Professor
Li, Fellow students, Teachers, Ladies and Gentlemen,
What an
auspicious occasion! Let me start by offering all our freshers my warmest
congratulations. You are the cream of your generation. You have earned you
place in this prestigious institution, the University of Hong Kong, that is the
oldest university of our vibrant city.
What is the
origin of the English word UNIVERSITY? Well, it comes from Latin: universtas
magisterium et scholarium, meaning community of teachers and scholars. This
phrase was first used to describe the University of Bologna, Italy, founded in
1088, which is the oldest continuous university in the western world. Have you
heard of the names Copernicus or Dante? The former founded the solar centric
theory and latter modern Italian. They were both associated with that
university. I am very fortunate to have had a close association with the same
university. During your vacations, I
would recommend that you visit the city of Bologna; their university museum
contains many outstanding historical exhibits—modern medicine, especially
anatomy, owes a huge debt to them. Bologna is also famous for food, (-Remember
spaghetti Bolognese?), wine, ice cream, historical sites, architecture (boasting
the longest portico in the world among other things), etc.
The year
1088 lied within the Song Dynasty in the history of China. As you might know,
the Song Dynasty enjoyed extremely high cultural activities and no fewer than 4
institutions of high learning were founded then. One of them was called 岳麓書院, in
Changsha, Hunan Province, that was founded in the year 976 during the Northern
Song Dynasty. It has continued to modern days in the form of Hunan University. Incidentally,
in his youth, Mao Tse Tung stayed at the place for something like 6 months,
which exerted a great influence on him. This is another site you might like to
visit one day.
As you can
see, universities in both the occidental and the oriental worlds have been the custodian
of knowledge as well as the birthplace of new ideas. Universities open the
doors to knowledge and, of course, ‘Knowledge is Power’, as first said by Sir
Francis Bacon of the 16th century. My life has been intimately
connected with this wonderful institution. If I were given another life, I
would not hesitate to repeat the journey. I am sure that when you look back 60
years later, like what I am doing now, you will say to yourself: ‘How lucky I have
been!’
For some of
you, your journey to HKU might have been tortuous. For the past few years, Hong
Kong witnessed some extraordinary events, something that your parents and your
parents’ parents had never done before.
As a result, many of you had to navigate between daily unrest and your
studies. I can just imagine how difficult life must have been for many of you. In
this context, let me share with you four observations. You might or might not
agree with them but at least they are honest.
(1) I
am sure that we all want peace and security.
(2) I
am not aware of any country without National security laws. Interestingly, as
recently as in July this year, the UK parliament passed the National Security
Act 2023 to further strengthen measures to protect national security. The
measures are by no means gentle, some might even say they are draconian. You
can check the contents on the UK government website.
(3) From
what I can see, Hong Kong police have conducted themselves with restraint in
dealing with unrests, in comparison with the British, the French and the US.
(4) To understand international affairs, especially during this turbulent period of international geopolitics, we must not lose sight of the big picture. We must look at history in order to gain a better perspective. For example, I found my recent visit to the ‘China’s hidden century’ exhibition at the British museum very educational. There I saw an original copy of the Nanjing Treaty, the treaty that ceded Hong Kong to Britain in 1842. (That Hong Kong remained under British rule after WW2 was a historical aberration. The Chinese government under Chiang Kai Shek wanted it back, but Churchill of Britain insisted on retaining it. Eventually there was a compromise.) The Opium War had a devastating impact on my family. My grandfather was the youngest son of my great grandfather, who saved enough money from laboring in Australia to return to his ancestral village in Xinhui prefecture, Guangdong Province. My grandfather was the hope of the Tong family, because he was bright. He did well with his study, becoming quite a noted scholar in his district. Unfortunately, the legalization of opium in China under the Nanjing Treaty ruined him. He became an opium addict, so much so that he eventually lost his family’s fortune and his own dignity. So, you can imagine the deep emotion that I felt when I saw the original copy of the Nanjing Treaty! What I want to say is that China’s hundred-year-humiliation has affected every Chinese family, including mine.
My own
journey to university started in 1963. I went to the University of Manchester
Institute of Science and Technology, often referred to as UMIST or amusingly as
‘You missed’ (-now merged with the University of Manchester). My journey was
not easy either, because my father was only a waiter at a Chinese restaurant in
London. He used all his own savings (£600) for my university fees,
accommodation, food, travel, and other expenses; the money was only enough to
last one year. To cut a long story short, I survived the first year
financially. Luckily with the help of my teachers at UMIST, I was given a grant
by the London County Council from the second year onwards. I can just imagine my
teachers saying to me, ‘Howell, UMIST the first year with your grant!’ On the brighter side, I benefited hugely from
the education there that laid a solid foundation for my future career.
I became a
statistician by choice, specializing in time series analysis. You might wonder
what a time series is. Very simple. It’s history in numbers. We collect
observations (i.e., numbers) over time, e.g., the number of HKU freshers each
year from say 1911, the year HKU was founded, to 2023, and there we have a time
series, a history in numbers. Then we might wonder what story this history
might tell us. That requires statistical analysis! I would encourage you to
study time series analysis during your time at HKU.
I must tell
you that the life of an ethnic Chinses academic in the UK is not always rosy.
What has kept me going is the determination to demonstrate to everyone that the
Chinese people are just as intelligent as everybody else. This determination
has got me where I am today, in the face of outright racism (sometimes even
physical) when I was a young man in England, and subtle institutional racism in
the UK society even today. Hard fight but worthwhile for there is no other way.
Returning to
the year 1911, I should remind you that it predated the founding of the
Republic of China by one year. You see, HKU has quite a long history, although
not as long as Hunan University or the University of Bologna. Even so, not many
universities can boast having a future president of a country among its alumni.
But HKU can, because we have Dr. Sun Yat Sen. His title is Doctor because he
was a trained physician, educated at the Hong Kong College of Medicine for
Chinese (the forerunner of HKU). By the way, many years later, he was saved by
one of his medical teachers when he was kidnapped in London by the Ching
government.
Now, in
Chinese, university is translated as 大學. Then, what is 大學? The
answer is 大學之道在明明德. So, you know why HKU’s motto is 明德格物.
Finally, my association with HKU, especially the
Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science, started in 1997, the year when
Hong Kong was returned to China. It has lasted to this day and will undoubtedly
continue to do so in one form or another. The association represents an
important corner of my life. Let me assure you all that I have watched and will
continue to watch HKU with deep affection.
As many political commentators have recognized, the
21st century is an Asian century. And China is at the centre of it. There
is no reason why Hong Kong will not benefit from it. Therefore, against this
background, I have every confidence that HKU will prosper and go from strength
to strength. On this note, I will say to you freshers: You are the lucky
generation. Prepare yourself well and grab the golden opportunity.
Let me finish by wishing all freshers successful
study, rewarding enlightenment and happiness at the University of Hong Kong.
Thank you all!
Slide for Welcome and Orientation Event^J Dept of SAAS^J 2023 (4).pptx
Also available at
https://saasresearch.hku.hk/share/album/2023/20230830_UG_Welcome/
https://saasresearch.hku.hk/share/album/2023/20230830_UG_Welcome/#img=Prof_Howell_Tong-Speech-at-HKU--freshers-orientation-202309.pdf
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