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Anniversary


Dean's Anniversary Message

Dean

Prof. Mette Hjort, Dean of Arts

Established in 1961, the Faculty of Arts was one of the founding faculties of the then Hong Kong Baptist College. Over the past 60 years, the Faculty has been at the heart of the University’s vision and mission. With strong support for Arts and Humanities from the University and from its different presidents and the University’s Council, the Faculty has been given ample opportunity to grow and develop. This is reflected in the development of new departments over the years, for example the Department of Music and Fine Arts in 1972, the Department of Humanities and Creative Writing in 2012, and, most recently, the Department of Translation, Interpreting and Intercultural Studies in 2019. Today, the Faculty of Arts encompasses seven departments (Chinese Language and Literature; English Language and Literature; Humanities and Creative Writing; Music; Religion and Philosophy; Translation, Interpreting and Intercultural Studies; and the Language Centre), four research centres (for Applied Ethics; Chinese Cultural Heritage; Sino-Christian Studies; and Translation), and two institutes (the Jao Tsung-I Academy of Sinology and the Mr. Simon Suen and Mrs. Mary Suen Sino-Humanitas Institute).

An important feature of the Faculty is the rich and enabling environment in which teaching and research are embedded. This environment is constituted, among other things, by the vital contributions of the Faculty’s many signature programmes. In 2004, the Faculty’s International Writers’ Workshop and Writers-in-Residence programme were established. The IWW has hosted a remarkable number of outstanding writers, including Olga Tokarczuk, winner of the 2018 Nobel Prize in Literature. The Faculty’s unswerving commitment to creative writing is further reflected in the creation of the Dream of the Red Chamber Award in 2005. Awarded every two years, this award honors the author of an outstanding novel written in Chinese. Awarded authors include Mo Yan, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2012. In 2020, a generous donation from the Tin Ka Ping foundation made it possible for the Faculty to further support creative writing in Chinese. Our Chinese Writers’ Workshop honors a Distinguished Writer, just as it supports creative writers through writers-in-residence programmes. Signature programmes such as these create an inspiring and especially meaningful milieu for Arts and Humanities endeavours. The correlation between a well developed environment and outstanding research achievements was clearly established in 2021, the year of our 60th anniversary. More specifically, when the results of the Hong Kong government’s 2020 Research Assessment Exercise were released in May 2021, it became clear that our colleagues in humanities and creative writing were seen as leaders in the relevant area. The stellar performance of the Department of Music, ranked first in the University Grants Committee sector, must also be seen in the context of the remarkably rich research and teaching environment that colleagues have carefully envisioned and then nurtured over the years.

As a Faculty, our most recent efforts at development have focused on how researchers can be integrated into dynamic and inspiring research environments. Our Faculty Niche Research Area, which is devoted to Well-being, Value and the Public Good, encompasses six deeply interdisciplinary research groups, each with a clear and distinct research mission. Our research groups in Performance Studies, Chinese and Cross-cultural Health Humanities, Framing Public Culture, Creativity, Self and Society, Minority Studies/Marginalized Populations Studies, and Anthropocene Studies are currently creating personally and professionally rewarding connections across the Faculty of Arts. This, in turn, facilitates deep collaboration across disciplines. Our research groups are also, increasingly, serving as an inspiring training ground for our research postgraduate students.

As we look back, but also ahead, we are filled with profound gratitude and also considerable hope. We continue to recruit outstanding colleagues. Our institutional culture is robustly collegial. Our colleagues are brimming with ideas and energy. We are well supported by the University which continues to affirm art and culture, most recently with a new emphasis on art and technology, which will undoubtedly fuel the next phase of development. Finally, our students continue to recognize the value of what we have to offer, just as they continue to be adept at forging meaningful and rewarding post-graduation lives. Our graduates remain a constant source of pride! 

I would like to close with a sincere wish: may the next 60 years be as fruitful as the ones that have prompted this message!

