Anniversary Fair – Public Lecture by Prof Lee Ou-fan and Prof. Kwan Tze-wan

The Anniversary Fair will be a yearlong celebratory activity of CUHK’s 50th Anniversary. It comprises a roving exhibition around town and a series of public lectures to be held from March to November, 2013. A total of 8 lectures will be held at the Hong Kong Central Library. They will be hosted by CUHK professors from different faculties, covering a wide range of topics. The speakers for the first lecture on March 9 will be Prof. Lee Ou Fan and Prof. Kwan Tze Wan and the topic will be “ The Ideal and Reality of University Education” Professor Lee will recall the founding ideals of CUHK from his own experience as a young faculty member at CUHK in the early 70s and compare them to the reality of CUHK today. This is a way of introducing Professor Kwan's survey of the educational ideals of the German educator and thinker von Humboldt. Professor Lee will also draw upon the important book, "The Idea of the University" by Professor Ambrose King, former CUHK Vice Chancellor. Professor Kwan will briefly introduce the much-discussed Humboldtian Model of university education, trace its historical background, discuss its basic tenets and ideals, and show how it has influenced the development of university education worldwide. This Humboldtian backdrop will then be compared to the reality of contemporary university education in order to arrive at some critical reflections on the educational practices in universities of our time. Please click here for online registration and view the full schedule of the “CUHK 50th Anniversary Fair Public Lecture Series”.

CUHK Golden Jubilee Marathon Team excelled in Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon 2013!

After months of tough training, the CUHK Golden Jubilee Marathon Team, consisting of more than 1,800 runners, competed in the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon 2013 on February 24. The slogan of the team is “Let’s run for CUHK”, echoing the objective of the University’s golden jubilee celebrations.

The team, which is the first-ever marathon team formed by the University, has received enthusiastic support from students, staff and alumni from different colleges, departments and offices. They came up with a strong squad of runners and a supporting group of more than 300, which was a true manifestation of the University’s spirit of unity.

Members of the Department of Sports Science and Physical Education, Faculty of Education and Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Faculty of Medicine also showed their support to the team by using their professional expertise to provide pre-event training courses and on-site medical care service to the team members.

Vice-chancellor Prof. Joseph Sung cheered for the runners on site. CUHK celebrates its golden jubilee this year, and the University hopes that by taking part in this major sports event of the city, the University community’s sense of belonging will be further strengthened.

Members of the CUHK Golden Jubilee Marathon Team excelled in the race. Among them Yiu Kit-ching, a graduate of the Faculty of Medicine, won the Women’s Division Half Marathon championship while Daniel Lee Chi-wo, Assistant Lecturer in the Department of Sports Science and Physical Education became the champion of the 10km Challenge Master I Division.

CUHK would specially like to thank Dragon Crowd Enterprise (China) Ltd. for sponsoring the apparel of the CUHK Golden Jubilee Marathon Team. Mr. David York, Chairman of the company, was deeply impressed by the spirit of unity in the CUHK community. Mr. York is a keen supporter of the development of higher education in Hong Kong. He was the major sponsor for the CUHK Golf Day for 8 consecutive years, raising a considerable amount to support the University’s scholarship and student-aid programmes. The money has also been used to sponsor students to take part in exchange and internship programmes, which help them to become high quality professionals. Ms. Ellen Lam, Chief Financial Officer of Dragon Crowd Group, together with Mr. York’s representative Ms. Caroline York from the company’s marketing department, also went to Victoria Park to show their support to the CUHK Golden Jubilee Marathon Team.

Please click here to watch a video and more photos of the race.

New Landmark of CUHK Yasumoto International Academic Park Officially Opened

The Yasumoto International Academic Park, a new landmark of CUHK, was officially opened on February 26. Officiating guests included Dr. and Mrs. Alex K. Yasumoto; Dr. Vincent Cheng, Chairman of the Council, CUHK; and Prof. Joseph Sung, Vice-Chancellor and President. In the opening ceremony, Yasumoto scholars and students who have benefited from Dr. Yasumoto's generosity expressed their gratitude to him through Japanese poetry and sign song singing performances.

Dr. Yasumoto, a Japanese entrepreneur and philanthropist, made a magnificent donation of HK$100 million to CUHK in 2005 to establish the Yasumoto International Exchange Scholarship Scheme in support of international academic exchange activities of the University. CUHK decided to establish the Yasumoto International Academic Park as a token of appreciation to Dr. Yasumoto, to meet the University’s needs for educational facilities and to enhance cultural exchanges among students.

At the opening ceremony, Prof. Joseph Sung said the University were thrilled that Dr. Yasumoto shares its aspirations to cultivate in our students global perspectives, and to promote exchange and collaboration among young people of the world. For this year alone, the University has sent over 800 undergraduate students on one-year or one-semester outgoing exchanges. More than half of the outbound CUHK undergraduates are Yasumoto scholars who have benefitted from his exchange scholarship scheme. Professor Sung extended his deepest gratitude to Dr. Yasumoto on behalf of all Yasumoto scholars.

Please click here to watch a video and more photos of the opening ceremony.

Renowned Confucianism Scholar Professor Tu Weiming to speak on “A Truly Meaningful “We” in Cultural China: How Is It Possible?”

To mark the 60th anniversary of the Shun Hing Group and the 50th anniversary of The Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2013, the Shun Hing Lecture Series in the Arts and Humanities has been established with a generous donation from the Shun Hing Group. The lecture series aims at promoting cultural knowledge and scholarly pursuits in the arts and humanities. Distinguished scholars from four major areas, Music, Drama and Film, Literature and Art, as well as Philosophy and Thinking, will be invited to give public lectures. The first lecture will be held at Lee Shau Kee Building on March 7 and renowned Confucianism Scholar Prof. Tu Weiming will be the speaker. Professor Tu will talk about how Chinese in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia and in the global community have endeavored to embrace and to advocate their precious culture, while building a strong sense of cultural identity. Professor Tu hopes that such a cultural identity can be established in a humanistic spirit of freedom, diversity, inclusiveness and self-reflection. Most important, incorporating a vision of communal, critical, rational and benevolent self-consciousness. Interested parties please click here for online registration.

CUHK 50^th Anniversary Fair opens next week!

By staging a roving exhibition around town,the Fair will give the public a general introduction to CUHK's history, culture and development. It will also showcase the University's achievements over the past five decades and present the University's vision for the future to the public.

The exhibition will be staged in major shopping malls in Hong Kong. The first exhibition will be held at Ocean Terminal Main Concourse from March 14-20, 2013. All are welcome to visit the exhibition. The opening ceremony will be held on March 15.

Content of the exhibition will include four key areas:

1. CUHK’s Background
2. Heritage
3. Humanities
4. Innovations

Fresh scent of blossomed flowers filled the campus!

Spring has arrived on campus and a variety of flowers such as azaleas, bauhinia blakeana and camellias all in full bloom, making the scenery breathtakingly beautiful. The colorful azaleas are particularly beautiful, blooming all over the entire campus. In addition, a number of camel’s foot trees and white bauhinia along on both sides of University Mall have also blossomed, the beautiful shades of the pink and white flowers have painted the campus with additional colours.

These beautiful flowers make the campus scenery indeed mind refreshing. They also bring back a lot of fond memories for CU alumni. CUHK celebrates its golden jubilee this year and a series of celebratory events is in full swing. Many of the events are held on campus. So dear alumni, why not take this opportunity to squeeze some time out of your busy schedule and come back to your alma mater. You can enjoy the beautiful scenery of the flowers while taking part in the celebratory events. This is a good way to spend the holidays.