Tour de Taiwan

PEKING UNIVERSITYAUTUMN 2010 Issue 13PEKING UNIVERSITYAutumn 2010 Issue 13ContentsYe LangLeadingan Aesthetic LifeFan JinshiDaughter of DunhuangDirector of the Dunhuang AcademyAvram Noam ChomskyContours of World Order:Continuities and Changes|12|16|19Editorial BoardAdvisor: Li Yansong, Vice Presidentfor International RelationsChair: Xia Hongwei, Director,Office of International RelationsVice-Chair: Yan Jun, Zheng Ruqing, Wang YongCoordinator: Luo Ling, Gu Xue, Zhang YuanyuanDesigner: He YouEditorial Team: Clifford Ames, Gao Xiaojin,Zhang Yuan, Pang Tong, Li Xueyao, Lin Kun,Liu Tong, Shi Xiaofei, Chen Miaojuan, ChenXi, Liu Zixuan, Lin Yijun, Li Linshan, An Tairan,An Xiaojing, Luan Ruiying, Sun Shuqiao,Yang Xu, Qin Yihan, Chen Danlu, Yang ShuoPhoto: Wang Wenquan, Wang TiantianPeking University Newsletter is a publicationfor alumni and friends of Peking Universityand is produced by the Office of InternationalRelations (OIR). Please feel free to suggest ideasfor us to explore in future issues, or suseestionabout ways we can improve the publication.Contact UsAddress: Office of International RelationsPeking University, 100871Beijing, P.R. ChinaPhone: +86-10-6275-1246 ext. 215Fax: +86-10-6275-1240Email: luoling@pku.edu.cnNewsletter OnlineThe Newsletter can be read online at:www.oir.pku.edu.cnThe views expressed in this publication are theviews of the authors and do not necessarilyreflect the views of the Editorial Board.02 News & Events04 SpotlightDiversity in Aesthetics — The 18 th International Congress ofAesthetics Held in Peking University.............................................................0407 AcademicPKU Professor’s Research Published in Advanced Material........................... 07Review Paper of Professor Piao Shilong Published in Nature......................08New Chinese Edition of The Spirit of Chinese Philosophy...............................09The Establishment of the Institute for Advanced Humanistic Studies.........09Conference on Novel Quantum States in Condensed Matter ..................... 10The 11 th China Communication Conference................................................. 11The Establishment of the Chinese Poetry Research Institute........................ 1112 PeopleProfessor Ye Lang: Leading an Aesthetic Life.................................................12Daughter of Dunhuang —Dr. Fan Jinshi, Director of the Dunhuang Academy....1619 VoiceContours of World Order: Continuities and Changes..................................19Tony Elliott and His Time Out........................................................................ 2123 Points of ViewWhat is literature?...........................................................................................23Issues of Chinese Development.....................................................................23About Student Development .........................................................................2324 International CollaborationThe China University Center of Energy Management .................................24Joint Excavation Project between PKU and Kenya .......................................2425 CampusThe Mung Bean Dreamers: “Paint” the World Green!..................................25Tour de Taiwan: Encircle and Embrace............................................................2638 ColumnA Latte at Tokyo...............................................................................................28Professor Li Dazhao: The Founder of China’s Marxism............................... 3132 GivingThe Green Pine Care Fund .............................................................................32AEON Scholarship Fund Signed at PKU........................................................33The He Shanheng Library Room Dedication................................................33

News & Events0407010509 08Peking University01Alumni AssociationJuly 17 thThe Founding Ceremony of thePeking University Alumni Associationwas held on the 17 th of July, 2010, andit began with the announcement ofthe election of its first complement ofBoard Members. The former Presidentof Peking University, Professor XuZhihong, was appointed the HonoraryChair of the PKU Alumni Association,and in his comments to the gatheringhe expressed his sincere wish that theorganization would help to strengthenthe ties between the alumni and theiralma mater. In accepting the position ofChair of the PKU Alumni Association,Mr. Jaime Flor-Cruz, a 1977 graduate ofPeking University’s History Department,expressed his personal commitmentto the university and to furthering thework of the Association in employingthe considerable resources of theschool’s foreign students to acceleratethe school’s globalization process.The Seventh LSE –02PKU Summer SchoolAugust 9 thOn the 9 th of August, 2010, BrendanSmith, the Head of China Affairs forthe Research and Project DevelopmentDivision of LSE, hosted the OpeningCeremony of the Seventh LSE – PKUSummer School at Peking University.In attendance were the Vice Minister ofthe Office of International Relations ofPeking University, Zheng Ruqing, andthe Academic Director of the LSE – PKUSummer School Program, Francis Snyder,as well as more than 270 students from45 countries around the world. Sinceits inception in 2004, the LSE – PKUSummer School has recruited worldrenowned professors annually to teachcourses in the fields of economics, law,international relations, and management.The 2010 Annual Students’03Symposium of ScienceSeptember 6 thOn the 6 th of September, 2010, the AnnualStudents’ Symposium of Science was heldunder the auspices of the Youth LeagueCommittee of Peking University, the Centerfor Student’s Extracurricular Activities andthe Student’s Association of Science andTechnology. At the Opening Ceremony, theVice President of Peking University, ZhangYan, expressed his hope that the symposiumwould contribute to the sharing of scientificknowledge and to the promotion ofscholarship. Dr. James Watson Cronin, the1980 Nobel Prize winner in Physics, deliveredthe keynote address entitled “Observationsof Highest Energy Cosmic Rays” in whichhe argued that science was the universal andthe beautiful language of human kind.“The Great Teacher”04 performed at PKUSeptember 12 thOn the 12 th of September, 2010, thetraditional Korean folk drama entitled“The Great Teacher” was performedat Peking University. In recognitionof the ongoing cooperation betweenPeking University and SungkyunkwanUniversity, the distinguished SouthKorean dancer, Lin Hexuan, acceptedthe role of Art Director in staging aspecial performance of the play thatcombined traditional elements withmodern elements, and that employedpowerful symbolic props, such as anenlarged image of the lotus plant.Appropriately, the plot of “TheGreat Teacher” was organized intoa five part chronological sequence:birth, study, hardship, death, andrebirth. The Vice President of PekingUniversity, Lin Yansong, and the VicePresident of Sungkyunkwan University,Hyun – soo Kim, were among thelarge and appreciative audience.Former President of the05Republic of Polandvisits Peking UniversitySeptember 15 thOn the 15 th of September, 2010, theformer President of the Republic ofPoland, Mr. Aleksander Kwasniewski, ledan official Polish delegation on a visit toPeking University. The Assistant Presidentof Peking University, Li Qiang, and anumber of representatives from the PKUadministration, met Mr. Kwasniewskiand his associates on their arrival andwarmly welcomed them to the campus.After a brief round of introductions,former President Kwasniewski delivered aspeech entitled “The Future of EuropeanIntegration” in which he reviewedEurope’s past history, examined itscollective present, and anticipated itscommon future. He finished his talkby expressing his expectation that theEuropean Union will build a strongerpartnership with China through mutualcommunication and cooperation.Osaka University07DaySeptember 20 thOn the 20 th of September, 2010, theOpening Ceremony of Osaka UniversityDay was held on the Peking Universitycampus. The Vice Minister of the Officeof International Relations at PekingUniversity, Yan Jun, welcomed thedelegates from Osaka University to PKUand expressed his sincere hope thatthe strong friendship between the twouniversities and their respective countrieswould continue to grow and deepen inthe future. In response, the Vice Presidentof Osaka University, Kiichiro Tsuji,thanked Peking University on behalf ofhis colleagues, and went on to providean overview of his university’s history. Heemphasized the great importance OsakaUniversity attaches to internationalexchanges, and he welcomed Chinesestudents to visit Japan and to continuetheir studies in Osaka. After theopening formalities, representativesfrom both universities discussedrecent developments in the variousdisciplines offered by their schools.08 Celebrating the 60th Anniversaryof the University’sEnrollment of Foreign StudentsSeptember 29 thOn the 29 th of September , 2010, theChinese Ministry of Education joinedPeking University in celebrating theoccasion of the 60 th Anniversary ofthe University’s Enrollment of ForeignStudents in the People’s Republic ofChina. Among the participants wereChinese government and universityofficials, Chinese and foreignstudents, and diplomats from thevarious national embassies locatedin Beijing. Liu Yandong, a memberof the Politburo of the CPC CentralCommittee, addressed the assembly andstressed the importance of the ongoingexchange of international studentsworldwide as a means to globalunderstanding, cooperation, peaceand prosperity. During his remarks, heinvited more foreign students to cometo China to pursue their studies, andhe called upon the Chinese studentswho were present to strengthen theirdiplomatic ties with their foreigncolleagues. The 60 th Anniversary ofthe University’s Enrollment of ForeignStudents concluded appropriatelywith a splendid performance stagedby the foreign students living onthe Peking University campus.09 The 7th InternationalCultural FestivalSeptember 29 thThe 7 th International Cultural Festivalwas held at Peking University on the29 th of September, 2010, in conjunctionwith the Commemorative Celebrationof the 60 th Anniversary of PekingUniversity’s Enrollment of ForeignStudents. Since its inauguration in 2004,the International Cultural Festival hasbeen a yearly celebration of trans-globalcultural communication, and this yearit added a series of new activities to thetraditional ones, such as the AmbassadorForum of the “Green Campus,” andthe Chinese Speech Contest. This year’sfestival adopted the theme “GreenCampus” with a view to making both theChinese and the foreign students moreaware of the importance of sustainabledevelopment and the environmentalprotection of the university campus.02 Peking University Newsletter AUTUMN 2010 | Issue 13 03

