CUHK: Five Decades in Pictures

6 第一個十年： 1963–1972 T he first decade of The Chinese University of Hong Kong covered more than 10 years, for the root and origin of the University can be traced back to the three Founding Colleges—New Asia, Chung Chi and United which were founded in 1949, 1951, and 1956, respectively. These Colleges were each different in their educational ideals and values. But they were united in their vision for a new outfit in higher education in Hong Kong. The Christian tradition and western humanism upon which Chung Chi College was founded complemented the Chinese heritage and social concerns exemplified by the New Asia spirit. United College, itself an amalgamation of five post-secondary colleges in southern China and committed to providing quality education to local students, completed the triumvirate. The distinctiveness and collaboration of the three Founding Colleges had combined to give the fledgling University a healthy platform to grow and thrive. This college tradition remains a hallmark characteristic of the University to this day and is unique not only in Hong Kong but also in this part of the globe. The bonds CUHK students form with their Colleges are so strong that years after their graduation the same men and women would identify themselves first by their college affiliations and next by their academic disciplines. The Chinese University came into being at the inauguration congregation held on 17 October 1963 at the City Hall, officiated by its first Chancellor, Sir Robert Black. A year later, Dr. Choh-ming Li was appointed its first Vice-Chancellor and received The Chinese University of Hong Kong Ordinance from the hands of its second Chancellor, Sir David Trench. The founding fathers of the University had combined vision, courage and pragmatism in steering the young University and laying down the blueprint for its development. Its aspiration, captured in ‘To Combine Tradition with Modernity. To Bring Together China and the West’, has since found expression in many of its subsequent decisions, undertakings and achievements. In the early days, the numbers of students and teachers were small, and facilities and resources were limited, but a wide range of academic services was nevertheless on offer. In the first decade, the University had begun to offer various programmes of studies in Arts, Science, Social Science, and Education leading to the award of academic degrees. Infrastructural construction soon went ahead after Ma Liu Shui, Shatin, already the site of the Chung Chi campus, had been identified as the campus for the new University. The barren hilltops of the early campus are nostalgic clichés by now, but back in the 1960s and early 1970s they entailed a dream and the vastness of potentialities. The first building was named after one of the authors of the American Constitution, Benjamin Franklin. The Institute of Chinese Studies and the University Administration Building were built in this period and had since become landmarks on campus. The Cho Yiu Conference Hall in the latter, named after the first Chairman of the University Council,