News and Kudos

Successful Second Grant from the Gifted Education Fund of Education Bureau

Building on the success of our previous Linguistic Training and Internship Programme, we are delighted to announce that our second application to the Gifted Education Fund has been successful. The project, entitled Multilingual Communication Training and Cross-Cultural Communication Course for Future Leaders, will run for 15 months with funding support from the Education Bureau. The target participants range from Secondary 1 students to Secondary 5 students in Hong Kong. In addition to the Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies (CBS) as the host, our partners include the Department of English and Communication (ENGL), HK PolyU-PKU Research Centre on Chinese Linguistics, Centre for Translation Studies (CTS), Research Centre for Professional Communication in English (RCPCE), International Research Centre for the Advancement of Healthcare Communication (IRCAHC), as well as The Linguistic Society of Hong Kong (LSHK).  

CBS Postgraduate Scholarships 2022/23

In order to recruit high-calibre students who are determined to pursue academic research, the MA Scheme in Chinese, Linguistics and Translation is launching two scholarships in the 2022/23 academic year. CBS Postgraduate Scholarship is an entry scholarship, which offers a 50% tuition waiver to applicants with outstanding intellectual potential to complete an MA thesis and have achieved excellent academic results in the qualifications already obtained. CBS Distinguished Postgraduate Scholarship is a graduation scholarship, which worth 50% of the tuition fee for graduates who have completed their MA thesis and graduated with excellent academic achievements. Distinguished students may receive both scholarships, which will be awarded full tuition fee in total. No separate application is required for the scholarships. Applicants who have submitted their application by 31 March 2022 will be automatically considered for the Entry Scholarship through the admission interview process.

Secretary for Food and Health visits Speech Therapy Unit

On 15 December, the Secretary for Food and Health Prof. Sophia CHAN visited our Speech Therapy Unit (STU) as part of her campus tour at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.  During the visit, our Head of Department and speech therapy team introduced our speech therapy services and the training facilities of STU to Prof. Chan. We were delighted to have the opportunity to share with Prof. Chan our new initiatives regarding the speech therapy services and the training of speech therapists, and grateful for the enlightening feedback and insights about the development of speech therapy in Hong Kong. 

CBS undergraduate student wins The Most Outstanding PolyU Student Award 2021

Miss HO Hiu Man, a student of BA (Hons) in Chinese and Bilingual Studies (BACBS), was awarded the Most Outstanding PolyU Student Award 2021 in recognition of her exceptional academic performance and all-round quality.   As an avid lover of Chinese language and literature, she often writes and publishes articles about linguistics and translation as well as modern Chinese poetries. She is also active in community services with the examples of mentoring secondary school students, volunteering for the local film festival and film regulatory agency, and initiating a mental health campaign to support PolyU students and staff. Dedicated to preserving and promoting Cantonese opera, she worked as a docent at Xiqu Centre and participated in the Peking University Summer School to learn about different techniques of cultural preservation.   We are proud to have Miss Ho, a highly self-motivated model student who brings positive value and impact to peers. Congratulations!   Online media coverage: Ming Pao Daily News; Hong Kong Economic Times and Wen Wei Po.  

CBS postgraduate students win the 1st prize in the 8th China University Students PR Plan Contest

Congratulations to three students of MA in Bilingual Corporate Communication (MABCC), namely LU Wen Xin, DONG Zhijie and XIONG Chengchen, who achieved an outstanding result in the 8th China University Students PR Plan Contest held in Beijing this October. The competition was organized by the China International Public Relations Associations (CIPRA) and the judging panel was formed by industry leaders in Public Relations.   Representing The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, the MABCC student team “EMO” has successfully stood out from more than 1,300 competitors and won the first prize as one of the top 16 teams, and was awarded the bronze medal in the final round. We are truly proud of the splendid achievement of our MABCC students, while also appreciating the efforts of the CBS professors Dr. Cindy Ngai and Mr. Baniel Cheung, who have provided the students with professional advice and coaching.   Details of the competition: https://cusprpc2021.cipra.org.cn/4/202110/7724.html

