The Quest For Excellence: A History of The Chinese University of Hong Kong from 1963 to 1993 [First ed.] 9789622016064

Citation preview

LG 1

THE QUEST FOR EXCELLENCE

This publication has been made possible by generous donations from the following: The S. R Ho Foundation Limited Dr Ho Tim The Lee Hysan Found�tion I;-imited Sir Yuet-keung Kan Dr Alice Kiu-yue Lam Sir Quo-weiLee Dr Kau-kui Leung Mr Sin Wai�kin

THE QUEST FOR EXCELLENCE A History of The Chinese University of Hong Kong from 1963 to 1993

Edited by Alice N. H. Lun NG

JL

The Chinese University Press

© The Chinese University of Hong Kong 1994 All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from The Chinese University of Hong Kong.

ISBN 962-20f-606-5 THE CHINESE'l:Jll!IVERSITY PRESS

The Chinese University of Hong Kong SHATIN, N.T., HONG KONG

Printed in Hong Kong by Nam Fung Printing Co., Ltd.

Contents

Foreword by the Chancellor .............................. viii The Rt. Hon. Christopher PATTEN Foreword by the Pro-Ch?Jlcellor .......................... Sir Yuet-keung KAN

x

Foreword by Chairman of the University Council Sir Quo-wei LEE

xii

Congratulatory Message from the Founding Chancellor Sir Robert BLACK

xiv

Congratulatory Message from the Third Chancellor ........... Lord MACLEHOSE of Beoch

xvi

Congratulatory Message from the Fifth Chancellor Lord WILSON of Tillyorn

xvii

Preface .............................................. xix Alice N. H. Lun NG Acknowledgements ........... : ........................ xxv 1. The Founding ..................................... Alice N. H. Lun NG

1

2. A New Society, New Knowledge, and a New University .................................... Bernard Hungkay LUK

35

3. Institutional Changes ................................ Tak Sing CHEUNG

81

4. Chinese Studies and Cultural Integration ................ 125 Sze-kwang LAO 5. Moving with the Times: the University and Hong Kong .... 165 Chong Chor LAU 6. Overseas Academic Links and International Exchanges .... 199 WONG Kin Yuen

vi

Contents

7. The Students ....................................... 229 KWOK Siu-tong 8. Service to Society ................................... 265 Hon-ming YIP 9. Friends of the University ............................. 301 Mayching KAO and Chung Kee YEUNG 10. The Alumni: A Composite Portrait Sonia S. H. NG

327

Looking Ahead .......................... ; ............. 357 Charles K. KAO Appendices: Records and Statistics ........................ 361 Leslie Nai-kwai LO List of Contributors ..................................... 395 Major References ...................................... 397 A Chronicle of Events ................................... 399 Index

405

香

囓

港 總 督 府

GOVERNMENT HOUSE HONG KONG

Foreword

As the Chancellor of the Chinese University of Hong Kong,

I was delighted to learn of the·decision to publish this

book.in commemoration of the University's 30th Anniversary.

This book traces the development of the University's three founding post-secondary colleges between 1949 and, 1956, provides

the

University

background

in

1963

to'the

and

inauguration

highlights

its

institutional developments since then.

of

major

the

Chinese

academic

and

· I am sure that it will

be of great interest to CUHK �taff, students, alumni and anyone who wants to know more about th� University.

Those who wish to have a deeper understanding.of.the unique educational philosophy'of the University will also'find . this book useful.

In keeping with its motto "To broaden one's

intellectual horizon is to-keep within the bounds of propriety", the

Chinese

University

has

placed

an

equal

intellectual and moral aspects of education.

emphasis

time,

cultures.

achieve

a

balance

between

the

It has sought to

preserve and enrich Chinese cultural traditions while, same

on

Chines�

and

at the Western

-

2

-

Being Hong Kong's second university, CUHK has been playing a.vital part in our education system in increasing the access of young people to tertiary education -. an important objective of Government's education policy.

In 1963, the newly

established University had only 87 academic staff, offering 17 degree cour,;es to about 1,300 students. academic staff surpassed. 700.

By 1993, the number of

And more than 100 undergraduate

and postgraduate courses are now offered to a student population of over 10,000.

Many of.its graduates are now in key positions

in our community, making a substantial contribution to Hong Kong's prosperity and success. On the occasion of its 30th Anniversary, I send my warmest congratulations to the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Long. may

it

distinctive

continue academic

its

uniqu,:,

profile

mission

among

the

and

its

tertiary .academic

institutions in Hong Kong.

二二五 Governor

retain

Foreword

Time indeed flies! In the twinkling of an eye, as it would seem, The Chinese University of Hong Kong has reached the age of thirty. Thirty years is not a long time in the history of a university, but The.Chinese University that we see today is already a well-established institution with a solid foundation for instruction and research. It has demonstrated high calibre both in academic pursuits and community service. It is most gratifying to witness the growth of this youthful university with all its vigour and energy. Due to the continuous efforts of staff, students, alumni, Council members, as well as friends of the University1 The Chinese University has developed rapidly and earned itself a place in the international academic community within such a short span of time. With a special mission to integrate traditional Chinese culture and Western learn­ ing ever since its inception, the University has also been able to produce an. envirornnent conducive to research and free scholarly mqurry. I frrst joined the University Council in 1964, assumed 9hairmanship in 1971, and was appointed by the Governor of Hong Kong to be the first Pro-Chancellor of the University in 1982. Over the years, I have been closely involved in planning-the development of the University, and I liken the task to tendering young sprout. I have followed the various stages of its development, watching with amazement and pleasure as it grows from strength to strength with the addition of each new· department, faculty, research· institute, or member college. I am particularly pleased at the high academic status it now enjoys on the international scene, and the outstanding achievements of its graduates in various professions. Fully equipped for more important tasks at its thirtieth birthday and under the capable leadership of Vice-Chancellor Kao, I am convinced that the University will advance with giant strides and achieve a new level of excellence in the 21st century. The publication of this history of the University does notonly bear testimony to its efforts and struggles

a

Foreword

xi

over the last thirty years, but also provides insight into its future as it quests continually for excellence. SirY. K. Kan, GBE, BA, LLD, JP Pro-Chancellor of the University

Foreword

Established in 1963, The Chinese University of Hong Kong has now reached the age of thirty, or the age of standing on one's own feet. Like a person at thirty, it is full of vigour and vitality, and is ready to work hard to realize its ideals and to contribute to the community. I well remember when the University was first founded, Sir Cho-yiu Kwan served as Chairman of the University Council, Dr R. C. Lee as Vice-Chairman, and I as Treasurer. We had to start everything from scratch. Sir Cho-yiu and Dr Lee faced all sorts of problems trying to persuade the Hong Kong government to grant a tract of land in Ma Liu Shui to the University as its permanent campus site. They were even­ tually successful, and the site obtained, then a barren hill top, is now a flourishing university campus with rows and rows of buildings. As the University celebrates its 30th anniversary, although both Sir Cho-yiu and Dr Lee are no longer with us, their great contributions to the University will be always remembered and our fond memories of them will persist. The University's magnificent campus, on the other hand, -was masterminded by Dr I. M. Pei, an internationally renowned ar­ chitect, and Dr Szeto Wai, University Architect. Another important founder of the University is Sir Yuet-keung Kan, who took over the reins of the Council in 1971 and served as Chairman until 1982, when he was appointed by the Governor as Pro-Chancellor of the University. Under his leadership, the University made great headway in its overall development. Indeed, the University has been most fortunate is being able to benefit from the support and encouragement of 'various Council members as well as friends from Hong Kong and overseas. To them we feel deeply grateful. At this particular point in time when we celebrate the 30th anniver­ sary of the University and try to put on record its past endeavours, we cannot but call to mind our founding Vice-Chancellor, Dr Choh-ming Li. A man .of great learning and foresight, Dr Li was the first to emphasize the need to blend Chinese and Western cultures and to build a university that could combine the best of both the East and the West.

Foreword

xm

His idealism, energy and strong determination set a good example for the University community as a whole, and on the foundation he laid both Professor Ma Lin and Professor Charles Kao have successfully built a sophisticated institute of higher learning whose achievements have been outstanding. All members of the University Council wish to express their deep appreciation of the efforts of the University's Vice­ Chancellors past and present. I feel greatly honoured be able to write these few words as foreword to this book. It is my sincere wish that staff and students of the Univer­ sity will keep high their spirits as they march into a new century and take up new challenges. Sir Quo-wei Lee, CBE, LLD, DBA, JP Chairman of the University Council

� ��� i��

1/ � 'Y,"Y� �

1

M � �·� Ml/y '.�� � �

'�· �%, -��"+ ���-� � ,�fl1-� �1 '"'f � �

!a � · i,./6/;w.J

"'4'V

�y-,.1,�

"'d

��1' �

�

l...,,/ ,� � e.µ1

� �t.0

"--.4 �,.�,, � � T\f ���

·� .J.,� � I , �/' -�-v,�

1' �

�--'1-1

.,,I

I

t�

�;"17V.Y,, �� I_

!

�, •

I

1

it� "'Ji��,���� ·��rt ·�·z,-1�-�:, -�t¥'or,�

""1'

��s �,

� �-,,.r� � "."�. -�.t.,, � K'; �� ��� �·

�

"\!�

�

� I

'Yh°f-C)

�1 I ��� � � �� � (s:,i1

1

�

'7 �

11?.I

.,,,t ��� �

� ���?�.� � � �

1�"��6",,� .. ¥­ MmwC,; � � � f"-� � ,.;,1,;µ,� � 1"' ,r,u,, � 1� �

J� t "'- ��

I". �4-

-�

j,,J,.,..,

,,..,�,4-

I �• �,

� �- t:CA-..

o..��

CA,.wr �� � �

I�

�I���

��� ��� ��

. �1� �

M.-�

-��

"�10�� -� "��.

�

I � � ,:., �, w� �

� �� � � +'"' �

� � WtA M �- ..,;; ��, l�, 'tJ; p /4..-..').-,JS

� 1,,..,.,: � �,.:.-- ' � +M� � �-- t�.

�)'-'I,�

I ;,.

,Congratulatory Message from Sir Robert Black, the Founding Chancellor.

From: Lord MacLehose of Beach K.T. Secretary - London 01- 351 6918

Beach. Maybole, Ayrshire, KA19 8EN Telephone 0655 83114

Message from Lord MacLehose for the Anniversary Publication of C.U.H.K. In its first thirty years of growth the C.U.H.K. has held to its goal of offering the best of Chinese and Western cultures. With this same goal it should surely have a great future in the years ahead and I wish it all success.

Congratulatory Message from Lord MacLehose of Beoch K. T., Chancellor from 1971 to 1982.

LORD WILSON OF TILLYORN GCMG

TILLYORN FINZEAN ABERDEENSHIRE AB31 3PN TEL: FEUGHSIDE 667

This year The Chinese University of Hong Kong reaches one of the key milestones set by Confucius for the stages of maturity - its thirtieth bir_thday. · Within that relatively short period of time, The Chinese Ul).iversity has made an enormous contribution to higher education in Hong Kong.

Its graduates have enhanced the

life of the territory in every walk of. life and can now be found applying their skills in many other parts of the world as well. The University owes much to its· founders and benefactors.

Above

all though, its success in the future, as in the past, will depend on its students and its staff. the

University

I send

my

warmest

To all those involved with congratulations

on

this

important anniversary.

Congratulatory Message from Lord Wilson of Tillyorn GCMG, Chancellor from 1987 to 1992.

Preface

The founding of The Chinese University of Hong Kong in 1963 marked a new era in the development of higher education in Hong Kong. It marked the birth of a second university in the territory, using both Chinese and English as the medium of instruction, thus providing greater opportunities for brilliant young men and women in Hong Kong to receive a university education. The new university embodied the unique educational experiences and ideals of its three constituent Col­ leges, namely, the Chinese Confucian humanism of New Asia College, the Western Christian spirit of Chung Chi College and the Hong Kong­ oriented pragmatism of United College. The goals of the University, at the time of its founding, aimed at the preservation and enrichment of Chinese culture, the exploration of modern Western knowledge and the integration of the cultures of East and West. Meanwhile, the University was also committed to nurturing talents in the service of a rapidly changing Hong Kong which was on the threshold of developing into a modern metropolis. The latter half of the twentieth century has been a period of dynamism; encompassing a knowledge explosion and technological breakthroughs. It is also a period in which Hong Kong, at the crossroads of East and West, is experiencing important changes in its political, social, economic and cultural life. From what was considered to be a transitional, rootless society, Hong Kong has gradually built up its identity as an independent entity. It has become a metropolis playing important roles in international commerce, industry, finance and com­ munications. The Chinese University,though very young still as it is today, has grown together with Hong Kong in these exciting and crucial periods of challenges and changes. It is befitting, at the University's thirtieth anniversary, to recall how the forerunners of the University fought their way for due recognition and how the University has pushed steadily forward with its vision, idealism and hard work. To meet the needs of the times and societal changes in Hong Kong,

XX

Preface

and to accomplish the missions of enhancing Chinese culture and in­ tegrating Chinese and Western knowledge and learning, The Chinese University has met with many problems in its various stages of develop­ ment. To deal with these problems, the University has made correspond­ ing adjustments, implemented new plans and set itself ambitious objectives. The establishment of the University was achieved through the amal­ gamation of three Colleges, each with a history of over ten years, under · a federal system at the recommendation of the Fulton Report of 1963. In terms of manpower and teaching resources, it can be said that The Chinese University was in a more advantageous position compared with other newly-established universities. However, the creation of a central system in a university that had inherited the different ideals of its three Colleges did present a very difficult task for the first Vice-Chancellor, Dr Choh-ming Li, during his tenure of office (1963-1978). At the outset of the founding of the University, the three constituent · Colleges continued to be responsible for instruction through the coor­ dination of the Boards of Studies of the Faculties of Arts, Science, Social Science and Commerce under the aegis of the University Senate. They set up new courses and, later, inter-collegiate courses to reduce duplication. The School of Education and the Graduate School were established in 1965 and 1966 respectively. Even from the earliest days of the University, Vice-Chancellor Li made every effort.to earn interna­ tional recognition for it by inviting noted scholars from all over the world to act as its advisers, external assessors and examiners. Staff and student exchange programmes were set up with world-renowned universities. Research institutes were established as early as 1965. Em­ phasis was put on scientific research to raise the academic quality of the University. The construction of buildings and the layout of the whole campus had begun to take shape at this time. United College and New Asis College moved to Shatin in 1972 and 1973. Ten years later, the federal system, adopted earlier by the University, was already out of kilter with the operation of the University. It was for this reason that after the Colleges were located on the Ma Liu Shui _campus, Vice­ Chancellor Li began to introduce reforms to the organization of the University to achieve a more efficient use of resources. Although the proposed modes of change led to controversial arguments, the second Fulton Report of 1976 which recommended plans for reorganization of

Preface

xxi

the university structure clearly laid down a solid new foundation for the further development of the University. In 1978, Professor Ma Lin succeeded Dr Li as the second Vice­ Chancellor of the University. Professor Ma's main task was to imple­ ment the reforms recommended by the second Fulton Report and to make plans for the development of the University under the new system. At the same time, Hong Kong had undergone important changes since the late seventies: the diversification of its economy, more openness in politics and society, and new developments pertaining to the future of Hong Kong and changing political conditions in China. How the University should meet the emerging needs became another major chal­ lenge. In 1981, after years of planning, the Faculty of Medicine formally enrolled its first batch of students. In the same year, part-time degree programmes were offered in Music, Chinese and English, Business Administration and Social Work. The University's course offerings became more varied; but meanwhile, there were more opportunities for specialized, professional education to meet the needs of society. The development of the Graduate School also reached a milestone: in 1980, the first two doctoral programmes were offered, in Electronics and in Chinese Literature, History and Philosophy. By 1987, the number of doctoral programmes had increased to fifteen and masters' programmes to thirty-eight. There were also significant accomplishments in promot­ ing linkages with academic institutions overseas, and the University received support from various international or private funds. Meanwhile, with the opening and reform of China, the University estab­ lished a number of exchange and cooperation programmes with many famous academic institutions in China, playing an important role in the bridging of Chinese and Westem learning. Groundwork for the estab­ lishment of a fourth member College - Shaw College - was also started by Professor Ma in 1986, to add to the development potential of the University. In 1987, Professor Charles Kao became the third Vice-Chancellor, bringing the University into yet another stage in its development. In tandem with the advance of high technology all over the world, the rapid growth of industry and commerce in Hong Kong, and the demands made by the transition period leading to the establishment of Hong Kong as a Special Administrative Region upon the assumption of

xxn

Preface

Chinese sovereignty in 1997, the society needed more graduates from various fields of higher education. The University hence faced even greater challenges and developed with greater optimism and vitality under the leadership of Professor Kao. Reforms on different aspects of the University were introduced. On the academic structure, a flexible credit-unit system was adopted. This not only settled the controversy regarding the three-year or four­ year programme, it also enabled the University to open more academic departments, offer more courses and allowed more joint offerings with selected universities around the world. In university administration, the restructuring of the central administrative units and the delegation of more responsibility, authority and accountability to the faculties and departments were among the major reforms in bringing about greater efficiency. Meanwhile, Vice-Chancellor Kao proceeded to strengthen the ties of the University with overseas academic institutions and com­ mercial corporations through the creation of the Office of Academic Links and the Office of Industrial and Business Development. The Faculty of Engineering was established and new courses were offered in Architecture, Nursing and Pharmacy. The Graduate School was ex­ panded and more research units were' created to enhance the University's academic standing and international reputation. At present, the University has seven research institutes, engaging in research in the humanities, business and industry, social science, technology, medicine, as well as interdisciplinary studies, to create and develop new frontiers in academic knowledge. This book is the English version, but not exactly a translation, of the University's thirtieth commemorative volume on the history of the University, published in Chinese, in September 1993. With ten chapters written by academics and alumni from different disciplines, the book constitutes a multi-faceted review of the University's development from embryo to adulthood. The first two chapters focus on the background of the founding of the University and its growth over the past thirty years. The other chapters deal with specific aspects of the University covering topics pertaining to its institutional changes, academic endeavours, in­ ternational linkages, service to the community, its ben_efactors, students and alumni. Our Vice-Chancellor, Professor Charles Kao, has also contributed an article on his vision of the objectives and directions of the future development of the University. As it is intended thateach chapter

Preface

xxm

can also be read independently, there is inevitably some overlapping in a few places in the book. Nevertheless, thanks to the able contribution of the indexer Dr Paul Kwong, these overlapping contents can now be cross referenced. We have aimed at being faithful to the records of history and, to avoid premature judgement, have tried to maintain a detached attitude towards more recent issues. Yet no attempt has been made to achieve any consensus in the interpretation of events or form of writing style. It is hoped that through this book, readers will come to a better understanding of the ideals and missions of the University, as well as its problems, difficulties and achievements, and see how the University, in its constant quest for excellence, has moved with the times and growth of Hong Kong. Alice N. H. Lun NG May, 1994

Acknowledgements

The publication of this book and the Chinese edition which appeared earlier in September 1993 was made possible by the effort, assistance and generous support of many to whom the editor owes deep apprecia­ tion and gratitude. The genesis. of this book lies with Sir Quo-wei Lee, Chairman of the University Council, who first suggested the publication of a history of the University on its thirtieth anniversary. Without Sir Q. W.' s initiative and encouragement, this book might never have appeared. Professor Charles Kao, our Vice-Chancellor, helped make the book project a reality with his personal involvement, advice and unfailing support. Deep gratitude is due to both of them. Special thanks are a,lso due to the Rt. Hon. Christopher Patten, the Chancellor; Sir Yuet-keung Kan, the Pro-Vice-Chancellor and again to Sir Quo-wei Lee for their kindness in writing the forewords to the book. We are also grateful to the former Chancellors, Sir Robert Black, Lord Maclehose and Lord Wilson for sending us congratulatory messages. The editor was fortunate too, in having the opportunity ,f visiting Sir Robert last summer and obtained valuable information from his reminiscences of the founding of the University. The editor wishes to acknowledge, in addition, her sincere thanks for advice and help given her by Professor Ambrose King, Pro-Vice­ Chancellor; Mr Jacob Leung, the University Secretary and Mr T. L. Tsim, the Director of the University Press, Many others have helped in making available library materials and documentary data for the writing of this book. Indebtedness is due in particular to the staff of the Hong Kong Public Record Office and the Education and Manpower Bra_nch of the Hong Kong Government Secretariat. The University Secretariat, the Registry, Office of Student Affairs, other administrative units, research institutes;as well as various faculty and department offices of this University also responded rapidly to requests for assistance. Gratitude goes to all in equal measures. Three former colleagues of the University gave their assistance,

xxvi

Acknowledgements

each in a special way. Dr So Siu Hing, former Senior Assistant Registrar, helped with the translation; Dr Paul Kwong, formerly of the Sociology Department, provided the book with a very useful and com­ prehensive index; Mr John Gannon, former Dean of the Faculty of Arts, took up the important task of reading through the entire manuscript and offered valuable comments. Their contributions are recorded with thanks. Last but not least, sincere thanks must be acknowledged here again to all the contributors for their participation and effort in making this book a success.

Ground-breaking ceremony of New Asia College campus at Farm Road, 1955.

Early "Campus Work Scheme." Dr A. T. Roy working with Chung Chi students on campus site, 1950s.

Press conference, announcing the establishment of a new Chinese University, June 1959. Dr F. I. Tseung (left), Mr J. S. Crozier (centre).

The Vice-Chancellor and Presidents of the Constituent Colleges, 1964. (From left) Ch'ien Mu, Choh-ming Li, C. Y. Yung and T. C. Cheng.

Foundation-stone laying ceremony day of United College, Shatin campus, March 1971.

Student rally for the Protection of Diaoyutai, 1971.

Royal visit: Prince Philip at the Art Gallery during a visit to the University on 6 May 1975.

The Second Fulton Commission, 1976. (From left) Mr I.C.M. Maxwell, Sir Michael Herries, Lord Fulton of Falmer and Professor C. K. Yang.

The outgoing Vice-Chancellor, Dr Choh-ming Li and the new Vice-Chancellor, Dr Ma Lin ( 1978).

Visit of Mr Ji Peng-fei, Director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, to the University on 15 December 1985.

The newly installed Vice-Chancellor, Professor Charles Kao with his wife Mrs Gwen Kao, 15 October 1987.

Grand opening of Shaw College, 2 March 1990.

Student rally at Sir Run Run Shaw Hall on campus, October 1988.

Thirtieth Anniversary Exhibition at the City Hall, March 1993.

1 The Founding Alice N. H. Lun NG

Sir Robert Black officiating at the inauguration ceremony of the University, 17 October 1963

Background: The main entrance, University campus

2

The Quest for Excellence

· The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) was officially in­ augurated on 17 October 1963. Its origin, however, can be traced back to the late 1940s when the three Colleges - New Asia, Chung Chi and United - first appeared as private colleges set up by refugee scholars from China. It took almost fifteen years for these.colleges to fight their way to university status and to become constituent Colleges of the second university in Hong Kong, using Chinese as the principal medium of instruction. This was an important breakthrough in the cultural and educational development of Hong Kong, as British tradition for long was to maintain no more than one government-supported university in a governed-territory, and English was used as the official language and medium of instruction. This chapter, in accounting for the founding of the University, goes into the background of the emergence of private colleges in Hong Kong in the late 1940s, and the educational missions, and difficulties en­ countered by the three Colleges in the early 1950s. Their joint efforts in striving for due recognition, and developments leading to 'the estab­ lishment of the University, are seen in the light of the changing social, economic and political situation of Hong Kong, the role of the govern­ ment, as well as support from the international organizations and the local community.

1. New Demands for Higher Education in Hong Kong Provision of university education in Hong Kong began with the estab­ lishment of the University of Hong Kong (HKU) in 1911. Its main objective, as defined by its founders, was to serve "as a centre for Sino-British contact in the sphere of learning and th.e maintenance of good understanding with the neighbouring country of China." (quoted in the report by B. Mouat Jones and W. Adams, typescript, 1950, United Kingdom, p. 7) It was agreed that if it were merely for Hong Kong itself, there was no need for the establishment of a university. During the pre-war period, HKU, in fact, served mainly as an outpost of Western' culture, admitting students from Southeast Asia, China, as well as Hong Kong. When it was decided in 1946 that the greatly war-damaged university should be re-established, the matter was still considered from the point of view of imperial rather than local needs, as it was stated. "Because of the need to maintain British position and prestige in the Far

The Founding

3

East." (Report of Cox Committee to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, 1946, p. 3) It was in the Jones-Adam Report of 1950 that mention was made, for the first time, that the University should reflect the needs of Hong Kong society. The objective of meeting the needs .of Hong Kong society was put to immediate test in the early 1950s. Events of the civil war in China (1946-1949), the Korean War (1950-1953) and the United Nations embargo on China, brought about immediately important socio­ economic changes and problems in Hong Kong. There was an influx of refugees, increasing the local population from 1.5 million in 1947 to more than 2.2 million in 1950. The embargo then brought a fatal blow to Hong Kong's entrepot trade, which had been the territory's economic life. For survival, Hong Kong turned to industrialization. Lacking natural resources, manpower skill and knowledge became its most valu� able resources. At the same time, there was a call in Hong Kong for more intellectual activities. Among the refugees who flocked to Hong Kong were some well-known scholars and experienced educators. Con­ tinued turbulence in China had caused the withdrawal of foreign academic organizations and the interruption of international cultural activities in the mainland. Hong Kong, from now on, was to play a more active role in Chinese and Western cultural contacts. A more direct challenge came from the need for further educational provision. Demand for more school places was caused not only by the increase of population but also by the fact that among the incoming refugees, there was a large number of students ranging from primary to university levels who wanted to continue their education in Hong Kong. The result was a great expansion of the student population, especially in the Chinese middle schools. This in tum brought a demand for more teachers who, according to an Education Ordinance passed in 1952, must possess certificates or degrees recognized by the Hong Kong government. Meanwhile, as the way for Chinese middle school graduates to return to China for further education was blocked, the supply of university places for those who wanted to continue their education in Hong Kong became a problem. A British university with English as the mediu!Il of instruction and a pretty high standard of English Language as a compulsory subject in the entrance examination, HKU offered very little chance for Chinese middle school graduates to gain admission.

4

The Questfor Excellence

All these factors contributed to an unprecedented need in Hong Kong for greater provision of higher education. A special committee composed, for the first time entirely of local residents; was appointed in 1951 by the Governor, Sir Alexander Grantham, to look into the prob­ lem. The report of the committee, popularly kno�n as the Keswick Report, gave a detailed review of the supply of higher education in Hong Kong. The Report was the first document that publicly proposed that higher education in Hong Kong should be provided primarily for the needs of Hong Kong itself. Development to meet the increasing demand for the training of secondary school teachers to meet the needs of the expanded student population was undoubtedly an urgent com­ munity need. The committee was also aware· of the unique situation of Hong Kong in serving as a meeting place for Chinese and Western cultures, and thus for a need to nurture talents who could be well versed in both. Its proposed solution was to introduce in HKU degree courses in arts and sciences, using Chinese as the medium of instruction. Fur­ thermore, the University was to establish extramural study progra�es and evening diploma courses to meet the needs of the general public. The Keswick Report did not accept the idea of a separate Chinese university, the reason given was based on administrative and financial grounds, believing that HKU, with its established position and facilities, would be able to adapt to meet the new demands. The basic attitude, however, was that HKU should remain the only institution to award degrees in Hong Kong. The call for HKU to meet the challenge was accepted by the govern­ ment. Government funding was immediately allocated to the University for the introduction of Chinese-medium courses beginning from the 1952-1953 academic year. However, within the campus response dif­ fered. The proposal to establish Chinese language courses in arts and sciences received a majority support from the Senate, but it was turned down by the Council in a meeting just months before the 1952 term started. This was perhaps a very practical decision as the time left for preparation and the funding appropriation were both inadequate. There was also an underlying fear that introduction of Chinese medium cour­ ses would eventually "transform the university." The explanation given by the Council was that, after a period of reconstruction and develop­ ment since 1946, what the university needed most was time for con-" solidation rather than taking up any new direction in its development.

The Founding

5

The proposal to establish in HKU Chinese-medium courses was further turned down by Ivor Jennings and Douglas Logan, experts in British university administration, invited in 1953 to advise on the development ofHKU. Both ofthem were assertive in maintaining HKU as an English-speaking university. As far as they were concerned, it was the role ofthe government to fill the gap between the University and the Chinese middle schools, so that students could compete for entry into the more popular faculties ofmedicine and engineering, and not just arts and sciences. The University could help, on the other hand, by oversee­ ing the establishment ofa junior college as a possible bridge. Recommendations of the Keswick Report and the Jennings-Logan Report served as important guidelines adopted by the government in dealing with the problems of education in Hong Kong. Funds were allocated to HKU for consolidation as well as development; one par­ ticular objective was. the establishment of the Extramural Studies Department and the Institute ofOriental Studies. To prepare the way for Chinese middle school graduates to seek admission into HKU, a special two year programme was designed to be set up at Clementi Middle School. Yet such a scheme would take a few more years to mature and also it could accommodate only a very limited number of students. The task of meeting the new challenge had already been taken up by a number of private colleges with only rather crude facilities, but run by dedicated and experienced university teachers and scholars from China. The emergence of these challenges began a new page in the history of the development of higher education in post-war Hong Kong, and also marked the first step in the eventual establishment of CUHK.

