From cheung@mathcs.emory.edu Fri Jul 26 05:22:38 1991 From: cheung@mathcs.emory.edu (Shun Yan Cheung) Newsgroups: soc.culture.hongkong Subject: KAHANER Report on Computing in Hong Kong Date: 23 Jul 91 19:52:46 GMT Organization: Emory University, Dept of Math and CS I found the following report on Computing in Hong Kong. Hope it arouses some interest and discussion in this newsgroup. -- To: Distribution From: David K. Kahaner, ONR Asia [kahaner@xroads.cc.u-tokyo.ac.jp] Re: Computing in Hong Kong 11 July 1991 This file is named "hongkong.91" ABSTRACT. Computing activities in Hong Kong are described. INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY. China (including Taiwan and Hong Kong) has almost 1.3 billion people, five to six times the population of the United States, and more than ten times the population of Japan. Both Taiwan and mainland China consider themselves part of one country, although there is a small difference of opinion as to who is in charge. We presented a report on computing in Taiwan earlier, (see Taiwan, 17 Jan 1991), and a forthcoming report will discuss mainland China explicitly. This report is limited to Hong Kong. Comprising several small islands and a section of the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong has been under British control for two hundred years. Hong Kong Island is the best known of these islands and the location of a spectacular array of large modern skyscrapers, dominated by the Bank Of China Building, and Victoria Peak, the latter the location of former British summer residences. The adjacent mainland portion (Kowloon) is another tourist center, packed with hotels and shops. Hong Kong will revert to China in 1997. At the moment it is officially under British control, although mainland Chinese are being incorporated into its administration and government. There are the expected disputes between Britain and China about how much money should be left in Hong Kong's treasury, who should make decisions concerning contracts that overlap 1997, etc. Plans to construct a new multi-billion dollar international airport were the focus of this controversy while I was there, with China, Britain, and Hong Kong all claiming they had the right to have final say. Among Hong Kong's population, there are differing points of view on this transition. Most of the professionals are apprehensive because of the uncertainty, while some feel that ultimately it will be a good thing to be united. But many industrial firms are packing up and moving, and there has also been a well publicized exodus of Hong Kong citizens to Canada and other hospitable countries. Other people are hedging their bets and attempting to obtain foreign passports with the hope that they won't be forced to use them. One Hong Kong scientist asked me if I knew how he could get a British passport (I didn't). Britain has set up a quota system for a limited number of British passports depending on age, education, and vocation of the applicants. Apparently there is an excess of some scientists and engineers who have applied, and not enough managers. I was told a story about 2,000 well-to-do (and shrewd) Hong Kong citizens who purchased East German passports shortly before Germany was reunited. The general feeling was very well expressed by one scientist, who put it this way, "we are hoping for the best and preparing for the worst." The nearby Portuguese-run island of Macau will revert to Chinese control in 1999, two years after Hong Kong. Computing and related research in Hong Kong is fragmented, with individual universities going their own way; laissez faire is a good way to describe the state. This might equally apply to other aspects of activities within Hong Kong, which appears to be the ultimate "free market". There is a great deal of creative energy, especially at the University of Hong Kong, but I had very little sense that there were any coordinated programs among the universities. This assessment is tentative however, as I had no opportunity to speak to government officials who might be promoting such things. Also, the situation might change as Hong Kong's new Science and Technology university begins operation; the government has identified information technology as a key area this university should focus on. Nevertheless, the computing world here is quite different from, say, Singapore (see my report, 19 June 1991, Singapor) in which coordination is dramatically apparent. About three years ago a study was commissioned to determine if the Hong Kong government could justify the purchase of a supercomputer for use at the universities and other public facilities. That study concluded that such a purchase was not justified at the time, although perhaps there was also some concern about where this machine would ultimately end up. I sensed that a mini-super, at least, would be very useful. There are six main college/universities in Hong Kong. The University of Hong Kong The Chinese University of Hong Kong The Hong Kong Polytechnic The City Polytechnic of Hong Kong The Hong Kong Baptist College Ling Nam College The first two have both graduate and undergraduate programs and have faculty members engaged in research. The remainder are more focused on vocational training and some postgraduate (mostly MS) programs. Their faculty also do some research. There is a brand new university The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology which will open its doors to students this fall (1991). I visited U-HK, HK-Poly, and HKUS&T. All three are either bursting at the seams or in the midst of a frantic building program. I had no opportunity to visit ChineseU-HK but was told that this is a fairly traditional university that has heavy emphasis on the social sciences. HK-U, HK-Poly, and ChineseU-HK have enrollments in the range 10-13,000, and HKUS&T is