Asia/About-CUHK

About the Chinese University of Hong Kong

The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong SAR, the People's Republic of China.

Founded in 1963, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) is a forward looking comprehensive research university with a global vision and a mission to combine tradition with modernity, and to bring together China and the West. CUHK teachers and students hail from all corners of the world. CUHK graduates are connected worldwide through an expansive alumni network.

Understanding CUHK

Teaching Excellence

As a top university in Hong Kong and Asia, CUHK aims to nurture students with both specialized knowledge and wisdom for life. The education experience here is distinguished by a flexible credit unit system, a college system, bilingualism and multiculturalism. There are general education courses to broaden students' perspectives and develop in them the ability to face the challenges of contemporary society. Our eight Faculties offer a wide array of excellent undergraduate and postgraduate programmes.

Research Achievements

CUHK undertakes a wide range of research programmes in many subject areas, and strives to provide scope for all academic staff to undertake consultancy and collaborative projects with industry. The University's insistence on the highest standards of research has won it an enviable research reputation. Hong Kong's University Grants Committee (UGC) provides preferential grant funding to the local tertiary institutions to conduct research into 15 selected Areas of Excellence (AoEs). Six of these AoEs are being led by researchers from CUHK. The University houses four state key laboratories which are entrusted by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China to produce research of international quality and carry out important national research tasks. The University also has an excellent record of published research, both in discipline-specific journals and in more high-profile publications such as Science, Nature, and The Lancet.

Unique College System

Of all Hong Kong universities, CUHK is the only one that offers a college experience. To our constituent Colleges, Chung Chi, New Asia, United and Shaw, have recently been added Morningside, S.H. Ho, C.W. Chu, Wu Yee Sun and Lee Woo Sing, bring up the total number of Colleges to nine. They complement the formal curricula by delivering whole-person education and pastoral care. The college system also encourages intimate interaction among teachers, students and alumni.

Campus Environment

Our beautiful 137.3-hectare campus overlooking Tolo Harbour is the largest and greenest in Hong Kong. It houses a range of facilities essential for an all-round campus experience, such as world-class libraries, art museums, music halls, swimming pool, sports fields, tennis courts, squash courts, water sports centre and gymnasiums.

Located in the northwest end of Sha Tin, 30 minutes by train from downtown Kowloon and 20 minutes to the Lo Wu border, the Chinese University is celebrated for the beauty of her campus. The 137.3-hectare campus built on a hillside is the largest and the most stunning in Hong Kong. Most of this area is covered in greenery which is nicely carved out of rocks on three plateaux, and nestled among the greenery are tasteful buildings featuring a mix of Chinese and Western architectural styles. The CUHK campus is a famous haven for many varieties of flora and fauna which great care has been taken to protect and enhance. It also commands panoramic views of the Tolo Harbour and mountain ranges nearby. Many poets have waxed lyrical about its harmonious tranquillity and scholarly atmosphere.

The pedestrian-friendly campus is perfect for bird and botany tours, as well as hiking, cycling and long leisurely walks. In fact the Chinese University is home to some of the nicest walks in Hong Kong. A stroll from the MTR University Station to any of the University's Colleges may take you past a lily pond, rare trees, a Chinese pavilion, a tree-lined mall, monastic courtyards, a Chinese medicinal garden, famous sculptures, award-winning architecture and a plethora of other sceneries and structures as diverse and delightful. All this makes the Chinese University an ideal environment for intellectual and personal growth.

Mission

To assist in the preservation, creation, application and dissemination of knowledge by teaching, research and public service in a comprehensive range of disciplines, thereby serving the needs and enhancing the well-being of the citizens of Hong Kong, China as a whole, and the wider world community.

Vision

To be acknowledged locally, nationally and internationally as a first-class comprehensive research university whose bilingual and multicultural dimensions of student education, scholarly output and contribution to the community consistently meet standards of excellence.

Motto

The motto of the University is '博文約禮' or 'Through learning and temperance to virtue'.

These words of Confucius have long been considered a principal precept of his teaching. It is recorded in the Analects of Confucius that the Master says, 'The superior man, extensively studying all learning, and keeping himself under the restraint of the rules of propriety, may thus likewise not overstep what is right.' (Legge's version of the Four Books)

In choosing '博文約禮' as its motto, the University is laying equal emphasis on the intellectual and moral aspects of education.

Emblem

The emblem of the University is the mythical Chinese bird feng (鳳) which has been regarded as the Bird of the South since the Han dynasty. It is a symbol of nobility, beauty, loyalty and majesty. The University colours are purple and gold, representing devotion and loyalty, and perseverance and resolution, respectively

CUHK 50th Anniversary

Message from Joseph J Y Sung, Vice-Chancellor of the CUHK

The year 2013, the golden jubilee of The Chinese University of Hong Kong, is awaited by everyone in the University with bated breath.

Celebration is very much in the air, and all in the CUHK family, be they teachers, students and alumni, are actively engaged in preparation for the events and activities that are to come.