2. Founding and Early Difficult Days of the Colleges With the changing political scene in China and an influx of refugees which brought about an unprecedented need for Chinese education in Hong Kong, a new force, rooted in China and embracing the mission of propagating Chinese culture and educating the young, had arrived in the territory. Driven by educational ideals, �s well as the need to earn a . living, these scholars or professionals in various fields made use of f , crude acilities and rented classrooms to establish the so-called "refugee colleges." According to a government survey conducted in 1952, there

6

The Quest for Excellence

were more than thirty colleges of this kind, but they were of varied standards. Most of them offered short-term courses ranging from six months to two years. Nine of these, however, were of a higher standard offering four-year programmes in arts and commerce. Amongst these were New Asia, Chung Chi and the forerunners of United College, which were to emerge as Foundation Colleges of The Chinese Univer­ sity. Their beginnings and early years of struggle reveal not only the background of the founding of the University but also its roots, its characteristics, and educational ideals. New Asia College had a very modest beginning as an evening school named Asia Evening College of Arts and Commerce. It was founded in October 1949 by Ch'ien Mu and Tsui Shu-chin, both well­ known scholars fleeing China. They were shortly joined by Tang Chun-i and Tchang Pi-kai, also refugee scholars from national universities in China. Their main objective was to carry on their educational ideal of promoting traditional Chinese humanistic studies in Hong Kong. The school held classes only in the evening in a rented school premises in Kowloon, offering courses in Chinese literature and history, philosophy, economics and political science. Support in paying the rent came from a Mr Liu, who was the registered supervisor of the school. In less than a year, the school ran into financial difficulty as the supervisor withdrew. Rescue came from another individual, Mr Arthur E. Wang (Wang Yueh-feng) who was an architect from Shanghai engaged in the con­ struction business in Hong Kong, and an ardent believer in Chinese tradition. It was with his support that the school was reorganized into a daytime institution, renamed New Asia College, and housed in larger premises at Kweilin Street. This marked the beginning of what is known as the Kweilin Street period in the history of the College, during which a strong sense of commitment for the preservation and propagation of Chinese culture was affirmed, and identified with the College. This period is also well-remembered for its struggle, and growth "with no government support, no aid from organizations and no backing from foundations." The College was faced with great financial difficulties as Arthur E. Wang's business went into bankruptcy two months after the College's inauguration and Tsui Shu-chin also left Hong Kong for Taipei. Ch'ien, Tang and Tchang had no other way but to turn to their friends and acquaintance for aid. This was recalled and described in later days by the College's founders as the act of "a beggar." Teachers

The Founding

7

were given no fixed salaries, and were paid on an hourly basis which was so meagre that Ch'ien and the others had to depend on small additional income from contributions to newspapers and journals. The number of registered students at New Asia was small during these early days. In 1949, the enrolment figure was 65. In 1950 it was reduced to around 40, and students from poor families or those exiled from the mainland accounted for the majority. Although the College tried to provide free tuition as far as possible, many students had to drop out to work for a livelihood, while some withdrew because of emigra­ tion to Taiwan or abroad. The high mobility of students only began to stabilize gradually in 1953. The curriculum then consisted of Chinese, English and general Chinese history as common required courses; while other courses in Chinese literature and history, philosophy and educa­ tion, economics, and commerce were offered in four different depart­ ments. Obviously the strength of the College came mainly from the expertise of Ch'iert Mu, Tang Chun-i, Tchang Pi-kai, Yang Yu-mei and a few others. There were during these years a number of refugee scholars who came to teach at the College for a short time before taking up positions elsewhere, locally or abroad. Limited by a small budget, the College was unable to keep many of the worthy scholars. Prompted by enthusiasm for the promotion of scholarship, the Col­ lege set up in 1950 a series of lectures on cultural studies open to the public free of charge. Among the audience were students and intellec­ tuals from the Hong Kong community as well as refugees and visitors from different comers of the world. The lectures continued over four years and helped to a great extent to carry the name of New Asia far and wide. In these early difficult years, both the teachers and students of New Asia College, through their perseverance in the pursuit of knowledge and the promotion of Chinese culture, had gradually gained the attention and sympathy of the public. Like New Asia, Chung Chi was founded by scholars and educators from China who wanted to carry on their educational work in Hong Kong. The College had, too, a very modest beginning and suffered considerable strains in the early years. Yet, with support from the .. Christian churches and missionary bodies, the College fought its way with relatively less hardship. The prime move for the establishment of the College came from

8

The Quest for Excellence

Rev. R. 0. Hall, then Bishop of the Hong Kong Anglican Church. Two other founders were Lee Ying-lin, former President of Lingnan Univer­ sity, and Au Wei-Kuo (David W. K. Au), former Council Chairman of St. John's University of Shanghai. Their aim was to restore the educa­ tional ideals of the Christian universities in China which had been closed or reorganized, and some of the teaching staff and students exiled to Hong Kong. They saw also the need for higher education for Hong Kong secondary school graduates who could not be admitted into HKU. This concern was shared by other church leaders. A provisional council was set up for the establishmentin Hong Kong of a Christian institution of higher education to be named Chung Chi, literally meaning "reverence for Christ." Members of the council were various church leaders of different denominations and nationalities. They included representatives from the American Presbyterian and Methodist missions in Hong Kong, principals of six leading local Christian secondary schools and Professor Ma Kiam, Professor of Chinese at HKU. The Council Chairman was David W. K. Au. As HKUwas then the only degree-granting higher institute recog­ nized by the government, Bishop Hall at an early stage sought the cooperation and assistance of the University in order to secure recog­ nized degree status for the graduates of the proposed College. A formal proposal was submitted, requesting consideration of the University to conduct examinations in Chinese for students of the proposed College for the award of external degrees. The proposal was rejected by the University Senate, on the ground that external examinations in Chinese would entail complicated responsibilities beyond the capacities of the University. The Hong Kong government was also cautious. It granted only permission for the College to open evening·classes at post-secon­ dary level based on the first year curriculum of Christian universities in pre-1950 China. Officially opened in October 1951, Chung Chi College was housed in the premises of St. Pauls Co-educational College and offered initially only evening classes. Yet, with the help provided by various local missionary bodies, it became a full-day post-secondary college with a four-year programme in September 1952. Student enrolment was in­ creased from 63 in 1951 to 192 by 1952. The first batch of students were mostly the so-called "exiled students," and were more mature in terms of age. In 1952, 60% of the freshmen were from the Hong Kong Chinese

The Founding

9

a

middle schools and 15% from Anglo-Chinese schools. There were small number from Southeast Asia. The majority of the teaching staff were from Christian universities in China and some held higher degrees from distinguished universities in the United States. They were, for instance, D. Jung, an EdD from Stanford University, Wang Shu-lin and Kent Chun Mark, both from Columbia University. By 1953, the College had four departments: Foreign Language, Economics and Business Ad­ ministration, Sociology and Education, and Chinese Language. The curricula retained much of the features of Christian liberal colleges in China. Support for development in these early years came almost solely from church sources. The Anglican Church provided an initial fund on loan. Through the efforts of Bishop Hall and Lee Ying-lin, the first College President, the United Board of Chinese Christian Colleges in the United States (later known as United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia) agreed to provide initial and regular periodic fund­ ing. Subsidies then came later from the UK-based Association of Chinese Christian Universities and the Lingnan University Foundation in the United States. Yet much of the assistance was given on condition that the College secure Hong Kong government recognition as an in­ stitute of higher education. United College was officially established in 1956 by amalgamation of five colleges, Wah Kiu, Canton Overseas, Wen Hua, Kwang Hsia and' Ping Jing. They were mostly set up during 1946 to 1950, belonging to the group of the so-called "exiled colleges,." They were, in fact, formerly Canton-based private universities which had established branch cam­ puses or affiliated middle schools in Hong Kong in the late 1930s when the Japanese invasion spread to South China. Two of the colleges, Ping Jing and Wah Kiu, actually had their origin in Hong Kong. Ping Jing was set up in 1937 as a small evening accounting school in Hong Kong and moved to China in 1941 when Hong Kong fell to the Japanese. The school resumed operation in Hong Kong in 1946, with its headquarters still in Canton. It became, in 1950, a larger scale institute when the Ca.nton school merged with the Hong Kong branch, along with reinforcement of faculty members of other private universities from Canton. Named Ping Jing College of Accountancy, it operated evening classes, providing vocational training courses in accountancy and a day-time four-year curriculum with a Business Management Department and an Accountancy Department.

10

The Quest for Excellence

Wah Kiu had its origin in Hong Kong as a private academic institu­ tion sponsored in 1937 by local Chinese who provided an endowment fund for a number of scholars from Canton to set up the College. The institution offered a four-year fully-fledged university curriculum in arts and commercial courses. Moved to China in 1941, Wah Kiu became a well�known private university in Canton, catering in particular for stu­ dents from Hong Kong and overseas. When many scholars from the north retreated to the south in the midst of civil war in China around 1948-1949, some were offered positions in Wah Kiu. When the College moved to Hong Kong in 1949, with them were Ch'ien Mu, Tang Chun-i, Chiu Bing, Chien Ching-lien (C. L. Chien) and others. It is interesting to note that Ch'ien, Tang and Chiu became later the founders of New Asia College, and Chien became Inspector of the Private Post-secondary College Section of the Hong Kong Education Department. Moving to Hong Kong with the College were two hundred of its former students. Another two hundred were recruited locally afterwards. Most of the books and equipment were also successfully shipped out, thus from the start making Wah Kiu a better established private college in Hong Kong. Canton Overseas was another college with a large enrolment which had close linkage with Hong Kong, in a slightly different way from the other two. Originally named Canton or Kwangchau University, it was a leading private university set up in Canton in 1927, In 1937 when the Japanese approached Canton, the university set up affiliated middle schools and temporary university lecture halls in various locations on Hong Kong Island, in Kowloon and in the New Territories. In early 1940, construction of a ge's5ij1BP\IS{15egan in the New Territorie�, but i the whole institute had tii�ovf b ic'k'to''fhe mainland when Hong Kong fell to the Japanese. When Canton University was evacuated from Canton again in 1949, it resumed operation in Kowloon under the name of Canton Overseas College. With it were more than three hundred students from Canton for whom a four-year cuniculum in arts, sciences and commerce was established. Wen Hua and Kwang Hsia also had their origins in the vicinity of Canton and were relocated in Hong Kong in 1949. Both colleges were smaller in scale, but both offered four-year courses in arts and com­ merce. These five private colleges, some bringing with them students from Canton, were of varied standards when they set up in rented premises in

The Founding

11

Hong Kong. Dependent on tuition fees from students who were mostly from refugee families, these colleges were often in financial straits. Salaries for staff were extremely low and facilities almost at a mini­ mum. Limited and occasional support coming from their Hong Kong alumni was usually in the form of scholarships. Other assistance also came in 1950 through the Sun Scholarship from Taiwan, and in 1952 from the Mencius Foundation Scholarship. The financial assistance to students did enable the brighter students and those from very poor families to continue with their studies. Yet staff salaries and facilities remained tightly restrained. Moreover, as the certificates awarded were not recognized by government, students who wanted higher education would have to seek opportunities to study abroad or even choose to enter the teachers' training colleges. Also, all the private colleges were sub­ ject to the control of the Education Ordinance and supervision by the government Education Department, which restrained development in college administration and academic affairs.

3. Arrival of International Assistance, 1953-1956 The years 1953-1956 marked a critical period in the development of Chung Chi, New Asia and the formation of United College. It was during these years that the Colleges, at their most difficult time, began to receive assistance from a number of international academic organiza­ tions which helped them lay the foundation for further development. During this period, however, each college was still fighting its own way, receiving support from different sources. Chung Chi College was faced in 1953 with the possible termination of funding from the church organization, for continued support was conditional on its success in winning government recognition as a higher institution of learning in the Hong Kong education system. The College'.,s repeated requests for formal recognition addressed to the Director of Education received no reply. Perhaps how the College could fit into the Hong Kong education system was beyond the purview of the Education Department. Bishop Hall was unwilling to allow the matter to rest here. He took the matter directly to the Governor, Sir Alexander Grantham. Two leading persons in Hong Kong' s education, Dr Lindsay Ride, then Vice-Chancellor of HKU, and D.J.S. Crozier, Director of

12

The Questfor Excellence

Education, were invited to Government House to meet with the Gover­ nor and the Bishop. In two subsequent meetings held between March and May, Hall explained in detail the founding objectives and situation of the College. It was in June 1953 that a proposal drafted by Crozier was brought by the Governor to the Executive Council for adoption. Chung Chi College was formally accepted as an institution of higher learning, a recognized post-secondary college and a "permanent com­ ponent of Hong Kong education." By adoption of the Governor-in-Council, Chung Chi's status won the confidence of the church. Yet, both the government and Chung Chi wanted to have the role of the College "as a permanent component of Hong Kong education" better defined. Chung Chi again aimed at de­ gree-granting status while requesting the grant of a campus site at Ma Liu Shui. A committee chaired by K. E. Priestley, Professor of Educa­ tion of HKU, was appointed to look into the matter. The Priestley Report completed in March of 1954 made it clear that HKU should remain the only degree-granting institution in Hong Kong. The basic attitude of the Report was in fact, quite similar to that of the Jennings and Logan Committee, which was making recommendations for the development of HKU. The suggested options for the develop­ ment of Chung Chi were (1) two-year post-secondary curriculum preparing students from Chinese middle schools to enter HKU; (2) four-year courses in Chinese language and economics for grant of degrees through HKU or the University of London, and (3) non-degree post-secondary courses for the training of personnel required by the government and Hong Kong society. The Report in targeting Chung Chi as a bridge between the. Chinese middle schools and HKU or as a junior college, brought in fact no innovation for its immediate development except the approval of the grant of a site at Ma Liu Shui which proved to be animportant asset to the college as well as to the future Chinese University. Although Chung Chi had failed again in attempting to establish degree courses, with its legal status as a post-secondary college and an extensive campus, the College obtained the continued and active sup­ port of the United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia, the Lingnan Foundation and other overseas organizations. Various Chris­ tian churches and missionary bodies in Hong Kong also donated funds for the construction of dormitories, and for the provision of equipment

The Founding

13

and scholarships. Local and overseas missions even sent out well­ known scholars to teach courses in, for instance, philosophy of life and sociology of education. The College Board of Governors was reor­ ganized in 1954. In addition to a number of church representatives, prominent local businessmen and academics from other higher institu� tions were invited to serve on the Board. When Chung Chi moved onto the Ma Liu Shui campus with the completion of the first' phase. of construction in 1956, the College began to embark on a new stage of development. It had then nine departments with over 300 students, twenty-six full-time and thirty-four part-time teachers. Without church support and without even local connections, inter­ national assistance was of the greatest significance in enabling New Asia College to begin a new stage of its development. The assistance ,was secured through the hard work and accomplishments of the College itself. Right from the early days, the educational goals of the College, the dedication of ·its founders, its association with visiting scholars passing through Hong Kong to or from institutions abroad, did help to spread the good name of New Asia, its achievements, as well as its difficult situation. It was at this time, in the early 1950s that the Yale-in­ China Association, which had just retreated from China, intended to resume its former educational or medical work in cooperation with a · Chinese institution in the East. Professor Harry Rudin, representing the Association in making. the selection of a suitable institution, came to Hong Kong in 1953. He had already heard of New Asia and Ch'ien Mu from his colleagues of the Yale History Faculty, but it was through several meetings with Ch'ien, his staff and students, that Rudin was indeed impressed. As he recalled thirty years later, "The reputation of Ch'ien Mu, his greater interest in education than in making money, the spirit of the students as it became apparent at the graduation ceremonies I attend�d, and the admiration and affection that the faculty had for their leader, a loyalty of which I was made aware at a luncheon which was to acquaint me with the men working for Ch'ien Mu." (H. Rudin, "A Meeting of East and West in 1953," New Asia, 30th Anniversary Com­ memorative Issue, 1979, p. 36) The discussion between Rudin and Ch'ien Mu showed Ch'ien's .. great concern for the College's academic autonomy. While agreeing to give up a small subsidy offered by the President's Office from Taiwan, t as an assurance of being clear of. any political association with the

14

The Quest for Excellence

Taiwan government, Ch'ien wanted no church education to be intro­ duced into the College and no interference from the Yale-in-China Association in the internal administration of the College. But he agreed that the Association could appoint a representative to be stationed at the College. Rudin was very cautious in making the final decision. He first sought the opinion of a number of his associates in Hong Kong, who all showed appreciation of the educational goals and work of the College. Among those expressing strong support were Preston Schayer, a Trus­ tee and Executive Director of the New Haven Office of the Yale-in­ China and, James Ivy, head of the newly established Hong Kong Office of the Asia Foundation. Rudin's next step was to seek the opinion and approval of the Hong Kong government who had earlier showed con­ cern over activities of the Asia Foundation in extending assistance to higher education in Hong Kong. Rudin met with D.J.S. Crozier, Direc­ tor of Education, T. B. Morahan, Registrar, and another high-ranking officer of the government Education Department. Crozier was positive about New Asia's contribution to the study of Chinese culture and post-secondary education in Hong Kong. Yet he wanted assurance that no foreign government would be involved in the cooperation between Yale-in-China and New Asia, that the Association could not withdraw once commitment was made, and that a representative should be ap­ pointed to New Asia to monitor the funding. These conditions indicated that the Hong Kong government was rather cautious about allowing educational assistance from the United States. In his first meeting with Rudin, Ch'ien Mu had already indicated that his foremost concern was for a new college campus. When the formal agreement was signed between Yale-in-China and New Asia in allotting an annual subsidy of US$ 25,000 to the College, Rudin promised that he would seek other sources of assistance for the College's building fund. This was later secured from the Ford Founda­ tion for the construction of a new building at Farm Road, a site granted to the College at the recommendation of Crozier. The College moved into the new campus in 1956. The Kweilin Street period came to an end. New Asia College, with further assistance from international organiza­ tions such as the Asia Foundation, and the Harvard-Yenching Institute, was now in a firm position to carry out its educational ideal for the promotion of studies in Chinese culture.

The Founding

15

When government approval was given for New Asia College to receive aid from the Yale-in-China Association, the Asia Foundation offered assistance to other private colleges. A limited s�bsidy was given to individual teaching positions according to the academic qualifications of the staff. This helped some of the colleges to retain or even to recruit faculties with good academic qualifications. A few of the private col­ leges also emerged academically better organized. The formation of United College through the amalgamation of the five colleges whose origins have been traced earlier in this chapter, was brought about by President of Columbia University, Grayson� in his visit to Hong Kong in 1956. Kirk was also an executive committee member of the Ford Foundation and a director of the Asia Foundation. He met with heads or representatives of many of the private colleges who approached him for assistance. Yet it was at the meeting with the Hong Kong alumni of Columbia University, among whom about fifteen were higher-degree holders from Columbia teaching in some of the private colleges, that Kirk came to have a better understanding of the situation of these colleges. Kirk suggested that they should merge to make better use of manpower and resources for more effective develop­ ment. It was after a series of meetings and discussions that five of the private colleges - Wa� Kiu, Canton Overseas, Wen Hua, Kwang Hsia and Ping Jing, succeeded in merging to form the United College of Hong Kong, which was officially announced in June, 1956. These five colleges shared a common background in being original­ ly private universities in Canton and its vicinity, but having close links with Hong Kong. Yet, they had gone through a period of independent development and each had its own students, teachers, systems and curricula. In amalgamation, their foremost common objective was for the improvement of academic standards and curriculum development. Meanwhile, they also emphasized "democratic education," "academic freedom" and "commitment to meet the need of Hong Kong and over­ seas students, and to shoulder the mission of the times and promote the exchange of Chinese and foreign cultures." The organization of the Board of Trustees of the new college reflected its close relationship with the Hong Kong community. The Board had nineteen members, five of whom were former heads of . the member colleges. Among the other fourteen, seven were representatives of other academic institutions in Hong Kong which included

16

The Quest for Excellence

for instance, the Asia Foundation, HKU and Chung Chi College. The remaining seven, however, were all prominent leaders of the Chinese community, most of whom were from established families in Hong Kong. Among them were the Hon. Sir Sik-nin Chau, member of the Executive Council and senior Chinese unofficial member of the Legis­ lative Council, and a number of well-known businessmen and entrepreneurs. The Board agreed that the college president should be selected from among prominent Chinese scholars, but as a suitable candidate could not be found, the position was temporarily assumed by the Chairman of the Board, Dr F. I. Tseung, a prominent medical doctor and an earnest supporter of the development of higher education in Hong Kong. Financial support for the College came mainly from the Asia Foun­ dation, a rather meager sum of HK$ 30,000 per annum. Various existing scholarships and teachers' subsidies paid to the member colleges were transferred to the new College. With limited funding, the College was located in rented premises in Caine Road and classes were divided between daytime and evening sessions. United College began its classes officially in October 1956. There were six hundred students, the majority of whom had transferred from the original member colleges, attending only the evening sessions. Only seventy students were enrolled as daytime students in the first recruit­ ment held in summer 1956. There were twenty-seven full-time and fifty-nine part-time teachers. The curriculum included most of the sub­ jects offered in the member colleges, with greater emphasis on applied studies in sociology, journalism, commerce, accounting, banking and business administration. The formation of United College added a new element to the roots of the future federated Chinese University of Hong Kong. While Chung Chi had a strong Christian education background with a long history of international connections, and New Asia represented the fine qualities of Chinese national universities with emphasis on Chinese humanism, United College had a more open outlook, receptive to new ideas and with a strong commitment to local service. The next step on the road to the founding of The Chinese University sees the combined efforts of the three Colleges striving for due recognition and for the support of the government in their further development responding to the needs of Hong Kong society.

The Founding

17

4. Striving for Due Recognition After some years of struggle, both Chung Chi and New Asia had, by 1956, established a firm foundation, and even the newly established United College was able to stand on its own. Among the staff of the Colleges were renowned scholars and academics with higher degrees from well-known universities such as Stanford, Columbia and Yale. The curriculum embraced studies in Chinese tradition and humanism, as well as modem social sciences. The main educational goal was the promotion of Chinese culture along with a suitable response to the needs of Hong Kong society. The Colleges were providing alternative avenues for the increasing number of students, especially those from the Chinese secondary schools, who wished to further their studies in Hong Kong. The degrees already awarded had gained recognition from many univer­ sities in America and Europe, some of which even granted scholarships to the more outstanding graduates. Yet in Hong Kong, the degrees were not recognized by the government, neither for employment nor for further training. Moreover, as private colleges, they received no support from the government but still had to be subject to the control of the Education Department and the Education Ordinance of 1952. Thus to improve the career paths of their students and to further develop them­ selves, the three Colleges joined hands to strive for government recog­ nition and support. This marked another important milestone in the founding of The Chinese University. The struggle began with a memorandum dated 16 August 1956 addressed to Crozier by Charles Long, Yale-in-China repres'?ntative at New Asia and also a Trustee of the College. The paper was drafted after consultation with "representatives of three of the existing colleges." It discussed in detail problems concerning the status and standard of the colleges and validations of the degrees awarded. Issues brought up for government's consideration can be summed up under three major points. Firstly, the private colleges should not be governed by the Education Ordinance of 1952 which was intended to apply to primary and secondary education in Hong Kong. Special regulations, on the other hand, should be drawn up to determine the admission requirements, teacher's academic qualifications and library facilities of col­ leges that were aspiring to university standard. Secondly, as part of the Hong Kong education system, the colleges could not be dependent

18

The Quest for Excellence

entirely on the financial assistance of foreign missions, foundations or private donations. The government should take responsibility for providing support for basic facilities and recurrent expenses. Thirdly, under the existing government policy with HKU as the only degree­ granting institute, "tho_usands of the more intelligent and ambitious young men have left Hong Kong in search of higher education, thus creating a great loss of leadership to the next generation." The memorandum concluded that it would be difficult for the existing private colleges to provide the best contribution to tertiary education, unless government__ support be provided for them to develop university status for the award of degrees. This memorandum is the first document in the government file on the founding of CUHK. No record of any reply from the government is in the file. There is little doubt, however, that the memorandum did have an impact on the government policy of relying on HKU alone to meet the growing demand for an expansion of university education. In an earlier memorandum dated 26 January 1956, dealing with the issue, L. G. Morgan, Deputy Director of Education, focused his discussion entirely on the Keswick, and the Jennings and Logan's reports, and on how HKU could adjust to meet the demands. (L. G. Morgan, A Memorandum on Entry to the University of Hong Kong by Students from Chinese Secondary Schools, typescript, January 1956) In another memorandum dated October 1956, two months after Charles Long's submission, Morgan provided a much broader view of the issue. Five possible measures were proposed to meet the overall needs of the Chinese secondary school students. The first three items still focused on HKU and discussed how the University could open its door to the Chinese secondary school students. The fourth proposed item, however, broke new ground in suggesting "the development of four-year post­ secondary colleges to award recognized diplomas or even degrees through HKU or an independent degree-granting authority." A more significant proposal as an alternative to the fourth proposal was "the establishment of a Chinese university with its own charter and degree­ granting powers." This was the first time that the idea of a second university appeared in a government proposal. (A Further Memoran­ dum on Chinese Matriculation and on the Provision of Facilities for Higher Education for Students from Chinese Middle Schools, type­ script, October 1956) But the proposed item was followed by lengthy

The Founding

19

quotations from the Keswick, and the Jennings and Logan's reports against such an idea. Morgan's own recommendation still centred on HKU, suggesting that the university should broaden its function and accept a greater responsibility in meeting the community's needs. Meanwhile, the three Colleges continued with their pursuit of de-· gree-awarding status. Bishop Hall took the lead in approaching the government to arrange a meeting with representatives of the College to discuss the issues brought up in Charles Long's memorandum. The meeting was held on 18 January 1957. It brought, for the first time, an opportunity for direct dialogue between the government, which was represented by Crozier, Morgan and C. L. Chien, and heads of the three Colleges, Ch'ien Mu (New Asia), Lin Dao-yang (Chung Chi) and F. I. Tseung (United). Bishop Hall and Charles Long were also invited to attend. Although the meeting ended without any decision, the govern­ ment came to learn directly of the work, if not the achievement of the Colleges, their situations and difficulties. In the meeting, they also exchanged ideas concerning the relationship of the Colleges with government, the community and HKU. Ch'ien Mu even mentioned that it would be preferable to establish a Chinese university on parallel lines to HKU. But the point was not further discussed. The meeting was followed by the establishment of the Chinese Colleges Joint Council in February 1957 which marked another impor­ tant step on the road to the founding of The Chinese University. F. I. Tseung, President of United College, was the chairman. His immediate action was to send a proposal to the government in May for the estab­ lishment of two organizations crucial for the development of the Colleges. The first would be an academic board composed of repre­ sentatives of the Colleges and the government to set standards and to secure uniform examinations for admission as well as for graduation. The other would be a general authority appointed by the government and based on the pattern of the British University Grants Committee to be responsible for the determination of the financial needs of the Col­ leges and the allocation of financial assistance from the government and other sources. This proposal, though short, was decisive in having the government directly involved in the development of the private colleges which would lead to the establishment of a new institution with a status . equal to that of HKU. Crozier did not give any formal reply to the proposal but promised

20

The Quest for Excellence

to discuss the matter with Sir Christopher Cox, Education Adviser to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, who was the top decision-maker for major educational development in Hong Kong. This was an important step on the part of the Hong Kong government towards a move to a new direction for higher education in Hong Kong. The underlying factor for this move can perhaps be traced back to the Keswick Report which laid down the principle that university education in Hong Kong should cater for the needs of the society. By the mid-1950s, new needs which arose from the soc:;ial, educational, economic and political situations of the territory had become evident and were even pressing. Some response to the request and proposal for new developments seemed unavoidable. In 1956, the population of Hong Kong had reached 2.6 million. Among the early immigrants, some had migrated to other places, while those who stayed had become' assimilated into Hong Kong society. They were, in the words of the government, "accepted residents of Hong Kong." The earlier view that the colleges set up by the refugee scholars were but transitional could no longer be maintained. In 1957, Crozier had this to say: "The colleges will remain in Hong Kong and will form a permanent part of its educational structure." (Crozier's report to Sir Christopher Cox, typescript, 26 May 1957) More and more students from the local Chinese middle schools were seeking admission into these colleges. In a government survey made in 1956,)ocal students accounted for about 88% of the total enrolment in these colleges, while the rest were students from Southeast Asian countries. In 1957, the secondary school population had increased to 58,000 and 4,800 sat for the School Leaving Certificate Examination in the same year. A total of 1,800 matriculated students applied for admission into HKU and only 316 were accepted, including only a very few from the Chinese secon­ dary schools. Among the large number of aspirants for higher education, about a thousand had . to leave Hong Kong to seek admission into ' universities in Taiwan, China or abroad. There was good cause for concern over this brain drain. Hong Kong in the 1950s was undergoing unprecedented changes in its economic development, moving from traditional entrepot trade into the new direction of industrial manufacturing and the export of local products. Newly established industries and the expansion of export markets all created the need for well-trained personnel in management, .

The Founding

21

marketing and commerce. At the same time, on account of the rapid population increase and social transformation, there was great expan­ sion in education and other public services such as housing and welfare. All these had to be dealt with by professionals, technical staff as well as administrators. Therefore, the "brain drain" naturally exacerbated the difficulties and raised obstacles to the development of Hong Kong. The government could not just sit back and ignore the situation. Schools in Hong Kong had always maintained a two-tier system of Chinese and English. Since the establishment of HKU in 1911, English education was able to have a complete education system from the primaryto the tertiary levels. But the Chinese school system ended at middle school. Before 1949 this did not bring discontent,. because the school systems and curricula of mainland universities were connected with the Hong Kong middle schools, thus providing places for Chinese middle school graduates to further their education. But after the change of government in China, Hong Kong students were unable to go back there for their studies. Thus the Chinese education system lost its university component, and resulted in an imbalance in the. two-tier system. In addition, most of the financial support for the reconstruction and development of HKU after the war came from the Hong Kong Government Treasury. But the private colleges, playing important roles in post-secondary education, received little or no help from the govern­ ment. In 1956, Morgan made this observation: "They [The Chinese middle schools] cannot but feel a grievance at the present position L whereby government provides $8 million per annum as subvention to­ the University of Hong Kong which caters for the products of the Anglo-Chinese schools, and makes little or no provision for university courses which will cater for the products of the Chinese secondary schools." (Morgan's Memorandum, January 1956) The discontent brought about by this imbalanced system, whether culturally or politically, could bring conflict and instability to the com­ munity. In October of 1956, unprecedented bloody riots caused by confrontations between pro-Taiwanese and pro-mainland political groups in Hong Kong shocked everybody. It reminded people of the presence of opposing elements in their society, and the possible turmoil . that could be triggered by quite accidental occurrences. The incident must have had a certain influence on the Hong Kong government ;:when it dealt with the existing problems in its education system. This

22

The Questfor Excellence

observation was recorded in a 1957 report: "The denial of fuller status to the post-secondary colleges might in time evoke strong national and political feelings that would create a serious issue." (Confidential report on the post-secondary colleges of Hong Kong presented to Christopher Cox from D. J. S. Crozier, typescript, 26 May 1957) Indeed,the private colleges had by 1957 gone through almost ten years of struggle, and their achievements and contributions to society had won the appreciation of many, The fact that the three Colleges had received support from people in Hong Kong and foreign educational organizations was not accidental. In his 1957 investigation report on post-secondary colleges, C. L. Chien specifically pointed out, "They [the private post-secondary colleges] are making a valuable contribution to the cultural, social and economic life of the colony." (C. L. Chien, Report on Hong Kong Private Chinese Post-Secondary Institutes, typescript, 24 May 1957) The lack of university places for students meant that the talents needed by society were being drained away to other places, but the colleges were providing another venue for students to pursue higher education, and to remain living and working in Hong Kong. The three Colleges had in 1958 a total enrolment of more than 1,200 students with 517 in Chung Chi, 456 in New Asia and 248 in United College. The courses developed emphasized Chinese literature, history and business management. They also offered courses not avail­ able in HKU, such as fine arts, sociology, accounting and_banldng. The colleges helped to produce school teachers, administrators and business management personnel who were generally needed in Hong Kong at that time. The contributions they made to the educational and economic developments could not be ignored. At the same time, among the scholars who came from mainland China were experts in various fields of Chinese studies. Through the courses developed in the colleges, public lectures delivered and articles published, they were able to spread an unprecedentedly rich Chinese cultural atmosphere in this British-governed territory. In addition, be­ cause of the turrµoil inside China, many foreign scholars interested in Chinese studies chose to come to Hong Kong to conduct their academic researches and studies. The private colleges were able to assist and assume an important role in this capacity. . Christopher Cox, who had been the Education Adviser to the Secretary of State for the Colonies since 1945, was familiar with the

The Founding

23

development of higher education in Hong Kong. He was Chairman of the Committee appointed to consider the re-opening of HKU after the war, and had long served as adviser on the development of higher education in British territories in Asia. In his visit to Hong Kongin April of 1957, Cox first met with the representatives of the private colleges, to gain an understanding of their situation and requests. He then met separately with Bishop Hall and Dr Lindsay Ride, the Vice-Chancellor of HKU and with two representations from the most concerned faculties at the University, Professor F. S. Drake of the Department of Chinese and Professor K. E. Priestley of the Department of Education. Cox then left for Singapore to visit Nanyang University. All these contacts were helpful in his study of the Joint Council's proposals and requests to the Hong Kong government. With the diminishing influence of Britain in Asia following the post-war decolonization, and the great changes in China, interest in higher education became oriented towards Hong Kong. The changing orientation was reinforced by the social and economic changes in the territory. The task undertaken by the Chinese colleges since 1949, and the positions they had established, made Cox realize that Britain's traditional colonial university education policy could no longer be upheld. His visit to Nanyang University, established in Singapore by local Chinese, enabled him to see the turmoil caused by the university in Singapore. He therefore concluded that the proposals and requests raised by the Joint Council should be given serious con­ sideration. Cox returned to Britain in late 1957, first discussing the proposals. with several academic advisers in Britain, and then bringing up the issue for discussion at a meeting of the Executive Committee of the British Inter-University Council for Higher Education Overseas (Inter-University Council for short). Those in the meeting included the new Chairman of the Committee, Sir Charles Morris and the former Chairman, Sir Alexander Carr-Saunders. Morris was then the Vice­ Chancellor of the University of Leeds, while Carr-Saunders since 1943 had been a member of the British Parliamentary Special Committee on University Development, and had been the Chairman of the Inter­ University Council for many years, dealing with problems on education in various British territories. Matter for the establishment of a new university in Hong Kong was thus brought up for discussion among the authorities concerned in Britain. From the point of view· of the British government and British

24

The Quest for Excellence

university authorities, the question of whether to accept the proposal of the Joint Council to establish a second university in Hong Kong, com­ posed of private colleges, that would use Chinese as the main medium of instruction, involved very important issues relating to education policy and academic standards. This would also be the first case dealt with by the Inter-University Council in the establishment of a university using a language other than English as the primary medium of instruc­ tion. After almost ten months, during which numerous meetings and discussions were held between Cox, Morris and Carr-Saunders repre­ senting the British side, and Morgan and Crozier representing Hong Kong, it was finally decided in August 1958 that another university would be established in Hong Kong, and it would be the apex of Chinese education under the two-tier education systems in English and Chinese. In their meetings, Cox, Morris and others were most concerned with student quality, teacher qualifications, curriculum, facilities and the administrative system of the Colleges, as this was the first time that the Inter-University Council would be dealing with the establishment of a non-English speaking university. After careful discussion and planning, they laid down some very cautious steps to guarantee that the Colleges would attain university standards in every way. The plan suggested that the government should first pass an ordinance confirming the status of the Colleges as institutes of higher education, thereby removing them from the control of the Hong Kong Education Ordinance. At the same time, the government would invite experts to draw up guidelines for development in basic conditions so that governmental financial assis­ tance could be extended to the Colleges according to their needs, ena­ bling them to attain the required standards. Secondly, the government would appoint an Advisory Committee to be composed of international scholars who would conduct a final review. The government would then pass the required ordinance for the establishment of the new university. The plan was first approved by the Governor in conjunction with the Legislative Council, followed by the appropriation of necessary fund­ ing. It then immediately received the official consent of the British government and the Inter-University Council. In May of 1959, the Chinese Colleges Joint Council on behalf of the three Colleges, ac­ cepted the government's suggested plan. On 2 June 1959, the Hong Kong government officially announced that it was prepared to establish

The Founding

25

a new university with Chinese as the main medium of instruction. The plan was to start with the funding of the development of the three Colleges, United, Chung Chi and New Asia.

