HKU Bulletin May 2012 (Vol. 13 No. 2)

HKU people HKU, as the most prominent English-language university in the region, has long been associated with movers and shakers in society and academia. Sun Yat-sen and writer Eileen Chang are two of our more famous alumni, but many others made significant contributions in their fields. For example, Foo Ping-sheung, who was in HKU’s first graduating class in 1916, was part of the Canton delegation to the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. He went on to serve as secretary to Sun Yat-sen, Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Nationalist government, ambassador to Moscow from 1943–49, and head of anti-corruption in Taiwan, among other posts. He also helped to draft the Chinese Civil Code in the 1930s. Documents and photos of Mr Foo are in the University Archives. Famous scholar Lai Jixi was the first head of the Institute of Chinese Studies, while English poet laureate Edmund Blunden was a professor of English from 1953–64. Papers from both scholars and a portrait of Blunden are with the Archives. Future luminaries can also be found in the records of student societies. HKU has about 120 student societies and the HKU Students’ Union worked with the Archives to prepare student association materials for the exhibition. “We wanted to show the University Archives is not just interested in collecting the official goings-on of the University, but also in student life and the people who have been a part of the story,” says Ms Gould, “because it’s the people who make HKU, not the buildings.” The exhibition HKU Memories from the Archives was held at the University Museum and Art Gallery in the winter and a related publication will be published later this year. M Philanthropists The great support given to the University by local philanthropists is seen in some of the collection’s most beautiful objects. An intricate silver model of the Main Building was believed to have been commissioned in 1912 by the son of Sir Hormusjee Naorojee Mody, who provided crucial financial backing to establish HKU. The model underwent two months of cleaning and polishing by metals conservator, Paul Harrison, when it first arrived in the University Archives in 2006 and was then polished again in 2011 to prepare it for the recent exhibition. Sir Robert Hotung was also a great supporter of the University and a silver inkstand was commissioned in 1956 in his honour, after a lifetime of giving to HKU. His brother Ho Fook donated the original University or Chancellor’s Mace in 1913 as well as the anatomy building. This mace was lost during the war and replaced with an exact replica given by Leung Yew in 1951. A third Ho brother, Ho Kam-tong, donated the tropical medicine and pathology building as well as an ongoing award for the best student in public health. One of the more charming items is a letter written in 1929 by Fung Ping-shan, who donated the building which was the Chinese Library and now houses part of the University Museum, including the galleries where the Archives’ exhibition was held. Mr Fung wrote to the Vice-Chancellor, Sir William Hornell, and throughout the letter referred to himself as ‘my friend’: “I have the pleasure to inform you that my friend, who proposed to present the University a building worth $100,000 for the Chinese Library, has confirmed his proposal.” ,QNVWDQG PDGH LQ PHPRU\ RI 6LU 5REHUW +RWXQJ 6LU 5REHUW +RWXQJ )RR 3LQJ VKHXQJ Engineering Society in 1926 7KH ROGHVW H[WDQW DOEXP RI WKH 8QLYHUVLW\ 8QLRQ ZKLFK EHFDPH WKH 6WXGHQWV¶ 8QLRQ DIWHU :RUOG :DU ,, )XQJ 3LQJ VKDQ The Mace The silver model of the Main Building May 2012 09 The University of Hong Kong Bulletin