Our story begins at a time when trains to the CU campus were still powered by diesel and were so infrequent (think one every hour) that many students had to commute by bus. Before long, the bus stops near 12 Miles, Taipo Road where  the Main Entrance is now became the most popular gateway to campus. It was not until the recent improvement of the KCR and public transport network near the University train station that the entrance at the University Station became the most trafficked entrance of CU nowadays. Still, the Main Entrance remains a significant landmark of CU.

The Main Entrance of the University adopts an open design without gates or doors. Upon arriving at the Main Entrance of the University, visitors are greeted by the four Chinese pillars and a stone tablet. The open entrance free of barriers of any kind represents the close relationship between the University and the Hong Kong society. Made of granite, steel bars and concrete, each pillar is 29' 3" in height, typical of traditional Huabiao (or "publicity post") which is an important architectural feature representing the liberal and open spirit of the University. Situated at the side of the entrance is a stone tablet which reads "The Chinese University of Hong Kong" in elegant Chinese calligraphy by Dr. Li Choh Ming, the founding Vice-Chancellor of the University. At the back of the tablet is a copper plaque commemorating the donation of HK$0.31 million by a anonymous patron of the pillars and the tablet. You can have a better sense of how big this figure was back in the 1970's by comparing it to the construction fee of other building in CU. The construction fee of the Institute of Chinese Studies, which was established in the early 1970's, was just $1.5 million!