Bulletin No. 1, 2013

The inaugural issue of the CUHK Bulletin was published in June 1964, in an era when colour printing was the exception, not the rule. The 22-pager was in monochrome except for the cover which adopted tri-colour printing because of the gold and purple on the University logo. That was an era when Chinese text was arranged vertically. The bilingual publication had dual covers. The Chinese version had text that ran vertically, and opened from left to right. The English had text that ran horizontally, and opened from right to left. That was a time when computer layout hadn’t been invented. The text was written on paper or typed out on a typewriter. Every page was sketched, typeset, arranged and pasted by hand; every revision entailed a complex procedure. Neither was there digital photography. Cameras were a luxury product. Film was costly and so were developing and printing. There was no guarantee that the photo taken was the one you wanted. That was a simple era when the Chinese University had just established itself on a plot of land called Ma Liu Shui. It was down-to-earth and modest. In the next 50 years, with ‘combining tradition and modernit y, bringing together China and the West’ as its mission, the University developed from three Colleges, 1,395 students, and 100 staff members, to a vibrant teaching and research community of nine Colleges, eight Faculties, 20,000 undergraduates and graduate students, and 6,000 full- time teaching and administrative staff. It is now one of Hong Kong’s top institutions of higher learning, and an educational hub of Asia. During this half-century, the appearances of CUHK Bulletin have evolved but the publication has upheld its principle of keeping ‘all those who are interested in the development and affairs of the University’ informed. In this golden jubilee year, we will produce replicas of the earliest Bulletin , which contains interesting historical content from issues from the founding years of CUHK. These will be distributed alongside the two issues of the Bulletin in the anniversary year as a tribute to our cherished tradition.