New humanities academy attracts top CityU scholars

Four academics from City University of Hong Kong (CityU) became members of the newly formed Hong Kong Academy of the Humanities.

Professor Zhang Longxi, Chair Professor of Comparative Literature and Translation, was elected as Vice President. Chair Professor Gregory Lee, Dean of College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, Chair Professor Kingsley Bolton, Head of Department of English, and Chair Professor Lee Chin-chuan, Head of Department of Media and Communication, are Foundation Fellows.

The new academy, which held its elections on 18 April, brings together for the first time Hong Kong’s leading scholars in the humanities.

“It is time for excellence in humanities scholarship and research to be given proper recognition in Hong Kong,” said Professor Zhang. “A fellowship from the academy is very high recognition from one’s peers.”

The academy has drawn its 39 Foundation Fellows from all eight of Hong Kong’s publicly funded institutions of higher education, as well as the Open University.

These fellows represent the disciplines of history, philosophy, literature, languages, linguistics, music, fine arts, Chinese, English, cultural studies and translation.

“The humanities, which play such a vital role in enriching Hong Kong life, need to be better explained and promoted to government, business and the community, and who better to do this than the territory’s most distinguished humanities scholars?” said the newly elected President, Professor Kam Louie, Dean of Arts at the University of Hong Kong.

Also elected to the academy’s executive committee were Professors Martha Cheung and Clara Ho (Hong Kong Baptist University), Simon Haines and David Parker (The Chinese University of Hong Kong), Louise Edwards (University of Hong Kong), Richard Davis (Lingnan University), Huang Chu-Ren (Hong Kong Polytechnic University) and Leonard Chan (Hong Kong Institute of Education).