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Following is the speech by the Acting Postmaster General, Mrs Joanna Choi, at the "Chinese Idioms and Their Stories" Special Stamps Issuing Ceremony today (June 15):
Professor Ho, distinguished guests and friends from the media,
Good morning. Welcome to the "Chinese Idioms and Their Stories" Special Stamps Issuing Ceremony. For many people, stamps are used to prepay postage. Seldom do they realise the cultural significance that such tiny stamps have come to represent. As stamps are one of the ways to remember things of importance, some of the subjects appearing on them are full of references and wisdom. If employed as teaching aids, they may bring amazing educational experiences to students. So are the Chinese idioms. They are the essence of the language. Concise yet expressive, they contain profound meaning calling for deep thought.
"Respect Makes Successful Marriage", "Reading Is Always Rewarding", "Prepare For Success" and "All In The Same Boat" are the four idioms depicted in this set of stamps. The messages they bring home chime in perfectly with the corporate culture of Hongkong Post.
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Take Respect Makes Successful Marriage. The idiom is just another version of our Care From The Heart culture. Bearing this culture in mind, we promote mutual understanding and respect among colleagues and between customers and staff. As to Reading Is Always Rewarding, it echoes the growing awareness of the need and value of perpetual learning in our community. At Hongkong post, we value learning and attach great importance to employee development. We are committed to corporate excellence and better competitiveness, so we follow the example set by the hero in the story of Prepare For Success, who seized the day and always got himself prepared. As for the last idiom All In The Same Boat, it is in fact a synonym for teamwork, which is also a core value of our corporate culture. Successful teambuilding brings together individual employee in various roles, as a closely knitted family, towards our shared goal of providing the community with the best service.
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In all, the rollout today is both interesting and educational. Images with bold design and vivid colour visualise the messages and stories from which the idioms are derived and make the learning process fun. With this set of special stamps, we aim to promote philately and arouse the interest of children and students in Chinese culture.
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Thank you.
Ends/Thursday, June 15, 2006
Issued at HKT 17:48
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