In the world, there are orders of chivalry tenaciously surviving war and peace, triumph and disaster, and today continuing their humanitarian tasks in most parts of the modern world, gaining us reassurance that the age of chivalry is not dead.

China too has a long tradition of chivalry, which goes back to the age of Confucius, about five hundred years before Christ.

Confucius said "The gentleman understands 'yi'. The small man understands 'li'."

By yi, he meant right conduct, morality, duty to one's neighbour, righteousness, altruism and virtue. By li, he meant egocentricity, profit, gain, advantage; not the proper motives for actions affecting others.

3 Cs - chivalry, civility and charity

One useful measure of the essence of a Chinese gentleman lies in the extent to which he embodies the three Cs - chivalry, civility and charity. Confucius summed it up when he said that a gentleman is not afraid because he has courage; not confused because he has wisdom; and not worried because he has charity in his heart.

His doctrine has stood the test of time. We are all of us prone, at some time or other, to experience fear, confusion and anxiety, and Hong Kong has had more than its fair share of all three.

Some of us, in Hong Kong, are most afraid that our freedom is compromised, that our liberty is restricted and that our rights are not upheld and defended.

Some of us, in Hong Kong, can be most confused about our identity, confused about how we relate to our Motherland, and confused about how we should position ourselves as citizens in a special administrative region. 

Some of us, in Hong Kong, are most worried about losing our competitive edges, worried about our future in the face of a globalised economy, worried about the insidious erosions of that inner tenacious strength that we call the Hong Kong spirit and Hong Kong value.

Freedom of speech protected

However if we analyse the causes, we find the Confucian principle still holds true. What we most fear in Hong Kong is our loss of freedom, and most particularly our freedom of speech. But we have had the courage to speak out in its defence and, by giving voice to our fear, we have not only protected freedom of speech but asserted it more vehemently than ever before.

At no other point in our history have we been more vociferous, more strident, than in championing our right to be both. We have full faith in the Basic Law, through which provisions are made such that our freedom and rights are guaranteed, and the guiding principle of "One Country, Two Systems", not to mention the public institutions we have in place to safeguard these rights, and a robust media community.

We have at times also been assailed by confusion - as to our role now that we have rejoined the Motherland, as to how best to relate to the fast rising new economic forces apparent there, as to which is the best road to take.

Confidence in five pillars of society

Fortunately, we can call upon the wisdom and common sense we acquired from all those years of self-reliance in mapping out our future development.

And finally - as Confucius long ago foretold - we should not be worried because we have charity in our hearts.We have acquired the arts of civic behaviour, the skills of interacting with each other to deal with our social problems and the compassion to understand each other better in all our multiplicity and diversity.

We are bolstered by our confidence in the five pillars of our success: the rule of law, our sound and clean government, our free and wide-ranging market, our low and simple tax system and the free flow of our goods, services, talent, in formation and ideas.

Hong Kongers come of age as citizens

Curiously enough, if we examine the facts, we find ourselves leaning more towards yi than li, more towards right conduct, morality, duty to our neighbours and righteousness, altruism and virtue, than towards egocentricity, profit, gain and advantage.

We are no longer the economic animals we used to be, concerned solely with our own and our family's survival. We have come of age as citizens, proud of our civic achievements, our renewed outlook, and fiercely protective of our freedoms. We have also come of age as a community, actively supported by civil society organisations sharing responsibilities and rights, celebrating social diversity and yet maintaining harmony.

In doing so, we are veering closer to the Confucian understanding of what it meant to be a gentleman, demonstrating that the age of chivalry is still very much alive here and now in this 21st century.

This essay was first published in a local English-language newspaper.