The 60s
1961
Mrs. Jennie MAK LING, an instructor at the Yale Institute of Far Eastern Languages, came to Hong Kong to found a private language school that taught Cantonese to expatriates. This language school was our predecessor.
1963
With generous support from New Asia College and Yale-in-China Association, New Asia--Yale-in-China Chinese Language Center (CLC) was established. It moved to the New Asia College campus on Farm Road and became its subsidiary institution to offer full-time and part-time Cantonese and Mandarin programmes for expatiates, including CUHK foreign staff and students.
Director in service: Prof. Parker Po-fei HUANG, Cantonese Section Head, Institute of Far Eastern Languages, Yale University, US.
1964
Director in service: Mrs. Jennie MAK LING.
Institute of Far Eastern Languages of Yale University sent Mr. Richard I-feng CHANG to help develop Mandarin courses for two years.
1967
Director in service: Dr. Francis S. HUTCHINS, representative of the Yale-in-China Association in Hong Kong.
1968
Director in service: Mr. Ming LIU.
Mandarin courses for CUHK local students and Mandarin teacher training course were offered for the first time.
1969
Part-time Mandarin courses for local Chinese were offered for the first time.
The 70s
1970-71
Acting director in service: Prof. Timothy LIGHT, representative of the Yale-in-China Association in Hong Kong.
1974
Joined CUHK as an auxiliary teaching unit.
The 80s
1980
Fong Shu Chuen Building, built with the Fong Shu Fook Tong Foundation’s generous donation as our permanent home, began operations. We moved from Farm Road to CUHK Shatin campus.
1989
Acting director in service: Mr. Cheuk-sang HO.
The 90s
1990
Fong Yun Wah Hall, our second permanent home built with the Fong Shu Fook Tong Foundation’s generous donation, began operations.
1991
Director in service: Prof. John C. JAMIESON from the University of California at Berkeley, US.
1998
Cantonese courses to CUHK undergraduate students from mainland China were offered for the first time.
2000 to Present
2001
Director in service: Dr. Weiping WU, a linguist from the Center of Applied Linguistics in Washington DC, US.
2004
The commencement of the four major academic activities of CLC (the Language Assessment Project (LAP), the Curriculum Revision Project (CRP), the Teaching Materials Project (TMP), and the Teacher Training Project (TTP)) and the establishment of the Academic Activities Division (AAD).
2006
The Pragmatic Internship in China (PRINCH) programme was launched. Putonghua PRINCH destinations include Guangzhou, Beijing, Xi’an, Yantai, Dali and Hong Kong, while Cantonese PRINCH destinations include Guangzhou and Hong Kong.
Downtown Learning Centre opened (successively in Causeway Bay, Tsim Sha Tsui, North Point and Jordan until May 2020).
2007
Commencement of the use of Tsim Sha Tsui classrooms for CLC's part-time programmes.
2009
Joined the Faculty of Arts and renamed as “Yale-China Chinese Language Centre” (CLC).
The national-level Business Chinese Test (BCT) was offered for the first time.
“Linguistics and Teaching Chinese as a Second Language” was published.
2012
The University Programme Section moved to K.K. Leung Building.
2013
Offered the Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi (HSK) for the first time.
Chinese as a Second Language Teaching and Research Society (CSLTARS) was established.
2016
Non-credit Cantonese and Putonghua courses were offered to CUHK undergraduate and masters students for the first time.
2020
Director in service: Prof. HOYAN Hang Fung, Carole, Professor of the Department of Chinese Language and Literature.
2021
1-unit asynchronous online taster courses (Cantonese and Putonghua) were offered to CUHK undergraduate and masters students for the first time.
2022
In collaboration with the Department of Linguistics and Modern Languages, two minor programmes in Chinese (Cantonese/Putonghua) as a Second Language were launched.
2-unit Cantonese, Putonghua, and Hokkien courses were offered to CUHK undergraduate and postgraduate students for the first time.
2023
CLC held 60th anniversary exhibition and antique display.
2024
CLC joined Centre for China Studies (CCS) and was renamed Yale-China Chinese Language Academy (CLA). Director in service: Prof. HOYAN Hang Fung, Carole, Professor of the Department of Chinese Language and Literature.