Bulletin Special Supplement Ever in My Heart: Professor Ambrose King and The Chinese University

訪問金耀基教授 Interviewing Prof. Ambrose King 23 Cambridge and Heidelberg are both university towns, small and beautiful with a mesmerizing cultural atmosphere. Although I was a foreigner, I was never lonely there as a traveler and inhabitant. Heidelberg was where sociologist Max Weber studied and penned his works so it held special meaning for me. I have been toHeidelbergmany times. On my second trip there, there was a feeling of homecoming. In the modern age, one may live in different countries throughout one’s lifetime, with which and to which one may develop identification and attachment. In a sense, the modernman is someone for whomhome is at once nowhere and everywhere. Is this a blessing or a curse? I have lived in Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong and have innumerable ties with each. For the time being, Hong Kong is my home. I have spent the largest chunk of my life living and working here. Every time I arrive in Hong Kong from abroad, it feels like home. 你的《劍橋語絲》和《海德堡語絲》都是膾炙人口的散文集。你 會寫一本《中大語絲》嗎？讀者都在等待呢。 Reflections on Cambridge and Reflections on Heidelberg are well-known essay collections. Would you write Memoirs of The Chinese University ? Your readers are eagerly waiting. 我一九七零年來中文大學，七七年當新亞院長，之後做副校長、校長， 這麼多年，幾乎與學校行政沒有分開過。我主要是教書，但行政工作 真是不少，老實說，行政工作是煩心的。我在劍橋和海德堡時，完全 沒有行政，也不需要授課，除了作幾場學術報告外，完全是我自己的 時間。所以在做社會學的研究之餘，我就讓壓在心底的文學衝動釋放 出來，把自己的所見、所聞、所思，寫成一篇篇散文，後來成為《劍 橋語絲》和《海德堡語絲》。文字是一種因緣。中大在我心中是特殊 的，也真有許多可寫的東西。也許，有一天我會提起筆來。 I joined The Chinese University in 1970. I was head of NewAsia College in 1977, and later Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor. All these years, I was almost always involved in administration. Teaching was my chief duty but I always had a fair share of administrative work and, truth be told, it was wearying. At Cambridge and Heidelberg, I had no administrative or teaching duties.Apart fromwriting academic reports, I was master of my own time. When I did not have my nose buried in sociology research, I would release my literary spirit and weave my observations and thoughts into essays which later became Reflections on Cambridge and Reflections on Heidelberg . The Chinese University has a special place in my heart and there are indeed many things to write about. Perhaps, one day, I will put pen to paper. n n