Bulletin Number One 1985

The First Four Years — Sir Run Run Shaw Hall The Sir Run Run Shaw Hall, which was opened in May 1981, is now in its fourth year of operation. During the past three years, it has made contributions towards the performing arts and the general education of the students, and has rapidly become the cultural centre of the University, responding to its various needs. The First Three Years 1981-82 The first year's programme began at the end of May 1981 ， soon after the Hall was inaugurated. The first programme was the Exhibition of Paintings by Mr. John Li Tung Keung, Lecturer of the Department of Fine Arts, followed by the New Asia College Farewell Assembly in Honour o f the 1981 Graduates held in June. New Asia College soon became the most frequent user of the Hall as its Bi-weekly Assemblies were held there. Fifty-two films were shown in the year, forming the bulk of entertainment programmes in the Hall. Contributing to this figure were the Chinese University Film Association, which had weekly screenings, and a number of student societies . The first programme the Hall presented was the ‘1st Orchestral Concert in Sir Run Run Shaw Hall' by the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra on 15t h October, 1981. From the variety of the first year's programmes, the University's need for an ideal place to hold its various activities is reflected. Of course, it is understandable that some of those that booked the Hall did it out of curiosity. In any case, it was also the intention of the Hall to offer as a start a wide variety of programmes so that the real cultural interests could be identified, 1982-83 If the first year was a year of experimentation, then the second was a year of growth. Most of the student organizations were eager to offer some good programmes in the well-equipped auditorium and their ambition was shared by the Hall Management. The kinds of programmes offered were still experimental and it turned out that the responses were not as good as expected. Obviously, much effort is still needed to promote awidespread interest in the arts. The Festival of Chinese Arts, held in October 1982 and lasted for nearly a month was by far the biggest event of the year. Though it was a joint presentation of The Chinese University Student Union, the Office of Student Affairs and the Hall, most of the planning and work were carried out by the students themselves. The programme of the Festival was fairly comprehensive. Apart from the students' own performances, many local professional art troupes such as the Hong Kong Repertory Company were invited to participate. The highlight of the Festival was the performance of the young artists from the Beijing Dance Institute and Chinese Conservatory of Music, who came here specially for the occasion. Student groups which had been active in organizing programmes included United College Music Society, New Asia College Folk Song Club, the Chinese University Choir, Oriental Folk Dance Society, etc. The newly formed Cantonese Opera Society of New Asia College presented a famous local company, the Chor Fung Ming Cantonese Opera Troupe, in ‘The Story of Emperor Li' . Moreover, the new Folk Dance Club and the Oriental Dance Society joined hands in presenting ‘Dance Performance ‘83 ’， in which various dance troupes including the Hong Kong Academy of Ballet, some post-secondary college dancing teams and the two Chinese University Clubs themselves were featured. Film-shows remained the largest programme category and sixty-four films were shown this year. The Chinese University Film Association was still the major single presenter but the Sir Run Run Shaw Ha l also started its own film presentation programmes, twice a month at first. However, because the number of student-organized film-shows also increased greatly, the Hall later reduced its film presentation programmes to once amonth only. The main thrust of the Hall's presentation programmes was drama. Apart from producing its own plays and introducing quality productions by external artists to the University campus, the Hall also sponsored this year's Intercollegiate Drama Competition and organized the 'Drama Workshop and Summer Theatre '82'. For music programmes, the Sir Run Run Shaw Hall saw no point in duplicating what was being done by the student music societies or the Music Department, and therefore limited itself in presenting only large-scale concerts. In the course of the year, four concerts were organized. Among these, the second visit of The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra was packaged with the debut of the Hong Kong Chinese 20 RECENT DEVELOPMENTS