Media

HKU to confer honorary degrees upon five outstanding individuals
at the 190th Congregation

20 Feb 2014

 

The Pro-Chancellor of the University of Hong Kong (HKU) Dr David Li Kwok Po will confer honorary degrees upon five outstanding individuals at the 190th Congregation to be held on March 18, 2014 (Tuesday) in Loke Yew Hall.

The honorary degree recipients to be conferred at the Congregation are:

Doctor of Laws honoris causa
WONG Yan Lung

Doctor of Social Sciences honoris causa
Huang Jiefu

Ann HUI On Wah

Walton LI Wai Tat

Thich Nhat Hanh

Honorary Degrees are awarded to individuals in recognition of their distinguished service and commitment to the University, the community, and to academia. They are also conferred to those who have made valuable intellectual, social and cultural contributions to society and the world.

Biographies:

WONG Yan Lung

The Honourable Wong Yan Lung was Hong Kong’s Secretary for Justice from 2005-12, and sought to implement the One Country Two Systems principle with full commitment to upholding judicial independence and the integrity of the common law. During his tenure, Hong Kong sailed through significant constitutional challenges, reformed its legal framework for mediation and international arbitration, attracted international legal services bodies to set up regional offices here, and expanded its reciprocal juridical cooperation with the Mainland.

Mr Wong holds BA (Law) and MA (Law) degrees from Magdalene College, University of Cambridge. In 1987, he was called to the Bar in England and Wales and also in Hong Kong, and was appointed as Senior Counsel in Hong Kong in 2002.

He has served as, inter alia, Deputy High Court Judge of the Court of First Instance, a member of the Council of the Hong Kong Bar Association, and Chairman of the Special Committee on Legal Education of the Hong Kong Bar Association, the Buildings Appeal Tribunal, the Criminal and Law Enforcement Injuries Compensation Boards, and the Non-local Higher and Professional Education Appeal Board.

Mr Wong has been a long time supporter of HKU’s endeavours, lending the benefit of his experience to its students and serving as an Honorary Lecturer in its Department of Law. He is an elected Master of the Bench of Middle Temple and has been conferred an Honorary Fellowship by Magdalene College, University of Cambridge, and Honorary Doctorates by numerous Hong Kong universities. Mr Wong was awarded the Grand Bauhinia Medal in 2012.

In recognition of his contributions to the legal sector and society, the University has resolved to confer upon him the degree of Doctor of Laws honoris causa.

Huang Jiefu

Professor Huang Jiefu is a world-class surgeon and a distinguished administrator who has played an active role in China’s medical profession.

He was born in Hunan Province in China in 1946. He graduated from Sun Yat-Sen Medical Collegein Guangzhou in 1969, and was conferred his MS degree in 1982. He was a post-doctoral fellow at Sydney University in Australia, with liver transplantation as his major area of study and research.

After returning to China, between 1987 and 2001, he served the Sun Yat-Sen University of Medical Sciences as Director of its Department of Hepatic Surgery, Director of its First Affiliated Hospital, and its President. From November 2001 to 2013, Professor Huang served as the Vice Minister in the Ministry of Health, in charge of international health exchange and cooperation as well as medical education and research.

Professor Huang successfully performed the first Chinese liver transplantation in 1994, and the first Asian combined liver-kidney transplantation in 1997. As the Chairman of the National Organ Donation and Transplantation Committee, he has led the organ transplantation reform process. As President of China’s Hospital Association and Dean of the Hospital Management Research Institute at Tsinghua University, he is involved in reforming China’s public hospitals. He is highly respected as a prominent leader in China’s healthcare reform, receiving an award in 2013 from the World Health Organization for outstanding achievements for tobacco control in China.

Professor Huang has been conferred an honorary degree by the Open University of Hong Kong, and is an Honorary Fellow of the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine and the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. He is a Standing Member of the 12th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and the Deputy Director of its Subcommittee of Education, Science, Culture, Health and Sports.

In recognition of his contributions to medicine and society, the University has resolved to confer upon him the degree of Doctor of Social Sciences honoris causa.

Ann HUI On Wah

Dr Ann Hui On Wah is one of Hong Kong's most influential filmmakers and her films have won countless international awards.  

