Landmarks and Lore

Note: This page distinguishes verified content (source noted) from campus folklore (marked 【folklore/embellished】). The former is supported by media or official documents; the latter is campus word-of-mouth whose accuracy is unverified.

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# I. The Red Bird Sundial ("Fire Turkey"): the mystery behind the official name and the nickname

# Official identity

The red steel sculpture at the centre of the Entrance Piazza, officially named "Circle of Time", is HKUST's most recognisable landmark and a brand symbol for the university.

• Creator: according to HKUST's communications and public affairs office page, the sculptors were Charles and Joan Walsh-Smith^※, a couple of Irish descent based in Perth, Western Australia.
• Commissioner: according to the same official page^※, the work was commissioned and donated to HKUST by the Hong Kong Jockey Club.
• Completion: according to official records, it was installed on 8 October 1991^※, the same year as HKUST's official opening.
• Dimensions: according to official sources, the main sundial stands about 8.5 metres^※ tall; the relief at the base is 7.0 metres long and 1.5 metres high^※.
• Material: steel, set at the centre of a stepped circular base, surrounded by running water on all sides.

# Design intent

The sculptors conceived a "contemplative Circle of Time" to provide a spiritual oasis within a busy campus. The flowing water is said to represent "the passage of time"; the stepped cascade, "the flow of history". According to the official page^※, the base relief depicts 39 Chinese scientific and technological achievements^※ spanning from the 4th century BCE to the 13th century CE^※, covering the compass, man-carrying kites, lacquerware, equatorial and astronomical instruments, and more. The sculpture also functions as a working sundial — though according to brand materials, reading the time requires clear weather and a view down through the windows of the surrounding office floors, a design that is both ingenious and somewhat ironic.

# The folk origin of the "Fire Turkey" nickname

On official branding and nicknames: according to HKUST's brand guidelines^※, the sculpture's official nickname is "Red Bird Sundial", while students colloquially call it "火雞" (Fire Turkey) in Cantonese. According to a campus-locations page compiled by HKUST students, HKUST FYS^※, the "Fire Turkey" nickname is in common use within the student community. A commonly circulated guess is that the sharp metal elements at the top of the sculpture, combined with its overall form, reminded many people of a turkey's appearance — but official documents do not explain the nickname's origin, and this remains speculation.

# Climbing prohibition

Official material states clearly: visitors may stand on the steps of the base for photos, but climbing the sculpture itself is against the rules, although it is said to be one of the "standard attempts" made by generations of students and graduates.

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# II. The site's earlier history: from the Kohima military camp to a university of science and technology

The land on which HKUST's Clear Water Bay campus sits carries a piece of military history that most people do not know.

# Kohima Camp: an unbuilt British Army outpost

According to the English Wikipedia entry "Kohima Camp", between 1980 and 1981^※, the British side conducted a review of Hong Kong's defence needs and planned to build barracks at Tai Po Tsai (the site of today's HKUST campus) to accommodate an additional British infantry battalion^※ (the source only states "an additional British infantry battalion" without naming the specific regiment). The planned camp was named Kohima Camp, which, according to the same source^※, commemorated the 1944^※ Battle of Kohima, at which the Japanese advance was repelled.

According to the English Wikipedia entry^※, after the Sino-British Joint Declaration was signed in 1984^※, the troop-reinforcement and camp-construction plans were cancelled; the site became the location of the newly established Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in 1986^※.

# The Scout Jamboree: an interlude before the university was built

According to the English Wikipedia entry "Tai Po Tsai", from 27 December 1986 to 1 January 1987^※, the not-yet-developed HKUST site was temporarily used to host the Hong Kong Scouts' Diamond Jubilee Jamboree (marking 75 years^※ of Hong Kong Scouting), a large public event held on the site before it was handed over for university construction. (Note: the English Wikipedia entry "Kohima Camp" mistakenly gives the end date as "1 January 1997"; the 1987 date given in the "Tai Po Tsai" entry should be taken as correct.)

# The foundation ceremony and Prince Charles

According to publicly available records, on 8 November 1989^※, the then Prince of Wales (now King Charles III) presided over HKUST's foundation-stone ceremony, held at the former site of the Kohima Camp at Tai Po Tsai.

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# III. The "Frog Road" slogan: seven years of protest graffiti

A campus path that students call "Frog Road" once bore a ground-painted slogan reportedly present for about seven years^※.

# Origin (2014)

According to Dimsum Daily, the slogan was first spray-painted in white on the surface of Frog Road during the 2014^※ Umbrella Movement. It read:

"希望在於人民，改變始於抗爭" (Hope lies in the people; change begins with resistance) (Dimsum Daily)^※

The lettering covered a section of the path's surface.

# Persistence and removal

• In the years that followed, the slogan remained visible on campus.
• Around 2020, a student organisation was reportedly subject to disciplinary action in connection with an event related to 2019 (that 2019 event, per this site's §6.2 rule, is presented on module 14 solely as a directory of source links; this page does not name individuals, recount it, or speculate about it).
• According to Dimsum Daily, the slogan was ultimately removed at around 2:30 p.m. on 4 September 2021^※; the university's stated reason was routine campus cleaning following the resumption of in-person classes (the report states in-person classes resumed on 1 September 2021^※).

