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an examination of these facts is that this Colony must accept the Hong Kong University as an integral and essential part of its education scheme and must give it that adequate support which would justify us in continuing to call it a University on the English model. The minimum annual sum which the Government should contribute to the University is $200,000."
Colony and University.
I welcomed these remarks, at the time when they were made, both as Chancellor of the University and also as Governor of Hong Kong; and, in my opinion, Sir Henry Gollan has to-day placed before this Congregation convincing reasons why the Gov- ernment subsidy should be increased, as recom- mended in a recent resolution of the Court of the University, to an annual grant of $250,000. I would add to what Sir Henry has said that I firmly believe the fortunes of the Colony now to be in- separably bound up with the success of the Univer- sity. If this University for lack of funds should be crippled or killed, the loss of prestige to the Colony would be immense and a very severe blow would be dealt to British interests, not only in Hong Kong, but in China as well. On the other hand, if this University prospers, it will, I am confident, be an instrument of the utmost value in the development of the Colony and in promoting friendly co-operation between Hong Kong and China. For this reason I am certain that the Government of Hong Kong will always, within the measure of its own financial capacity, assist the University of Hong Kong.
Great British Lighthouse.
But this University is not merely a colonial concern. It is a most valuable asset of the British Empire in the Far East. The Honourable Dr. Lim Boon Keng, when he received the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from this University at its third Congregation, held on the 15th January, 1919, called the University of Hong Kong a great British lighthouse built upon the most prominent rock upon the China coast in the darkest age of Asia."
EX
house should be properly and efficiently lighted. We are building up a structure not only in material things, for over and above the things that are visible there are elements of great permanence with light to light up the whole of mankind. Therefore, if we regard our University as a British institution intended as the means of providing the gift of British culture to the Chinese people, we may be sure that the British Empire-particularly the British colonies -will respond to any reasonable appeal by the Government of Hong Kong."
Boxer Indemnity Fund.
These words, coming as they did from the President of the Amoy University, a scholar with great knowledge of public aflairs both in Malaya and in China, are very striking and they might have been spoken to-day. It is fortunately now within the power of His Majesty's Covernment to come to the assistance of the Hong Kong University. Hitherto, the British Government has done very little for this University, in spite of the example set by the Government of China, which, before the Manchu empire fell, made a grant to our endow- ment fund. The Chinese communities of Canton, Wuchow, Wuchang, Amoy, Saigon, Penang and Australia also sent contributions; while the Viceroy of the Liang Kuang provinces, at the time when the University was founded collected the
sum of $200,000 and sent it to us. In doing so, he wrote, Of late our students residing abroad have caused us the greatest anxiety. On the other hand, Hong Kong is so close to us that our young men, who go there to study, will be almost in sight and hearing of their superiors." The value of the Hong Kong University has thus been recognized both by Chinese cfficials, merchants and scholars and by the Chinese Governinent as well. Is it then, too much to ask that the British Government having in its hands a fund for the promotion of Anglo-Chinese interests- I mean the Boxer Indemnity fund-should from the sum of more than eleven million pounds sterling thus at its disposal make such a grant to this University as will relieve its financial embarrass- ment and permit of its further expansion?
LL
Special Needs of China.
At present," he said, "chaos in the shape of a political typhoon rages through the troubled waters of Chinese life and darkness reigns supreme. The The University of Hong Kong started with the British Empire has, therefore, with characteristic idea that China's greatest need was scientific and generosity, built a great lighthouse in Hong Kong." technical training. The University was to become Surely," he continued, "it is not asking too much a force in the Far East by producing qualified to demand that the British Empire, and the British engineers and skilled doctors. The training of colonies especially, should see that that British light-engineers and doctors is still necessary; but it is
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now realized that this University must do far more than impart technical and professional competence. There must be in it teachers who are capable of interpreting the West to China and China to the West. The Chinese have a traditional respect for learning, and the presence in this University of British teachers training young men to think out honestly the vital problems, political, social, financial and domestic, with which China is now beset, would be a moral asset of incalculable imperial value.
Our work here should always be directed toward the special and peculiar needs of China. We must in the Arts Faculty turn towards China the study of political science, jurisprudence and philo- sophy; and we must go further and develop a new Chinese department in the Arts Faculty. The ain of this new department of Chinese studies will be the application both of the wisdom of China and of western knowledge to the vital Chinese problems of to-day. The department will also, I hope, help to solve that immense problem, which is nothing less than the invention of a new medium of education for several hundred million human beings, whose time-honoured methods of tuition have been destroy- ed without any adequate substitute being offered instead. Nothing except lack of money prevents us from starting at once on this momentous task.
Old and New China.
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to effectiveness, if they are not only ignorant, but even scornful, of Chinese history, its culture and traditions. I am convinced that this University could, if it was provided with the means, do something towards training the future administrators of China in the way in which they must be trained, if they are to succeed. If the University of Hong Kong does not attempt this task, I cannot see that it will be attempted at all, at least not until it is too late. I have, therefore, in season and out of season, ever since I became your Chancellor, urged His Majesty's Government to make a substantial allocation from Boxer Indemnity funds to the Hong Kong University. Mr. Hornell, our Vice Chancellor, is even now pleading the same cause at home with all his power, and I earnestly hope that this year may at last crown our efforts with success. If His Majesty's Government will but decide that institution the University of Hong Kong is an with which, in the interests of British influence and British trade in the Far East, the British Empire cannot afford to dispense, and will take this opport- unity of helping the institution as such, the whole outlook of the University will change. By this same act of generosity, His Majesty's Ministers can pro- claim to the world their unwavering confidence in British educational methods and ideals and their determination to leave undone nothing which is calculated to contribute to the reconstruction of China.
Hong Kong and China.
Members of the Congregation of the University of Hong Kong, my last words to you are these. I do not believe that anything could do more to en-
And another fact must be borne in mind. Be- hind all the feuds which are still distracting China, there stands ever the ceaseless conflict between the old China and the new, between the young Chinese, who have been educated abroad, and the Chinese of the old school, who despise the young politicians.hance the security, the welfare and the dignity of this The young Chinese may bulk large in foreign eyes and in the Chinese press, which, so far as it exists, they control; but the old school still wields immense influence over the country as a whole. The Hong Kong University is the only educational institution in China where the reality of this conflict is understood and something is even now being done to blend the old China and the new.
If this University has up-to-date medical and engineering schools and an arts faculty, which in- cludes a department of commerce, it has also even now an incipient Chinese school, in which are work- ing no less than three Hanlin, that is to say, Chinese scholars holding the highest academic degree given by the Manchu emperors. It is inconceivable that those who are to guide the destinies of the China of to-morrow should be able to do so with any approach
Colony, and to strengthen British prestige in China, than that the University of Hong Kong should be- come during the course of the twentieth century a famous seat of Chinese learning, to which men throughout the Eighteen Provinces would look-as Englishmen look to Oxford and Cambridge-for au- thoritative guidance in the study of their language, their literature, their history, their archaeology, their folklore, their religious beliefs and the whole fabric of their civilization. If the Chinese thus camɔ to think of Hong Kong with affection as a place in which all that is dear to them is treasured, in which all that is hallowel for them by past tradition is carefully studiel, and in which all that may help them in their renaissance is made accessible and intelligible and is adapted to their needs, then
with may look into the future assurance; for this Colony would not in that event
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