Story 3 Cherishing Connectivity
Story 3 Cherishing Connectivity
I
am impressed with the late Dr Lau Wai Har’s book “Bie zuo duan le xian de feng
zheng” [别做断了线的风筝] (Don't be a kite flying with a broken line)
published in 1992. Don't be a kite flying with a broken line, nor a duckweed drifting
without roots，be a cultured person, a ‘man in the web’: in a social
circle of families and friends. And “no man is an island”, we are somehow
connected one way or another while our world is getting smaller and smaller,
more and more compact. With the advancement of technologies, tens of thousands
kilometers of optical fiber cables and numerous satellites plus hundreds of
mass transport lines are enhancing our connectivity in the internet,
televisions, telephones/ mobiles and transports. Therefore ‘no excuse’ not to
reach out and keep in touch，in
person or via video calls / on-line meetings...
Where
there is a will, there is a way!
Have wheels can travel, got “wifi” can chat,
with GPS
can go out night or day!
Hurray！Hurray！
Groundbreaking work in the development of fiber optics in
telecommunications
Sir Charles K. Kao (1933 – 2018) is widely recognized
as the "Father of Optical Fiber" due to his groundbreaking work in
the development of fiber optics in telecommunications. He played a crucial role
in the evolution of the Internet and the World Wide Web by pioneering methods
to combine glass fibers with lasers for transmitting digital data. His
contributions earned him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2009 and numerous other
accolades, solidifying his legacy in the field of optical communication. 1933 he
was born in Shanghai, China; in 1949, Kao's family settled in Hong Kong.
Kao joined the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 1970 to found
the Department of Electronics and became the Vice-Chancellor of the CUHK from
1987 to 1996. Prof To Cho Yee was his colleague and friend
since then.
In
Chinese University of Hong Kong, Sir Charles K. Kao appointed Prof To Cho Yee as
the Chair Professor of Humanities, and then Prof Li Guo Zhang appointed him as
the Chair Professor of Community Medicine of the School of Medicine, presiding
over research on brain science and learning. Prof To is also the initiator of
the Journal of Educational Biology published by Shanghai Jiao Tong University
School of Medicine.
The Chinese University of Hong
Kong in partnership with The Charles K Kao Foundation for Alzheimer’s Disease was
launching the Charles Kao CUHK BEAT AD Service (Brain HEAlth Service for
PrevenTion of Alzheimer’s Disease) and aimed to provide free, comprehensive,
community-based Alzheimer’s disease screening to Hong Kong residents. With a
generous donation from Dr Brigitte Lin Ching-hsia, BEAT AD Patron and
Ambassador, it would identify elderly individuals who have early symptomatic
Alzheimer’s disease or are at risk of the disease, and implement tailor-made
preventive measures. Its opening ceremony was staged on 21 September 2023.
Prof
To Cho Yee’s connections
Professor
To Cho Yee’s ancestral home is Tong'an, Xiamen City, Fujian Province, and was
born in Hong Kong. He grew up in a residence at 59 Wong Nai Chung Road, Happy
Valley, Hong Kong Island, and attended primary school affiliated with
Sung Lan Middle School and then Sung Lan Middle School, and later completed
the first year of high school at Pui Ying Secondary School in Hong Kong, and
transferred to Clementi Secondary School in the second year of high school. He
completed the sixth form of the old Chinese secondary school in 1954 at
Clementi Secondary School. He studied at Guang Qiao College in 1954-55 and
graduated from Grantham Teachers College in 1956. A lecturer from the normal
school, Zheng Yuntan, introduced him to teach at Ji En School next to St.
Paul's Church, and the school supervisor was Miss Bobby Kotewall, Principal of
St Paul’s Co-educational College (the alma mater of Ho Fan and 7 other cousins
and me). Later, they both served as members of the Education Committee of the
Hong Kong government. He was the only non-believer in the school, the youngest
teacher, and sent to teach the graduating class. He had a very happy job, only
teaching for half a day, and the other half a day to go to Bonham Road (10
minutes away) United College. He continued his studies in the Department of
Sociology at Union College, graduating in 1959.
