Wei Bingjiang, Academician of the Hong Kong Academy of Engineering Sciences and President of Hong Kong Baptist University Photo/Beijing News Xu Xiao Drawing
On 1 November, the 3rd Global University Film Awards 2022, organised by the Film School of Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU), officially kicked off.
The Global University Film Awards are recognized as the most eye-catching international film event held by Hong Kong academics, held every other year, and are also known as the "Oscars of Academia". More than 2,300 films from about 100 countries (regions), including France, Germany, Brazil and Hong Kong, participated in the competition.
This is because HKBU has one of the world's top film schools, also known as the "Top 10 Film Schools in the World". Many famous directors and screenwriters have graduated from the HKBU Film School, such as Zhuang Wenqiang, who is the screenwriter of "Infernal Affairs" and "Head Text D" and the director of "Eavesdropping". In addition, HKBU's School of Communication is also known as the "Top 10 Journalism Schools in the World", ranking first in Asia.
Compared with the other seven leading universities in Hong Kong, HKBU's curriculum focuses on science, creative arts and humanities. Founded in 1956, this Hong Kong university has eight secondary colleges, all of which focus on arts and humanities, except for the Faculty of Science, the Faculty of Chinese Medicine and the School of Business.
The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China pointed out that "support Hong Kong and Macao to better integrate into the overall development of the country and play a better role in realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation." "In 2005, HKBU and Beijing Normal University jointly established the Beijing Normal University-Hong Kong Baptist University United International College ("Beijing Normal University Hong Kong Baptist University") in Zhuhai.
As a university focusing on arts and humanities, how should it integrate into the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and is cultural integration as important as industry-university-research integration? Recently, the Beijing News Beijing Think Tank interviewed Wei Bingjiang, academician of the Hong Kong Academy of Engineering Sciences and president of Hong Kong Baptist University, for the third in a series of reports on "Interviews with Presidents of Well-known Universities in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao".
Wei Bingjiang is an optical fiber communication expert engaged in teaching and scientific research in the field of photonic technology, a member of the Optical Society of America and a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers of America. Mr Wai joined the Hong Kong Polytechnic University in 1996 and has served as Associate Vice-President, Vice-President (in charge of R&D) and Executive and Vice-President for Academic Affairs. In February 2021, Wai Bingjiang became the sixth President of Hong Kong Baptist University.
Stephen Wai, Academician of the Hong Kong Academy of Engineering Sciences and President of Hong Kong Baptist University Photo/Courtesy of interviewee
Give full play to the strengths of the institute to tell Chinese stories well
Beijing Think Tank: Since the release of the Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (hereinafter referred to as the "Outline") in February 2019, the concept of the "Greater Bay Area" has gradually penetrated the hearts of the people of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao. Under the background of the construction of the Greater Bay Area, the demand for science and engineering talents is also increasing. How will HKBU adapt to the development needs of the Greater Bay Area?
Wei Bingjiang: Actually, our school also has science, and an associate professor of physics in the School of Science just won the Yang Zhenning Award in August this year, which is the first physics scholar from a Hong Kong university to receive this award. The two disciplines of computer science and chemistry are also good in Hong Kong. At present, the Greater Bay Area and the country attach importance to science and innovation, but from my personal point of view, social and economic development requires not only hard technology, but also soft power.
Let me give you an example, when I bought a phone more than a decade ago, the seller told us how fast the phone's processor was and how high the camera pixels were. Now it is not introduced like this, but tells us what this phone can be used for, such as contacting friends, listening to songs, watching movies. It's a shift in the way you think about introducing a product, and it's also trying to entice consumers to buy their product by telling a better story.
For another example, this summer, the School of Music at HKBU held an anniversary concert and founded the Turing Artificial Intelligence Symphony Orchestra. From the collected vocal singing and voice data, artificial intelligence learns how humans sing to the melody of the music, and interprets it with 320 virtual human voices. It can be said that this enables human-machine co-creation. The concert received a good social response.
It is very important for countries to land on the moon and Mars, and we also have to build large planes, but we can also borrow scientific and technological means to create better movies, more beautiful artworks, and a higher level of medical care. Whether in the Mainland or Hong Kong, most universities specialise in science and engineering, but HKBU also focuses on science, arts and humanities. HKBU should give full play to its strengths in disciplines and create works that are more popular with the public in terms of soft power.
Beijing Think Tank: The report of the 20th National Congress proposed to "tell China's story well and spread the voice of China", and Hong Kong SAR Chief Executive John Lee also pointed out "telling Hong Kong's story well" in his 2022 Policy Address, which actually puts forward new requirements for liberal arts education?
