Campus Geography: A Hillside Campus Between Mountain and Sea

# Campus Geography: A Hillside Campus Between Mountain and Sea

The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) Comprehensive Information Database · 05 Campus Module

The main campus of The Chinese University of Hong Kong (hereinafter ‘CUHK’) is located in Ma Liu Shui, at the north‑western edge of Sha Tin District in Hong Kong's New Territories. Facing Tolo Harbour and backed by a range of hills, it is the largest university campus in Hong Kong and the only one built entirely on a mountainside. CUHK’s Chinese website describes the campus as overlooking Tolo Harbour with the Pat Sin Leng range in the distance, calling it a ‘concerto of mountain and sea’^※ (source: CUHK website · Campus). This article unpacks the campus layer by layer: where it sits, what the land was before, how steep it is, what it faces, and what the weather and ecology are like — facts first, every claim traced to its source.

# 1. Location: a mountain on the western shore of Tolo Harbour, at the north‑western edge of Sha Tin

• Administrative location: CUHK’s main campus sits at Ma Liu Shui, at the north‑western edge of Sha Tin District in the New Territories. According to Wikipedia, the campus coordinates are roughly 22°25′ N, 114°12′ E, ‘built on a hillside’^※, near Tolo Harbour (source: Wikipedia · The Chinese University of Hong Kong).
• Coastal, mountain‑backed: The campus faces Tolo Harbour and its inner bay, with hills behind it and a distant view of Pat Sin Leng; the CUHK website describes it as ‘overlooking Tolo Harbour, with views to Pat Sin Leng’ (source: CUHK website).
• Site area: According to the Chinese version of the CUHK website, the campus ‘covers 138.4 hectares’^※ (source: CUHK website · Campus); Wikipedia records it as roughly 138 hectares (1.38 km²)^※ (source: Wikipedia). The discrepancy arises from different measurement conventions; this database presents both figures. On either measure, CUHK is the largest university campus in Hong Kong by area.
• Transport links: The CUHK website states that the train journey from Kowloon on the East Rail line takes about thirty minutes^※, and the Lo Wu border is about twenty minutes away (source: CUHK website · Campus). The south‑eastern gateway to the campus is the MTR University Station. For external transport, see Transport and Facilities.

# 2. A history of site selection: from Hakka wasteland to university ground

The Ma Liu Shui area that now holds the CUHK campus was sparsely populated before the university was established. Its transformation from wasteland to university town threads together place‑names, railways, land grants, and village relocation.

# 2.1 ‘Delighting in mountains and waters’: the founding vision for the site

According to the outlet StoryStudio, one of CUHK’s founders and the first head of Chung Chi College, Lin Daoyang (1888–1993) — a renowned forestry scholar — designated Ma Liu Shui as the site for Chung Chi in 1955 because it ‘faces Ma On Shan, overlooks Tolo Harbour, delights in mountains and waters, and is an ideal place for quiet study and retreat’^※ (source: StoryStudio · The pioneering legend of CUHK). This phrase has since become almost an ancestral motto in CUHK’s campus publicity, appearing repeatedly on the official website and in guided tours.

# 2.2 Land grants and ‘dispersed sites’

StoryStudio relates that the Hong Kong government initially granted 10 acres^※ to Chung Chi College; Lin Daoyang cleverly arranged for these 10 acres to be scattered across seven locations in the Ma Liu Shui valley, so that the college’s effective sphere of control far exceeded the original grant. By the time CUHK was founded in 1963, the institution controlled roughly 300 acres of land originally earmarked for afforestation (source: StoryStudio · The pioneering legend of CUHK). It was this afforestation land that later provided the land bank for levelling the hill and accommodating the colleges.

# 2.3 Timeline of establishment

• According to StoryStudio and multiple sources: 1963 — The Chinese University of Hong Kong is founded, comprising Chung Chi, New Asia, and United Colleges. The oldest (Chung Chi) traces its origins before 1951^※ (source: English Wikipedia · Chung Chi College).
• According to the English Wikipedia: Chung Chi College was founded in 1951 and moved to its permanent site in the Ma Liu Shui valley in 1956^※ (source: English Wikipedia · Chung Chi College).
• According to Wikipedia (University Station): the Kowloon–Canton Railway established a station for Chung Chi; Ma Liu Shui Station opened on 24 September 1956. It was announced on 11 December 1966 and formally renamed^※ ‘University Station’ on 1 January 1967 (source: Wikipedia · University Station).
• According to Wikipedia (CUHK): 1969 — the University’s central administration offices moved to the current Sha Tin campus (source: Wikipedia · The Chinese University of Hong Kong).