Born in Anshan, Liaoning Province, and educated in Hong Kong, she holds BA (1st class honours) and MA degrees from HKU, and a Diploma (1st class honours) from the London Film School. After returning to Hong Kong, Dr Hui became an assistant to veteran director King Hu, and directed serials and documentaries for TVB, the ICAC and RTHK.

In 1979, she came to prominence on the big screen with her debut as a film director with the award winning “The Secret”, and over the next three decades, her subsequent films would bring her more awards and increasing international acclaim. She has won the Best Director Award twice at the Golden Horse Awards and an unprecedented four times at the Hong Kong Film Awards.  Her recent film “A Simple Life” swept the boards at the Venice International Film Festival and many other renowned film festivals.

Dr Hui is an Honorary University Fellow of HKU, and as one of its first University Artists, she frequently shared her insights and experience on film, literature and life with HKU members and the community.，

In 1997, Dr Hui was awarded an MBE and made a Fellow of the Academy of Performing Arts. In 2010, she received the Hong Kong Arts Development Council’s Award for Outstanding Contribution. And in 2011, she received the Lifetime Achievement Award – its first female recipient – from the Asia Film Awards.

In recognition of her contributions to culture and society, the University has resolved to confer upon her the degree of Doctor of Social Sciences honoris causa.

Walton LI Wai Tat

Dr Walton Li Wai Tat holds a BS (Chemistry) degree from the University of Southern California, and a MD degree from the University of California, Los Angeles. He served as a Resident in Ophthalmology at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Los Angeles, and was granted a fellowship in Corneal & External Ocular Disease at the Jules Stein Eye Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, School of Medicine. In 1979, he became a Diplomate of the American Board of Ophthalmology. 

In 1980, he established and has since been Head of the Department of Ophthalmology at the Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital, where he has also served as Deputy Medical Superintendent. He is currently the Medical Superintendent and Chairman of the Hospital’s Board of Directors and the elected Chairman of the Li Shu Fan Medical Foundation.

At HKU, Dr Li is an Honorary Professor in the Department of Ophthalmology, an Honorary Professor in the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, and an Honorary University Fellow. He has been a longtime supporter of HKU and, together with a number of doctors, helped establish the Li Shu Pui Endowed Professorship in Surgery.

Dr Li is a Fellow of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine (Ophthalmology), the College of Ophthalmologists of Hong Kong, and the Royal College of Physicians (Glasgow).

In recognition of his contributions to medicine and society, the University has resolved to confer upon him the degree of Doctor of Social Sciences honoris causa.

Thich Nhat Hanh

Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh is an influential spiritual leader, writer and global peace activist. He was born in Vietnam in 1926, ordained as a Buddhist monk at the age of 16, and has dedicated his life to humanitarian work and world peace. 

During the Vietnam War years, he was well known as a champion for peace and as a key organiser and provider of social services for the needy. His compassionate efforts to help relieve those suffering and in need have touched countless people.  Nominating him for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1967, the American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr called him “a holy man, a scholar of immense intellectual capacity.”

In 1982, he founded the Plum Village in southern France, to continue with his humanitarian work and to establish a peaceful site for practicing mindfulness through meditation. He was invited to speak to the United States Congress in 2003 and 2011, the House of Lords in the UK and the Irish Parliament in 2012.

He has published more than 100 works, many of which were bestsellers in Europe and America, and translated into more than 30 languages.

He has frequently delivered public lectures and held retreats in Hong Kong, co-organized by the HKU Centre of Buddhist Studies, together with other institutions and Buddhist organisations, which have attracted many thousands of participants, both HKU members and those from the Hong Kong community.

In recognition of his contributions to world peace and humanity, the University has resolved to confer upon him the degree of Doctor of Social Sciences honoris causa.

The 190th Congregation:
Date: March 18, 2014 (Tuesday)
Time: 5:30pm
Venue: Loke Yew Hall, HKU

Note: Photographers are reminded to bring their long lenses and not to use flashlight in Loke Yew Hall

For photos of the honorary degree recipients, please visit: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/1ktbm7fjs23irka/lGmt7pXT7z

For more details about the congregation, please visit: http://www4.hku.hk/hongrads/

For media enquiries, please contact: Ms Trinni Choy (Assistant Director (Media), Communications and Public Affairs Office) tel: 2859 2606 email: pychoy@hku.hk  or Ms Melanie Wan (Senior Manager (Media), Communications and Public Affairs Office) tel: 2859 2600 email: melwkwan@hku.hk.