SpotlightThe 18 th International Congress of AestheticsHeld in Peking UniversityOver the past century, the InternationalAssociation of Aesthetics(IAA) has held seventeen congressesin Europe, Asia, North America,and South America, most of them occurringafter intervals of three years. Thisyear, from the 9 th to the 13 th of August,2010, the Eighteenth International Congressof Aesthetics (ICA) was hosted forthe first time in China at Peking Universitythrough the joint sponsorship of theInternational Association of Aesthetics,Peking University, and the Beijing MunicipalEducation Commission.The International Congress of Aestheticswas originally established in 1913 asan exclusive club of Western aestheticsscholars, but over the intervening yearsit has grown and become very much aninternational organization As developingcountries continue to play increasinglyimportant roles in the sphere of globaleconomics, their voices as the arbiters oftheir own cultures are becoming progressivelymore louder and influential. Chinais one of these developing countries, andin recent decades it has become highlyintegrated into the world’s economic order.Now it is eager to share its rich culturalheritage with the rest of the world.Before the Eighteenth International Congressof Aesthetics began, the Director ofthe Aesthetics and Aesthetic EducationCentre at Peking University, ProfessorYe Lang commented: “The InternationalCongress of Aesthetics will be an excellentopportunity for Chinese scholars tofamiliarize themselves with the latest aestheticdevelopments in other countries,and at the same time to introduce uniqueChinese aesthetic concepts to the world.”The Eighteenth International Congress ofAesthetics was the largest conference onaesthetics that has ever been held in theworld, and it was attended by representativesfrom the highest levels of scholarshipin this discipline. In response to itschosen theme, “Diversities in Aesthetics,”the Beijing Congress received a great dealof interest and attention from both homeand abroad, with more than 600 scholarsfrom over 60 countries converging onPeking University to share their ideas onaesthetic philosophy.The Opening Ceremony of the EighteenthInternational Congress of Aestheticswas held at Peking University on the9 th of August, 2010. The Chinese Ministerof Education, Yuan Guiren, delivered anopening address in which he stated that“since ancient times, China has alwaysattached a great deal of importance toart and to art education, and in the 21 stcentury the country is experiencing aphenomenal surge in the people’s interestin creative endeavors. Educationalinstitutions at all levels in China havebeen encouraged to actively promotethe combination of science, technologyand art. For these reasons, the choice ofPeking University, one of the most prestigiousinstitutions of higher education inChina, as the host for this distinguishedcongress is of special significance to Chinaand to the Chinese people.” On behalfof Peking University, President ZhouQifeng extended his warm greetings toall of the scholars attending the conferencefrom around the world. In his openingspeech, he pointed out that since the1920s, under the visionary leadership ofPresident Cai Yuanpei, Peking Universityhas highly valued the study of aesthetics,and it has made a tremendous effortto promote art education and researchon Chinese and comparative aesthetics.He explained that Peking University hasbeen deeply involved in the developmentof modern aesthetics in China, and hehoped that in the future it can be an intersectionfor communications betweeneastern and western academic researcherson aesthetics. Addressing the assembledparticipants, the Director of the InternationalAssociation of Aesthetics, Jos deMul, expressed his confidence in the BeijingInternational Congress and said thathe believed the conference would contributesomething new and exciting tointernational aesthetic research. He wenton to say that he hoped that the scholarsfrom around the world who are attend-04 Peking University Newsletter AUTUMN 2010 | Issue 13 05

adma_22_39_cover.indd 19/27/10 9:04:57 AMSpotlightAcademicing the first international conferenceon aesthetics held in China would availthemselves of this opportunity to seekout and appreciate the unique aestheticexperiences that are available in Chineseculture.The five-day Beijing InternationalCongress of Aesthetics focused on thetheme of “Diversities in Aesthetics,” withmany scholars presenting papers at variouspanel sessions, and others deliveringformal talks on a great many aestheticsrelatedtopics. The diverse areas coveredin the discussions included analyticalaesthetics, continental aesthetics andart philosophy, the history of aesthetics,contemporary art, art education, music,cinema, literary theory, calligraphy, digitalart, architecture and urban planning,environmental aesthetics, neuroscienceand the psychology of art, as well asMarxist aesthetics. Unique to the conferencewere the number of sessions ondance aesthetics, a subject that had beenrelatively overlooked in earlier IAA congresseson aesthetics.Appropriate to the unique geographicaland cultural location of the BeijingInternational Congress of Aesthetics thisyear, a great number of the presentationsdealt with Asian aesthetics. Manyscholars elaborated on traditional andcontemporary Chinese aesthetics, othersaddressed a great variety of topics on Korean,Japanese, and the Indian arts, andsome attempted to elucidate the manyand subtle differences and similaritiesbetween western and Asian aesthetics.In the nineteenth century, the productionof art in China was influenced to aconsiderable extent by western aesthetictraditions, such as the works of Plato,Aristotle, Kant, Schopenhauer, Schillerand Nietzsche, philosophers whoseworks were translated into Chinese andwere widely discussed in certain influentialacademic circles. In addition,Marxist aesthetics were also introducedinto China as early as the “May FourthMovement” in 1919, and they becameespecially important during the 1950’s.On the other hand, aesthetic discussionsin China were not a new phenomenonsince they date back to the third centuryB.C., and were influenced by Confucian,Taoist, and Buddhist thinking. In makingthis rich history of Chinese art andculture apparent to the international delegates,the Beijing Congress of Aestheticswas effective in introducing the worldto Chinese art and Chinese philosophicnotions about art. Many discussions concernedeastern holistic views of natureand humankind, and artistic practicesthat attempt to resonate with the naturalas well as with the social landscape.In conjunction with the Beijing InternationalCongress of Aesthetics, thePeking University Library held an exhibitionof traditional Chinese arts and crafts,as well as Chinese calligraphy. Also, atthe Congress’s main venue, the delegateswere treated to an exhibition of variousstyles of contemporary Chinese painting.At the conclusion of the Eighteenth InternationalCongress of Aesthetics, it wasgenerally acknowledged by all participantsthat the event was an unqualifiedsuccess. The Nineteenth InternationalCongress of Aesthetics is scheduled totake place in Kraków, Poland, in 2013.PKU Professor’s ResearchPublished in Advanced MaterialAs the pace of informationizationgrows increasingly faster, thereis an urgent need for smallerinformation-processing systems whichoperate at a higher speed. Breaking thescale diffraction limit of photonic deviceshas become the key problem to be addressedin increasing the speed. In recentyears, as the research on surface plasmonpolaritons (SPP) has progressed, peoplehave found that the integration of subwavelengthphotonic devices can berealized through the manipulation ofSPP. This underlies a new revolutionarybreakthrough in the miniaturization ofinformation technology and photonic integration.Since the rough texture of themetal surface has a great influence on thetransmission loss of SPP and the opticalproperties of metal nanostructure, successfulpreparation of an ultra-smoothsurfacemetal nanostructure is of greatimportance to the study of the propertiesof SPP in nanostructure, and the realizationof SPP-based nano-photonic devices.Recently, a joint research project ledVol. 