Newsletter No. 37

No .37 December 1992 CUHK Newsletter 1987 On 15th October 1987 a Vice-Chancellor was installed on campus for the first time. Prof. Charles Kao was inducted at the 34th Congregation as the third Vice-Chancellor of The Chinese University, in the presence of Sir David (now Lord) Wilson, the Chancellor, and Sir Q. W. Li, Chairman of the Council. The ceremony at the Sir Run Run Shaw Hall was attended by over a thousand guests, among whom were representatives from academic institutions of China, Australia, Britain, Canada, Indonesia, Thailand, and the United States. Speaking as Vice-Chancellor for the first time, Prof. Kao gave a millennial view on the development of The Chinese University: 'January 1, 2000 will not only be the dawn of a new year, a new decade, and a new century, but also the beginning of a new millennium.... Can we only speculate and leave it to fate, or is there something we can do between now and then that would make a difference? Are we the observers or are we the participants? This seems a choice for the individual, but, I do believe that all of us here present are, by our very existence, already participants. Like it or not, we cannot escape the responsibility of being participants and our efforts towards strengthening the University will make an impact. It is what we do, and do not do, that will combine to shape the future.' At the same ceremony an honorary Doctor of Laws degree was bestowed upon Prof. MaLin, the retiring Vice-Chancellor. The celebration dinner was again given at the Lee Gardens, though the menu, reflecting changes in culinary preferences, now featured fewer courses. A bound copy of the Chinese University Ordinance Seal of the Vice-Chancellor It is not possible to finish a description, however inadequate, of the installations of vice-chancellors without a few words on the two symbols of their high office. The Chinese University Ordinance, of course, is accessible to all, but the Seal of the Vice-Chancellor, as far as this writer is aware, has never been on public display, nor has it been affixed onto any University document that has come his way. As the picture on the right shows, it is a two-inch square seal cast in bronze, with a knob in the shape of a feng (a rather more realistic bird-form than the one that perches on the top of the Mace). The 10 characters of the seal, engraved in the seal script of the Qin Dynasty, read The Seal of the Vice-Chancellor of The Chinese University of Hong Kong '. There are also inscriptions on three sides, giving the title of the seal itself in a clerical script, the University motto (bo wen yue li) in jinwen, and, rather too conspicuously for an instrument of this kind, the name of the engraver. 9