issue has some information on it, often a species of local animal or plant, a scenic view, a historical milestone or even a traditional handcraft.  By collecting stamps, people can come to know more about the world in which we live.  Similarly, rearing goldfish can inspire people to find the answers to questions like what species of fish they are and how they breed?  Are they oviparous?  What do they eat?  What environmental and disease control measures are needed when rearing them, and the like.

    Another interesting resemblance is that both goldfish and stamps are well-developed and highly diversified.  With efforts by numerous people, different goldfish species have been developed over a long period of time, like the "Blue Wenyu", the "Red and White Swallow-tail", the "Pale Bronze Egg-phoenix" and many other such colourful and exotic names.  With regard to stamps, new elements have been incorporated through creative design and with the aid of advanced technology adding effects like embossing, hologram or putting on special textures, making use of different stamp sizes, shapes and even printing with gold and silver foil as well as flock paper.  So you see, just like goldfish, stamps also come in a variety of colours, shapes, and sizes.  Lastly, both hobbies are affordable for young and old alike, so they can bring many hours of pleasure and satisfaction during the course of a lifetime.

    I trust these stamps we issue today will find their own special place in the hearts of philatelists and goldfish fans alike.  

    Thank you.

Ends/Thursday, May 12, 2005

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