Source: SYSU News Center
Written by: SYSU News Center
Edited by: Wang Dongmei

On November 2, 2014, Professor Chen Chunsheng, Executive Deputy Secretary and Vice President of Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU), and Professor Li Ping, Deputy Secretary of SYSU Party Committee, presented “Chen Yinque Award” to Professor Jao Tsung-I in Rayson Huang Theatre, The University of Hong Kong.

Professor Jao Tsung-I; Professor Lee Chack Fan, Former Pro-Vice-Chancellor of The University of Hong Kong and Director of Jao Tsung-I Petite Ecole, The University of Hong Kong; Dr. Chan Man-hung, Managing Director of Jao Tsung-I Academy; Professor SIN Chow Yiu, Vice President of Hong Kong Nang Yan College of Higher Education; Mr. Yang Jian, Deputy Director of Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region; Mr. Li Lu, Director of the Education, Science and Technology Department of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region; Dr. Patrick S.C. Poon, Dr. Jonathan Choi Koon-shum and Dr. David Sin Wai-kin, members of SYSU Advisory Board; Mr. Chen Shaobin, Assistant President of SYSU; Professor Huang Tianji, Professor Cheng Huanwen and Professor Li Wei, teacher representatives from SYSU; SYSU alumni from Hong Kong and mainland China, relatives and friends of Professor Jao Tsung-I, guests from the commercial and industrial circle as well as the academic circle, nearly 60 people attended the presentation ceremony. The ceremony was presided over by Professor Li Ping.

Born in 1917 in Chao’an County, Guangdong, the pre-eminent Chinese scholar, Professor Jao Tsung-I, is a world-renowned historian, sinologist, archaeologist, litterateur, painter and calligrapher, and a distinguished translator. In 1935, Professor Jao was invited by the president of Sun Yat-sen University to work at the Bureau of Canton Gazetteers. In 1939, he was appointed as a research fellow at Sun Yat-sen University. After moving to Hong Kong, Professor Jao continued his teaching career at the School of Chinese of the University of Hong Kong. Since 1980s, he has revisited SYSU campus on a number of occasions and carried on joint researches with our colleagues, including Professor Zeng Xiantong. Professor Jao was appointed as the first honorary professor in SYSU's history. Some of the significant buildings on SYSU campus, such as Yin Fong Hall and the Former Residence of Chen Yinque, bear the inscriptions written by Professor Jao.

The past eight decades have witnessed a true and strong bond between Professor Jao Tsung-I, an eminent scholar of superior talent and immense erudition, and Sun Yat-sen University, a prestigious Chinese institution with dedication to academic excellence and distinguished alumni from all walks of life. Professor Jao’s scholarly pursuits not only reverberate with the motto of Sun Yat-sen University — “Study Extensively, Enquire Accurately, Reflect Carefully, Discriminate Clearly, and Practice Earnestly”, but also rigorously embody a real practitioner of Professor Chen Yinque’s academic ideal of “rejuvenating traditional Chinese culture” and "commending our nation’s spirit of independence and thought of freedom”. Sun Yat-sen University has thereof decided to present Professor Jao Tsung-I “Chen Yinque Award”, in recognition of his extraordinary scholarly contributions, and as an expression of our gratitude towards his staunch support for Sun Yat-sen University over the years.