22 • No. 39 • October 15 • 2010www.advmat.deD10488by Professor Yu Dapeng and ProfessorZhang Jiasen from Peking Universityhas made new progress in this field. Theresearch group developed a new methodof template stripping that will allowfor the preparation of an ultra-smoothsurfacemetal nanostructure. They alsocombined the traditional template strippingmethod with EBL-patterned poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) layer asa template to fabricate high quality metalnanostructures with an ultra-smoothsurfaceand high aspect ratio. This processis described as follows: PMMA withthe desired thickness is spun on a siliconwafer and then is exposed and developedinto designed nanostructures via EBL.A metal layer, which is thicker than thePMMA one in order to ensure completecoverage, is deposited on the negativepatterns through magnetron sputteringdeposition. After being glued to anothersilicon substrate with an epoxy resin adhesive,the metal layer is easily strippedfrom the PMMA/silicon wafer due to theweak adhesion between the metal layerand the PMMA. After removing the residualPMMA with acetone, the resultingtop metal layer will completely inheritthe morpha and the smoothness of thePMMA patterns.The surface roughness of silver nanostructurefabricated in this method canreach 0.55-0.88 mm, at least one orderof magnitude better than other coatingmethods.The flexibility of this technique comesfrom the fact that a series of more complicatedstructures can be convenientlyfabricated with different shapes, sizes,and spacings. To demonstrate the greatpotential of this method, the team fabricateda variety of silver plasmonic nanostructuresby means of the PMMA-basedTS method and examined their morphasby using a scanning electron microscope.The results demonstrated that the nanoscaleplasmonic structures fabricatedby the new technique can achieve verysmooth and precipitous top-to-bottomprofiles at nanoscale feature sizes. Thesecharacteristics are crucial to the propagation,confinement and actual applicationsof the SPPs.The results of this research project werepublished in Advanced Materials, a top journalin the field of nanotechnology.For a complete view of this paper,please visit: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/adma.20100131306 Peking University Newsletter AUTUMN 2010 | Issue 13 07

AcademicAcademicReview Paper ofProfessor Piao ShilongPublished in NatureOn the 2 nd of September, 2010, thejournal Nature published an invitedreview paper entitled “TheImpacts of Climate Change on WaterResources and Agriculture in China”written by Professor Piao Shilong of PekingUniversity’s College of Urban andEnvironmental Sciences. Dr. Piao’s articlereports on the development of researchinvestigating the influence of climatechange upon Chinese water resourcesand agriculture.Over the last three decades, China,the most populous country in the world,has experienced unprecedented economicgrowth. With the responsibility offeeding 22% of the world’s populationwith only 7% of the world’s arable land,China is faced with a great challenge indeveloping sustainable water and agriculturalresources. Therefore, the questionof how climate change would affectChinese water resources and agriculturehas become a major concern of bothChinese scientists and international agriculturalagencies. Based on an analysisof both the domestic and the internationalresearch on the subject, Dr. PiaoShilong and his colleagues systematicallyreviewed the trends in climate change inChina and observed their correspondingaffect on Chinese water resources and agricultureover the past 50 years, and thenextrapolated their findings over the next100 years. In addition, they analyzed thedata and estimated the uncertainty of theoutcomes of various aspects of the existingresearch, and proposed the criticalissues and the profitable directions thatfuture studies in global climate changeshould consider. According to ProfessorPiao and his colleagues, the evidencesuggests that the climate in China hasbeen getting warmer over the past 50years, and that the precipitation has variedsignificantly between the north andthe south of the country. Precipitation insouthern China has increased markedly,while all of the northern areas of China,except the northwest, have had to contendwith the threat of drought. At thesame time, most of the icebergs locatedin western China are melting at a highrate. Despite these trends, Professor Piaoacknowledged that our current understandingof the overall picture makes itimpossible to give a clear assessment ofthe impact of climate change on China’swater resources and agriculture. To reacha more definitive conclusion, scientistsmust focus their future work on regionalclimate simulations—especially that ofprecipitation—and they must develop abetter understanding of both the manageableand the unmanageable responsesof crops to climate change, disease, pestsand atmospheric constituents.Dr. Piao Shilong, the chief author ofthe review paper “The Impacts of ClimateChange on Water Resources and Agriculturein China,” specializes in researchingthe responses of the terrestrial ecosystemto climate change, and since 2008 hasconsistently co-authored three researchrelatedpapers in the journal Nature peryear. In addition, he is one of the principalauthors of the chapter entitled “GlobalCarbon Cycle” from the first workingteam on the fifth assessment report of theIPCC. In 2007, Professor Piao’s researchon the escalation of the concentration ofcarbon dioxide in the atmosphere andthe affect of the alteration of land utilizationon global surface runoff and soilmoisture was published in PNAS.This research project was supportedby National Natural Science Foundationof China.For a complete view of this paper, pleasevisit: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v467/n7311/full/nature09364.htmlNew Chinese Edition ofThe Spirit of Chinese PhilosophyAnew Chinese edition of Fung Yu-Lan’s great scholarly work entitledThe Spirit of Chinese Philosophy wasrecently published by Peking UniversityPress. Sporting a fine new jacket, this latestedition of the work is as attractive inappearance as it is erudite in content. Thebook was initially translated from Englishinto Chinese in 1985 by the scholarTu Youguang, and it instantly became abest-seller. Originating as a compilationof Professor Fung Yu-Lan’s lecture noteswhile he was teaching at the Universityof Pennsylvania, The Spirit of ChinesePhilosophy was first published in EnglishThe Establishment of the Institutefor Advanced Humanistic StudiesOn the 28 th of September, 2010, PekingUniversity held a ceremonyto commemorate the founding ofthe Institute for Advanced HumanisticStudies. This newly established Institutewill consist of four different study centers,including Cultural China, CivilizationDialogue, World Religions and UniversalEthics, and The Yenching Center. ProfessorDu Weiming, the former director ofthe Harvard-Yenching Institute, was appointedthe first director of the Institutefor Advanced Humanistic Studies.The new Institute for Advanced HumanisticStudies will fully utilize theacademic resources of Peking Universityin order to promote cross-culturaland cross-discipline academic studiesand to modernize traditional Chineseculture through reflection. The Instituteis committed to providing more opportunitiesfor academic dialogue at homein China and abroad, especially withrespect to the new areas of investigationand discussion, such as a reviewand reassessment of the EnlightenmentProject, and Confucianism and Innovation.At the Founding Ceremony for the Institutefor Advanced Humanistic Studies,President of Peking University, DoctorZhou Qifeng, expressed his confidencein the continuing development of theuniversity’s proud humanistic tradition,a tradition that has always been closelytied to the destiny of the Chinese nationsince its birth. Professor Du respondedby saying that he expected that the InstibyMacmillan, and it quickly became thepreferred textbook on Chinese philosophyworldwide.In The Spirit of Chinese Philosophy,Fung Yu-Lan covers the major philosophersand philosophical movements inChina from Confucius to the middle ofthe twentieth century. Despite the limitedspace—the book is about 200,000words—Professor Fung conveys his deepunderstanding and clear sense of Chinesephilosophy and the evolving lifestylein China in a plain and unadornedstyle. As a scholar of Chinese philosophy,Professor Chen Lai, the Dean of the TsinghuaAcademy of Chinese Learning, onceremarked: “I have not found a betteraccount of the history and substance ofChinese philosophy than Fung Yu-Lan’sThe Spirit of Chinese Philosophy.”tute would help to improve the internationalinfluence of Chinese humanisticstudies, and he hoped that it would goon to make an important contribution toa long-lasting dialogue between the Eastand the West.Professor Du Weiming announcedthat the Institute for Advanced HumanisticStudies was planning to host twoacademic seminars in October and Novemberof this year, one on “The BodyPerspective of Chinese Philosophy,” andthe other on “Confucianism and HumanRights.”Professor Du was formerly the Harvard-Yenching Professor of Confucian Studiesand of Chinese History and Philosophy atHarvard University. For more than twentyyears, Professor Du has delivered lectureson Confucian philosophy at many of theworld’s premier universities, including PekingUniversity, Taiwan University, and L’Ecole Practique des Haute Etudes in Paris.Over a long and distinguished career, hehas made an outstanding contribution toConfucian studies and has been instrumentalin the spread and popularization ofChinese culture around the world.08 Peking University Newsletter AUTUMN 2010 | Issue 13 09

