Bulletin Autumn‧Winter 1999

Members Old and New Celebrate New Asia's New Asia Collegewas founded in 1949 by the late Dr. Ch'ien Mu and agroup ofscholars from mainland China. Throughout the years, the collegehasupheld its founders' ideals of preserving t r a d i t i o n a lChineseculture,and balancing it with Western learning, andhasproduced many outstanding graduates to serve Hong Kong. To celebrate the college's Golden Jubilee this year, the college itself and relevant departments, alumni associations, and student bodiesorganized an array ofcelebrator yactivities running intothenew millennium. They include the Golden Jubilee Public Lectures, academi cconferences, an art exhibition, a dramatic performance, an expedition to poverty-stricken regions in mainland China, a p h o t o g r a p h y contest, and an alumni homecoming. All reflect the college's teaching ideals, the founders' contributions, and the students' concernfor the community theylive in. G o l d e n J u b i l e e L e c t u r e s Highlights of the celebration were four Golden Jubilee Public Lectures delivered by Prof. Lee Yuan Tseh, Nobel laureate i n chemistry, Mr. George Yong- Boon Yeo, Mi n i s t e r for Trade an d I ndu s t ry in Singapore, Prof. Ambrose King, pro-vice-chancellor of the University, and Prof. Yang Chen-ning, Nobe l laureate in physics. The theme of the lectures was the relationship betwee n Chinese cultur e and education, politics, society, and science respectively. Mr. George Yeo spoke on 'Chinese Culture and Politics' on 29th October from various aspects: artificial stability; the idea of one China; the stability of the Chinese family; weakness of the independent Chinese civil society; genius of Chinese statecraft; and Confucianism 一 past, present and future. In Prof. Lee Yuan Tseh's lecture on 24th September, he pointed out that current education systems in Chinese societies tend to emphasize only conformity and uniformity which will stifle the development of talents. He believed tha t the Confucian precepts of 'In instruction there is no grading into categories' and 'Each according to his talent' should be upheld to look after different aspects of the students' development. Education for all is a prerequisite of progress, and we should start by examining the interaction between our own culture and our education system. Academic Activities The N e w As i a F u nd was established in 1998 to sponsor academi c activities held i n celebration of the Go l d e n Jubilee. Ov e r 20 events covering the areas of medicine, safety, literature, nursing, culture, biology, art, l i b r a r y studies, biochemistry , c h e m i s t r y, a n d s o c i a l science, benefited from its sponsorship. Over a hundred overseas and local writers and scholars attended the International Conference on Hong Kong Literature, the largest conference of its kind in the territory, from 1 5th to 1 7th April. About 60 papers were presented investigating the past, present, and future of Hong Kong literature. Seen here is Prof. P.C. Leung (standing), head of New Asia College, speaking at the opening ceremony. The Golden Jubilee Seminar on 13th and 14th July was a major event in the celebrations. Profs. Yu Ying-shih (left 1), Ambrose King (right 1), and S.H. Liu (left 2) were the officiating guests. C h i n e s e U n i v e r s i t y B u l l e t i n A u t u m n • W i n t e r 1999 46