Wei Bingjiang: Yes, but there are different ways to tell the story for different groups of people. "Telling China's story well" to mainlanders may be different from "telling China's story well" to Hong Kong people and "telling China's story well" to foreigners.
For example, if you go to a Chinese restaurant, you may have Sichuan, Cantonese and Beijing cuisine. Although it is all Chinese food, the cooking method is different. Therefore, we should tell Chinese stories well, especially Chinese stories to foreigners, so that they can understand and listen to them, and let them see that China's development is contributing to the world and is friendly. This is important, critical.
View of the campus of Hong Kong Baptist University / Courtesy of interviewee
Use technology to make culture more lively and interesting
Beijing Think Tank: One of the core objectives of HKBU's Strategic Development Plan 2018-2028 is to "achieve world-class research in key areas". What are these focus areas? This plan was released before the concept of GBA construction was proposed, and will these key areas be adjusted in combination with the development of the GBA?
Wei Bingjiang: We don't think there's any need to make adjustments. There are three main focus areas in HKBU's Development Plan. First, in terms of medical care, HKBU is the first university in Hong Kong to offer two disciplines: Chinese Medicine and Chinese Medicine. Although the University of Chinese Hong Kong and the University of Hong Kong also have a course of Chinese medicine, only HKBU has a course of Chinese medicine. HKBU will also undertake the operation of Hong Kong's first Chinese medicine hospital, the Hong Kong Chinese Medicine Hospital. The hospital was built by the Hong Kong SAR government with an investment of HK$10 billion and will be put into use in 2025.
Second, the creative arts, including film, music and visual arts, are HKBU's strengths. We have film schools, music schools, and visual arts schools (all affiliated with the School of Creative Arts). Creative art should be added to technology, not that we don't make traditional movies, but we are thinking about what kind of movies the audience likes to watch in 5 or 10 years, and what will the movie screen look like? These need to be changed and realized by scientific and technological means.
The film itself is actually produced by technology, and a modern film is difficult to become a good movie without technical special effects. The same goes for music, which may be composed using different instruments, some of which are themselves born of modern technology.
The third is technology. What technology is most important in the 21st century? Such as big data, artificial intelligence, etc., these will completely change our lives, and HKBU computer is also a strong discipline. As a university that emphasizes the humanistic element, we hope to apply more of the University's strengths to artistic creation, medical treatment and other undertakings.
Therefore, I am actually discussing with the professors at HKBU that I am thinking that HKBU should add another direction of development, which is the digital humanities. For example, the research and teaching of history, literature and other disciplines can actually be digitized. Studying history may be to tell students what the Tang Dynasty was like and what the Ming Dynasty was like. But today's students may not necessarily be very interested in this knowledge from books.
So, can we make the same subject knowledge more exciting and vivid through digitalization? Young people today do things differently than we did when we were younger, and if new-age technology could be added to the humanities such as researching and teaching history, students might be more interested in learning and really learn. If there is an adjustment, it may be to make an adjustment like this.
Beijing Think Tank: The full text of the "Outline" appears 71 times "culture", and proposes to "jointly build a humanistic bay area", "build an international cultural and creative base, and explore a new model of cultural and creative cooperation between Shenzhen and Hong Kong". Is this the strength of HKBU? How will HKBU leverage its disciplinary strengths to contribute to the development of the Greater Bay Area in line with the development goals of the Outline?
Wei Bingjiang: China has a long history and a vast and profound culture, so culture is the most important force in our country. The development of the country does need big data, artificial intelligence, and the space station, but after working and studying every day, you also need to relax and unwind, when you pick up a book, listen to a piece of music or other ways, these are the cultural products that bring you enjoyment and relaxation.
Therefore, we are thinking about what the future film will look like, in fact, there will be many technical elements, such as 360-degree panoramic display technology, three-dimensional technology, etc., and the expression method and viewing method of the film are different from before. Therefore, we hope that HKBU's research will lead to a better way of presenting culture.
HKBU also collaborates with a number of scientific research institutions in Sweden and other countries to promote the future of cultural industries such as film, education, games and museums, and express and display them through the latest scientific and technological means. These are some of the things HKBU is doing in line with the national Greater Bay Area development strategy.
View of the campus of Hong Kong Baptist University / Courtesy of interviewee
People-to-people integration is the "other leg" of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao's development
Beijing Think Tank: Compared with the integration of industry, education and research in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, do you think humanities integration is equally important?
Wei Bingjiang: Important, and very important. Due to historical reasons, Hong Kong and Macao are very different from the mainland, and this cultural difference can easily cause some misunderstandings. Therefore, it is necessary for Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, especially young people, to have more exchanges and less misunderstandings and differences. After Hong Kong's return to the motherland in 1997, some young people misunderstood or even did not understand the development of the mainland due to a lack of understanding.
