Newsletter No. 11

cuHK Newsletter the white ones used for eating. * * * Wai Ling and her friends occasionally lunch at the Chung Chi Canteen . Most of the time they cook their own lunch at the Inter-University Hall and their food is reportedly tasty. But when it comes to deciding who is to do the dishes, they have to draw lots. Wai Ling also says the time they cook often coincides with the time the 'pig train' passes Inter-University Hall. I always wonder if that will affect their appetite. On Pastimes The greatest amusement after lunch is probably watching stone blasting at the construction site. What otherwise is there for us to do?We don't stand any chance competing with the male colleagues for the only ping-pong table available in the building. There is no library around and the swimming pool is yet to be built. The talk about a bowling alley at the basement of Benjamin Franklin Centre is probably only a rumour. A stroll to Chek Nei Ping? There's nothing really interesting in that village. We are completely isolated at mid-level, with only the rocks and boulders as our neighbours, and every day these get blasted into bits and pieces under our very eyes. The location of the blasting is a stone's throw from Benjamin Franklin Centre, and will eventually be the site for the main buildings of the University. Dong! Dong! Dong! Workers at the site bang the gong as a warning and we all hide in safe corners to watch. After a great thundering noise, the rocky hill in front of us seems to shake a little. Then a huge mass of rocks and stones rush down the hillside with the force of an avalanche, sending a lot of sand and debris into the air. When these finally settle, another huge chunk of the hillside is gone. Such is our amusement every day. I've heard from Mr. Lee in the Accounts Section that there are a lot of fern fossils amidst the rocks, so after the blasts I often go and search near the site, in the hope of finding some beautiful specimens to put on my desk. Maybe when people ask me twenty-or-so years later about the early days of the University, I will have these as evidence. The two coaches for transporting university staff to and from Benjamin Franklin Centre in the early 1970s. The pick-up/drop-off points in town were Jordan Pier and the North Kow l oon Magistracy respectively. A major source of entertainment-the only ping-pong table in B F offered recreation on a first-come-first- served basis. The BFC canteen in 1969 looked very much t hesa me as today, bu t , the number of customers s erved was nothing co mparabl e to the present figure. University Administration Buildingunderconstruction The second building on the central campus-the Institute of Chinese Studies (old wing) nearing completion in 1970. VIP guests toured Science C ntre when it opened in 1972. Recognize the spec tacularguideon the right? ‘ Buildings by the University Mali completed before 1980 Completion year 1970 Institute of Chinese Studies (old wing) 1971 University Administration Building 1972 University Library University Science Centre 1977 Sui-Loong Pao Building Pi-Ch'iu Building 1978 ICS A rt Gallery Conservation Annex 1979 Y . C . L i a ng Hall 5