Li Ka Shing Tower and the Named Building Cluster: A Donor Map of Campus Buildings

PolyU Integrated Information Database · Campus Module 05

There are now more than ten buildings on PolyU’s Hung Hom campus named after benefactors. The Li Ka Shing Tower (Block M), completed in 2001 and backed by a HK$100 million^※ donation from the Li Ka Shing Foundation in 2000 — the largest personal donation the University had received at that point — stands as the most prominent. The entire campus is, in effect, a “walkable map of Hong Kong philanthropy.” This article traces the named buildings in order of completion, together with the donation amounts, naming ceremonies, and the stories behind the donors. For the architectural character and block‑number system of the buildings themselves, see <Iconic Buildings and Landmarks>; this article concentrates on the donor trail without retracing architectural language.

# 1. How the Li Ka Shing Tower came about

On 1 June 2000^※ the Li Ka Shing Foundation donated HK$100 million to PolyU. The University’s announcement described it as 「創校以來所獲得最大數額的個人捐款」 (the largest personal contribution ever received by PolyU since its inception). The Council at once resolved to name the tallest new building then under construction the Li Ka Shing Tower in recognition of the gift and of Mr Li’s contribution to Hong Kong’s higher education.

At the presentation ceremony Li Ka-shing attended in person. According to the Li Ka Shing Foundation’s record^※, he remarked: 「理大具有清晰的目標——培養能將知識付諸實踐的專業人才……我熱愛香港，衷心希望能為香港教育的進一步發展作出貢獻。」 (“PolyU has a clear mission — to nurture professionals who can turn knowledge into practice … I love Hong Kong and sincerely wish to contribute to the further development of education in Hong Kong.”) The remark echoes PolyU’s “application‑oriented” identity with precision, and at the same time highlights the logic that has long governed business‑sector giving to Hong Kong universities: a focus on practical talent rather than on academic abstraction.

# 2. What kind of building is the Li Ka Shing Tower itself?

The Li Ka Shing Tower was formally named on 19 September 2001^※. Designed by Wong Tung Group (王董建築師有限公司), the tower has a gross floor area of about 25,000 m² — comprising a 19‑storey main block plus a two‑storey podium — according to the Wong Tung project page^※; the Chinese Wikipedia^※ gives a net floor area of about 22,500 m². The building carries the letter‑code Block M. The design concept is “three geometric volumes that intersect,” and a band of pink‑brick cladding ties it to the campus’s red‑brick tradition; the drum‑shaped top makes it the campus’s commanding landmark. The tower formed the core of PolyU’s Phase 6 Campus Development Plan and houses a student computer centre, classrooms, lecture theatres, administrative offices, and the Senate Chamber — making it the literal and institutional centre of the University.

# 3. Which other campus buildings are named after donors?

The Li Ka Shing Tower is not an isolated case. Since the 1970s, PolyU’s Hung Hom campus has steadily acquired buildings named after business leaders and charitable organisations, forming a “donor‑naming regime” that spans half a century. The table below surveys the principal named buildings, ordered by year of completion.

Table notes: “Completed” and “named” sometimes differ (the Pao Yue‑kong Library building was completed in 1976 but named after Sir Yue‑kong Pao only in 1995). “Amount not publicly disclosed” means no accessible source records a figure; it does not mean there was no donation. Block codes follow the official PolyU campus map; some buildings (e.g., Ho Iu‑kwong Building) are still referred to colloquially by their block code or former name (“Block W / Industrial Centre”).

# 4. Who stands behind the names?

Unfold the names in the table and you have a pocket sketch of post‑war Hong Kong’s commercial and industrial history. Sir Run Run Shaw (1907–2014) was the central figure behind Shaw Brothers Studio and Television Broadcasts Ltd (TVB); in his later years the Shaw Foundation funded over a thousand educational institutions in Hong Kong and on the mainland. PolyU’s Blocks VA and VS were part of that web. Sir Yue‑kong Pao (1918–1991), the “World Shipping King,” poured his World‑Wide Shipping Group fortune into local charities; the PolyU library was formally named after him on 20 December 1995^※, after his death.

Lee Shau‑kee (b. 1928) is the founder of Henderson Land Development. According to a 2006 South China Morning Post report^※, he donated HK$45 million to PolyU, which with matching government funds brought roughly HK$90 million to the project — a 14‑storey building at the north‑eastern corner of campus now known as the Lee Shau‑kee Building (Block Y). Ho Iu‑kwong (1906–1997), founder of the Welfare Group and a noted collector of calligraphy and painting, is commemorated by Block W and the adjacent square; the 14 October 2014 naming ceremony^※ was officiated by his eldest son Ho Sai‑chu together with his eight siblings. The Hong Kong Jockey Club is the most important institutional donor on campus, having given its name first to the Jockey Club Auditorium (2000) and later to the Jockey Club Innovation Tower (2014; for a full reading of its design language see <Jockey Club Innovation Tower>). The Innovation Tower alone involved a donation of HK$249 million^※, still one of the largest single institutional gifts to PolyU.