Therefore, we should not only develop the integration of industry, education and research, and not engage in cultural integration, which is not right; It is also wrong to only develop culture and not engage in the integration of production, education and research, and it requires two "legs" to walk. There are so many universities, so many young people, not every young person has to engage in industry, education and research related work, and some may like to engage in film and art creation. Let young people choose for themselves, or work in hard technology, or work related to soft power building.
Beijing Think Tank: There is a new phenomenon now, that is, the presidents of several universities in Hong Kong and Macao have been replaced by scholars with mainland backgrounds, who have studied abroad and then worked in Hong Kong and Macao for many years. In addition to joint education in Zhuhai, will HKBU also establish an exchange programme with mainland universities?
Wei Bingjiang: Yes, we are first promoting more exchanges with Beijing Normal Hong Kong Baptist University. Beijing Normal Hong Kong Baptist University has been running for more than 10 years, but the exchange with HKBU is not enough. Therefore, the HKBU team and I hope to launch a more suitable mechanism for student exchanges between the two universities in September next year.
For example, in one semester, HKBU students are allowed to study and exchange at Beijing Normal Hong Kong Baptist University, and at the same time, students from Beijing Normal Hong Kong Baptist University also come to HKBU for exchange and study, and then arrange a summer vacation for them to intern in enterprises: Mainland students come to Hong Kong enterprises, and Hong Kong students go to Mainland enterprises for internships. I hope that this communication mechanism can be institutionalized, both schools teach in English, and there should be no big problem in communication.
There are also exchange mechanisms with other institutions in the mainland, but the scale is not very large.
HKBU does not expand blindly
Beijing Think Tank: On the occasion of the celebration of the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the motherland, HKBU and 18 leading universities in the Mainland jointly organised the President's Forum on "Inclusion and Win-Win, A New Journey" and the "Signing Ceremony for Cooperation between Hong Kong Baptist University and Leading Mainland Universities", marking a new milestone in the cooperation between HKBU and Mainland institutions. How to understand this "new mile"?
Mr Wai: HKBU has always maintained good relations with some mainland universities, otherwise it would not be the first Hong Kong university to jointly run a school with a mainland university. Hong Kong's universities are basically small. The eight government-funded universities in Hong Kong have more than 60,000 undergraduates, more than 10,000 postgraduates, and about 4,500 professors.
In mainland universities, there are so many teachers in a university, which is equivalent to the faculty of a mainland university, which is divided among eight universities in Hong Kong. With over 7,000 undergraduates and 400 professors, HKBU is a relatively small university and we hope to collaborate and exchange with different institutions and disciplines in the Mainland, from exchange students to teaching and research exchanges. But also because there are not many people in the university, we have a choice. If 18 universities have good cooperation, it is best, if not, then ten or eight have established cooperation, which is also good.
Beijing Think Tank: The report of the 20th National Congress proposed to "adhere to the priority development of education, self-reliance and self-improvement in science and technology, and driven by talents, and accelerate the construction of a strong country in education, science and technology, and talents." "Will HKBU take the opportunity to scale? For example, building another branch in Guangdong?
Wei Bingjiang: First of all, we don't have the strength. The two campuses of HKBU and Beijing Normal Hong Kong BBU together have a total of over 14,000 students. After more than 10 years of development, Beijing Normal Hong Kong Baptist University is now strong in all aspects, and the next focus is to strengthen the liaison between the two campuses and make common progress and development.
Secondly, we are pleased that HKBU has always adhered to its own characteristics, so HKBU will continue to adhere to its own characteristics and continue to conduct research in areas of excellence such as film, Chinese medicine and computing. We also support the development goals set out in the report of the 20th Party Congress, but it is important for HKBU to transform itself into a complete industry-university-research project, engineering, electronics, and chips, but we have limited strength. The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and the University of Hong Kong are science and technology universities, and they can do research, but HKBU does not.
Of course, maybe in three or five years, when we have the ability, when Shenzhen, Guangzhou or other GBA cities are interested, we may also build a new campus. But now HKBU does not have this plan.
Beijing Think Tank: The HKSAR government now has plans to develop the northern metropolis, if a university town is planned there, will HKBU consider setting up a campus there?
Mr Ngai: There is still an idea to expand the campus, and statistically, HKBU has the smallest campus area among any university in Hong Kong. But I also worry that it might be a challenge to get professors running on both sides. Hong Kong is a very small place, from the city of Hong Kong to the northern metropolis is only an hour, but Hong Kong people are not willing to run back and forth.