Congratulatory Messages from our Former Deans

60th Anniversary Video

Featured Events 

Showcasing Six Decades of the Faculty of Arts: Look Back at the Future

Showcasing Six Decades of the Faculty of Arts: Look Back at the Future

Date: 4 Dec 2022
Time: 2:30 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Venue: AC Hall

Event Highlights

MonthEvent

Jul 2022

The 7th Young Scholars International Conference
Jun 2022Book launch of A Century of Chinese Literature in Translation (1919–2019): English Publication and Reception (Routledge 2020)
May 2022The 3rd Three Minutes Thesis (3MT) Competition (May - June)
Lecture Series on Psychology & Christianity IV: How to Integrate Spirituality into Psychotherapy?
LC English Seminar: Cognitive Linguistics-Inspired and Corpus-Informed Teaching of Lexicogrammar: Making Language Teaching More Engaging and Effective
Translation Seminar Series "Language, Knowledge, Experience – Studying Translation Positively"
Apr 2022An International Conference in Humanities Research: A.I. and Beyond, Culturally Speaking
Department of Chinese Language and Literature 60th Anniversary Lecture — Main Melody Films - Hong Kong Directors and Mainland Blockbusters
The 15th Inter-institutional Sharing Session on Chinese Teaching in Hong Kong Tertiary Education
The 19th English Speaking Contest
HKBU Symphony Orchestra Annual Concert 2022
Theatre Minor Promotional Talks Series: How to be a Good Stage Director? 
Online Sinology Fortnightly (Apr - May)
ENG Research Seminar Series - A Discussion on the National and the Literary Approaches to Cosmopolitanism in Singapore
ENG Research Seminar Series - I (don't) know what "pilk" means! How young children surprise us in learning novel word meanings
Translation Seminar Series "Evaluating the Quality of Easy and Plain German from an Addressee-oriented Perspective"
Mar 2022Chinese Writers’ Workshop: 2022 Chinese Writers-in-Residence programme (March - Apr) 
Chinese Writers’ Workshop: 2022 Hong Kong Writers-in-Residence programme (March - Apr)
Department of Chinese Language and Literature 60th Anniversary Lecture — The Overseas Dissemination of Contemporary Chinese Literature: Current Situation and the Future
Lion Rock Chinese Literature Reading 2022
Book launch of The Translation of Violence in Children's Literature: Images from the Western Balkans by Marija Todorova
Lecture Series on Psychology & Christianity III: The Biblical View on Rational thinking: A Bible Study
Collegium Musicum Hong Kong & HKBU Choral Union Concert
Ghost Stories in Hong Kong from Different Perspectives
Theatre Minor Promotional Talks Series: How to be a Good Stage Director?
普通話組講論會 - 大專院校言語及社交溝通障礙學生之學習支援
HKBU "Arts Does Method" Seminar: "Corpus-based translation studies and the study of translated texts in the digital age"
Worldwide Teach In Climate/Justice: Local and Global Perspectives from Hong Kong
The 2nd Putonghua Public Speaking Contest (Mar - Apr)
English-in-the-Discipline for Engineering: A decade of design and deployment at HKU
Practice as Research (PaR) Workshop Series: "Performing Figures, Allegories and Folds: A Radically Embodied Approach to Contemporary Music Performance as Research"
Lecture Series in AI Ethics & Ethical AI : Consciousness, Buddhism, and Artificial Intelligence: a Conversation with Susan Blackmore
ENG Research Seminar Series - Jocular Mockery in Everyday Singaporean Conversation
Feb 2022International Writers’ Workshop: 2022 Writers-in-Residence programme (Feb - Mar)
Global Green Media Network - Hong Kong Workshop
Public Lecture Series by Professor Edward L. Shaughnessy, HKBU Institute of Creativity Visiting Fellow-cum-XuanTang Distinguished Scholar in Residence (Feb - Mar)
The 2nd Putonghua Public Speaking Contest (Feb - Apr)
Up-Close Dialogue with Music and Musicians: Anthony Lun    
HKBU Symphony Orchestra Concert
HKBU "Arts Does Method" Seminar: "Corpus Data for Interpreting Studies: Fooling Around" by Professor Bart Defrancq (Ghent University, Belgium)
Lecture Series on Psychology & Christianity II: The Freudian Critique of Religion: Is the Dialogue between Christianity and Psychoanalysis Possible?
Theatre Minor Promotional Talks Series First talk: How to be a Good Stage Actor?
English Seminar - Learning-oriented Language Assessment: Insights for Evidence-based Practices in EAP Classrooms
Online Colloquium: Nature, Land and God: William Temple and Environmental Ethics    
Online Colloquium: On Reading the Chinese Canons: In Search of the Interpretive Context    
CHI Career Talk    
Research Impact Workshop Series: Project Planning for Research Impact
ENG Research Seminar Series - Queering Chinese Kinship: Queer Public Culture in Globalizing China 
Jan 2022Department of Chinese Language and Literature 60th Anniversary Lecture — China in the Eyes of Swedes: Three Hundred Years of Sinology
Public Lecture Series by Professor Chen Jian, Dr Kennedy Y.H. Wong Distinguished Visiting Professor (Jan - Apr)
Foreign Language Talk Series: The Information of Japanese Government Scholarship and Working Holiday (Jan - May)