5. Establishment of the University, 1959-1963 The years between the government's announcement in June 1959 ofthe plan to set up a new university, and its inception in October 1963 were crucial in the formation ofthe structure, character and academic quality of the University. Development in these years also laid the foundation for the University's relationship with the government, the Hong Kong society and the international academic community. The important role of John Fulton, as Chairman of the Fulton Commission of1963, in the birth of the University is generally known. Less well-known· perhaps is the crucial part which he played in 1959 as adviser to the Governor, Sir Robert Black, making recommendations for the development and improvement of the Colleges in preparation for university status. The report, entitled The Development of Post­ Secondary Colleges in Hong Kong was submitted to the Governor in March 1960 and was accepted as a blueprint for the future university. Among other details, its recommendation for a federal organization, its stress on "academic freedom," "university autonomy," research, and bi-cultural mission were especially important in shaping the basic character ofthe University. The prime moving force for the development ofthe colleges during this period was, however, the government, particularly in terms oflegal enactments, financial allocations and administrative support. It began with the passage ofthe Post-Secondary College Ordinance (May 1960) which freed the colleges from the restrictions of the Education Ordinance. This was followed by a series ofbills and regulations which culminated in the formal establishment of the University by The Chinese University Ordinance of1963. Related matters were discussed in the Legislative Council and the policies formulated received enthusiastic support from the council members. Financial appropria­ tions were adequate, if not generous. Under the Post-Secondary Colleges Grants Regulations (1960, 1961), salary scales and teacher­ student ratios were gradually improved and, at the establishment of the

26

The Questfor Excellence

University, became parallel with those in the University of Hong Kong. L. G. Morgan, who had been the Deputy Director of Education in charge of the private post-secondary colleges since 1952, was appointed ad­ viser to the Chinese Colleges Joint Council and the government, serving as liaison between the Colonial Office, the Inter-University Council, the Hong Kong government and the Joint Council. It is worth noting that in the course of the formulating of policies and regulations, appointing of personnel and making appropriation for expenses, the government adopted a very liberal attitude. This may be attributable in part to the change of educational policy within the Commonwealth in the late 1950s for more independent regional development. More direct in its influence was Fulton's report of March 1960, which had been adopted as the blueprint for the establishment of the University. The report, with an emphasis that "autonomy is an essential attitude of a university in the pursuit of its proper aims," was well received by the Governor, Sir Robert Black, a firm believer in academic self-determination and "cooperation through understanding and mutual respect." The international character of the Colleges was strengthened during this stage of development. With their roots in China and early associa­ tion with the American educational foundations and universities, British experience and connections were relatively lacking. British influence was reinforced, however, by the very fact that the official support came at this stage from British sources - the British home goyernment, the Hong Kong government, the British Inter-University Council and locally, the British Council and HKU. John Fulton himself in fact brought with him the experience of three different British universities: Oxford, Wales and Sussex. Introduction and exchange of ideas concern­ ing the system, curriculum, teaching methods, etc. in the British universities were facilitated by the British Council and HKU in a series of open forums and conferences held in 1960 and 1961. Participants in­ cluded faculties and administrators from a number of leading British universities. In October 1960, through the arrangement of the Inter­ University Council, Presidents of the three Colleges were invited for a three-month visit to more than seventeen universities in Britain. Similar arrangements were made for a visit by the Colleges' Registrars the following year. In 1961, when experts were invited to visit Hong Kong to advise the three Colleges on the development of their courses in arts, science, economics and business administration, and also on library

The Founding

27

facilities, three of them were from Britain and one from the United States. Meanwhile, cooperation among the Colleges continued under the aegis of the Joint Council, particularly in matters concerning improve­ ment and establishment of common standards in admission, teaching, graduation and faculty qualifications. A Joint Entrance Examination had been conducted since the establishment of the Joint Council in 1957. In 1959, with administrative support from the government Education Department, the Joint Council set up three boards responsible separately for the entrance examination, diploma examination and staff estab­ lishment. The committees were composed of representatives from the three Colleges, administrative staff from the Education Department and academics from HKU. The work of the Joint Diploma Board could perhaps best illustrate progress achieved in raising the academic stand­ ards of the students. The Board �as chaired by Professor Y. C. Wong of the Mathematics Department of HKU. Panels of examiners for each subject were composed of internal examiners from the Colleges and external examiners from HKU as well as overseas universities. The first Joint Diploma Examination was held in 1960, and by 1963, a total of four examinations had been held. Professor Wong's reports on the examinations indicated that as the number of examination papers in­ creased and the .standards were raised year by year, the pass rate went up from 78% in 1961 to 95% in 1963. It was evident that the quality of both students and teaching was improving and meeting the higher standards required. While the three Colleges collaborated to institute common academic standards and a uniform system of staff establishment, inter­ nally the individual colleges developed under different conditions. Chung Chi and New Asia which had moved into their new campuses early in 1956, continued to receive support from their original sponsors, and were able to develop in more favourable conditions with the intro­ duction of the government grant in 1959. Chung Chi had been the first among the three Colleges to establish a Science Faculty in 1957 and had the largest enrolment of science students. C. T. Yung, who in 1960 succeeded Lin Dao-yang as President, was a biologist who had taught at _ Lingnan University and HKU, and was an experienced university ad­ ., ministrator. By 1963, the College had ten departments, a student enrol­ \-ment of five hundred and around fifty teaching staff. New Asia under

28

The Quest for Excellence

the direction of its founding President, Ch'ien Mu, continued to strengthen its curriculum, setting up a Science Faculty in 1960 and expanding the Departments of Chinese Literature, History, English Literature, Fine Arts, Philosophy and Sociology. By 1963, the College had a total of twelve departments, with over four-hundred students and about forty full-time teachers. With a shorter history and very limited support from international foundations, United College encountered greater difficulties at this stage of development. Its first President, F. I. Tseung who had led the Joint Council in 1956-1959 in striving for due recognition from the government, resigned shortly after succeeding in winning the government's acceptance in 1959. The position of United College was further weakened by the small student enrolment; the majority of its original students attended the evening sessions and had difficulty in gaining full-time student status. In 1960, United College students num­ bered fewer than a hundred. The College did, however, enjoy close ties with the local community and was thus able to secure some supportfor its development from concerned Chinese community leaders. In 1960, Sir Sik-nin Chau, senior member of the Legislative Council and a member of the Executive Council, was invited to be Chairman of the Board of Trustees. The government also extended help by providing administrative support. Two senior officers of the Hong Kong Educa­ tion Department were seconded to the College to assume the posts of Vice-President and Registrar, thus strengthening its administrative system. More important change began in 1962, when the College succeeded in securing from the government the campus at Bonham Road. In the same year, Sir Ping-fan Fung assumed Chairmanship of the Board of Trustees and T. C. Cheng was appointed President of the College. Cheng was then one of the very few high-ranking Chinese officers who had held various important positions in the Hong Kong government. He had extensive knowledge of, as well as wide experience in dealing with education in Hong Kong. T. C. Cheng's success in launching a fund-raising campaign with donations from the public not only helped put the College on a more favourable financial footing, it also strengthened the College's links with society at large. At the same time, closer relations with other local and overseas academic institutions were established through exchange

The Founding

29

of academic visits and publications. The recruitment of young and well-qualified staff and the introduction of a number of courses catering for the needs of Hong Kong were also significant in the development and strengthening of the College. By 1963, the College had nine depart­ ments distributed among the faculties of arts, science and commerce. Student enrolment had increased to about 200 and the number of full­ time faculty staff had reached more than twenty. T. C. Cheng, as the newly installed President of the College, had this comment on the situation: "Because of our youth and physical smallness, we are in a favourable position to develop and expand along new lines." (United Bulletin, No. 8, December 1963, p. 18) In preparing for the essential task of appointing a commission of international scholars to make recommendations for the establishment of the new university, a search for suitable candidates started in early 1961. The search work, led by Christopher Cox and the Inter-University Council, took more than a year. Appointment of the commission was announced in June 1962. It was important that the commission was headed by John Fulton who had been invited to Hong Kong in 1959 and was responsible for writing the report of 1960 which had served as the blueprint for the future university. The other members of the commis­ sion were Choh-ming Li, Professor of Business Administration and Director of the Centre for Chinese Studies at the University of Califor­ nia; J.V. Loach, Registrar of the University of Leeds; Thong Saw-pak, Professor of Physics at the University of Malaya; and F. G. Young, Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Cambridge. Professor Li, who had served in various national universities in China before joining the University of California in 1951, was familiar with the Chinese university traditions as well as tertiary education in the United States. Professor Thong, also of Chinese descent, had knowledge of the work­ ings of a British university system in an Asian society. Thus the com­ position of the commission itself was both strongly intern_ational and Chinese, reflecting the aspirations of the planned university. During their visit to Hong Kong in the -summer of 1962, members of the commission had extensive contact, not only with people concerned with higher education in Hong Kong, but with representatives from different _ sectors of the community as well. Before departing from Hong Kong on 15 August 1963, Fulton \publicly announced the recommendations of the commission for the

30

The Questfor Excellence

organization of the three Colleges into a new university. The recom­ mendations met with a favourable response from society at large. In fact, since the government's announcement in June 1959 of its intent to set up a second university in Hong Kong, the general public had been enthusiastic in voicing their support in newspapers, journals, over the radio, and even in public forums, expressing their different views and suggestions about the future university. There was a consensus that the university should be established without delay. The report of the commission was published in April 1963. It formally recommended the establishment in Hong Kong of a federal university, with Chung Chi, New Asia and United as the Foundation Colleges. The report, containing details on the organization, constitu­ tion, staff establishment and other aspects of the proposed university, was accepted by the government in June of the same year. Steps taken to prepare for the establishment of the university began as early as June 1961. While the government took the lead in the implementation of the scheme, particularly in budgeting, financial ap­ propriation and legal enactment, a number of prominent leaders of the community also participated in the essential work of preparation. The work began with the formation of a Preparatory Committee, appointed to advise on a campus site and the formulation of a construction programme for the buildings required. The Committee was composed of fourteen members, the majority of whom were heads of the institu­ tions (the three Colleges and HKU) and government departments (Education, Public Works, Chinese Affairs and the Colonial Secretariat) directly involved in the physical planning and building schemes of the future university. The two members from the local community were Mr Lee Iu-cheung, a prominent businessman, and the Hon. Cho-yiu Kwan, a solicitor and an unofficial member of both the Executive and the Legislative Councils. C. Y. Kwan was appointed Chairman of the Com­ mittee. Considering it desirable, even necessary, to have the University headquarters and the Colleges located in close proximity to each other, the Committee selected and secured from the government a promise to grant a plot of 250 acres of land in the upper Shatin Valley. The committee also set up accommodation schedules for the building of the University headquarters, New Asia College and. United College. Although a new site at Ma Liu Shui was chosen later, the fact that the

The Founding

31

government agreed to allot an extensive site and accepted the proposal to keep the University headquarters and the Colleges on the same campus was undoubtedly a result of the foresight and the work of the Preparatory Committee. Following the government's announcement of the acceptance of the Fulton Report, a Provisional Council was formed to proceed with the preparation. The Council was composed of twenty members, among whom were only two government officials: P. Donohue (Director of Education) and J.E. McDouaU (Secretary for Chinese Affairs). Other members included Ch'ien Mu (President of New Asia), C. T. Yung (President of Chung Chi), T. C. Cheng (President of United College) and Lindsay Ride (Vice-Chancellor of HKU). The remaining fourteen members were all prominent leaders from the community, chosen from the academic, professional and business circles. Composition of the Council reflected not only the nature of the governing body of the University but also its close relationship with the Hong Kong com­ munity. After the founding of the University, most of these members continued to be its supporters and benefactors, as University Council members or in other capacities. C. Y. Kwan was again appointed Chairman, and the Hon. R. C. Lee, Vice-Chairman, of the Provisional Council. In spite of the fact that members of the Council in their own professions and positions were very busy people, much. of the important work of the Council was completed within a relatively short time. Naming the University was the first important responsibility. Given the enthusiastic support for the idea of a new university, many possible names were suggested by the public, and the question generated much discussion in the local press. There were suggestions based on geographical considerations such as "Kowloon," "Shatin," or "Hua Nan," meaning "South China." Another group felt the name should reflect the cultural heritage and connections of the University, e.g. "Chung Wah," meaning "of China" or "Wah Ying," meaning "of China and Britain." "Yat Sen," name of the founder of the Chinese Republic and a most respected Chinese historical figure, was also a popular suggestion. In spite of all these numerous sugges­ tions and justifications, the Council was prompt in making the decision. The name of "The Chinese University of Hong Kong" was adopted. The . rationale was that this name best conveyed the University's Hong Kong \·· connection and cultural heritage. True to its name, the University has

32

The Quest for Excellence

since its inception been dedicated to serving the needs of Hong Kong and to contributing to the enrichment of Chinese culture. The choice of a new campus site at Ma Liu Shui was another important accomplishment of the Council. Through the great efforts of C.Y. Kwan, the Council was able to secure from the government the promise of a grant of land adjacent to Chung Chi College at Ma Liu Shui, an extensive and magnificent site for the University headquarters, United College, and New Asia. The choice had considerable impact on the future development of the University as the new site not only allowed the constituent parts of the University to be accommodated on the same campus, an extensive area of over 300 acres, but also provided ample space for future expansion. Other essential work of the Council included the appointment of Szeto Wai as the architect for the university buildings, the completion of an establishment plan to meet initial staff needs, the review and accep­ tance of the proposed constitution and the implementation of other recommendations of the Fulton Report. Nine of the members of the Council were at the same time appointed to the Selection Committee, chaired also by C.Y. Kwan, to advise the government on the selection of a Vice-Chancellor for the University. The amount of work, as described by Kwan, was "enormous." That the work of the Council could be completed so quickly and smoothly was attributed to the efforts of "hard-working colleagues," help from government departments, assis. tance from HKU, and above all, the unfailing support of the Governor, Sir Robert Black. This was publicly acknowledged in the address by C.Y. Kwan at the inauguration of the University, "Despite the multi­ tudinous problems weighing on his mind, His Excellency has given much time, thought and effort to forwarding the establishment of this University." (United Bulletin, No. 8, December 1963, p. 3) The Chinese University of Hong Kong Ordinance, together with its Statutes, was passed in the Legislative Council and came into effect in September 1963. On 17 October 1963, the Governor, in his capacity as Chancellor, officiated at the inauguration ceremony of the University. The inauguration marked the beginning of a new era for higher educa­ tion in Hong Kong as well as for the Foundation Colleges. It was, in the words of Sir Robert, "the consummation of hopes and dreams and plans." (Address by the Chancellor, "Inauguration of The Chinese University of Hong Kong," ibid., p. 1)

The Founding

33

SLJmmary Remarks Amidst difficulties and strains, The Chinese University was founded with the efforts of refugee scholars from different parts of China and the support of educationists, academics, government officials and eminent individuals from Hong Kong, Britain and the United States. The result was a new university built with diverse resources from both China and the West. The University drew basically on the strengths of the Colleges representing divergent streams of Chinese education - national univer­ sities, with the fine qualities of Confucianism; Christian universities enjoying close contacts with Western cultures; and locally-oriented private universities with their pragmatic and eclectic outlooks. Yet it was also infused with a strong international character, not only because of the Hong Kong-British setting, but also because many scholars, educational missions, foundations, and institutions from abroad had helped in many ways in the development of the Colleges towards university status. Committed to the development and enrichment of Chinese culture, and to the integration of Chinese and Western knowledge, CUHK was established with a firm foundation able to face the challenge of meeting the needs of the cross-cultural and dynamic society of Hong Kong. The very process of founding the University, of overcoming obstacles and solving problems along the way, contributed to the creation of a univer­ sity with a reservoir of experience, with the strength and the ability to face the challenges of the future with confidence, and with a passionate commitment to continuing its quest for excellence and to making a contribution to the international academic community in a new age marked by a veritable explosion of knowledge.

2 A New Society, New Knowledge, and a New University Bernard Hungkay LUK

University Campus looking towards the Tolo Channel, 1993

Background: Campus site in 1968

36

The Quest for Excellence

The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) is a university which belongs to Hong Kong, and which uses Chinese as the principal lan­ guage of instruction. During the past three decades, Hong Kong society, the Chinese language, and universities all over the world have all experienced very significant changes. Many of these changes have been closely connected to the growth of CUHK. Hong Kong is an immigrant society. In the 1950s, when the colleges which later became the Foundation Colleges of CUHK were first estab­ lished, a majority of the population of Hong Kong was refugees from the turbulence of civil war and revolution in China. They brought with them the values, knowledge, and skills of Chinese scholars, peasants, artisans, and merchants, as well as the languages and folk traditions of north and south China, especially of the Guangdong rural hinterland. The postwar history of Hong Kong is the story of the efforts of these refugees and their offspring, together with those of the earlier settlers, to build a new industrial city. People from diverse backgrounds learnt from one another in their daily work and recreation. They assimilated many of the values, knowledge, skills, and practices of Western in­ dustrial civilization. And they created an indigenous culture and a distinct society. The emergence of CUHK has been part and parcel of the evolution of Hong Kong from a collection of demoralized and hardpressed migrants to a free, vibrant, vigorous, and distinct society. The University has been one of the more dynamic manifestations of that evolution. The Chinese language has a longer continuous history than any other language in the world, but it has been undergoing a radical trans­ formation in this century. Early in the century, the "vernacular" lan­ guage replaced the "classical" as the principal mode of written expression; and during the past four decades,· there have been multi­ dimensional developments in vocabulary, sentence. patterns, rhetoric, and forms of discourse. The Chinese language nowadays is a much richer and more potent medium than what it was in mid-century. Spe­ cialized as well as popular vocabularies and conventions in Chinese have come into existence for all kinds of activities of the modern world. Chinese and other traditional ideas and customs, as well as modem economic, social, political, cultural, religious, academic, scientific, and technological activities, can all be conveyed precisely and directly in contemporary Chinese. These new vocabularies and conventions enjoy

A New Society, New Knowledge, and a New University

37

wide circulation in print or electronic media, as well as in person-to­ person communication. Hong Kong is located at the crossroads of Asian and Western cultures and languages, and has itself undergone rapid modernization, in language no less than in other aspects of life. CUHK, being one of the major Chinese-language institutions of Hong Kong, has been both con­ tributor and beneficiary in the expansion of the ranges of discourse and functions of the language. In recent decades, the continued evolution of Chinese as a world language has taken place in the form of parallel developments in Hong Kong, China, and Taiwan, with a great deal of autonomy and mutual borrowing among the three centres. CUHK is a nodal point in this development. The institution of the university originated in Europe in the Middle Ages. Nineteenth-century reforms introduced modern academic dis­ ciplines and practices of instruction, evaluation, and administration. The reformed institution was transplanted to Chinese society in the early twentieth century. Before the Second World War, the main function of universities in most societies was to prepare the sons of small social elites for leadership. positions in government and culture. This elitist higher education became democratized in many societies, especially in the West, after the war, when much higher levels of technology and social equality were deemed desirable. Systems of higher educa­ tion were expanded rapidly to produce large supplies of professionals, adminstrators, researchers, and intellectuals as well as to promote upward social mobility for capable young men and women from the lower socio-economic strata. Hong Kong higher education has not followed the Western trend; but it has completely re-defined elitist education, from an elitism of social reproduction, to one of meritocracy. This re-definition transformed the relationship between. university and society. CUHK has been a leading edge in this transfor­ mation.

A Systems Approach . The evolutions of Hong Kong, the Chinese language, and universities h,ave all been manifested in the growth of CUHK over the decades. That

38

The Quest for Excellence

growth itself could be described most conveniently by using a systems approach. The functioning and development of an educational system or a school could be discussed in terms of its input, operations, output, and feedback. A school is a part of its society. It derives its resources from society to sustain its processes of teaching and learning. The input of resources which a school receives from society include the following: values, knowledge, and skills possessed by members of society; the workforce of teachers and students; financial and other forms of material wealth supplied from government and private coffers, and so on. With these resources, the school operates: to determine the structure and contents of its curriculum; to instruct and to evaluate the results of instruction; to research; to acquire and make use of various kinds of facilities for its purposes, and so forth. The operations of the school generate output which it renders to society. The most important output of course are the graduates. Equipped with new values, knowledge, and skills, the graduates can work more effectively for the economic, social, political, and cultural betterment of society. The school also propagates values, knowledge and skills through its publications, broadcasts, open forums, and extramural courses. The output accrues to the human and material resources of society as a whole. Some of that accrual will result in a greater feedback of input into the educational institution at a later time, enabling it to increase its operations and output. Over the past four decades, the constituent Colleges and CUHK have derived very considerable inputs from Hong Kong society and from the international academic community. These include modern­ izing values and progressively updated knowledge and skills; larger and larger numbers of teachers and students with ever-broadening social compositions; and ever-increasing financial and material goods. The operations of the University and its Colleges have also become more modem and complex. Graduates, publications, and other services produced by the University have matched the development needs of Hong Kong society, both in quality and in quantity. Together with its society, the University has progressed towards both indigenization and internationalization. In this chapter, the four-decade story of the Colleges and of the University formed out of their federation, will be told in terms of input, operations, and output.

A New Society, New Knowledge, and a New University

39

The Inputs Values Values are imbued in a school by people, and by books. The values brought into CUHK from its social milieu have come from the beliefs, ideals and aspirations of the teachers, administrators, and students, and from what they have read. The colleges which became the Foundation Colleges of CUHK were established by "refugee scholars" who moved to Hong Kong from China in the late 1940s. They chose to come to Hong Kong to continue their academic and educational careers, because their ideas, beliefs, or academic specialties were not deemed acceptable by either of the two great dictatorship parties of China. Some of them were Confucian scholars, followers of Confucius, Mencius, Lu Xiangshan, and Wang Yangming. Some s_ubscribed to the ideas of the May Fourth Movement and insisted on science and democracy. Some were Christians, believ­ ing in the teachings of Jesus and of the churches. Some were social scientists, practised in the use of the perspectives and methods of their Western-derived academic disciplines in the analysis of problems. The refugee scholars were by no means unified in their beliefs, ideas, or specialties; but they did have certain common experiences: Our hands empty of worldly goods; Our journeys long, with no end in sight; Separated from kin and hearth, adrift; Our bodies starved, our spirit wearied. Through dangers and hardship, on we struggle. Deprivation calls forth our deepest feelings.... (From the New Asia College anthem) Scholars of diverse persuasions and many different institutions, from different parts of China, converged on Hong Kong, to breathe the air of freedom. In time, they formed themselves into groups by affinity of beliefs, and laboured to set up different colleges, in order to carry on the academic and educational work which they had left behind in China. New Asia College was founded in 1949, Chung Chi College , in 1951, and United College in 1956. Each college subscribed to a different set of values which they were committed to pass on to their v V1 \,O t"-- 00 0'\ 0 - N M � V"l 1.0 ..... 00 "' "' "' "' "' \,0 \,0 \,0 \0 ..... ..... ��00�

� � � � � � � � �

e: e:: � ·�

� � � § � § � � � � � � � �� �� �� �� �� �::: Year

Fig. 1. The Percentage of Students Studying in Chinese Secondary Schools

secondary school students consistently decreased from 36% in 1959 to less than 10% in 1988. As a result of this decline, CUHK could no longer rely on the Chinese secondary schools as a source of student recruitment. After 1978 the proportion of Chinese secondary school graduates among the new university students was only approximately 20 to 30%_ Looked at from another angle, English secondary school graduates had two choices in pursuing university education. The first was to apply to CUHK in their Form 6 academic year, and the second was to apply to the University of Hong Kong while they were in Form 7. The entrance examinations for CUHKand the University of Hong Kong have been conducted by the Hong Kong Examinations Authority since 1979 and 1980 respectively. The first is called the Higher Level Examination and the second the Advanced Level Examination. Since there were then no regulations in Hong Kong restri_cting the English matriculation course students from attending more than one of the two examinations, the majority of the students wrote both. They naturally would not miss any opportunity to enter a university_ The resulting situation was that within

Institutional Changes

101

the transition period from secondary school to post-secondary school, there were three examinations in three years. Those were the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination in Form 5, Higher Level Examination in Form 6, and Advanced Level Examination in Form 7. This unreasonably demanding situation was openly loathed by most people in Hong Kong. Furthermore, the coverage of subjects in the Higher Level Examination and Advanced Level Examination was not exactly identical. The result was that English secondary school students attending two-year matriculation courses who wished to apply for ad­ mission to CUHK would have to devote their attention to CUHK matriculation syllabuses in Form 6. Those who were accepted by CUHK after passing the Higher Level Examination, often quit Form 7 midway. These two situations annoyed English secondary schools con­ ducting two-year matriculation programmes, and they constituted a major force in pushing for the reform of the academic year system in CUHK. On 2 September 1976, a report in the Wah Kiu Yat Po stated that due to the serious shortage of university places in Hong Kong, CUHK was about to match the University of Hong Kong by changing from its four-year programme to a three-year academic system. Soon after, CUHK authorities released a declaration stating that the report was inconsistent with the facts. On 8 December of the same year, while discussing the 1976 The Chinese University of Hong Kong Ordinance in the Legislative Council, Sir S. Y. Chung, the chief unofficial council member, raised a proposal to change the degree programmes in CUHK from four to ·three years, in order to unify the systems of the two universities, and so adopt common admission examinations. By November of 1977, the government officially released the The Green Paper on Senior Secondary and Tertiary Education. Paragraph 10.5 of the Paper pointed out that, "If The Chinese University were to decide to reduce its undergraduate course (except in the Medical Faculty) from four to three years, the same course length as obtains at the University of Hong Kong, following the proposed development of a common two-year sixth form course, then the number of university students in Hong Kong could increase further." After the declaration by the government of its intention to change the four-year programmes to three-year programmes in CUHK, there were extremely strong negative reactions from both the teachers and

102

The Questfor Excellence

students of the University. They held common views on the issue and showed unprecedented unity. From December of 1977 to February of 1978, the student unions of CUHK and the three member Colleges all strove to make clear their reasons for objection through discussions, seminars, publication of special issue journals, and even press conferen­ ces. The senior administrators and teachers of CUHK did not miss any opportunities in their public or university speeches to point out the irrationalities of the proposal for changes. On 15 February 1978, CUHK Students Union held a mass rally in opposition to "the change from four to three" in the Science Centre of the university campus. According to the reports appearing in Ta Kung Pao the following day, CUHK teachers and students had been discussing the issue of "the change from four to three" enthusiastically for days befo�e the rally. Banners, slogans and posters in opposition to the change were posted all over the campus. On the afternoon of that day, most teachers dismissed their classes early in order to allow the students to attend the rally. Although the tempera­ ture was below ten degrees celsius, nearly three thousand teachers and students came to the site braving cold winds and a light drizzle. The one thousand or so chairs were taken very early, and people just jammed the spiral staircases on both sides of the Science Centre and the perimeters of the assembly hall. Students crammed into the classroom windows of the Science Centre, and many people stood for more than an hour in the light rain. Senior staff of the University all attended the �ally, including CUHK Vice-Chancellor Choh-ming Li, Vice-Chancellor Designate Ma Lin, Pro-Vice-Chancellors T. C. Cheng and T. K. Cheng, Head of Chung Chi College S. W. Tam, Head of New Asia College Ambrose King, Head of United College S. S. Hsueh, Dean of Faculty of Arts J. Gannon, Dean of Faculty of Social Science T. B. Lin, Dean of Faculty of Business Administration Y. T. Chung, Dean of the Graduate School M. H. Hsing, Secretary Nelson Young, and Registrar John Chen. Repre­ sentatives from the Hong Kong Chinese Middle School Assodation and student unions of post-secondary institutes like the University of Hong Kong and Baptist College, and officers of CUHK Alumni Association all attended the rally and expressed their opinions. On 17 February, CUHK Council held a meeting and studied the change "from four to three" in detail. The presidents of CUHK Alumni Association and the student unions of the three member Colleges all attended the meeting. It was decided at the meeting that CUHK should maintain the four-year

Institutional Changes

103

system. But arguments regarding the change did not end there. On 10 March a professor who had been with CUHK for a long time confirmed that a letter was received from Lord Fulton expressing the view thatthe University should maintain the four-year system. (Wah Kiu Yat Po, 10 March 1978) On 16 March, CUHK administration officially released its opinion paper on the The Green Paper on Senior Secondary and Ter­ tiary Education, and cited the issues of concern in the Green Paper one by one for discussion. The reasons put forth against the change from four to three are given below. Firstly, CUHK' s statement of opinions pointed out that recommen­ dations to conduct common university admission examinations and unify the degree programmes were based on two principles attractive to society at large, namely, to alleviate the pain of having three examina­ tions in three years, and to expand university enrolment without cor­ responding increases in funding. The statement made it clear that although CUHK was in agreement with these principles, it did not support the methods recommended in the Green Paper. The statement then reiterated the necessity of maintaining the four-year academic system in CUHK from educational and financial points of view. The statement pointed out that CUHK had always shouldered dual educa­ tional missions. These were the provision of opportunities for Chinese middle school graduates to further their education, and the integration of Chinese and Western cultures. Should CUHK academic system be changed to three years, not only would Chinese secondary school stu­ dents encounter more difficulties. in enrolment opportunities, but also there would not be sufficient time to attain the educational goal of integrating the Chinese and Western cultures. Moreover, CUHK had always put emphasis on general education. As specialization of knowledge is unavoidable in contemporary society, a well conceived and properly implemented system of general education has certain practical benefits in overcoming the tendency towards narrow-minded­ ness in knowledge brought about by specialization. But to conduct general education under a three-year system would be extremely dif­ ficult, if indeed it were at all possible. The statement reminded the government that the four-year system was the international standard, and that the British three-year system was "practically an exception in the world." (Report of the Robbins Committee on Secondary Education, Section 121). The statement asserted that the government was forcing

104

The Questfor Excellence

CUHK to adopt a system that was not based on international standards, and furthermore did not match the educational goals of the University. Such a policy was contrary to any rational assessment of the situation. Lastly, Hong Kong society would need well-trained personnel in differ­ ing areas, and therefore it would require the coexistence of universities with two different systems to enhance diversity and development. In fact, there were no actual recommendations to shorten the under­ graduate course in the 1976Fulton Report. The commission members must have realized that any drastic changes such· as shortening the undergraduate programmes to three years would obstruct the implemen­ tation of "student-orientated" teaching, a method of teaching strongly recommended by the Commission. From the financial point of view, the statement queried the money­ saving method suggested in the Green Paper. Paragraph 10.5 of the Green Paper argued that if CUHK would agree to shorten its course by one year, more students could be admitted without incurring additional expenses. But it did not point out that after changing the system, the number of students attending Form 7 would surely increase, and the government would have to increase its subsidies to Form 7 education correspondingly. The University listed figures in detail showing that, based on the market prices of 1977-1978, the savings incurred by shortening the university programmes would be 25 .9 million dollars, but under the two-year matriculation system, the government would have to increase its subsidies in Form 7 by 41.6 million dollars. Even from the financial point of view, changing the system from four to three years would not be a prudent move. The statement then listed defects of the two-year matriculation system and brought forward alternate methods that might be imple­ mented. It stressed that Form 7 was definitely not an equivalent for the first year in a university, because the ultimate purpose of matriculation was still to achieve excellent results in an open examination. The study environment in Form 7 was correspondingly filled with examination pressures, and was very different from the first year of university. The freshman year was a time when new students could adapt to and probe their way through a new environment. They oriented themselves in order to experience the excitement of academic discovery and the happiness of associating with teachers and friends. CUHK would also object to anything that could jeopardise the chance for students from

Institutional Changes

105

poor families to enter university. The two-year matriculation education would deter many students coming from families with financial difficul­ ties. Moreover, under the two-year matriculation programme and an integrated admission examination system, the Chinese secondary schools and th�ir students would be placed in a disadvantaged position. The University agreed that three examinations in three years was too much, but that involved the overall problem of the education system of Hong Kong. As middle school education took a period of five years, students would have to take an examination at the end of Form 3 and two years later, they would have to take the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination. Aside from preparing for the examinations, the students had no time to deal with other things. To remedy this situation, it was suggested to extend the period of senior secondary school educa­ tion to three years. This meant conducting the Certificate of Education Examination at the end of the third year in senior middle school. The examination results could then be used as standards of the academic achievements of the students, as well as the basis for selecting can­ didates for enrolment in post-secondary institutions. Although CUHK felt that this design was ideal, it nevertheless was realistic enough to be aware of the financial consequences, and proposed a more practical and flexible scheme. A complete step-by-step, progressive programme was proposed for the four-year period between Form 4 and Form 7. The purpose was to ensure that the majority of the students would take part in only one, or at the most two, of the three open examinations in the Form 5, 6, and 7 years, thereby attaining the goal of reducing the number of open examinations. On 5 July 1978, an ad-hoe committee, composed of members of both the Legislative and Executive Councils, with Sir Q. W. Lee as the convener, was formed to study the Green Paper on education. The committee concluded that the system of CUHK should not be changed from four to three years at that time. The main reason for this recom- · mendation was that the University had just been reorganized. But it also stated that the issue should be brought up again in a few years time. In February 1981, The Chinese University obtained a government guarantee not to request a change of system from four to three years within the following six years. The issue was temporarily put aside until it was again dragged in with the establishment of the Faculty of · Medicine.

