Chapter 18: Research
The University of Hong Kong is the principal centre of research in the Colony.
Its current historical projects include work on various aspects of the history of Hong Kong, China, Japan and South-East Asia. The Department of Geography and Geology is preparing a full report on land utilization in the Colony and a study of terraces and erosion surfaces. Educational projects include an investigation into the value of group methods in teacher-training and into methods of combining higher education in modern and scientific subjects with the preservation of oriental culture.
The Department of Chinese and the Institute of Oriental Studies publish a Journal of Oriental Studies, in the first two volumes of which some of the results of recent researches have already appeared.
In the Department of Biology, the Fisheries Research Unit continued a wide programme of work, including a survey of New Territories fish ponds, age determination studies of economically important marine fish, and the biology of Ostra gigas, as grown in the Deep Bay oyster beds, and did extensive work on oyster culture in cooperation with the Government Fisheries Division. The research vessel Alister Hardy continued a monthly hydrological and plankton survey of local waters. Since February the cooperation of commercial vessels has been enlisted in obtaining surface water samples across the Pearl River estuary, in the fishing grounds between Hong Kong and Hainan, and into the China Sea as far east as the Formosa Strait. In collaboration with the Government Fisheries Division, the research vessel was used to conduct experiments with non-indigenous fishing gear with a view to their possible introduction into Hong Kong fisheries.
In the Department of Chemistry research is being continued on the chemistry of various plants of the Colony and other parts of South-East Asia which have reputed medicinal or other value. Discoveries being made in these and other fields of work are published from time to time in scientific journals in Great Britain.