Newsletter No. 139

CUHK Takes Lead in Establishing Asia Academy of Management A re A s i an management styles unique? How do they contribute to the success of some Asian economies but also lead to their collapse in the recent financial turmoil? The way firms in Asia are ma n a g ed has g a i n ed g l o b a l significance both academically and professionally. The University recently took the lead in establishing the Asia Academy of M a n a g e m e n t , an i n d e p e n d e nt organization run by management scholars interested in management issues pertinent to Asia. The objective of the academy is to encourage management research, education, and knowledge dissemination of relevance to Asia. It welcomes both Asian and non-Asian researchers and managers. Its members come f r om prestigious business schools in Asia i n c l u d i ng C U H K , the Ho ng K o ng University of Science and Technology, National Central University in Taiwan, Chungnam National University in Korea, Kobe Un i ve r s i ty in Japan, Na t i onal University of Singapore, the Institute of Management in India, the Na t i onal Science Foundation of China, as well as other universities in Europe and the US. The inaugural conference o f the academy took place from 28th to 30th December 1998 at the Royal Plaza Hotel. En t i t l ed 'Does As i an Management Matter: Regional Relevance with Global I mp a c t ', the conference attracted distinguished management scholars from the world over who presented papers on A s i a n m a n a g e m e nt s t r a t e g i e s, organizational behaviour, and human resource management. Prof. Lau Chung- ming, founding president of the academy and c h a ir o f the D e p a r t me nt o f Management at the University, said on the occasion that understanding Asian management is also i mp o r t a nt to multinational corporations i f they want to benefit f r om the region's g r ow th potential and enormous markets. Prof. Lau Chung-ming Two More Patents for CUHK Inventions T he University has successfully applied for the US Patent for the f o l l ow i ng inventions, the sixth and seventh it has been granted to date: Polymerase Chain Reaction — Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism Test for the Authentication of Traditional Chinese Medicines Inventors: Prof. Jun Wang (Department of Biochemistry), et al This invention provides a procedure for authenticating plant and animal materials used as traditional Chinese medicine. It offers a reliable and definite way to identify morphologically similar Chinese medicines, using a minute amount of biological samples. Context-based, Adaptive Lossless Image Codec (CALIC) Inventors: Prof. Wu Xiao Lin (former staff, Department of Information Engineering), et al The rapid growth of image data imposes burdens on computer storage and visual communication bandwidth. Thus image compression becomes a pressing technical challenge in visual communications and computing. This invention is a practical, high- performance, universal coding system called CALIC, for lossless compression of digital pictures of all types. An image is encoded in a compact form for storage and transmission and can be decoded without any loss of information. It has the best compression performance among all existing lossless image coders. Expert in Chinese and Japanese Literature Visits Chung Chi P r o f. L i n Wen - y ueh, Professor Emeritus of the Chinese Department o f National Taiwan University, well- known for her contributions towards cultural exchange between China and Japan, visited Chung Chi College as Siu Lien Ling Wong Visiting Fellow 1998-99 from 5th to 16th January 1999. During her visit, Prof. L i n addressed the University's staff and students on several occasions o n t o p i c s r a n g i n g f r o m 'Literature and Modem Life' and ' A c a d e m i c Re s e a r ch and Creative Writing' to 'Bilingual Education Background and My Creative W r i t i n g' and ' The Influence of T'ang Period Culture on the Japanese Hei-an Literary Circle'. Born in Shanghai, Prof. L in attended university in Taiwan, obtaining her M A in Chinese language f r om Na t i onal Taiwan University in 1959. She went on to teach at National Taiwan University for 34 years. In 1969 Prof. L in was selected by the National Science Council to be the first Taiwanese scholar to take up further studies in Japan, and became research fellow at the Institute for Research in Humanities at Kyoto University. Upon retirement in 1993, Prof. Lin settled down in the United States where she served as v i s i t i ng p r o f e s s or to Wa s h i n g t on University, Stanford University, and the University of California at Berkeley. An expert in Chinese and Japanese literature and translation, Prof. L i n 's research interests include the classical literature of the Six Dynasties of China and that of the Japanese Hei-an Literary Circle. The Siu Lien L i ng Wong Visiting Fe l l ows Programme o f Chung Chi College was established in 1982 to promote academic and cultural exchange, to broaden the intellectual horizons of faculty and students, and to enrich campus life. Prof. Lin Wen-yueh Conference Explores Man's Relation with Science, Nature, and Man F r om 21st to 23rd December, the Centre for the Study of Religion and Chinese Society organized the Fourth International Conference on Confucian- Christian Dialogue. Eighty-five people including scholars f r om Hong Kong, m a i n l a n d C h i n a , Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea, and the US attended the event w h i c h w a s co - sponsored by Chung C h i C o l l e g e , t he D e p a r t m e n t o f R e l i g i o n , t h e D e p a r t m e n t o f Philosophy, as well as the Christian Study Centre on Chinese Religion and Culture. With the theme of 'Humanity and Civilization in the 21st Century', the conference dealt with topics on humanity and science and technology, humanity and nature and ecology, and humanity and gender, family, and social relationships.