Lee Woo Sing College: Wisdom, Humanity, Integrity, Harmony; Lee Woo Sing and an Anonymous Mega-Donation

In October 2007, a donor whose identity was kept confidential donated HK$150 million to CUHK, requesting the establishment of a new college. For over two years, neither CUHK nor the wider world knew who the donor was; not until January 2010 was the mystery solved—the donor was Dr. Lee Woo-hing, a Hong Kong member of the Tianjin Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), who named the college after his elder brother, Lee Woo Sing. This made Lee Woo Sing College the most suspenseful founding story among the nine new colleges. Its motto, "Wisdom, Humanity, Integrity, Harmony" (知仁忠和), is taken from the Rites of Zhou, with the final character "Harmony" (和) echoing the college's name. Over a decade later, this college named for "harmony" has navigated a smart-card privacy controversy, an unauthorised alteration scandal, and, in January 2026, the suspension of its student union, marking the final chapter in a wave of student union shutdowns across CUHK colleges.

This piece is an in-depth profile of Lee Woo Sing College, far more detailed than the relevant section in the general overview of this volume, focusing on the college's origins, naming donation, positioning, landmarks, traditions, controversies, and recent institutional turbulence. As the history of the new colleges is still short, this profile errs on the side of omission where public materials are limited.

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# 1. Basic Overview

Lee Woo Sing College is one of the new colleges established by The Chinese University of Hong Kong from 2007 onwards. It belongs to the same "medium-sized, partially residential" category as Wu Yee Sun College, accommodating roughly 1,200 students. Its founding is distinguished by the tale of an "anonymous mega-donation unveiled three years later."

The college is situated on a slope next to Shih Lun Road, adjacent to the Chan Chun Ha Hostel of United College. The campus was designed by Rocco Yim and constructed by Tysan Foundation and Hsin Chong Construction, using "screw pile and temporary steel platform technology." The LG3 floor houses a multi-purpose hall, a canteen on LG2 is operated by LSG Sky Chefs, and the college provides a total of around 600 hostel places.

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# 2. Naming and Donation: An Anonymous Mega-Donation

# Anonymous Donation and 2010 Unveiling

According to Wikipedia · Lee Woo Sing College^※, in October 2007, an anonymous donor contributed HK$150 million to CUHK to found this new college. The donor's identity was initially kept secret and only unveiled in January 2010: the donor was Dr. Lee Woo-hing (a Hong Kong member of the Tianjin Municipal Committee of the CPPCC), and the college was named after his elder brother, Lee Woo Sing. This sequence of "anonymity first, revelation later" set Lee Woo Sing College apart from the other new colleges—the identities of the donors for the other four new colleges were all publicised at the time of donation, leaving Lee Woo Sing with a "suspense period" of over two years.

# About Lee Woo Sing

According to Wikipedia · Lee Woo Sing^※, Lee Woo Sing (1928–27 October 2022) was a veteran of Hong Kong's financial sector and a philanthropist, after whom the college is named. At the time of the naming unveiling, Lee Woo Sing was over eighty and one of the most senior figures in Hong Kong finance. Dr. Lee Woo-hing, likewise a founding patron of "The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Lee Woo Sing College," also served as Chairman of the College Board of Governors.

# The Origin of the Name "Woo Sing"

According to the Official Lee Woo Sing College website · Founder and Patron^※ and official materials, Dr. Lee Woo Sing's original given name was something akin to "Wu Xing." As the official account goes, when he began his apprenticeship at the age of fourteen, his father changed his name to "Woo" (和, harmony) and "Sing" (聲, voice), signifying that harmony is most precious in all matters—the name "Woo Sing" itself embodies a philosophy of life. Naming the college "Lee Woo Sing" both commemorates this respected figure and infuses the college culture with the spirit of "harmony."

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# 3. The Motto "Wisdom, Humanity, Integrity, Harmony" and the College Song

According to Lee Woo Sing College (English Wikipedia)^※ and the Lee Woo Sing College Official · Signature^※, the college motto is "Wisdom, Humanity, Integrity, Harmony" (知仁忠和), taken from the ** Rites of Zhou ** (one of the Three Rites). According to the official interpretation, the first two characters, "Wisdom" (知) and "Humanity" (仁), emphasise the pursuit of knowledge and moral cultivation, while the latter two, "Integrity" (忠) and "Harmony" (和), stress correct attitudes in dealing with people and the world—"Wisdom" is the quest for knowledge, "Humanity" is benevolence, "Integrity" is loyalty, and "Harmony" is harmony. The final character of the motto, "Harmony" (和), directly echoes the "Woo" (和) in the college's name, Lee Woo Sing, creating a resonant pairing of name and motto.