AcademicAcademicConference on Novel QuantumStates in Condensed MatterFrom the 1 st to the 3 rd of September,2010, the University of ChicagoCenter in Beijing hosted aConference on Novel Quantum Statesin Condensed Matter under the jointsponsorship of Peking University, theDepartment of Physics of the Universityof Chicago, the International Center ofQuantum Materials Science (ICQM), andthe Institute of Physics of the ChineseAcademy of Sciences.Among the world-experts on quantumstates invited to this conference werescholars from Stanford University, PrincetonUniversity, Massachusetts Instituteof Technology, Tokyo University, HongKong University, Tsinghua University,Zhejiang University, and Fudan University.The issues that were covered at themeeting include topological phenomenain electronic physics, symmetries andstates in the fractional quantum Hall effect,and the physics of graphene and correlatedatomic states. Some of these topicshave been developed retrospectively,but a great convergence of opinion hasemerged in recent years. All these novelstates have a fundamental significancefor physics, material science, and nanoscience,as well as potential applicationsin electronics and quantum informationtechnology. The Director of the InternationalCenter of Quantum Materials, Dr.Xincheng Xie attended the conference,and three professors from ICQM, RuiruiDu, Biao Wu, and Jun Ren Shi deliveredspeeches at the meeting.The Conference on Novel QuantumStates in Condensed Matter was the firstinternational event held at the Universityof Chicago Center in Beijing since its establishment.The purpose of this workshopwas to bring together world experts inrelated fields from the United States, Japan,Korea, and from the broad scientificcommunity in China, in order to discussthe various interpretations and understandingsof specific concepts in physics.An additional benefit that came out of theconference was the deepening of the spiritof cooperation on the study of physics thatexists between Peking University and theUniversity of Chicago.The 11 th ChinaCommunication ConferenceThe 11 th China Communication Conferencewas held on the Peking Universitycampus on July 9 th and 10 th ofthis year under the joint sponsorship of theCommunication Association of China andPeking University’s School of JournalismOn the 9 th of September, 2010, theChinese Poetry Research Instituteestablished in Peking University,with a seminar on “Poetry: Classical andModern.”The Inaugural Ceremony for theChinese Poetry Research Institute was attendedby Peking University PresidentZhou Qifeng, Vice President Liu Wei, thenewly appointed first Dean of the ChinesePoetry Research Institute, Professor XieMian, Dean of the Department of ChineseLanguage and Literature, Professor ChenPingyuan, Dean of the Peking UniversityInstitute of Chinese Classics, ProfessorYuan Xingpei, as well as Peking Universityalumnus and Chairman of the Zhong KunGroup, Huang Nubo. Other distinguishedguests included a counselor from theEmbassy of the Republic of Iceland, Mr.Ragnar Baldursson, and over one hundredscholars, poets and poetry interpreters.In his welcoming address, PresidentZhou expressed his best wishes for thefuture development of the PKU ChinesePoetry Research Institute as a leadingcenter for both creative and critical studies.In his opening remarks, he stressedthe vital role that Peking University hasplayed in the production and preservationof Chinese literature over the lastcentury, and he was confident that theInstitute would improve upon this legacyin the future by attracting the best andand Communication.The 11 th China Communication Conferencewas attended by more than twohundred and sixty scholars from homeand abroad, and in response to the conferencetheme of “New Media, DiverseThe Establishment ofthe Chinese Poetry Research Institutemost promising of China’s poetic talentsand the most accomplished and productiveof China’s literary scholars. Thecombined creative work of these complementarydisciplines he was certain wouldbe an inspirational model that wouldencourage young Peking Universitystudents to discover the depth and thebeauty of Chinese poetry. Following thePresident’s remarks, Professor Yuan Xingpei,Dean of Peking University’s Instituteof Chinese Classics, provided a retrospectiveoverview of the long tradition ofChinese poetry that stretches back morethan three thousand years and is one ofthe reasons why China can lay claim tothe title of “the land of poetry.”Peking University is the acknowledgedalma mater of generations of gifted poets,and over the years it has inspired a greatmany creative works, including a substantialbody of native Chinese poetry. As theheir to this great literary tradition, the ChinesePoetry Research Institute will harnessCultures and Global Communication:Challenge, Engage and Change,” the delegatespresented papers on topics rangingfrom pressing social problems aroundthe world to international academiccommunication. The opening speech wasgiven by the President of the CommunicationAssociation of China, ProfessorYin Yungong, who insisted that “abundantpractices call for more theoreticalsupport, and introducing new theoriesfrom abroad is far from satisfactory.”Peking University’s considerable resourcesin developing its own creative, educational,translation, and scholarly research programs,and it will use Peking University’sreputation as a world-class institution ofhigher learning to further internationalizemodern Chinese verse. The Institute’s ablefaculty will continue to write and publishcritical articles and book-length studies onboth ancient and modern Chinese poetryand poetics, as well as anthologies, biographiesand carefully researched surveys ofthe history of Chinese poetry. In its inauguralyear, the Chinese Poetry Research Institutehas planned the publication of thecollected works of a number of renownedChinese poets, and it will play host to anumber of important literary conferences.In the year 2011, the faculty of the Institutewill organize and direct two internationalevents, including the third Asian PoetryFestival and the first Asian-Nordic PoetryDialogue.Following the dedicatory speeches,President Zhou Qifeng and Vice PresidentLiu Wei joined Dean Xie Mian andother distinguished guests in unveilingthe official name-plaque identifying theChinese Poetry Research Institute.In closing, Professor Chen Pingyuan,Dean of the Department of Chinese Languageand Literature, observed that theoriginal motivation in founding an Institutedevoted exclusively to Chinese Poetrywas the desire to reawaken the public’s interestin native Chinese verse, and he calledeveryone’s attention to the need to preservea love of the beauty of poetry in a modernand materialistic age.10 Peking University Newsletter AUTUMN 2010 | Issue 13 11

PeopleProfessor Ye Lang:Leading an Aesthetic LifeIn the year 1955, Ye Lang was a studentof philosophy at Peking University,and in terms of his future career, thatwas an ideal time for him to come incontact with the field of aesthetics.When Ye Lang was seventeen yearsold, a number of noted Chinese aestheticiansbegan a heated debate on thenature and origin of beauty, and this passionateacademic disagreement sparkeda nationwide interest in the subject ofaesthetics. Fascinated by the controversyand then captivated by the subject, YeLang began his lifelong commitment toaesthetics as a valuable area of theoreticalresearch and reflection, and as an importantand practical branch of philosophicalinstruction.Fifty-five years later, Professor Ye Langis a senior Professor in the Departmentof Philosophy at Peking University, hisalma mater, the Dean of its School ofArts, the Director of its Research Centerfor Aesthetics and Aesthetic Education,and simply one of the most influentialcontemporary Chinese aestheticians livingtoday.Love for AestheticsEarly in 2010, an interviewer askedProfessor Ye how he would describe hislife, to which he replied that his life ismade up of three concentric circles, andthe first of these circles contains his academicinterests.While Ye Lang was still a college student,his love for aesthetics compelledhim to wait daily in a small post-officejust outside the campus gate for the arrivalof the latest issues of The People’sDaily and the Guangming Daily which hewould quickly ransack for the latest articleson aesthetics and art criticism. Earlyin his studies, Ye came across the work oftwo founders of the study of aesthetics inChina in the twentieth century, ProfessorsZhu Guangqian and Zong Baihua.When the opportunity arose, he jumpedat the chance to be Professor Zong’steaching and research assistant, and inthis capacity helped him to compile thefirst systematic archive of ancient Chineseaesthetics. He recalls spending anentire year copying manuscripts and rareeditions of critiques on classical Chinesenovels, a body of materials that eventuallyled to the publication of Aesthetics inChinese Novels, a book-length study thatfills the gap in academic studies of Chinesenovel theories. In the 1980s, aftera thorough investigation of ancient Chineseaesthetics, Professor Ye proposed hisconcept of “image aesthetics,” a theorythat locates the formation of the aestheticimage in the human mind as the coreof aesthetic activity. Over the last threedecades, and since Ye Lang’s appointmentas the Director of Research Centerfor Aesthetics and Aesthetic Education atPeking University, his “image aesthetics”theory has had an enormous impact onChinese aestheticians, artists, literary criticsand educators.According to Professor Ye, “the ‘image’is the essence of ancient Chineseaesthetics because it is the artistic perceptionof natural objects that integrates theouter surroundings with the perceiver’sinner emotions. These images create animaginative world in which beauty andthe sense of beauty are intertwined. Thisimaginative world is always tinged withthe colors of the human spirit that varyfrom person to person, and that illuminatethe real world in real life.” Acting asthe Chair of the Eighteenth InternationalCongress of Aesthetics (ICA) held at PKUin August 2010, Professor Ye respondedto the theme “Diversities in Aesthetics”by stating that “ancient Chinese aestheticsis intimately connected with dailylife, and it has permeated the Chinesespirit. The study of aesthetics in Chinafocuses more on the spiritual meaningsgiven to the external objects by differentpeople under different circumstancesthan on the mere appreciation of the objectsthemselves; it arouses a desire fromwithin to pursue an aesthetic life, namelya poetic, creative and loving life.”Many western scholars of Chinesethought are intrigued by ancient Chineseaesthetics, and by Professor Ye’s “imagetheory” in particular. Wolfgang Kubin, aworld-renowned Sinologist and a professorat Bonn University in Germany, hascommented that “it is Ye Lang who tells“Chinese aesthetics arousesa desire from within to pursuean aesthetic life, namely a poetic,creative and loving life.”12 Peking University Newsletter AUTUMN 2010 | Issue 13 13

