Chief Secretary and Chairman of the Constitution & Basic Law Promotion Steering Committee Chan Kwok-ki today joined citizens at a shopping mall in Kowloon City to watch national team athletes competing in the diving final competition at the Paris Olympic Games.
 
Mr Chan watched the competition together with Convener of the Working Group on Patriotic Education Starry Lee as well as Secretary for Constitutional & Mainland Affairs Erick Tsang and Secretary for Culture, Sports & Tourism Kevin Yeung.
 
National team athletes Chen Yiwen and Chang Yani competed in the Women's 3-meter Springboard Diving Final at the Olympic Games. While watching the live broadcast of the event in the mall and cheering for the two athletes, Mr Chan witnessed them winning the gold and bronze medals respectively.
 
Noting that he himself and Ms Lee visited Beijing earlier this week to learn about the country’s achievements of taking forward patriotic education, Mr Chan pointed out that they will make reference to these achievements in the context of Hong Kong.
 
He emphasised that patriotic education must be intertwined with people’s daily lives so that the spirit of patriotism can take root in society and people's hearts, with sport precisely being an important area of patriotic education.
 
Saying that the motherland is making every effort to develop itself into a country strong in sports by improving people's health and showcasing its soft power through sports, Mr Chan said that the Chinese athletes who unleash their potential, fight hard and bring glory to the country in the Olympic Games are role models.
 
“We are all Chinese who love and cherish our motherland and hope the motherland will continue to advance and shine brightly on the global stage; and that such resonance and consensus constitute the spirit of patriotism that we are eager to pursue and promote,” he added.