The college song is called "The Voice of Harmony", composed by the renowned Hong Kong film composer Peter Kam with lyrics by Kwok Ka-chun. It is relatively uncommon among the nine colleges for a professional musician to compose a tailor-made anthem for a university college of just over a thousand students, a fact that also resonates with the musical connotation inherent in the name "Woo Sing" (Harmonious Voice).

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# 4. Positioning and Landmarks

# A Medium-Sized, Partially Residential College

With a scale of roughly 1,200 students (600 residential, 600 non-residential), Lee Woo Sing is comparable to Wu Yee Sun College, placing it in the "medium-sized, partially residential" category among the new colleges. While the college does not mandate full residency, the residential community is notably active.

# The College Architecture

According to Wikipedia · Lee Woo Sing College^※, the Lee Woo Sing College campus was designed by architect Rocco Yim, with construction completed in mid-2012. Like Morningside, S.H. Ho, and several other new colleges, it was designed by Rocco Yim, giving this batch of new colleges a familial resemblance in architectural vocabulary. Built into a slope along Shih Lun Road, the project employed screw pile and temporary steel platform technology to cope with the topographical constraints.

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# 5. College Traditions

• "Harmony" Culture: With the name "Woo Sing" and the motto "Wisdom, Humanity, Integrity, Harmony," the concept of "harmony" forms the bedrock of the college's communal culture. Its activities often emphasize communication, collaboration, and inclusiveness.
• College Song "The Voice of Harmony": Composed by Peter Kam with lyrics by Kwok Ka-chun, this is a rare instance among the nine colleges of a college anthem specially created by well-known musicians.
• WS College General Education: According to the Office of University General Education^※, the college's general education programme is designed around its "Wisdom, Humanity, Integrity, Harmony" philosophy, focusing on moral character, communication, and whole-person development.
• Internationalisation and Exchange: Lee Woo Sing College places emphasis on cultivating students' international perspectives, offering exchange and study-tour programmes.

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# 6. Masters of the College

According to Wikipedia · Lee Woo Sing College^※, the inaugural Master was Professor Lau Wan-yee (2010–2024, an internationally renowned hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgeon and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences). According to official sources, CUHK announced Professor Lau's appointment as Master-designate in June 2008, and he was formally appointed Master of Lee Woo Sing College in January 2010. His tenure spanned fourteen years and ended with his passing while in office. The current Master is Professor Ren Yang (appointed from 1 July 2024). Professor Lau, a senior medical academic, steered Lee Woo Sing for over a decade, making a significant contribution to the new college's formative years and establishment, and his tenure was one of the longest among the Masters of the nine colleges.

For living individuals, only neutral facts are recorded; the list of Masters is based on official and authoritative sources.

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# 7. Controversies: Smart-Card Privacy, Hostel Security, and Unauthorised Alterations

Over the course of a decade, Lee Woo Sing College has weathered three specific, recordable controversies, all corroborated by public reporting.

# 2012: WS Access Plus Smart-Card Privacy Controversy

In late 2012, the college announced the adoption of a smart-card access control system named WS Access Plus, requiring students to tap their cards when entering or leaving the college, residential floors, individual rooms, and even washrooms. This measure sparked concern among students, with the core worry being that a large amount of personal entry and exit data would be retained by the system, posing a privacy risk. According to public information, this controversy did not appear to escalate into a large-scale formal complaint or external investigation, but it reflected a general sensitivity towards privacy boundaries among staff and students during the early implementation of smart campus security systems.

# October 2015: Female Hostel Intrusion Incident

According to public reports, in October 2015, an unidentified man was reported to have entered a female residential floor of Lee Woo Sing College. This incident is mentioned in some materials discussing hostel safety at the college, but publicly available records are limited regarding the specific details, the individual's identity, and the outcome.

