The joyous laughter took the chill off when a big crowd of alumni and exchange-out students joined President Professor Tony Chan and Vice-President Dr Eden Woon in Beijing on a December night to celebrate the festive season together. Excited to learn about the various momentous initiatives now in place at HKUST, they all look forward to coming back to their alma mater very soon.

Just incepted last October, the Shenzhen Alumni Association has already staged a vibrant array of programs on top of the regular happy hours and dinners in Shenzhen. Mr Zhang Xuechuan, Senior Analyst at HuaChuang Securities, was invited to share on "E-commerce Changes Traditional Retail Industry" in a seminar co-hosted with the Redbird Forum. Its Executive Committee Members gave a detailed account of their activities to the Civil and Environmental Engineering Postgraduates and Scholars Alumni Association during the latter’s recent reunion. Badminton lovers got the chance to showcase their talents as they competed with counterparts from Peking University HSBC Business School and Central China Normal University MBA in Shenzhen in several tournaments. The hike to Tang Lang Hill Country Park allowed members to enjoy an active but relaxing day. They also visited the Association of Finless Porpoise Conservation Yueyan in March and promoted protection of finless porpoises to show their care for the environment.