THE OFFICE OF THE REPRESENTATIVE OF THE BRITISH COUNCIL.
Dear Miss Ruston,
Received
19/9/45
Ac
HONG KONG UNIVERSITY
38 148
c/o British Embassy, Chungking•
30th August, 1945
On my return from Kunming on Thursday, August 23rd, Dr. Joseph Needham, who was on the point of leaving for the North West, showed me a memorandum which he had just written on the subject of the post-war re- construction of Hong Kong University, together with a similar memorandum by Dr. Gordon King. He invited me to make any other comments of my own
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and Dr. King, whom I saw for a few moments yesterday, August 29th, just before he left for Hong Kong, also pressed me to do so. Under these cir- cumstances I venture to send you a short supplementary statement, a copy of which is also being sent to Dr. Gordon King who will, I think, show it to Vice-Chancellor Sloss.
The Future of Hong Kong University
I find myself in general agreement with the main contentions and recommendations of Dr. Needham's and Dr. King's reports and heartily endorse their view that Hong Kong University has a most important role to play in connection with the rehabilitation and reconstruction of China, that it should develop close cultural relations with the Chinese Universities, both Government and private, and that it should be far more than a local institution serving limited meds I also agree that the development of Hong Kong University "as an Expression" in Dr. G. King's words, "of British policy towards China and the Far East" and with "an all China programme", would involve far greater financial support from Great Britain than it has hitherto received and that it cannot adequately support the role which it ought hereafter.to play on locally received funds alone. It is greatly to be hoped that the British Government will take a broad and generous view of the functions which Hong Kong, as a high-grade and well endowed British University, is fitted to perform in cementing close cultural relations and friendship between Great Britain and China. Whatever the future extension of the activities of the British Council in China, it is probably true to say that Hong Kong University is potentially the largest single Cultural" contribution to Chinese reconstruction which Great Britain is capable of contributing. Apropos of the relationship between British Council activities in China and the functions of Hong Kong University the following observation is perhaps pertinent. During the few months I have been here in my present capacity as Chief Representative of the British Council, I have been greatly impressed b the very large number of promising young Chinese scholars who are anxious to study in the British Universities and also by the anxiety of the Chinese Ministry of Education that ample facilities should be accorded for this purpose. I have been recently approached by the Ministry with a proposal to establish more than 100 Chinese, Government scholarships per annum, to send good Chinese graduates to Britain by way of supplementing the scholarships given by the British Council for that purpose. I am writing to the British Universities on this subject but I am well aware that owing to their heavy commitments to British students and to the congestion of many of their most important departments it will be quite impossible for them to accommodate more than a small fraction of the total number of desirable Chinese applicants. It has been the declared intention of Hong Kong University in the past to provide on the threshold of China itself a good University education of British type and under
P.T.0.
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