As the newly elected sixth-term Chief Executive of the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR), Sam Hou Fai is drawing upon his extensive legal background to emphasize the importance of respecting power.
Sam was elected the sixth-term chief executive designate of the Macao SAR in October. His tenure will start from Dec 20, according to a decision made at a State Council meeting held later that month.
During a recent interview with China Media Group (CMG), Sam reminisced about his early career as one Macao's first judicial auditors from 1995, and the collective struggle of his generation to uphold jurisdiction after Macao's return to motherland.
"This called for joint effort from all Chinese legal workers to prepare for the challenge after Macao's return to the motherland in 1999. Chinese judges must participate in judicial work and management. Can we, through our efforts, take on the entire judicial operation under our own knowledge and exercise well the jurisdiction granted to Macao by our own country?" said Sam.
Sam was born in Zhongshan City of south China's Guangdong Province in May 1962 and later moved to Macao for work. He joined the first group of Macao's judicial auditors in 1995. He served as president of Macao's Court of Final Appeal since 1999 until he ran for election.
Throughout the 25 years as the president of Macao's Court of Final Appeal, Sam consistently emphasized the significance of honestly fulfilling duties.
"I told our judges that people must respect power and not rely on luck. Otherwise, sooner or later, due to negligence, you will bear the consequences. Even if you get lucky this time, you will never live a smooth and comfortable life in your heart for the rest of your life," said Sam.
Macao's newly-elected chief executive draws on legal background to inform governance
Macao's newly-elected chief executive draws on legal background to inform governance
The China Pavilion at the 2025 Osaka Expo, which will open to the public by next Sunday, welcomed media visits on Monday, sharing sneak peeks highlighting the integration of Chinese philosophy and modern technologies.
As one of the largest foreign self-built facilities at the Osaka Expo, the China Pavilion has adopted the theme "Building a Community of Life for Man and Nature – Future Society of Green Development."
The pavilion consists of three components themed "past, contemporary, and future" respectively, featuring an integration of traditional Chinese philosophic norms and the modern sustainable development principles.
The first section of "Tian Ren He Yi," or the "Harmony Between Mankind and Nature," features traditional Chinese culture and history. The exhibited installations include a digital "waterfall of characters" demonstrating the Chinese writing system's evolution, with the introduction of Jieqi, or 24 solar terms on China's traditional lunisolar calendar that demonstrates the understanding of ancient Chinese people to the nature.
The highlights of the section are exhibitions of ancient Chinese archeological sites, including Sanxingdui in southwest China's Sichuan Province, Liangzhu in east China's Zhejiang Province, and Yinxu in central China's Henan Province, dating back to three to five thousand years ago. Replicas of cultural relics from the three sites are presented in the pavilion, among them are the earliest water conservancy system from the Liangzhu archeological site, and the mysterious Bronze Divine Tree from Sanxingdui.
"This is a replica of the Bronze Divine Tree made in the Shang Dynasty (1600BC-1046BC). It is among the earliest and largest single-piece bronze artifacts discovered in the world so far. Other exhibits here include the bronze standing figure with an animal-shaped hat, and the bronze mask. With a touch on the screen, we can learn about details of the cultural relics by examining their 3D models in an immersive way. And we also provide trilingual introductions for visitors from around the world to know about the relics," said a docent of the China Pavilion.
The second section, named after China's contemporary green development principle of preserving "Lucid Waters and Lush Mountains," presents descriptions of China's natural and cultural landscapes, ecological systems, and achievements in urban management.
Exhibits in the second section include introductions of China's national parks, and the two mega-sized ecological projects, the Dujiangyan Water Conservancy Project, which was initially built over two thousand years ago and which has been maintained and upgraded since then, and the Three-North Shelterbelt Forest Program, one of world's largest afforestation projects.
In the third section of future developments, a model of China's Jiaolong submersible and exhibits of China's aerospace science projects share with the viewers China's spirit of exploration of the unknown.
China Pavilion of 2025 Osaka Expo opens to media for sneak peeks
