Bulletin Vol. 3 No. 6 Jan 1967

Commo nwe a l th Universities in wh i ch he was recently elected a M e m b er of the Executive Council. T h e Conference, wh i ch was held at the Th amma s at Un i v e r s i ty in Bangkok f r om December 12 to December 15 ， 1966, was attended by 87 participants f r om 22 memb e r - i n s t i t u t i o ns and by a n umb er of observers f r om 9 other organizations. I t reviewed the current programmes and progress of the Southeast Asian institutions and discussed the p l a n n i ng for f u t u re development of these institutions. T h e Conference also assessed the role of universities in national and regional development. Am o n g various other programmes of activities, the Conference decided that a Seminar on Fine A r ts be held in H o n g K o n g in No v emb er 1967, w i t h a folklore and fine arts exhibition to be held at the same time if possible. D r . L i was elected Vice-President of A S H I A L for the year 1967-69. T h e Seminar on Goals for Southeast Asian Universities was conducted after the Conference f r om December 16 to 18, 1966. Problems of student activities, teaching and research, financing university g r ow t h, recruitment of staff, extra-mural studies, and the university in c ommu n i ty were discussed. M r . W u presented a paper on pre-university requirements. D r . L i and M r . W u returned on December 16 and 19 ， 1966, respectively. UNI VERS I TY PUBLIC LECTURES A A t the invitation of the Vice-Chancellor, D r . C h o h - M i ng L i , Professor H o P ' i n g - T i, Chair Professor of H i s t o ry at the Un i v e r s i ty of Chicago, arrived on December 28. He came to advise the Vice-Chancellor on the c u r r i c u l um in the University's graduate studies. Before j o i n i ng the Un i v e r s i ty of Chicago, Professor H o taught W o r l d H i s t o ry at various universities in the U n i t ed States. Later, his publications on topics of Chinese H i s t o ry won h i m a wo r l d - w i de reputation. H is sociological approach to the study of Chinese H i s t o ry has broken new g r o u nd in Sinology. On January 9 ， 1967, Professor H o gave a p u b l ic lecture on “ T h e Characteristics of the T r a d i t i o n al Chinese Society” . T h e lecture was sponsored by the Un i v e r s i t y. Professor H o expressed the view that the most distinguished characteristic of the traditional Chinese Society was the great mo b i l i ty in social status. According to h i m, what p ut a man in his social status was not his f am i ly background, b ut his own intellectual and mo r al development. D u r i n g the T a n g Dynasty, examination as a means to decide a man's social importance was introduced, and the man who reached the top of the list of successful candidates came out on top of his fellowmen. Professor H o conceded that money sometimes decided the status of a person, b ut only to the extent that poverty was a handicap to u n d i s t u r b ed studies. However, said Professor Ho, examination in the M i n g Dynasty w h i ch demanded a higher intellectual standard than ever before, equalized the chance for the r i ch and the poor, and thus permitted an easier escalation of the social under-dogs. A Professor M a x Beloff, Gladstone Professor of Go v e r nme nt and Public Adm i n i s t r a t i on and Fellow of A l l Souls College, Ox f o r d, arrived i n H o n g K o n g on December 23 w i t h his wife on a lecture tour under the auspices of the B r i t i sh Council. T h e Professor gave three lectures d u r i ng his stay here. T w o of t h em were delivered at the University of H o n g K o n g. On December 30, he gave a public lecture on “Current Problems in B r i t i sh Parliamentary Government” in the C i ty H a ll Theatre. T h e lecture, presided over by D r . S.S. Hsueh, Reader in Zoology assigned to U n i t e d College, was sponsored by the Chinese University. A An o t h er public lecture, co-sponsored by the B r i t i sh Co u n c il and T h e Chinese Un i v e r s i t y, was given by Professor Bruce Pattison, Professor of Education at the Institute of Education, L o n d on University, on January 26 at the C i ty Hall. T h e Professor spoke on “English T o d a y ”. I n his lecture, Professor Pattison explained, in detail, the development, progress, and future trend of the English language. A t the end of his lecture, he answered questions f r om the audience. Professor Pattison arrived in H o n g K o n g on January 17, 1967 to advise T h e Chinese University on methods of English teaching. D u r i ng his two weeks' sta y here, he spent the greater part of his t i me meeting the language and literature teachers of the University. I n th e company of Professor B. Hensman of the University, Professor Pattison visited the t wo local teachers training Colleges and some of the Chinese and Anglo-Chinese secondary schools, f r om w h i ch the Un i v e r s i ty draws its students. COLLEGE OVERSEAS L I A I SON For several years, there has been cross-cultural exchange between each of the three Fo u n d a t i on Colleges of the Un i v e r s i ty and a few Ame r i c an universities and colleges. These ties proved to be of incalcuable value in keeping T h e Chinese Un i v e r s i ty “not just a Chinese i n s t i t u t i on w i t h B r i t i sh affiliation, b ut a Chinese institution of international character”, as the Vice-Chancellor said in his inaugural message. For the past few years, C h u ng Chi College has been we l c om i ng tutors f r om D a r t mo u t h, Wellesley and Princeton, who have been carefully selected by the D a r t mo u th Project - Asia, the Wellesley - Ye n c h i ng 5