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 support from New Asia College and Yale-in-China Association, the 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 expatriates, 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.
The Institute of Far Eastern Languages of Yale University sent Mr. Richard Yi-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 local students of The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) and Mandarin teacher training courses were offered for the first time.
1969
Part-time Mandarin courses for local Chinese students 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. CLC moved from Farm Road to the CUHK Shatin campus.
1989
Acting Director in service: Mr. Cheuk Sang HO.
The 90s
1990
Fong Yun Wah Hall, our 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 from the Center of Applied Linguistics in Washington D.C., US.
2004
The commencement of the four major academic projects (namely the Language Assessment Project (LAP), the Curriculum Revision Project (CRP), the Teaching Materials Project (TMP), and the Teacher Training Project (TTP)).
2006
The Pragmatic Internship in China (PRINCH) programme was launched. Putonghua PRINCH destinations include Guangzhou, Beijing, Xi’an, Yantai, and Dali, 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).
2009
Joined the Faculty of Arts and was renamed as “Yale-China Chinese Language Centre” (CLC).
The national-level Business Chinese Test (BCT) was offered for the first time.
The first of the nine-volume series “Linguistics and Teaching Chinese as a Second Language” was published (The last volume was published in 2020).
2012
CLC's University Programme Section (UPS) moved to Leung Kau Kui Building.
2013
CLC offered the Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi (HSK) for the first time.
The 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 postgraduate students for the first time.
2020
Director in service: Prof. HOYAN Hang Fung, Carole, Professor of the Department of Chinese Language and Literature.
2021
Asynchronous online taster courses (Cantonese and Putonghua) were offered to CUHK undergraduate and postgraduate students for the first time.
2022
In collaboration with the Department of Linguistics and Modern Languages, two minor programmes in Chinese Language (Cantonese) as a Second Language and Chinese Language (Putonghua) as a Second Language were launched.
A Hokkien course was offered at UPS.
2023
CLC held its 60th-anniversary exhibition and antique display.
2024
CLC joined the Centre for China Studies (CCS) and was renamed as "Yale-China Chinese Language Academy" (CLA).
Director of CCS in service: Prof. HOYAN Hang Fung, Carole, Professor of the Department of Chinese Language and Literature.