Updated at 7.00pm: More Hong Kong criminal court proceedings were being conducted in Chinese - not English, Director of Public Prosecutions Grenville Cross said on Thursday.
At a media session to release the Yearly Review of the Prosecutions Division 2004, Mr Cross said more efforts were made last year to expand the use of the Chinese language in courts.
Traditionally, Hong Kong which inherited its legal system from the British, had conducted court cases in English.
Mr Cross explained: 'Throughout 2004, we promoted the use of the Chinese language in criminal proceedings.'
He said that of 111 government counsels in the territory, 90 were bilingual in 2004, while all 104 of Hong Kong's court prosecutors were proficient in Chinese and English.
'We sent prosecutors to Zhongshan University for specialist training to develop their capacity to make legal submissions to courts in Chinese,'' the DPP explained.
'We organised six Chinese language workshops to develop the capacity of bilingual prosecutors to conduct cases in Chinese,' added Mr Cross.