A different computation of time
In Hong Kong, just about everything revolves around money. But money doesn’t buy happiness - knowledge and friendship do. The richest man therefore must be the remarkable polymath Professor Jao Tsung-I. On March 17, 2015, he celebrated his 100th birthday, and could look back on an admirable eight decades of research and teaching. The world’s most famous sinologist is at the same time a renowned painter, a calligrapher, and a poet, who has written 80 books and over 500 papers on ancient philology, archaeology, ancient bronze and stone inscriptions, history, historical musicology, classical literature, art history, history of religion, and many more, and has received numerous honorary academic titles.
In 2009, the Hong Kong Institute for the Promotion of Chinese Culture, of which Professor Jao Tsung-I is honorary chairman, was officially selected to revitalise the former Lai Chi Kok Hospital with the aim of promoting Chinese arts and culture.
Info
Address 800 Castle Peak Road, Kowloon, Tel +852 2100 2828 | Public Transport MTR Tsuen Wan Line (red), Mei Foo Station Exit B; Bus KMB 31B, 32, 35A, 40, 270B, or 286X to Jao Tsung-I Academy; from Hotel Heritage Lodge there is a regular, free shuttle bus to the nearest MTR station | Hours Daily: 8am–10pm (Gallery and Heritage Hall are closed on Mondays; there are free guided tours for individuals and groups)| Tip Right across the Kwai Chung Road lies Mei Foo Sun Chuen, once the largest private housing estate in the world.
On the second level of this carefully restored three-level complex lies a cafeteria and an outdoor area with a beautiful view over the lower part of the complex, which features an exhibition about the history of the building. At the end of the path between two narrow buildings a memorial has been erected in honour of Professor Jao Tsung-I. For western visitors, this statue has a strange detail: if you look closely, you might note that the professor’s year of birth is given as 1917. How, then, could he have celebrated his 100th birthday in 2015?
In China you are already one year old at birth; it is called the “traditional age.” So in 2015 his traditional age was 99. And as the Chinese character for nine sounds like “long life,” it is common to look forward and celebrate the 100th birthday at the beginning of the same year, when turning 99.
It’s not weird, it’s called a positive approach to life.
Back
To the online map