Dr YUNG Chi Tung was born in Hong Kong in 1908, and after graduating as a Bachelor of Science from the National Tsing Hua University, Peking, in 1929, embarked on an academic career that was destined to be disrupted twice by war and political strife in China. His first connection with this University dates from 1951, when he was External Examiner in Botany, a task undertaken while he was Professor of Botany at Lingnan University, Canton, a post he had held since 1943. A few months after his first excursion to the University, Dr Yung returned as a refugee from the Mainland and joined the staff as Senior Lecturer in Botany. In his nine years of service with the University, Dr Yung played a vital part in the development of botany, assisting in the process of cleavage undergone by the previous Department of Biology, and becoming Head of the newly created Department of Botany, in this capacity serving as a member of the Senate. He was a colleague who earned our respect and affection, a man of culture, gentle in manner, whose deep insight into human nature enabled him to be a wise counsellor both to staff and to students. In a varied academic career, Dr Yung has gained experience in universities Chinese, British, and American, for he received his Doctorate at the University of Chicago in 1937. It is this wealth of experience he brings to his present dignity as President of Chung Chi College, and it is surely of profound significance that his given name of Chi Tung may be rendered in English as "to develop the East".
Citation written and delivered by Professor D Barker, MA, DPhil, the Public Orator of the University.
