Newsletter No. 332

No. 332, 19.2.2009 NEWS & EVENTS 大學圖書館獲贈近代名人手札 Donation of Handwritten Letters by Distinguished Contemporaries • 大 學圖書館系統近獲賴恬昌先生捐贈其尊翁賴際 熙太史生前所藏翰墨，包括賴太史及故舊共四 十二人手札合共七十八通、一百二十九頁。賴際熙太史 （1865–1937）為前清翰林，1911年辛亥革命後來港定 居，創辦香港大學中文學院及學海書樓。賴際熙太史藏 近代名人手札捐贈儀式於2009年1月20日在大學圖書 館舉行，出席人士包括捐贈者學海書樓主席賴恬昌先生 （ 圖中 ）、學海書樓董事鄧巧兒女士（ 右二 ）、圖書館館長 施達理博士（ 左二 ）、文物館館長林業強教授（ 右一 ）、中國 語言及文學系張光裕教授（ 左一 ）及其他大學同人。 該批手札作者賴際熙太史及其友人梁 鼎芬、陳伯陶、溫肅、朱汝珍等，多曾 晉身翰林，書法學問出類拔萃，信函所 涉內容廣泛，為研究中國近代史學的第 一手資料，彌足珍貴。大學 圖書館於去年10月至11月 曾舉辦「翰苑流芳：賴際 熙太史藏近代名人手札展 覽」，並輯錄書冊《翰苑流 芳：賴際熙太史藏近代名 人手札》，由大學出版社發 行，以為紀念。展覽完畢， 賴恬昌先生慨將展品全數 贈予中大。 T he University Library System has recently received donations of 78 handwritten letters from 42 authors in 129 pages that were originally collected by Mr. Lai Chi-hsi (1865–1937), a renowned Qing Dynasty Hanlin scholar who came to Hong Kong after the 1911 revolution and established the Chinese Department of the University of Hong Kong and the Hok Hoi Library. The donations were made by his son, Mr. T.C. Lai. The donation ceremony was held on 20 January 2009 with Mr. T.C. Lai (centre), chairman of the Hok Hoi Library; Ms. Janet Tang (2nd right), director of the Hok Hoi Library; Dr. Colin Storey (2nd left), University Librarian; Prof. Peter Lam (1st right), director of the CUHK Art Museum; Prof. K.Y. Cheung (1st left), Department of Chinese Language and Literature, and other University staff members. The authors of the ink brush letters were mostly great scholars who had previously served the Imperial Court of the Qing Dynasty. These letters, apart from their excellence in Chinese calligraphy, also provide valuable information for the study of modern Chinese history. An exhibition of the letters was held from 27 October to 30 November 2008 at the exhibition hall of the University Library. As part of the event, the University Library has compiled these letters into a special printed volume to be distributed by the Chinese University Press. 逸夫書院二十三周年院慶 Shaw Celebrates 23rd Founder’s Day • 逸 夫書院於2009年1月9日在書院大講堂舉行創立 二十三周年院慶典禮，地理學榮休講座教授、榮 譽院士及前任逸夫書院院長楊汝萬教授應邀擔任主禮嘉 賓，以「人馬計活時」為題，與書院校董、捐款善長、師生 和職員分享他的四十一年工作閱歷。其他院慶活動包括環 Shaw跑、時裝表演、晚會及千人宴等。 S haw College celebrated its 23rd Founder’s Day at the College Lecture Theatre on 9 January 2009. Prof. Yeung Yue-man, Emeritus Professor of Geography, Honorary Fellow of CUHK and ex-head of Shaw College, was the guest of honour. Prof. Yeung gave a talk and shared with trustees, donors, staff, and students his 41-year career. Other celebration activities included the Round-Shaw-Run, a fashion show, an evening variety fair and the Feast- for-a-Thousand. research in this area, the work has moved from a basic scientific discovery to a diagnostic test that can potentially benefit millions of pregnant women worldwide. It is also good to see that biotechnologies developed in Hong Kong can make a global impact.’ The revolutionary test has been licensed to Sequenom, a US biotechnology company, and a new line of products based on Prof. Lo’s technology has been created. The Down’s Syndrome test will be launched in June 2009. Prof. Lo began his research by examining if the placental barrier between the mother and foetus could be breached by DNA and RNA molecules. The result indicated that the foetus could release its DNA and RNA into the mother’s circulation, so he initially focused on genes or mutations passed on to the foetus by the father and which were distinguishable from those of the mother. ‘Following the achievement of these initial objectives, we then moved on to the more challenging problem of Down’s Syndrome detection. It is more challenging because in Down’s Syndrome, we are counting the number of foetal chromosome 21, and this requires much more precise analytical methods.’ Revolutionary Research vs Revolutionary Difficulties Prof. Lo’s revolutionary research brought new challenges. He recalled, ‘One difficulty concerns the a lack of core research facilities in Hong Kong compared with the US and Europe. Whenever we tried to use a new technology, we had to establish it from ground up. During the course of the last 11 years, we encountered a number of such scenarios, e.g., the introduction of real-time PCR to Hong Kong, the use of Affymetrix microarray technology, mass spectrometry for DNA/RNA analysis and next-generation DNA sequencing. Now, with the establishment of core facilities at the new Li Ka Shing Institute of Health Sciences, I hope that such barriers to research will be lowered, thus helping our younger researchers to launch their careers more rapidly.’ With the use of a noninvasive blood test for Down’s Syndrome, Prof. Lo expected that the 1% spontaneous abortion resulting from invasive testing could be avoided. ‘I think such developments would make prenatal testing safer for the foetus and less traumatic, both psychologically and physically, for the mother,’ he observed. 陳伯陶致際熙書 Letter from Mr. Chen Botao ( Continued )