Bulletin Vol. 8 No. 10 May 1972

You may recall that as early as May 1970 the Steering Committee of the lUC Conference in London was asked to explore the possibility of making Hong Kong the site of the next conference. The decision to meet in Hong Kong was then reached in September 1970 in Ottawa, and the arrangements were finalized in September 1971 in Ghana. After two years of planning and preparations, the Vice-Chancellors are gathered in Hong Kong today in realization of the firm belief that South-East Asia is becoming increasingly important in relation to development. Your presence here will help you to observe one of the focal points of Asia at first hand and learn about higher education in Asia more intimately and in comparison with that elsewhere. Your follow-up tri p to visit Singapore and Malaysia and their universities after the conference will enable you to form a composite picture of this region which will in turn enrich future conferences. As the host of this conference and on behalf of Hong Kong and her two universities, I take pleasure in extending our warmest welcome to you all, especially our fellow Vice-Chancellors from Africa, to whom this may be the first visit. For our friends from various academic organizations, agencies, foundations and liaison committees from the United Kingdom, Canada, America and Europe, who may have visited Hong Kong before, we wish you a pleasant stay to renew old acquaintances and to observe the rapid changes in Hong Kong during the recent years. Needless to say, in offering our cordial welcome we are appreciative of the great honour accorded to Hong Kong as well as the importance of the timing of this conference which is witnessing the emergence of regional identity and important developments of higher education in South-East Asia as a whole. The impact of this conference, undoubtedly, will reach over the boundaries of the Four Seas and make the brotherhood o f the Vice-Chancellorship even more solid and lasting. EXHIBITION OF CHINESE ZITHERS An Exhibition of Chinese Zithers was held at the Art Gallery of the Institute of Chinese Studies from 15 th April to 5 th May. The Exhibition consisted of twenty-one Chinese zithers (ch'in) of which fifteen are of Ming date or earlier. The ch’in is the only Chinese musical instrument which has had an uninterrupted tradition in China for the past three thousand years. For well over a thousand years until the present day this instrument has been played almost exclusively by Chinese scholars and the playing of the instrument is considered one of the most important artistic accomplishm of the Chinese scholar. Two of the zithers in the exhibition date from the T'ang period, one of which can still be played. Another one dates from the Sung period and twelve from the Ming, all of which are playable and are frequently used by the owners, who are all scholars and musicians. The Exhibition also included all the available books on the ch’in in all public and private libraries of Hong Kong so that aspiring students of the ch'n will know where to look for the books. The captions are carefully annotated so as to give the students an idea of the contents and the importance of each book. Another section of the exhibition demonstrated the development of the musical notation for the instrument from the 8 th Century to the present day, and large photographs of old manuscripts and books were used for this section. A preview of the Exhibition was held on 14th April, with a special recital on the ch’in by Mr, Lo Raping, Mr. Tong Kin-woon and Miss Chu Siu-chuk. Mr. Lo, one of the leading performers on the ch'in in Hong Kong, has studied the ch'in for over fifty years and has a large collection of these instruments. He performed both classical pieces and some of his own compositions. A graduate student of this University, Mr. Tong has made a special study of the ch'in. Miss Chu is a granddaughter of Mr. Lo. The Exhibition attracted large crowds of scholars and musicians as well as the public. (See also picture in Chinese section) Chinese zithers in display 琴 古 份 部 一 之 出展 — 5 —