Bulletin Autumn 1988

Address b y the Vice-Chancellor M r. Chancellor, Honorary Graduands, Graduands ， Honoured Guests ， Ladies and Gentlemen: May I ， firs t o f all, take this opportunity on our 25th Anniversary to thank the six distinguished re cipients o f our honorary degrees today, Sir David Akers-Jones, the Honourable Peter Poon Wing-cheung, Mr. Yu Zhen Fei, Professor Ching-Wu Chu, Mr. Zhao Zhong Xian and Mrs. Esther Yewpick Lee, fo r hon ouring The Chinese University o f Hong Kong by their presence. It is an important milestone o f our history. Twenty-five years ago when The Chinese Univer sity was firs t established, Dr. Choh-Ming L i, the founding Vice-Chancellor, made it known that the University is not just about Chinese language. 'The Chinese University,' he declared, ‘is a university o f Chinese culture.' He quickly set out to make that a firm commitment o f the entire University. He stated that The Chinese University not only ‘is a bridge between its own national culture and other cultures' but also that it has the uniqueness o f'the introduction and development o f Chinese data into each and every one o f the academic disciplines'. Professor Ma Lin, who succeeded Dr. L i, consolidated and developed this unique ideal. When I came on board last year, I inherited from Dr. Ma a grown-up university, one that is like a young man ready to stretch his muscles. I believe that we are now moving into the th ird phase o f this Univer sity's development. We have over 600 academic sta ff members who are, because o f their Chinese heritage, steeped in Chinese culture, and who are, through their personal education and experience, equally steeped in Western culture. We also have on our faculty sta ff w ith non-Chinese heritage but w ith deep empathy fo r Chinese culture. A t this institu tion , they are engaged everyday in reinterpreting the cross- cultural experience, knowledge and insight which they have gathered, and in developing these in to a cross-cultural bridge which is very much needed fo r linking East and West. The knowledge explosion which makes our time an information age requires people like the academic sta ff we have, educational institutes like the one we are serving, to take on the enormous responsibility o f ensuring that the world not only develops, but grows through m ulti-cultural understanding in to an integral whole in peace and prosperity. W ith the cross-cultural wealth that we have, The Chinese University o f Hong Kong w ill produce talents w ith breadth o f appreciation which transcends national and specialization subject boundaries, as well as sufficient depth o f understanding to accomplish critica l analysis. W ith the fle x ib ility o f an education system that we are aiming to achieve, we are sure we w ill produce these talents at ahigher rate, in increasing numbers, and at an affordable cost. And these are precisely the sort o f talents which Hong Kong w ill need both now and in the 21st century. Just as Hong Kong has been successful as an international metropolis fo r the interchange o f goods and services, The Chinese University o f Hong Kong w ill continue to play a significant role in the appli cation and transfer o f knowledge and culture between China and the outside world, now and fo r many years to come. Citations Sir David Akers-Jones, KBE, CMG, MA, DCL (Kent), JP When future historians come to w rite the history o f Hong Kong in the last twenty-five years, from 1963 to 1988, they cannot but credit our c ity w ith the speed and magnitude o f change over a time span which is no more than one generation. In these twenty-five years, we have grown from an entrepot to a manufacturing, business and financial centre, to the world's leading container port, and leading ex porter o f garments, toys and electronic goods. What impresses is not just the skyscrapers, first-class roads and magnificent shopping arcades, impressive as these may be. What also impresses is the phenomenal ex pansion in the provision fo r housing, hospital care, social welfare and o f course, education. To give but one example, the quaint and cloistered setting that was Chung Chi College in 1963 has been transformed in to the expansive and magnificent Chinese Univer sity campus you see today. In a world given to euphemism, the term developing te rrito ry is often a misnomer. But in the case o f Hong Kong, we are a developing te rrito ry in the true sense o f the term and associated w ith many i f not all o f our breathtaking developments over the last twenty-five years is Sir David Akers-Jones, a well- known and much-respected figure in our community. David Akers-Jones firs t set eyes on the Far East during the last world war as a young man o f seventeen who was then serving in the merchant navy o f the B ritish India Steam Navigation Company. A fter the war, he entered Oxford and read English Language and lite ra tu re up to the death o f Chaucer. One m ight 3