Newsletter No. 212

Many Facets, Many Levels, But a Single Theme: The University's 40th Anniversary Celebrations T he Ch i ne s e U n i v e r s i ty t u r n s 40 i n 2003. To celebrate, an exciting assortment of programmes spanning the who le year has been d r a wn up, ranging f r om fun-for-all activities to serious academic lectures by world-class scholars. A slogan and a logo have also been created for the occasion. Logo: Phoenix Soaring in Flight 　　The l ogo, d e s i g n ed b y H o n g K o n g 's v e t e r an designer Mr. Kan Tai-keung, features a phoenix soaring i n f l i gh t . It echoes the Un i v e r s i t y 's emblem, w h i c h carries this auspicious mythical 'Bird of the South', and the theme of the 40th anniversary celebration — th e idea of soaring i n flight. Prof. L i u Pak-wai, chairman of the 40 th A n n i v e r s a ry Ce l e b r a t i on C o - o r d i n a t i ng a nd Working Committee, explains: 'Universities live longer than men. A 40-year-old man is an adult. A 40-year-old university is just entering adulthood and f u ll of vitality. Forty is an opportune time for us to review our history and prepare ourselves for new flights of progress.' Ｓｌｏｇａｎ：　Ａｄｖａｎｃｅ　ａｎｄ　Ｅｘｃｅｌ The slogan had to be decided i n very good time, as it w o u l d set the theme for the celebrations and bear directly on the logo and the letterhead designs. The w o r k i ng committee i n v i t ed linguists and litterateurs among the teaching and administrative staff to come up w i t h c r e a t i v e i deas f o r t he s l ogan. The a l u m n i representatives i n t h e c o m m i t t e e a s k ed t h e i r connections i n t h e m e d i a t o d o t he same. A m o n g the short-listed slogans. Prof. L iu says, '騰 飛 四 十 • 精 進 日 新 ' (literal translation: Ta k e - o ff at f o r t y ; a l w a y s f o r g i n g ahead w i t h r e n ewed v i g o u r) is selected because it balances history w i t h vision. T h e Chinese University has a history to be p r oud of, but we do not want to give the impression that we're resting on past laurels. This slogan is specific about what we want to do i n the future 一 to continuously surpass ourselves,' he points out. W i th its allusions to the Chinese classics, the slogan carries the idea of renewal, progress, and soaring to new heights. The Englis h version of the slogan, ' Advance and Excel', is mu ch simpler conceptually and linguistically. Prof. L i u explains that the Chinese version is primary, and an exact translation w o u l d possibly end u p i n a cumbersome Englis h slogan. The sloga n was ame n d ed t w o or three times, s u b m i t t ed to t he 4 0 th A n n i v e r s a ry O r g a n i z i ng Comm i t t ee of the Un i v e r s i ty Council, and amended again before it was approved for use. The whole process took some six months. University-level Celebrations 　　The celebratory activities w i l l begin i n January 2003 and end i n January 2004. They can be broadly categorized as University- and faculty-based. The organization of the University-based activities, wh i ch tend to be larger i n scale, is the responsibility of the wo r k i ng committee, who w i l l have to wo rk closely w i t h the A l umni Affairs Office and the Information and Public Relations Office. They include an anniversary wa l k a t h on to raise f unds for cancer research, a week-long anniversary fair showcasing the University's contributions and accomplishments, a soccer matc h involving staff f r om all eight local tertiary institutions, a 200- to 300-table anniversary banquet cum d i n n er f o r h o n o r a ry graduates at the H o n g K o n g Co n v e n t i on and E x h i b i t i on Centre, the Un i v e r s i ty Presidents' Global F o r um 2003, and an anniversary concert at the Cultural Centre. Faculty-based Celebrations The seven faculties are given a lot of freedom to organize faculty-based activities, as they themselves k now best h ow they wo u ld like to celebrate. The committee first briefed the faculty representatives about the aims of the celebrations. The representatives then went back to consult the respective faculties before presenting their suggestions to the committee for consideration. Faculty-based celebrations w i l l reflect the particular expertise a n d o r i e n t a t i on of t he ir organizers. For example, the Faculty of Social Science w i l l launch the C U H K Qu a l i ty of Life Index. Part research and part social service, this huge project contains indices never before compile d i n the territory, such as freedom of the media and freedom of the press. The Faculty of Business Administration w i l l organize a f o r um on tourism and a gala dinner for its alumni. The Faculty of Arts w i l l host an academic conference on Chinese