Bulletin Spring‧Summer 2001

'My first taste of success came with the discovery that many researchers who studied Xiao Hong had missed a lot of information on her time in Hong Kong as they had not gone through old newspapers. And I filled this gap. 'After a period of time, I had dug up a decent amount of information on the activities and works of mainland writers in Hong Kong. There were over 300 primary figures, and over 600 secondary ones, including well-known reporters and teachers, and some local writers. With the open door policy in the early 80s, many mainland writers who had lived in Hong Kong wanted to publish memoirs or biographies, and some of them actually found materials they lacked in my collection. It made me feel my efforts were worth the while, and therefore I persisted in my work. ...My work is significant because no one else does it And what I've done has made things more convenient to other researchers.' Prof. Lo is of the view that inaccurate information can do great damage to academic research. To the many suggestions made to her to write Hong Kong's literary history based on the information collected over the years, Prof. Lo responds with her usual caution: 'It's precisely because I know a lot that I understand that I haven't mastered enough.' In recent years, she has been publishing catalogues, and, jointly with Profs. Wong Kai-chee and William Tay, annals of Hong Kong literature. She believes that information has to be disseminated to be useful, and it is only when accurate information is released that researchers have hopes of finding the truth. Consequent upon the increasing wealth of materials, Prof. Lo has launched new courses in recent years, including the Hong Kong literature section of 'Tourism Literature', and 'Meandering in Hong Kong Literature'. In the coming academic year, Prof. Lo will offer another new course — 'Special Topics on Hong Kong Literature'. Today the users of the Hong Kong Literature Database are no longer a small circle of mainland writers, but the entire Hong Kong community, including researchers, scholars, and anyone who is interested in Hong Kong literature. With knowledge comes the ability to critique with intelligence and advance Hong Kong literature. Prof. Lo says, 'I will continue with this work after my retirement, because, for one, my mind c a n n o t be a t peace until I've f o u nd c e r t a in missing material. B u t m o r e i mp o r t a n t l y , I started something and 1 hope the flame will be kept burning forever.' One of the activities of 'Meandering in Hong Kon g Literature' is to take the students out of the classroom to e x p e r i e n c e and observe the traces left by mainland writers in Hong Kong (above). This year, the activity was held jointly with t h e C u r r i c u l u m Development Division of t h e E d u c a t i on D e p a r t m e n t at the latter's request. As a result, an outing for one class turned out to be a tour involving six coaches (right). Chinese University Bulletin Spring‧Summer 2001 6