Foreign Language Talk Series: Hong Kong History Tour "Wan Chai Little Tokyo before World War II" (Jan - May)
Foreign Language Talk Series: Message to Students (Jan - May)
New Debates on Human Rights and East Asian Philosophical Traditions: Confucianism and Beyond
Exhibition: Invisible transformations: Ethnic Minorities in the Time of Crisis
Book launch of The Role of Henry Borel in Chinese Translation History by Audrey Heijns
Dec 2021Showcasing Six Decades of the Faculty of Arts: Look Back at the Future
Online International Conference: Understanding Wikipedia’s Dark Matter: Translation and Multilingual Practice In the World’s Largest Online Encyclopaedia
Translation Seminar Series "Translating Refugees: Conducting Empirical Research on the Intersection of Language and Social Justice"
The Third Forum on Recent Research in Gender and Ming-Qing Culture
JAS Archaeology Talks series: Bronze Special (Dec 2021 - Jun 2022)
Duruflé REQUIEM: In remembrance of Dr. Michael Ryan
Design and Practice of Chinese Oral History Writing Course    
LC English Drama Club Performance Night: The Importance of Being Earnest    
ENG Research Seminar Series - Racism or Ignorance? A Survey of Representations of Blackness in Hong Kong Media
ENG Research Seminar Series - Young Children’s Phonological Learning Bias
Nov 2021The 10th Anniversary Ceremony for the Establishment of SHI
The 17th Short Story Writing Competition & Award Ceremony (Nov 2021 - Mar 2022)
Towards a Constructive Dialogue between Christianity and Psychiatry 
Peacebuilding: A Way Out for Societies in Conflict
The 15th Conference on Constructing Bioethics in China
The Phenomenon of Morphology Covered by Words: Talking from the Clues Provided by Dialect Materials for Chinese Studies
Translation Seminar Series "COVID-19 and Metaphor: A Bilingual Study of Pandemic Metaphor in Hong Kong Public Discourse"
Foreign Language Talk Series: Job Information in Hong Kong and Japan + "Let's Work in Tokyo"
Foreign Language Talk Series: Okinawa Karate - Past and Future
Up-close Live Dialogue with Music & Musicians: Harry Ng - The Cantopop Tunesmith    
BMUS Stage 2021 Freshman Edition    
Music Research Colloquium    
Lecture Series in AI Ethics & Ethical AI: Ghost in the (Hollywood) Machine: AI tools in the early stages of film production
ENG Research Seminar Series - Chariots of Fear: Empty Wheelchairs in Horror as the Embodiment of Monstrosity, Disability, Race, and Eugenics
Oct 2021International Writers’ Workshop: 2021 Distinguished Writers Series
Month of Religion, Philosophy and Ethics (Oct - Nov)
Chinese and Cross-Cultural Health Humanities Lecture Series (Oct - Nov)
"Gaze, Spread and Transcendence: A Cross-age Dialogue in Chinese Literature" The 6th Young Scholars International Conference
Sixth Exhibition in the “Scholarship and Culture” Series — Auspicious Bronzes in Full Glory: Photo Exhibition of the Bronze Collections from the Shanghai Museum and the Sanxingdui Museum, Guanghan, Sichuan (Oct to Dec)
HKBU "Arts Does Method" Seminar: Prof. Rita Felski on "Resonance"
Online Lecture Series: New Perspectives on the Old World (Oct 2021 - June 2022)
In Memory of Professor David Nivison: Book Launch of the translation of The Nivison Annals: Selected Works of David Nivison on Early Chinese Chronology, Astronomy, and Historiography
The 3rd Hung Leung Hau Ling Young Writer Award
Department of Religion and Philosophy Mentoring Activity
Book launch of Interpreting Conflict: A Comparative Framework edited by Marija Todorova and Lucia Ruiz Rosendo
Foreign Language Talk Series: "The Art of Sushi"
Up-close Live Dialogue with Music & Musicians: From Musician to Music Label Founder - Jeffrey Hui    
Sept 2021Chinese Writers’ Workshop: 2021 Distinguished Chinese Writers Series
Translation Seminar Series "A Sino-Tibetan-Western Interfaith Dialogue at Mount Gongga 貢嘎山 in Western Sichuan in the Summer of 1945"
Online Conference: Poetic Traditions in Manuscript Cultures
Department of Chinese Language and Literature Career Talk (Sept 2021 - Aug 2022)
LC Staff Development Seminars and Chinese Seminars (Sept 2021 - Aug 2022)
Postgraduate Student Conference in Humanities – “Negotiating Identity and Creativity in Times of Crisis”
Lecture Series in AI Ethics & Ethical AI : AI Ethics as Translational Ethics
Aug 2021Lecture Series in AI Ethics & Ethical AI: Beyond Bias: Towards an AI Ethics of Shared Purpose  
June 2021Lecture Series in AI Ethics & Ethical AI: The Remorse of King Midas — Reflections on the Ethics and Governance of Artificial Intelligence 
Practice as Research (PaR) Workshop Series: "Before I Compose a Piece, I Walk round It Several Times, Accompanied by Myself"
May 2021Lecture Series in AI Ethics & Ethical AI: Slaves to the Algorithms? Algocracy and Republican Liberty 
Research Impact Workshop Series: How (Not) to Write a GRF Impact Statement
Online Lecture Series: Law, Justice, and Empire in Comparative Perspective (May 2021 - May 2022)
Apr 2021Lecture Series in AI Ethics & Ethical AI: Bias, Trust, and Doing Good: Scientific Explorations of Topics in AI Ethics