Source: Dimsum Daily, "Anti-government phrase sprayed on HKUST campus road removed after 7 years". This page states the facts of this slogan's presence and removal between 2014 and 2021 based solely on that news report, without commentary; the portion relating to 2019 is, per this site's §6.2, linked only and not narrated.

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# IV. The One-World-Fountain

Beside the Entrance Piazza, near the University Library, the One-World-Fountain is described in campus accounts as a commemorative water feature dating from around HKUST's 10th anniversary (2001)^※.

• Creator: according to the source account^※, Austrian sculptor Hans Muhr, whose works can also be found in Vienna, Berlin, and Budapest.
• Donor: according to the same account, it was donated by university advisory-committee member Mr. Sohmen (Helmut Sohmen).
• Design intent: according to the same account, the five^※ stones are each drawn from one of the five continents, with the Asian stone at the centre connected to the other four by flowing water, said to symbolise "harmony between humanity and nature, and the resonance of technology with global communication".

Credibility note: the details in this section on the One-World-Fountain rely mainly on a personal-website account (a weak source). Specifics such as the anniversary year and the donor's identity are not directly corroborated by an official page, and are recorded here pending further verification.

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# V. The Acacia grove: loss and renewal

According to HKUST's Sustainability Office, a dense grove of Acacia confusa once stood opposite the Shaw Auditorium, providing a rare natural rest area on campus.

According to the HKUST Sustainability Office page^※, around 2022^※, mature trees at the site were removed to make way for the Martin Ka Shing Lee Innovation Building. Key points from the official account:

• HKUST cut and dried the timber, turning it into desktops, furniture, wall panelling, and commemorative plaques for reuse around campus; according to the page, this was said to "fix CO2 and reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by about 75 tonnes^※".
• This practice of using campus timber to reduce a new building's embodied carbon was recognised in the 2024^※ Best Practices Report of the International Sustainable Campus Network (ISCN), according to the 2024 ISCN Best Practices Report^※.
• Claims such as "the trees were about 35 years old" or "the foundation-stone plaque was made from the old timber" appear scattered across campus sustainability narratives; for exact figures, the original official account should be treated as authoritative.

Source: HKUST Sustainability Office, "Innovation Building and the Acacia Tree Grove"; 2024 ISCN Best Practices Report (HKUST).

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# VI. The founding legend: founding president Chia-Wei Woo's story of "building" a university

# Why he returned to Hong Kong

According to publicly available sources, Chia-Wei Woo (born 1937^※, 1937–2025^※) was born in Shanghai and moved to the United States in 1955^※, attending Georgetown College and then Washington University in St. Louis, where he earned a PhD in physics under Eugene Feenberg. According to the English Wikipedia entry^※, in 1983^※ (at age 45) he became president of San Francisco State University, becoming, per that source, the first person of Chinese descent to head a major American university. He subsequently, according to the same source^※, served as HKUST's founding president (1991–2001^※).

When Hong Kong was searching for HKUST's first president, Woo was already a leading figure at an established American university. According to HKUST's memorial account, his decision to return to Hong Kong is linked to two questions his wife (Yvonne) reportedly asked him — roughly: "Could HKUST find a better-suited founding president than you?" and "Would you regret missing this chance in twenty years?" (HKUST memorial page)^※; according to that account, he ultimately decided to give up his American position and return to found the university.

# "Creating, not replicating"

According to HKUST's memorial and institutional-history accounts, his guiding principle was "Creating, not replicating" (HKUST obituary)^※ — declining to copy existing university models, and instead designing HKUST's own approach from strategic direction and curriculum structure through to governance. This principle is widely cited as HKUST's "founding DNA".

# Opening three years ahead of schedule

According to HKUST's milestones page, HKUST opened in 1991^※; several institutional-history accounts state this was roughly three years ahead of the original plan. A sizeable faculty was already in place in the first year, and the founding vision reportedly included mid-term targets of thousands of students and hundreds of faculty (for exact figures, the original official account should be treated as authoritative).

# The "artificial hill"

According to a report of a conversation at HKUST's School of Engineering, Woo, recalling the campus in a retrospective, described a hill near the campus's north entrance as artificially made, saying it was built at the time to block outsiders' view of the planned British military camp (which was later redeveloped into the HKUST site) — in the original wording, "…the hill near campus's north entrance was artificially made back then to block outsiders' view of the planned British military camp…" (HKUST SENG conversation)^※. This hill remains part of the campus terrain today.

# In memoriam

According to publicly available sources, Woo passed away in San Francisco in March 2025^※ at the age of 87^※. HKUST issued obituaries in both Hong Kong and Guangzhou (HKUST GZ); according to the Sustainability Office's account, the university also made a commemorative plaque from old acacia timber in his memory as founding president.

Sources: Woo Chia-wei | Wikipedia; HKUST, "Mourns the Passing of Founding President Prof. Chia-Wei WOO"; HKUST SENG News (conversation report, May 2024); HKUST Memorial.

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This page is part of the campus lore archive. Portions marked 【folklore】 are student word-of-mouth, not independently verified, and provided for reference only.