anticipating similar numbers within a few years. Hong Kong has a population of about 6,000,000 so there does not appear to be much doubt that this level can be maintained as long as the government provides financial support (these are all public institutions). HONG KONG UNIVERSITY. HK-U is on Hong Kong island, in a very hilly setting. Buildings are stacked, and it is difficult to walk more than a few meters in any direction without encountering steps. There are some beautiful views. HK-U has a very active Computer Science department, established in 1988. I had met the Chairman in Taiwan, where I was impressed with one of his research papers. Prof. Francis Yuk-Lun Chin Department of Computer Science University of Hong Kong Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong Tel: +852 859-2178, Fax +852 559-8447. Email: CHIN@CSD.HKU.HK, or CHIN%CSD@HKUJNT.BITNET The current department has about 15 faculty. In the 89-90 academic year, there were about 120 students, 43 CScience undergraduates, 60 CEngineering undergraduates, and 14 graduate students. Almost all of the faculty have PhD from Western universities such as Princeton, Columbia, Waterloo, Wisconsin, Illinois, London, etc. Research interests span the usual range of those in Computer Science departments, although I did not sense much activity in numerical computation, and none in numerical analysis (I had no opportunity to visit the Mathematics department), although at least one faculty member (W.W. Tsang) is interested in statistical computation. There is some work in parallel and distributed computation, related mostly to programming environments, networking, systems, and object oriented programming. Chin's research that caught my attention in Taiwan was concerned with computation on a hypercube. It is somewhat theoretical and was done while he was on sabbatical in the US. His current responsibilities leave little free time for research. There is a generous collection of modern Unix workstations, but I did not see any parallel computers at the University. There may be some at local industries however. The department has generated a credible number of publications, mostly in English, many in well known journals. There is an active visitor program. While I was there Prof Robert Uzgalis (retired from UCLA) was ending a year's visit. The University provided him with support and housing. Uzgalis claimed that the Chinese students he met were very creative and diligent, and more suited for creating new software than some other Asian groups he had dealt with. He also commented that there was an excess of skilled computer talent in Hong Kong, and many graduates are forced to accept positions in financial or other fields. In fact, I did not see any evidence of an information industry, although I was told that there is at least one PC clone (Sigma) produced in Hong Kong. (The new HKUS&T has as one of its goals to build the information industry in Hong Kong.) However, while I was in Hong Kong I watched an exceptionally well done computer video that was presented on TV as an advertisement for the proposed new airport. It showed the bay surrounded by tall buildings, water disappearing and slowly being replaced by runways, followed by a 747 on its final approach and landing. Unfortunately I was not able to get any information about where this was made. HONG KONG UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY. The most interesting new scientific development in Hong Kong is its new university, HKUS&T, which will consist of a grouping of professional schools emphasizing science, technology, engineering, management and business. There is a deliberate decision to make the university focus on technology transfer to industry. In fact there is a plan to create two separate types of positions to attract scientists from both the academic research community and the industrial/commercial R&D sector. Initially, the teaching language will be English, but university administrators acknowledge that Chinese will also be pervasive to satisfy "a practical need for our graduates to be able to flourish up north". At the time of my visit, the university staff were located in an office building one block from the center of the downtown portion of (the mainland-Kowloon) Hong Kong, but a brand new campus is being built outside central Hong Kong and is visualized as more like a college town than an urban campus, set along the ocean on 60 hectares, including not only the university complex but sports facilities, student residences for over 2,000, senior staff apartments of 1500- 2000 sq.ft, shops, etc. Academic staff are being recruited actively. Senior members are being sought by all traditional methods including academic "head hunting". Advertisements in scientific journals are also used. I noticed a large ad in a recent SIAM Newsletter, indicating very handsome salaries and benefits. Many of these senior positions have now been filled, and there is a long list of scholars who have spent many years at very well known universities in the West, including Berkeley, Princeton, USC, CalTech, Brown, Oxford, MIT, and the like. Roughly two thirds of the senior staff have Asian names, the remainder appear to be Western. The university reluctantly has acknowledged that they will have to pay department salary differentials based on market conditions. There are many growing pains, and some chaos as the first students will appear this fall. More than 10,000 applicants vied for about 560 undergraduate positions. The following year about 2000 students are expected. Plans are to have about 10,000 students by the end of the decade. (Regardless of the long term future of the university, I think that its first students will have a very rich and rewarding educational experience.) The following chart describes the planned enrollments. Figures are undergraduates/graduate students/faculty & staff. 