《浸大讯》- 香港浸会大学校友事务处

潘子鋒校友（傳理 -新聞）於浸大畢業後，加入香港總商會任職工商政策助理主任。憑著他對工作的投入和突出表現，在短短一年半的時間內，先後獲晉升為工商政策主任和被提拔為工商政策副經理，專責數碼、資訊及通訊，金融科技、經濟和稅務等政策研究。

為了增進在公共政策的知識，潘校友毅然報讀新加坡國立大學李光耀公共政策學院的碩士課程，更順利取得碩士學位。畢業後，他透過香港特區政府推出大灣區青年就業計劃，加入騰訊公司，於其深圳總部擔任大灣區公共事務部經理。作為第一批香港青年透過這計畫在內地城市工作，潘校友非常珍惜這個寶貴的機會。他用了超過一年時間去建立在大灣區各城市的工作網絡。他希望透過自身的經驗和知識，與其他有志於在大灣區內發展事業和抓緊國家發展機遇的香港青年分享一己的心得。

(訪問內容只供英文版本)

1. Please briefly introduce your work at Tencent. What is the biggest gain to you?

I currently work as a Public Affairs Manager in the Tencent’s Greater Bay Area Public Affairs Department responsible for Hong Kong and Macau areas. My duties are diverse, covering public policy, government relations, and research in, and strategies concerning public affairs of these two areas. Among all, one of my most important tasks is to assist and implement projects and initiatives to promote one of the visions of Tencent: to use “tech for good”, and specifically for Hong Kong and Macau. Tencent has developed a lot of innovative products and services to improve the quality of life for people around the world. Having been involved in what the company is doing, I have witnessed in real life the company’s achievements on the Mainland. Born and raised in Hong Kong, I am pleased to be part of the winning team to help put forward these initiatives to benefit the economic and social development of Hong Kong and Macau.

Let me quote an example of what I am doing, which is also one of the most unforgettable experiences. When Hong Kong was facing its worst outbreak of the pandemic in early 2022, we noticed the urgency and necessity to support the contracted and those affected by the pandemic. Tencent supports a wide range of tech projects which contribute towards Hong Kong’s fight against the pandemic. One of these projects that I was heavily involved in is our “fact-check platform”. We noticed that there was wide spread of rumours about the pandemic situation in Hong Kong across social media and causing chaos in the community from time to time. We set up a fact-checking platform called Jiaozhen (騰訊新聞較真平台), a team under Tencent News, concerning traditional Chinese medicine for Hong Kong people to stop hoaxes within the community. Just within two months, the platform published more than 30 fact-checking posts and recorded more than 100,000 views.

This is the very first time for me to stay and work full time on the Mainland for more than a year. The biggest gain I have here is the chance to work in a multinational internet company. Compared with my past experience gained in Europe, America and Singapore, the experiences gained on the Mainland has been the most rewarding as I got to meet a lot of great people and build up abundant and good connections. At the same time, I believe I have achieved personal growth and professional advancement.

2. What is the most significant change brought to you while working in the GBA? Please share how you have adjusted to the work and living culture in the GBA.

Throughout my academic and professional journey, I had only gained experiences from the Hong Kong perspective, aside from the international exposure gained through the HKBU exchange programme in Europe and North America. With my work and living experience on the Mainland, I am proud to say that I have transformed myself into a global citizen, equipped with a sense of social responsibility and national identity, and affection for Hong Kong.

The journey is indeed extremely challenging. One of the most apparent differences would be language. While I am accustomed to using Cantonese and English, I now found myself also proficient in Putonghua, and am able to communicate seamlessly in the workplace as well as in my daily life. In addition, preparing formal written documents is now an integral part of my job, and I have acquired sufficient knowledge regarding word choice, format and style of delivery on the Mainland. To achieve this level of proficiency, I have actually read a lot of documents and newspapers so that I could learn how official communication should be done on the Mainland.

Another challenge arising from my stay at Shenzhen is how I spend my leisure time there. As the saying goes, “One needs the help of his friends abroad.” This has always been my concern when living in an alien city. Fortunately, I quickly made new friends in Shenzhen through different channels. As I was a public speaking champion in Toastmasters, I quickly connected with the Toastmasters Club members working at Tencent and through this channel, I met my first batch of friends in Shenzhen. I also got the chance to deliver a Champion Speaker workshop in the company to share my public speaking tips with my colleagues. I also made a lot of good friends who also participated in the GBA Youth Employment Scheme . We share the same joy and bitterness, and together, we render support to one and other. With this valuable experience gained from the work place and living in Shenzhen, I very much want to offer help to youth from Hong Kong who want to work in the GBA. Together, we could establish a community to share life experience and the latest information and knowhow in the GBA. Anyone who hopes to start his/her career in the GBA is more than welcome to contact me for experience sharing.

3. What are the edges and shortcomings of Hong Kong people when they work on the Mainland?

Hong Kong is a global city, and is an unrivalled international gateway in the region that also provides easy access to the Mainland. In addition, English proficiency and international exposure are the two areas of strength that makes Hong Kong youth stand out from their counterparts on the Mainland. According to the Outline Development Plan¹ of the GBA, the GBA should be fully developed into an international first-class bay for living, working and travelling. Therefore, we, as Hong Kong youths, are not just a participant within the GBA, but also a contributor to this important vision. Thanks to HKBU, I attended a semester exchange programme in London, during which time I also travelled around Europe. I also joined the HKBU Model United Nations programme, which helped me enrich my knowledge in both regional and international issues and relations and, most importantly, make new friends at the international conferences in New York and Montreal. I therefore strongly encourage our students to make good use of all these exchange/study tour resources provided by the University during the undergraduate studies.

On the other hand, I notice that many who grow up and study on the Mainland are far more diligent than their counterparts in Hong Kong. As Hongkongers, we should be humble to learn from our counterparts on the Mainland. More importantly, we should engage in meaningful exchanges with mainlanders on all fronts. With the development in the GBA, I believe youths from Hong Kong and those on the Mainland stand a good chance to collaborate with each other to help the GBA and the nation at large to achieve greater success in the future.

1. https://www.bayarea.gov.hk/filemanager/en/share/pdf/Outline_Development_Plan.pdf