Exploring Cities in the Greater Bay Area

Launched by the Bay Area Hong Kong Centre (Centre), the two-day Greater Bay Area (GBA) Principal and Teacher Professional Development Tour attracted 86 delegates from more than 50 secondary schools. It aims to provide educators with a more in-depth understanding of the latest development in the GBA and possible career and other opportunities that are available to students.

On 19^th November, the delegation travelled to Zhuhai via the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge. Mr. Leung Chun-Ying, Chairman of the Centre; Mr. Thomas Tang, Chairman of the Youthinker Charity Foundation; and Mr. Yue Yi, Director of the Centre, hosted a simple kick off ceremony at the Hong Kong Port of the Bridge.

With mega infrastructure projects being completed one after another, more opportunities and benefits will be created under the GBA while the 11 southern Chinese cities gradually integrate into an economic and business hub. The region will surely become an exciting new arena for life and career development for young people of Hong Kong. Mr Leung Chun-ying said during the ceremony, “Schools, parents and students need to have a comprehensive and in-depth understanding of employment opportunities, career development and other living conditions of the cities in the Greater Bay Area when they plan for the future.” Getting the principals involved is the very first step to give them a vivid impression of the social development and economic potential of these cities.

With enormous support from the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office of Guangdong Province, delegates were able to receive first-hand information on the difficulties and challenges of the construction of the mega bridge from the chief engineer, Mr. Su Quan-Ke at the Zhuhai Bridge Administration Exhibition Centre. The delegates were then split into 2 groups, one headed to Foshan and the other headed to Dongguan, they later re-joined in Guangzhou on day 2 of the tour. The groups visited key scientific and technological centres and laboratories, such as the China Spallation Neutron Source Base, Songshan Lake International Robot Industrial Base, Zhongshan University National Supercomputing Guangzhou Centre, Guangzhou Academy of Biomedical and Health Sciences Centre, and other major technology and cultural enterprises in the cities, including FAW-Volkswagen, Green Power Renewable Energy Ltd., Yun Cong Technology and Li Feng Culture Technology Co., Ltd., etc.

Seeking Opportunities for Students

One of the highlights was a sharing session hosted by Mr. Leung Chun-ying at the end of the tour. The principals and teachers were able to share their thoughts with Mr. Leung to enable the Centre to develop a better scheme to help students to explore opportunities in the GBA.

After witnessing the rapid growth of the GBA, in particular, certain science and technological developments which have been ranked among the top in the world, teachers have become fully aware of the needs to re-examine the school’s curriculum and to design suitable activities to cultivate the curiosity of students at an early stage. And how to provide students with other learning experiences (OLE) in the GBA, albeit field trips or internships, became the subject of discussion and follow-up.

The vast career opportunities in the GBA Greater Bay Area inspired educators to think proactively on how to equip students to take part in the future development of the region.