Bulletin No. 1, 2024

Chi-hsi, an imperial scholar in the Qing dynasty who settled in Hong Kong after the 1911 Chinese Revolution, together with businessmen who loved traditional Chinese culture. “I knew well how important these recordings were,” Chau says. “I also knew that it would be an onerous task to organise, digitise and archive them in our Library. Still, I summoned up courage to take it on. Fortunately, the University Librarian at that time supported the project.” With funding from the Bei Shan Tang Foundation, the recordings have been digitised and are being uploaded online in phases for public access. After the establishment of Hong Kong Studies in 2002, the University Library set up the Hong Kong Literature Collection and the Hong Kong Literature Database the following year. Chau shared a view held by some among the learned, that Hong Kong literature should include classical as well as contemporary works; however, few classical works had been documented. She felt the urge to fill this gap. So she started to collect, study and organise classic poetry and prose created in Hong Kong. The effort culminated in An Annotated Bibliography of the Classical Writings of Hong Kong Poets published in 2011, and its sequel, about the city’s poetry societies, in 2020. Between them, Chau’s two books described 514 Hong Kong authors, 808 titles and 150 poetry societies active locally from the late Qing dynasty to 1997, and came to be recognised as pioneering compilations and invaluable additions to the research tools of Hong Kong literature. Yet another of Chau’s archival projects was the University Library Series , begun in 2000. The series consisted of books about the paintings, calligraphy, letters, manuscripts and literary works of cultural figures, such as former officials of the late Qing government, educators, scholars and poets. Many of the items were donated to the Library. Among them was a batch of ink-brush handwritten letters penned by Qing scholar Lai Chi-hsi’s distinguished contemporaries and addressed to him. His son, Lai Tim-cheong, initially agreed only to loan his late father’s letters to the Library for an exhibition in 2008, having reservations about donating them. “I offered to compile the collections into a book while putting the items on display, so a wider audience could see them,” she recalls. “Mr Lai was so pleased with our work that he donated all the letters to our Library after the exhibition ended.” Apart from managing collections, Chau has also worked on improving services for library users to keep up with the times. “In the past, users would be reminded not to talk loudly in the library. Since the turn of the century, we have been encouraging them to hold more discussions and have given them a lot more space for that, including group study rooms.” In 2013, the University Library basement was expanded to become a Learning Garden—and Chau was the one who came up with its Chinese name, which denoted a space for hard work and progress. The literary label was taken from the title of a famous piece of prose written by Han Yu, a leading essayist in the Tang dynasty. On an ending note, Chau stresses that Hong Kong has a rich cultural heritage, but many records have been scattered and lost over time due to social changes and the displacement of the literati. The Library is duty-bound to collect and preserve valuable pieces of culture and share them with the public. Summing up her days at CUHK, she says: “A senior colleague once joked, ‘People who work at the reference desk can answer any questions from readers.’ This gave me lots of inspiration. I feel so lucky to have immersed myself in the sea of knowledge. The pursuit of knowledge can never end, and it’s important to stay humble. The library is a treasure trove of knowledge, and knowledge develops every day. “I believe in lifelong learning and the wisdom of seniors. May these words encourage my colleagues in the journey of learning.” 1 Books compiled by Chau Yuan-weng for CUHK Library 40   Chinese University Bulletin | Chau Yuan-weng