Bulletin Autumn‧Winter 2004

Welcomin g addres s b y Prof . Lawrenc e J .La u Prof. A r t h u r L i, Dr. Edgar Cheng, Dr. J.S. Lee, Dr. Fong-ching Chen, D i s t i n g u i s h ed guests, ladies a nd gentlemen: I n t he p r e s e n ce o f so m a n y veterans of the Un i v e r s i ty and its long-time benefactors, I am a little shy speaking of the ma n w e have come to commemo r a te t oda y: our F o u n d i n g V i c e - C h a n c e l l o r, D r. Ch o h -M i ng Li. Most of y ou here are either colleagues w h o wo r k ed closely w i t h h i m du r i ng the first 15 years of the University's existence, or f r i e n ds w h o ha ve k n o w n h i m f o r decades and w h o are highly familiar w i t h his life and his deeds. On my part, whereas I h ad the great f o r t une of me e t i ng h i m personally, I knew h i m principally through his writings, particularly his seminal wo r k o n the Chinese e c onomy and Chinese statistics. I t i s m y g r eat h o n o u r a nd privilege, as the serving vice-chancellor, to officiate at this presentation ceremony and to welcome y ou to our campus to join us i n paying tribute to Dr. Li. This a f t e r noon we f i n d ourselves i n this beautiful courtyard of the Institute of Chinese Studies. A n d i n a short while, the former director of the Institute, Dr. Fong- ching Chen, w i l l present to the University t h i s l i f e - s i ze s t a t ue f o r p e r m a n e nt installation i n this corner of the courtyard, i n f o nd remembrance of our F o u n d i ng Vice-Chancellor. We thank Dr. Chen for his magnificent gift. A n d I think I speak for everyone here wh en I say we share his deep appreciation of Dr. Li's momentous contribution to this university, and his p r o f o u nd admi r a t i on for Dr. Li's unique personal attributes. D r. L i 's co -wo r ke rs have described h i m as ‘Mr. Energy' — r e f e r r i ng to the t r eme n d o us d y n a m i s m, v i t a l i t y, a nd forcefulness he s howed i n his everyday w o r k for the Un i v e r s i ty t h r o u g h o ut his vice-chancellorship. H i s s u c c e s s o rs — a l l f i v e o f u s gathered here today for this ceremony — have been awed by his foresight and his broad vision. He saw far, he saw beyond the i mme d i a te p r e s ent a nd f u t u r e t o u n d e r s t a nd H o n g K o n g ' s l o n g - t e rm education needs, and he set lofty goals for the Chinese University to accomplish. He had a plan for his beloved university right f r om the beginning; we are treading the trail that he blazed. S t uden ts o f the U n i v e r s i ty affectionately called h i m the ‘gardener', and we have a l umni representatives here to bear Immortalizing the Spirit of the Trailblazer 43