On 6 December 2017, CUHK–Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation Asia-Pacific Centre for Chinese Studies, Institute of Chinese Studies, CUHK, Ecole française d'Extrême-Orient Centre, and Center for Studies of Daoist Culture, CUHK jointly organised a public lecture, "Deliver Us from Evil: The Daoist Quest for Release in Medieval China" by Professor Franciscus Verellen, former Director of the Ecole Française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO) from 2004 to 2014. Professor Verellen's lecture is drawn from his forthcoming book, The Balance of Fate: Daoist Paths to Redemption in Medieval China.

Franciscus Verellen is Professor of the History of Daoism at the EFEO. He is a member of the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres and a senior research fellow at the Institute of Chinese Studies, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. With Kristofer Schipper, Verellen co-edited The Taoist Canon: A Historical Companion to the Daozang (Chicago, 2004).