Cha Cham-son OBE

Welcome by the Public Orator

Chancellor,

Chau Cham-son belongs to an old and respected Hong Kong family who, for several generations have played an active part in public life: both his farther ad his grandfather were members of the Legislative Council. He was educated at Wah Yan College and then at the University of Hong Kong where he graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Architecture in 1956.

After completing his professional practical experience, he came to Britain in 1957 and studied in the Department of Civic Design here in Liverpool, qualifying as a planner. Apart from a year studying tropical architecture at Melbourne University in Australia, he has spent the rest of his career as an architect/planner in the Government’s service in Hong Kong.

In 1960, when he first joined, the Government was involved in reclamation work in the Central business district. Mr Chau went on to become Senior Planning Officer, then Chief Planning Officer. Step by step, he was able to establish a town planning office, which has responsibility for the development of the New Territories, and in 1986 he became the first Director of Buildings and Land.

Hong Kong has a unique history of economic and physical expansion and is one of the most vibrant and exciting cities in the world. During much of this period of dramatic expansion and, ultimately of world-renowned architectural achievement, Chau Cham-son has been an increasingly important figure in the whole process of planning and development. It is significant that the foundation of his career was here in Liverpool.

He is a member of the Architectural Association in London, the Incorporated Association of Architects and Surveyors of the United Kingdom and of the Hong Kong Institute of Architecture. He is a Fellow of the Royal Town Planning Institute and of the Hong Kong Institute of Planners. He retired in 1989 and has since then been able to increase his long standing interests in community work. He has been involved with the scouting movement since 1946 and is now the Chief Commissioner of the Scout Association of Hong Kong and a member of the Asian-Pacific Regional Scout Committee. Chau Cham-son has been honoured many times by the scout movement. In addition, he is the Vice-Chairman of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Council and a member of the St. John Ambulance Association and Brigade.

His educational interests include the Vice-Chairmanship of Li Po Chun United World College and he is a member of the College Council and Board of Governors at Lingnan College. Since 1989, he has been a steward of the Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club, which is renowned in Hong Kong for its social and community projects, created with the profits from the principal sporting passion of the Hong Kong people.

Chau Cham-son has been a Justice of the People since 1977 and he was honoured by the Queen ten years later for his contribution to the life of Hong Kong when he was made an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.

We, in Liverpool, honour him for all these reasons but for one significant additional activity. Liverpool certainly made a strong impression on Chau Cham-son in a professional sense, but he has also spent a considerable amount of his time and energy in recent years in developing the Graduate Association of which he is now President. Universities cherish their alumni: graduates are ambassadors around the world. Hong Kong has a significant group of successful Liverpool graduates and nowhere is there more affection for the University of Liverpool and its achievements. Nowhere, too, is that affection channelled so effectively into positive actions. The Graduate Association has acted as a focus for practical schemes to raise money which will fund more students form Hong Kong to come and study in Liverpool. Regularly, senior members of the University are invited to lend their support by their presence at the imaginative, well planned and financially very successful events which Chau Cham-son and his colleagues initiate. The result is a warm and developing relationship between Hong Kong and Liverpool which is an example to other parts of the world and a challenge to use here to cherish what has been done and to use it as an example for Liverpool graduate Association elsewhere.

In truth, such organisations only succeed by the charisma and energy of individuals in their own countries. Chau Cham-son is one such: without his affection for Liverpool and his own university, without his time and energy so willingly given, this great and immensely useful enterprise would probably never have happened.

We honour a man who has a great affection for Britain and for Liverpool, who has valued greatly the education he received here and whose belief in the wide value of education has led to the practical initiatives which are strengthening the bond between this University and Hong Kong. Of such things are the verities of one civilisation shared with another.

Chancellor, in the name of the Senate and the Council of the University, I present to you Chau Cham-son for admission to the degree of Doctor of Laws (honoris causa) on this University.