culture, wh i ch w i l l be complemented by talks on the subject. The Faculty of Medicine w i l l produce a TV docu-drama series on health issues entitled 'Healthy 40'. Celebrations of the Faculties of Science, Engineering, and Education w i l l f e a t u r e a c a d e m ic s y m p o s i u ms a n d l e c t u r e s, competitions and conferences, and award presentation ceremonies and talks. Ｏｔｈｅｒ　Ｈｉｇｈｌｉｇｈｔｓ Prof. L i u says that, w i t h their o wn anniversaries to celebrate, th e four colleges are not expected to be too intensely i n v o l v ed. Howe v er the colleges w i l l come together to t h r ow a magnified version of the traditional Feast-for-a-Thousand — this t i me for ten t h o u s a nd people, and co-host a grand a l umni homecoming. Highlights are spread throughout the year, except d u r i ng the summer holidays wh en the pace eases for obvious reasons. In July, C U HK alumni f r om all corners of the w o r l d w i l l return to their alma mater and relive their u n i v e r s i ty experience b y s t a y i ng i n their o l d dormitories. Those who cannot come for the celebrations w i l l be invited to stage celebrations where they are. I n September, the Faculty of Education w i l l h o ld an a l umn i achievement award presentation ceremony. There w i l l also be a prize presentation ceremony for a competition targeted at secondary school students and a conference on Internet communication. Besides the Feast-for-Ten-Thousand and the alumni homecoming, t wo other events are wo r t hy of note. The first is an anniversary drama 'by CUHK, of CUHK, for CUHK '. Written, produced, directed, and performed i n the ma i n b y Un i v e r s i ty a l umni w h o are movers and shakers i n the local drama circle, the play is set in C U HK and stars actual C U HK members playing themselves. A n o t h er n e w p r o g r a mme w i l l be an a n n i v e r s a ry t e l e v i s i on p r o g r amm e to be aired o n TVB on 18th October 2003. The half-hour programme w i l l introduce the University's 40-year history through anecdotes and the sharing of experience by alumni. E v e r y a n n i v e r s a r y has its s o u v e n i rs so t h at pa r t i c i pan ts w i l l come away w i t h s ome t h i ng mo re t a n g i b le t h a n memo r i e s. The j ewel of this y e a r 's anniversary w i l l be a set of six porcelain plates w i t h the Royal D o u l t o n label and p r i n t ed w i t h six d i f f e r ent brush-and-ink painting s of the University by Chinese artist Wang M i n gm i n g. Complete w i t h certificates of o r i g i n , r e g i s t r a t i o n n u m b e r s, a n d i n t r o d u c t o ry p amp h l e t s, the plates can be b o u g h t i n a set or separately. N o t only are they functional b ut they are also exquisite display and collector's items. University-wide Participation Called for According t o Prof. Liu, the activities may all have different immediate objectives: fundraising, showcasing a c c omp l i s hme n t s, s h a r i ng w i t h t he p u b l i c a n d University, and sharing w i t h alumni. But their overall aim is to focus the University's energies at this point i n time. Some members and units of the University may be more directly involved than others i n organizing the celebrations, b ut he hopes that all C U H K members, including students, w h om he describes as 'ambassadors of the University', w i l l do their bit even if it means just s how i ng u p for events. Planning and organization of the anniversary celebrations have gone more smoothly t han Prof. L i u expected. Clearly spirits are h i g h and morale is soaring at the Un i v e r s i ty on the eve of the 40th anniversary. Piera Chen 傑出學人學術講座 Distinguished Lecture s 大學邀請世界著名學者蒞校主持傑出學人學術講座，誌慶四十周 年紀念 。六位已應允主持講座的學者(按講座舉行先後次序)為： Six distinguished scholars have accepted the University's invitation to deliver lectures to commemorate the University's 40th Anniversary. They are (in order of their lecture date): ‧香港中文大學偉倫榮譽講座教授饒宗頤教授 Prof. Jao Tsiung-i, Wei Lun Honorary Professor; The Chinese University of Hong Kong ‧一九八六年諾貝爾化學獎得獎人、台北中央研究院院長 李遠哲教授 Prof. Lee Yuan-tseh, President of Academia Sinica, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry 1986 ‧哈佛大學燕京學社社長杜維明教授 Prof. Tu Weiming, Director of Harvard-Yenching Institute, Harvard University ‧一九九七年諾貝爾物理學獎得獎人、史丹福大學物理及 應用物理學教授朱棣文教授 Prof. Steven Chu, Theodore and Francis Geballe Professor of Physics and Applied Physics, Stanford University, Nobel Laureate in Physics 1997 ‧普林斯頓大學榮休教授余英時教授 Prof. Yu Ying-shih, Professor Emeritus, Princeton University ‧新澤西爾立羅格斯大學教授、脊髓修復及神經科學專家 楊詠威教授 Prof. Wise Young, Professor at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, expert in spinal cord injury and axonal physiology 2 No. 212 4th December 2002