The building housing our Institute (LianDe Lou) has since September last year undergone half a year of renovation and at the end of January this year we could move back from our temporary offices in FoTan to our old building. On this occasion we need to thank three units, first of all the Norwegian foundation AREOPAGOS which supplied the funding for the renovation: the cost reached 2.2 million Hong Kong dollars. What we have hoped for through five years has finally been realised and we have a modernized office environment and furnishings. Second we must thank the Nelson Chen Architects Ltd., who have completed this work in no common haste and we thank them for their extraordinary efforts. Thirdly we must thank the Logos Publishers Ltd. for their help in procuring a fair-priced temporary office for our Institute so that we could avoid homelessness and nowhere to stay.
On the way towards the threshold of the year 2000 A.D. the whole world is full of expectations and worries, we expect the future to come by great leaps and jumps, and our worries soon go beyond control. Since the registration of our Institute for Sino-Christian Studies in 1995 the routines of work have very quickly taken on speed, and the results have been substantial and surprising, but while on the way to the year 2000 the board of directors have wisely requested us to slow down, to review former gains and losses and prepare to deal with even greater future opportunities.
The year 2000 will be one of recuperation and rebuilding. But, while lying low we are determined to strengthen our research side in number and diversity, to improve the quality of our translations and publications, to strengthen all functions of our academic exchange unit and our research unit, to upgrade the outward interchange and transparency of our Institute and to establish a team network inside and outside China.
This first issue of our newsletter in the year 2000 is named ‘Newsletter of the Institute of Sino-Christian Studies’ and we will abandon the former day-by-day format of information. Beginning with this issue a gentle change into a new format will take place and we hope to give a more lively spirit to our newsletter.