The Cambridge Experience as told by alumni

It has been three years since the alumni profiling initiative was launched in the summer of 2005. The alumni selected were a combination of candidates that cuts across different backgrounds, age groups and professions, in order to present the multi-faceted character of the Cambridge community. So far, 13 alumni have been interviewed.

The alumni profiling initiative was introduced to achieve several aims. Firstly, we believe these profiles will play a part in portraying the Cambridge community in Hong Kong to the general public. Secondly, we hope the graduates' stories will inspire the bright and promising perspective students in Hong Kong to study in Cambridge. Thirdly, it is our wish to strengthen ties within the local Cambridge network by increasing our understanding of one another.

I am most grateful to my fellow Editorial Committee members, who have dedicated their time to implementing this profiling initiative. From interviewing alumni, writing the profile articles, to assisting the editing work and making suggestions, each has made valuable contribution to the final product. My comrades are (in alphabetical order): Kitty Chan (Fitzwilliam, 2001), Kelvin Cheung (Homerton, 1999), Sunny Chow (New Hall, 1995), Pauleen Ma (Robinson, 2001), Ronald Ma (Sidney Sussex, 1988), Cindy Wong (Newnham, 2002), and Gabriel Wong (Trinity, 1999).

Many thanks go to the featured Cantabrigians, who, despite their busy schedules, agreed to spend time to be interviewed and to give comments on the profile articles. Finally, special thanks to Dr. Dominic Chan (Trinity, 1988), who is the driving force behind the profiling initiative, and has given a lot of assistance to the publication of the profile articles.
With regards the information in brackets following each profile name, it indicates the college attended and the year of matriculation of each featured alumnus/alumna.
If you have any comments or suggestions, please do not hesitate to let us know through the Friends of Cambridge University in Hong Kong.

Sylvia Lee (St. Edmunds, 2000)
Editor-in-Chief

Joy Shan Kung (Newnham, 1989) was filled with “a lot of romantic preconceptions” when she entered Cambridge to read English as an undergraduate. Currently working as a freelance writer for the arts and culture monthly magazine “Muse”, Joy Shan shares with us her transition from literature to journalism.

When Joy Shan Kung (n?e Lam) enrolled for a place at Newnham College to study English, she had no inkling that she would eventually go into journalism. Despite being raised in a family with deep affiliations with the profession – both her parents were journalists who co-founded the Hong Kong Economic Journal – she went to Cambridge filled not with journalistic ambitions, but with “a lot of romantic preconceptions”. Many writers whose work she read hailed from Cambridge; in particular, a number of prominent female writers – Virginia Woolf, A. S. Byatt, among others – were associated with Newnham, at a time before the university awarded degrees to women. It was this reputation as a literary greenhouse that attracted Joy Shan, which, she admitted, also brought a lot of pressure, as one tried to live up to the expectations. As an undergraduate, Joy Shan counted Dr Germaine Greer among her supervisors, who “constantly pushed us to voice our views, which had to be backed up by thorough reading”. During her time at Cambridge, Joy Shan wrote for Varsity as well as for college and Chinese Society publications. “And yet, because journalism was kind of in my blood, it came to me quite naturally, and it didn’t occur to me then that journalism was my calling,” she said.

=> Read more!

Jes Nielsen (St. Edmunds, 1998-2001; Sidney Sussex 2002-2004) had a clear ambition to become a journalist – a foreign correspondent in particular – even before reading a BA in Social and Political Sciences (SPS), and later on an MPhil in Chinese Studies at Cambridge. He shares with us how his Cambridge education and unique background facilitated his pursuit in becoming a foreign correspondent for a leading Danish newspaper.

While most undergraduates enter Cambridge straight from a protective school environment, Jes Nielsen spent his pre-university years performing military service for his native country, Denmark, in the wild chaos of post-Soviet Russia. Jes worked for the Danish embassy in Russia, where he witnessed the extreme conditions of the time – corruption of government officials, control of businesses by the violent mafia and a wrenching depression coupled with social decay. Witnessing those unsettling yet fascinating events undoubtedly sparked Jes’ interest in journalism, and an ambition to become a foreign correspondent in particular.

=> Read more!

The Hon Chief Justice Mr. Andrew Li (Fitzwilliam, 1971) is the first appointed Chief Justice of Hong Kong since the handover in 1997. He is well respected for his impartiality and his continuous efforts in maintaining the rule of law. He tells us of his fond memories of Cambridge.

Attitude in life
“ I think one makes a living by what one gets, but one makes a life by what one gives”, the CJ says.

He is indeed a living example of this.

As a teenager, the CJ aspired to be a court-room lawyer and firmly set his goal to read law in Cambridge after finishing his A Levels in Repton School in Derbyshire in 1966. But before moving to Fitzwilliam College, he spent around nine months travelling around the world to broaden his horizons as well as working as a journalist in the Far Eastern Economic Review where he wrote about Hong Kong affairs.

=> Read more!

Prof. Anthony P. C. Yim (Queen’s College, 1978) is renowned in the field of cardiothoracic surgery. Looking back in his university days, he recalled how Cambridge had paved the way for him to achieve his success in his field.

Prof. Yim was already determined to become a surgeon at a very young age when he realized that he was gifted with a pair of fine hands. This determination was strengthened by the influence of his uncle, who was also a doctor. ”It is very rewarding to be able to save lives directly with your own hands”, Prof. Yim said. After graduating from Wah Yan College, Hong Kong, he went to study in the UK for his sixth form and later entered Cambridge to study medicine, with an aim to specialise in surgery.

=> Read more!