Bulletin Spring‧Summer 1993

Each team was given a topic at 5.00 p.m. one day before the competition, and was required to give a 15- minute presentation on the day of the competition and to answer questions from the floor. The CUHK team was given the topic ‘Liquid Crystals' and was selected as the winner of the competition by a pane l of judges, who based their decisions on factors such as novelty, background preparation, and the quality of oral presentation. CUHK representatives were Won g Chi Kin, Dale Ko, Kwan Ki Shun, and Fok Lai Fun. Winning the 1993 Intervarsity Debate 'Commerce, not politics, will bring the greatest benefits to the people of Hong Kong' 一 this was the topic of the 22nd Intervarsity Debating Contest held on 20t h March at the Sir Run Run Shaw Hall on CUHK campus. Arguing against themotion, the CUHK debating team (English) beat the HKU team by amargin of 3:1 and captured the champion trophy. Miss Kare n Chan on the CUHK team was also selected best speaker in the contest. The intervarsity debating contest was first instituted in 1972 to promote interaction, communication and cooperation between students of the two universities, and to enhance interest in debating activities. To maintain the impromptu nature of the debate and to encourage quick and creative thinking, the subject of the debate is disclosed to the contestants one hour before the debate. The language used in the contest alternates between Cantonese and English each year. This year the debate was conducted in English. Ar t Gallery Exhibitions The Art Gallery mounted two exhibitions this spring: • Elegant Vessels for the Lofty Pavilion — The Zande Lou Gift of Porcelain with Studio Marks (from 17th January to 14th March). The exhibition featured Chinese porcelain of the Ming and Qing periods with studio marks. The core pieces were do-nated by Zande Lou to the Art Gallery in 1987. The exhibits comprised a great variety of underglaze blue, underglaze red, polychromes and monochromes, mainly the production of Jingdezhen of Jiangxi province. The studio marks 一 usually inscriptions with dates, good wishes and eulogies — are important primary source materials for research on the identity of the owners or users, and the stylistic evolution of ceramic forms and decorations. The Mei Yun Tang Collection of Paintings by Chang Dai-chien (from 17th April to 23rd May). Over 100 paintings by Chang Dai-chien (1899—1983) were displayed in the exhibition. Hailed as the most versatile master of modern Chinese painting, Chang Dai-chien was renowned for his mastery of all genres and styles of traditional painting. Since 1949 he had travelled and exhibited worldwide. The splashed-ink and splashed-colour techniques that he evolved during that period transcended tradition to make him an internationally acclaimed innovator of Chinese painting. The Mei Yun Tang collection represents almost half a century's collecting activities of two of the master's closest friends, Mr. and Mrs. Kao Ling- mei. It includes his works executed between 1929 and 1968, many of which are masterpieces demonstrating Chang Dai-chien's grand synthesis of traditional styles and their transformation by an innovative modern master. NEWS IN BRIEF 26