PeopleProfessor Ye Lang is introducing figure paintings of Tang Dynasty to his guest Professor Justin Yifu Lin atthe“Aesthetic Promenade Saloon”us the dissimilarities between Chineseand Western aesthetics. His suggestionthat I study Chinese literature throughimage and through the spiritual realm oflife is very insightful. This approach hashelped me to realize that the study ofChinese aesthetics will deepen my understandingof Chinese literary works.”A Leading Figure in Aesthetic Educationat Peking UniversityProfessor Ye Lang maintains that aesthetics,like all branches of philosophy,should reflect the spirit of the age andmeet the needs of the people, and heinsists that the study of Chinese aestheticsin modern times should convey thequintessence of the Chinese traditionalarts, which value above all the spiritualaspects of life.Speaking on the role of aesthetics incontemporary Chinese education, ProfessorYe stated that “we are faced with amounting crisis over the balance betweenour material and our spiritual lives. Scientificand technological developmenthas greatly facilitated our material pursuits,but it has gradually narrowed thescope of our spiritual lives. Materialismand Utilitarianism pervade modern society,while spiritual pursuits are largely neglected.Human beings will regress intomere ‘beasts’ devoid of feelings and soulsif we continue on in this way. Survival ina world dominated by materialism andutilitarianism is the urgent and desperatedilemma of the modern era. Therefore,an aesthetic education that is based upontraditional Chinese culture and traditionalChinese values is of vital importanceto the Chinese people today because itwill help to broaden our spiritual realmof life and nourish our sensitive humannature.”For this reason, Professor Ye has assumeda new and crucial educationalrole—he has declared himself the foremostadvocate in China for the developmentof an aesthetic education and ahumanistic spirit, both of which he saysare rooted in traditional Chinese cultureand traditional Chinese arts, and bothof which are present in modern Chinesesociety. A few years back, Ye announcedthat Peking University would be his“starting point.”In the interest of providing PekingUniversity students with an aestheticallygrounded education, Professor Ye hascommitted himself every year to offeringan elective course entitled “Introductionto Aesthetics,” and it has been enthusiasticallyreceived by all levels of the studentpopulation. Because of the enormouspopularity of the course, many studentschoose to arrive at the classroom morethan an hour before the class begins.Those who come on time need to competefor the remaining seats, while thosewho arrive late are relegated to the aisles,to the floor, or to the doorways sincethere are insufficient seats for the registeredstudents, let alone the auditors.Unanimously, the students say that theydo not want to miss any of Professor Ye’swonderfully evocative lectures whichthey claim take them on a journey backto traditional Chinese arts and aesthetics.One student said that “after attendingProfessor Ye’s course, I feel my heartbeing freed from my daily worries and Istart to pay more attention to the interactionbetween my inner feelings and theexternal world. I feel more free and fullof hope.”In addition to teaching his electivecourse in aesthetics, Professor Ye has collaboratedsince 2004 with Gan Zizhao,a Professor in the Physics Department atPKU, and together they have organizedan annual series of artistic and aestheticactivities for the Peking Universitycommunity that they have named the“Aesthetic Promenade Saloon.” Overthe years, Professors Ye and Gan havebrought many and various artistic performancesto the PKU campus, includingpresentations of traditional Chineseopera, classical music, ballet, contemporarydance, modern drama, and themusical, and they have organized smallscalelectures and seminars on comprehensivecultural topics. Among theseactivities, one of the most successful hasbeen the Kunqu Opera performance ofthe “Young-Lovers’ Edition of Peony Pavilion”created by the Taiwanese writerand maestro Pai Hsien-yung. Originallyintroduced to the university in 2005 byProfessor Ye, Maestro Pai Hsien-yung’s“Young-Lovers’ Edition of Peony Pavilion”has become an enormously popularcourse on how to understand and appreciateKunqu Opera. This course, alongwith the many other activities that makeup the annual “Aesthetic PromenadeSaloon,” has profoundly expanded andenriched the Peking University students’extra-curricular life. Over the last fiveyears, since the inception of Pai Hsienyung’scourse on Kunqu Opera, the PKUstudents have devised a tongue-in-cheeksaying: “There are only two types of peopleon the Peking University campus—those who have watched a performanceof the Kunqu Opera, and those who havenot.”At the first performance of Pai Hsienyung’sPeony Pavilion in 2005, ProfessorYe delivered an introductory speech inwhich he expressed his immense joy inhaving an opportunity to watch a performanceof the Kunqu Opera, one of theoldest of the performing arts in Chinathat dates back to more than six hundredyears. He explained that the KunquOpera reached its peak of popularity inthe eighteenth century, but since then ithas gradually fallen into neglect, and inrecent years has almost reached the pointof extinction. He hoped that Pai Hsienyung’sPeony Pavilion performancewould begin the revival of Kunqu Operain the new century, and he was willingto interpret the attending students’ identificationwith the Chinese traditionalarts as an indication that this revival hasalready begun.Professor Ye admitted that his area ofexpertise in aesthetics did not includeKunqu Opera, but that over the years“I want to transform China’swealth of cultural resourcesinto cultural assets that willnot only enrich the Chinesepeople’s spiritual lives, butwill also facilitate the country’seconomic growth.”he has actively campaigned to save thisancient, unique, but unfortunately endangeredtraditional Chinese art form.In 2003, as the Deputy Director of theKunqu and Peking Opera Department ofthe Chinese People’s Political ConsultingConference (CPPCC), he conducted aninvestigation into the current status ofthe Kunqu Opera in Kunshan, where theart form originated, as well as in Changsha,and Huangzhou. The findings of thisinvestigation helped to bring public attentionto the unfortunate state of KunquOpera and resulted in the allocation of50 million RMB in state funds to supportthe revival of Kunqu Opera and to facilitatethe nationwide collection of KunquOpera scripts.Developing a Cultural IndustryProtecting the Kunqu Opera is onlyone of the many items on ProfessorYe’s working agenda for promoting ahumanistic and aesthetically groundededucation in China. According to Dr.Ye, China is one of the richest countriesin the world in cultural resources, butthey are not developed and managed inan effective way. The cultural productsin the marketplace are more often thannot shoddy and of low quality. Prime TVtime is inundated with tasteless showsand vulgar entertainments, and the Chinesemass media airs an endless streamof mindless programs that have little culturalcontent but that espouse unhealthyvalues that can distort the taste and thesensitivities of the younger generations.After many years of frustration at thisdeteriorating situation, Professor Ye beganin the 1990s to think about ways tochange the cultural landscape of Chinaby renovating the country’s cultural industryusing the neglected resources stillavailable in the wide range of traditionalforms of Chinese art and culture. Withthis in mind, Ye founded the CulturalIndustries Institute of Peking Universityin 1999 in order to identify, educate andtrain those talented students of the artswho would be capable of rescuing andreviving the vast array of dying Chinesefolk arts. Also, in collaboration with theadministrations of the various regions ofChina where these traditional folk artsoriginated, the Cultural Industries Instituteis committed to working towards acquiringthe knowledge and the resourcesnecessary to recover these valuable nationalcultural assets, and in the processof rescuing China’s rich cultural heritagefrom oblivion, parade the aesthetic qualityof Chinese culture before the world.At the Chinese People’s Political ConsultingConference held in 2001, ProfessorYe delivered an advisory report to hisfellow CPPCC members drawing their attentionto the precarious state of China’scultural industry and to its vital role inChina’s national and global identity, andsince that time he has spared no effortto bring Chinese cultural values home tothose people who own them.The strength of Professor Ye’s determinationto restore China’s rich culturalpast, and his pride in his role in bringingback his native country’s ancient andprofound aesthetic traditions is evidentin his statement of purpose: “I want totransform China’s wealth of culturalresources into cultural assets that willnot only enrich the Chinese people’sspiritual lives, but will also facilitate thecountry’s economic growth. By revivingneglected or forgotten cultural practicesthat embody ancient Chinese wisdomand beauty, I want to improve the Chinesepeople’s awareness of, and appreciationfor the priceless aesthetic traditionsthat make up China’s cultural past, andin this way inspire them to lead moreaesthetic lives.”Professor Ye’s main work Beauty in Image14 Peking University Newsletter AUTUMN 2010 | Issue 13 15

