Bulletin Winter 1999

* The English Language Teaching Unit presented a lecture on ‘Recent Developments in Pragmatics and Their Relevance for Language Teaching, by Professor Jes Verschueren, University of Antwerp, Belgium, on 30th November. * The Universities Service Centre presented the following lectures: — ' T h e Rise of Refugee God: Hong Kong's Wong Tai Sin’ by Professor Graeme Lang, Memorial University, Canada, on 6th December. —‘ Th e Political Economy of Chinese Urbanization: Guangdong and the Pearl River Delta ' by Professor Graham Johnson, Department of Anthropology and Sociology, University of British Columbia, Canada, on 13th December. * The Office of Industrial and Business Development together with the University of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Polytechnic, the Textile Institute, Hong Kong Section, the Wearbest Garment Mfg. Co. Ltd. and the Hong Kong Association for the Advancement of Science and Technology, jointly organized a seminar on 'High Performance Textiles - Fibrous Structure as Engineering Materials' by Dr. Frank Ko, Fibrous Materials Research Centre, Department of Materials Engineering, Drexel University, USA, on 8th December. * The Department of Surgery organized the Wilson T.S. Wang International Surgica l Symposium at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre from 8th to 10th December, 1989. Head and neck surgery and liver and biliary surgery were the main themes. Topics for discussion included state-of-the-art management of thyroid cancer, salivary gland cancer, gall stones and pancreatic cancer, liver cancer, nasopharyngeal cancer and recurrent pyogenic cholangitis. More than 170 delegates from 26 countries including China, Singapore, Sweden, Australia, UK and USA took part in the function to share their experience in surgical practice, the training of surgeons, surgical research, and th e presentation of scientific data. The symposium was sponsored by a well-know n local educationist, Mr. Wilson T.S. Wang. * The University's School of Education, th e San Francisco State University, and the Naruto University of Education, Japan, jointly sponsored an international conference on 'Counselling in the 21st Century', held at the Regal Meridien Hotel, Tsimshatsui East, from 29th to 30th December, 1989. Professor Charles K. Kao, the Vice-Chancellor of the University, delivered the opening address. Over 160 scholars and professionals in the fields of counselling, psychology, psychiatry and social work from different parts of the world met to discuss the emerging counselling issues in Asia and the United States, and new developments such as the improved status of women and the aging population as they affect counselling in the future . 18