ENG-1959 — Page 341

Chapter 18: Research

THE University of Hong Kong continued and extended its research programmes in 1959.

Current projects in the Department of History include work on the preparation of a collection of documents illustrating the History of Hong Kong; on the history of the New Territories; on problems of communication between the English East India Company and Chinese officials at Canton in the early nineteenth century; on the history of Chinese relations with Yunnan during the T'ang period and the ethnic problems connected with the state of Nanchao; and on aspects of the history of South-East Asia since 1870.

In the Department of Education the research project into the employment of and community needs for university graduates was completed during the year. Research into other problems of higher education has continued, with emphasis on the study of Hong Kong's Commonwealth and international relations. Psychological and social research has been combined, mainly through case studies provided by the Child Guidance Centre. It is apparent that problems in these fields have much in common with similar problems in other communities, but research is evolving towards understanding of special local deviations and typical patterns, and a thorough investigation into Chinese personality development is under way. Results have been published through the University and the commercial press, and through international conferences. The department plans the establishment of educational research on a wider basis.

Research in the Department of Economics and Political Science was mainly in three fields, Hong Kong, China and the Far East.

A study of The Economic Growth of Hong Kong was published by Oxford University Press under the auspices of the Royal Institute of International Affairs; the structure of Government salaries in relation to living costs over the last 10 years was analyzed at the request of the Government's Salaries Commission;