HKU Bulletin September 2007 (Vol. 9 No. 1)

1 NEWS ROUND-UP The Iconic Gore Vidal at HKU T he curtain rose on the Man Hong Kong International Literary Festival at HKU this year with an engrossing conversation with the iconic American writer, Gore Vidal. Talking to former New South Wales premier, Bob Carr, Vidal told a packed audience, at the Rayson Huang theatre, that the baton of world leadership had passed from the United States to China. “Being in China I’m naturally reminded of Confucius,” said the 81- year-old novelist and political commentator, “and the Mandate of Heaven which fell to us (the USA) in 1945 and we were the masters of the earth, which was far more than any Chinese emperor ever enjoyed. But it was ours, and were not going to let it go. And then we did everything wrong. “And now we are at the end of it, and the Mandate of Heaven has come back here, which was my feeling as I looked out over Shanghai and saw new buildings, so much better than the ones we have in New York. And I thought, ‘Oh it did change, we lost it.’” He wa s s ca t h i ng t o o a bou t t he Bu s h admi n i s t ra t i on’s f ore i gn policy, particularly its war in Iraq. “We’ve had silly wars before,” he said. “We’ve had disastrous wars. But this was something new. After 9/11 a very ambitious bunch of gas and oil people from Texas…seized control… and before we knew it, we have somebody who can’t read or write as president. It is the most appalling thing that has ever happened to the US.” Student Wins International Award HKU medical student, Kendrick Co Shih, has won an international award for his research on liver transplants. Kendrick, 21, and his mentor Dr Kwan Man, Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery, were the only team from Asia to receive the prestigious Rising Star award from the International Liver Transplantation Society, at its annual congress in Rio de Janeiro. Supervised by Professor Lo Chung Mau, Chin Lan-Hong Professor in Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, and Dr Man, Kendrick’s research has shed new light on the causes of the high tumour recurrence rate in grafted liver transplants. The number of adult-to-adult living donor transplants has increased in recent years thanks to cutting edge research and the shortage of organ donors in Hong Kong. However, the rate of tumour recurrence in grafted livers runs at 22 per cent, compared to zero recurrence in donated organs. As the size of a grafted liver is almost always small for an adult recipient Kendrick’s team hypothesized that this might provide a favourable environment for tumours to recur. Using rat models he was able to demonstrate that the gene, IP10, was significantly over-expressed in small-for-size grafts and was active in promoting the invasive properties of cancer cells, causing cell migration and increased activity. The findings will lay the foundation for the development of therapeutic strategies to suppress the activity of IP10 and help minimize the recurrence of tumours in small-for-size live organ transplants. CONTENTS Editor The Registrar Editorial Board Allison Jones, Dora Yue Writers Kathy Griffin, Allison Jones Photographer Richard Jones, sinopix photo agency Graphic Designer trinity & co. Printer HeterMedia Services Limited Items for Publication Items for publication in The University of Hong Kong Bulletin or suggestions for subjects which might be included should be addressed to the editorial board, Knowles Building, telephone number: 2859 1929, fax number: 2546 0456 or e-mail: bulletin@hku.hk . Items should include the author’s name and University contact details. If you have any comments or suggestions to make regarding the content or format of The University of Hong Kong Bulletin , please direct them to the editor for consideration by the editorial board. Printed on recycled paper. NEWS ROUND-UP 1 u The Iconic Gore Vidal at HKU u Student Wins International Award 2 u Booker Prize Winner Explores the Nature of Identity u World-renowned Zen Master Visits HKU PEOPLE 3 u Projecting a Good Image 4 u First Class Scientist: Top Honour for HKU Chemist RESEARCH 6 u The Stresses of China on the Move 8 u Unlocking the Secret to Happiness 10 u Through the Lens of History: The Surprising Beginnings of Cantonese Cinema GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE 12 The Implications of Living in a Warmer World 13 u A Quest for the Best Climate Projection Tools 14 u We Must Do Better, Says Sustainability Expert 16 u The Problems of Predicting the Future 17 u To the Ends of the Earth TEACHING AND RESEARCH 18 Excellence in Teaching and Research 19 u What it Takes to be Good Teacher 23 u Outstanding Research Student Supervisor Awards 27 u Outstanding Young Researcher Awards 35 u Outstanding Researcher Awards BOOKS 38 u A New Perspective on Colonial Governance 39 u A History of Hong Kong’s New Territories HISTORY 40 u Planning the Future with a Little Help from the Past