PeopleDaughter of Dunhuang—Dr. Fan Jinshi, Director of the Dunhuang AcademyIn the summer of 1963, a young ladystood alone in the Beijing Railway Stationwaiting with her heavy baggagefor the fateful train that would carry heron her long journey to one of the mostremote and desolate regions in all ofChina. Her name was Fan Jinshi, and shehad celebrated her twenty-fifth birthdaythat year. Before long, the DunhuangAcademy would build a statue of herwhich it would name “Youth.” Now, aftermore than forty-five years of hard workand perseverance, Dr. Fan Jinshi has becomethe venerated Director of the DunhuangAcademy, and has unquestionablyearned the title of the “Daughter of Dunhuang.”Fan Jinshi was born in the city ofBeijing in 1938, but was brought up inthe bustling metropolis of Shanghai. In1958, she was admitted as a student intothe Department of Archaeology at PekingUniversity. At that time, Fan never imaginedthat her chosen vocation wouldone day take her to pursue her careerthe twenty-sixth anniversary of theirmarriage, when Peng was finally able tojoin his wife at the Dunhuang Academy.At the time of their reunion, Fan was already48 years of age.Dr. Fan says with pride: “When I thinkabout the past, I always feel fortunateand grateful that I married a very kindand considerate man. After his graduation,Dr. Peng Jinzhang founded theDepartment of Archaeology at WuhanUniversity. Then, after spending a quarterof a century establishing a solid professionalcareer at the university, he willinglygave it all up for my sake.” Fan’sobvious pride is, however, tempered bydeep feelings of remorse and guilt, notonly for the lost years with her husband,but also for the prolonged separationfrom her children. She recalled thatwhen she went to visit her second childin the countryside of Hebei Province in1973, they were total strangers to eachother. When her child was unable to recognizeher mother, Fan was heartbroken.Despite the enormous sacrifice, Dr. Fanleft the child in the countryside and witha heavy heart returned to her mission atDunhuang. At that time, she had beenemployed at the Dunhuang Grottoes formore than ten years, and her work hadreally just begun. The preservation of theDunhuang Grottoes had become the purposein her life, and she could no longertear herself away from the Academy andfrom the career that was now her calling.As the present Director of the DunhuangAcademy, Dr. Fan appreciates fullythe heavy weight of her professionalresponsibilities: “I have become accustomedto this life-style. Every morningwhen I wake up, the first thing I thinkabout is what I am going to do at theAcademy today. I seldom think aboutpersonal matters.” All things that arerelevant to the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuangare important to Fan. For manyyears she has been conducting researchwith experts from home and abroad onpossible solutions to the problems ofgrotto restoration and repair, and finallyafter more than seven years their effortshave paid off in something of a breakhendwhat could possibly possess a manto spend twenty years of his life in sucha barren place, where there was not evenaccess to electricity. In the living quartersassigned to me, the ceiling was madeof paper, and sometimes at night micewould fall through this flimsy canopyand onto my bed. In addition, the entirearea surrounding Dunhuang was almosttotally cut off from the outside world,and there was absolutely nothing to doin the way of entertainment. I rememberthat desperate for a distraction, I watchedthe film Lenin in 1918 innumerable times.Having grown up in a big modern city, Icould not imagine staying in such a desolatecorner of the world for the rest of mylife.”Dr. Fan Jinshi confesses that it wouldnot be entirely honest to say that herdetermination to remain at the DunhuangGrottoes never wavered whenshe thought about the isolation and theharsh living conditions. However, thisintermittent uncertainty was more than“ Many young people areambitious and want toachieve great things andbecome famous overnight,but the most rewardingcourse is often the one thatputs others ahead of self.”offset by the exhilaration and the deepsense of reverence she felt every time shecame in contact with the overwhelmingbeauty and the profound significance ofthe grottoes, and she was compelled tostay on and do what she could to preservethem. “I was absolutely charmed bythe grottoes. For me, each of them wasan art museum in itself.” In addition toher love for the Dunhuang Grottoes, sheattributes her commitment to saving thehistorical site to the example of its tirelessDirector, Chang Shuhong, who dedicatedhis life to protecting and preservingDunhuang, “the most unique and valuableart treasure in the nation.” Dr. Fanrecalls: “He was really a great man. Hestudied in France, but he left his professors,the honors of the academic world,and all of the conveniences of city life,simply to protect this relic.”Chang Shuhong’s selfless exampleand the urgent need to preserve a pricelessnational treasure were the drivingforce that gave Fan the courage and thefortitude to endure all kinds of deprivationsthroughout the years. She says withresignation: “I lived without electricityfor eighteen years. It was not until 1981that electricity finally came to Dunhuang.I remember the day well because it wasduring the Mid-autumn Festival, and itwas really an exhilarating event for usall.” But what Fan Jinshi had to endurewas a far greater sacrifice than the appallingliving conditions she had to tolerate.After Fan’s graduation, her sweetheartPeng Jinzhang was given employmentat Wuhan University, and although theymarried four years later, they had to livefar apart from each other in two distantareas of the country. This unfortunatesituation was only rectified in 1986, onin an isolated and uninhabited desert,and would keep her there for nearlyhalf a century. Recalling the time whenshe made up her mind to work in Dunhuang,Fan described the sequence ofevents as “accidental.” In 1962, Fan andthree other archaeology students weresent by the university to serve as internsat the Dunhuang Academy. The followingyear, when Fan was about to graduatewith her doctorate degree in archaeology,the Dunhuang Academy made an urgentappeal for talented professionals withprecisely her qualifications, and so afterher graduation, Fan was one of the twoformer Peking University students whowere assigned to work at the academy.In recalling the early and difficulttimes in Dunhuang, Dr. Fan’s memoriesare still fresh. “When I first went toDunhuang as an intern,” she said, “I wasamazed and deeply impressed by thededication of Mr. Chang Shuhong, theacting Director of the Dunhuang Academy.At that time, I could not compre-Dr. Fan is exchanging artistic ideas with ProfessorRao Zongyi, a master of Chinese studies.through both in the technical and theideological sense. Ever since the governmentundertook the development ofthe West Regions, the number of touristsvisiting the Dunhuang Grottoes hasbeen increasing year on year. While thisnational and international interest inthe Grottoes is an economic boost to theregion, too much exposure of the muralpaintings to public activity would overtime be certain to compromise the historicalintegrity of the art work. Althoughthis inevitability continues to be a majorconcern to Dr. Fan, she insists that thegrottoes must not be preserved as a culturaltreasure only to hidden away fromthe world. She insists: “What is the pointof saving the relics if they cannot be seenand appreciated? The grottoes must beopen for public display otherwise there isno point in preserving them.”Dr. Fan concedes that one day in thedistant future the grottoes may becomeirreparable; they may reach a point atwhich they can no longer be restoredand will be lost to the world forever. Thissomber realization led Fan to resort todigital technology in order to store uppermanent images of the murals and theother artifacts at the Dunhuang Grottoes.16 Peking University Newsletter AUTUMN 2010 | Issue 13 17

PeopleVoiceShe calls this her “Digital Dunhuang,”and it is comprised of digital images ofthe grotto paintings, the painted sculptures,and the other Dunhuang relics, aswell as a database containing all documents,research findings, and materialsrelated to the grottoes. Dr. Fan has plansto set up a Dunhuang Tourist Centerwhere visitors from all over the worldcan come to discover the grottoes firsthandand learn to understand and appreciatethese unique and priceless culturaltreasures through digital displays.According to Fan, the Dunhuang TouristCenter would allow visitors to learnabout the history and the artistic valueof the Mogao Grottoes in the exhibitionhalls before they toured selected grottoeschosen for their aesthetic value, but alsofor their resilience to outside activity.After the tour of the grottoes, the visitorscould return to the Center to admire therelics in detail through multimedia exhibitions.In this way, the tourists’ desire tosee the historical Mogao Grottoes couldbe fairly met, and at the same time thegrottoes could be protected from overexposure.Dr. Fan’s proposal for a DunhuangTourist Center was welcomed bythe State Council, and after the completionof a feasibility study, a site was chosenin December 2008, and the “DigitalDunhuang” project was underway.Through her life of self-sacrificingwork on behalf of her country, Fan Jinshihas become something of a celebrity inChina. Despite her notability, however,Fan still leads a simple life and considersherself an ordinary person. “All I wantout of life is that when I retire, peoplewill remember me and say that this oldwoman has done something valuable forDunhuang. If this is my legacy, I have noregrets.”Although Fan Jinshi is now in herseventies, she still retains the idealismshe cultivated in her younger years. Andshe passes this steadfast idealism on inher advice to college students who areunable to find satisfactory employmentafter graduation: “Why not take yourknowledge and go and teach in one ofthe underdeveloped areas of