106

The Quest for Excellence

(2) The Faculty of Medicine Episode Earlier in 1968, an Urban Councillor Dr M. H. Huang had already strongly advocated the idea of establishing a Faculty of Medicine in CUHK, to help solve the problem of a lack of medical doctors. Those opposing the idea contended that it would be more cost-effective to expand the Medical Faculty of the University of Hong Kong. In May of the following year, a spokesperson for CUHK declared that since it had only a five year history, it would strive to strengthen its existing programmes, and therefore did not plan to establish a Faculty of Medicine. (Wah Kiu Yat Po, 25 May 1969) In December of 1974, the University and Polytechnic Grants Committee (UPGC) recommended to the government that CUHK should establish a Faculty of !'-'1edicine to meet the urgent needs of society. In 1980, the Faculty of Medicine was officially established, and Dr Gerald Choa was appointed the Dean. The first batch of students was scheduled to be admitted in 1981. In its deliberations with CUHK, the UPGC suggested that if the Faculty of Medicine in CUHK wanted to be recognized by the British Commonwealth countries, the teaching methods and systems stipulated by the General Medical Council of United Kingdom must be followed. These standards were already adopted by the University of Hong Kong. Generally the requirements covered several areas. The first was the use of English as the medium of instruction. The second was the recruitment of Form 7 students who had passed the Advanced Level Examination to the first year of the five-year medical programme. The UPGC did not object to the acceptance of Higher Level Examination students by the Faculty of Medicine in CUHK, but these students would then be required to complete the first year curriculum in the Faculty of Science before they could apply for admission to the Faculty of Medicine. These requirements were con­ sidered by CUHK authorities to be no more than incidental to the establishment of the Medical Faculty. The UPGC, however, stressed that these were the conditions it would like to see. Although under­ standings and interpretations may differ, the real situation was the same. If CUHK were to establish the Faculty of Medicine, it would be hard for it not to proceed according to the wishes of the UPG.C. Consequently, a change was created in the student recruitment process in CUHK through the establishment of the Medical Faculty, such that the University could

Institutional Changes

107

no longer admit students on the results of the Higher Level Examination only, as in the past. It was also going to be difficult to maintain the tradition of CUHK in using Chinese as the main medium of instruction. Furthermore, as the Medical Faculty had an extremely tight programme it would not be an easy task for one to complete this programme within five years, while trying to squeeze out extra time for general education which had always been highly regarded by CUHK. The last but also the most sensitive issue was the number of years of study in the Medical Faculty. The medical programme required five years of study, two more than their other programmes. The five-year requirement undoubtedly made people think about the issue of changing from four years to three. After the news broke, some students and teachers of CUHK were overwhelmed with indignation. They set up the Faculty of Medicine Review Committee, urging the university authorities to begin new negotiations with the UPGC on the academic system of the Medical Faculty. On 3 December 1980, CUHK Administrative Planning Com­ mittee held a meeting to discuss issues concerning the Medical Faculty. During the meeting, nearly a thousand students sat outside the meeting venue for six hours waiting for the results. It was decided at the meeting to set up an Ad Hoe Committee on the Academic Structure of the Medical Faculty, to be responsible for gathering data and opinions on the academic system and related issues of the Medical Faculty, for the reference of the university authorities. The Sub-Committee was com­ posed of ten members, with teachers and students accounting for half the total, and chaired by Dr Gerald Choa, the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine. After several consultation meetings, the Sub-Committee completed its report at the end of February 1981, and submitted it to the Vice-Chancellor for consideration and approval. The contents of the report consisted mainly of the following points. First, the Medical Faculty should have a six-year programme, with the first year to be a conditional major. Second, the admission standards of CUHK Faculty of Medicine should be the same as other faculties, which were based on the results of the Higher Level Examination. Thus the dual method of admitting students from inside and outside the University would be abolished. However, these recommendations were not accepted by CUHK Senate. In June of 1981, the University Senate decided that the Faculty of Medicine should maintain the two channels of admitting students. The only difference being that Form 6 students·with Higher

108

The Questfor Excellence

Level Examination results would be directly admitted by the Faculty of Medicine and placed in the pre-clinical class. Aside from this, CUHK authorities were willing to compromise on other issues related to the Medical Faculty such as teaching conducted in two languages, and the requirements for medical students to take general education courses.

(3) Controversy over the Provisional Acceptance Scheme The "pre-clinical class" set up in compliance with the academic system of the Medical Faculty actually implied "provisional acceptance." In other words, a candidate would be provisionally accepted on the basis of academic achievement, although he or she might not yet be qualified for being officially admitted. Such a student would have to achieve certain basic academic requirements within a specified period of time. By fulfilling these requirements, the student would then be officially ad­ mitted into thefaculty. The advantage of this arrangement was to reduce examination pressure to a minimum, and allow students to divert all their energy and attention to their studies. All along, it had been the pressure generated by students taking three examinations within three years under the secondary school education system in Hong Kong that worked upon CUHK to change its curriculum from four years to three. To alleviate this pressure, CUHK put forward a Provisional Acceptance Scheme for student admission in October 1982; The University also broadened the student admission policy, that was originally only applicable to the Medical Faculty, to cover the whole university. In explaining this new method of admitting students, the University made it clear that it had always been its wish to have a six-year secondary school and four-year university system of education implemented in Hong Kong. Not only was this an internation­ ally recognized system, but it could also reduce the number of public examinations from three to just one, namely the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination. At that time, however, the possibility of implementing such a system was remote. Thus CUHK came out with the Provisional Acceptance Scheme, hoping to reduce the number of competitive examinations the students had to take. Under this scheme a Form 5 student could apply to the University for "provisional" admis­ sion by virtue of results obtained in the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination and a letter of recommendation from his or her

Institutional Changes

109

school. After being admitted, . the '!provisional student" still had to complete the Form 6 curriculum and participate in the Higher Level Examination. If the academic results of the student did meet with the basic requirements,· the student. could then be officially accepted by CUHK. The Chinese University felt that this new scheme of admitting students could achieve the objectives of (1) reducing the number of competitive examinations required of students to enter a university; (2) providing equal opportunity for all students to apply for admission to a university; (3) separating the curriculum between the one-year and two-year Form 6 systems; and (4) enabling students to receive a more meaningful education in Form 6. The publication of the new admission scheme brought with it both supporters and opposers. The supporters held that with a few amend­ ments, together with the coordination of the Colleges and faculties, the scheme could provide a good remedy for the problem of too many examinations at the senior secondary school level in Hong Kong. Those in opposition were vociferous and numerous. They included the Council of Grant-in-aid Secondary Schools representing all grant-in-aid secon­ dary schools in Hong Kong, and the Association of Subsidized Schools representing all subsidized schools. They indicated that such a scheme could not be accepted. Many wrote as individuals to. the newspapers raising their objections to the scheme. Their reasons are summarized and listed as follows: (1) The proposed scheme would not alleviate the pressures of examinations as CUHK would only accept a thousand or so students every year among a number of almost 20,000 participants in the Higher Level Examination. Aside from a small number of those ac­ cepted under the scheme, the other students would have to compete for the remaining few places. The fact that tremendous pressure would be generated in such fierce competition did not need further elaboration. According to CUHK, the list of provisional students would be released in March, which was only a month away from the Higher Level Ex­ amination in April. In other words, if from the beginning of the school term in September to March of the next calendar year, students would have to worry about their admission results, how then could they under­ take their Form 6 education with the. peace of mind suggested in the CUHK proposal? CUHK could of course release the results of "provisional acceptance" earlier, but by doing so, two types of students would have been created in the same classroom - those who were

110

The Quest for Excellence

selected and . those who were not. This situation would create psychological pressures as well. (2) Using the results of the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination· as the only basis for admission would unintentionally exert all the pressures upon one examination. (3) As far as the Chinese secondary school students were concerned, the number of open examinations was not reduced. Whether "provisionally" accepted or not, they still had to participate in the Higher Level Examination. The only difference lay in lowering the requirements for academic results of the "provisional students." On the contrary, English secondary school students could on the one hand enter CUHK with their Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination results in Form 5, and on the other hand they could also take the Higher Level Examination in Form 6. More than that, these students could kill two birds with one stone by making use of their Advanced Level Examination results in Form 7 to seek admission into both the Univer­ sity of Hong Kong and CUHK at the same time. With such an additional advantage enjoyed by English secondary school students, the attractive­ ness of the Chinese middle schools would diminish, to the point that they might be totally eliminated. Should this scenario occur, it would be contrary to the educational ideals of CUHK. (4) Aside from Chinese secondary school students, self-study students would also become vic­ tims under the new scheme. The previous practice allowed students who had passed the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination to participate in the Higher Level Examination of CUHK as self-study students. Those who had passed the Higher Level Examination but were not accepted by CUHK would be given a chance to retake the examina­ tion in the following year as independent students. Under the new scheme these students could never be accepted as "provisional" because they did not have a school as a base. Previously, self-study students only competed with graduates of that particular year. The new scheme threw an extra obstacle, namely, the Provisional Acceptance Scheme, in their way, and made their chances of entering the university even more remote. (5) The Provisional Acceptance Scheme used the results of the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination as the basis for entry, which implicitly shut out "late developers" from entering the gates of a university. On 2 February 1983, local newspapers in Hong Kong reported that according to a poll conducted by the City and New Territories

Institutional Changes

111

Administration Department of the Hong Kong government regarding the Provisional Acceptance Scheme of CUHK, the majority of the respondents were against the scheme. The Hong Kong Education Research Group sent a letter to local Chinese and English newspapers, expressing its surprise and concern about this government action that was contrary to common practice. The letter pointed out that there were many other issues of great concern to the public, including telephone and electricity rate increases, governance of public undertakings, the Form 3 evaluation examination, and the assignment of Form 1 places. These issues profoundly affected every family in Hong Kong. The letter asked why was it that the Administration Department never conducted any surveys on these issues, while focusing on the admission scheme of CUHK, which was beyond its jurisdiction. The letter also concluded that the action of the Administration Department was a challenge to and sabotage against Hong Kong's higher education. The respect for the independence and autonomy of a university, and the recognition of a university's authority over its student admissions, course design, academic year system, examination and the recruitment of teachers were foundation policies in all democratic societies. Such was the case in the United Kingdom, and Hong Kong should be no exception. Finally, the letter disagreed with the methods used by the government in gauging public sentiment. Although the government had conducted a survey, it should also make public the number of people interviewed, and the actual number of people that accounted for the "majority." This simple expedient would allow the figures to be com­ pared with those obtained by CUHK. (Ming Pao, 7 February 1983; South China Morning Post, 17 February 1983) On 20 February 1983, a spokesperson for the Education and Manpower Branch under the Government Secretariat declared that the Provisional Acceptance Scheme of CUHK would have a deep and profound influence on Hong Kong secondary school education, and therefore the government should have the legal authority to broadly solicit public opinion and reactions to the scheme. Actually, after proposing the Provisional Acceptance Scheme, CUHK authorities had sent letters to more than 400 Hong Kong secondary schools to broadly solicit their opinions. The University held meetings with more than 90 secondary school principals, and Conducted a survey among 500 secondary school students through

112

The Quest for Excellence

questionnaires. After gathering opinions from these various sources, CUHK decided to moderately amend the original scheme. On 14 April 1983, the University officially declared that the new admission scheme would be implemented in the academic year 1984-1985. Students attending Form 6 of the one-year matriculation course in September of 1984 could use the results of the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination of the same year to apply for "initial evaluation" at CUHK. After going through procedures such as interviews, the suc­ cessful applicants would receive in March of the following year a notice confirming their status as "provisional students." These students would take the Higher Level Examination in the same year. Upon getting passing grades in at least five subjects (including Chinese and English Languages) in the examination, the students ,could then be officially admitted. Similarly, Form 6 students attending two-year matriculation programmes could use their Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination results to apply for admission as "provisional students." Atthe end of the Form 6 school year, the University would evaluate their academic progress and language standards. Those who were qualified could then be officially enrolled. While implementing the new scheme, CUHK also reserved a certain number of places for non-provisional students. Students from the one-year matriculation programmes that failed in their first try for provisional admission could re-apply upon completion of their Form 6, using their results in the Higher Level Examination as the basis for application. If two-year matriculation students were not successful in their first application they could remain in their school to complete Form 7. After participating in the Advanced Level Examination, they could use the results to apply to CUHK. When announcing the new admission scheme, CUHK Registrar, Dr P. W. Liu, pointed out that it was the belief of the University all along that the best way to simplify the complicated examination system in Hong Kong was to implement a unitary educa­ tional system of six years of secondary school, followed by a four-year university programme. Students would participate in the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination after completing Form 6, and then decide whether to continue studying or to seek employment. As CUHK could not change the whole system of education, it could only reduce the pressure of examinations on students through its own admission system.

Institutional Changes

113

After its implementation, arguments over the Provisional Accep­ tance Scheme of CUHK increased unabatedly. On 12 November 1985 the Education Department issued an announcement stating that the provisional admission scheme had drained the schools of their Form 7 students to a large extent. Out of 189 schools that offered Form 7 courses, students of 112 schools entered CUHK after completing one year of the course. The drop-out rate of these students was between 5 to 20% in 103 schools, and more than 20% in 9 schools, which the Education Department considered a waste of public resources. A spokesperson for the Department added that the whole problem of Form 6 education and examin'ations could hopefully be resolved in the next report of the Education Commission. CUHK rebutted the accusations of the Education Department the following day, arguing that the figures listed by the Education Department were misleading. CUHK pointed out that the size of a Form 6 matriculation class was limited to ap­ proximately 30 students so the loss of several students would account for a substantial ratio. Moreover, there were many reasons for the drop-out of matriculation students. Some students might go abroad to further their education, others might transfer to other institutions of tertiary education in Hong Kong, and still more might leave school for work. CUHK' s Provisional Acceptance Scheme was but one of many reasons for the drop outs. Later, Dr P. W. Liu, who had just vacated the post of University Registrar, indicated that vacancies occurring in Form 7 was the price to be paid for the maintaining of two matricula­ tion systems and for freer choice on the part of students, therefore it should not be considered a waste of resources. On 6 January 1986 at a regular meeting of the Tsuen Wan Rotary Club, Legislative Councillor Mr Y. T. Lee pointed out that the Provisional Acceptance Scheme enabled students who failed to be accepted under the scheme to make earlier plans for alternatives. If both universities in Hong Kong would adopt this scheme, the number of matriculation students would surely decrease, and resources could be re-directed towards developing tertiary education. What was worth noting in this entire debate was that the government made no secret of its opposition. At the same time, the ··Education Commission was reviewing the system of education in Hong Kong, particularly issues concerning the structure of tertiary education 'as well as the problems of private schools.

114

The Quest for Excellence

(4) The No. 3 Report of the Education Commission For quite a long period, the chaotic condition of matriculation education in Hong Kong was caused by the different academic systems in the University of Hong Kong and CUHK. While this problem could not be solved easily, the University of Hong Kong came up with a proposal. The proposal, announced through a press release on 14 November 1986, revealed that the University Senate had, in principle, approved extend­ ing undergraduate degree programmes from three to four years of study. A working panel chaired by the University of Hong Kong Vice­ Chancellor, Dr Wang Gungwu, was set up to design the specific details of the conversion. At first, it seemed that this proposal by the University of Hong Kong would easily solve the long-drawn out e?ucational problems. However, the government had other ideas. Mr Fung Kwok Keung, Principal Assistant Secretary for Education, openly stated that the main policy of the Education and Manpower Branch was to increase the number of university places, as well as the funding for research, in the university. If the change of system in the University of Hong Kong should result in the reduction of the number of students, it would violate the main educational policy of the government at that time. (Ming Pao, 18 November 1986) In May 1988, the government announced that, in principle, it had no objection to the unification of matriculation curricula, and had agreed to set the term for matriculation at two years. In June of the same year, the Education Commission released its No. 3 Report proposing that all subsidized tertiary education institutions should recruit students upon completion of a two-year matriculation course at Form 7. The number of years of study for undergraduate programmes would also have to be made uniform. The recommendations of the No. 3 Report on Higher Education were controversial, as commented on in an editorial of a local newspaper. The leakage of information prior to the release of the Report in no way minimized the explosive effect of its publication. On 16 June 1988, the CUHK Senate issued a declaration, stating that the Senate, after serious consideration, had . unanimously rejected the two main recommendations set forth by the Education Commission, namely, the common requirement for · all tertiary education institutions to accept students upon their completion of Form 7, and the standardization of the number of years of undergraduate studies in all tertiary education

Institutional Changes

115

institutes. The requirement designating Form 7 as the point of admission for all institutions of tertiary education was considered by CUHK as extremely unfair to Form 6 students who might decide to attend local institutions with a four-year undergraduate programme, or go abroad to further their education in North America. The declaration also stated that standardizing the duration of studies for the various programmes would completely neglect the educational purpose in establishing these programmes. Lastly, the declaration pointed out that if the government were to adopt the two recommendations as policy without a detailed study of their feasibility, CUHK would view them as disrupting the autonomy of the University (through administrative measures). Not only would CUHK not cooperate with the implementation of the recom­ mendations, but it would steadfastly maintain its predeterminate stand. The following day, the University Senate issued a further declaration, elaborating its educational ideals and reiterating its determination to keep the existing academic system, which was to adopt a four-year undergraduate studies programme and admit both Form 6 and Form 7 students. These two declarations were confirmed and supported by the University Council at its meeting on 4 October. On 26 June, a peaceful rally against the No.3 Report of the Education Commission was or­ ganized by the Joint-Conference concerning the Academic System of Tertiary Education composed of teachers, students and alumni of CUHK. There were between three and four thousand participants in the Run Run Shaw Hall which was packed. Speakers included: Professor S. W. Tam, Acting Dean of the Faculty of Education, CUHK; Professor S. H. Liu, Department of Philosophy, CUHK; Dr C. Y. Chung, Presi­ dent of Shue Yan College; Dr Y. K. Luk, Senior Lecturer, Department of History, University of Hong Kong; Mr K. C. Lee, Principal of Kung Sheng Tang Middle School; Mr K. 0. Ho, President of the Educational Workers' Alliance, and Mr Szeto Wah, an elected Legislative Council­ lor from the education sector. Everyone basically reiterated their stand objecting to the use of administrative measures by the government in undermining the autonomy of a university, in matters ofstudent admis­ sion and academic programme development. It was proposed from the perspective of educational ideals, long-term benefits to society and the · quality of education, that Hong Kong universities should adopt a six­ year secondary school and four-year university system that went with ' the current of the times.

116

The Quest for Excellence

Intense public arguments on the recommendations of the Education Commission continued. Those in support of the Commission's recom­ mendations were of the opinion that since the government had already made it a policy of accepting a two-year matriculation programme, CUHK should base its considerations on the collective welfare of society, and change its academic system from four years to three. The unification of entrance examinations and the reduction of public ex­ aminations were the main issues that had long pressed CUHK to re-con­ struct its academic programmes. Now that these issues had been largely invalidated by the proposal of the University of Hong Kong seeking to change its undergraduate programmes from three to four years to match the academic system of CUHK, only two other reasons for change still remained. One was the opinion that two-year matriculation programmes were better, while the other was that three-year university programmes were more money-saving. According to a member of the Education Commission, who requested anonymity, the explanations given to adopt the policies of the report were largely based on these two arguments. Firstly, the nine-year compulsory education system had undoubtedly caused a decline in the quality of education and it was very difficult to find a good solution that would completely solve this problem. One remedy might be to strengthen the two-year matriculation programme, as a one-year matriculation system would actually cover a period of only six months. However, while it would be a preparation period for examinations, it could hardly compensate for the inadequacies of the nine-year compulsory education system. Secondly, society needed matriculation graduates of better quality. If general education and fun­ damental education were to be offered only at university level, fewer students would benefit, and society at large would have to wait for three more years before students of calibre became available. There were economic reasons why the Education Commission did not approve the retention of a four-year system in CUHK, and there were political considerations too. Politically, if CUHK were to keep the four-year system, other government subsidized post-secondary institutions would follow suit. The four-year system, whether working in conjunction with one-year or two-year matriculation programmes, would still be costly. According to the calculations of the Education Commission, if other subsidized post-secondary institutions were to follow CUHK and adopt the four-year system, the government would have to spend 700 million

Institutional Changes

117

dollars more every year. Funding for education in Hong Kong was already rather limited, accounting for only 19% of total government expenditure. Compared with other countries this was a relatively low figure. However, the number of Hong Kong students who could avail themselves of post-secondary education accounted for only 5% of the population of that age group. This figure was low when compared with the averages of between 10 to 15% in other developed countries. The target of the government was to increase the ratio to 10% by 1995. If the post-secondary education system was to be standardized to four years, this plan would probably have to be delayed. Those who opposed the recommendations of the Education Com­ mission argued that matriculation education was provided to prepare students for entering a university, and university education should there­ fore be the primary object, with matriculation education just secondary. The Education Commission's requiring the universities to accom­ modate themselves to, and coordinate with, the matriculation courses was simply a case of allowing the secondary to supersede the primary. Simply, it was a case of putting the cart before the horse. In an article entitled "The Hong Kong System of Education Should Be Reviewed in Its Entirety," Dr S. C. Cheng, Assistant Dean of the CUHK Faculty of Education, refuted an argument that a two-year system was better than a one-year system in matriculation education. He wrote that although this argument had certain points in its favour, the whole issue was being tackled in a piecemeal manner and no overall consideration had been given. While a total period of five years required for matriculation and university education was never in dispute, the main focus of the argu­ ment was whether it should be a one-plus-four or two-plus-three com­ bination. That more people could benefit from a two-year matriculation was the main reason for those who supported it. But Dr Cheng pointed out that matriculation education was just the continuation of grammar school, and that grammar schools were elitist education in nature. This was because they operated with the sole purpose of preparing students for higher education. Ignoring the nature of matriculation education, while arbitrarily "broadening" the Form 6 curriculum to introduce prac­ tical subjects designed for a larger cross-section of students would result in failure to meet objectives at either end and would thus be wasting taxpayers' money. (Ming Pao, 23 June 1988) In an article entitled "It Is Better to Abolish Matriculation Courses Than to Reform Them," the

118

The Quest for Excellence

author Siao Na pointed out that at the end of 1977, the government published the Green Paper on Senior and Tertiary Education, in which it was mentioned that: "The government held that, only students suitable for studying rigorous academic curricula should be allowed to enrol in Form 6." (Paragraph 6.6) This statement was in conflict with the recom­ mendation of the Commission to broaden the matriculation curriculum, indicating that the government was contradicting its own position. (Ta Kung Pao, 8 August 1988) Other people considered that the arbitrary requirement specifying that students should take a two-year matricula­ tion programme before entering the university was not only an infringe­ ment of the students parents' right to choice, but, it would also contribute to speeding up the "brain drain." Those unwilling to spend two years in a matriculation course could have no choice but to go abroad for their education. There were four arguments put forth by those who opposed the statement that a three-year degree programme was more cost effective than a four-year programme. Firstly, it was pointed out that if the foursyear system was adopted for tertiary education, the increase in annual expenditure would be 200 million dollars, and not 700 million as alleged by the Education Commission. The calculation in the No. 3 Report was obtained by adding an extra one-third over the regular 1986-1987 funding for post-secondary education and this method of calculation was questionable. There were certain programmes like Medicine, Dentistry, and Engineering that had a five-year period of study. To add one basic year would mean an increase of one-fifth, and not one-third of the expenditure. In addition, the purpose of adopting a four-year system in a university was to increase courses in language and general education. The facilities and expenses required for these courses were far less than for courses in science, engineering, medicine and the social sciences. Therefore, the introduction of one more year did not necessarily represent a one-third increase in expenses. If the four-year system were adopted by a university Form 7 would become unneces­ sary. Secondary schools could then employ 5-plus-1, 4-plus-2, or 3plus-3 systems and savings from such programmes could amount to between 100 and 300 million dollars each year. In other words, post­ secondary institutions in Hong Kong could adopt the four-year system without incurring any additional expenses. (Wah Kiu Yat Po, 12 July 1988) Secondly, it was pointed out that the No. 3 Report only focused on

Institutional Changes

119

the financial aspects of the issues, and not on "economics." The system could indeed save money. But if the decision-makers were not clear about their objectives and sought for short-term coordination at the expense of long term benefits, defects could arise in their design that would cause a failure to meet the needs of the parents and students, and this would bring about misallocation of resources. The long-term effects of such a waste in economy could well exceed savings in administrative expenses. (Pai Shing Bi-monthly, l July 1988, pp. 11-12) Conversely, if the one-year matriculation system was implemented, students who failed to be admitted by the university could join the work force without wasting their time. This arrangement would be better aligned with social economic principles. (Wah Kiu Yat Po, 17 July 1988) Thirdly, even if extra funding were needed for the implementation of a four-year univer­ sity system, this still should not be a decisive factor, because Hong Kong was an affluent society. (Ta Kung Pao, 14 July 1988) Fourthly, No. 3 Report used only administrative and economic reasons to demonstrate the advantages of the three-year system and ignored the educational ideals of the university reflecting the Committee's shortsightedness. (Ming Pao, 23 July 1988) However, Andrew R. Wells, Secretary or the Education Commission, later averred that finance was not the Commission's main consideration. (Wah Kiu Yat Po, 11 July 1988) On 2 December 1988, the student unions of the three Colleges of CUHK called for a half-day sit-down strike demanding that the govern­ ment drop the No. 3 Report. The strike started at 12:30 p.m. Many students gathered in the University Square. Under the direction of monitors, they sat down along the University Mall. All kinds of slogans and posters were plastered around the Mall. By 1:00 p.m., an estimated 4000 students had arrived, and several hundred teachers from. the various faculties also attended. On that day, The CUHK Teachers' Association also issued a statement, supporting the students in their strike. On 27 January 1989, the government announced that the Executive Council had already accepted the recommendations of the No.· 3 Report of the Education Commission. The recommendations required all sub­ sidized post-secondary institutions to standardize their admissions at Form 7, and to adopt uniform academic years of studies in similar undergraduate programmes. But for those post-secondary institutions

120

The Quest for Excellence

using a four-year system at the time, a transition period of six to nine years would be allowed, to enable them to gradually standardize their admission systems at Form 7 with other institutions. On 31 January, the CUHK Senate issued an announcement express­ ing its profound disappointment at the acceptance of the No. 3 Report of the Education Commission by the Executive Council. It also stated that the proposals in the report did not have specific grounds of support to show their applicability. Further, the report brought about unresolved debates in society, and were severly criticized by people in the field of education. The announcement reiterated that the most suitable academic system for Hong Kong would be the six years of secondary school and four years of university. This system, when compared with the "5.2.3" system, would not necessarily be more costly in terms of funding. Further, when secondary school students had reached a level at which they were ready to receive university education, they should not be deprived of the freedom to pursue such education at an earlier date. For these reasons, the Senate held that it did not have to change its consistent standing; and refused to accept the two Executive Council policies conveyed to CUHK by the Secretary for Education and Manpower on 27 January 1989. The announcement also stated that the University would exert all its efforts to admit students and establish new degree programmes in conformity with legal ordinances and regulations and its own educational objectives.

