A Ceremony has been held at St John’s College honouring famous Chinese novelist Dr Louis Cha while commemorating his time as a student at Cambridge and unveiling his gift to the University.
A Ceremony has been held at St John’s College honouring famous Chinese novelist Dr Louis Cha while commemorating his time as a student at Cambridge and unveiling his gift to the University.
The scent of flowers, the scent of books clings to the College paths; The sound of oars, the sound of song drifts through the Bridge of Sighs.
Louis Cha
The Vice-Chancellor of the University, Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, the Master of St John’s College, Professor Chris Dobson, and members of St John’s and the University’s Chinese community gathered in the College’s Rose Garden to unveil a five-foot high piece of Taiwanese sandstone engraved with a couplet Cha had penned while studying at the College.
Known by his pen name Jin Yong, Louis Cha is held in immense esteem as novelist and publisher of fourteen highly praised martial arts novels, each written with a sense of adventure, elegant style and a deep knowledge of Chinese history.
In June 2005, Louis Cha was admitted to the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Letters at the University of Cambridge. He then came into residence in St John’s College in October 2005 as a graduate student, before being elected as a Fellow Commoner.
In May 2007, he was admitted to the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Then, In September 2010, he became an Honorary Fellow of St John’s.
The couplet reads:
The scent of flowers, the scent of books clings to the College paths;
The sound of oars, the sound of song drifts through the Bridge of Sighs.
Written by a student, Jinyong.
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