China? Thechildren in these disadvantaged placesreally need you. Teaching these childrenfor one or two years will not have a significantimpact on your professional lifeor on your lifetime earnings, but the livesof those children will be altered forever.The road that seems to offer instant successand riches is oftentimes the wrongone. Many young people are ambitiousand want to achieve great things and becomefamous overnight, but the most rewardingcourse is often the one that putsothers ahead of self.”Contours of World Order:Continuities and ChangesDr. Fan is giving a lecture on DunhuangAvram Noam Chomsky, more commonly knownas Noam Chomsky, is an American linguist, philosopher,cognitive scientist and political activist.He is currently an Institute Professor and ProfessorEmeritus of Linguistics at the MassachusettsInstitute of Technology. On the evening of Fridaythe 13 th of August, Professor Chomsky spoke to anenthusiastic audience at Peking University.There is much to say about changesand continuities in a world orderin which Asia plays a central role.Before turning directly to that topic, it isimportant to remind ourselves that nodiscussion of these matters can be takenseriously unless it recognizes some criticallyimportant facts about the humancondition today. In brief, for the firsttime in human history, there is now asignificant threat to human survival, andI am not talking about the distant future.There are two threats to humanity:nuclear war and environmental catastrophe.But as we lurch towards imminentdisaster, we have extreme difficulty confrontingthese threats because of deeplyrootedinstitutional factors that arehighly resistant to change. These were theconcerns that were addressed at recentinternational conferences in Copenhagenand New York, the first on the environment,the second on nuclear proliferation,the regular five-year United Nations’review session. Both conferences endedwith virtually no progress.There should be no need for me toelaborate on the global threat of an imminentenvironmental catastrophe. Onlythe willfully blind can choose to ignorethe danger. The failed international conferencein Copenhagen was followed bythe People’s Summit on the environmentin Bolivia, bringing together those whosuffer the most around the world. TheSummit called on the wealthy countriesto pay a “climate debt” to the victims ofclimate change, including reparations forthe damage for which they are responsible,and funding for projects to helpthe victims adapt to unexpected climatechanges. These urgent pleas are particularlysignificant for the United States, andnow for China, two countries that are expectedto share almost half of the globalemissions very soon. The expectation ofthe payment of “climate debt” to the victimsof climate change around the worldis far higher per capita for the people ofthe United States.The newly emerging economies argue18 Peking University Newsletter AUTUMN 2010 | Issue 13 19

Voicethat they should not bear the burden ofthe environmental destruction visited onthe world by the rich nations since thebeginning of the Industrial Revolution.This finger-pointing argument has merit,but it also has a fatal flaw. It is no usehaving justice on your side when the possibilitiesfor a decent survival are slippingaway. There is no such recourse to justicewhen the externalities of environmentaldestruction are ignored, but institutionalimperatives are not easily overcome.The nuclear threat has been with ussince 1945. The current focus of worldconcern over nuclear weapons is Iran.In the West, in policy-making circlesand among political commentators, theyear 2010 is called “the year of Iran.”The Iranian threat is considered topose the greatest danger to the existingworld order and to be the primary focusof U.S. foreign policy, with Europetrailing along behind as usual. Theannounced threat to world stability isIran’s efforts to develop nuclear weapons—orat least nuclear weapon capability,thereby joining dozens of othercountries with the same capability. Thisthreat might be real. Iran is surroundedby nuclear-armed states, including thethree states that have refused to signthe Nonproliferation Treaty—India,Pakistan, and Israel—all assisted innuclear weapons development by theUnited States, including the currentObama administration.It is worthwhile to look closely at theIranian nuclear issue, for two reasons:first, because the Western powers take itto be the major threat to the world order,and second, because it teaches us importantlessons about the factors that havedetermined the policies of the great powersup until today, and will surely havea powerful impact on what lies ahead.First, it illustrates the consistent fear ofdemocracy, unless it is under control—and more generally, the concern overthe threat of independence, a guidingprinciple of imperial power throughouthistory. The primary Iranian threat is itsexercise of its national sovereignty independentof the demands of the UnitedStates. This willful exercise of nationalsovereignty violates the fundamentalprinciples of world order that were establishedduring World War II, when theUnited States’ planners recognized thatthe war would end with America in aposition of global power that had no historicalprecedent.There is much excited talk thesedays about a great global shift ofpower, with speculation about whether“Exaggerations aside, theshifts in the power relationsof countries in the world are areal phenomenon. The world isindeed becoming more diverse,with a broader distribution ofpower, and a growing shareof industrial production inthe dynamic Asia region. ”(or when) China might displace theUnited States as the dominant globalpower. If this global shift of power includedIndia—this would mean thatthe global system would be returningto something like what it was beforethe European conquests. Both Chinaand India’s recent economic (GDP)growth has indeed been spectacular.But there is more to say. In the UN HumanDevelopment Index, India retainsits place near the bottom of the scale,slightly above Cambodia, but belowLaos and Tajikistan. China ranks a littlehigher on the scale, holding 92 nd place,a bit above Jordan, but below the DominicanRepublic and Iran. India andChina also suffer from extremely highsocial inequality, so well over a billionof their populations fall far lower onthe Human Development Index scale.Although the “knowledge society” inthese two countries has grown dramatically,40% of the children do not attendschool. The World Bank estimatesthe per capita income in India to beabout 2% of that in the United States,while the per capita income in China isabout 5%, varying somewhat dependingon the measures used to make thecalculation. Furthermore, an accurateaccounting would need to go beyondconventional measures to include seriouscosts that China and India cannotlong ignore, such as ecological damage,resource depletion and labor rights.Exaggerations aside, the shifts in thepower relations of countries in the worldare a real phenomenon. The world isindeed becoming more diverse, witha broader distribution of power, and agrowing share of industrial production inthe dynamic Asia region. As I have mentioned,“control” is the dominant themeof imperial history, and it remains so inthe current era. The simplest calculationsshow that the per capita income in theAsian giants cannot approach that of theWest without destroying the world; thatis unless there is a significant decline inwestern prosperity, as prosperity is conventionallymeasured.A few years ago, one of the great figuresin modern biology, Ernst Mayr, observedthat higher intelligence appears tobe an evolutionary error, because higherintelligence is incapable of guaranteeingsurvival for more than a passing momentof evolutionary time. The most successfulspecies, from the biologist’s perspective,are those that have a fixed ecologicalniche, like beetles, or that can mutaterapidly, like bacteria. As what we humanscall “intelligence” increases, biologicalsuccess declines. Humans appear to bean exception, but only for a very briefperiod of time. The past few thousandyears is simply a blink of an eye in evolutionarytime. Mayr also made the rathersomber observation that “the average lifeexpectancy of a species is about 100,000years,” approximately the same timespan during which modern humans haveroamed the earth.We are living in the moment in whichMayr’s thesis will be put to the test. Infact, it is the “defining moment” in humanhistory according to the Presidentof the British Royal Society, the notedastrophysicist, Martin Rees. He remindsus that this is the first moment in theplanet’s history when “one species—ours—has the Earth’s future in its hands,and could jeopardize not only itself, butlife’s immense potential.”So this pale blue dot in the cosmos isa special place, and we are its stewards atan especially crucial time. A gloomy realistmight say that the prospects for theplanet do not appear to be auspicious.Those who care about human existenceand the fate of the world will have towork hard to prove that such prognosesare mistaken.Tony Elliott and His Time OutInvited by the British Council’s Smart Talk program and the Office of InternationalRelations at Peking University, Tony Elliott, the Chairman of the Time Out Groupfrom the U.K., gave a speech at Peking University on the 17 th of September, in whichhe described the founding and the evolutionary history of his Time Out enterprise.When I founded Time Out in August1968, I was a twenty-one year-olduniversity student with seventy poundsin my pocket to use as start-up capital.I was brought up and continue tolive right in the middle of London,in an area called Kensington. Thedistrict is bordered by Chelsea, andwas a very culturally dynamic placein those days. I became interestedin all types of culture at a particularmoment in London’s history, whichwas very special in Britain becauseit was when a whole range of newideas and new styles were explodingeverywhere. All these became mixedinto a wonderful cultural revolutionwhich was sometimes referred to asthe underground, or the so called alternativesociety.There were always numerous activitiesgoing on in London, but it20 Peking University Newsletter AUTUMN 2010 | Issue 13 21