(5) Abolition of the Degree Examination and Adoption of a Flexible Credit Unit System On 1 February 1989, Andrew R. Wells, Secretary of the Education Commission and Principal Assistant Secretary for Education and Man­ power, announced in an open forum that, in spite of CUHK insistence on taking Form 6 as a point of admission before 1994, he believed that this would not affect the progress of the reform of the academic system, and the standardization of university admissions. Funding procedures dictated that CUHK had to discuss with the UPGC by 1991, at the latest, on funding for degree programmes after 1994. He also declared thatthe government would not use legislative procedures to press CUHK to change its system, but would impose economic sanctions through the directions of the UPGC. However, as an editorial in Ming Pao on 28

Institutional Changes

121

January 1989 pointed out, Hong Kong universities relied heavily on government grants, and so there was little difference between legislative enforcement and economic sanctions. In these circumstances, CUHK had only two alternatives. One was to halt developments and allow other post-secondary institutions to overtake the University. The other alter­ native was to follow the directive of the UPGC, which stipulated that additional degree programmes introduced through extra funding must use Form. 7 as the point of admission. In order to extricate itself from this plight, CUHK proposed the adoption of a Flexible Credit Unit System. On 8 February 1989, Vice-Chancellor Charles K. Kao in a speech at a degree conferring ceremony, revealed that the University was studying a proposal for adopting an Improved Credit Unit System. This proposal hoped to devise a new set of programmes that would allow students of differing levels and abilities to complete the required . creclit units for a degree progran:une within three or four years, or even a shorter period of time. In this way, the issue of the number of academic years would become meaningless, and arguments over it would be unnecessary. Rather than saying that circumstances pressured CUHK into proposing the flexible credit unit system, it would be better to view it as a reasonable outcome of natural developments. To understand this point, it is necessary to review the changes in the examination systems throughout the history of CUHK. As mentioned earlier in this chapter, a combination of a degree examination system, an academic year system, and a credit unit system was adopted soon after its founding. The first degree examination was held in 1964. There were nine examination papers, six on major and three on minor subjects. From 1968 this was changed to seven papers, five on major and two on minor subjects. In their third year, the candidates could take Part I of the degree examina­ tion, consisting of three papers (usually including two major papers). In the fourth year, students had to take Part II, consisting of four degree examination papers. Beginning in 1967, CUHK students were required to take an intermediate examination after completing two years of study. The examination was conducted by the University Central Office and consisted of two parts. The first part included a paper on Chinese Language and another on English. The second part of the examination included a paper on the major subject, one on the minor and another on an elective subject. Students must pass all five papers before proceeding

122

The Questfor Excellence

to their third year, and there was no arrangement for make-up examina­ tions. The examination system of CUHK was rather complicated in the sixties. Students had to take part in joint examinations conducted by the University Central Office every year, in addition to examinations in other subjects. Finding such pressures too excessive, the student unions of the three Foundation Colleges initiated in May 1968 a request to reform the intermediate examination. The request was accepted by the University, and it was decided that those who failed the intermediate examination would be allowed to take a make-up examination in Sep­ tember of the same year. In 1969, the University appointed an Examina­ tion System Review Ad-hoe Committee, chaired by the University Vice-Chancellor. After discussions at various levels, recommendations were drafted and submitted to the Senate for-approval. Finally, it was decided by the University Senate that the Chinese and English (the language tests) of the intermediate examination would be handled by the individual colleges. The paper on elective subject would be cancelled, but the major and minor subject papers would be retained. Furthermore, following the recommendations of the Degree Classification Ad-Hoe Committee, bachelor's degrees awarded by the University were hence­ forth classified as Honours and General. Honour degrees in tum were classified into the categories of First, Second Upper, Second Lower and Third. In 1973, the University Senate moved to abolish the i.ntermediate examination, effective 1974. At the end of 1983, University Vice-Chancellor Ma Lin appointed an ad-hoe committee responsible for reviewing the curriculum structure of undergraduate programmes, chaired by Professor Ambrose Y. C. King. Committee members included Professor D. C. Lau, Dr Kenneth Young, Dr K. H. Lee, and Dr P. W. Liu (who also acted as Committee Secretary). After working for more than six months, a report was sub­ mitted to the Vice-Chancellor in November 1984. Recommended reforms in the report covered three areas. The first was the adoption of the credit unit system, to be used as the basis for evaluation of student academic achievements and degree classification. At the same time, the legal status and jurisdiction of the External Examination Committee were retained. The second recommendation was a complete overhaul of curricula. Minor subjects originally made compulsory were changed to voluntary elective subjects. General education was strengthened, and

Institutional Changes

123

flexibility of subject selection by students was enhanced. The objective of all this was tnmake the curriculum more balanced. The third was to raise the demands'i1{the general education curriculum and language training. After amendments, these reforms were adopted by the University Senate and implemented in the academic year 1986-1987. For CUHK, this was a major reform as the degree examination which had been in force ever since the founding of the University was now abolished. (Note: Certain faculties and departments still retained one comprehensive examination paper until 1993 to 1994.) Even before the release of the No. 3 Report of the Education Commission, CUHK had shown a tendency towards developing the credit unit system. But as yet the reform had not touched the issue of the academic year system. By February of 1989, three years after the implementation of the credit unit system, Vice-Chancellor Charles K. Kao appointed a panel to be responsible for a complete review. The panel was chaired by Professor Ambrose Y. C. King, and members included Dr P. W. Liu and Ms Linda Hu. After six months, the Panel came up with a new set of recommendations, making the credit. unit system even more flexible, so that it was called the Flexible Credit Unit System. The recommended amendments covered many areas, but the most important was the absence of yearly promotion demarcations. Instead, credit units obtained would be the only basis of evaluation. Furthermore, the Panel also recommended that the University admit both Form 6 and Form 7 students at the same time. Form 7 students would be given exemption from certain credits, so that it would be possible for them to complete their undergraduate programme in three years. As this stage, the academic system of CUHK, originally a combina­ tion of degree examination, academic year and credit unit system, has developed into a simpler and more flexible credit unit system after years of metamorphic changes. This is the result of adapting to the realities of the day, and may also be seen as an expression of maturity and con­ fidence.

mirt9r

4 Chinese Studies and Cultural Integration Sze-kwang LAO

An international conference hosted by the Chinese Medicinal Material Research Centre, June 1984

Background: The Institute of Chinese Studies

126

The Questfor Excellence

History in Retrospect (1) Environment in Which the University Was Founded Before the immense political and social changes of mainland China in 1949, Hong Kong did not embrace a strong academic tradition, or hold learning and culture in high regard. The only institute of higher educa­ tion in Hong Kong then was the University of Hong Kong, and its main function was to cultivate well-trained professionals to serve local society. The Department of Chinese in the University of Hong Kong was more like an organization for Sinological Studies. Its curriculum, and teaching staff, were divided among various courses in literature, history, philosophy and fine arts. Political changes in mainland China brought about sudden shocks and changes to the system of education and academic studies in Hong Kong. After 1949, a large number of scholars and educational workers left the mainland, some of these people settling in Hong Kong. Among . the political refugees were also youths who, upon arriving in Hong Kong, needed further secondary and post-secondary education. In response to these new demands for higher education, the exiled educational workers were able only to establish post-secondary colleges with crude and simple facilities. However, as these scholars were en­ thusiastic in carrying on the traditions of Chinese liberal education, they fought to maintain their colleges in spite of economic and political hardship, and thus sowed the seeds for a new system of higher education in Hong Kong. Among these colleges, New Asia College, Chung Chi College and United College were to become the Foundation Colleges of The Chinese University. New Asia College was jointly established by renowned historian Ch'ien Mu, philosopher Tang Chun-i, and economist Tchang Pi-kai along with many other exiled scholars. Funds for the College were obtained through soliciting donations, and the College endured tremendous hardship in the early years. Professors Ch'ien, Tang and their colleagues hoped to revitalize Chinese traditional culture,. and to provide a new resource for the Chinese people. The spiritual unity among the teachers and the students reflected a strong idealism, which eventually brought about an unprecedented change of the old customs of Hong Kong society. Chung Chi College was jointly sponsored by Christian Churches

Chinese Studies and Cultural Integration

127

that were originally conducting tertiary education in China. The College was established to continue the traditions of these now defunct Christian universities. In the study of Chinese and Western cultures, the College emphasized the introduction of Western traditions into China and the East, showing a striking contrast to the traditional fundamentalism of New Asia College. United College was established in 1956 by the merging of five smaller post-secondary colleges, which had moved from Canton to Hong Kong. These colleges were Canton Overseas, Wen Hua, Kwang Hsia, Wah Kiu and Ping Jing. They were provided with financial assis­ tance by the Asia Foundation and the Mencius Foundation. The five colleges jointly concentrated on addressing the needs of the unique situation of Hong Kong, by promoting the integration of Chinese and Western cultures, and, at the same time, adapting to the changing trends of the world. At that time, there were many other so-called "refugee schools," with differing standards. The lack of a set of common stan.dards was reflected in areas like teachers' qualifications and programmes of studies. According to B. Mellor, in the 34 private post-secondary schools at that time, one-quarter of the teachers were part-time, and 2 out of every 5 teachers did not have a university degree. The program­ mes offered varied in length from only three to eighteen months. Longer ·. programmes were also available, but these were mostly determined by individual teachers. (Bernard Mellor, The University of Hong Kong, Vol. 1, 1980, p. 117) All these presented an extreme and abnormal situation for higher education in Hong Kong. As a solution, the estab­ lishment of a Chinese university was proposed. The Chinese University uses Chinese as the principal medium of instruction, this being its fundamental difference from the University of Hong Kong, which uses English as its official language. This difference naturally affected the attitudes of the two universities towards Chinese and Western traditions. In addition, since The Chinese University is composed of three colleges, the individual traits of the Colleges natural­ ly have had great influence on the characteristics of the University as a · whole. The following section is a brief description of the attitudes and research work of the Colleges on the issues of Chinese and Western cultures.

128

The Quest for Excellence

(2) Cultural Background of the Foundation Colleges and Their Cultural Work As mentioned above, the founders of New Asia originally embraced the ideal of promoting Chinese culture which they infused into their teach­ ing and research. The philosophies of Ch'ien Mu and Tang Chun-i carried the most significant influence upon this basic orientation of the College. In his early years, Ch'ien Mu wrote the Outline of Chinese History, in which he made the point that Chinese history and culture contained in themselves unique characteristics which were part of a tradition that must be preserved. When discussing the integration of Chinese and Western cultures, Ch'ien insisted that such activities should be based on Chinese culture. Through teaching and writing, this position of Ch'ien Mu formed an important part of the New Asia Spirit. But Ch'ien was basically an historian, and his arguments were based on his under­ standing of Chinese history. In the elucidation of the principles of traditional philosophy and the study of issues in universal theories and thinking, the predominant figure representative of New Asia was Tang Chun-i. Tang was a great master of neo-Confucianism, who had published numerous books. After participating in the founding of New Asia, he put further energy into his work. Not only was Tang uniquely well versed in Confucianism, Taoism, and doctrines of other masters in traditional Chinese philosophy, he also had a profound knowledge of traditional European philosophic theories, especially the Hegelian sys­ tem in German traditional idealism, which Tang admired. During the period of Tang's lecturing in Hong Kong, a constant stream of new ideas arose out of his deliberations in culture and philosophy, forming new ideological trends. The influence of the work of Tang was not confined to Hong Kong or to New Asia, in particular, though before the establishment of The Chinese University, New Asia had indeed been the base of Tang's work and thought. On the issue of the synthesis of Western and Chinese cultures, the main points of New Asia Philosophy, under the influence of Ch'ien and Tang, are briefly discussed in the following paragraphs. First: Ch'ien was a scholar solely devoted to his national heritage, to the extent that he did not pay much attention to modern culture, yet his

Chinese Studies and Cultural Integration

129

opinions about upholding cultural traditions kindled the admiration of a great many people. This is a basic characteristic of the traditions of New Asia. Second: Tang's learning was as profound as it was broad. His methodology was derived from both the Hua Yen Sect of the Buddhist religion, and the thorough-going idealism of Hegelian philosophy. As a result, he had an appropriate understanding of the characteristics of Chinese and Western cultural traditions, and had no intention of obliterating the achievements of the West. But when comparing Chinese, Western and Indian cultural traditions, Tang still ranked the achievements of Chinese Confucianism as the highest of the three. Tang was aware of the problems of limitation inherent in Chinese culture, but promotion of the merits of Chinese culture was ultimately the main theme of his writings. In this sense, Tang should be viewed as a traditionalist, and in this way did his thinking contribute to the style of study in New Asia College. Third: Since traditionalism was the basic style of study in New Asia, not much attention was directed to the study of modern culture. Although the New Asia students and faculty had no objections to the modernization of China, their true concern still lay in the preservation of traditions. This emphasis was even more obvious in New Asia College before amalgamation, and was evident again when the New Asia Re­ search Institute later remained independent from The Chinese Univer­ sity. The characteristics of the New Asia spirit and style of study are so distinct that their substantial influence on The Chinese University in subsequent years is evident. Chung Chi College inherited the traditions of Christian universities, and in orientation and style, it was not traditionalist. Before the estab­ lishment of The Chinese University, the style of study in Chung Chi was largely influenced by Church authorities. The most obvious example of this influence can be seen in its general education programme. Chung Chi was modelled after American universities from the outset. It placed emphasis on the idea of liberal arts education as against excessive specialization. In fact, however, the courses on Philosophy of Life offered in Chung Chi in early days were largely based on Christian doctrines. (see Chung Chi Academic Calendars before 1964) Its intro" duction of Western philosophical ideologies also laid more stress on

130

The Quest for Excellence

those of ancient times. Furthermore, in search of the characteristics of scientific and historical knowledge, only the writings of Church scholars were used as references, resulting in an estrangement from modern and contemporary Western culture. Almost no programmes were specifically established in the area of Chinese culture and philosophy (with the exception of the Chinese Language Depart­ ment). After the release of the Fulton Report, the three Colleges all proceeded to restructure according to its recommendations. Chung Chi set up the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies and overhauled the design of its general education programme, resulting in the introduction of a four-year general education programme, later renamed Integrated Basic Studies. This new programme included the following courses. First Year, Idea of a University and Methodology; Second Year, Essentials of Chinese Culture; Third Year, Introduction to Selected Famous Modern Western Writings; Fourth Year, Special Topics. With the introduction of the above courses, this programme then became a General Education Programme in the normal sense. As a matter of fact, the General Education Programme is closely related with the issue of the synthesis of Western and Chinese cultures. The problem related to cultural trends was basically an ideological one, and there were no programmes addressing such issues in the various academic departments except for the General Education Programme in which the elucidation and study of these problems and.questions come into the picture. The reform of the General Education Programme thus had a great influence on the attitude of the students towards cultural issues. Chung Chi College did not change its original practice of attach­ ing more importance to the introduction of Western culture, and em­ phasizing demands for the modernization of China. What was really changed was the strengthening of liberalist inclinations. By reforming the General Education Programme, the Department of Religious Studies was changed to the Department of Philosophy and Religion, and courses in pure philosophy were gradually added into the curriculum. The lecturers encouraged objective understanding and independent thinking, and the students began to engage themselves in various theoretical investigative studies. The re-recognition of Chinese culture, and the study of issues on Chinese and Western cultural communication were all conducted under the principle of free and liberal thinking. Ideas and

Chinese Studies and Cultural Integration

131

systems of Chinese Confucianism and Christian doctrine no longer created any limitations on research and thinking. The change of the style of study in Chung Chi occurred during the initial establishment period of The Chinese University. It is obvious that its changed direction exerted influence on the attitude of the University towards cultural issues. United College was not a continuation of Christian universities, nor did it inherit the idealism of the traditionalists. It was able to break new ground, and assumed the mission of promoting the interchange of Chinese and Western cultures. Among the seven major goals summed up in the conference of College founders in 1956, the sixth goal of the College was "the promotion and interflow of Chinese and foreign cul­ tures;" (United College Board of Governors: Organizational Regula­ tions, paragraph 2) As one of the founders of the College, Dr P. K. Chen recalled that the aims of establishing the College were to "cultivate talented people of combined general and specialized skills, to promote the interflow of Chinese and Western cultures, to elevate the standard of higher educa­ tion, and to develop studies of advanced learning." (P. K. Chen, 50 Years in University Education, Volume II, p. 124) Although United College indicated that the interflow of Chinese and Western cultures was one of its goals, it is clear that more emphasis was placed on the introduction of foreign cultures and academic subjects. In its early ( 1963-1964) General Education Programme, nothing related to Chinese culture and learning was included in its six academic courses. ( United College Calendar 1963-1964) This situation was similar to that of Chung Chi.

(3) The Aims and Ideals of The Chinese University Since its founding, The Chinese University has had a clear stand on university education. It firmly believes in a balanced development of liberal and professional education. The first Vice-Chancellor, Choh­ ming Li, clearly stated that: There can be no doubt that more highly trained professional people are needed to run Hong Kong's sophisticated economy which has reached formidable dimensions. But the community needs leaders as well as highly competent technicians. While professional education

132

The Questfor Excellence

provides technical competence, liberal education develops leadership qualities.... In fact, The Chinese University believes that the liberal arts should be part of everyone's education and should therefore be included in the educational programmes of all students at all levels. (The First Six Years 1963-1969, p. 6) Based upon this guiding principle, The Chinese University decided to attach importance to the study of macroscopic cultural issues. Dr Li further pointed out that liberal education did belong to Chinese cultural traditions, leading to the University's concern and responsibilities for Chinese culture. Li said: The concept of liberal education is not necessarily a foreign one. It has grown from the native soil of Chinese culture and has always been a part of the Chinese philosophy of education. The name of The Chinese University, in Chinese, may mean the use of Chinese as the principal language of instruction. It may also mean a university with a firm background in Chinese culture. (Ibid.) Dr Li then pointed out that in this context, The Chinese University assumed a unique mission: In addition to the twin aims of achieving excellence in teaching and research in the sciences ahd liberal arts and enriching the Chinese cultural tradition in a modern academic setting, the University strives to become a major centre of research and teaching for regional studies, particularly studies of China. (Ibid.) Furthermore, Li indicated that The Chinese University should as­ sume the mission of bridging the past and the present as well as Eastern and Western cultures: The goal will be the application of modern methods of investigation and analysis, particularly in the social sciences, to the study of the development of China and East Asia. More specifically, the University encourages its students and scholars to cultivate a new "sensitivity" and "methodology" in order to secure a fresh vision of the fundamen­ tal values of traditional cultural heritage as well as the problems that are uniquely regional in nature. Those values, furthermore, are to be explored and assessed in relation to the modern world and expressed clearly and forcefully as part of the entire scene of cultural interaction. Thus, The Chinese University should be a two-arched bridge between the past and the present, the East and the West. (Ibid.)

Chinese Studies and Cultural Integration

133

From ·this it can be seen that one of the aims of The Chines� University is to adopt actively a progressive and mediatory attitude towards the relationship of Chinese and Western culture. This aim has become the most important basis of liberal education in The Chinese University. As mentioned earlier, member Colleges like New Asia and Chung Chi originally held different positions on Chinese cultural development. But since its founding, The Chinese University has em­ phasized cultural synthesis in order to bring all the research achieve­ ments of the Colleges together to achieve further advancement. Since both mediation and synthesis are held in high regard, the main guiding principle of The Chinese University has always been attaching equal importance to Chinese and Western cultures. Even in teaching, the principle of attaching equal importance to both Chinese and English languages is emphasized. But the preservation and development of Chinese culture is still regarded as the basic mission of the University itself. In 1978, Dr Li received an honorary q.egree from The Chinese University upon his retirement. In the ceremony, Li mentioned this special mission. He said: This special mission is of tremendous importance · to us, for it will enable our teaching staff to render teaching materials more relevant to our social needs, to advance the existing frontiers of knowledge, and to make original contributions to the theories and principles of various sciences. In a nutshell, The Chinese University of Hong Kong is the university that seeks to include a Chinese dimension in all academic disciplines. (Address of Choh-ming Li at the 19th Congregation of The Chinese University of Hong Kong on 2 October 1978) The connotations of the terms "introduction," "development," and "inclusion" that were used here are not precise from a theoretical point of view. But the message is obvious. It expresses the intention of integrating the achievements of Chinese culture· with other modem learning in order to bring about a synthesis of Chinese and Western culture. This idea remained unchanged after Professor Ma Lin assumed the Office of Vice-Chancellor. One may find it difficult to make comments from a theoretical point of view on the success of this aim of the University as the above is only a general guideline. But by observing the actual work ac­ complished, it is apparent that the efforts of The Chinese University have achieved success in some fields. In the following sections, we will

134

The Questfor Excellence

give a description of the research and academic activities of The Chinese University in the synthesis of Chinese and Western culture.

Research and Academic Activities In carrying out research relating to the synthesis of Chinese and Western culture, the regular work is shared among the various relevant depart­ ments and faculties and in addition, special institutes have been created for some programmes. Two of these are the Institute of Chinese Studies, in charge of overall promotion, and the Chinese Medicinal Materials Research Centre, conducting special· topic studies by using scientific methods to analyze the chemical composition of Chinese medicinal materials. This section will summarize the work and achievements of these two institutes as examples of research carried out by The Chinese University in the study of Chinese and Western culture. A broad outline will be given as supplement to the curricula and research of the relevant departments and faculties involving the synthesis of Chinese and Western culture.

(1) The Institute of Chinese Studies The Institute of Chinese Studies was established in November 1967 by Vice-Chancellor Choh-ming Li who also became the first Director of the Institute. In 1970 the building of the Institute was completed, with · the Art Gallery as part of it. Under the federal system, the constituent Colleges maintained their departments and original education policies, so that the aims proclaimed by The Chinese University could only be put into practice by the University Central Office. In this context, the importance of the Institute of Chinese Studies was even more pronounced. As the name implies, the main mission of the Institute of Chinese Studies is to promote Chinese culture and to reformulate traditional ideas. But in its conceptud basis there is a big difference from the attitude of traditionalism. In his 1975-1978 Report, Vice-Chancellor Choh-ming Li had the following explanation of this difference: The Institute, therefore, has accepted the following basic principles to promote Chinese Studies. (1) to adopt a broad and interdisciplinary

Chinese Studies and Cultural Integration

135

approach; (2) to create a new synthesis between the East and the West and; (3) to search for continuity from early to contemporary periods in the development of Chinese culture. (A New Era Begins 1975-1978, p. 63) In conducting Chinese studies, the general direction is guided by emphasis on modernity, internationality, and objectivity. The three prin­ ciples quoted in the report above correspond with these three concepts. The first concept implies the adoption of the methods of modem social sciences and humanities. The second calls for the establishment of a new position for Chinese culture in facing the various cultural traditions of the world, in other words, the search for a certain kind of synthesis. The third concept refers to objective research in cultural history. Ob­ viously, issues concerning the concepts of Chinese traditional values were avoided on purpose. There was a marked difference between the attitudes of the University and New Asia towards traditional Chinese culture. In accordance with New Asia traditions, the promotion and expansion of the concepts of Chinese traditional values had always been their main objective. In line with these basic concepts, Vice-Chancellor Choh-rning Li further enumerated concrete work plans in the course of n;ientioning the "aims" of the Institute of Chinese Studies. Dr Li said: The Institute has, therefore, the following objectives: (1) to promote the Chinese Data Programme so that every Re­ search Institute/Centre in the University will start its own storage and collection of relevant data in its own field to support research projects and enrich its teaching programmes; (2) to encourage the exchange of knowledge and expertise in Chinese studies through its well�planned exhibits, seminars, lectures, conferences, exchange scholar programme and publi­ cations; (3) to promote scholarship in Chinese studies in Hong Kong and overseas by serving as an international centre for Chinese studies capable of effectively rendering research facilities to other research institutes and maintaining mutually beneficial cooperation with them and; (4) to assist the University in developing Chinese studies programmes at both the undergraduate and the graduate level

136

The Quest for Excellence

by means of a well-integrated interdisciplinary approach, so that a Chinese dimension can be added to all disciplines. (Ibid.) Among the kinds of work cited here, the most worthy of attention is item 3, for it puts forth plans in support of other organizations in their research work. The Institute of Chinese Studies is not just an internal research organization, it has also the intention of becoming a "promoter." The term "Hong Kong and overseas" obviously included mainland China and this point has much to do with the situation in later days when the Institute has stressed its contacts and communication with mainland Chinese scholars. The work conducted by the Institute of Chinese Studies over the years can be classified into five categories: Research Plans and Publications Visiting Scholar Programmes Seminars International Conferences The Art Gallery Research Plans and Publications

The Institute of Chinese Studies employs research fellows and assistant associates to engage in special topic studies. The Institute also supports other departments in their research projects, achieving abundant results every year, for example, the Research Centre for Translation, the Art Gallery, the Centre for Chinese Archaeology and Art, and the Chinese Language Research Centre. The Art Gallery and the other centres all carry on research projects and produce publications. Detailed records of data on research results can be found in the annual records of the various centres. Here a brief description of the research results of the Institute in the academic year 1976-1977 is taken as an example. Chou Fa-kao and Chang Teh-chang assumed the post of Senior Research Fellows in 1976, and other Emeritus Professors have since been taking such positions to conduct special topic researches on their own. Research projects completed within this year included: Professor Chuan Han-sheng's "Economic History of Modem China," Professor Ambrose King's "A Study of the New Sociology of Communist China,"

Chinese Studies and Cultural Integration

137

Professor Jao Tsung-i's "An Anthology of Tzu Poetry of the Ming Period," and Dr Lee Yun-kuang's "A Study of K'ang Yuwei's Life and Thought of His Late Years with Special Reference to His Unpublished Manuscripts Dated between 1813-1927." There were several publications including Appendixes to an Etymological Dictionary ofAncient Chinese Bronze Inscriptions and A Concordance to Kuang Ya, edited by Chou Fa-kao and others, all important works of philological interest. In December of the sameyear, the Journal of the Institute of Chinese Studies was published. It con­ tained a number of important articles, including those by Yen Keng­ wang and Wang Teh-chao. In the areas of research and publication, special attention should be directed to the activities of the Research Centre for Translation and the Art Gallery, two of the centres with a longer period of develop­ ment. The Research Centre for Translation was established in 1971. In 1973, it started the publication of a semi-annual translation magazine called Renditions in which Chinese literary writings are translated into English. On the one hand, it upgrades translation techniques and puts forward translation theories; on the other hand, it introduces Chinese literary writings to the Western academic world. Of the 38 issues pub­ lished, 21 were on special topics. The selected translation materials cover a wide range of topics including philosophy, history, biographies, novels, poetry, and fine arts. Both the China Quarterly and the Times Literary Supplement in London have a high opinion of the English translation works of Renditions. Aside from conducting translation from Chinese to English, the Centre also publishes Renditions Books, in hard cover editions and Renditions Paperbacks. These books have often been selected by European and American universities as teaching materials. The various Renditions publications are being distributed in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and South Africa through professional agents, and have been well received. Other than running its operation in publications, the Research Centre for Translation has also set up a Computer Data Base for long­ term studies on literary translation topics. The objectives of the base are: (1) to help translators in discovering blank areas in translation; (2) to provide them with complete translation data information to avoid

138

The Quest for Excellence

unnecessary repetitions and; (3) if possible, to include annotations to the collected data for the reference of scholars in translation studies. The research topics of the individual members of the Centre usually concentrate on Chinese literature and the integration of Chinese and Western cultures. Also established in 1971, the Art Gallery has published more than 40 books and catalogues, falling broadly into three areas. In the first, are printed descriptive catalogues, the products of each special exhibition, as well as relevant research results, numbering about thirty. The exhibits of the Art Gallery cover a broad range, details of which will be elaborated in the Art Gallery section of this chapter. The second area is that of special journals on items collected by the Gallery, including publications on Calligraphy and Paintings by Guangdong Artists in Ming and Qing Dynasties, Bronze Seals of the Warring States, Qin and Han Dynasties, and the Hua Shan Stone Tablet Rubbings of the Song Dynasty. All these reflect the characteristics of collections in the Gal­ lery. The third area is the study of cultural objects, such as records of seminars on research into the seals of the various dynasties, or the calligraphy and paintings of the Ming dynasty remnant scholars. Details of the work of the Art Gallery will be given in the Art Gallery section of this chapter. In 1978, Professor Cheng Te-k'un returned to Hong Kong from Cambridge University and establishedthe Centre for Chinese Archaeol­ ogy and Art, to promote this study in the University and in other places of the world. Since its inception, the Centre has been striving to develop a library, data bank and an indexing system for its collection of books, magazines and documents from both China and abroad in the fields of Chinese archaeology and art. In its early years, the Centre concentrated on the arrangement and study of archaeological documents. Many jour­ nals on special topics have been published, including the works of Professor Cheng Te-k'un like Studies in Chinese Archaeology, Studies in Chinese Art, Studies in Chinese Ceramics, and the works of other scholars such as Professor Jao Tsung-i, Dr Chang Kwang-chih and Mr Shou-chin Lin. Since Professor D. C. Lau took charge of the research work in Chinese Language in 1980, more emphasis has been placed on the semantics and grammar of the texts of classics and the social applica­ tions of language. Recently, with donations from UPGC and the Chiang

Chinese Studies and Cultural Integration

139

Ching-kuo Foundation, documents from the Qin to the Six Dynasties have been stored in the computer data base. From these data, twelve volumes of The /CS Ancient Chinese Texts Concordance Series have been published. As Dr F. C. Chen, the current Director of the Institute of Chinese Studies pointed out: The building of a systematic and comprehensive database of ancient texts is a basic and essential task for classical Chinese studies, as it would then have made the powerful method of electronic processing available for such research, and its potential for development is practi­ cally unlimited. (From Tradition to the Present: The Institute of Chinese Studies 1967-1992, p. 17) The Institute bought in the collections of letters and telegrams of Sheng Hsiian-huai, a famous industrialist in the late Qing dynasty, in 1983, and since then a long-term research and publication plan based on these materials has been devised. The first series of nine volumes entitled Letters of Prominent Figures in Modern China were published in 1986. More will be published during the 1990s, including telegrams and correspondence concerning industries and business agreements in the Qing dynasty. These activities and publications of the Institute of Chinese Studies are just a few examples of its achievements since its establishment. It is sufficient to show the general standard and .orientation of the research and publication work of the Institute. By 1992, twenty-two issues of /CS Journal had been published. In spite of occasional delays caused by the collection of articles and printing problems, the publication of the /CS Journal has never been interrupted. In addition to the academic journal, other periodicals of the Institute include the Chinese Language Newsletter and Twenty-first Century Bi-monthly. The publication of Chinese Language Newsletter, also a bi-monthly, began in March 1989 and by March 1992, nineteen issues had been published. The Chinese Language Studies appeared in its first volume in 1979. Both the Chinese Language Newsletter and Chinese Language Studies are sponsored by the Ng Tor-tai Chinese Language Research Centre of the Institute of Chinese Studies, and their contents are mainly concerned with the promotion of a meticulous study of the Chinese language.

140

The Quest for Excellence

The Twenty-first Century Bi-monthly is a publication covering ideological issues and had its first volume out in October 1990. Academics from Hong Kong, Taiwan and overseas areas have been invited by the Institute to form an editorial board, and the editing and compiling are taken on by the Institute staff. Contributions are often submitted by Chinese scholars from the mainland. This journal is cur­ rently one of the few Hong Kong periodicals allowed to enter China, where it is highly regarded.

