The Vice-Chancellor Sir William Hornell, K.T., C.I.E., LL.D., M.A. (Oxford), wrote and delivered the following citation:
Dr. Hu Shih needs no introduction. He is the father of the literary renaissance in China. The full significance of this movement History will in time recall. In the annals of his country’s history Dr. Hu Shih’s name has already been written in ink that will not fade. If the future of China is, as I believe it to be, one of the world problems of today, then surely this University will go down in posterity for the honour it is today conferring on one of the living forces of a changing China.
But this University has a more immediate cause for gratitude to Dr. Hu Shih, for he has helped and is helping us to organize our Chinese studies on the right lines. We have often been reminded that Hong Kong is not China and upbraided for being foolish as to believe that any serious student would come here to study Chinese. Our reply is to refer to the preamble of our Ordinance and to insist that this University, being more than a technical or professional college, can not and will not ignore the culture of the great country to which the majority of its students belong. Dr. Hu Shih’s presence here today is a testimony to his conviction that this University can and will play its part, however humble, in the cultural rebirth of China.
