Newsletter No. 449/450

4 449/450 • 19.12.2014 著名歷史學家余英時教授為新亞書院首屆畢業生。1950年，原就讀於北京燕京大學 歷史系的余英時來港，入讀新亞書院文史系。1952年，余英時與同為插班生的張德 民、陳式三人成為新亞書院首屆畢業生。書院於灣仔六國飯店舉行第一屆畢業典禮， 歡送畢業同學，惟院長錢穆先生因赴台演講時發生意外入院，未能出席典禮。 余教授所獲得的畢業證書為「新字第1號」，證書亦列有其籍貫和出生日期，並有院長 錢穆先生簽名蓋印。余英時畢業後入讀新亞研究所深造，1955年負笈美國攻讀博士， 於1973年返港擔任中大副校長及新亞書院院長。 新亞書院提供余英時教授畢業證書之複製品，現於大學展覽廳展出，特此鳴謝。 余英時（前排右四）於新亞書院第一屆畢業典禮 Yu Ying-shih (4th right, front row) at New Asia College’s first graduation ceremony 博文貫珍 The Galleria Distinguished historian Prof. Yu Ying-shih is one of the first graduates of New Asia College. In 1950, he was admitted to the College’s Department of Language and History after short-term studies at Yenching University, Beijing. In 1952, Yu and two other students became the first batch of graduates, and the College held its first graduation ceremony at Luk Kwok Hotel in Wanchai. Unfortunately, President Chi’en Mu could not join the ceremony, for he had an accident while giving a speech in Taiwan. Yu received graduation certificate ‘No. 1’ of New Asia College. His hometown and date of birth are shown on the certificate, which was signed and sealed by Mr. Ch’ien Mu. After graduating from New Asia College, Yu studied at the New Asia Institute of Advanced Chinese Studies, and later went to the US for his PhD. In 1973, he came back to Hong Kong and became the Pro-Vice- Chancellor of the Chinese University and the President of New Asia College. A replica of the Graduation Certificate is now on display in the University Gallery, courtesy of New Asia College. In a university you will find a learning curve, though this is a rapidly disappearing luxury item in many workplaces (practically non-existent among the manager class in English premiership football). Take a natural and comfortable course to learn and grow, and enjoy the views along the way. The timeline of your professional development will always be carefully coached and calibrated. As Jody Greenstone Miller recently remarked in a Financial Times article, it's actually better to put your ambitions, not your eggs or sperms, on ice. I wish you a warm Christmas and a happy New Year! Yours sincerely,, H. A successful career, in any walk of work, is not necessarily defined by, say, long hours, expanding portfolio or aggressive self-promotion. It would be a shame if a young and promising executive like you leans too heavily on the career side of things at the expense of other roles, duties and responsibilities. In my days many of my colleagues found time to cultivate their interests after work. I myself hurried to the Goethe Institut and the Alliance Française on certain evenings in different periods. Hence, my two phrases of German and three of French today. Some companies in the US pay their female employees, as part of staff benefits, to freeze their eggs should they want to delay childbearing and instead make that run up the corporate ladder. Recent research has demonstrated that young sperms are indeed genetically more advantageous than older ones. It is foreseeable that the same benefit would eventually extend to male employees. Such is the strange fact of life: good genes will find themselves chilling out in the fridge instead of being allowed to get on with their business in their natural abode. Freezing your sperms just delays the problem, or the pleasure of parenthood, depending on how you look at it. When you finally think you’re ready for family, you’d find yourself examining literature on artificial insemination and surrogate mother. The science is spooky to me; the ethical and moral conundrum even spookier. You don’t have to go to such extremes and can still raise a family the normal way and maintain a healthy work-life balance. 8 December 2014 Dear K, I am happy to hear of your successful completion of the first six months in your post, or what is more commonly known as the probation period. I think I can detect a note of pride and ambition in your letter conveying the good news. Congratulations! Probation in the work context must not be taken for granted. Neither should it be understood in the somewhat negative sense of being a trial period during which your every word or step is closely observed, with the gong not far away. Probation has to do with evidence, as in the legal saying, ‘Probative value outweighs prejudicial effect’. It is the period during which you would prove your ability and give a glimpse of your worth to your employer. It is something you don’t sit out but earn. You wrote about your ambitious plans of expanding your skill set within the shortest period of time possible and leapfrogging your fellow intake of executives in performance. It is good to have set for yourself clear goals and a timeline for achieving them. But don’t get too ambitious on your ambition. The race you have entered into is a marathon, not pole vault. In every trade or profession, some people are more fiercely competitive than others. Their drive and motivation would usually put them in leadership positions. But our language also has coinages such as legal eagle , culture vulture , persecuting prosecutor and educator agitator . Letter 5: On Ambition and Freezing Your Sperms 一封家書 Letters to a Young Executive