Visiting Scholar Programmes Over the years, the Institute of Chinese Studies has invited academics from all over the world to come and deliver lectures and carry out short-term research projects in Hong Kong. The Institute provides of­ fices and accommodation for the visiting scholars, and extends research subsidies to some of the projects. The number of visiting academics delivering lectures is quite large, more than ten each year. These academics come from the United States, Great Britain, Western Europe, Japan and other regions. The Institute also receives visiting scholars from mainland China and Taiwan. During the 1970s and 1980s the number of visiting scholars from China steadily increased. To take an example, for the academic year 1979-1980, among twelve visiting scholars, only three were from China and one from Taiwan; the rest were from the United States, Europe or Japan. But in 1985-1986, among the thirteen visitors to the Institute for one or two-week periods, only one was from Japan, and the other twelve were all from mainland China. This has followed the general trend of the Institute of Chinese Studies which from the 1980s placed special em­ phasis on academic exchange activities with mainland China. This policy was not in conflict with the original principle of The Chinese University, which emphasized giving equal importance to both Chinese and Western culture. It also indicated the direction the work of the Institute of Chinese Studies was taking. The Research Centre for Translation provides funds for the Rendi­ tions Visiting Scholar and the Renditions Honorary Visiting Scholar. Every year, internationally-renowned translation experts are invited to the Centre for long-term visits, conducting literary translation projects and giving lectures. Scholars that have been invited include Professor

Chinese Studies and Cultural Integration

141

Burton Watson, Professor Goran Malmqvist, Professor Cyril Birch, Mr Frederick C. Tsai and Professor Lucy Zhau. The visiting scholars often conduct special topic seminars. This activity is different from individual research, and will be discussed later. Usually each visiting scholar will deliver at le.ast one public lecture, an exhaustive list of these, however, cannot be given here. Generally speaking, the functions of the visiting scholar programme are not just a superficial social activity; the programme brings about positive results in strengthening the understanding of Chinese culture, and in promoting academic research. Seminars The emphasis of a seminar lies in the discussion amongst the par­ ticipants. It is different in nature from a public lecture, although the moderator may first deliver a special topic report. Participants can put forward comments from different angles and at different levels on the propositions and arguments of the speaker. The end result is helpful in advancing mutual understanding. Seminars conducted by the Institute of Chinese Studies in its early days were mostly moderated by scholars in the University, or those related with the University, and only on a few occasions did visiting scholars deliver reports on special topics. Later on, seminars gradually came to be dominated by visiting scholars. In the academic year 1976-1977, a total of eleven seminars were conducted. The speakers were Wang Teh-chao, Chang Teh-chang, Hideo Nishioka (Japan), Liu Ts'un-yan (Australia), Liu Chun-jo (United States), Li Fang-kuei (member of The Chinese University Humanist Advisory Committee), Chou Fa-kao, Chen Ching-ho, Jao Tsung-i, James Watt and Cheng Te-k'un. In addition to the three visitors from Japan, the United States and Australia, the remaining eight speakers were Chinese University professors, and the other two were connected with the University. It is obvious that emphasis has been placed on the Univer­ sity staff. During the 1988-1989 year, a total number of thirteen seminars were conducted. The speakers were Fang Li-zhi, Stephen H. West (United States), William H. Nienhauser (United States), Zhu Zhong-bin, Chang Zhong-pei, Hu Chao-xi, Ji Xian-lin, Wang Yao, Chao Chung-fu (Taiwan), Su Bai, He Yao-hua, Huang Jia-jiao, Liu Xin-wu, Wang

142

The Quest for Excellence

Chung-fu (Taiwan), Wu Zhao and others. Except for the four speakers from the United States and Taiwan, all were from mainland China, and none from the University staff. This evolution reflects a strengthening of ties with the research and academic developments of the People's Republic of China. Although the seminars covered a very wide range of topics, the focus was generally on Chinese society and culture. International Conferences The Institute of Chinese Studies has on many occasions organized and sponsored various academic conferences either by itself or with other organizations. The most important of these were the Hong Kong Con­ ferences on East-West Comparative Literature sponsored by the Com­ parative Literature and Translation Centre. The Comparative Literature Panel conducted a total of four interna­ tional conferences. Participants included academics from Hong Kong, Taiwan, mainland China and overseas. Topics of the conferences in­ cluded: "Eastern and Western Cultures and Comparative Literature"; "The Orientations of Eastern and Western Cultures and Comparative Literature"; "Looking at Descriptive Literature through Eastern and Western Lines of Thought" and "Issues of Comparative Drama." The topics of the first two seminars involved the characteristics and integrations. of Eastern and Western cultures. The last two dealt with more specialized topics, but the emphases were comparing Chinese and Western literary work. The papers read by the academics were compiled and published afterwards and these volumes have become important reference materials for the study of comparative literature in the con­ temporary period. The Institute of Chinese Studies has also conducted a great number of other international conferences and seminars. In December 1979, the International Conference on Sino-Japanese Cultural Interchange was held. Forty overseas scholars from the United States, Canada, Europe, Malaysia, Taiwan, Japan and Korea attended the conference, together with sixteen local academics. Forty papers were presented and compiled for publication by the Institute. In September 1983, the "International Conference on Ancient Chinese Scripts" was co-sponsored by the Ng Tor-Tai Chinese Lan­ guage Research Centre of the Institute and the Department of Chinese

Chinese Studies and Cultural Integration

143

Language and Literature of the University. Thirty-eight scholars at­ tended in all, coming from China, Taiwan, Japan, the United States and Hong Kong producing a total of thirty-eight papers. In November 1988, in the Symposium on Painting of the Ming Dynasty sponsored by the Art Gallery, about forty local scholars and academics from China, Taiwan, the United States, Japan, and Australia attended and presented twenty-one papers. The Research Centre for Translation conducted an international seminar on classical Chinese literature entitled "Paradox of Virtue in Traditional Chinese Literature" from 10 April to 12 April 1989. Par­ ticipants included renowned scholars from Hong Kong, Great Britain, the United States, Canada, and Taiwan. In July 1989, the "International Conference on the Challenge of Modernity and the Prospects of Chinese Culture" was jointly sponsored by the Institute and the Hong Kong Oriental Humanist Studies Society. Participants included American, Taiwanese and Singaporean academics and mainland Chinese scholars who were residing in Hong Kong at the time. This was the first international conference in Hong Kong attended by mainland Chinese scholars after the June 4th Incident. The papers and speeches were arranged and compiled for publication. In October 1991, the Institute organized an international seminar entitled "Hu Shih and Modern Chinese Culture," to commemorate the 100th birthday of Dr Hu Shih. Between thirty and forty academics from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and overseas attended and presented almost thirty papers. The contribution of Dr Hu Shih to modern Chinese culture was enthusiastically discussed in the seminar. 31 October 1992 was the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Institute of Chinese Studies. A silver jubilee banquet was held and a brief history entitled From Tradition to the Present: The Institute of Chinese Studies 1967....c./992 was published to commemorate the oc­ casion. The principle of the Institute "to combine tradition with the present and to synthesize China and the West" as proposed by Vice­ Chancellor Choh-ming Li at its founding, has been met. The Art Gallery

The Art Gallery was established under the Institute of Chinese Studies in 1971. The Gallery serves both as the centre of research on Chinese art

144

The Quest for Excellence

and archaeology and as a teaching museum for the fine arts programme of the University. Research and promotion of education are deemed to be of equal importance. As a museum, the Gallery has been actively collecting a.ll kinds of ·art objects over the years. Items which form the nucleus of the Gallery's permanent collection include paintings and calligraphy of Guang­ dong artists of the Ming and Qing periods, paintings and calligraphy of the Yangzhou artists of the Qing dynasty, Chinese ceramics and porcelain through the ages, bronze seals, carved jades, stone rubbings, stone sculptures and other art objects. A considerable collection has been established. Except for a few items of the collection which were directly purchased with university funds, the collection came from donations given by local supporters of the Gallery, the greatest of which were the Bei Shan Tang Foundation and the B. Y. Lam Founda­ tion Ltd. The routine work of the Gallery has been the mounting of exhibi­ tions, and working closely with overseas museums and collectors. Many large-scale special exhibitions have been held. The contents of these exhibitions included Chinese calligraphy and paintings, handicrafts and the latest archaeological achievements. In terms of regional contents, the exhibits of calligraphy, paintings and art objects of native Guangdong artists are one of the major features of the Gallery. In the past twenty years, more than a hundred exhibit_ions have been mounted, too many to cite them all. However, descriptive catalogues with accompanying research papers were published for all special ex­ hibitions. Within the five years from 1988 to 1992, thirteen special exhibitions were organized by the Gallery, and fell into the following three types: 1. Exhibitions mounted in collaboration with mainland China museums: Paintings of the Ming Dynasty from the Palace Museum (1988) Archaeological Finds from the Five Dynasties to the Qing Periods in Guangdong (1989) The Art of Su Liupeng and Su Renshan (1990) Lacquerware from the Warring States to the Han Periods Ex­ cavated in Hubei Province (1990)

Chinese Studies and Cultural Integration

145

The Quintessential Purple Stone - Duan Inkstones through the Ages (1991) Jades from the Tomb of the King ofNanyue (1992) 2. Exhibitions on loan from local collectors: Chinese Ceramic Pillows from the Collection of Mr and Mrs Yeung Wing Tak (1989) Chinese Ivories from the Kwan Collection (1990) Dr S. Y. Yip Collection of Classic Chinese Furniture (1991) 3. Exhibitions from the Gallery collections: The Art of Gao Jianfu (1988) Paintings of Ju Chao and Ju Lian (1990) The Art of the Gao Brothers of the Lingnan School (1991) Selections from the Art Gallery's Permanent Collection (1992) In addition to the involvement in the research projects of the Gallery by its own staff, experts from Hong Kong and abroad have often been invited to participate. Special topics studied included: Art and Culture of Guangdong in the Late-Ming and Qing Periods, Su Liupeng and Su Renshan, Ceramics with Studio Marks, Yi-Xing Zisha Wares, and An­ cient Bronze Seals. Artifacts in the gallery collections have been used as materials of reference in these studies, and special journals have been published in connection with them. The Gallery often conducts academic forums and international seminars in its efforts to promote the study of Chinese art and artifacts, and the interchange of Chinese and Western learning. The Yeung Shui Sang Laboratory for Thermoluminescence of Ancient Ceramics was established to provide ceramic dating services. The Friends of the Art Gallery Association was established in 1981 to recruit art lovers as members, and to strengthen the contact between the Gallery and society. The discussions mentioned above represent the work of the Institute of Chinese Studies, in summary, over the years. Neither The Chinese University nor the Institute has as yet proposed a clear theory on the integration of Chinese and Western culture. But in practical work such as the exchange of talents, communication of opinions, studies of spe­ cial topics, and the collection of data, the Institute has carried out many long-term efforts in accordance with its plans.

146

The Quest for Excellence

(2) Chinese Medicinal Material Research Centre When it comes to combining scientific methods and traditional ex­ perience and knowledge, the Chinese Medicinal Material Research Centre provides a splendid example of success. Herbal medicine has been used through the ages in China to treat all types of illnesses, but the composition of the medicinal materials often lacks scientific analysis, and the effectiveness of treatments lacks modem scientific rationales and proofs. For many years critics equated. the efficacy of herbal medicine with plac.�bos, and this created misconceptions about Chinese medicine. In order to conduct scientific research on Chinese medicine, The Chinese University established a research unit under the Institute of Science and Technology in coordination with many other departments. This unit was named the Chinese Medicinal Material Research Centre. The basic aim of the Chinese Medicinal Material Research Centre is to establish scientific knowledge about the composition and the therapeutic effects of Chinese medicinal materials. The Centre aims at objectively sorting out Chinese clinical experiences accumulated over more than two millennia, with the purpose of strictly verifying factual clinical effects of Chinese medicine, in the hope of dispelling any prevailing misconceptions, or misinformation, about herbal medicine. The research started with specially selected topics, hoping to help make Chinese medicine more scientific an:d up to date. In 1975, originally called the Chinese Medicinal Material Research Unit, it was elevated to the status of a Centre in 1979. In the university organization, it falls within the jurisdiction of the Institute of Science and Technology, but research fellows who participate in the work of the Centre are invited from the Faculties of Science and Medicine and other disciplines. The Centre is headed by a director, and staffed by several research technicians. The research fellows have formed collaboration committees to promote interdisciplinary research projects. In 1984, building for the Centre was completed and opened for operation. It houses research and supporting facilities including laboratories of Chemistry, Biochemistry, and Pharmacology, and Tissue Culture and Animal Observation Rooms. Financial Support and Facilities The baseline support for the Centre is provided by The Chinese

Chinese Studies and Cultural Integration

147

University, but funding for research facilities and programmes general­ ly comes from donations from international and local organizations and philanthropists. Donations from international organizations can be ear­ marked for the research activities of the Centre, or to support certain contract projects. For instance, the World Health Organization has provided financial support for research projects on female and male contraceptives. Funds have also been provided by other international organizations like the International Foundation for Science, the Ford Foundation and IBM in support of specific research projects. Aside from international organizations and local organizations, local philanthropists over the years have also contributed a huge amount in donations. For example, from 1979 to 1982, the Centre received a total of 4.2 million Hong Kong dollars in donations for Construction Funds. From 1978 to 1983, donations for the Research Funds reached 5.3 million dollars. Furthermore, donations for research collected through direct solicitation also reached 4.8 million dollars by the end of 1983. These were donations made during the initial stage of the Centre. The amount of later donations has continued to increase. (see Report of The Chinese Medicinal Material Research Centre, June 1984) The Chinese Medicinal Material Research Centre has been able to improve its research facilities every year through donations and the support of the University. The major facilities are: 1. The building for the Centre was constructed entirely through private donations by local philanthropists, and completed in 1984. In addition to the laboratories in the building, there is a Museum of Chinese Medicine, an Information Room contain­ ing books and journals, and a Computer Database Room. 2. Major research instruments and facilities in the Science Centre of the University that can be used in research into Chinese medicine include the high resolution mass spectrometer, high performance liquid chromatograph, X-ray single crystal diffractometer, electron microscopes, nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer and others. The laboratory building of the Centre, the various departments of the Science Faculty, and the pre-clinical departments of the Medical Faculty are all located close to one another. The Centre and the various departments can thus make use of one another's instruments

148

The Quest for Excellence

conveniently. This kind of coordinated environment is instrumental in allowing the Centre to carry out its research activities smoothly. The Panacea Lodge constructed by the Centre through private donations provides accommodation mainly for its own staff, and visiting research scientists from mainland China coming to the Centre.

Research and Achievements The basic aim of the research efforts of the Chinese Medicinal Material Research Centre is to establish scientific knowledge about Chinese medicine. The needs �f society are taken into consideration in selecting priority research subjects. Broadly speaking, the research activities of the Centre fall into two groups, basic study and special study. Concrete achievements have been attained in both areas since the establishment of the Centre. In the area of basic study, the following three topics are perhaps most important: ( 1) The Establishment of the Chinese Medicines Database With the support of IBM, the Centre has established a computer database on Chinese medicine. Relevant information on pharmagnosti­ cal, chemical, pharmaceutical and clinical reports is summarized and translated into English and stored in the computer using IBM STAIRS software. Electronic communication link-ups have been established with existing Western databases. Because of this arrangement, vast amounts of information related to Chinese medicine have been made available to the world for scientific studies. This is an epoch-making project in the interchange of Chinese and Western medicines. IBM Corporation has been very satisfied with this collaboration, and has published special advertisements about it in Time and Newsweek magazines. (2) Authentication of Medicinal Herbs Chinese herbs include many varieties, which often causes confusion. This problem has been handled by the Centre through the establishment of the Museum of Chinese Medicine. The method of authenticating specimens of Chinese herbs is a combination of traditional experience, plant taxonomy and anatomy, as well as the analysis of chemical

Chinese Studies and Cultural Integration

149

components. So far more than two thousand samples of Chinese herbs have been authengcated. This work of standardizing Chinese medicine provides an objective basis for the quality control of the medicine, and exerts great impact on the cultivation and trading of the materials, as well as on clinical applications and scientific research. The standard samples of the Museum have been of great help in determining the medicinal materials in poisoning episodes, which occurred in Hong Kong and overseas in recent years, due to the abuse or misuse of Chinese medicine. (3) "Fingerprinting" Herbal Compositions A_ further study in the standardization of Chinese herbs involves the authentication of chemical compositions of the materials. By making use of instruments like the high performance liquid chromatograph, nuclear magnet�c resonance spectrometer, multi-scan infrared chromatograph, and mass spectrometer, the Centre has been able to authenticate the complex analytical data of the various medicinal materials, and directly feed the information into the computer. By com­ paring the fingerprinting patterns of standard Chinese herbs and the pure chemical substances extracted from them versus that of unknown herbs, a reliable scientific identification at molecular level can be established. Another more recent breakthrough in drug authentication by the Centre is the success in the application of Arbitrarily Primed Polymerase Chain Reaction (AP-PCR) techniques in the genomic-fingerprinting of Chinese medicines. This work makes the identification and quality control of these medicines more accurate. The three topics mentioned above all belong to the basic study area, and they have a long-term and universal impact on the task of making the knowledge of Chinese herbs more scientific. In addition, there are also areas of special research sponsored by the Centre, includ­ ing: (I) Contraceptives Since 1976, the Centre has been conducting research on contraceptives as one of its international collaborative projects. For this project, the · Centre received the financial support of the World Health Organization.

150

The Quest for Excellence

The aim of the research is to extract from Chinese herbs non-steroidal components active against implantation, and contraceptives to be used by males. (2) Abortifacient Proteins For over two thousand years, Radix Trichosanthis has been used in Chinese medicine for the purposes of "heat-clearing, sputum-eliminat­ ing, thirst-arresting, and secretion-promoting." In recent years, it is used in China as an abortifacient agent, and an abortifacient protein (trichosanthin) has been isolated from this herb. In the process of study on Cucurbitaceae, a research team of the Centre has also discovered four new abortifacient proteins. An in-depth study of these proteins has demonstrated their effectiveness in controlling the proliferation of many kinds of cancer cells and also the proof that trichosanthin can effectively and selectively kill HIV-infected lymphocytes and macrophages. Trichosanthin has now been approved by the FDA of the United States for clinical evaluation. (3) Liver Diseases In China and Southeast Asia, hepatitis is still a prevalent disease. In order to meet the needs of society, the Centre is looking_for an effective medicine from Chinese herbs for hepatitis. The Centre is studying Chinese herbs used in the treatment of hepatitis, guided by the two main principles in Chinese medicine for "increasing bile secretion to enhance detoxification," and "promoting blood circulation to remove blood stasis." The research team is exploring the effectiveness of Chinese herbs in treating hepatitis, and conducting scientific analysis of the traditional medical prescriptions. (4) Toxicity of Chinese Medicines The Centre is conducting in-depth research into the toxicity of Chinese medicines. Coverage of the research include authentication, quality control of processing techniques, and identification and toxicological study of toxic components. The Centre has compiled a book entitled An Atlas of the Potent Herbs Common in Hong Kong in collaboration with

Chinese Studies and Cultural Integration

151

the China Pharmaceutical University in Nanjing. Recently, with the support of the Croucher Foundation, the Centre has proceeded to estab­ lish "The Computer Database on Toxicity and Adverse Effects· of Chinese Foods and Chinese Medicines." This work will be helpful in providing more protection to average citizens. (5) Ginseng There has always been a marked lack of scientific research on the efficacy and pharmaceutical components of ginseng. Some medical professionals in the West even hold that ginseng is just a placebo, without any medical efficacy. In order to clarify such misconceptions, the Centre has conducted several studies on the components and func­ tions of ginseng, including a comparative study on the saponin contents in different types of ginseng. Research projects sponsored by the Korean Ginseng Centre, Hong Kong Consumer Council, and Ginseng Board of Wisconsin involved analyzing commercial ginseng and gin­ seng teas to determine their ginsenoside contents and authenticity. Sponsored by Pharmaton, a pharmaceutical company in Switzerland, a systematic research has been conducted on the effects of ginseng on immunity, on neurotransmitter metabolism, and on cellular respiration. All these studies have already yielded results. (6) Tissue Culture of Medicinal Plants In order to develop new sources of medicinal materials, the Centre has conducted studies on plant tissue cultures of ginseng, Salvia miltior­ rhiza, Gynura divaricata, Momordica cochinchinensis, Trichosanthes cucumeroides and Gardenia jasminoides, and succeeded in inducing callus formation and subsequent differentiation of such tissues. Other than these basic and special studies, there are also studies in progress on Chinese medical works and medical sociology. Special mention should also be made of the "Vasoactive Agents and Sedative Agents" research project, conducted from 1985 to 1992. This large­ scale project was funded by the Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club. It was launched in 1985 and completed in March 1992. Below is a brief description of the results:

152

The Quest for Excellence

(I) Sedative Agents The sedative agent studied in this project was the compound "miltirone" isolated from the Chinese herb Salvia miltiorrhiza. The function of this drug is similar to the popular "valium" in Westem medicine, as both are oral sedatives. However, the chemical compositions of the two are totally different, and "miltirone" was found to be non-addictive. Twenty-two related compounds have been synthesized by the research team and a comparison between their chemical structures and therapeutic activities has been made. The Chinese University signed an agreement of cooperation with Abbott Laboratory of the United States in 1989 for promoting research and development of this non-addictive sedative. Although it is still uncertain if this drug will reach the market, the Centre has successfully completed the necessary activities funded in this programme. (2) Vasoactive Agents The research team has isolated various compounds showing therapeutic effects for coronary heart disease from Chinese medicinal materials like Leonurus artemisia, Angelica sinensis, Salvia miltiorrhiza and Crataegus pinnatifida. It has also confirmed the therapeutic functions of hawthorn for lowering blood cholesterol. (Report of the Chinese Medicinal Material Research Centre, March 1992) Should studies in this respect continue to progress, the treatment of coronary heart dis­ eases will benefit enormously. (3) Scientific Methods in the Study of Chinese Medicines The Centre designs and organizes its research based on clinical experiences accumulated over a very long time by Chinese herbal prac­ titioners and aims to verify the actual therapeutic values of traditional herbal medicine through scientific evaluation. Since 1980, with the establishment of a database in collaboration with IBM, comprehensive information became readily available. As a result, specific herbs have been selected on the basis of a large number of clinical reports and the sources of herbs have been strictly controlled to ensure repeatable experimental results. Research personnel use high-sensitivity radio­ receptors to screen the compositions of the herb being studied. The

Chinese Studies and Cultural Integration

153

presence of bioactivity is tested at the cell level or the molecule level, in addition to the organismic level, in order to prove that the herb is not just exerting a placebo effect. When the effective components have been obtained, modern instruments are used to determine their chemical structure. Attempts would be made to synthesize the active compounds, in order to obtain large quantities of purified components for experi­ ments with animals. After achieving the initial results, further studies are conducted by pharmacologists, aiming at the possibility of develop­ ing new drugs. The expenses required for this research in its later stages were, and are, enormous, and so cooperation with foreign pharmaceuti­ cal companies is necessary. The multi-disciplinary research methods mentioned above are suffi­ cient to separate myth from fact in Chinese medicine. This not only establishes scientific knowledge about Chinese medicine, but also con­ tributes to the advancement of the entire field of medicine. In summation; the utilization of scientific instruments and methods by the Centre in establishing a body of scientific knowledge about Chinese traditional medicine does not only have practical value, but also objectively determines the status of Chinese medicine. The work of the Centre is one of the highest achievements in fulfilling one of the guiding principles of The Chinese University - the synthesis of Chinese and Western cultures. International Collaborations and International Conferences The Centre has always been in collaboration in its research activities with scientific and medical experts from mainland China, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and other countries, and has kept close contact with European and American pharmaceutical companies. It maintains good collaborative relationships with China and other countries in the ex­ change of information, sharing instruments and organizing clinical and laboratory studies. The Centre sponsored an "International Symposium on Chinese Medicinal Material Research" at the Hong Kong Regal Meridien Hotel in June of 1984, an event which more than three hundred Chinese and foreign Chinese medicine research experts attended. In September 1992, the Centre co-sponsored the "Symposium on Research in Chinese , Medicine" with the National Research Institute of Chinese Medicine in

154

The Quest for Excellence

Taipei, at The Chinese University. About a hundred experts participated in the symposium. It marked the first grand gathering held specifically for Chinese medicine researchers from mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. These conferences were of high significance in accelerat­ ing the modernization of Chinese medicine, promoting the study of Chinese medicine worldwide, and encouraging collaborations among scholars in mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Furthermore, two open forums on Chinese medicine were held at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre in June 1991. In the forums on "Present Status and Prospects of Chinese Medicine in Hong Kong," reports were delivered by profes­ sionals including Hong Kong government officials, members of the Legislative and Executive Councils,, representatives from academic circles, and Chinese medicine experts.

External Services In 1990, the Centre began to establish the Service Development Unit, responsible for improving the technologies and instruments of the Centre, and providing external consultations and services. Within the following three years, clients served by the Unit included government departments, industrial and business units, medical and nursing profes­ sionals and individual citizens. Services have also been extended to overseas clients in the medical field.

Research and Teaching in Faculties and Departments in Relation to Cultural Synthesis Aside from concrete achievements obtained by the Centre of Chinese Studies and the Chinese Medicinal Material Research Centre in the area of the integration of Chinese and Western cultures, there have been a number of research projects of other departments and faculties through their own long-term efforts involving this field. To facilitate synthesizing Chinese and Western cultures, the University logically demonstrates its efforts in the teaching and cur­ riculum development of the various departments and faculties other than the activities of special organizations mentioned above. But the history of The Chinese University is unique, because each of the

Chinese Studies and Cultural Integration

155

Foundation Colleges has its own predetermined direction and cur­ riculum design. Although The Chinese University has adopted a certain position on the issue of Chinese and Western cultures, this position has not always been directly reflected in curricula. After converting from a federal to an integrated system, the curricula started to become stand­ ardized. But in the study of Chinese and Western cultures, there is still a lack of "common principle" to be adhered to by the faculties and departments. Sorting out the data in detail over the years, we could probably discover all the changes, developments and recommendations concerning this issue, but that is beyond the scope of this chapter. This section will only give a brief description of the research activities of the faculties and departments that are obviously related to issues embracing Chinese and Western cultures.

(1) Ph.D. Programme in Chinese Studies The Chinese University established the Graduate School in 1966 to undertake research training leading to master's degrees, in its initial period, and later advancing to doctoral degree programmes in 1980. The first two programmes established were doctoral degrees in Chinese Studies and Electronics. The Ph.D. programme in Chinese Studies had three divisions: Chinese Language, Chinese History and Chinese Philosophy. Representatives were nominated by the Departments of Chinese, History and Philosophy to form the Academic Board of Chinese Studies. The Philosophy division put more emphasis on the comparative study of Chinese and Western philosophy. Thus although the name "Chinese philosophy" was used, in reality issues in both Chinese and Western philosophy were being studied. Theses submitted by the students generally exhibited a broad knowledge of philosophies of the world, and the ability to handle ideological issues in Chinese philosophy from wide perspectives. This can be regarded as a concrete example of the work in synthesizing Chinese and Western cultures. The Ph.D. programme in Chinese Studies was later replaced by the establishment of three Ph.D. programmes separately run by the divisions of Chinese Language and Literature, History and Philosophy. Despite the restructuring, the general direction of research remained the same for all these Ph.D. programmes.

156

The Quest for Excellence

(2) General Education Programme In the previous section describing the historical backgrounds of the Colleges, the reform of general education in Chung Chi College was mentioned. In fact, this reform in Chung Chi aimed at the passive correction of the tendency to excessive emphasis on formal instruction and literacy; but actively, it enhanced the understanding of Chinese culture and modem Western thought. In the integrating and blending of Chinese and Western cultures, the influence of this programme cannot be ignored. "The Essentials of Chinese Culture," was made a required course for all the students of Chung Chi, and so had widespread influence. This course was retained even after the University gradually took over the coordination of all general education courses. Since The Chinese University assumed certain obligations in the study and development of Chinese culture, retaining this kind of general education programme was one way of maintaining the educational objectives it had set out. Changes in the programme occurred frequently after the University took over planning general education. Under the current system, first-year students must select one subject within the scope of Chinese culture, an indication that the emphasis on Chinese culture has been retained in principle. Chung Chi also originally offered a third-year course of readings in selected important Western writings. Under the new· system of the Chinese University, courses like Methodology, Contemporary Western Thought and Philosophy of Social Studies are offered to provide basic knowledge of Western culture. These courses are intended to go side by side with Chinese culture courses so as to tally with the University's aim of placing equal importance on the promotion of both Chinese and Western culture.

(3) Related Programmes in Other Departments and Faculties To meet its aim of synthesizing Chinese and Western cultures, The Chinese University has also caused various levels of coordination to be made in the programmes of the Faculty of Arts, the Faculty of Social Science and other departments and faculties. Details can be obtained

Chinese Studies and Cultural Integration

157

from the annual calendars of the University, and only some of the main points are mentioned here. In the Arts Programme, the three Colleges did not have courses on the comparative study of Chinese and Western culture before the estab­ lishment of The Chinese University. After establishing the Institute of Chinese Studies, the University also set up the Comparative Literature and Translation Centre to promote this kind of study, a brief introduc­ tion of which has been made. Following the efforts of the Institute of Chinese Studies in promoting comparative studies in Chinese and Western literature, the English Department set up a course on "Special Topics in the Comparison of Eastern and Western Literature," to pro­ vide basic training for its students. In the Graduate School, the course "Comparative Literature" has become a part of the scope of study in the English Language Division for promoting communication between Chinese and Western literary concepts. Many papers have been publish­ ed by teachers and students over the years. The balance in study of Chinese and Western art is among the basic considerations in the design of curricula for the Department of Fine Arts.. The introduction of courses like History of Chinese Art and History of Western Art among the basic courses aims at bringing about such a balance. Students may then be able to absorb the traits of Western art and make cross reference while they acquire a knowledge of Chinese art. A comprehensive and solid foundation can then be built, and a broad overview can be developed. By considering the balance between Chinese and World history, the History Department is training students to study national and foreign history from a comparative research perspective, so that a balanced and comprehensive understanding of the history of the human race can be obtained. Curricula of the department include General Dynastic History, Regional History, National History, and other in-depth special topic history courses. Dynastic History courses number more than a dozen ranging from ancient to modern times; while regional and other national histories include the history of Japan, the United States, Germany and Hong Kong. The department has been encouraging students to conduct their study from different perspectives in various topics such as Chinese History, World History, and History of Chinese and Foreign Relations. Many brilliant papers have been produced and a number of the papers have received sponsorship for publication.

158

The Quest for Excellence

Equal emphasis on academic theories and practical applications have been built into the curricula of the Music Department. Students must take courses on Chinese and Western music such as History of Western Music, Chinese Instrumental Playing and Introduction to Chinese Music. Students also have to play two musical instruments in addition to these courses. In the Department of Philosophy, equal emphasis had already been placed on both the Chinese and Western philosophies in its original curricula in the Colleges. Basic training has been particularly stressed in the curriculum of the Philosophy Department after implementation of the integrated system by the University. In addition to the offering of History of Western Philosophy and History of Chinese Philosophy as required courses in the second year, there are Special Topics: Chinese Philosophy and Special Topics: Western Philosophy in the third year, and Seminar on Chinese Philosophers and Seminar on Western Philosophers in the fourth year. In the Graduate School, Study of Com­ parative Philosophy is also included in the scope of studies in the Philosophy Division. Generally speaking, the Philosophy Department attaches more importance to the study of traditional Chinese culture than the other departments, and it also maintains high standards in the teaching and study of Western philosophy in recent and modern times. Since the 1980s, although students theses have shown a tendency to emphasize Western philosophy, most have managed to cover the in­ tegration and comparison of concepts of Chinese and Western prin­ ciples. Techniques in modern Western philosophy are often employed in writings on Chinese philosophy. It is only natural that greater em­ phases have been placed on the issue of synthesizing Chinese and Western culture, as this has always been the common concern of people in the field of philosophy. Furthermore, in tutorials set up in the Philosophy Department under the "student-orientated" plan of education, philosophical issues in life constitute the general scope, guiding the students to apply philosophical principles in actual life. Such discussions adopt both Chinese and Western concepts of value and modes of thinking. This can be viewed as practical work in synthesizing Chinese and Western cultures. In the curricula of the various departments under the Faculty of Social Science, courses related to Chinese cultural systems have also been offered. Examples include Chinese Culture and Society in the

Chinese Studies and Cultural Integration

159

Anthropology Department; Government and Politics of China, and In­ troduction to Chinese Law in the Dep�ment of Government and Public Administration; Communication Patterns in Chinese Society in the Department of Journalism and Communication, (which also emphasizes the training of Chinese and English news editing and report writing); and Chinese Society, and Development of Chinese Social Thought in the Department of Sociology. Generally speaking, all these courses are in conformity with the aim of emphasizing both Chinese and Western cultures. The above accounts illustrate some important facts regarding the synthesis of Chinese and Western culture in the curricula of the various faculties of The Chinese University. Aside from these, other depart­ ments also have similar curricula and research plans, an exhaustive list of which is quite impossible to give here. The Chinese University has been persistent in its efforts to integrate . Chinese and Western culture in both research and instruction since its inception. Amongst its efforts, the achievements in the work of the Chinese Medicinal Material Research Centre and the Institute of Chinese Studies are prominent. Yet the long-term teaching plans adopted for general education by the various departments also have profound influence on the students. A brief analysis will be given in the conclusion section on the weaknesses of, and desirable improvements for, the work in this area.

