Despite its size and great distance from the Chinese capital, Hong Kong has long served as China's bridge in international educational exchange. It is not only the cradle of the Chinese tradition of crossing the Pacific to study in America, but it has continually refined its role as changes occurred on the mainland. This is especially true during the past quarter century when many students left China for study in the United States. While the mainland was sending talent across the Pacific, Hong Kong reaped the benefit of educational exchange in the opposite direction, attracting large numbers of academic staff to its rapidly expanding university system, resulting in a gradual transformation of academic culture. (Contains 10 tables.)