Anna Pao-Sohmen is one busy lady. A multitude of commitments keeps her hands full daily, but today what's on her mind is the upcoming Vienna Opera Ball, for which she has been invited to act as honorary chairperson. It's a real coup for the ball organisers, as the eldest of the late YK Pao's daughters is a legend in Hong Kong thanks to contributions to nearly every facet of local life.

"My role as honorary chairwoman is to pass on some of my experience...  like what not to do," she jokes at first. On a more serious note, she adds, "It's also to increase the amount of local involvement in the ball, so it becomes an affair for the whole Hong Kong community." She is a fitting choice to act as a bridge between the Austrian population and the Hong Kong community, as she is as quintessentially "Hong Kong" as they come, while her husband, Helmut Sohmen, is Austrian.

"I wanted to use local talent [in the live orchestra] instead of bringing in Austrian musicians. The money saved on air tickets can go to the HKAPA  [Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts] and we will give a scholarship to a student to study music in Austria, which is a much more worthy cultural exchange," she says. The Austrian Chamber of Commerce has given the new plan a green light.

    On a lighter note, Sohmen says, "I'm looking forward to seeing the debutantes, I think it's charming to see these young faces; they're shy, sometimes awkward... but I'm sure they'll all be very gracious." The plight of the next generation is something near and dear to Sohmen, who is involved with so many causes, it's difficult to keep track. 

    Besides her work with the HKAPA, which has decreased since she stepped down as chairwoman last year, she sits on countless boards and is affiliated with other business, political, cultural, charity and educational missions, from the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) to the Cultural and Heritage Commission to the Hong Kong Liver Foundation.

    The woman who helped to found Hong Kong's Chinese International School (CIS) is now involved with setting up a similar institution in Shanghai, the YK Pao School. "It's a bilingual, bicultural school, which is a first in China, in terms of having foreign and Chinese students sitting together in the classroom," She says. It's clear that Sohmen is big on building a better tomorrow.

    And it's not unknown for her to dig up relics from the past to give promise to the future - recall her discovery of Bethanie Hall in Pok Fu Lam, now converted into a heritage campus site for HKAPA students. "Only through the past, which enriches us, can we develop the future," she says. And perhaps it's that statement she has in mind for another, more personal project. "I've been working on a book about my father. It's his 90th birthday this year and this will be something to remember him by.

    "Our time here is very limited, and I prefer to get involved with causes that are important to me. I put a lot of emphasis on our past, present and future."

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