Newsletter No. 394

No. 394, 19.3.2012 5 校 園 消 息 CAMPUS NEWS 李歐梵教授細味失敗的高雅 • Lee Ou-fan on the Nobility of Failure In those days policies to promote technology transfer were basically nonexistent. The department could keep a tight rein on its staff members’ entrepreneurship. But Professor Chen was very proactive and supported staff in using their research to make positive impact on society. Professor Ching commented, ‘He was a visionary in this regard.’ During Professor Chen’s chairmanship, the Department of Electronics launched one of CUHK’s first PhD programmes, and he was the adviser of CUHK’s earliest PhD student. In 2002, Professor Chen returned to CUHK to serve as an honorary professor of the Department of Electronic Engineering, the successor of the former Department of Electronics. An Endearing Home After moving his home from mainland China to Taiwan, and then the US and England, Professor Chen settled in Hong Kong in the twilight of his life. In late January this year, he went back to Taipei with his wife Prof. Tung Yuan-fang to celebrate the Lunar New Year. Professor Tung recalled, ‘We stayed in his house in Taipei. But he kept asking me: “When will we go home?”’ In his heart, Hong Kong, a city that he described as a place ‘where you don’t want to go before you actually visit it, and where you don’t want to leave after you have been there’, became his most endearing home. On 25 February, he passed away in the Prince of Wales Hospital in his beloved city. In great distress, Professor Tung wanted to express her gratitude to her husband: ‘Thank you for entrusting me with your mental and physical well-being. Thank you for your courage, which has changed my life. Thank you for love, which has made my life worth living.’ Earlier this year on 14 January, accompanied by Professor Tung, Professor Chen returned to the CUHK campus, despite ailing health, to attend the opening ceremony of the Documentary Exhibition of Prof. Chen Chih-fan. The exhibition is organized by United College and the Faculty of Engineering of CUHK in collaboration with Taiwan’s National Cheng Kung University to acknowledge Professor Chen’s contributions to the University and his literary achievements. It’s on at 2/F, Wu Chung Multimedia Library, United College, till 13 April 2012. 「沒 有經過連串的失敗而取得的成功都是虛空 的。」中大冼為堅中國文化講座教授李歐梵 教授主持3月8日舉行的I ‧ CARE「博群花節」第一回博群 大講堂時，以此勸勉出席聽講的四百多名中大師生。 李歐梵教授是國際知名文化研究學者，縱橫馳騁於文學、 電影、音樂、歷史以至都市文化，唸的教的都是赫赫有名 的大學。原來，這張亮麗的履歷表是由無數挫敗熬煉而成 的，故他特意以「挫而彌堅」為題，與師生分享他如何在挫 敗中學習，鎔鑄今天的學養。 李教授訴說，第一次挫折是小六時候，數學考試只得四十 分，「但要考上中學，最少也要六十分。那時感到抬不起頭 來，更愧對父母。可幸最後後備錄取了。」 在台灣大學外文系畢業後，計劃出國深造之際，又再遇挫。 「一口氣申請了數間大學的研究院，原以為有把握的大學 都拒絕了我，還好是芝加哥大學錄取，但只提供學費部分 的獎學金。」家境不算富裕，沒有全費獎學金去留學，實在 是很吃力的。 李教授還是到了芝大唸國際關係，不過，深覺對於所學沒 有慧根，終明白自己仍心繫中國文學，遂轉到哈佛大學。即 使博士畢業後，也不是一片順景的，在普林斯頓大學未能 取得終身教席，令他一度徬徨無助，柳暗花明讓他轉到印 地安那大學任教，讓他在研究中國現代文學開了一片天空。 講座中，李教授多次強調，在美求學和研究過程中，發現自 己學問基礎不足，所以狂啃書本，「人家看十本書，我看 二十本。」因此，他以愛爾蘭劇作家塞繆爾 • 貝克特（Samuel Beckett）的雋語總結講座—「屢試，屢敗；不打緊。再試， 再敗，敗得漂亮點。」鼓勵大家無懼失敗，敢於去闖。 ‘S uccess is empty without failures,’ said Prof. Lee Ou-fan Leo, Sin Wai Kin Professor of Chinese Culture, CUHK, to over 400 students and staff at the first University Lecture on Civility on 8 March. The lecture was part of the I • CARE’s Blossoms of Life Floral Festival. An internationally-renowned scholar in cultural studies, Professor Lee has a sea of interests encompassing literature, movie, music, history, and urban culture. He studied and taught in renowned universities, but who would have thought his impressive career path was paved with failure. Professor Lee spoke on ‘The Nobility of Failure’ to share with the audience his bad days and how he learnt from failure. Professor Lee encountered his first failure in primary school, when getting a score of 40 out of 100 in a mathematics exam. ‘It took at least 60 to be admitted to secondary school. I was so ashamed and felt so guilty towards my parents. Fortunately I was put on the waiting list and eventually was allowed to enrol.’ Upon graduation from the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature of Taiwan University, Professor Lee experienced another setback as he prepared to further his studies in the US. ‘I had applied to several universities that I felt confident would accept me. But I was turned down by every one of them, except the University of Chicago which offered me a scholarship covering only tuition.’ As his family was not wealthy, supporting him through overseas studies would have been hard without a full scholarship. In the end, he did begin postgraduate studies in international relations at the University of Chicago. He soon realized that his interest was Chinese literature rather than international relations, and he transferred to Harvard University. But life was not meant to be easy for him as a young academic. He failed to get tenure at Princeton University. But just when he was feeling helpless, he got an offer to teach at Indiana University where he inaugurated the study of modern Chinese literature. Professor Lee mentioned several times during the lecture that because he felt inadequate during his studies and research in the US, he read a lot. ‘Others read 10 books. I would read 20.’ He wrapped up with a quote from Samuel Beckett: ‘Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better.’ 傅育寧博士談粵港經濟合作 • Fu Yuning on HK-Guangdong Economic Cooperation 全 球經濟及金融研究所於2月28日邀請招商局集團 有限公司董事長傅育寧博士蒞校主持講座，題目為 「粵港經濟合作之前景與挑戰」，探討在國家十二五規劃 下，香港和廣東如何在服務業、工業及創新科技等領域合 作。他又特別論述本港的大學應把科研知識轉移為內地企 業可應用的技術及產品，讓粵港兩地達至雙贏。 D r. Fu Yuning, chairman, China Merchants Group Limited, was invited by the CUHK Institute of Global Economics and Finance, to deliver a public lecture on ’Economic Cooperation between Hong Kong and Guangdong: Development, Challenges and Prospect’ on 28 February. In the lecture, Dr. Fu indicated that there were great opportunities for the cooperation between Hong Kong and Guangdong, during the National 12th Five Year Plan period and beyond. Based on respective advantages, new collaboration models can be explored in areas such as service sector, industry upgrade and new technologies. Dr. Fu also pointed out that universities in Hong Kong should play a more important role in transferring their research into viable products so that a win-win situation and a sustainable development of the region could be achieved.