V23I1 Special

14 THE F I RST GRADUAT I ON CEREMONY W hen the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese, the predecessor of HKU’s Medical Faculty, held its first graduation ceremony in the City Hall on July 23, 1892, it was a triumph for its founders. In the first five years of its existence, the College had encountered a number of challenges and teething problems, but by 1892 it was sufficiently ensconced for the Governor Sir William Robinson to oversee the ceremony where colonial officers and community leaders joined College staff and students to commend Sun Yat-sen and Kong Ying-wah in being the College’s first graduates. Tellingly, Sun and Kong were the only two of their original class of 13 students to pass all professional examinations, and Sun was the most outstanding of them, earning the highest marks in medicine, obstetrics and public health. The young College continued to face many difficulties, which were addressed in a remarkable speech at the ceremony by Dean James Cantlie, which he delivered after the Secretary of the College, Dr J. C. Thomson, had announced the academic results and Sir William presented the awards. Dean Cantlie commented that Dr Sun Yat-sen visited the University on February 20, 1923 and gave a speech at the Great Hall (Loke Yew Hall). Photo courtesy of the University Archive, The University of Hong Kong Located on Hollywood Road, the Alice Memorial Hospital was the first teaching and training base for students of the College in the late 19th century.