CBS Associate Professor participates in the 4th World Laureates Forum

CBS Associate Professor Dr. ZHANG Caicai has participated in the 4th World Laureates Forum (WLF), the foremost scientific conference held in Shanghai during 1-3 November 2021. The international forum involved world-renowned senior scientists including Nobel Laureates as well as selected young scientists. As the only one from Asia in the Young Scientists Forum: Neuroscience, Psychology and Cognitive Science, Dr. Zhang presented her research on the neurobiology of language from the perspective of interaction with other cognitive systems.   Details and replay of the forum: https://wlf2021.wlaforum.com/#/agenda-details/365

CBS academic and administrative staff win Faculty Awards 2020/21

We are thrilled to announce that four CBS staff members have been awarded the Faculty Awards 2020/21 by the Faculty of Humanities in recognition of their noteworthy achievements on research and scholarly activities and services. The CBS awardees are listed below:   Faculty Awards for Outstanding Performance Achievement 2021  Category of Awards Awardee Post Research & Scholarly Activities: Outstanding Researcher (Individual) Dr PENG Gang Associate Professor Research & Scholarly Activities: Outstanding Young Researcher (Individual) Dr Emmanuele CHERSONI Research Assistant Professor Knowledge Transfer: Society (Team) Prof. CHAN Shui Duen and Prof. ZHU Xinhua Research Professor and Professor Faculty of Humanities Staff Awards for Excellence 2020/21 – Outstanding Service Award  Awardee Post Ms SZE King-wan, Loretta Executive Officer   The award presentation ceremony will be held during the 27th Congregation (Faculty of Humanities) on Saturday, 13 November 2021. Congratulations to all the award recipients!

Two papers by CBS colleagues selected as Lingua Editor’s choices

Congratulations on the two research papers by PolyUCBS colleagues that are selected as Lingua Editor’s choices for having significant potential impacts in the field of linguistics. Two of the authors, Dr. Huiheng ZENG and Ms. Siyu LEI are CBS’ Post-doctoral Fellow and PhD student respectively. The papers will be available free of charge until the end of December 2021.   Winnie Huiheng Zeng, Christian Burgers, Kathleen Ahrens. 2021. Framing metaphor use over time: ‘Free Economy’ metaphors in Hong Kong political discourse (1997–2017). Lingua, Volume 252, 102955. https://doi.org/gh6t2x   Siyu Lei, Ruiying Yang, Chu-Ren Huang. 2021. Emergent neologism: A study of an emerging meaning with competing forms based on the first six months of COVID-19. Lingua, Volume 258, 103095. https://doi.org/gwmn

CBS undergraduate student wins the 2nd place in the Korean Speech Contest in Hong Kong

Ms. LAU Hiu Ching, a Year 3 student of BA (Hons) in Chinese and Bilingual Studies minoring in Korean, has won second place in the 5th Korean Consul General Cup Korean Speech Contest in Hong Kong.   The prestigious contest is held and sponsored annually by the Korean Cultural Center and the Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in Hong Kong. Among the 15 finalists, Ms. Lau stood out as one of the two second place winners of the competition. It is worth noting that Ms. Lau is one of a couple of finalists who have learned Korean in a relatively short period of time, given that she only completed the introductory course of the Minor in Korean programme last semester.   A big round of applause to the diligent student for the hard work and efforts that she has put into mastering the language, and also CBS’ native-speaking Korean teachers Dr. Kim Sun-A, Dr. Han Hae Min and Ms. Sim Sin Ae who have provided the student with detailed guidance and feedback.

PolyU-trained students win the first-ever award for Hong Kong in the International Linguistics Olympiad 2021

Trained by the Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies (CBS) and the Department of English (ENGL), the student representatives have won the first-ever award for Hong Kong in the 18th International Linguistics Olympiad (IOL). All the four students have earned medals (1 Gold, 2 Silvers and 1 Bronze) with their impeccable performance in solving the world's toughest linguistic puzzles. Among 56 teams consisting of 216 talented young linguists, the record-breaking Hong Kong team has obtained the highest average score for the individual competition and been inducted into the Hall of Fame as one of the Dream Teams in which all team members earned a medal. Congratulations!   Result of IOL2021: https://ioling.org/results/2021/ Hall of Fame: https://ioling.org/results/hall_of_fame/