The New Asia College Ch’ien Mu Library (NAL), one of the founding College libraries at CUHK, is celebrating its 50th anniversary on CUHK campus on 28 August 2023. The New Asia College Library is one of the humanities-based libraries on upper campus. It houses collections on Chinese language and literature, other Asian languages and literatures, and Fine Arts.
The New Asia College Ch’ien Mu Library
To celebrate its 50th anniversary on CUHK campus, the Library held the ‘New Asia College Ch’ien Mu Library 50th Anniversary Display: Photos, Publications and Ch’ien Mu’s Manuscript of A New Academic Case of Zhu Xi‘ from 28 August – 29 September 2023 to reminisce about its developments over the years and to showcase its unique collections.
New Asia College Library Photo Display (Click to view more)
New Asia College Publications Display (Click to view more)
The New Asia College Library was first founded in 1954 as part of the New Asia College on Farm Road, Kowloon. Together with the New Asia College, the Library was moved into the Shatin campus and named “Jing Ye Guan” in 1973. In 1975, it was renamed after Mr. Ch’ien Mu, the founder of the New Asia College.
Modeled after the library of Berea College, Kentucky, USA, the Ch’ien Mu Library featured a spacious lobby and a mezzanine floor well-lit with natural light. To withstand strong wind from monsoon and typhoon, clerestory windows were adopted on the first floor. In 1978, the manuscript of A New Academic Case of Zhu Xi was donated by Mr. Ch’ien Mu to the New Asia College Library.
In 1983, a faculty reading room “Li-Tien Shih” was set up on G/F in order to provide a welcoming environment for college and faculty members to conduct meetings and activities.
Faculty Reading Room
In 1994, an additional floor was built on the rooftop of NAL building and an extra 250 sq. meters was allotted to the Library. In the same year, the School of Journalism moved into the second floor of NAL.
NAL in the 1994 (side view)
NAL in early 2000s
A major refurbishment work was completed in 2004. The bust of Mr. Ch’ien Mu, sculpted by Prof. Wu Wei-shan, the then Director of the Academy of Fine Art of Nanjing University, was installed in the Lobby of the NAL. A brand new Exhibition Gallery was set up on both M/F and 2/F. The Outdoor Reading Area was refurbished in the courtyard on 2/F as a leisure reading space for library users. In 2007, the New Asia College Collection and the Ch’ien Mu Collection were set up to acquire all titles related to New Asia College and published by Prof. Ch’ien Mu.
The unveiling of the bust of Mr. Ch’ien Mu
After the renovation project in the summer 2015, the New Asia College Library brought library services, technology, and space design together, to facilitate individual, collaborative and interactive learning. Major highlights include a new learning cluster, RFID enabled book return stations, roving services, and mobile compact shelves for Fine Arts Collection. Currently, the first floor now houses the collections of Chinese language and literature and other Asian languages and literatures. The second floor houses the fine arts collection.
With everyone’s hard work and support, New Asia College Ch’ien Mu Library has been developed as one of the major humanities libraries in CUHK campus in the past 50 years. The library will thrive to support the information and research needs of CUHK faculties and students for the years ahead.
