Bulletin Number Five 1985

and China. Dr. T.T. Hsueh is also in the process of finalizing the details of a cooperative research project between the Department and the Beijing Institute of Information and Control. We have only given a brief description of th e research activities of our members. Wit h the support of the University, the Department will continue its commitment to serious research and contribute to a better understanding of the Hong Kong and China economies. Future Development In view of the planned abolition of the Degree Examination in 1989-90 ， the Department is currently developing a new curriculum for its undergraduate programme. The new programme will place more emphasis on the understanding and analysis of real economic issues. The integration of the Department's undergraduate and graduate programmes is under serious consideration. It is the Department's intention to encourage talented undergraduates to take courses in the graduate programme, so as to achieve a more rational utilization of scarce resources. Professor T.B. Lin Professor of Economics Professor T.B. Lin has been Professor of Economics since 1983 ， and his profile was published in the No. three 1985 issue of the Chinese University Bulletin. Departmen t of Geography The Department of Geography traces its origin to the combined Departments o f History and Geography of Chung Chi College and United College before their amalgamation into The Chinese University. Geography became a separate Department in the mid-1960s. The facilities of the Department were centralized in 1981 at their present location in the Chung Chi College Teaching Blocks. In 1985-86 the Department enrols 173 major students and 155 minor students in its undergraduate programme ， and eight students in its MPhil programme. The Department's teaching dutie s are carried out by ten full-time faculty, one full-time teaching assistant , and six graduate assistants. A Department cartographer and three technicians administer its laboratory facilities. Programmes The field of geography is among the most diversified of the social sciences. An overall concern with the spatial patterning of th e landscape unifies the discipline, but under this broad umbrella are sheltered a number of complementary traditions. Some geographers study the evolution of the earth' s physical landscape (hence the label 'physical geographers'), using methods of research and analysis closely akin to the laboratory sciences; others look instead at the spatial character of the landscape of human activity ('human geographers'). Still other researchers in the field focus on the identification of the unique character o f regions and localities ('regional geographers'), the development of geographical methodology - including cartography and quantitative geographical analysis, or the applicatio n of geographical knowledge to fields such as urban planning and environmental studies. The Department's undergraduate programme is structured to give recognition t o the field's diversity. Its objective is to provide its student s with an education grounded in the traditions of the liberal arts and sciences, with an emphasis on the recognition of the geographical elements of space and plac e as important determinants of the character o f societies, and on the processes by whic h natural forces and human activities themselves shape the character of space and place. The Department seeks to strike a balance in its curriculum between the overall breadth of knowledge which characterizes geographical study and the need for more specialized study within sub- fields of the broader discipline. All major students take ten core courses which give an exposure t o the principal subfields of physical, human, regional, analytical, and applied geography. Beyond this level, the Department offers nine specialization to its undergraduate students: cartography, quantitative geography, environmental geography, geology/geomorphology, cultural and behavioural geography, urban and economic geography, regional geography of Asia, climatology, and urban/regional planning. Student-Orientated Teaching complements the Department curriculum and develop in the Department' students the research habits and aptitudes which characterize professional geographers. 26 RECENT DEVELOPMENTS