Newsletter No. 45

CUHK Newsletter No.45 August 1993 One in Five Mentally Ill One in every five people in Hong Kong suffers from some form of mental illness in his life time, according to a study conducted by the University's Psychiatric Epidemiology Research Un it in the Department of Psychiatry. The findings of the Shatin Community Mental Health Survey were released to the public on 29th June. Conducted between 1984 and 1986’ the project represents the first large-scale community survey of mental illness in Hong Kong. More than 10,000 house- holds in Sha Tin were interviewed, and researchers spent six years to analyse the data collected. Research results show that while the incidence of mental problems is more or less the same among men and women, men are more prone to behavioural problems such as tobacco dependence and alcohol abuse, whereas women are more vulnerable to emotional illnesses such as generalized anxiety, phobias, and depression. In comparison with similar research conducted in the West, Chinese subjects seem to suffer less from chronic psychotic illnesses such as schizophrenia or manic-depressive psychoses. This might be a result of the influence of traditional Chinese culture, which discourages extreme individualism and emphasizes family support and harmony in interpersonnal relationships. The study urges the government to improve mental health services for the public, and to divert more resources to the training in psychiatry of general practitioners in Hong Kong. New Computer Equipment for the University A new computer system was recently donated to the University to serve the growing number of workstations in the Department of Systems Engineering and facilitate research that involves extensive and complicated computations.. The new system, SUN SPARC- system 630MP model 41, can run at a speed of over 100 million instructions per second and is manufactured by the donor, Sun Microsystems. It is one of the most advanced models of the company's SuperSPARC processor technology and is worth over HK$500,000. The system has been installed at the Workstation Laboratory of the Department of Systems Engineering, and will be used as a central workstation server for existing and new workstations. It also forms part of the Chinese University Engineering Computer Network, and can be accessed remotely from any workstation and personal computer in Hong Kong using the UNIX operation system. APIB Helps to Train American Business Executives The University's Asia-Pacific Institute of Business (APIB) organized a week-long Asia Advanced Management Programme f or 30 business executives from the States last month. The programme is a component part of the Executive MBA Programme offered by the College of William and Mary, USA. With an aim to provide trainees with a better understanding of business operation in the Asia-Pacific region and of China's economic reform and business environment, the programme was conducted by academics from CUHK's Faculty of Business Administration and key executives of the local business community. Lectures, case studies and panel discussions were held at the University's MBA Town Centre from 12th to 13th July, and a field trip to a joint-venture factory in Shenzhen was organized to enable participants to get first-hand experience of Chinese-style management. 2