Milestones

2020

The Chinese Writers' Workshop was founded. Its Distinguished Chinese Writers Series was inaugurated.

2019

The Department of Translation, Interpreting and Intercultural Studies was established.

2016

The Jao Tsung-I Academy of Sinology and Mr. Simon Suen and Mrs. Mary Suen Sino-Humanitas Institute were housed under the Faculty of Arts.

2012

The Department of Humanities and Creative Writing was established.

2007

The Centre for Chinese Cultural Heritage was established.

2005

"The Dream of the Red Chamber Award: The World’s Distinguished Novel in Chinese” was launched.

2004

The International Writers’ Workshop and Writers-in-Residence programme were founded.

2001

The Centre for Sino-Christian Studies was established.

1995

The Centre for Translation was established.

1992

The Centre for Applied Ethics was set up.

1990

The B.A. (Honours) in Humanities and the B.A. (Honours) in Translation programmes began to be offered.

1972

The Department of Music and Fine Arts was established.

1971

The Department of History and Geography and the Department of Sociology and Social Work were transferred to the Faculty of Social Sciences. The Department of Foreign Language and Literature was canceled. 

The Faculty of Arts consisted of the Department of Chinese Language and Literature, the Department of English Language and Literature, the Department of Fine Arts, and the Religion and Philosophy Programme.

1967

The Faculty of Arts consisted of the Department of Chinese Language and Literature, the Department of Foreign Language and Literature, the Department of History and Geography, and the Department of Sociology and Social Work.

1962

The Department of Religion and Philosophy and the Department of Chinese Language were established.

1961

The Faculty of Arts was established.