Newsletter No. 6

cuHK Newsletter The L i ly Pond Delving into the Past As the elegant and colourful azalea dominating the hill slopes of the University campus wane at the turn of summer, lotus and Indian shots are quick to stand in at the ‘Lily Pond' of Chung Chi College to maintain the scenic atmosphere. In the shade of willows and acacia, fish frequently peep out from the pond, vigilant for an occasional crumb from hearty passersby. In the mist of dawn and after activities subside towards dusk, tranquillity prevails over the mounds and water. Who would have thought that at this very picturesque and serene spot, men have wrestled arduously with vegetation and mother nature? In the sixties, when the electric train service was just a fancy, and when the chugging along of the old diesel engines diverted the attention of the college community, the ‘Lily Pond’ was merely an enlarged stream discharging the contents of several neighbourhood nullahs into Tolo Harbour. At that time it occurred to some colleagues that the body of greyish water might look a lot more pleasant if it was covered with lilies. Campus gardeners took up the idea and soon implemented it. Shortly afterwards, water lilies flourished in the pond. The luxuriant foliage, attractive at first. overgrew the area in less than three years, so much so that one could no longer discern the water there. Sediment carried by the nullahs gradually cumulated in the pond, particularly upstream, because the current had slowed so much. The water turned turbid, the place became swampy, and a stench began to form. Obviously clearance was necessary. Gardeners of the Buildings Office, some wading in waist-deep water, others manoeuvering on a sampan, tried desperately to remove the water lilies, but in vain. For one thing, handheld cutters and scythes were ineffective against the vast stretch of vegetation. For another, the lilies were deep-rooted and their stems were harder to sever than expected. Frequent inclement weather added to the difficulties. Seeing little progress after several weeks of effort, and in consideration of the hardship encountered by the staff, particularly as a cold spell was closing in, the Buildings Office decided to turn to outside contractors and heavy-duty machinery. As a result, bulldozers, excavators, and heavy load trucks were soon clamouring around the pond. The pond, however, refused to yield. Its meter-deep spread of mud and silt offered numb resistance and many hazards for the machinery. Before long a bulldozer was immobilized. The contractor had to call in a heavy-weight crane to lift it out of the bog. Men and machines continued to toil for several months before the Buildings Office heaved a sigh of relief upon the removal of the water lilies and the thick layer of sediment. Their relief, however, was shortlived. Unexpectedly, an army of lilies suddenly appeared virtually overnight the following spring. The pond was once again engulfed in lilies. Apparently, the dredging failed to remove the roots of the water lilies, which had burrowed deep into the bottom of the pond. The earlier removal exercise had only served to facilitate their regeneration. The Buildings Office responded to the problem by flooding the pond with sea water. On top of that, they added a large quantity of salts and chemicals to the water to maintain its salinity at a high level in order to ‘sterilize' the water lilies. In the following year, they continued to ‘dose’ the water with salts and chemicals. After two winters of such treatment, the lilies were at last totally extinguished. The sea water had helped eliminate the lilies, but it left behind seaweed in their stead. Once it was clear that the 4