In July of this year, I joined the Estate Agents Authority as the Chief Executive Officer with great happiness in my heart. This is a turning-point in my career, and I look forward to the many opportunities and challenges that the job will bring me in the days to come. I am very grateful indeed for the support of Board members, the assistance of my colleagues and the trust of the trade during the past three months which I have been able to enjoy.

As I make my debut appearance in this column, our regular readers will have noticed that the EAA newsletter has taken on a new look and a new name. The newsletter is now named The Horizons and, complementing this change, I have named the Chief Executive Officer's column The Enduring Cosmos. It has meaning at two levels: first, there will be no restriction on the matters covered, and anything under the sun may feature in this column. On a more profound level, the new title represents my conviction that the development of the estate agency industry is truly unconfined and, as the idiom goes, the sky is its limit!

The economic wonders achieved by Hong Kong people over the past decades have always been a miracle in the eyes of the world. It is a small territory with scarce natural resources, and its superior manpower has been the sole key to its success. However, it has to be acknowledged that the Hong Kong economy has not yet fully re-emerged from the doldrums of the Asian financial turmoil and the SARS crisis. While the outlook has been grim, hope has dawned on us by the signing of the Closer Economic Participation Agreement with the Central People's Government. Furthermore, if we take a more long-term view of the cyclic nature of growth and shrinkage in other economies, then we should not be over-worried by what is happening in Hong Kong. It is because we were not sufficiently prepared for the suddenness of the economic downturn that we became bewildered and lost, since it is always "easy to move from the ascetic to the opulent but difficult to do it the other way."

Our past economic success has also engendered some values of a very dubious nature. Many of us are accustomed to overstressing the importance of material and immediate gains, measuring personal success in terms of the money that an individual makes. At a time when the economic indicators plummet, we become highly susceptible to disappointment and frustration if we do not get away from the thralls of these values.

The adversities confronting Hong Kong today call for our introspection. We have to re-set our values, broaden our mental horizon, discard petty scruples and take everything that comes, be that sunshine or rainstorm, with composure. And we should also move to a higher plane, and accept present difficulties as trials and tribulations that will strengthen ourselves and enrich our lives. As the world moves on and history unfolds, it is only through constant reflection that we may ascertain our role and position in the human enterprise, and map out our own destiny.

Professor Yeh Chia-ying, who devotes her life to the study of classical Chinese poetry, is a scholar I much respect and admire. Professor Yeh has had, in her own words, a "stormy life", one which is filled with sorrow and misery. However, this has not daunted her in her study of the classical poetry of China, and her ardent efforts in enriching, changing the lives of young people through classical literature. She once said, "I am an individual of great fortitude and perseverance. It is no use grieving when hit by misfortune." "When misfortune knocks on the door, it is important that you face it with the right attitude. If you are able to withstand it and learn something from it, then you are turning a curse into a blessing."*

If we are able to release ourselves from the stranglehold of conventional values, and allow fresh ideas to run free, then we shall be able to face adversities with composure, and find ourselves a contented place in the enduring cosmos.

*Quotations from Professor Yeh Chia-ying by kind permission of the Hong Kong Economic Journal.

Representatives of the Estate Agent Association called on the CEO and discussed various matters pertaining to practice and enhancement of professional standards.