Presidents in Hong Kong
With coffee in our hands, a few other visitors and I admired the campus of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. We had to kill twenty minutes before the Presidents Roundtable would begin. Our host President of CHUHK, Joseph Sung, professor in Medicine, suggested giving us a little campus tour. Professor Sung showed us the Institute of Chinese studies, where a famous professor – 96 years old – still draws Chinese characters; the Gate of Wisdom, a 1987 bronze sculpture by Ju Ming, standing in front of the library is one of the most important pieces of art the campus. It stands on top of the extension of the library, built underground and without computers or books, is an relaxing place with cushions, pillows, bubble meeting rooms, white boards and of course many outlets. The glass ceiling is covered by a fountain and brings blurred light into the students and teachers meeting area. Besides this little campus tour, it is culturally interesting to observe how the employees at the doors of the various buildings respond to their president acting as a tour guide.
The evening before the tour, professor Sung gave an impressive presentation on how he and his colleagues handled during the outbreak of SARS, the infectious disease that started exactly ten years earlier. With the first casualties nobody had a clue was had caused this outbreak and how the disease affected others. Unlike many other diseases, the effect was that many of the medical staff became ill and died as well. Sung showed how the combined leadership of medical staff, of government and security officials and of politicians went hand in hand with an intensive communication strategy towards the public to prevent an outbreak of public fear and anger. Public health was not a medical problem anymore, but a societal problem. That is one of the reasons we need the humanities. It is always a privilege to meet such wise presidents.
Hans-Georg van Liempd is program manager internationalisation at TiU and president of EAIE. He blogs for Univers.
