New Asia College was founded in 1949 by Dr. Ch'ien Mu and a small group of scholars from mainland China. Their aim was to preserve traditional Chinese culture and to balance it with Western learning so that students might understand their cultural heritage and at the same time be capable of coping with the challenges of the modern world.
The college had a humble beginning but soon attracted public and private support both locally and overseas. Since 1954, it has had the cooperation and support of the Yale-China Association which has been involved in educational development in China for many years. It has also received support from other educational institutions and foundations such as the Harvard-Yenching Institute, the Asia Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the British Council, the Mencius Foundation and the Ford Foundation. Set up in 1959 as a grant college, New Asia College became one of the three constituent colleges of The Chinese University of Hong Kong in 1963.
In August 1973, all the units of New Asia College moved to their new quarters in Sha Tin and the dual teaching system was implemented in December 1976. Under this system, the University is responsible for subject-oriented teaching and the colleges for all student-oriented teaching as well as some general education.
Scholarly visits and other cultural activities are arranged throughout the year under different programmes such as the Ch'ien Mu Lecture in History and Culture Programme, the New Asia Ming Yu Foundation Visiting Scholars Programme, the New Asia S.Y. Chung Visiting Fellows Programme, and the Y.S. Hui Exchange Programme in Fine Arts. Famous scholars are invited from Hong Kong and overseas to speak to staff and students of the college at cultural dinner talks and bi-weekly assemblies. Since 1993 the New Asia College-Yale University Exchange Programme and the Hong Kong-Mainland-Taiwan University Student Visitation Programme have been established to foster cultural interaction between students of the College and students in the US, mainland China and Taiwan. Chinese and English language enhancement programmes have also been launched in recent years.
New Asia currently has over 2,200 students. In the future, it will continue to promote Chinese culture, disseminate knowledge, foster communication between Chinese and Western cultures, and produce graduates to serve society.
