Bulletin Spring‧Summer 2001

For the sake of Hong Kong Literature H ong Kong literature has seldom been accorded the attention it is due. Prior to 1997, it was hardly ever studied by local scholars, and rarely directly addressed by the works of mainland scholars living in Hong Kong. The pace of Hong Kong society and its value system also render preservation of literary materials difficult. Yet there are exceptions — scholars who have steadfastly engaged in research and creative wr i t i ng rich in local coulour. Many teaching staff at The Chinese University have made enormous contributions in this regard. Bui lding the World's Most Uniquely Hong Kong L i t erar y Website The Faculty of Arts has since 1999 been working on a large-scale project to put a massive volume o f data about Hong Kong literature on the Internet. The building of the Hong Kong Literature Database is jointly undertaken by the Department of Chinese Language and Literature, w i th Prof. L o Wai-luen as the department representative, and the University Library System (ULS). This website (http:// hklit.lib. cuhk .edu.hk ), developed by the ULS and now in operation, is the most uniquely Hong Kong literary website in the world. Its contents cover books, journals, theses, and literary pages from newspapers, drawn largely f r om the ULS collections and a precious collection of early Hong Kong newspaper clippings donated by Prof. Lo herself. There are also donations i n kind from local writers' associations, which include back issues of relevant publications. Approval from journals such as Hong Kong Literary Monthly, Fresh Poetry, Hong Kong Writer has also been obtained to includ e their material on the website. The ULS has also been granted the right by newspaper publishers to provide teachers and students of the eight tertiary institutions with full text images of their cultural and literary pages. Such contents go as far back as the 1930s. The participants o f the project also comb through other sources to salvage lost literary treasures. Chinese University Bulletin Spring‧Summer 2001 4