Controversy erupted after government department dropped reference in a biography about an artist who studied at Taipei National University of the Arts
TONY.CHEUNG@SCMP.COM
UPDATED : Saturday, 26 March, 2016, 8:01am
Celine Chin confirms that there was a practice of dropping the word ‘national’. Photo: SCMP Pictures
Omitting the word “national” from Taiwanese universities’ full names has been an official practice in Hong Kong for years, two current or former officials involved in the city’s cultural policy told the South China Morning Post.
The revelation came as the Post found that since 1999, at least 23 official press releases had the word “national” left out of the names of Taiwan universities, raising further questions on whether Hong Kong officials understand how to handle matters related to the island.
A political storm erupted in Hong Kong on Tuesday when a drama producer revealed that the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) banned her from publishing the full name of her Taiwan alma mater in a drama leaflet, since it contained the word “national”.
It raised concerns about artistic freedom and the city’s autonomy. Beijing promised that Hong Kong’s systems and way of life would not change for 50 years after the 1997 handover, but in recent years, Hongkongers have been increasingly worried about whether the city’s government is putting national interest before the people’s.
Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying and Secretary for Home Affairs Lau Kong-wah avoided clarifying why the LCSD had problems with printing the word “national”, but a source from the department confirmed that internal guidelines existed in print that specifically forbade the word “national” to appear in Taiwanese artists’ profiles in programmes presented by the department.
“I have seen it with my own eyes that the word ‘national’ can’t be used in our publications concerning Taiwanese artists,” the source said on condition of anonymity, adding it was not known how long this practice had been in effect.
Celina Chin, who was a senior LCSD manager before she left in 2001, said although she had not seen it in black and white, the practice had existed for years.
“I remember that was the practice by word of mouth for Taiwanese artists with the word ‘national’ in their titles when I was a manger with the International Arts Carnival in 1992-1993,” said Chin of her office under the defunct Urban Council, which was merged into the LCSD in 2000. Chin is now the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra’s executive director.
But Chin said the recent news about the LCSD’s rule over the word “national” would not affect the biographies of players from Taiwan in her orchestra.
Meanwhile, the Post conducted a search of Taiwanese universities’ names on the Hong Kong-based information archive Wisers and found the word “national” had been left out in at least 23 press releases issued by the government since 1999.
It was not just the LCSD which left out the word. In June 2013, a press release about a forum hosted by the Hong Kong Economic, Trade and Cultural Office in Taiwan omitted the word “national” when it said one of the forum speakers, professor Ma Hsiao-kan, was from “Taiwan University”. Its real name is National Taiwan University.
Four months later, the word was left out again in two press releases about the transport minister’s Taipei trip. It said the official would visit the “Taiwan Ocean University”. Its full name is the National Taiwan Ocean University.
Veteran China watcher Ching Cheong told the Postthat the government had to end the practice.
“Under the ‘one country, two systems’ principle and the Basic Law, the omissions were completely unnecessary,” Ching said. “It showed that officials learned the wrong lesson from mainland bureaucrats that everything has to be politically correct.”
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/1930612/dropping-word-national-has-been-official-practice
