Press Release
HKBU to confer Honorary University Fellowships on six distinguished persons
Tuesday, 01 Sep 2020
Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) has announced the conferment of Honorary University Fellowships on six distinguished persons in recognition of their outstanding contributions to a wide variety of areas and their support of society.
The six Honorary University Fellowship recipients are: Mr Chan Koon-chung(陳冠中), Dr Eddie Ho Kang-wai (何鏡煒), Mr Michael Hui Wah-kit (許華傑), Dr Lee Shiu (李韶), Mr David Lee Wai-hung (李惠雄) and Mr Song Dong (宋冬).
Mr Chan Koon-chung
Mr Chan Koon-chung is a renowned Sinophone writer, and he has had a varied and colourful career. Starting out as a reporter and magazine publisher in the mid-1970s, he ventured into film and other media industries in the 1980s. By the early 1990s, he had started to set foot in international media ventures in the Greater China region.
In 2003, Mr Chan became a full-time writer. His most notable books include The Hong Kong Trilogy and The China Trilogy. His novel The Second Year of Jianfeng – An Alternative History of New China was highly recommended at HKBU's prestigious "The Sixth Dream of the Red Chamber Award". It was also selected as one of the "Twenty Chinese Novels 2001-2015" by the National Culture and Arts Foundation in Taiwan, and listed in the "Ten Chinese Novels 2015" by Yazhou Zhoukan. In 2013, Mr Chan was appointed Author of the Year at the Hong Kong Book Fair.
In his novels, Mr Chan is trying to expose the social phenomena present at the time. He shows the contradictions that people face in terms of the social, cultural and economic fabrics of our ever-evolving society. His sensitivity to cross-cultural issues is reflected in his work.
Dr Eddie Ho Kang-wai
Dr Eddie Ho Kang-wai is a long-serving former staff member and alumnus of HKBU, and he is widely known as an outstanding community builder. He became the Assistant Dean of Basic Studies at the then Hong Kong Baptist College in 1981, and later headed up the new Institutional Research and Planning Unit, before becoming the University's Director of Student Affairs in 1989 until his retirement in 2012 after 35 years of distinguished service. He also served as a member of the HKBU Council, first as a staff representative, and upon retirement, as a representative from the Baptist Convention of Hong Kong.
Dr Ho established a professional identity for HKBU's Office of Student Affairs. Fully committed to a Whole Person Education, he restructured student services at the University and supported student participation in university governance. An advocate of servant leadership, Dr Ho came up with many innovative ideas for student development projects.
Dr Ho is currently the supervisor of three schools, the manager of several other schools, and the Co-Chair of the Character Building Project, a Wofoo Social Enterprises initiative. He is also the Chairman of the Board of Deacons of the Kowloon City Baptist Church and the Board of Directors of Hong Kong Baptist Hospital.
Mr Michael Hui Wah-kit
Mr Michael Hui Wah-kit is a distinguished entrepreneur and the Managing Director of Freedom Industrial Corporation Limited.
As a renowned business leader in the import and export industry in Hong Kong, Mr Hui has an extensive record of public and industry service, including Vice President of the Hong Kong Chinese Importers' and Exporters' Association, Chairman of the Small and Medium Enterprises Committee, Chairman of the Industry Training Advisory Committee (Import and Export), and a member of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. Previously he had served as the President of the Hong Kong United Youth Association, a member of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, a part-time member of the Central Policy Unit, and a member of the Greater Pearl River Delta Business Council.
Mr Hui has a close connection with the HKBU community. He has been an Honorary Court member of the University since 2009, and he was a member of the HKBU Council between 2013 and 2015. He also worked with entrepreneurs from local SMEs to provide internship positions to students from the University's College of International Education. He was appointed as Member, and later Chairman, of the University's Advisory Committee for the Bachelor of Social Sciences (Hons) in China Studies programme between 2011 and 2018.
Dr Lee Shiu
Dr Lee Shiu is the Chairman of Lee Shiu Family Foundation Limited and an educational philanthropist well known among Hong Kong's universities.
Dr Lee has initiated and sustained forward-looking projects that offer unique learning experiences to students, notably in Hong Kong and in Mainland. The most noteworthy project is the Lee Shiu Summer Programme, launched in 1998 after Hong Kong's return to China. The Programme aimed to bring university students from the Mainland to meet their counterparts in Hong Kong for cultural exchange and to study the qualities which made Hong Kong a successful city.
What Dr Lee is most proud of, however, is the "China Nationwide Tertiary Level Essay Contest" which HKBU carried out for him under the able leadership of the then President Daniel Tse in 1999. The Contest aimed to stimulate young Chinese minds to develop their skills in science and technology, as well as the field of economics.
Dr Lee and his wife Dr Jennie Yee-ching Lee are both Honorary Permanent Presidents of the HKBU Foundation. Apart from generously supporting various endeavours of the University over the years, Dr Lee Shiu continuously made suggestions for improvement in the teaching of English during his six years as member of the Court, hoping the students could be proficient in English when they graduate.
Mr David Lee Wai-hung
Mr David Lee Wai-hung is a highly respected entrepreneur and philanthropist, and he is the fourth generation of his family to steward the famous Lee Kum Kee sauce business, which has now been diversified to include Chinese herbal health products, herb plantations and trading, property investment, and venture capital for start-ups through its Health Products Group. Mr Lee was named an Honorary Citizen of Jiangmen in 2008, and he also advises several universities in Hong Kong.
Mr Lee has a long association with HKBU. In 2014, he was named a Chapter Honouree of the HKBU Chapter of Beta Gamma Sigma, an international business honour society, in recognition of his contributions to the commercial sector and society at large. He also provided wise counsel to the School of Business as a member of its Advisory Committee from 2010 to 2016.
As Chairman of the Lee Kum Kee Family Foundation from 2013 to 2018, Mr Lee strived to make Hong Kong a better place by giving back to the community. Apart from promoting family healthiness and happy multi-generational family relationships, he devotes a lot of time and energy to nurturing the young and serving as a mentor to university students. Mr Lee is also an advisory committee member of different associations and a popular conference speaker.
Mr Song Dong
Mr Song Dong is one of the most internationally renowned contemporary artists in China, and he is widely acclaimed for his conceptual artworks that take the form of installations, sculptures, videos and photography.
Mr Song's work has been exhibited at biennales in Venice, Liverpool, Gwangju and Sao Paolo, and at the Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art in Australia, the Guangzhou Triennial, and the World Wide Video Festival in the Netherlands. He has won numerous honours and awards, including the Outstanding Achievement Award of the Chinese Contemporary Artist Award in 2014, and the Grand Award at the Gwangju Biennale in 2006, to name a few. He was recognised as Artist of the Year in the multimedia installation category of the Award of Art China in 2010, and as a Laureate of the UNESCO-Aschberg Bursaries for Artists in 2000.
Mr Song is committed to mentoring young artists through visiting professorships at Beijing's Central Academy of Fine Arts, the Beijing Film Academy and the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts. His wealth of artistic experience and his innovative worldview will no doubt be an invaluable asset to the younger generation of artists, as well as the university community.
– END –
