Bulletin Vol. 9 No. 8 Jul 1973

It has been instrumental in enabling the University to develop new courses of study to meet these needs, both prevalent and anticipated. A notable example is the establishment of a Department of Journalism and a Mass Communications Centre, the first degree-granting course of its kind ever established in Hong Kong. Generous grants from The Asia Foundation have made it possible for the University to initiate various research projects: (1) Translation/Publication Project designed to introduce modern Western thought to the Chinese reading community through the publication of readers in the social sciences and humanities; (2) Centre for Translation Projects set up to promote bilingualism in anticipation of the growing need for translators in the wake of the wider use of the Chinese language in government and non-government organizations; (3) Experiments in Computer Translation from Chinese to English and vice versa which, when completed, may be expected to facilitate greatly East-West cultural exchange. The Social Research Centre has benefited from Asia Foundation grants in action-oriented research projects, including a study of Kwun-Tong (one of the major satellite towns), to facilitate town planning, and a population study in cooperation with the Hong Kong Family Planning Association. The Foundation has also been a source of support for faculty research, some of which has led to the establishment of permanent institutes. The Marine Science Laboratory stands on the shore of Tolo Harbour today as a testimony of how The Asia Foundation's relatively small research grant led to a much larger Government allocation through the University and Polytechnic Grants Committee. With its wide range of interests, the Foundation has also helped the University to sponsor seminars on local issues, including a Symposium on the Teaching of Chinese Language and Literature in Hong Kong Schools and the Pre-employment Workshop. The Foundation has also made a grant to finance a special study of and a seminar on the Dream of the Red Chamber. The organized "Red-ologist" research has resulted in several monographs and a new critique, the latter published in conjunction with the University of Paris. Staff Development Programme The Chinese University has been represented at many regional and international academic and professional conferences through the assistance of The Asia Foundation. Its grants have enabled the University to stretch considerably its own budget for conference participation. The Foundation has also helped the University in its programme for staff development. Its grants enable the University to send administrative staff members to attend short-term training courses and seminars or to undertake study tours. In some cases, the Foundation's assistance is in the form of services —helping observers by arranging their itineraries and their meetings with counterparts overseas. Library System The entire University library system has benefited from gifts from The Asia Foundation. Long before the University was established, the Foundation enriched the libraries of the struggling post-secondary Colleges, which eventually became the constituent Colleges of the University, with generous donations of textbooks and reference works from its "Books for Asian Students Program" in San Francisco. These were further supplemented with local purchases, including some rare thread- bound Chinese classics. The book gifts are being continued today. It was The Asia Foundation who, in response to a University request, helped to implement the adoption of the Library of Congress catalogue system in the University. A Library o f Congress catalogue specialist was invited to visit Hong Kong to conduct a special training course for library staff of this University and other local institutes, with special emphasis on Chinese publications. A special Foundation grant made it possible for the University library system to undertake a crash programme to re-catalogue its holdings. International Liaison Another important contribution which The Asia Foundation has made to the University is its role as a catalyst. In a number of cases, the Foundation's contributio - 2 —