As one of the three founding faculties of HKU, the Faculty of Arts, which commemorates its 100^th anniversary in 2012, has called the Main Building home for nearly a century. Later this year, the Faculty will be moving to a new home, in fact, a new building of its own, on the Centennial Campus. So on April 22, an Arts Farewell to the Main Building event was held in Loke Yew Hall and many staff, students and alumni from the Faculty showed up to reminisce about the good times they had there.

The Faculty has nurtured a great deal of talent over the past century, which explains why there were so many eminent guests at the event. The former Chief Secretary for Administration Anson Chan led the way with her opening remarks for the ceremony, followed by poetry readings by Agnes Lam and Leung Ping-kwan, the presentation of the student Video Competition Prize by University Artists Mabel Cheung and Alex Law, a performance of Haydn's Farewell Symphony by the Hong Kong Chamber Orchestra, and finally a ‘percussion parade’ around the Main Building led by University Artist Lung Heung-wing. A wide range of activities also took place throughout the Main Building, including a calligraphy demonstration by Professor C.Y. Sin, cultural performances, and a creative writing café, just to name a few.

Professor Kam Louie, the Dean of Arts, told those attending: “We are excited about these changes, which we believe will further enhance the student learning experience and allow us to maintain our position as one of the finest humanities faculties in the region and internationally. However, we didn’t want to leave our 100-year-old home without a proper goodbye. Of course, the Main Building will remain a symbol not just of the Faculty, but of the University as a whole, for all to enjoy.”

The new Centennial Campus building will house all existing Arts departments and will also boast many new specialist facilities – such as special storage for historical and multimedia materials, and innovative venues for performances and exhibitions – which will all contribute to creating an excellent learning environment for our students.