Ten years ago, Matthew Fung Kai-yiu was one of 26 University of Hong Kong students who climbed Yuzhu Feng, a 6,178 metre peak in Qinghai . They joined fellow students from Peking and Tsinghua universities at the summit. That was July 1, 1997, the day of the handover.
Now Mr Fung plans to lead his own team of students to the mountain top as part of an adventure-education programme of HKU's Institute of Human Performance.
As in the ascent 10 years ago, Peking and Tsinghua teams will join the HKU team of 22 staff and students.
Mr Fung, a sports officer at the institute, hopes the climb will be as much a defining moment for his students as it was for him a decade ago.
'I'd become more mature, I'd become more concerned about the environment,' he said about how he felt after finishing the climb.
The team hopes to reach the summit on July 1, paying homage to both the first HKU trek up Yuzhu Feng and the handover 10 years ago.
For second-year HKU student Gabriel So Kar-lok, who is embarking on his first summit climb, the overlap between the expedition and the 10th anniversary of the handover is a bonus.