1991 1993 1995 1999 ---- ---- ---- ---- Science 180/30/49 835/130/129 1503/365/192 2024/430/263 Engineering 230/42/39 1054/126/120 2070/433/209 3192/726/317 Business & Mgt 150/60/31 1034/210/104 1963/474/161 2798/627/226 Hum & Soc Sci 0/ 8/15 0/ 61/ 50 0/155/ 80 0/200/110 Within the School of Engineering, Computer Science and EE will be co-equal as the largest programs. Surprisingly, Mathematics will eventually be the largest program in the School of Science, half again as large as physics, and almost twice as large as chemistry. Perhaps this is related to the strong Mathematics faculty, of whom five have already been selected, including two professors from Brown (Hsieh and Shen), a former department head from Princeton (Hsiang), and a research mathematician who spent 20 years at the US Naval Research Laboratory (Yang). The Computer Science program will be headed by a Princeton PhD and former MCC program manager (Shen). The university President (Woo) was formerly President of San Francisco State University. The university is planned to be a first class research establishment, and funding has already been secured for programs in biotechnology and information technology. There are a large number of additional proposals in areas such as advanced materials, energy, scientific computation, manufacturing, cognitive science, and others. A Materials Characterization Center, Microfabrication Center, CAD/CAM Lab, and others are being built. A computer environment is also being developed. It will consist of heterogeneous microprocessors such as micros and workstations, connected with a few large minis and mainframes via a FDDI (Fiber Distributed Data Interface) network. The network is in the form of a dual ring of trees; optical fiber will be routed to various central locations, and then Ethernet cables will connect to individual users. The net will not only be connected to offices but also to all campus housing. Some of this network is already installed. There is at least one HP 70MIP workstation and many other workstations are presently in boxes waiting for installation. The university claims that every department will have or share a computer lab for use by graduate students and faculty, and every faculty member will have a workstation. Well known software such as IMSL and SAS is installed and available through the computer center. The new campus will be connected to others in HK via a 9,600 baud line, and a T-1 line to Britain will be installed sometime in 1992. Plans are to link the university via real-time video and data paths to Asia, Europe (via London) and US (via California), to allow it "to become one of the most international of all the world's universities"! Certainly, the failed supercomputer for Hong Kong would have been very useful. As things stand now users will have to find creative ways to use distributed workstations. I have no special insight about the future prospects for this university. Unfortunately, I did not meet with senior members of the administration or the research faculty, but only with staff from Computer Services, and one member of the new computer science department. At this point the university has no track record and only an energetic new faculty and developing physical plant. The university could become the high-class research center that it hopes to be. Mostly it will depend on the commitment of the Chinese government to maintain the path set out by university founders, as well as that government's ability to sustain the university's financial requirements. For senior Western scientists who have joined the faculty I believe that things are more clear. Most of these people are in the later stages of their professional careers and the university now has more than enough momentum to carry them along for a number of years. The same would be true for visitors. It will be interesting though, to see how successful the university is at recruiting mid career faculty, and it will be important to follow progress here during the coming decade. My primary contact at HKUS&T is Dr William Max Ivey Director, Computer Services and Telecommunications Hong Kong University of Science & Technology 12/F, World Shipping Centre Harbour City 7 Canton Road, Tsimshatsui Kowloon, Hong Kong Tel: +852 302 1411, -1533; Fax: +852 736-7088 Email: CCMAX@USTHK.BITNET although his address and telephone number will change within the next few months as the new campus is opened. THE HONG KONG POLYTECHNIC HK-Poly is within walking distance of the center of Kowloon, thus an urban campus, which is being expanded. As mentioned above HK-Poly is more of a vocational center than a research university. Nevertheless it has about 13,000 students, although only about 60% are degree candidates. I met with Mr. Dennis M.T. Yek Head of Department Hong Kong Polytechnic Computer Center Hung Hom, Kowloon Hong Kong Tel: +852 766-5940, -5932; Fax: +852 764-2647 Poly's computing facilities include about 8 Vax 11/780s or equivalents, some PCs, and terminals. There are no Unix workstations yet. Software includes ACSL (for system simulation, including solution of differential equations), IMSL, GLIM, Ansys, LP/Protran, Macsyma, SAS, SPSS, AutoCAD, various database products such as Oracle, and a fair selection of graphics software such as Movie, Gino, etc. As usual, the computer center is overworked and understaffed. I had no opportunity to speak with any members of the scientific faculty. All these schools are connected together via electronic networking (Harnet: Hong Kong Academic & Research Network). The individual nodes are connected either by leased/dedicated circuits or through the Hong Kong Telephone Company DATAPAK service. There is a common gateway for access to international networks. Interestingly, there is a printed