He
went to the United States in 1962 and received a master's degree in liberal
arts from Washington University in St. Louis in 1963. In 1964, he went to graduate
school of the University of Michigan. He received his Ph.D. from Southern
Illinois University in 1967 and returned to teach at the University of
Michigan. He has served as department chair and research scientist and is now a
professor emeritus at the University of Michigan. In addition, he has served as
Chair Professor of Education and Dean of the Faculty of Education at the
Chinese University of Hong Kong. Honorary professor, visiting professor, and
consulting professor of Peking University, Beijing Normal University, Tsinghua
University and other universities.
Professor To having a super brain
capacity can remember the names of two teachers from Sung Lan
Middle School
(good friends of my
late mother, Mrs Lui Wong Wai Fun): Madam Li Xiulin, a Chinese teacher, and Madam
Xiao Huiling, a music teacher. Both teachers were graduates of Sun Yat-sen
University, and were later hired by St. Stephen's Girls School and converted to
Christianity. Madam Xiao has two sons, both went to primary school in Sung Lan,
then studied at Wah Yan College in Hong Kong, the elder son went to Hong Kong
University Medicine School, the younger son later served as the Dean of Arts at the University of
Hong Kong.
Professor To told me several
times that in the early 1950s, he often met my cousin Ho Fan in Happy Valley
while riding the tram or bus to school. He got on the train or bus at a station
before the terminal, and Cousin Fan got on the tram or bus at the terminal,
sometimes they sat next to each other and chatted happily. Professor To’s flat
at 59 Wong Nai Chung Road had a balcony where he could look at horses walk by. On
the right, there are musician Zhao Meibo and poet doctor Wu Tianfang. Built in
the 20s and later rebuilt by OCBC Bank in 1964, the building originally had
only four units and a garage, leading all the way to Ventris Road.
Ho Fan was living in Yat Yam
Street, went to Chu Hai College and then New Asia College. In 1949 when my family
moved from Guangzhou to Hong Kong I was three years old, and lived in cousin
Fan’s place, his mother was my paternal aunt. In 1952, his family including me
moved to Yan Ping Road in Causeway Bay, where I went to kindergarten at the Methodist
Church nearby.
Reminiscing
Photographer Master Ho Fan
Master Ho Fan was born in Shanghai in 1931. His photographic career
started at the early age of 14 when given his first Kodak Brownie by his father. Within the first year he won his first award in
Shanghai. 1949, at the age of 18, he started using the German twin lens Rolleiflex with which he captured all his famous work
after he moved to Hong Kong with his parents and continued to purse his love
for photography. Dubbed the
“Cartier-Bresson of the East”, he patiently waited for
‘the decisive moment’; very often a collision of the unexpected, framed against
a very clever composed background of geometrical construction, patterns and
texture. He often created drama and atmosphere with backlit effects or through
the combination of smoke and light. His favourite locations were the
streets, alleys and markets around dusk or life on the sea. He aimed to capture the soul of Hong Kong, the
hardship and resilience of its common folks.
Ho Fan was most prolific
in his teens and 20s and created his biggest body of work before he reached the
age of 28. He won close to 300 local and international awards and titles in his
day through competing in the salons. One his most celebrated works
"Approaching Shadow" has my maternal aunt Mrs Lam Wong Wai Yuen Vivian posted as an elegant lady standing at a corner of black shadow symbolizing her youth will
fade away. A print of it was sold for a record HK$375,000 in 2015. Last year
WE Press published a reprint of Thoughts on Street
Photography — a recreation of his acclaimed 1959 photographic
methodologies, out of
64 images 31 have received international awards. His
talent was also spotted by the film industry where he started out
as an actor of Shaw Brothers
(HK) Limited before moving to film directing until
retiring at 65
in 1996.
Coming 19 June 2026 will be the 10th anniversary of his departure
from this earthly world. Look back in wonder, 7 decades ago, who else like me a 6
years old little girl could have the privilege of watching film development in
a sharp chemical smelly dark room in Master Ho Fan’s residence? Oh! I really
miss my dearest cousin so very much.
Audio File - Story 3 (English)
Sir Charles K. Kao and Prof To Cho Yee 高锟爵士与杜组贻教授
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