Dec 2013
On the occasion of the Arts Faculty’s centenary celebration, Professor Wang Gungwu (王賡武教授) , former Vice-Chancellor of The University of Hong Kong, generously established the “Wang Gungwu Prizes for Undergraduate and Postgraduate Students in History” to recognise students with excellent academic and research achievements. Professor Wang also decided to re-designate the balance of the loan fund he set up in 1992 while he was in office to these prizes. More than 200 students benefitted from the loan fund during its time.
Together with the 1:1 matching grant from the Sixth Government Matching Scheme, a total of HK$400,000 is available under this fund.
“There is great importance in studying History because, at its core, History covers all knowledge of the past and tells the present what could happen in the future. It is an opportune time to put History back in its rightful position,” Professor Wang said at the prize presentation.
Professor Wang (4th left) with the first three prize awardees and Arts Faculty colleagues, including Dean Kam Louie (1st right)
Carol Lau, Angharad Fletcher and Henry Choi are the first recipients of the Prizes. Ms Lau just graduated with First Class Honours and conducted research, with the support of University Undergraduate Research Fellowship, on the Cultural Revolution and Child Labour in Hong Kong in the 1950s and 1960s.
Ms Fletcher was awarded the Prize for her MPhil thesis on Australian military nursing and internment during World War II. She is currently undertaking the Joint PhD Programme of HKU and London King’s College.
Since receiving his doctoral degree, Dr Henry Choi has taught at the HKU School of Chinese. He has released numerous publications and speaks at international conferences about his research on the history of China and Hong Kong. Dr Choi is also committed to promoting the education of Chinese history and culture to the general public and makes use of online platforms to share his views on related topics.
December 2013