Reviews and Looking Ahead Thirty years have passed since The Chinese University was officially established in 1963. During this period, the society of Hong Kong has experienced dramatic changes. As Hong Kong is now facing the prob­ lem of the turnover of sovereignty in 1997, the lifestyles and attitudes of its people are all undergoing great adjustments. The issue of cultural synthesis naturally involves long-term effort, but concrete steps are inevitably restrained in length and breath by historical and social fac­ tors. While reviewing the work of The Chinese University over the past thirty years, its record should be understood in terms of these cir­ cumstantial factors, and the possible direction of its future development should also be considered from this angle.

160

The Quest for Excellence

The Chinese University laid its foundation with the amalgamation of three Colleges, and had to overcome the traditional differences of the Colleges to form a common ideal representing the University. These twin demands exerted great influence on the various operations of the University, and the efforts in the area of cultural synthesis were no exception. As mentioned at the beginning of this section, the three Colleges that initially constituted The Chinese University all had their inherent characteristics, and each had its own particular bias in cultural con­ sciousness. The University stressed the equal importance of both Chinese and Western culture, while at the same time having to reconcile conflicts in order to promote positive development. Taking an extensive assessment of the efforts of The Chinese University over the last thirty years, it is not difficult to judge the success and failure of the University in its implementation of this guiding principle and method. Let us first look at the positive results. In the areas of instruction and research, The Chinese University has actually been able to eliminate some of the traditional deviations of the Colleges, and has at the same time achieved concrete results in the work of integration. For instance, New Asia used to place emphasis on Chinese in its language training, and had comparatively lower demands in English and other languages for the students, while Chung Chi attached more importance to the English language. After implementing the integrat!:!d system, the University struck a balance between Chinese and English in its language training programmes. Such programmes today are becoming more balanced. The scope of the teachers' publications and students' readings and discussions have obviously expanded, and they are in close coor­ dination with modern trends of thought and academic developments all over the world. Even in the study of Chinese traditional culture, modern academic achievements have more or less been utilized without clinging to established practices of the past. It should be concluded that the guiding principle of the University in placing equal emphasis on both Chinese and Western culture while striving for synthesis, has been at least partially realized. However, the biggest weakness lies in the lessening of idealism in the trends created by The Chinese University in the area of cultural synthesis. Hong Kong society has an inherent tendency towards utilitarianism and The Chinese University has failed to reiterate the

Chinese Studies and Cultural Integration

161

cultural ideals in its aims, and its teaching and research have therefore never been able to fulfil the function ofleading society. The relationship between the cultural synthesis and the currents of thought in society is intimate and as discussed before, the University has achieved a certain success in academic studies and exploration of new knowledge. Yet nothing has been achieved in terms ofdirect impact or guidance ofHong Kong society. If The Chinese University is indeed committed to the cultural mis­ sions as proclaimed by its founders, playing a more stimulating and guiding role in society must be viewed as an area that needs attention and renewed effort. Finally, while looking ahead to the future, the basic position and aims ofThe Chinese University on the issue ofthe synthesis of Chinese and Westem cultures need not be changed, even after the turnover of sovereignty in Hong Kong. But new targets and focal points will have to be set with the change of circumstances. For instance, in understanding Chinese traditional culture, many views distorting history have been prevalent since the Cultural Revolution period in mainland China. This situation calls for certain efforts of clarification on an objective basis. Chinese intellectuals certainly should assume some responsibility for this issue. Since The Chinese University has inaugurated certain under­ takings in promoting Chinese culture, it should be prepared for more active participation in such efforts. Moreover, The Chinese University is an institution stressing the equal importance ofboth Chinese and Western cultures, and has consis­ tently attached importance to assimilating the strengths of modem Westem culture. While the modernization movement is at its initial stage in China, and the return of Hong Kong to China is imminent within a few years, The Chinese University has the responsibility of providing impetus to this movement. In fact, The Chinese University has already attained some initial successes in its synthesis of Chinese and Western cultures. It follows that the University has to share this responsibility as a matter of course. At this new historical juncture, the University must devise new working plans to fulfil its historical mis­ sion. In conclusion, The Chinese University is a university ofthe Chinese people, and should therefore become a leading institution in the development of Chinese culture. This fundamental point should be

162

The Questfor Excellence

prevalent in all future activities of the University, and it should also 'be the main direction of the work of synthesizing Chinese and Western culture.

5 Moving with the Times: the University and Hong Kong Chong Chor LAU

A symposium on technological cooperation among Hong Kong, Shenzhen and the mainland, 1990

Background: Hong Kong Island

166

The Quest for Excellence

I. Framework On account of the closely interlacing relations between The Chinese University and Hong Kong society, it would require a book to provide a full and analytical study of their relationship. For a short description in a chapter, there is, perhaps, a need for a theoretical framework, serving as a guide for the selection of facts. The Chinese University was already very complex at its inception. This was due mostly to its federal system comprising three Foundation Colleges. Today, after having developed for over thirty years, the University has become larger and more complex. There are, generally speaking, three ways in which to analyze such a complex system. The first is to study the University's "analytical properties," such as its socio-economic composition (an aristocratic academy or a university for the masses); ideology (conservative or liberal); values (religious, liberal arts or professional-oriented) and so on. The second is to study the University's "global properties," its curriculum, educational mis­ sion, deployment of resources and public image. The third is to study the University's "structural properties" such as authority relationship (democratic or autocratic), teacher-student relationship (intimate or remote) and "campus climate" (whether there is a campus culture con­ ducive to learning). Within this analytical framework, the second part, the global factor, is the main theme of this chapter. The changes in the structure and constitution of the University have been discussed by other authors in this book. This chapter aims at discussing the analytical attributes affecting the relationship between The Chinese University and Hong Kong, focusing on a study of the impact of the University on society, with its ambitions, values, programmes and research projects, as well as its adaptation to, and contribution to, Hong Kong society following a series ofrnpid changes over a period of thirty years. The global properties of an organization are not based on the char­ acteristics of its members, nor do they have anything to do with relation­ ships among the members. For instance, the educational aims and ambitions of the University would not necessarily be accepted by some individual teachers and might differ from the objectives of certain students. For this reason, the choice of framework has inevitably ruled out a number of facts which are not included in this discussion. Moreover, despite the myriad changes in Hong Kong over these thirty

Moving with the Times

167

years, the research strategy of this chapter is to take The Chinese University as the main theme. Its main adaptive functions will be djscussed while those changes that do not concern these functions will not be included. Lastly, although the University is not different from other organizations in depending on the resources of society, it is at the same time constrained by society. A university has to adapt to environ­ mental pressures and to comply with changing times while maintaining its inherent mission. In this sense a university is not simply an organiza­ tion, but rather a unique institution. This special feature has been high­ lighted by Edward Shils, an American sociologist. On the relationship between the University of Chicago and the City of Chicago, he writes: It is imperative that they attend to local affairs, but they would not amount to much as universities if they attended largely to them. Universities are intellectual institutions, and intellectual activities have their objects everywhere in the world and beyond the world of time and space. A university which taught only about local· phenomena, which did research only on local phenomena, and which did not transcend the vague but real boundaries of locality would not be a respectable university. ("The University, the City, and the World: Chicago and the University of Chicago," in The University and the City: From Medieval Origins to the Present, edited by Thomas Blender, 1988, p. 211) In other words, the major contribution The Chinese University could possibly make to Hong Kong is to fulfil its own educational missions and become one of the noted universities in the world. That this chapter tends to devote itself to the description to local affairs does not mean that the author is not clear about the characteristics of a university system as mentioned above. Rather, other writers have men­ tioned these basic responsibilities of the University in other chapters, and so only the roles played by The Chinese University in society need to be discussed in the chapter as a special topic. To have a clear understanding of the University's contributions to society, one should know the societal needs. While societal needs are continually changing, a university should keep abreast with the times, and continuously integrate, innovate, and develop to satisfy the needs of society and even to anticipate what these needs are. Integration is to readjust the structure to better fulfil the collective goals of an organization. Innovation is to establish a system to bring the

168

The Quest for Excellence

power of a university to its fullest. Development is to enable the Univer­ sity to play its role in the development of society on the foundation of an intact structure and a perfect system with the utmost effectiveness and efficiency in regard to both quality and quantity. The following paragraphs comprise the central themes of this chap­ ter on the history of The Chinese University over thirty years, with the purpose of indicating the main trends and characteristics of develop­ ment at different stages. A period of ten years has been assigned to each, for convenience of description and with the aim of highlighting the different stages of Hong Kong society in the past three decades, i.e. the social integration era from 1963 to 1973; the social innovation era from 1973 to 1983 and the social development era from 1983 to 1993. Such a division is of course theoretical since history does not have such distinct divisions. The above three models serving as the characteristics of mutual development between The Chinese University and Hong Kong (in terms of structure and society) will, it is hoped, be of help to us in clarifying the nature of the relationship between the two. Located in Hong Kong, CUHK has developed as a societal laboratory at the crossroad of Chinese and Western cultures. To make full use of this advantage, the University has from its very beginning made the following special objectives, the mission of the University: "A deepened understanding of Chinese learning and culture as well as a mastery of western empirical methods and scientific knowledge"; "Bilingualism is therefore a fundamental functional requirement"; "to produce young men and women who can function effectively in the interface of these great cultures." (A New Era Begins 1975-1978, 1978, p. 12) As a writer on organization history, one should not only assess objectively the roles played by The Chinese University in Hong Kong society, but also be able to examine how far it has gone towards this self-prescribed objective, in regard to other aspects, such as curriculum and research. Certain studies have been selected in this chapter as a yardstick of assessment because they are more suitable to this purpose. It does not mean that other studies are not of an academic nature or are of no importance at all.

II. Background The Chinese University of Hong Kong was formally established with

169

Moving with the Times

legal standing on 17 October 1963. The idea of setting up a new university using Chinese as the principal medium of instruction ap­ peared earlier than this when the Hong Kong government announced, in June 1959, its intention of putting such a plan into effect. An under­ standing of Hong Kong society prior to the establishment of the Univer­ sity will help us to understand the role played by the University in society. Dramatic changes had taken place in the society of Hong · Kong from the end of World War II up to the establishment of The Chinese University in 1963. The figures in Table 1 are indicative of their direct bearing on university education. These changes over a span of eighteen years will be described briefly in the following paragraphs: Table 1. Hong Kong Society Prior to the Establishment of The Chinese University of Hong Kong Social Indicators

1945

1950

1953

1958

1963

1. Population at midyear (in thousands) 2. Secondary school student population 3. University student population 4. Per capita GDP (in $) 5. Total exports (in million $) 6. Government revenue (in million $)

600

2,237

2,242

2,854

3,504

26,298

41,977

61,325

131,055

715

938

1,126

1,751(1)

1,496(2) 2,734

1,939(3) 3,278

2,337 4,991

397

665

1,394

Notes: Sources:

1,216 3,716 292

1. from 1962 to 1963; 2. in 1955; 3. in 1960. Items 1 to 3: Census and Statistics Department, Hong Kong Statistics, 1969, pp. 40, 84 and 186. Items 4 to 6: Tzong-biau Lin, Rance P.L. Lee, and Udo-Ernst Simons (eds.}, Hong Kong: Economic, Social and Political Studies in Oevelop­ ment(New York: M. E. Sharpe, 1979), pp. 389-90.

A. Rapid Increase in Population The population increased from 600,000 in 1945 to 3.5 million in 1963. Using 1946 with a population of 1.5 million, as the base for calculation, there was an increase of two million people, representing a growth rate of 126%, composed mainly of immigrants.

170

The Questfor Excellence

B. Industrialization The mass influx of population brought with it capital and human re­ sources. Hong Kong headed towards industrialization in the fifties. In 1950, factory workers numbered only 82,000, representing 3.7% of 'the total population. In 1960, the number had increased to 216,000, raising the percentage to 7%. The total value of exports amounted to $2.87 billion. The industrial system of exporting manufactured goods had begun to take shape in Hong Kong.

C. Living Standards The average income per capita rose rapidly during the fifties. In 1963. the average national income was almost double that of 1949.

D. Government Role The government's role had become more and more important with the increase in population and changes in economic structure. The national income grew 2.3 times to $10 billion during the fifteen years from 1950. Government revenue (as well as its expenditure) increased 4.6 fold to $1.63 billion.

E. Education Structure Since the fifties, the Hong Kong education structure became more and more unbalanced. Between 1950 and 1963, the number of secondary school students increased the fastest, with a growth rate of 400%. University education could not keep pace with the changes of the time, since during the period from 1950 to 1962, university student population only increased by 145%. It was not until the academic year 1963-1964 when The Chinese University was established that the number of university students increased to 3,324, representing an increase of 465% over the number in 1950. A balance was then achieved on the education structure. There may be quite a number of reasons for the setting up of a new university. The above mentioned changes in population, economic, social and political structure are only viewed in a relatively macroscopic

Moving with the Times

171

sense. Even from this broad overview, we can see that The Chinese University has taken on a heavy responsibility and has a long way to go.

Ill. Integration In the academic year 1963, The Chinese University was formed with three Foundation Colleges, 16 Boards of Studies, one Interdisciplinary Committee on Foreign Languages (French, German, Japanese and Italian) and a total student enrolment of 1,395. The major challenge the University faced at that time was the development of structure. Notwithstanding that the University was formed through the amalgamation of three colleges, it lost no time in coordinating the three areas of teaching staff, instruction, and research activities in order to achieve the pledged aims of the University to integrate Chinese and Western cultures and to reach international academic standards. A brief description is given in the following para­ graphs on the direction of efforts exerted by the University in the sixties.

A. Staff Development Programme To achieve the mission of the University in serving as a cultural bridge between East and West, the University launched a policy to improve the quality of its staff, which proved to have a profound positive effect. Funds had already been granted to staff for further study abroad prior to the establishment of the programme in 1965. From 1963 to 1969, there were a total of 89 staff members receiving grants for further study; a quarter of whom took higher degrees. The importance of the programme was obvious, since at that time the full-time staff of the University was just between 100 and 200.

B. Integrated Teaching Method As soon as the first Vice-Chancellor assumed duty in February 1964, he appointed a committee on teaching methods. The general trend of the entire teaching reform was to bring it in line with that of internation­ al universities, and to gradually bring the methods of imparting knowledge up to the standard of other first-class academic institutions.

172

The Quest for Excellence

The integration of teaching methods consisted of the following special features: to overhaul the curriculum in the Foundation Colleges; to increase the number of inter-collegiate courses, and to reduce the teach­ ing hours for teachers, so that more time could be used for research. These three measures were complementary and the success of the reform hinged on the second measure, i.e. the offering of inter­ collegiate courses. Throughout the sixties, the University's student population each year was a little under 2,100 and the student enrolment in each of the three Colleges did not exceed 700. Each college had its own independent departments and the average number of students ad­ mitted to each college department over the four years was 50. Therefore, in each academic year, there were about 12 to 13 students admitted to each college department. It was thus difficult to make use of resources efficiently even if all the courses were common courses. In the case where all courses became inter-collegiate (for students of all three Colleges), though the student number might still not exceed 40, efficien­ cy would be greatly increased and teachers might then be able to reduce their teaching time and increase their research time. In the academic year 1964, there were only seven inter-collegiate courses. In 1969, the number had increased to 91, with the number of students taking these courses reaching 3,845.

C. Setting up Research Institutes A period of 800 years has passed since the emergence of universities in the West. However, drastic changes in the idea of a university only took place less than a century ago. In the middle of the nineteenth century, a brand new idea of a university took shape in Germany. It was thought that "the function of a university is not just to provide liberal arts educa­ tion, but also to promote knowledge. An ideal university should be a 'research centre' and the promotion of knowledge should adopt an ex­ perimental method. This scientific method of doing research should not be confined only to the exploration of natural science but also to the understanding of the humanities." (See Ambrose Y. C. King, The Idea of a University, Taipei, 1983, p. 29). This idea had a great impact on univer­ sities in Britain and the United States, particularly on the latter where only a research university would qualify as a first class university. The educational mission of The Chinese University made the

Moving with the Times

173

function of research a necessity. Without in-depth research, nothing could be achieved in "deepening the understanding of Chinese learning and culture as well as a mastery of Western empirical methods and scientific knowledge." To fulfil this educational ideal, the University set up, in 1964, the Institute of Social Studies, and the Institute of Science and Technology. At first, the chief functions of the institutes were to encourage and support the research activities of the staff. With the establishment of research centres, the institutes have become coordinat­ ing organizations. Before going into detail on the concrete work of research centres, we shall study Hong �ong society in the mid- and late sixties and the early seventies. An understanding of the societal changes and the needs thus produced may lead to an understanding of the work of the various research programmes. The intimate relationship between The Chinese University and Hong Kong society may thus be seen more clearly. Table 2 shows a picture of the society of Hong Kong during the ten Table 2. Hong Kong and The Chinese University 1963-1973 I. Hong Kong Social Indicators

1963

1968

1973

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

3,504 277 4,991 2,337 1,394

3,803 472 10,570 3,514 2,081

4,160 626 25,999 7,388 5,241

73,400

13,900

47,100

397

446

944

1,395(1) 135(2) 4,717(3)

2, 139(4) 202 9,771

3,13y(5) · 255 18,778

Population (in thousands) Factory workers (in thousands) Total exports (in million$) GDP per capita (in$) Government revenue (in million$) 6. Industrial conflict (work days lost) 7. Crime rate (per 100,000) II. Chinese University Indicators 8. Number of students 9. Number of full-time staff 10. Number of EMSD students Notes:

1. Undergraduate students in 1963-64; 2. November 1964; 3. The academic year 1965-66; 4. The academic year 1968-69 (including undergraduate, research and part-time students); 5. The academic year 1973-74 (including undergraduate, research and part-time students). Sources: 1. Census and Statistics Department, Hong Kong Statistics, 1947-1967, p. 48; Hong Kong Annual Digest of Statistics, 1978, p. 39; Hong Kong Social and Economic Trends, 1975, p. 30 and 1981, p. 105. 2. Hong Kong Report, 1963, 1964 and 1969. 3. Labour Department, Annual Reports.

174

The Questfor Excellence

years after 1963. The societal changes fall into the following main categories: 1. The changes now were different from those of the previous ten or so years which had been brought about by a large influx of population. From 1963, the increases in population had be­ come more steady. Societal changes stemmed from drastic changes in economic and occupational structures. These ten years could be described as an era of industrialization, propelled by exports. During these ten years, the population increased only 18%, while the number of factory workers more than doubled, exceeding 600,000, representing 40% of the Hong Kong work force. The total value of exports increased more than four times during this period. Social problems resulting from rapid industrialization had surfaced one by one, so that an objective scientific research project targeting these problems was very urgent. 2. The structures of society, in many respects, underwent radical changes. Factories were set up in large numbers, many of them quite extensive. Labour relations had also experienced basic changes. The riots in 1967 were but an indicator of these problems, showing that society had not been able to redress the problems. The government administrative system was in very poor shape and the tensions between the government and the people heightened day by day in this city of three to four million. The five big problems haunting the government, namely labour, medical care, housing, education and hawkers were all the result of urbanization and industrialization. 3. The Hong Kong economy grew by leaps and bounds in the sixties. The years 1963-1973, were eight years in which the annual growth rate well exceeded 9%. The consistent and long term growth in the economy resulted in a 316% increase in the average national product. Other consequences were more difficult to judge. For example, what changes had the structure of the manufacturing industry, considered the locomotive for economic expansion, undergone? Since trade has been closely connected with the welfare of Hong Kong, the structure of Hong Kong trade, the relationship between export and

Moving with the Times ·

175

employment, as well as the characteristics of the export market, should all be put under scrutiny. 4. Factors altering the direction of politics, culture and policies in Hong Kong include the constant strengthened roles played by the government in society, industrialization and urbanization, drastic changes in social and economic structure, the rise of status of foreign trade, the presence of protectionism, and, in particular, the large scale social movements in 1966 and 1967. The government revenue increased by 378% over a span of ten years, higher than the growth rate of the average national products. An author has rightly pointed out that Hong Kong had entered an era of rising social investment. (Catherine Jones, Promoting Prosperity: The Hong Kong Way of Social Policy, Hong Kong, 1990, p. 209). However, the implementa­ tion of a social investment policy should be taken more cautiously than business investment behaviour since the former could influence the pattern of distribution of benefits among all the strata in society. The various drastic social changes mentioned above brought about turmoil in Hong Kong in the late sixties. Even though The Chinese University had been founded just a few years ago, it could not take its time to wait for the integration of its internal structure. Several research centres and other academic departments were established to carry out Hong Kong studies in various directions. These were the Economic Research Centre and the Mass Communications Centre in 1965; the Geographical Research Centre and the Social Research Centre in 1966; and the Centre for East Asian Studies and the Centre for Translation Projects in 1971. A brief comment will be made in the following paragraphs on the three areas of study in economic development, social structure and social policy to show part of the efforts scholars of this University had made during this period in understanding Hong Kong society.

a. Economic research Before the establishment of the Economic Research Centre in April, 1965, the United States Department of Agriculture had already ap­ pointed economists in the University to study and assess the agricultural

176

The Questfor Excellence

self-sufficiency of Hong Kong. This was a long term project. Research workers needed to understand the growth of population in Hong Kong, its national income, and long-term trends in local development. During the same period, other research projects had been carried out. These included: i. Export and Employment-A Case Study of Hong Kong. ii. A Study of the Chinese Strategy for Technological Transfor­ mation in Agriculture, 1970-75. iii. China's Model of Development: A Sectorial Linkage Analysis. In the seventies, among the projects which could be compared in scale with that of the United States Department of Agriculture was the "Econometric Model for the Hong Kong Economy." This was a part of an international effort to study the world's economy using models for developed countries, developing countries or regions, as well as socialist nations. Thereafter, important data was provided to Hong Kong society through the use of the forecasting models. Other projects closely related to the development of Hong Kong were the following: iv. Hong Kong Management Styles-Chinese and Western Ways in Conflict Management. This was a demonstration project for applying Western theories to Hong Kong society undertaken by the University in conjunction with the Hong Kong Management Association. v.' A Study of Small-Scale Factories. This was a part of Kwun Tong Studies, involving a study of all small factories in Hong Kong. It was of great help to understand the major role of industrialization in Hong Kong. It also started the University's studies on Hong Kong's enterpri_ses in later periods. The University economists have since, from the sixties, completed a large number of research projects on Hong Kong's economy. Many of the findings have been published by the Centre in monographs, books and journals. b. Social research

Once the Social Research Centre was established in 1966 in the

Moving with the Times

177

University, it received grants from the Hong Kong Government Lot­ teries Fund, the Department of Social Welfare and the Hong Kong Council of Social Service to carry out a rriajor study on Hong Kong urban family life. The findings of the research became references for analyzing the welfare needs of the city which was undergoing in­ dustrialization and urbanization. Under a grant from the Ford Founda­ tion, the research was later extended to cover Hong Kong, Taipei, Bangkok, Singapore and Malaysia in the Urban Family Life Study. It was the forerunner of international cooperation in a research project among the developing countries. The largest study the Centre had so far carried out was the Kwun Tong Studies. This project involved almost all scholars in the Faculty of Social Science who made an interdisciplinary study of this industrial community. In-depth studies were taken and special topics reports were released on the community's industrial organization, politics and cul­ ture, family structure, birth behaviour, urban and rural relationship, life quality, public housing facilities, medicine and health, religious customs and cultural patterns. Almost one hundred research monographs have since been published. No wonder Professor C. K. Yang, a noted sociologist, pointed out in the preface to the book reporting the findings of Kwun Tong Studies that "The major goal of establishing the Social Research Centre is to transplant social science into the soil of the East. Kwun Tong Studies is undoubtedly moving a huge step towards this goal." (See C. K. Yang, "Introduction," in Social Life and Development in Hong Kong, edited by A. King and R. Lee, Hong Kong, 1981, p. xxv) In its early stages, the Social Research Centre undertook a study on a rural research programme. In the mid-seventies, the Centre conducted a long-term research programme regarding the "Communes and the Economic Development in Chinese Society." A lot of the findings of this project have become teaching materials in the Chinese Society course of the University. In the late seventies, another project undertaken was the "Study of Bureaucratic Behaviour in Hong Kong." It was also an interdisciplinary project financed by the Canadian International Development Centre. The project was extended to cover eight regions in Southeast Asia. It helped make The Chinese University the centre of academic coopera­ tion within these regions, in addition to strengthening the relationship between the University and Hong Kong. Special reports of this study

The Quest for Excellence

178

were published by The Chinese University Press in 1981. (See Corrup­ tion and Its Control in Hong Kong, edited by Rance Lee, Hong Kong, 1981)

c. Policy research Data relating to policy research has been provided by scholars at the University to Hong Kong policy-makers. Examples include: i. A study on hawkers The rapid increase in population, with hawkers peddling everywhere, had brought about problems in urban management as well as conflicts between government officials and the public. The study was coordinated by the Social Research Centre and included the following topics: the hawkers' families, their consumption behaviour, education, temporal variation of the hawking population, moving patterns, medical behaviour, their life history, organizational pattern and com­ munication and information network among the hawkers, as well as an analysis of their culture. Such a comprehensive and in-depth study had provided a foundation of sufficient knowledge for the Hong Kong government to determine its policy on hawkers. ii. An in-depth investigation study on the "Social Factors of Violent Offences among Adolescents in Hong Kong," with the assistance of various government departments, had helped decision-makers further understand the social factors leading to problems of juvenile delinquency. iii. A research project on "Socio-Economic Maps of Hong Kong" under the sponsorship of the Geographic Research Centre, was of great help to people responsible for making important decisions in Hong Kong. There are still many other studies related to Hong Kong conducted by the Mass Communications Centre and the Public Affairs Research Centre. Even the small number of examples indicated above, should be sufficient to prove the abundant repayment made to Hong Kong society by the University staff. In a sense, Hong Kong society is really the "laboratory" of the University.

Moving with the Times

179

IV. Innovation The year 1973 was the year The Chinese University celebrated its tenth anniversary. The University enjoys a federal system composed of three constituent colleges, the Foundation Colleges. Each of these Colleges has its own historic past and each has its strengths. Against this background, the main objectives of the University have been to create an excellent educational environment through integration and coordination, to blend Chinese and Western cultures, and to make contributions to the international academic world, as well as to Hong Kong society. Undoubtedly this was a very difficult task to attempt. After ten years' effort, The Chinese University had at least achieved the following in facing the challenges of integration. The first move was the integration of the University campus. The three Colleges were originally situated on the Hong Kong Island, at Kowloon and Shatin, respectively, being five to fifteen miles apart from one another. Other units such as the administration offices, research centres and classrooms were scattered throughout different districts. Within ten years, the University succeeded in bringing all the units together, one by one, to the new site at Shatin, and the University became an entity in terms of space, allowing better coordination and efficiency. The second step was the change of educational objectives from college education to University education. The main purpose of a liberal arts college is undergraduate teaching. Once The Chinese University had been established, it put equal emphasis on instruction, research and social services. Furthermore, the blending of Chinese and Western cultures and the raising of academic standards up to international levels had also been made the aims of the University. Instruction has not been confined to undergraduate levels but extended to postgraduate educa­ tion on an equal footing with noted international institutions. The job of changing educational objectives is a tedious one. What the University achieved in its first ten years was to set up new objectives for both teachers and students so that they could fully realize their ideals. The third move was the integration of organizational functions. Since the University is an organic organization, it must aim at develop­ ment in its entirety, to ensure the full use of manpower and resources. Education can then be reinforced and research carried out. The inter­ collegiate courses described above are a very good example in this

180

The Quest for Excellence

respect. The method of sharing instruction among the three Colleges had doubled the effectiveness of resources, while enlarging the scope for discussion, and increasing research activities, had further im­ measurably improved the quality of teaching. Inducing wider ranging changes is enormously difficult, so it is indeed a great achievement of the University.to have accomplished all these three tasks within the short span of ten years. It is no coincidence to find that The Chinese University had performed its teaching and research work so enthusiastically and impressively. By their nature, the above reforms belonged to adjustments of organizational functions, the same as adjusting one's pace to meet new responsibilities. At the begin­ ning of the second ten years of the Uni_versity, the numbers of teaching staff and students had more than doubled, while instructional and re­ search conditions were fulfilling specific educational goals. After the bitter experience of the unprecedent riots in the late sixties, Hong Kong was undergoing intensive social reforms to meet new situations. As a member of society that was becoming more and more important every day, how could The Chinese University fail to take this opportunity of rebuilding a new structure for further developments? In retrospect, the mid-seventies was the most important period in the history of the structure of the University. The institutional innova­ tion was most observable in the basic changes in organizational struc­ ture, affecting almost everything from authority relationship, emotional identity, role systems even to life style. Institutional reforms often influence human affairs. On the other hand, whether reforms are to be successful or not usually depends on the persons in charge. History has revealed that many reforms have hinged for their success on the persons concerned, and that the difference between success and failure is very slim indeed. The following pages sketch something of the charac­ teristics of the institutional reforms in The Chinese University.

A. From Functional Integration to Structural Integration The reforms in The Chinese University from the time of their concep­ tion to their implementation covered a period of five years in the mid-seventies. The Working Party on Educational Policy and Univer­ sity Structure, set up in early 1974, was responsible for making proposals for a new system concypt. At the end of 1975, the University

Moving with the Times

181

Chancellor appointed the Commission on The Chinese University of Hong Kong which approved the proposals and proceeded to legalize them. The result of its work was the drafting of The Chinese University of Hong Kong Ordinance, 1976. After the dissolution of the above two Committees, the University implemented the proposed new system fully. During the eighties, the University's new structural system took root and laid the foundation for further developments. To discover the main distinction between the 1963 and 1976 Chinese University Ordinances (both were based on the reports of a committee chaired by Lord Fulton, and were therefore called the first and second Fulton Report) one must look for the key point - the entire structure of the University has been changed from functional integration to structural integration. The second Fulton Report pointed out that: The situation we have described in respect of the three College Boards seems to us an anomaly in the light of our endorsement of the impor­ tance of academic participation in the governance of university institu­ tions, since it appears that the Board of Governors/Trustees of the Colleges are given by their constitutions supreme responsibility for the general directio.n of their colleges and in particular are empowered to revoke decisions of their Academic Boards and Councils. It is all the more serious, if, as has been represented to us, the governing bodies of the Colleges are self-perpetuating. Our examination of their constitu­ tions suggests to us that there is substance in this criticism. (Report of the Commission on The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Supple­ ment of Chinese University Bulletin, March 1976, pp. 7-8) On 23 December 1976, The Chinese University Ordinance came into effect and the structure of the University was reformed. As a1esult, the Boards of Governors/ Trustees of the three Foundation Colleges were dissolved. In the newly established Boards, the number of trustees from among the teaching staff of the University increased. Thereafter, the Boards and the teaching and administration of the Colleges were completely separated. The administration of the University was there­ fore fully integrated.

B. The Implementation of the Principle of "Academic Participation in the Government of the University" Under the new system, teachers were involved intensively in the

182

The Quest for Excellence

administration of various levels of the University. This adjustment in the role system was very important for the further development of the University. If the University was to be developed into an institute bridging Chinese and Western cultures, and having its academic stand­ ards raised to match international levels, both the standard of its instruc­ tion and of its research must be heightened. As cited above from the Fulton Report, the original College Boards of Trustees had possessed veto power over the College Councils and the College Boards of Studies, but choices involved in decision-making could never be under­ stood by people outside the University. Should this veto power have been allowed to continue, one could not rule out the possibility that further development of the University would have been hampered.

C. From Integration of Courses to Integration of Departments

,

The inter-collegiate teaching programme was but an integration of courses. Since it was up to the Colleges to continue such a programme, it was only a measure or policy and was far from being a permanent institution. The new ordinance made integration of the organizational structure of the departments possible by investing in the Boards of Studies the recruiting of teachers, the designing of the curriculum and even the taking· on of some administration. Hence, the status of the Boards of Studies had been heightened and the principle of academic participation in the governance of the University was basically imple­ mented. These three major measures taken by the University are charac­ teristic of the innovation of its systems. In the meantime, Hong Kong society was undergoing reforms on all fronts. In the early seventies, many scholars working on Hong Kong Studies had noticed that Hong Kong society was on the point of entering into a "structural reform" or "institutional innovation" stage. After more than ten years of sustained economic development, the demand for a social policy was insistent. Many critics blamed the Hong Kong govern­ ment for doing very little for education, medical health, public assis­ tance and social welfare. More scholars pointed out, optimistically, that Hong Kong society had reached adulthood and that a way of Hong Kong life had surfaced, so it was now time to increase social investment.