View of the campus of Hong Kong Baptist University / Courtesy of interviewee
Create better development opportunities for high-end talents
Beijing Think Tank: The report of the 20th National Congress pointed out that it is necessary to "support Hong Kong and Macao to better integrate into the overall development of the country and play a better role in realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation". How do you feel about this development goal?
Wei Bingjiang: I am very supportive of this development goal. As a native of Hong Kong, I am heartbroken by some of the things that have happened in Hong Kong in recent years. How Hong Kong young people view Hong Kong and how they view China is something wrong with some young people, so we have the responsibility and obligation to let Hong Kong young people understand the significance of integrating into the overall development of the country, and let them know that they were born and raised in Hong Kong's Chinese.
Of course, Hong Kong needs to spend more effort in carrying out education in this area, and it is necessary to pay attention to methods in reasoning. The mainland method may not work in Hong Kong, so we need to develop a suitable method for teaching this concept to Hong Kong young people. I think every scholar who engages in education in Hong Kong should have this goal.
I received my Ph.D. from the University of Maryland, the first university in the United States to establish a Confucius Institute. Before the pandemic, I went back to the University of Maryland just in time for the FBI to investigate whether the Confucius Institute had violated the rules. It is true that the US government is not very friendly to Chinese scientists now, so many people are willing to work in Hong Kong. Therefore, I am very glad that I chose to come back to Hong Kong to work.
Beijing Think Tank: In the face of round after round of technology sanctions launched by the US government, how do you think the Greater Bay Area should do a good job in tackling key scientific and technological problems?
Wei Bingjiang: Someone once told me that if you are a small animal, you can hide it anywhere, but if you are an elephant, it is difficult to find a place to hide yourself. China is the elephant right now, and both Republicans and Democrats in the United States feel that China poses a more serious threat to them than Russia. Therefore, no matter who enters the White House, it is inevitable to suppress China in the next few years, and it will be difficult for China to "hide".
Although China has made great achievements after decades of development, there are still gaps in some basic technologies and key technologies. Therefore, I hope that the country and the Greater Bay Area will tackle more difficult problems in this regard in the future. If the Americans do not cooperate with us, we will look for European countries. Europe is not monolithic, and there are still many opportunities for cooperation between Germany and the Nordic countries.
In particular, we want to bring in high-end talent, which is a very important strategy. Whether it is Chinese, Americans, Germans, or Australians, as long as they are willing to come, whether it is Hong Kong, other cities in the Greater Bay Area, or in Beijing and Shanghai, give them the opportunity, they see that there is room for development, they can come.
Promote the science and technology of traditional Chinese medicine
Beijing Think Tank: You have devoted yourself to photonics research for many years and have made significant contributions in the field of optical fiber communication technology. From the perspective of your personal research field, how did you integrate into the construction of the Greater Bay Area?
Wei Bingjiang: I am engaged in optical fiber communication and have a lot of cooperation with Huawei. I used to work at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and Huawei and PolyU have cooperated for almost 20 years, and I founded the research laboratory between the two sides. This is partly because of my own research, and partly because Huawei is also interested in collaborating with other PolyU disciplines.
As far as my personal research is concerned, I have been working on different lasers for the past few years; In recent years, optoelectronics has been studied, because photoelectric chips are now very hot. These research technologies are also technologies that can be used in related industries and fields in the Greater Bay Area.
Beijing Think Tank: HKBU does not have a discipline in your research field, does this affect your continued scientific research?
Wei Bingjiang: It doesn't have much impact. In addition to the above, I am also using my optical research to promote the development of Chinese medicine at HKBU. Traditional Chinese medicine has "four diagnoses", namely, looking, smelling, asking and cutting. "Looking" is that doctors see with their eyes, they need to use "light", or they can't see without light, and there are many imaging equipment in medical devices, which are actually related to optics, because different wavelengths will show different colors, which in turn will affect the imaging effect.
Due to the impact of the new crown epidemic, I also hope to promote telemedicine through my own capabilities. TCM medical treatment is relatively easy to achieve, unlike Western medicine that requires relevant tests to be performed on the patient through instruments to give the final diagnosis result. TCM doctors treat patients by looking at faces, tongues, listening to sounds, etc. Now using optical fiber as a sensor can make the sensor more sensitive, so that doctors can diagnose patients remotely, combined with big data technology.
Technologizing Chinese medicine is one of the things I am promoting now, I don't understand Chinese medicine, but I can provide related technology.
Text / Beijing News reporter Xiao Longping intern Fu Jia
Editor / Curry
Proofreader / Lin Zhao