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【Our History Gallery: College Anthem Lyrics Manuscript and Score】

New Asia College was founded amidst great adversities. Even the Anthem and Motto were drafted some time after the establishment of the College. The New Asia College Anthem was first seen on the last page of the third issue of New Asia College Magazine in 1953. Alumnus Mr. Robert Hsi (1953/Economics) recalled the origins of the College Anthem in a 2003 interview with New Asia Life Monthly.

College Anthem Lyrics Manuscript (donated by 1956 alumnus Mr. HSIA Yan San)
“New Asia College Anthem; manuscript by Mr. Chien Mu” was written on the back of the manuscript. The signature below belongs to Mr. HSIA Yan San, a 1956 alumnus majoring in Chinese Language, Literature and History.


When Mr. Hsi were about to graduate, he told Mr. Chien Mu that there were no College Anthem to sing at the Graduation Ceremony. Mr. Chien generously accepted the invitation and quickly wrote the lyrics. Mr. Hsi then extended his invitation to Mr. Hwang Yau-tai, a renowned composer from Taiwan who had conducted some student performances in New Asia, to compose the music. It only took Mr. Hwang three days to finish the score.


Mr. Chien, even when he was 95 years old, still had vivid memories of writing the lyrics. “There is a line in the College Anthem, ‘heavy burden carried on both shoulders,’ which described perfectly how I was feeling at that time […] There were less than a hundred staff and students in the whole College. In terms of resources and spirits, we really had ‘empty hands and nothing’!”

Front and back covers of the third issue of the New Asia College Magazine. The College Anthem lyrics were printed on the back cover.