Newsletter No. 34

CUHK Newsletter No.34 September 1992 There is a very long tradition in the West for university buildings to be named after important personages. Every ancient academic establishment in Britain and continental Europe boastsof edifices that bear the names of princes, prelates, statesmenand wealthy merchants. Theseold buildings are very often architectural gems held in great admiration by academics and visitors (maybelessso by the average undergraduate), and in that way serve toperpetuate the memory of thepersons to whom they were dedicated, long after their lives and deeds ceased to be of interest to anyone but antiquarians. The Chinese University hasitsfair shareof buildings named after eminent individuals, mostof whom made significant contributions to the University's development. Whether aesthetically thesebuildings will stand the testof time falls outside the domain of this newsletter, but readers might wish to know how someof these buildings came to be called as they are. Our feature writer proposes to tell the stories of somein this issue, with promise for more in the near future. Benjamin Franklin Centre The 2nd of April 1969 was an auspicious day, for on that day the first building of the University was officially opened. The late Sir David Trench, then Chancellor, presided at the ceremony, accompanied by the late Dr. Choh-ming L i, the vice-chancellor, Mr. Edwin Webb Martin, the American Consul-General, and a host of University officials and guests and friends. The building was, of course, the Benjamin Franklin Centre, then as now dedicated to staff and student activities and indisputably the hub of campus life. The construction cost of HK$2,500,000 was a present from the American people: 55 firms and individuals in the United States made their donations through the US Department of State, the Asia Foundation and the American business community in Hong Kong. With this background the reader should now be able to se the connection between the building and Benjamin Franklin. But the naming actually carries a deeper meaning, as can be seen in the following quotation from Sir 6