# 5. What does “largest personal donation since inception” actually mean?

The qualifier “largest personal donation” warrants a closer look. Scope: both PolyU and the Li Ka Shing Foundation use the phrase “personal donation” (個人捐款). The Hong Kong Jockey Club gave HK$249 million (2011) as an institutional donation — a larger sum but in a category that is not directly comparable. Cut‑off point: the record refers to the year of the gift (2000); whether PolyU has since received larger personal donations is not clearly documented in public sources. With those two qualifications, the description is accurate on its own terms.

At the naming ceremony^※, then‑President Poon Chung‑kwong said: 「在全球化經濟加速之際，人才需求已成為國際性議題……像李博士這樣富有遠見的社區領袖給予我們巨大鼓舞。」 (“As the globalised economy accelerates, the demand for talent has become an international issue … Visionary community leaders like Dr Li give us immense encouragement.”) The remark ties naming directly to a talent‑development strategy: a naming is not merely ceremonial; it is a public compact that binds a donor to the University’s mission.

# 6. How does the dual system — block code plus donor name — work?

Two naming systems operate in parallel at PolyU. The first is a functional letter‑code system: campus buildings are labelled A through Z (excluding I, K, O), and staff and students navigate by those block codes every day. The second is an honorific donor‑name system, which appears in official communications and on building plaques. The two do not conflict — the Li Ka Shing Tower is simultaneously “Block M”, the Pao Yue‑kong Library is “Block L”, and the Jockey Club Innovation Tower is “Block V”. Undergraduates tend to orient themselves by block codes and, when speaking to outsiders, drop in the donor name. In campus culture each system does its own job.

One notable case is the Chiang Chen Studio Theatre: Chiang Chen (1923–2022), founder of Chen Hsong Holdings, saw his Chiang Chen Industrial Charity Foundation support PolyU’s industrial‑talent programmes for many years. The theatre named after him sits in the lower ground floor of the Chung Sze Yuen Building and seats 247. A venue named against a background of “industrial charity” rather than property or shipping prominence adds a distinctive footnote to PolyU’s donor‑naming landscape.

# 7. How have naming trends shifted since the 2000s?

Entering the 2020s, two new trends have emerged. First, the naming unit has expanded from “whole building” to “research institute”: the Pan Lok‑to Charity Foundation (潘樂陶慈善基金) donated HK$100 million^※ in 2021 to name the Institute for Sustainable Cities and Infrastructure (SCRI) — a sum no smaller than the Li Ka Shing Tower donation, yet the naming object is a research entity rather than a physical building. (For other institute endowments see the section on “Research institutes and specially named spaces” in <Iconic Buildings and Landmarks>.) Second, the purpose of donations is tilting towards service‑oriented initiatives: the Seal of Love Foundation Building (Block BC), named in December 2023, was backed by a HK$45 million^※ gift from the Seal of Love Foundation (the Lawrence Chan family) to establish a health and service impact fund, with a five‑year university student mental‑health training programme as its first project. The donation points away from “bricks and mortar” and towards “service plans,” reflecting the structural shift that comes as the physical scope for campus expansion narrows.

# 8. What do the named buildings mean for PolyU’s image?

PolyU’s predecessor bodies — the Government Trade School (1937) and Hong Kong Polytechnic (1972) — were long financed primarily by government grants. After its upgrading to university status in 1994, the University energetically cultivated business‑sector partnerships, and building naming is the most visible fruit of that strategy. The cluster of the Li Ka Shing Tower, Lee Shau‑kee Building and Jockey Club Innovation Tower appeared between 2001 and 2014, precisely the window during which PolyU’s international rankings climbed rapidly and the campus embarked on its last major round of physical expansion. Swapping naming rights for large donations brought the University funds while giving donors a conspicuous and lasting public tribute — a reciprocal logic that has turned the PolyU campus into a physical archive of Hong Kong’s post‑war mercantile‑philanthropic culture. (For the funding sources, matching mechanisms and the University’s overall fundraising strategy, see <08‑Finances · Donor Directory>; this article concentrates on the tangible thread of “how a donation becomes a building you walk into for class.”)

# 9. From donation cheque to door plaque: the shared ritual of the naming ceremony

Read the various naming occasions closely and a fairly set ceremonial template emerges: donation agreement → construction or selection of the corresponding building → naming ceremony → unveiling of the plaque. The ceremony almost invariably includes three elements — a vote of thanks from the University (often citing the gift’s significance to students and disciplinary development), remarks by the donor or family representative, and the unveiling itself (ribbon‑cutting, cloth‑removing, or button‑pressing to light up the plaque). The Ho Iu‑kwong Building was unveiled by eight of Ho’s children together; at the Li Ka Shing Tower the President quoted the donor’s own words during the ceremony. These are concrete illustrations of the ritual. A naming, one might say, is less a one‑off administrative decision than a public, ceremonial “social contract” enacted between a university and its benefactor.

The matching logic between building and name is also worth pondering: a full‑scale academic‑administrative tower (Li Ka Shing Tower, Lee Shau‑kee Building) pairs with a large personal donation; a sports hall (Sir Run Run Shaw Sports Centre) pairs with a donor closely associated with sports philanthropy; a library (Pao Yue‑kong Library) marries a “temple of knowledge” with the posthumous honour of a shipping magnate. Between the function of a building and the public image of its donor there is often an implicit or explicit resonance — this is never a simple case of “the highest bidder gets the name.”