Bulletin Number Five 1983

Add r e s s by D r . M a L i n Your Excellency, My Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen, Two decades ago, on this very day, a Congregation was held in the Concert Hall o f the Hong Kong City Hall, at which, in his capacity as Chairman o f the Pro­ visional Council o f the University, the Hon. Cho-Yiu Kwan presented a thin document bound in purple to Sir Robert Black, the first Chancellor o f the Univer­ sity; who in turn handed it over for safekeeping to Dr. C.T. Yung, the first Pro-Vice-Chancellor o f the University, then also the President o f Chung Chi College. The document was no other than the official copy o f The Chinese University o f Hong Kong Ordi­ nance 1963. Thus the three Foundation Colleges, Chung Chi, New Asia and United, became united in one institution, and The Chinese University o f Hong Kong was on that day born. Also present at the ceremony were the Founder and President o f New Asia College, Professor Ch'ien Mu; the President o f United College, Mr. T.C. Cheng; a number o f community leaders and scholars, includ ing the Hon. R.C. Lee, Mr. Q.W. Lee, Mr. J.S. Lee, Dr. P.C. Woo, Mrs. Ellen L i Shu-Pui and Professor Y.C. Wong, who subsequently all became active in the University Council; and also a number o f colleagues who have since served the University w ith great dedi­ cation, Dr. Chang Shu Ting (now Professor for many years) being an outstanding example. The Congregation for the Installation o f the First Vice-Chancellor o f the University, Dr. Choh- Ming Li, was held in September the following year at the same place. Also present to receive the first Honorary Degrees conferred by the University and to become its first alumni after the University came into being were Sir John Fulton (now Lord Fulton), who had on two separate occasions made key recommendations to the Government concerning the establishment and then the reorganization o f the University; Dr. Clark Kerr, who have subsequently made many invaluable suggestions to the University on its development; and three other fellow graduates. The years then went by and, almost w ithout being noticed, the University has now reached the tender age o f twenty. For us this is indeed a most happy occasion, especially since so many o f the founding fathers and senior colleagues have been able to come and jo in us in this Congregation to celebrate the coming o f age o f the University. May I ， on behalf o f the University, express to them all our deepest gratitude for their pioneering efforts in the past, and also wish them happiness and good health for many more years to come. On the other hand, surely it has also come to our memory how Sir Cho-Yiu and Dr. R.C. Lee had championed the cause o f the Uni versity, and had worked indefatigably to secure for our campus an ideal site ； Ladies and Gentlemen, where you now sit was but a w ild hill-top twenty years ago. That it had been transformed w ithin ashort time into such a magnificent campus, from which one never loses sight o f the incomparable views o f the Tolo Harbour, is mainly due to the unceasing efforts of the two o f them and, o f course, also the University Architect Dr. the Hon. Szeto Wai. However, Sir Cho- Yiu and Dr. Lee can now be no longer w ith us, and thoughts o f them and their deeds cannot but fill us w ith nostalgia and sadness. To be sure, changes o f the University during these past twenty years have not been confined to its campus and buildings: three small, separate under­ graduate colleges have now been forged into a size­ able university w ith a new integral structure; the number o f its Faculties has grown from three to six, that o f its teaching Departments from between ten and twenty to between fo rty and fifty , and that o f its students from slightly over a thousand to more than five thousand; the Graduate School which was only established three years after the beginning o f the University is now offering more than fo rty courses o f studies leading to doctoral and master's degrees and NEWS 7