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With the generous donation of HK$10 million from the Fung Sun Kwan Chinese Arts Foundation, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) has established the new Centre for Chinese Classical Learning under the Faculty of Arts. The donation will be used to support the operation of the Centre in the first five years and for the promotion of Chinese classical learning and traditional Chinese values and virtues.

Participated by over 100 distinguished guests from the academic, religious, education and commercial sectors, the inauguration ceremony of the Centre was held on 3 March 2015 at Cho Yiu Hall of CUHK. The Ceremony was officiated by Mr Tsang Tak-sing, Secretary for Home Affairs of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), Ms Elsie Leung, Deputy Director of the HKSAR Basic Law Committee of Standing Committee of National People’s Congress, Mr Fung Sun-kwan, Chairman of the Fung Sun Kwan Chinese Arts Foundation, Mrs Fung Sun-kwan, Secretary-general of the Fung Sun Kwan Chinese Arts Foundation, Professor Joseph Sung, Vice-Chancellor and President of CUHK, Professor Leung Yuen-sang, Dean of the Faculty of Arts of CUHK, and Dr Tang Lap-kwong, Director of the Centre for Chinese Classical Learning. In addition, Professor Zhang Jian, Director of the Promotion Committee of the International Confucian Association, Professor Peng Lin, Director of the Research Center of Chinese Classics of Tsinghua University, and Professor Lee Chack-fan, Director of Jao Tsung-I Petite Ecole, were also invited to give speeches at the Ceremony.

Professor Joseph Sung expressed in his welcoming speech his heartfelt gratitude towards Mr Fung’s generous support to CUHK. “To realize our mission to achieve excellence in education, collaboration with philanthropists and friends of the University is of paramount importance. I am very pleased to witness the opening of this new Centre with many friends from academic, education, cultural and commercial sectors today. I look forward to partnering closely with all of you, so as to nurture more brilliant young leaders for the society,” said Professor Sung.     

Mr Tsang Tak-shing strongly believes that the establishment of the Centre is a timely response to the growing demands for Chinese classical education from the society. “The Home Affairs Bureau will support the development of the Centre, and identify ways to collaborate with Centre in launching programmes which can benefit to the society, in particular our young people,” said Mr Tsang.

“I would like to thank the HKSAR government, CUHK and many other organizations for their support towards the establishment of this new Centre. The Centre, I believe, is an important education hub for promoting the beauty of traditional Chinese culture and virtues, and facilitating whole-person development of students,” said Mr Fung Sun-kwan in his speech.

Ms Elsie Leung expressed her earnest congratulations on the establishment of the Centre. She added that the Centre is a significant platform to encourage the learning of Chinese classics.

The Centre for Chinese Classical Learning will regularly organize lectures and seminars on Chinese culture, and offer credit-bearing General Education courses for students. To promote Chinese classical learning to a wider population, other activities and programmes related to Chinese classics and traditional values will also be initiated by the Centre. The first academic activity of the Centre was a seminar on the development of Chinese classical learning in China, which was held right after the Inauguration Ceremony.