Mr Pro-Chancellor,
Professor the Honourable Arthur K C Li is a medical pioneer, an internationally renowned surgeon, scholar, and educational changemaker who has devoted his life to advancing health and the improvement of the human condition.
There is no better way to summarise Professor Li’s life than to remember a quote from the great Sir Winston Churchill, “We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.”
In 1945, on the eve of the Second World War, and to the fourth generation of an established family in Hong Kong with ancestral roots in Heshan, Guangdong, Professor Arthur K C Li was born. The family in general, and Professor Li’s grandfather in particular, placed a strong emphasis on education. He was raised with a Classical Chinese upbringing surrounded by an encouraging spirit of public service.
After secondary school, the young Arthur Li chose to pursue a medical career and, in those days, it being typical for the brightest students to pursue studies overseas, got himself enrolled in medicine at Cambridge University. When I asked Professor Li who was influential in his academic life, he told me how his Director of Studies at Cambridge, a Professor of Pathology, helped him appreciate that the most rewarding aspect of medicine was to look after patients. This inspired the young Li to choose surgery as his focus, both because it offered the challenge of mastering the requisite skills and the satisfaction of doing something immediate and positive for his patients.
During his postgraduate years as a medical intern, Professor Li worked at Middlesex Hospital Medical School, a teaching hospital. He told me the most remarkable story about this period of his life, because at Middlesex Hospital he worked for the Queen’s Surgeon, and none other than the actual Sir Winston Churchill, whom I quoted at the beginning and who was in the twilight of his life, came to the hospital. The young Professor Li would visit him at night and sometimes thank him, to which Sir Winston memorably replied, “I thank you for thanking me.”
I draw attention to these reflections because we must remember how different a time it was. Before being admitted to Cambridge, Professor Li was the only Chinese in England pursuing his A-Levels. And then while a young student, to encounter the greatest Prime Minister of the day of the United Kingdom, whose fiery and impassioned determination captured and roused a nation to end the war, you can only imagine the impression it made.
Professor Li underwent postgraduate training in England until a scholarship brought him to Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, where he furthered his specialist training in hepatobiliary and upper gastrointestinal surgery. He extended his clinical experience by taking up the appointment in 1980 as a consultant at the Royal Free Hospital, London, which was well known for its hepatobiliary work. In the following year, he was awarded the degree of Doctor of Medicine by Cambridge University.
He returned to Hong Kong in 1982 to take up the Foundation Chair of Surgery at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Over the next 20 years Professor Li served that university in successive capacities as Chair of Surgery, as elected Dean of Medicine for two terms, then Vice-Chancellor (President) of the University until he resigned in 2002 to become Secretary of Education and Manpower of the Hong Kong SAR Government.
Along the course of his life, Professor Li has been recognized a remarkable number of times and by many international bodies for his excellence in scholarship and professional achievements. Already in 1980 he received the award of the European Society for Surgical Research Prize, followed by the Moynihan Medal of the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland in 1982. Both are internationally competitive awards. Since then he has been granted honorary fellowships by several surgical colleges and renowned surgical associations, and honorary professorships at many academic institutions, including in the Chinese Mainland.
In 1993 Professor Li became Pearce Gould Visiting Professor in Surgery at the University College and Middlesex School of Medicine of London University. His alma mater not only gave him this distinguished recognition but subsequently awarded him a Doctorate of Science in Medicine.
In 1995, he was appointed Edward Tooth Professor at Royal Brisbane Hospital, at the University of Queensland in Australia, and Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians & Surgeons of Glasgow. He was also the 14th Edward Hallaran Bennett Lecturer at Trinity College, University of Dublin, Ireland.
In 1996, Professor Li was awarded the President’s Gold Medal of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in recognition of his outstanding achievements and service in surgery. This award is given only exceptionally by the Royal College and to surgeons of international distinction.
Between 1997 and 2007, Professor Li was awarded Honorary Fellowships of the Royal Society of Medicine, the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland, the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain & Ireland, the American College of Surgeons, the Royal College of Physicians of London, the College of Surgeons of Hong Kong and the American Surgical Association. He has been inducted as a Regent to the Court of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. He has been admitted as a member of the Court of Patrons of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, the highest recognition that the Royal College can bestow upon an individual associated with the College. This last honour acknowledged Professor Li’s outstanding contributions to surgical education, training and research. And once again a pioneer, Professor Li was the first Asian to receive this honour.
