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With the Chinese University of Hong Kong (Amendment) Bill 1965, the Government moved a number of amendments to the principal Ordinance. The related records of the then Hong Kong Legislative Council indicated that the amendments were "regarded as desirable amendments of a 'tidying-up' nature" proposed with the advice and recommendation of the Council of the University. With passage of the said Amendment Bill, among other things, the University was renamed as "The Chinese University of Hong Kong".

Dr Choh-Ming Li, the first Vice-Chancellor of the University, elaborated on the name of "The Chinese University of Hong Kong" at the 19th Congregation of the University in 1978. He said:"Another common interpretation given to the name of the University is that the word Chinese means Chinese culture, hence implying that the University is a university of Chinese culture. Of course no university can be separated from its national setting. Thus, all universities established in China or by overseas Chinese are Chinese universities, all universities in the United Kingdom are British universities.… There is nothing unique about that…. What is unique is that we have dedicated ourselves to a special mission, namely, the introduction and development of Chinese data into each and every one of the academic disciplines…In a nutshell, The Chinese University of Hong Kong is the university that seeks to include a Chinese dimension in all academic disciplines". Dr. Li also said that "In the modern sense, the second character "文" (of the University motto "博文約禮"), the same as the second character of the name of the University denotes all academic disciplines. Thus the motto reinforces the proper meaning of the name of our University".

Dr. Li further pointed out that "all universities established in China or by Chinese overseas are Chinese universities, ours is The Chinese University, with a capital T, in order to put into sharp focus the special mission of this University".