# 3. Three plateaux carved from a hill: the skeleton of the hillside campus

The official description of CUHK as ‘built on a hillside, divided into three levels from top to bottom’ is one nearly every student can recite. The topography is not natural; it is an engineered landscape of plateaux carved out of a single hill.

# 3.1 The official framework of ‘three plateaux’

The standard description on the CUHK website is that the campus is built on a hillside, ‘from the hilltop to the foot, it can be divided into three levels from high to low’^※ (source: CUHK website · Campus); the English version calls them three plateaux^※ (source: CUHK English · Campus). The three levels correspond roughly to:

(The sites listed for each tier are drawn from the CUHK website and Wikipedia; individual buildings are not detailed here — see Directory of Campus Buildings and Places.)

# 3.2 A master plan for levelling a hill

According to Wikipedia’s entry on W. Szeto, the campus architect and planner of the ‘University Development Plan’, W. Szeto (Szeto Wai) during his tenure ‘carefully planned the entire hilltop on which the campus stands, levelling it into a three‑stepped layout’^※ (source: Wikipedia · Szeto Wai). In other words, the ‘upper, middle, and lower’ skeleton of today’s hillside campus is the product of planning and earth‑moving, not natural landforms. The architectural and planning story is taken up in Campus Buildings, Landmarks and Sustainability.

# 4. Vertical drop and the lived experience of a ‘hillside city’

From the valley floor near Tolo Harbour, the CUHK campus climbs steadily to the hill‑top plateaux occupied by New Asia and United Colleges. The CUHK website and Wikipedia both describe the campus as being divided into three levels ‘from hilltop to foot’ (source: CUHK website · Campus), creating a pronounced vertical drop that makes the free shuttle‑bus service an everyday necessity for moving between tiers.

• MTR University Station sits at the lowest point of the campus (foothills, near Tolo Harbour). Exit D, added on 28 September 2012^※, was built specifically to help staff and students connect with the uphill shuttle buses and new teaching buildings (source: Wikipedia · University Station).
• Getting from the foot of the hill to the top relies on the free campus shuttle buses; the CUHK website states that the University provides ‘a free “campus shuttle bus” service’^※, with most routes operating during the day Monday to Saturday (source: CUHK website · Campus Transport). The operation of the shuttle‑bus system is set out in Transport and Facilities.

‘Waiting for the bus, climbing the slopes’ has thus become a universally acknowledged part of daily life for CUHK students — a campus culture shaped directly by the terrain. This article states it plainly, on the basis of traceable facts, without embellishment.

# 5. Facing Tolo Harbour: the land‑and‑sea setting

• Tolo Harbour: The lower campus directly faces the inner bay of Tolo Harbour; the CUHK website says the campus ‘overlooks Tolo Harbour’ (source: CUHK website · Campus). Chung Chi College’s Lake Ad Excellentiam lies in this lower valley — one of the best‑known water features on campus (for its name and the details of the waterscape, see Campus Buildings, Landmarks and Sustainability).
• Distant peaks: The campus looks out towards Pat Sin Leng and, across the water, Ma On Shan; Lin Daoyang’s original site‑selection rationale was precisely that it ‘faces Ma On Shan and overlooks Tolo Harbour’ (source: StoryStudio).
• A sea‑view plateau: The upper campus (New Asia and United Colleges) and the Pavilion of Harmony occupy the hill‑top, commanding a panoramic view of Tolo Harbour; the Pavilion of Harmony is famous for a shallow pool whose water surface ‘merges into a single line’^※ with the harbour, creating an effect where the sky and water seem to become one (source: Wikipedia · Pavilion of Harmony) — see Campus Buildings, Landmarks and Sustainability.

# 6. Micro‑climate and ecological pattern (an overview)

Backed by hills and facing the sea, with extensive greenery, CUHK has a micro‑climate and ecology distinct from the flat urban districts. According to the CUHK website, ‘much of the land on campus is covered in greenery’, and the grounds include pavilions, medicinal plant gardens, sculptures, award‑winning buildings and natural landscapes^※ (source: CUHK English · Campus). A systematic account of campus ecology — including the holdings of the Hu Shiu‑ying Herbarium, birdlife, and trees — can be found in Museums and Campus Ecology and is not repeated here.