Looking back at the University’s development over the past five decades, I cannot help casting my mind back, to those days when I was a mere toddler. It was the time when a range of barren hillocks, by the side of the railway track on which diesel trains ran and along the coast of the Tolo Harbour, was chosen as the seat of an academic institution burdened with an onerous historical and cultural mission. On the 17th day of October, 1963, the Chinese University came into being at its present location in Shatin, building itself upon the practical and modest simplicity that informed the structure and milieu of its three foundation Colleges. And it has been fifty years since.

By the standard of ancient European establishments, fifty years are only of momentary significance. However, a university which has grown to maturity through the many trials and tribulations of half a century, is a marvel that can justify a lot of pride. At its inception the University had three Colleges, 1,395 students, and about a hundred academics. Vested with the mission to combine the tradition with modernity, and to bring together China and the West, it has strived and persevered amidst considerable hardships, plodding along in heavy steps. Nowadays there are nine Colleges and eight Faculties, and a student population over twenty thousand strong including the postgraduates, served by over six thousand academics, administrators and ancillary service personnel. It is an academic community of great vigour and enormous vitality, second to none in Hong Kong, and a major education hub in Asia.

In the year of commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the University’s founding, it is our bounden duty to respectfully review the achievements of the academics who have gone before us, and to perpetuate the practice of the valuable traditions they have established. At the same time our vision should be focused on the future, as we plan the development of the University with due regard for the needs and requirements of the time. Fresh energy has to be injected into our enterprise, so that we may boldly face the challenges posed by globalization. The activities being conceived by the 50th Anniversary Celebration Organizing Committee are all oriented towards these objectives.

Our year-long programme of activities will take place throughout 2013, which will allow us the opportunity to share, in gratitude and gladness, our achievements with the community at large. It will also be an occasion for the Chinese University to reiterate its core values and its mission, and to bring to the community’s full view, the University’s humanistic spirit which is its guiding light since the earliest days, its unique collegiate system, and its practical and functional General Education programmes. A university may boast of magnificent edifices, state-of-the-art facilities and cutting edge research, yet it will remain not much more than a group of soulless buildings, and enjoy a reputation devoid of meaning, if it does not encourage the deep and careful probe into the nature of matters, the research and dissemination of knowledge, the selfless defence of truth, and a genuine care and concern for the public good. We shall show to the general public what superior minds our campus has nurtured, and what ingenious results they have wrought through years of intensive intellectual endeavours. Their achievements have expanded the frontiers of learning and research in many directions. Furthermore, many of our teachers and students, in successive generations, have left their distinguished and indelible marks on regional, national and even international history. It is our intention, and our resolve, to demonstrate how, in a global village where no man is an island entire of himself, the teachers and students of CUHK will shoulder their responsibilities as citizens of the world when the call of benevolent humanism beckons. We will show to the world how the CUHK community has extended the scope of its service, and how the application of the results of its research has gone way beyond the campus to the surrounding regions, the nation, and the rest of the world, for the benefit of the earth and all mankind.

I am deeply indebted to all who are involved in the fiftieth anniversary celebrations, especially Mr Charles Y. W. Leung, Chairman of the 50th Anniversary Celebration Organizing Committee, Professor Michael Hui, who heads the co-ordinating and working committee, and Dr Joseph Y. W. Pang, who chairs the fund-raising committee for the celebration activities. I sincerely call upon all members of the CUHK family to take an active part in the celebration activities. Over the past fifty years a very substantial and impressive presence of our graduates has been maintained in the community at large, and the number of our graduates will exceed one hundred and forty thousand very soon. I am convinced that, wherever they are and whatever their station in life, they are all committed to doing their best, and that, at the same time, the alma mater and her development always have a fond place in their hearts. I would also like to extend a warm welcome to all alumni, whether residing in Hong Kong or elsewhere, to re-visit the campus in the next year, for a walk down memory lane, or to contemplate what the distant horizon holds in store. Let us join our hearts and minds to celebrate the golden jubilee, in a manner that is truly meaningful to us, and worthy of our memory.

Campus Master Plan

To guide the long-term development of its campus, CUHK has a Campus Master Plan (CMP) in place. Taking into account the teaching, learning and research needs of the University, the CMP maps out a sustainable and visionary blueprint for the development of the University campus in the years up to 2021 and beyond, setting the stage for CUHK to grow as a world-class institution enjoying both academic excellence and campus sustainability.

iGEM Around CUHK Campus

The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) is the host of the iGEM Asia Jamboree 2013 and the entire competition will take place on our stunning main campus in Shatin, where most of the venues for the activities are housed around the Chung Chi and S.H. Ho College. We look forward to your participation and support to make this a most memorable and successful event!

Yasumoto International Academic Park

The Yasumoto International Academic Park is a significant landmark on the CUHK campus. Within the park will be environmentally friendly and state-of-the-art academic spaces such as lecture theatres, classrooms and offices, an International Cultural Exchange Centre complete with an Exhibition Gallery, and open spaces for student activities such as cultural festivals, shows and fairs, all embedded in a beautifully designed landscape. The park serves as a forum where international and local students congregate, bond and share their dreams, aspirations and world vision.

Questions and Information

If you have a question or need help at any point during the Regional Jamboree, you can visit the information desk located on the G/F of the Yasumoto International Academics (YIA) Park, or look for anyone of our iGEM helpers on site. The iGEM Asia handbook can be found here.