Moving with the Times

183

Of course, the catalyst was the two riots in 1966 and 1967 which were still haunting the people of Hong Kong. Hong Kong society did possess the clout to change and to innovate in the seventies and eighties. As shown in Table 3, the national per capita income in Hong Kong had increased 5.2 times after 1973 and government revenue also increased 6.9 times. It is almost unknown in history that a society should have been so affluent despite high inflation; The conditions were just ripe to increase social investment if the government had the determination to do so. The following paragraphs describe the new measures taken by the Hong Kong government in its social policy: 1. Social welfare The public assistance scheme was introduced in 1971. In 1973, the White Paper on Social W,elfare was published. In the same year, a five-year plan of social welfare development was proposed. Three green papers and one white paper were issued in 1977: These were the Green Paper on Assistance for the Most Difficult Self-Help Persons, the Green Paper on Adoles­ cent Personal Social Work Development, the Green Paper on Old Age Services and the White Paper on Integration of the Disabled into the Community. In 1977, the Traffic Accident Victim Assistance Plan was introduced. This year also saw.the introduction of a White Paper on Social Welfare in the Eighties and the government began to consider funding social welfare volunteer agencies. All these social welfare policies were im­ plemented around the main theme of "community construc­ tion." 2. Labour services As the 1967 riot stemmed from industrial conflicts (labour disputes), the Hong Kong government learned a lesson and passed the Employment Ordinance in 1968, as well as setting up employment services organizations. In 1973, a labour tribunal was established and the Legislation for Sick Leave with Pay was implemented. The government passed the Or­ dinances of Wages in Lieu of Notice in 1974 and Labour Relations in 1975. The Weekly Paid Leave was adopted in 1976. In 1977, Sick Leave Allowance was raised to 36 days per

The Quest for Excellence

184

Table 3. Hong Kong and The Chinese University 1973-1983 I. Hong Kong Social Indicators 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

Population (in thousands) Factory workers (in thousands) Total exports value (in million $) GDP per capita (in $) Government revenue (in million $) Industrial conflict (work days lost) Crime rate (per 100,000)

1973

1978

1983

4,160 626 25,999

4,597 817 53,908

5,345 855 160,699

7,388 5,241

16,838 13,914

39,138 36,512

47,100

30,000

2,500

944

1,241

1,613

3,13i 1 ) 255 18,788

5,215(2) 395(3) 24,144(4)

6,105(5) 495(5) 39,385(?)

II. Chinese University Indicators 8 Student population 9 Staff population 10 EMSD students Notes:

Sources:

1. The academic year 1973-74 (including undergraduate students, postgraduate students and part-time students); 2. The academic year 1978-79; 3. ditto; 4. ditto; 5. The academic year 1983-84 (including undergraduate students, postgraduate students and part-time stu­ dents); 6. ditto; 7. ditto. 1. Census and Statistics Department, Hong Kong Social and Economic Trends, 1964-1974, pp. 70-80, 1978-1988 and 1980-1990. 2. Labour Department, Annual Reports.

year, with each day earning two-thirds of the regular payment. In 1978, the government ruled that there should be seven holidays with pay in a year. The seventies can therefore be said to be an era of labour legislation. 3. Medical and health In 1974, the White Paper on Further Development of Medical and Health Services in Hong Kong was published. The Prin­ cess Margaret Hospital was established in Kowloon in 1975. In 1976, it was resolved that a Faculty of Medicine should be set up in The Chinese University, which eventuated in 1980. In 1984, the Prince of Wales Hospital was established. 4. Public housing In 1972, the Ten-Year Building Plan was proposed, aiming at building public housing in the new towns to accommodate 1.8 million people. The Housing Authority was established in 1973 to coordinate all public housing services. In 1976, the Home

Moving with the Times

185

Ownership Scheme was implemented. The period was one in which great development had been achieved in both the quality and quantity of housing. 5. Universal school education The Education Ordinance was passed in 1971 to enforce com­ pulsory primary education. In 1972, the Hong Kong Polytech­ nic was founded. In 1973, the Green paper on Expanding Secondary Education was published. In 1974, the Green Paper on Ten-year Secondary Education appeared. In 1979 compul­ sory education was decreed and implemented with government funds. In 1978, the White Paper on Senior Secondary and Tertiary Education was published, in which it was decided that by stages over eight years 70% of all 15-year-olds could be provided school places. This decade can be said to be an era of expansion of secondary schools, which laid the foundation for later development of tertiary education. The annual expenditure of the Hong Kong government in 1973 was approaching 5.4 billion dollars, less than 39% (about 2.1 billion, repre­ senting 5% of the total national product) of which was used for the above social services. In 1983, the annual expenditure was 38.6 billion, of which almost 43% (about 16.5 billion, i.e. 7.2% of the total national product) was used in social services. Judging from this, Hong Kong was no _longer to be ridiculed as a "Forest of Social Darwinism"; it was not very much behind Britain, the so-called welfare state. In this period, The Chinese University carried out reforms to its systems as well as its curriculum. Changes that had been introduced in accordance with the development of social services were the estab­ lishment of the Department of Anthropology in 1979 and the Depart­ ment of Psychology in 1982. The education offered in the social sciences was thus extended and made more complete. The most impor­ tant development in this period was of course the establishment of the Faculty of Medicine. In 1981, the part-time degree programme was offered in the evenings for those in full-time employment. Furthermore, the establishment of the Department of Statistics and the expansion of the Graduate School were developments in accord with the needs of Hong Kong society. The most important result of the institutional innovation of The

186

The Quest for Excellence

Chinese University was that teachers could use more time and effort in research and publications. This resulted, in the late seventies in many books being published. In the Appendix to the Vice-Chancellor's Report, 1978-1982, there are 87 pages (pp. 63-149) of the publications of the staff, with more than 4,000 articles. From this time on, The Chinese University entered into an era with more than a hundred projects and a thousand, publications annually. The reforms of the University in the mid-seventies had played an important role in bringing about more research publications, albeit with only a small increase in the number of its teaching staff. It has to be pointed out that the above effect was more long-term than short-term. The proof is in the length of the Appendixes on staff publications. The four years from 1978 to 1982 saw the number of pages on publications reach 87. The three years from 1982 to 1985 increased the number of pages to 97. From 1985 to 1987, it required 83 pages for these two years alone. As the number of publications grew with the years, it soon came to the stage where the publication list was too long to be included in the Appendices. A separate report was called for. The number of pages of the separate report on publications of staff, in the Vice-Chancellor's Report, 1987-1990 reached 268. The number of research items and the volume of publications only reflects one side of academic performance. The academic level of a university should be assessed on the quality of the publications of its staff. An analysis in this connection shows that many of these published articles appeared in top-class international academic journals in related professional fields. These journals are known to be very strict in the selection of papers. Once an article is published in one of these journals, its standard is guaranteed. Judging from this, not only has the quantity of the publications of the staff of The Chinese University increased over the years but also the quality has reached international standards, recog­ nized by insiders in the various fields. In its first ten years, The Chinese University set up the Institute of Social Sciences and the Humanities, the Institute of Science and Tech­ nology and the Institute of Chinese Studies. In 1978, the Lingnan Institute of Business Administration was established to make contribu­ tions to the development of Hong Kong' s economy. The research results of the various research centres, under the four Institutes, which enjoyed close relations with Hong Kong society were mostly published by the

Moving with the Times

187

University Press, set up in 1977. The earliest institute entering into the closest relationship with Hong Kong' s social development and man­ power resources was the School of Education, which was set up in 1965. It has since then played an important part in the rapid development of education in Hong Kong. In summary, the characteristics of the development in both The Chinese University and Hong Kong society over the years 1973-1983 had been their efforts in bringing about innovations. The huge power released through the reforms of the system had laid a solid foundation for rapid development at later stages.

V. Development In 1983, Hong Kong was facing considerable uncertainty following the Sino-British talks on the future of the region. On 12 July of that year, the two countries held their first talks, and the communique issued after the talks used such descriptive words as "beneficial and constructive." The word "constructive" disappeared in the second communique, and both the adjectives "beneficial" and "constructive" had vanished by the third communique, published on Friday, 23 September 1983. The next day, the Hong Kong dollar hit a record low, with an exchange rate of HK$9.50 to the US dollar. This represented a fall of almost 50% as compared with its highest exchange rate before the talks. Hong Kong residents began to panic, rushing to supermarkets for rice and canned food, apparently worried by the crisis. But history is ironic. In retrospect, it was the beginning of great developments in Hong Kong society. A glimpse of the development can be seen from the figures of Table 4. The value of exports increased six fold over the next ten year�, from 160 billion dollars to 1,000 billion, and the average national product grew by 375%. This achievement was arrived at through a stagnation in the growth of population, a shrinkage in the manufacturing industry, a movement of industry northwards to China, and a satisfactory state of law and order (the strike indicator remained at a low level, while the crime rate fell instead of rising) in Hong Kong society. Matching the social development of Hong Kong, The Chinese University also made great headway during the third decade after its

188

The Quest for Excellence

Table 4. Hong Kong and The Chinese University 1983-1993 I. Hong Kong Social Indicators Population (in thousands) Factory workers (in thousands) Total exports (in million$) GDP per capita (in$) Government revenue (in million$) 6. Industrial conflict (work days lost) 7. Crime rate (per 100,000) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

1983

1988

5,345 855 160,699 39,138 36,512

5,628 837 493,069 77,059 72,600

2,500

2,300

1,613

1,410

1,523(4)

5,997 . 495(5) 39,385(5)

7,910(6) 524 �

a r: n> ""1

t t

1965-66 ' "'{ 1966-67 ., 1967-68

Ji

1970-71

""�

1971-72 . JJ J1

1972-73

�

!

'

z�tr1

t

""1

0

a:

�

l

-

Ei ll,

zi-3tr1

1

'00 � \0 0'. � I �

[1 l

il

l1

\

\0 \0

�

t

l'

'\

E\ [a

l

�

1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980

Year

Faculty

Business Administration Education Medicine

-

-

-

-

-

6 8 5

68 104 115 164 156 148 111 146 163 152 165 159 199 183 225 243 256

-

-

1

-

6 3

9 20 35 79 79 55 60 68 87 81 90 84 111 141 195 174 235

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Diploma Degree Diploma· Degree Degree Degree Degree Degree BA BEd MBChB BMedSc BNurs BBA

Arts

1. Number of First Degrees Awarded (1964-1993)

IV. Number of Degrees and Diplomas Awarded Science Social Science

Total

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

31 31 18 20

31 47 67 102 117 119 108 122 141 143 154 159 184 194 229 230 267

-

-

-

2 4 3 1

27 80 83 129 129 124 117 127 166 181 172 191 234 238 271 302 318

-

-

-

45 46 26 22

135 251 300 474 481 446 396 463 557 557 581 593 728 756 920 949 1076

Degree Diploma Degree Diploma Degree Diploma Degree BSc BEng BSSc

Engineering

Business Administration Education Medicine

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

6362

10

-

4965 106

39 67 711

46 67 66 101 86 103 128 114

-

-

19

3 4 4 8

-

46

46

219

91 128

-

-

-

100

-

In 1996, Cum Laude Degree, a mark ofdistinction, was first introduced. In 1967 and 1968, both Magna Cum Laude and Cum Laude Degrees were awarded. From 1969, Degrees with Honours (1st, 2nd U., 2nd L. and 3rd Class) were awarded. From 1971, the Degrees ofBComm and MComm are replaced by BBA and MBA respectively. The Faculty ofMedicine had its first batch ofgraduates in 1986. The Part-time Degree Programmes had its first batch ofgraduates in 1984.

-

Remarks:

250 241 200 212 207 220 224 255 271 271 327 327 357

19

-

-

Total

-

259 259 245 248 251 242 272 303 309 277 318 297 325

Science Social Science Total

6439

268 293 271 254 267 330 329 349 315 341 351 336 321 10

-

-

-

7373

295 313 307 325 309 328 321 381 349 375 381 396 404

139

-

-

-

26240

1072 1106 1023 1039 1034 1166 1213 1354 1345 1353 1484 1618 1770

Degree Diploma Degree Diploma Degree Diploma Degree BEng BSc BSSc

--,-

Engineering

-

-

Diploma Degree Diploma Degree Degree Degree Degree Degree BA BBA BEd MBChB BMedSc BNurs

Arts

1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993

Year

Faculty

1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980

Year

-

22 18 16 13

13 13

-

4 2 4 2 1

-

-

-

-

2 2

-

4 2

-

21 36 46 38 52 50 47 57

-

-

after)

1973)

-

-

8 16 17 25 24 24 20 28 32 57

-

4 9 3

-

-

after)

1971)

-

(1971 and

(before

19 21 17 25 24 43 68 73 104 119 142 138 253 288 323 5 5 2 1 2 5 4

-

MDiv MPhil PhD MComm MBA DipEd MA (Ed)

(1973 and

MAt

(before

MA*

-

-

MD

-

-

1 9

-

-

1973)

(before

MSc*

2. Number of Postgraduate Degrees and Diplomas Awarded (1966-1993)

-

-

4

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

5 2

-

-

-

-

-

3

-

2

-

-

1973)

(before

-

-

MSct DipSW MSW MSSc* MSSc

19 34 34 58 45 68 109 111 174 202 210 215 337 380 443

Total

Note:

Total

1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993

Year

189

1 1 16 15 20 14 22 29 28 29

30

2 1 2 2

-

1 1 3 4 2

-

2

-

1396

85 87 101 88 108 140

43 39 68 69 66 78

90

12 23

3 9 10

10

4 6 1

-

1

-

16

1373

70 77 71 73 85 89 83 104 100 106 84 93 87

after)

(1971 and

6478

320 358 295 317 344 385 428 355 426 393 386 434 380 248

8 16 25 13 7 19 17 25 26 8 14 21 25 9

3 2 1 1

-

1

-

1

-

MD

10

-

36

20 6

-

3 2 1

-

-

5

1 2 1

42

144

-

-

2 2 4 7 4 3 6 3 16 15 35 32 16

17 2

-

-

1973)

1973)

-

(before

6

-

2

4

-

-

MSct DipSW MSW MSSc* MSSc

(before

MSc*

* Two-year Full-time Programme, changed to MPhil degree in 1973. t One-year Full-time Programme/Two-year Part-time Programme. + Two-year Full-time Programme, changed to MPhil degree in 1973 except Ele ctronics whic h was also changed to MPhil in 1975.

95

-

-

-

1

-

1971)

after)

1973)

-

(before

MDiv MPhil PhD MComm MBA DipEd MA (Ed)

(1973 and

MAt

(before

MA*

10167

444 495 463 485 514 612 642 612 680 666 652 754 709

Total

!'I)

"1

1964

0

N 0 0

+:>0 0

°' 0 0

00 0 0

- - - -°' 0 0 0

N 0 0

+:>0 0

0 0

00 0 0

sz !'I)

"1

1965

l

1966

t t I t

1967 1968 1969

I:

1

.,� �

.,� �

�-s- �� a t::,�

i i 1r

1970

I:

1971

., c:, ;:i

i:,

t::,

1972

-5· S" :! 1;l

1973

Is-

-

t::,

� �"'

t::,

� � �

I

trj

�

.,

::,::,

i

0 � 0

� �

a:

1974

1975

trj

�

1976

trj

00

>

1977

1978

0

tS

1979

1980 1981

00

>

1982

�

r§

1983

trj

1984

0

1985

\0

1986

\0 \0

1987

-1988 1989

1990 1991

1992 1993

Number of Students

4717 7764 7710 9760 9955 12478 13422 15609 18778 19659 29426 22240 29934 24144

Number of Courses

139 262 278 387 422 477 474 517 554 583 608 530 676 783

Year

1965-66 1966-67 1967-68 1968-69 1969-70 1970-71 1971-72 1972-73 1973-74 1974-75 1975-76 1976-77 1977-78 1978-79 1979-80 1980-81 1981-82 1982-83 1983-84 1984-85 1985-86 1986-87 1987-88 1988-89 1989-90 1990-91 1991-92 1992-93

Year

V. Number of Students of Extramural Courses (1965-1993)

1073 1001 1007 1076 1167 1376 1587 1632 1697 1713 2007 2366 2540 2621

Number of Courses

31112 31852 32326 34379 39385 46422 51132 55661 56210 53303 53758 51844 43118 41741

Number of Students

I I

I I I

I

I

I I I I I

I

I

I

I

I

I

I

I I

I

I

I

::

� � ,(:)

E

�

a ::t

...

,(:)

E

;E ;E

□

■

I

8 0 1/"l

8 �

06-6861 68-8861 .88-L861 L8-9861 98-S861 S8-t861 t8-£861 £8-Z861 Z:8-1861 18-0861 08-6l61. 6L-8l61 �

I

9L-Sl61

I

tl-£l61

I

I

£L-ZL61

I

I I

C:

c= 0

16-0661

LL-9L61

C

0

Z:6-1661

8L-Ll61

I

.::i

I I I I I I

£6-Z661

0

8 0

0

Total

1470

100% 2304 100% 2068 100% 1793 100% 1708 100% 100%

100% . 1584

1632

683 29.6% 631 30.5% 557 31.1% 580 34.0% 554 33.9%

555 35.0%

500 34.0%

Minor and Others

526 22.8% 437 21.1% 347 19.4% 349 20.4% 322 19.7%

. 304 19.2%

298 20.3%

Office Supporting/ Clerical and Secreterial

251 10.9% 234 11.3%

154

207 11.5%

9.5%

139

Technical

193 11.3%

3.9% 91 4.2% 87 4.4% 79 0.0% 0

0.0%

0

0.0%

0

0.0%

0

Professional

165 10.1%

6.2% 143 6.0% 124 6.3% 113 9.4% 160

9.8%

160

9.7%

154

9.3%

137

Administrative

9.7%

3.6% 82 2.9% 60 2.6% 46 0.0%

0

0.0%

0

0.0%

0

0.0%

528 22.9% 41 7.8% 13 2.5% 101 19.1% 301 57.0% 27 5.1% 45 8.5% 495 23.9% 38 7.7% 15 3.0% 91 18.4% 281 56.8% 30 6.1% 40 8.1% 444 24.8% 34 7.7% 16 3.6% 75 16.9% 252 56.8% 33 7.4% 34 7.7%

426 24.9% 29 6.8% 21 4.9% 71 16.7% 228 53.5% 35 8.2% 42 9.9%

0

Research

396 16 10 50 215 49 56

26.4% 4.9% 4.4% 14.4% 49.4% 9.7% 17.2%

1984-85

1983-84

1982-83

1981-82

431 21 19 62 213 42 74

1980-81

26.3% 3.8% 4.6% 12.7% 50.1% 11.5% 17.3%

1979-80 417 16 19 53 209 48 72

1978-79 26.9% 4.0% 2.5% 12.6% 54.3% 12.4% 14.1%

Staff/Year

1978-85

VI. Number and Distribution of Full-time Staff (1978-1993)

· Academic Professor Reader Senior Lecturer Lecturer Assistant Lecture Senior Instructor anp Instructor

\

122

101

290 12.4%

504 21.6%

694 29.7%

2337

Administrative

Professional

Technical

Office Supporting/ Clerical and Secreterial

Minor and Others

Total

3.7%

5.6%

2440

100%

737 30.2%

525 21.5%

311 12.7%

90

137 3.7%

5.5%

2.8%

2506 100%

739 29.5%

532 21.2%

325 13.0%

92

139

69

610 24.3% 38 6.2% 22 3.6% 135 22.1% 339 55.6% 21 3.4% 55 9.0%

1987-88

3.8%

5.7%

2.6%

24.2% 6.6% 3.7% 21.2% 54.8% 3.2% 10.6%

2576

100%

740 28.7%

567 22.0%

333 12.9%

98

148

66

624 41 23 132 342 20 66

1988-89

3.7%

5.6%

2.6%

2719

100%

794 29.2%

587 21.6%

352 12.9%

100

152

71

5.1%

5.0%

2.2%

2914

100%

820 28.1%

632 21.7%

383 13.1%

149

146

63

24.7% 6.4% 4.6% 20.2% 54.1% 2.6% 12.1%

721 46 33 146 390 19 87

663 42 28 139 366 21 67 24.4% 6.3% 4.2% 21.0% 55.2% 3.2% 10.1%

1990-91

1989-90

Notes: Category "Research" is grouped under "Others" in the period 1978-82. Category "Professional" is grouped under "Administrative" in the period 1978-82. All figures before 1990 are as at December 31 of the year; all figures from 1990 are as at 1 st January of the year.

100%

4.3%

5.2%

2.9%

70

Research 71

569 23.3% 39 6.9% 16 2.8% 118 20.7% 333 58.5% 25 4.4% 38 6.7%

556 23.8% 40 7.2% 16 2.9% 109 19.6% 330 59.4% 23 4.1% 38 6.8%

Academic Professor Reader Senior Lecturer Lecturer Assistant Lecture Senior Instructor and Instructor

3.0%

1986-87

1985-86

Staff/Year

1985-93

5.1%

5.1%

2.1%

24.6% 6.7% 5.9% 19.2% 55.0% 1.3% 11.8%

5.7%

5.0%

2.3%

24.3% 6.7% 6.1% 19.2% 54.2% 1.6% 12.1%

100%

3292

3024

100%

912 27.7%

706 21.4%

444 13.5%

189

164

76

801 54 49 154 434 13 97

1992-93

842- 27.8%

661 21.9%

404 13.4%

155

155

62

745 50 44 143 410 10 88

1991-92

1000 900 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100

•

11

• "&�i1 1

"SI"

tn

�1- 1 •�;,1,1

\0 00

�:1,1

I

r00

,I I

r-

00 00

,I

00 I 00 00

,

0

,11, ,

:"!J c·

,

U6'

N

,

V'i ,.

____.-----::-

NUMBER AND DISTRIBUTION OF FULL-TIME STAFF 1978-1993

I

r00 r-

I

I

0

•

00

I

00

N

1 r'a 11

Technical

I Academic

00

r-

I

00

00

0

1; J 111 J- 11 -1��1 °' I

00

N

00

(')

00

I (')

.00

I

Clerical & Secretarial

Research

00

"SI"

00'

I

Year

00

tn

•

\0 00

Minor & Others

Administrative

00

00

I

I

......

Professional

......

I

0

......

I

N

J I g J W■ ■J1 ■� I■1 ■ ., ■�,-,, "■ ■,;·.:■ ■,°'..,,,., ■·:°' ■ I ■°'- ■ I ■°' ■ I ■°' ■ - °' °' °' °' °'- °' °' °'°' °'°' -°'°' °'°' °' °'°'°'°'- - - - - -

._.-A

Number

1

/

Faculty of Business Administration Department of Accountancy Finance International Business Marketing Operations and Systems Management Organization and Management

Faculty of Arts Department of Chinese Language and Literature English Fine Arts History Japanese Studies Music Philosophy Religion Translation

Facultyillepartment

1985

1963(2)

1974 1974 1974 1974 1989 1989

1974

1989 1989 1989 1989 1989 1989

1992 1980

1980 1989 1992 1980

PhD

1963 1963 1963 1963 1991 1965 1963 1963 1994

1963 1963 1963 1963 1991 1965 197i 1 ) 1963 1984

PhD

BBA

1963

BA

Year to Start Offering Degree Programmes

1963

Year of Establishment

1966(2)

MBA

1984

1989

1966

1989 1978

MA

1972

MDiv

Year to Start Offering Diploma and Postgraduate Degree Programmes

VII. Establishment of Faculties, Departments and Degree Programmes

1983 1966 1990 1992

1966 1978 1981 1970

MPhil

Faculty of Engineering Department of Computer Science Electronic Engineering Information Engineering Systems Engineering

Faculty of Education Department of Educational Administration and Policy Curriculum and Instruction Educational Psychology Sports Science and Physical Education

Faculty/Department

1991

1991 1991 1991 1991

1973 1988 1989 1991

BEng

1994

BEd

1978

BSc

Year to Start Offering Degree Programmes

1991(4)

1991 1991 1991 1992

1965(3)

Year of Establishment

1965

DipEd

1990 1980 1990 1992

PhD

1990

PhD

1982 1973 1990 1992

MPhil

1973

MA(Ed)

1972 1990

MSc

1992

MEd

Year to Start Offering Diploma and Postgraduate Degree Programmes

1990

MPhil

1982 1982 1981 1971 1983 1983 1986 1981 1984 1983 1983 1991 1982 1983 1982 1981 1992 1981 1981 1982

1981

Faculty of Medicine

Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Anatomical and Cellular Pathology Anatomy Biochemistry Chemical Pathology Clinical Oncology Clinical Pharmacology Community and Family Medicine Diagnostic Radiology and Organ Imaging Medicine Microbiology Nursing Obstetrics and Gynaecology Orthopaedics and Traumatology Paediatrics Pharmacology Pharmacy Physiology Psychiatry Surgery

Year of Establishment

Faculty/Department

1989

BMedSc 1981

MBChB

1991

BNurs

Year to Start Offering Degree Programmes

1992

BPharm 1986

MD 1982

PhD

1992

1982

MPhil

1986

MSc

Year to Start Offering Diploma and Postgraduate Degree Programmes

1973 1963 1963 1963 1963 1982

1971 1963 1963 1963 1963 1981

Department of Anthropology Architecture Economics Geography Government and Public Administration Journalism and Communication Psychology Social Work Sociology

Faculty of Social Science 1963

1980 1991 1963 1963 1971 1965 1982 1964 1964

1963(S)

1980 1991 1963 1963 1971 1965 1982 1965 1965

BSSc

1963

1963

Department of Biochemistry Biology Chemistry Mathematics Physics Statistics

Faculty of Science

1984

DipSW

1984 1990 1993 1993 1990 1992 1984

1970

1987 1992 1974 1966 1982 1977 1986

MPhil

PhD

1992

1972 1969 1970 1973 1972 1981

1981 1981 1985 1985 1981 1991

1988

MSSc

MPhil

BSc

PhD

Year to Start Offering Diploma and Postgraduate Degree Programmes

Year to Start Offering Degree Programmes

Year of Establishment

Faculty/Department

1977

MSW

Notes: L .When the University was establishedin 1963, each of the three constituent Colleges ran its own programme in Philosophy. Such programmes were integrated into the Department of Philosophy in 1977. 2. In 1963, different Faculties of Commerce and Social Science in the three Colleges provided their own programmes in Accounting, Finance and Business Administration, and awarded BComm and MComm Degrees. These programmes were taken over by the new Faculty of Business Administration in 1974. The new faculty consisted of three departments, namely Accounting and Finance, Marketing and International Business, and Production and Personnel Management and Industrial Relations. In 1989, the faculty was reorganized into six departments. They are the departments of Accounting, Finance, International Business, Marketing, Operations and Systems Management, and Organization and Management. 3. The School of Education, established in 1965, was a professional school for training graduate teachers. Initially, it offered a one-year Diploma-in-Education course to train university graduates to become professional teachers at the senior secondary level. The School was reconstituted as i:he Faculty of Education in 1991. The new faculty offers degree courses of various levels (PhD, MPhil, MEd, and BEd) as well as the Diploma-in-Education course. 4. The Faculty of Engineering established in 1991 consists of four departments: Computer Science, Electronic Engineering, Information Engineering and Systems Engineering. The Department of Computer Science was first set up in 1973, the Department of Electronic Engineering in 1988 and the Department oflnformation Engineering in 1989. These three departments were under the administration of the .Faculty of Science before 1991 and awarded BSc Degrees. They were transferred to the Faculty of Engineering together with the new Department of Systems Engineering. 5. Many departments in the Faculty of Social Science were established in different colleges before 1963. The departments of Economics, and Sociology and Education in Chung Chi were established in 1951, the departments of History and Geography in 1954, and Religious Education and Social Work in 1957. In New Asia, the Department of Economics was formed in 1949, and Philosophy and Sociology in 1959. In United College, the departments of Economics and Sociology were developed in 1956, and Geography was founded in 1961.

1965 1990 1979

Institute of Science and Technology Centre for Environmental Studies Chinese Medicinal Material Research Centre

1990 1993 1988

Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies

The Hong Kong Institute of Educational Research of The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Hong Kong Institute of Biotechnology

1988 1992

1990

Hong Kong Centre of Sports Medicine and Sports Science Materials Technology Research Centre

1991

1993 1983

Research Centre for Contemporary Chinese Culture Research Centre for Translation

Asia-Pacific Institute of Business

1967 1971 1978 1980

Institute of Chinese Studies Art Gallery Centre for Chinese Archaeology and Art The Ng Tor-tai Chinese Language Research Centre

Research Institute for the Humanities

Year

Institutes

VIII. Establishment of Research Institutes

It replaces the former Institute of Social Studies and its two research centres - the Centre for Hong Kong Studies and the Centre for Contemporary Asian Studies.

The Centre originated from a research unit on Chinese Medicinal Material, which was first established in 1975.

In 1971, a Centre for Translation Projects was established with a grant from the Asia Foundation. It was renamed Research Centre for Translation in 1983 as a result of reorganization.

The Centre originated from the Chinese Linguistics Research Centre, which was first established in 1966. It was enlarged in early 1979 under the name of Chinese Language Research Centre, and in 1980 it was renamed The Ng Tor-tai Chinese Language Research Centre.

Remark

List of Contributors

Alice N. H. Lun NG BA, DipEd, MA (HK); PhD (Minn.)

Reader, Department of History

Bernard Hungkay LUK BA (CUHK); PhD (Indiana)

Formerly Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Education; Associate Professor, York University, Toronto

Tak Sing CHEUNG BSSc ( CUHK); MA, PhD (N. Y. State)

Senior Lecturer, Department of Sociology

Sze-kwang LAO BA (Taiwan)

Senior College Tutor, Shaw College

Chong Chor LAU BSSc (CUHK); MA, PhD (Pitt.)

Senior Lecturer, Department of Sociology

WONG Kin Yuen Dip (H.K. Baptist ); MA (Redlands); PhD ( Calif.)

Senior Lecturer, Department of English

KWOK Siu-tong BA(CUHK); MA, PhD ( Calif.)

Senior Lecturer, Department of History

Hon-ming YIP BA(CUHK); MA, PhD ( Calif.)

Lecturer, Department of History

Mayching KAO BA(CUHK); MA(New Mexico); PhD (Stan.)

Senior Lecturer, Department of Fine Arts; Curator, Art Gallery

The Quest for Excellence

396 Chung Kee YEUNG BA (CUHK); MA (Kyoto)

Senior Lecturer, Department of Chinese Language and Literature

Sonia S. H. NG BA, MA, PhD (CUHK); MEd (Tor.)

Contract Simultaneous Interpreter, US Department of State

Charles K. KAO CBE; BSc, PhD (Lond); DSc (CUHK and Sus.); DEng (Glas.); FEng; NAB (USA); FIEE; FIEEE;FHKlE

Vice-Chancellor

Dean, Faculty of Education Leslie Nai-kwai LO BA (Oregon); Cert (East Asian Inst., Col.); MIA, EdD (Col.)

Major References

Vice-Chancellor's Reports of The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) The First Six Years, 1963-1969. Hong Kong: CUHK, 1969. The Emerging University, 1970-1974. Hong Kong: CUHK, 1974. A New Era Begins, 1975-1978. Hong Kong: CUHK, 1978. Vice-Chancellor's Report, 1978-1982. Hong Kong: CUHK, 1982. Vice-Chancellor's Report, 1982-1985. Hong Kong: CUHK, 1985. Vice-Chancellor's Report, 1985-87. Hong Kong: CUHK, 1987. Vice-Chancellor's Report, 1987-90. Hong Kong: CUHK, 1990. Vice-Chancellor's Report, 1990-93. Hong Kong: CUHK, 1993.

Other Reports