Credibility Note: This event is mentioned in scattered public records. Detailed authoritative follow-up reports on specifics (whether police were involved, whether it led to a criminal investigation, or subsequent remedial actions) are absent. Credibility: single source. It is recorded here to preserve a historical record of campus safety issues without dramatisation.

# 2018–2019: LG1 Unauthorised Alteration Controversy

According to public reports, starting in June 2018, the college converted a previously designated student common activity space on the LG1 floor into two "visiting scholar flats." In June 2019, it was revealed that this renovation plan was "inconsistent with the approved plans and suspected of being an unauthorised alteration," sparking a dispute between the Buildings Department and the university over the project's approval process. This controversy highlights a specific and common campus governance issue: the quiet reallocation of public activity space for other purposes, with the renovation process not fully declared in accordance with regulations. Similar cases exist in the residential management history of other CUHK colleges, and it is worth understanding this in the broader context of "how colleges use and repurpose communal spaces."

Credibility Note: The LG1 unauthorised alteration matter is reported in public records with specific years and the finding that works were "inconsistent with the approved plans." Credibility: multiple corroborations. However, the final investigation conclusion from the Buildings Department and subsequent rectification details by the college are not fully disclosed in public records.

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# 8. 2026 Student Union Suspension: The Last Case in a Wave of Shutdowns

On 3 January 2026, the Lee Woo Sing College Student Union notified students that due to "force majeure factors," the 2025/2026 term election had to be suspended immediately, and all candidate cabinets were ordered to cease promotional activities immediately. Two weeks later, on the evening of 16 January, the Lee Woo Sing College Student Union issued a farewell letter, officially announcing its dissolution.

This was the fifth case and, to date, the final case in the wave of student union shutdowns across CUHK's nine colleges. Four other college student unions had already ceased operations previously: C.W. Chu (January 2025), Shaw (21 December 2025), Wu Yee Sun (23 December 2025), and New Asia (27–28 December 2025). The university's unified public stance, as reported by The Epoch Times^※, was that only student organisations that have completed independent registration can operate, and it would not recognise groups that have not registered independently under the Companies Ordinance or the Societies Ordinance if they "claimed" to be a college student union or its members. The Lee Woo Sing Student Union used the phrase "force majeure factors" to suspend its election—a euphemism that stands in stark contrast to the blunt wording in the New Asia Student Union's farewell letter, which declared that "staff-student co-governance is thoroughly dead," reflecting the markedly different scales of public statement chosen by various college student unions during the shutdown process.

It is deeply ironic that the student union of this college, named after "harmony" and whose motto ends with that very character, ultimately concluded its affairs with the euphemistic wording of "force majeure," rather than leaving behind a farewell letter with the sharp language seen from New Asia. This profile merely juxtaposes these facts based on public reports, without subjective commentary on this contrast. For the university-wide policy context of this issue and a broader picture of the five-college shutdown, refer to Section 6 of College Expansion and 334 Reform.

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# 9. Unofficial History and Rumours (Low Credibility)

Credibility Warning: The content in this section comprises mostly hearsay, campus word-of-mouth, or online forum anecdotes. It has not been verified by authoritative historical sources and its credibility is low. It is provided purely for cultural interest and should not be cited as historical fact. This site does not adopt any subjective judgments involving living individuals; the following rumours do not correspond to any real person.

Pre-Unveiling Speculation on "Who the Anonymous Donor Was"

During the period from 2007 to 2010 when the donor's identity was kept secret, there was considerable speculation on campus and in the media about who this anonymous benefactor might be. To clarify: the donor was officially announced by the university in January 2010 to be Dr. Lee Woo-hing, with the college named after his brother Lee Woo Sing. Any prior pre-unveiling speculation is now meaningless and was mostly conjecture. This site records only the officially announced facts and does not rehash the speculation from those years.

The "WS = Most Harmonious / Least Conflicted College" Equating

Because the college is named "Woo Sing" and its motto is "Wisdom, Humanity, Integrity, Harmony," a joking equivalence occasionally circulates among the community suggesting that "Woo Sing is the most harmonious / least conflicted college in the university." To clarify: this is a purely literal interpretation of the college's name with no objective basis whatsoever. Its credibility is low, and it is merely a conversational titbit—especially considering the college itself has experienced a smart-card privacy controversy and an unauthorised alteration scandal. The "most harmonious" claim seems more like a well-intentioned joke than a factual statement.

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