With over 300 original published articles in international journals on his research in hepatobiliary and upper gastrointestinal subjects, as well as numerous book chapters and abstracts, it now becomes clear why Professor Li has also received so many honorary doctorates. He is one of the few people I know who, before today, has received 7 honorary doctorates in four distinct fields—medicine, science, law, and literature!
However, if we were only honouring Professor Li today for his accomplishments in medicine and science, what might be considered a lifetime of achievements for someone else, we would barely begin to appreciate his impact on the higher education sector and the Hong Kong community.
In 2002, Professor Li stepped down as Vice-Chancellor of Chinese University of Hong Kong to become the Secretary for Education and Manpower of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region for the next 5 years. His portfolio now included all educational matters from kindergartens to universities, from vocational training to employee retraining. Education is the largest single item in the government’s expenditure budget, at that time constituting some 24% of its annual expenses.
When I asked Professor Li what were his most significant accomplishments during his tenure, he told me several fascinating things. First, he was initially faced with a recurring budget cutback in the Education and Manpower Bureau of 10% each year for the first two years. Seeing this as an opportunity, he found a way to streamline the central bureau, increase efficiency and accountability, and at the same time carry out ambitious reforms. One of these was to improve the qualifications of primary and secondary school teachers. For primary school teachers, his changes caused a four-fold increase in degree holders to 65%; whilst for secondary school teachers, the numbers went from 63% to 94% of first-degree holders. These efforts also paved the way for the introduction of the extra year of study for all high school students and university undergraduates, which was completed in 2012.
For the universities, Professor Li also devised the Matching Grant Scheme and there is an important lesson here—I don’t think he would mind me pointing it out—about unleashing initiative and the importance of raising private capital. The first time this scheme was rolled out, for every dollar the universities raised, the government matched it dollar for dollar up to $1 billion. It was successful and the universities raised $2.3 billion. The second time it was rolled out, the scheme was modified to a 1 to 50% match, for every $2 dollars raised the government matched $1 dollar up to $1 billion. But this time, expectations, focus, and the commitment of university leadership had increased, and within 7 months the universities had raised nearly $3 billion. A third iteration of the scheme, on the same terms, had the same result—for the government’s $1 billion commitment the universities raised $3 billion.
These innovative measures moved the entire education sector forward in Hong Kong, and they especially moved the universities into the stratosphere—it can be stated definitively that no other city in the world can boast 6 universities in the global top 50.
Professor Li’s service to the nation is no less impressive—and you have to remember, I am only choosing highlights here! He has been appointed Hong Kong Affairs Advisor to the People’s Republic of China, a member of the Consultative Committee for the Basic Law, a member of the Preparatory Committee of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the National People’s Congress, and a member of the Selection Committee for the First Government of the Hong Kong SAR. He was a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) from 1998-2018. He is a non-official Justice of the Peace. In recognition of his significant contributions to higher education, the medical sector and his distinguished service to the community and contributions to the well-being of Hong Kong, the Government of the Hong Kong SAR conferred upon him the Gold Bauhinia Star in 2000 and the Grand Bauhinia Medal in 2017.
From 2016 to 2021, Professor Li served as Chairman of the Council of our very own University of Hong Kong. This period ushered in the University’s next phase of success, which has now culminated in HKU being named by an important international rankings organisation as the #1 university in Asia.
When I asked Professor Li what he thought about all his accomplishments as he looked back over them, without any hesitation, he said, “I never look back. I only look forward.” And then he said, you know there is this Chinese saying, San suì dìng bashí, (三歲定八十) which means roughly that a three-year old decides what he will be like at 80. On today’s celebrated occasion, Professor Li is now 80 years old and he is as driven today as he was at three.
For those of us looking back, Professor Arthur K C Li has built a formidable career in medicine, surgery, education, government, community and national service. He has truly succeeded in transforming medicine and education, and in creating a foundation for success for so many others. As Churchill said, he has indeed made a life by what he has given.
Mr Pro-Chancellor, it is my great honour and privilege to present to you Professor Arthur K C Li, for the award of Doctor of Science, honoris causa.
