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CUHK's Coat of Arms

Another item from the University archives shows how the history of CUHK is closely interwoven with that of Hong Kong. Not too long after the establishment of the University, the Council, through the Vice-Chancellor and in accordance with the University Ordinance, represented to the College of Arms in London for the grant of a coat of arms. The picture here shows the document issued in 1967 under the hands and seals of the Garter, Clarenceux and Norroy & Ulster Kings of Arms, the three senior officers of the College of Arms, and is probably the University's only link to medieval and chivalric romanticism. As one can see, the coat of arms is pretty much the University emblem as we know it today, except that the two supporters, the mythical beasts chi lin, depicted in a truly chinoiserie manner, are seldom shown nowadays. The document also provided for the use of the feng reguardant counterchanged, or, simply put, a phoenix looking backwards and in two colours, which is at the centre of the shield. The two colours prescribed in the document are or and purpure, which are heraldic language for gold and purple.