Upon the establishment of Chung Chi College, Bishop Ronald Owen Hall (1895-1975), Founder of the College, appreciated the Christian cross of the Xi'an Stele and said, “I hope that the cross resting on the lotus flower and the flames emerging from the clouds will constitute the emblem of Chung Chi College.” With the cross as the main motif, the College launched the emblem design competition in 1953, offering a prize to encourage all Chung Chi students to submit entries, from which the Board of Governors selected a winning design for the creation of the first-generation College emblem.

The top and bottom of the rectangular-shaped emblem are inscribed with the College name and motto in the small seal script respectively. The Jingjiao cross in the middle implies that the gospel is rooted in China and has a long history. The lotus on the base traditionally signifies the flower rising unsullied from the mud, embodying Jesus’s holiness and incarnation for accomplishing atonement for the sins of the world. The clouds on the left and right have an age-old implication of auspiciousness, indicating a propitious omen is coming. The flames of the cross symbolise brightness, referring to the divine light of Christ shining throughout the universe.

In 1961, the College revamped the original design of the emblem in line with the establishment of The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Changed from rectangular to shield-shaped, the emblem was rendered to be more conspicuous and aesthetically pleasing with a seamless blend of Eastern and Western cultures in the overall composition, manifesting Chung Chi’s founding spirit of carrying forward the tradition and forging ahead into the future.