Secretary for the Civil Service Ingrid Yeung presented awards to the winners of the Love for China Chinese essay competition at a ceremony today.

To celebrate the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Civil Service Bureau's Official Languages Division organised a series of activities under the theme "Glorious China", including the essay competition.

The competition received an enthusiastic response, receiving nearly 300 entries, including those from officers from various grades in 51 departments as well as retired civil servants.

Speaking at the ceremony, Mrs Yeung said the entries, centred on the idea of Love for China with a wide variety of styles, subject matters and narrative perspectives, expressed feelings for the country and told good stories about China.

The civil service chief noted that although the topics and perspectives of the entries varied, they all expressed a rich sense of national pride and patriotism, adding that she was particularly heartened to see that many of the entries mentioned the civil servants’ responsibility towards the country.

The essay competition took place between July and August. A judging panel comprising Mrs Yeung, Nang Yan College of Higher Education Dean of the Faculty of Arts Ricky Tse and Chinese University of Hong Kong Department of Chinese Language & Literature Senior Lecturer Hung Yeuk-chun selected 10 winning entries from the submissions.

The activities under "Glorious China" also include a recently concluded Putonghua quiz and an ongoing quiz on Chinese history and culture.