Year: 1953 
Donor: Mr. Hsia Yan-san 

DETAILS 

The college anthem has been a familiar and lingering tune to New Asianites across generations. Its lyrics, written by Mr. Ch’ien Mu, bear witness to the College’s arduous start on Kweilin Street, and convey the founders’ cultural ideals and expectations on the New Asia community. 

The college anthem was created at the request of the class of 1953. Robert Hsi (Economics/1953) reminisces that his class told President Ch’ien that the College has no anthem that could encourage them during their graduation ceremony. President Ch’ien drafted the lyrics soon afterwards. Professor Hwang Yau-tai, who had conducted a student performance at New Asia, composed the music in three days. The college anthem first appeared in July 1953, on the back cover of Issue 3 of Report on New Asia College. 

Issue 4 of Report on New Asia College contains a report on the college anthem. The following translated excerpt shows how the anthem’s birth boosted the morale of New Asia’s teachers and students, who all believed that they “marched together” under the same roof, despite the College’s meagre material circumstances.

As the College’s second cohort neared graduation, the New Asia anthem was born in the middle of the President’s zeal. President Ch’ien took the lyrics’ manuscript to Mr. Tchang Pi-kai‘s room and read it aloud with intonations. Mr. Tchang’s head shook as the rhythm went along. Within a day, Professor Hwang Yau-tai completed the score with great enthusiasm. And so, everyone sang in the classroom with solemnity and harmony. This is our college anthem. This is the heartfelt voice of every single one of us, teachers and students alike. 

Let us listen to the anthem, sung in Putonghua, and imagine the solemnity and harmony that resonated in the Kweilin Street classroom back in 1953.