Source: CCTV.com

06-28-2007 17:17

As Director General of INVEST Hong Kong, Mike Rowse works to bring businessmen and their company here. But perhaps he's most famous for bringing a few cartoon characters. Rowse convinced Disney to open its newest theme park in Hong Kong. Disneyland opened its doors in 2005, and local press nick-named Michael Rowse, Mickey Mouse.

The Disneyland park is just one of many business investments Michael Rowse brought to Hong Kong since the handover. Rowse has a good sense of humor, and he's decorated his office with political cartoons. Most mornings Rowse spends a few minutes practicing the lyrics to his favorite songs.

"Some people in society and some people in the civil service, some people saw 1997 as the end of the road, and they were determined to get out either to emigrate or retire, or whatever, and be gone. And some of us saw this as a huge historical event, and we wanted to be part of it. And we wanted to be part of making Hong Kong as successful in the future, or even more successful," said Mike Rowse Director-General of Invest Hong Kong.

"One of the things people in Hong Kong, quite common, would do eight or nine business meetings in a day. And I had a friend who was used to this place and went back to the U.K. And when he had two business meetings in a day and he was criticized by his colleagues, ‘You're a workaholic. What are you doing? One in the morning, and then one in the afternoon. Way too much. And he had a lot of trouble adjusting down his speed," said Mike Rowse.

"What's changed I think is that we now have far more autonomy. And China and Chinese administration as we have before. This idea of daily telegrams back between Beijing and Hong Kong to receive instructions on what to do, this doesn't happen. It's Hong Kong people ruling Hong Kong. One summer holiday, I went to Britain and I didn't feel I was going home. I felt I was visiting. And at the end of the holiday, when I checked into the airport to go back to Hong Kong, that was going home. Then inside my head, it had happened. I was a salesman for Hong Kong. But I carried a British passport. So I am going all over the world saying Hong Kong is a terrific place; I've lived there for many years; it's a wonderful place to do business; please come to Hong Kong and do business. But I've got a British passport and I wanted to get a Hong Kong passport," said Mike Rowse.

Michael Rowse is the first foreign civil servant in the history of Hong Kong to become a naturalized Chinese citizen.

 

Editor:Chen Ge