The Story of the Red Bird Emblem and the University Anthem

Note: This page distinguishes between verified content (marked with official/media sources) and content circulating informally on campus (marked 【unverified / campus lore】, passed on by word of mouth, with truth not established). HKUST's official basis for the "Red Bird" as a symbol is clear, but its link to the "Vermilion Bird" cultural motif is largely interpretive narrative; readers should judge each claim by its cited source.

The "Red Bird" is HKUST's most central spirit symbol — it is both the popular name for the red sundial sculpture on the central plaza, and a phrase written into the university's first official anthem, which did not appear until 32 years after HKUST's founding. This article traces the origins of the "Red Bird" emblem, its relationship to the traditional Chinese "Vermilion Bird" motif, and the story of the 2023 anthem. It is a companion piece to Landmark Legends and Campus Lore^※, which focuses on the mystery around the sundial sculpture's naming (including the "turkey" nickname); this piece focuses on "Red Bird" as a symbol and its role in the anthem's imagery.

# I. The official basis for the "Red Bird" symbol (verified)

The landmark sculpture on HKUST's central plaza is officially named Circle of Time, a red steel sundial commissioned by The Hong Kong Jockey Club and created by the Irish sculptors Charles and Joan Walsh-Smith, installed on 8 October 1991^※ (see Landmarks and Architecture^※ for more). According to the HKUST Campus Management Office page^※, "the red sundial has then become an icon of HKUST"^※.

Because the red sundial resembles a bird in flight, "Red Bird" gradually became its fixed popular name, and was subsequently taken up as a symbol for the university as a whole. Several of HKUST's brand and programme names in recent years — such as the "Redbird Innovation Fund"^※ (see Research Output and Startups^※), and HKUST(Guangzhou)'s "Red Bird" master's programme and "Red Bird" challenge camp — take the name "Red Bird," indicating that the university has used this symbol systematically as an institutional mark.

# II. "Red Bird" and the "Vermilion Bird" (interpretive narrative)

In traditional Chinese culture, the "Four Symbols" refer to the Azure Dragon of the East, the White Tiger of the West, the Black Tortoise of the North, and the Vermilion Bird of the South. According to Wikipedia's entry on the Vermilion Bird^※, the Vermilion Bird corresponds to the south and to summer, and within the Five Elements system it symbolises "fire"^※, often associated with fire's transformative power and imagery of destruction and rebirth.

Since HKUST is located in the south of Hong Kong, and its emblematic sculpture happens to be red (the colour of fire), campus-lore accounts and some campus-culture narratives commonly link HKUST's "Red Bird" to the traditional "Vermilion Bird of the South" motif, treating it as a modern embodiment of a "southern firebird."

【Campus lore / interpretation】It should be noted that HKUST's official name for the sculpture is the neutral Circle of Time, which emphasises the imagery of the sundial — humanity's earliest scientific instrument — and the flow of time (see Landmarks and Public Art^※ for more). Equating "Red Bird" directly with the mythological "Vermilion Bird" is largely a later cultural interpretation and association, not part of the sculpture's official conception at the time of its creation. This archive marks this connection as interpretive narrative, offered for readers' reference, and makes no claim of historical fact.

# III. An official anthem, 32 years late (verified)

A piece of "trivia" often mentioned by alumni is that HKUST, founded in 1991, went for more than three decades without an official anthem — a gap not filled until 2023.

According to official HKUST announcements, the anthem was formally released in 2023, unveiled at the "Timeout HKUST" event on the Clear Water Bay campus^※ (see also the 2023 entry in the university history timeline^※). It came about through an open call to the entire faculty, staff, alumni, and friends of both campuses:

• Composition: Professor Kelvin Yuen, adjunct assistant professor in HKUST's Department of Economics^※, whose melody was selected from among 45 entries^※.
• Mandarin lyrics: written by incoming HKUST postgraduate student Mr. Jia Xianzhang^※.
• Cantonese lyrics: written by well-known lyricist Mr. Chris Shum^※.
• English lyrics: completed by a team comprising Dr. Isaac Droscha of HKUST's Division of Humanities, Ms. Edith Shih, convenor of the anthem working group, and freelance writer Mr. Philip Yeung^※.

The anthem selection panel included figures from the music world; according to the announcement, its members included Yip Wing Sze, conductor laureate of the Hong Kong Sinfonietta^※, who assessed entries on dimensions including lyrics, melody, and composition.

# An "impossible mission": from proposal to premiere in just over five months

The anthem's creation was, in itself, a fairly dramatic behind-the-scenes story. According to HKUST's announcement, the initiative began in October 2022, prompted by a question from Council member Ms. Edith Shih^※. The anthem working group subsequently decided against the traditional route of commissioning a single composer, opting instead for an open call to faculty, staff, and alumni across the university; a seven-member selection panel, including conductor Yip Wing Sze, then shortlisted candidate entries from the 45 submissions for the working group's final decision^※.

Given how tight the timeline was, conductor Mr. Cheng, who was involved in the project, described the schedule as "nothing short of a mission impossible"^※ — according to the announcement, the Mandarin, Cantonese, and English lyrics all had to be finished by early March 2023, with the anthem's formal premiere set for 31 March^※: barely five months from the initial question to the public global premiere.

The melody's composition also has a rather vivid backstory. According to the announcement, composer Kelvin Yuen is an HKUST alumnus and one of the founding faculty members of the Department of Economics at the Guangzhou campus; his melodic inspiration came from what he saw and felt while walking near the Guangzhou campus^※ — in other words, the initial spark for the melody of an anthem representing the "Red Bird," the spirit symbol of the main Clear Water Bay campus, arose near a campus hundreds of kilometres away in Guangzhou. This detail, in some sense, echoes HKUST's broader narrative of "one university, complementary campuses" (see the Guangzhou campus^※) — the "Red Bird" imagery links not only memories tied to Clear Water Bay, but also traces of the Guangzhou campus's founding period.

The performance and production team were likewise made up of alumni. According to the announcement, the anthem's vocalists included alumni Mr. Lam, Ms. Lee, and Mr. Wan, with alumnus Mr. Tsui serving as music producer^※ — from proposal, selection, and composition to lyrics, performance, and production, the anthem was, from start to finish, largely carried out by HKUST's own people, making the making of the anthem itself, in a sense, a collective creative act of alumni-to-alma-mater connection.

# IV. The "Red Bird" imagery in the anthem (verified)

Most notably: the anthem's opening line is precisely about the "Red Bird." According to the official announcement^※, the English version of the anthem opens with "Red bird standing guard beneath the rising sun"^※, a line inspired directly by the campus's landmark Red Bird sundial.

With this, "Red Bird" completed its arc from a red sundial sculpture installed in 1991, to a university-wide brand symbol, to a phrase formally written into the opening of the official anthem in 2023 — a symbolic thread that mirrors HKUST's more than three decades of self-constructed campus culture.

According to the official announcement^※, HKUST's current president described the anthem as having "perfectly captured and conveyed our shared identity and innovative spirit," calling it a marker of "an important chapter in the university's history."

Note: per this archive's compilation standard, statements involving current university leadership are attributed by title only, without naming individuals. The full anthem lyrics and official recording are available on the official HKUST anthem page^※; this article cites only the opening imagery given in the announcement and does not reproduce the full lyrics.