norman t l chan : a fascinating train journey speech by mr norman t l chan, chief executive of the hong kong monetary authority, at the cuhk ( the chinese university of hong kong ) business school master degree graduation ceremony 2015, hong kong, 21 november 2015. * * * professor michael hui, professor kalok chan, parents, graduates, ladies and gentlemen : 1. it is a great honour to be invited to attend today ’ s graduation ceremony. it is also a great pleasure to be back to cuhk, where i spent the most beautiful part of my life as a student. there were so many fond memories and i cannot tell you how much i have missed my campus life even though i have graduated for nearly 40 years. 2. my fellow graduates, today is a memorable and joyful occasion not only for you, but also for your parents, your family, your loved ones and your friends. you have all worked very hard and gone through many rounds of examinations and challenges before you can be here today on this occasion. you must feel very proud and wish to tell everybody that “ i have made it ”. my heartfelt congratulations to you all : you have made it. you have received a master degree that provides you with the knowledge and skills that are badly needed and sought after in the modern era of business and finance. so many of you may think that you have earned a train ticket for a smooth journey to the place you are destined to go : success. is it so? 3. i am not sure if i know the answer, but let me depict a different scenario for you to think about. let ’ s say you have a train ticket that would enable you to go through the admission gate of the train station and reach the train platform. when you are there you immediately realise that there are many trains waiting to depart. your ticket doesn ’ t really tell you which train you should board and the signs on the trains are not clear either. so you will have to decide which train you should get on, without knowing whether this particular train is indeed the right one that can take you to your desired destination. but this is not the worst part. when you get on the train, you find that there are already lots of people there and that there is no seat assigned to you. all the window seats have been occupied. so you have to struggle to find a seat for yourself. and this is not the end of the story. 4. after you have settled

much worse outcomes than picking any one of the seemingly unsatisfactory choices. life is full of changes and surprises and you will be much better off to embrace them rather than resist them and feel depressed when you are down. 8. so my advice to you, my fellow graduates, is that write down on the back of your train tickets these three words : “ wisdom ”, “ morality ” and “ courage ” ( 智 、 仁 、 [UNK] ). keep on reminding yourself that these are the tips for you if you wish to reach your destination : success. success has to be earned, no matter how you define it. while you have your own right to define what you mean by success, i would advise you not to confine yourself just to the material benchmarks, although they are very important. a successful life is a meaningful life, something that money alone cannot buy. a successful person is someone whose life is filled with purpose and joy, something that can be felt, shared and remembered not only by his family and loved ones but also by people around him. 9. four decades ago, i was just like you : a young passenger, filled with hopes, curiosity and anxiety on what might lie ahead of me in this train journey. i have worked very hard in all these years. i have had a great ride and learned many things in this long and fascinating train journey, which by the way is still continuing. bis central bankers ’ speeches 10. my fellow graduates, let me conclude by asking you this simple question : are you ready to embark on this fascinating train journey? if you are, hold on to your tickets and board the train, find yourself a good seat and fasten your seat belt. the train is about to depart now. thank you very much. bis central bankers ’ speeches