directory of electronic mail users that integrates all the universities (very helpful). This might be available on-line as well. ROYAL OBSERVATORY (300 staff) Main contact. Mr. Yeung Kai Hing Senior Scientific Officer Royal Observatory 134A Nathan Road Kowloon, Hong Kong Tel: +852 732-9331, Fax: +852 721-5034 This is a department of the Hong Kong Government, that primarily operates weather forecasting, cyclone warning and related meteorological and geophysical services. The main facility stands on a wooded hill in the center of downtown Kowloon. In crowded Hong Kong the land value alone must be astronomical. The administration is housed in a beautiful British colonial building dating from the 19th century, and one expects to see white-suited moustached men with cold drinks sitting on the veranda. In many ways the Observatory is a world apart from the frantic activity in most other parts of Hong Kong. Various weather information is collected from ships, weather buoys, aircraft, island and land stations, and data (including video) is also transmitted by weather satellites and microwave. This includes such things as air and sea soundings (wind, temperature, pressure, humidity, solar radiation, evaporation, evapotranspiration, sea temperatures, sea waves, tides, etc.), radar, microwave cloud pictures, rainfall, and others. A Royal Navy officer is attached to the Observatory with the function of liaising with Navy ships in the China Seas and western Pacific. The Observatory is also responsible for coordinating marine data for the South China Sea. Advice on marine climalogical conditions is given to various companies, especially those engaged in offshore oil activities. Staff from the Observatory also teach courses in atmospheric science at Hong Kong universities. The main activities of the Observatory are as follows. * Record keeping and climatological services * Radioactivity monitoring and assessment in order to determine background radiation levels in conjunction with Daya Bay Nuclear Power Station. There is also a Monitoring and Assessment Center. * Time service based on Caesium Beam Atomic Clock, and broadcast by various radio stations. * Geophysics and astronomy, primarily to monitor earthquake activity and gravimetric measurements, via seismometers, and accelerographs, etc. * Hydrometeorology, mostly via raingauges for water resources information and flood forecasting models. * Oceanography, including storm surge simulation, tidal monitoring and modeling, and wave and swell numerical models. * Applied meteorology, effect of terrain on wind flow and participates, and in particular various studies related to locating the new Hong Kong airport. Generally, weather related activities account for about 90% of the Observatory's expenditures ($10-15M US). There are communications links between the Observatory and meteorological centers in Tokyo, Bangkok and Beijing (9600 baud). All together, these amount to 4-5 MBytes per day. This data, plus that generated locally is processed into various charts and forecasts. Most of the computing is being handled by several minicomputers, such as Data General Eclipse S/140, MV20000, etc. There is a substantial amount of data acquisition, plotting, display and tape archival equipment. Databased weather data amounts to about 300MBytes/year, and Oracle is the main database product in use. There were two IBM RS/6000 Unix workstations in crates yet to be installed when I visited. The Observatory decided to purchase these after the decision was made not to obtain a supercomputer for Hong Kong. The staff is heavily involved in day-to-day forecasting, but would like to do more serious numerical modeling and a small supercomputer maintained elsewhere would have been ideal. The IBMs will also be useful but will require maintenance and training. These will be the first Unix machines at the Observatory. More computer horsepower will also enable them to work on image enhancement techniques, computer animation, etc. Storm surge models have been carried out at NOAA, and a single layer vertically integrated bay model has been run at the Observatory. The staff would like to increase this to a multilayer model as well as to perform various finite element computations. Hong Kong weather is subject to the vagaries of both tropical and extratropical weather systems as well as Asian monsoons. Hilly terrain and large land/sea contrasts give rise to complex small scale atmospheric circulations, leading to significant local weather variations. Some very interesting modeling is being done using a limited area model developed by the Japan Meteorological Agency. On current computers this is run once each day to give forecasts up to two days ahead. Some of this computation will be very much improved with the new workstations. Observatory staff do not appear to be active in research, although there are clearly many fascinating topics that could be examined. I also did not get the impression that there was much collaborative activity between the Observatory and universities in Hong Kong, even though there is an active international meteorological community that they do interact with. There is no electronic mail, a serious deficiency, and until recently not enough computer power for significant numerical research. Nevertheless the Observatory has many interesting problems, a long scholarly history, and a wonderful setting. I think that the new HKUS&T would be well served by developing some cooperative projects. ----------------------------END OF REPORT------------------------------ -- Shun Yan Cheung | cheung@mathcs.emory.edu | Office: (404) 727-3823 Emory University | cheung@emory.bitnet | Fax: (404) 727-5611 Dept of Math and CS | "Obtaining freedom is easy, using it responsibly is hard" Atlanta, GA 30322 | "If the people lead, the leaders will follow."