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PORNUNARVOnununun HONG KONG UNIVERSITY GOING VENNENE
the faculty lead to the degree of Bachelor of Arts. One hundred and ninety-six B.A. degrees have been conferred, 177 on men and 19 on women.
Such in outline has been the troubled history of the Faculty of Arts-a faculty brought prematurely into the world to live literally from hand to mouth during the vital years of its infancy, when it should have been acquiring strength. The faculty is now firmly established, though an obvious development which should not be indefinitely delaved is the separation of science from the Faculty of Arts and the creation of a Faculty of Science. Reference has already been made to the overcrowding of the physics, chemistry and biology departments by the first-year students of the medical and engineering faculties. All these three subjects are also taught as degree subjects in the Arts Faculty, but the preliminary work required by the medical and engineering students imposes such a strain on the teaching staff, (to sav nothing of the space available in the lecture-rooms and laboratories of these departments), that higher teaching work is rendered difficult and research and post-graduate courses are practically impossible. This is to be deplored, for surely there is room in the Colony, not to mention China and all the neighbouring countries to which the Chinese have emigrated. for a few well-trained physicists, chemists and biologists? The University can not expect to attract first-class teachers-and no others should be engaged-if it continues indefinitely to burden its professors with a crushing weight of elementary teaching. This applies to other subjects, notably history which for lack of staff-there is only one teacher, the reader can not be taught 29 a subject up to the degree stage. The English department has its peculiar difficulties. Much of the work of the department has to be directed towards developing fluency in everyday speech, accuracy in gram- matical construction and correct pronunciation. This is burdensome work when it has to be combined with instruction in literary culture, but the combination is necessary. One of the faculty's groups of studies is letters and philosophy, but until the beginning of this year, when the University found itself in a position to arrange for some lectures in philosophy to be delivered by a lecturer on a part-time basis, no provision for the teaching of philosophy was possible. Logic and ethics are taught by a part-time lecturer. It is deplorable that a University whose obvious business it is to bridge over the gulf which now divides Western from Chinese thought, should have no philosopher on its staff. Equally regrettable is it that until last year the University had no permanent teacher of geography and even now the work is in the hands of a part-time teacher. chair in philosophy and a whole-time readership in geography are urgent needs. One of the University's greatest difficulties is the students' lack of background. If the University's students, when they go out into the world, are to do justice to their University, this defect must, as far as possible be remedied, while they are here.
Another very desirable development would be a University department of law.
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The Faculty of Arts publishes two periodicals. The Education Journal and the Journal of Law and Commerce.
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mybuzum HONG KONG UNIVERSITY unawaaNIVING NOVINAR
THE TEACHING OF CHINESE.
HE University is under a statutory obligation to make in ita Faculty of Arta due provision for the teaching of Chinese Language and Literature. Originally Chinese was taught in the Arts Faculty as a degree subject. The range of this subject was Chinese Classica or ancient Chinese philosophy, Chinese history and Chinese literature.
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It had always been in the minds of Lord Lugard and Sir Charles Eliot that the University should take up, as soon as possible, the comparative study of Chinese and Western culture. It was hoped that in this way the University would provide civil servants and administrators for China. But as a result of the University Commission the Faculty of Arts was reorganised and Chinese was relegated to the position of a subject which could be taken up to the Intermediate stage only.
In the forefront of the programme which the University prepared and laid before the Willingdon delegation which visited China in 1926, was a scheme for a Chinese faculty.
Those who were then contemplating a Chinese faculty recognised that Chinese classics would have to be taught, but their idea was that the efforts of the University should not be confined to the production of old-fashioned Chinese scholars. The intention was that the University should undertake the com- parative study of Chinese and western history, philosophy, law and, some day perhaps, art. A scheme for the comparative study of Chinese and Roman law was also outlined.
In August, 1926, the Vice-Chancellor went with Dr. Lai Chi Hsi to Malaya. Gifts amounting to $40,000 were received. On the strength of this money Dr. Lai Chi Hai and Dr. Au Tai Tin were appointed as full time Readers in the Faculty of Arts and Mr. Lam Tung was engaged as a Translator. Some $10,000 were spent on the University's Chinese Library and arrangements were made for the teaching of certain courses of Chinese classics up to the degree stage of the Faculty of Arts. No student took ad- vantage of the extended facilities for studying Chinese in the Faculty of Arts.
In February 1928, a note by the Vice-Chancellor was placed before the Council of the University. In this note it was pointed out that by the end of that year the money collected in Malays would have been spent and that it was impossible, unless additional funds were raised and assigned to the teaching of Chinese, to do more than revert to the position as it was in 1926.
On the 17th February, 1928, Sir Cecil Clementi convened a special meet- ing at Government House which was attended by Sir Cecil Clementi, the Vice- Chancellor, the Hon. Sir Shou-son Chow, the Hon. Mr. Kotewall, Mr. A. E. Wood, Professor G. T. Byrne (the then Dean of the Faculty of Arts) Dr. Lai Chi Hai, Dr. Au Tai Tin, Mr. Lam Tung, Mr. Li King Hong and the Registrar. At this meeting Sir Cecil Clementi said that he was prepared to recommend to
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