On 17 March, CUHK hosted a Banquet in Celebration of the 100th Birthday of Professor the Honourable Jao Tsung-I, GBM. Around 120 guests attended the banquet, including former Vice-Chancellors Prof. Charles Kao, Prof. Ambrose King, and Prof. Lawrence Lau, as well as Vice-Chancellor Prof. Joseph Sung.

The Institute of Chinese Studies of CUHK held an open lecture on “Memories of my relations with my Laoshi Jao Tsung-I” by Prof. Léon Vandermeersch at 4.30p.m. on the same day. The relationship between Prof. Léon Vandermeersch and Prof. Jao Tsung-I spans a period of over 50 years. Prof Vandermeersch worked on ancient Chinese paleography and linguistics with Prof. Jao back in 1961 when he was a research fellow in Hong Kong. He is amazed by Prof. Jao’s passion and immense depth of cultural and historical knowledge.

As a world-renowned sinologist, Prof. Jao is Wei Lun Honorary Professor of Fine Arts at CUHK, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Chinese Language and Literature, as well as the Honorary Professor of the Institute of Chinese Studies. CUHK is honored to have had close ties with Professor Jao for more than 60 years. In 1952 Professor Jao joined CUHK and was appointed Professor at New Asia College. In 1973 Professor Jao assumed the Chair of Chinese at CUHK and also served as the Chairman of the Department. Over the years, he has generously donated a significant quantity of books, paintings and calligraphic works to CUHK, and provided invaluable advice and contributed significantly to the academic development of the University.

On behalf of the University, Prof. Joseph Sung presented a piece of calligraphy of a verse composed by Prof. Yau Shing-tung, Distinguished Professor-at-Large, and calligraphy written by Prof. Sung himself to Prof. Jao as a birthday present. During the banquet, students from the New Asia Chinese Music Society extended birthday greetings by performing two pieces of wonderful music and the guests sang the birthday song together to give their best wishes to Prof. Jao.

Now, let’s review the footprints of Prof. Jao in CUHK and the celebration dinner through the short video.

More than 10 students and alumni from the United College of CUHK visited the orphanages and schools in Lashio in Northern Myanmar. The service group helped to set up a toy library with toys collected in Hong Kong.

Before the trip, volunteers from CUHK spent over a month encouraging students and members of CUHK to donate new or second-hand toys for this trip. As a result, they received a total of 500kg toys. During the ten-day trip, volunteers managed to turn a plain little room into a warm and lively toy library with beautiful wall paintings and lovely decorations. They also trained local youth how to manage the toy library so that it can be maintained in the long run. In addition to building up the library, they also visited the village families with gifts of toys and gave lessons at village schools.

By sharing toys, the service group members not just brought happiness to the children at Lashio, they also got an unforgettable life experience in return. One of the participating students said, ‘It is truly a trip of happiness.’

Let’s watch the happy trip and share their happiness with the video prepared by the students.

CUHK is the only university in Hong Kong that offers a collegiate experience. There are nine colleges at CUHK: Chung Chi, New Asia, United, Shaw, Morningside, S.H. Ho, C.W. Chu, Wu Yee Sun and Lee Woo Sing. Each college is distinctive, but together they shape the character of the University. College programmes and activities augment the formal curricula by delivering whole-person education and pastoral care.

The University has just released a collectible CUHK and College Pin Set which includes the university emblem and the logos of the nine colleges. Interested parties please feel free to visit the souvenir counter. Each set is sold at $220.