Bulletin No. 1, 2020

The Corona Chronicle 23 Casting the Web of Education Wider P art of the University’s effort to continuously provide quality education for all was ‘Class Acts’, an online public lecture series that took place between March and May. The series included eight highly accessible talks given by our specialists from different areas, including the arts, business, education, engineering, law, medicine and science. Prof. Alan K. L. Chan, Provost and speaker of the inaugural lecture ‘Higher Learning in the Era of Industry 4.0’, noted precisely the importance of learning even in these challenging days. From artificial intelligence to online dating; from gravitational waves to treasure hunting; from urban history to educational robots, ending with the inspiring story of a urological surgeon, the series dealt with a wide range of topics and gave much food for thought to the many who stayed home but stayed curious. At the Faculty level, too, the cloud served as a rendezvous for minds eager to collide. At the height of the pandemic, our arts and business scholars, engineers, scientists and social scientists reached out through the screen, guiding learners here and abroad through their fields of expertise and offering fresh perspectives on the plague. At the Faculty of Law, the Greater China Legal History Seminar Series, in its fifth offering in 2019–20, adopted the webinar format as well. Among the series’ many knowledgeable speakers was Prof. Steven Gallagher , Associate Dean (Teaching and Learning) of the Faculty, who delivered to his audience a story of the fascinating art world told from a legal viewpoint. A former antique dealer himself, Professor Gallagher discussed a myriad of issues surrounding the Prof. Steven Gallagher Associate Dean (Teaching and Learning) of the Faculty of Law acquisition, possession and disposal of antiquities, drawing on precious examples of Chinese and Western art, past and present. Joining the effort to keep passing on knowledge online was the Art Museum. In Heart to Heart , a video series taking a fresh look at its collection, guests from all walks of life were invited to explore with our curators treasures in the museum. How does a piece of jade remind a doctor of his work, and what might an abbot see in a painting of a lotus? How does an ink wash painting capture the New Territories as a hike leader knows it, and what would a hair stylist say about fashion in the Qing dynasty? In the course of eight webisodes aired between May and July, art lovers had the chance to appreciate the many works housed in the museum as they had never been seen before. While the University is always producing new materials, it also has a repository of talks given at CUHK by eminent figures from different domains. As the world went into lockdown, the University combed through its rich archive and compiled lectures given in recent years by Nobel laureates and leading cultural figures, hoping that they would give colour to life in quarantine. Old or new, these gems are there in the cloud, readily available, for our ever- stronger love of wisdom.