Beauty of the Origin - Fine Arts at 40

“On 9th December, 1998, the Department of Fine Arts hosted a grand banquet in celebration of its 20th anniversary…When teacher Chuang and his wife entered the room, everybody, including former and current students, teachers, all rose and burst into a wild applause. It was an emotional moment.”
Anita Wong and Harold Mok, “What is There in the Mountain? Plenty of Clouds are above the Hill: Art Historian Professor Chuang Shen” in Hong Kong Visual Arts Yearbook 2000 (Hong Kong: Department of Fine Arts, CUHK, 2002). Translation by Nicole Fung.

Chuang Shen (front row, middle) and his first batch of HKU Fine Arts students. Taken at the Department’s 20th anniversary banquet on 9th December, 1998.

Students of recent years may not have the chance to meet “teacher Chuang” in person, but they may get a glimpse of his legacy through accounts written by his students. With the consent of two authors, Anita Wong and Harold Mok, both alumni and once teachers at the Department, here we present an article (in Chinese) that was first published in 2002, in memory of this reputable scholar, and to many of our early alumni, a respectable teacher, our first Department Head, the late Professor Chuang Shen (1932-2000).

Image of the first page of the article. Anita Wong and Harold Mok, “What is There in the Mountain? Plenty of Clouds are above the Hill: Art Historian Professor Chuang Shen” in *Hong Kong Visual Arts Yearbook 2000* (Hong Kong: Department of Fine Arts, CUHK, 2002), 20-36.

Its English abstract is published in Chuang Shen, Life in the Tang Dynasty, ed. Anita Y F Wong and Alice S L Tsui (Hong Kong: University Museum and Art Gallery, the University of Hong Kong, 2008), 297-9.

Here is an excerpt of the abstract:

“Chuang Shen (1932-2000), also named Chuang Shen-Ching, a native of Beijing, was the eldest son of Chuang Yan (Chuang Shang-yan, 1897/9-1980) who had been Associate Director of the National Palace Museum in Taipei. After graduating from the Taiwan Normal University in 1955/6, Chuang Shen took up postgraduate studies at the Princeton University from where he obtained his degree of Master in Archaeology in 1964/5. He joined the University of Hong Kong the following year and taught at the Department of Chinese, assuming the position first as Assistant Lecturer, then Lecturer and Senior Lecturer. After the founding of the Department of Fine Arts in 1978, Chuang Shen became the Head of the Department and Professor. Upon retiring from the University of Hong Kong in 1987/8, he returned to Taiwan, took up the position of Research Fellow in the Language Department of Academia Sinica while he also taught part-time at the National Taiwan Normal University.”

We would like to acknowledge Hong Kong Visual Arts Yearbook《香港視覺藝術年鑑》 and Department of Fine Arts, The Chinese University of Hong Kong 香港中文大學藝術系 for granting us the permission to post this featured essay above.