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place and prospects of Hong Kong University in the scheme of things. Mr. Hornell wrote:--
The Future of Hong Kong University.
"I am impelled to ask once again a question to which I have never been able to get an answer-'What is the justification of the University of Hong Kong?' 'Can it be developed into a centre of general British influence in China?' Sir Frederick Lugard
clearly intended the University to be a seat of higher learning for the Chinese generally and a centre from which British influence could radiate.
When the Boxer endowment was discussed
in 1923, the educational scheme, then generally accepted by Britishers throughout China, pivoted, so far as higher education was concerned, on Hong Kong. But when the Willingdon Deputa- tion came; it could not, out of consideration for the political feelings of its members, even visit the Colony. And so far as I am able to judge, the position in which the Foreign Office is being allowed to acquiesce is, that so far as China is concerned, the Hong Kong University does not, and cannot be, made to count.
"If this is inevitable, then it is useless to protest; but then I am going to resign. But I am not satisfied that it is inevitable. A certain number of Chinese want higher education and it is not very easy to get it elsewhere in China, so long as the present chaos prevails. Some are coming to us as it is. If we could offer them something better, then more would come. I could, with money and encouragement, lift the University out of the ruck into which all such institutions, especially one which is so isolated as this one, are liable to sink.
Why should any competent man come out here to help an institution which tends inevitably, under present conditions in Hong Kong, to be regarded with indifference, if not with dislike?
"The problem is far too big to admit of its treat- ment by isolated and disconnected experiments made in con- nection with single universities or towns in the United Kingdom. I therefore suggested that Dr. Young's ideas would be difficult, If not impossible to carry out effectively, and that they would be comparatively expensive. I also suggested that for the spread of mutual appreciation by Chinese and British alike, of their respective civilizations, the establishment of a school of higher and comparative Chinese studies was essential. I had in view not only the School at Hanoi but the School of African Languages
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and Culture which is part of the University of the Cape.
this
An Institution Which Might Be Developed.
I even suggested that possibly your Committee might, in connection, refer to the University of Hong Kong as an institution which was operating in China, but under con- ditions of peace and order, as an institution which also might be developed, so as not only to include such a school as is now being put forward, but also to form the centre from which British culture and influence could be extended to China.
By way
of parrying the riposte, 'Why don't you set about developing your own University?" I thought that you might make it clear, that the needs of the Colony, in the matter of University education, are limited, and that while the big commercial interests in Hong Kong might be willing, on the return of prosperity, to assist in the development of a British institution of higher learning in Hong Kong, which would be really contributing something towards the restoration of British prestige in China, your Committee would certainly not regard it as fair that the Colony of Hong Kong should be called upon to support, unaided, a University which was designed for the benefit of the whole of China.
"Such a statement of the Hong Kong Chamber's position would certainly suggest to the Glasgow folk, and through them to others, that the problem of the future of the Hong Kong University is one which must be faced, and it is a question involving not Colonial but Imperial policy. But no organization can remain stationary, least of all a University. The Hong Kong University must either go for- wards or go backwards, and there are at the moment big defects in its organization. If, for an unlimited period, the University has to go on struggling hopelessly against uncertainty and indifference, I am afraid that when the time comes, if it ever does come, to consider the question-'Can the Hong Kong University be made an Imperial asset?'-the University's failure to achieve will be made, and rightly, the justification of its continued neglect. Besides, you cannot build up a University in a day, and it is difficult to revivify an institution which has become moribund, especially if that institution has not got behind it the weight of long tradition.
"The answer then to your question-What do I want from home?'-is, that I want if possible the recognition of our existence and our possibilities; and if this cannot be conceded, I want a policy formulated which will at least indicate whether we are
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