History

Interview with Dr. W.H. Shak

Director of the Institute

How did you think of starting Ming-Ai Association in the U.K.?

I have been asked this question many times. I always started with saying that my sister, Catherine, was a mildly slow learner. She wanted to leave Hong Kong. So I decided to bring her to London, because I felt I could still continue to do educational works there.

Were you not sad to leave your job?

I was, but then I had already worked for 22 years in Caritas, Hong Kong. I was put in charge of the Adult and Higher Education Service, to build and to develop it. With the help of able colleagues we established 27 day and evening schools for adults, forming an alternative ladder to the formal system of education, so that adults could proceed from illiteracy to higher education in our organisation.

How did you get involved with China?

Ever since China opened their doors to the outside world in 1978 we went in to help them with training. For example, Shenzhen was only a village then. We went in to help them develop hospitality services. We were also asked by Zhangjiang to help train teachers of English and VIPs like Mr. Li Tao, the then President of the Chinese Education Association for International Exchange (CEAIE) and Mr. Guan Shixiong, Member of the National Political Consultative Conference, came down from Beijing to introduce us to different provinces and cities.

How did you get Westminster Diocese involved?

Through working 22 years in Caritas Hong Kong, I had met a lot of Chinese friends whom I felt sorry to lose contact with. So I approached our Hong Kong Cardinal, John Baptist Wu, and told him I wanted to continue fostering goodwill between China, Hong Kong and the U.K. He said that the best way to do this would be to contact the Church here, so we approached Cardinal Basil Hume to ask him to be our Honorary President. He could not understand exactly what we wanted to do, so after a couple of months, he was again approached by Mr. Lewis Donnelly, our Diocesan Consultant, on the subject. He asked the Cardinal, “What about the Hong Kong project?” Cardinal Hume replied, “The Hong Kong Project? Is that the Airport?” We almost gave up at this point. Bishop Gerald Mahon, one of the area bishops, was very supportive, but sadly he died of cancer. At the funeral of Bishop Mahon, the Cardinal preached and said Bishop Mahon had a great love for China. So I quickly asked Mr. Donnelly to approach the Cardinal again, and he consented to be our Honorary President. While we were waiting for Cardinal Hume’s consent, my sister and I had already bought the premises in Bounds Green for the Association to operate. So Cardinal Wu teased me by referring to an ancient battle in China, “All is ready, only the east wind is lacking!” So, as soon as I got the Cardinal’s consent I quickly faxed over four big Chinese characters to Cardinal Wu, meaning “East Wind has blown!”

As an executive arm of the Association, Ming-Ai (London) Institute was set up in 1993 with administrative help from Caritas Hong Kong and financial assistance from Fung Shan Foundation. With their support we initiated programmes to promote Chinese culture locally and to link up with China through educational and cultural exchanges. During the last decade, through the efforts of our past and present colleagues and volunteers, we were successful in establishing an academic network both locally and abroad.

What expectations do you have for the Institute and the Association?

For the first time we were successful in applying for the UK On-Line Project funding from the DfES to set up a multi-lingual ICT centre. We will continue to make applications from other sources and hopefully these will also be successful, so that our aim and objectives can be achieved. I would like to see more and more Ming-Ai Institutes set up in different cities, for example Birmingham, Manchester, Edinburgh, etc.