VoicePoints of ViewWhat is literature?“I feel extremely fortunate andprivileged that I have never hadto work for anybody else, whichis not a bad thing. I created myown job and I am still creating it.”Zhang Wei is a well-known Chinese contemporarywriter. His masterpieces includeThe Ancient Ship, September's Fable andSong of the Hedgehog. On the 20 th of September,2010, Zhang Wei delivered a speechentitled "Following in the Footprints of GreatWriters" at Peking University as a part of theprogram "Lectures by Chinese Writers."What is literature? Literature is thelightning and the thunder of life. Or alternately,it is an intense beam of lightblazing for an instant. It shines from theinnermost excitement and vigor of life.This excitement only occurs on particularoccasions, and it lasts only for a moment.It is unique and occurs just the once.The most substantial character a writercreates throughout his writing careeris the writer himself. He is unable tohide himself away from all his writings.Hence, we can feel the presence of thewriter when we read a novel or a literarywork. All the writer’s words are recordsof the process of his life, the traces heleaves behind in the world. Between thelines, we can feel the writer’s personality,his spirit, his strengths and his personalindulgences; we can feel everything abouthim. . . . What makes a great writer greatis that his writings show the course of arich and full life.was quite hard to find out what was goingon, and when and where. The establishednewspapers and magazines werejust the regular ones, they largely didn’tunderstand what was happening. Thenew underground and alternative pressesthat grew up and that always paralleledthe new activities found it hard to offerdetailed and creative information listings.So, while I was still at college, I decidedto start my own entertainment guide.The first issue of Time Out was printedon two sides of one big sheet of paper,which was the equivalent of eight pagesof what Time Out gets today. I was veryselective about the information I included;we had consumer coverage andsections about political activities, for instance,marches and demonstrations. Wealso had a music section, which was andstill remains very important to Time Outtoday. I always hold that splendid musiccan really tell you something about howdynamic and particular a city is.Initially, two friends and I used todistribute the magazines ourselves toplaces outside campus, for we found itvery hard to find a proper distributor. Wecarried the magazines to various areasof London, some important places withfree concerts, or city parks. We went upto people who might be interested inour magazine and showed and sold themagazine directly to the readers, andgot the cash, which was good. The othergood thing, which was more importantthan the cash, was the instant feedbackwe received on what we were doing.At that time, I was still at Keele University.However, around Christmas inthe year 1968, I realized that I couldbuild up the Time Out business intosomething significant, so I came back toLondon without completing my degree.The magazine was issued fortnightly forthe first year. Then I decided to change themagazine from the small format to the currentweekly large size. In 1971, the circulationof Time Out was about 20,000 copiesper week, but by the early 1980s it had becomeone of the largest weeklies in the U.K.From the 1980s on, through the influenceof London’s rich cultural environment, ourmagazine has become increasingly morecolorful in design, richer in content, morestylish, and overall more fun to read. Wedeveloped and extended various guides,including our bars’ guide, our students’guide, our visitors’ guide, and our shoppers’guide. The end of that decade witnessedthe beginning of the internationalexpansion of Time Out, with the importantlaunching of Time Out New York comingin September of 1995.My description of the Time Out enterpriseis as an information company.What we do is disseminate information,but we also do information about information.Time Out anywhere and at anytime is a reflection of what is happeningin the location where it is based.I feel extremely fortunate and privilegedthat I have never had to work foranybody else, which is not a bad thing. Icreated my own job and I am still creatingit. Today, I still own the business, andI have remained determined to keep itindependent, as it has been for the pastforty-two years. I think that independenceis a characteristic of Time Out. Ontop of that, we always try to be as comprehensiveas we possibly can.Nowadays, Time Out has fantastic brandvalues that have been built up and maintainedfor the last forty years. The wordsthat are consistently used to describeTime Out are trustworthy, comprehensive,knowledgeable, accurate, passionate, andactive. It is about doing, not just talking;it is useful and practical. People oftentalk about Time Out as if it is their friend,their Bible, as something they could notlive without.I am proud to say that Time Out willbe the official London guidebook publishedfor the 2012 London Olympics.We are very excited about this distinction.And I am also very excited aboutwhat is going on here in China. Theachievements of the last few years havebeen fantastic. We have already launchedTime Out Beijing, Time Out Shanghai andTime Out Hong Kong, and I am lookingforward to discovering future opportunitiesin China.Issues of Chinese DevelopmentProfessor Helmut Peters is a distinguishedGerman scholar devoted to the study sinology.On the 6 th of September, 2010, ProfessorPeters visited the School of InternationalStudies (SIS) at Peking University and delivereda speech entitled “Several Thoughtsabout Issues of Chinese Development.”China’s current transformation froma pre-capitalist society is unprecedentedin terms of its depth, width, particularityand openness. And this transformationhas a significant influence on the developmentof international socialist movements.The Chinese Communist Party hasAbout Student DevelopmentDr. Karen Arnold is a Professor in the Departmentof Educational Leadership in the LynchSchool of Education at Boston College, and shedevotes herself primarily to theoretical studies thatare related to the development of college students.Formerly the Vice President of Reed College, shewas in charge of the administration of studentaffairs. On the 27 th of August, 2010, ProfessorArnold delivered her speech at Peking Universityentitled “Students’ Development: Disciplines andCrucial Theories.” In her talk, Professor Arnolddiscussed how to evaluate the quality of universities,and what aspects of their students’ lives universitiesshould attempt to cultivate.Universities should not only offerknowledge to students, but should alsohelp them acquire habits of mind thatwill lead to lifelong learning and to a desireto make contributions to society. Theidea of students’ development is an importantpart of the practical managementof American universities. The ideal managementof student affairs in Americanuniversities would involve the cultivationof students as whole human beings. Universitiesshould provide their studentswith academic guidance and they shoulddesign challenging educational activitiesthat integrate the students’ study experiencesboth inside and outside the classroom,and make participation in learninga feature of their college lives. A comprehensivenetwork system can be createdintroduced economic policies that haveadapted to the features of the society’sproductivity and development, and it hasimplemented renewed incentive systems.China’s economic reform has been called“the miracle of China,” and it is thestarting point for the modernization ofChina’s national economy.that will facilitate this process, and atthe same time diminish the possibilitiesof students’ failing in any aspect of theiroverall development.American universities have achieveda great deal in practical terms by usingan ecological model of human developmentin the management of their studentaffairs. And last but not least, westerntheories of education and student developmentshould be studied carefully byChinese educators in order to determinewhat will have practical application inChina and what will not.22 Peking University Newsletter AUTUMN 2010 | Issue 13 23

International CollaborationCampusThe China University Center ofEnergy ManagementOn the 19 th of September, 2010,Peking University’s College of Engineeringand the Schneider ElectricCompany of China signed a strategiccooperation agreement to establish theChina University Center of Energy Managementin order to promote sustainabledevelopment and effective energyuse in China. The signing ceremony wasattended by leaders from Peking University,the PKU College of Engineering, andthe Schneider Electric Company, includingthe President of Peking University,Professor Zhou Qifeng, the Dean of theCollege of Engineering, Professor ChenShiyi, and the Chief Executive Officerof the Schneider Electric Company, Mr.Zhao Guohua.Hosted by the Vice-Dean of the Collegeof Engineering, Professor ZhangDongxiao, the signing ceremony beganwith President Zhou Qifeng and the CEOof Schneider Electric, Zhao Guohua,addressing the audience and stressingtheir common goal to help preserve thenation’s energy resources and reduce itsharmful emissions. President Zhou statedthat Peking University has been promotingthe vision of sustainable developmenton the campus for some time andhas achieved a number of positive results.He went on to say that he believesthe agreement signed with Schneider willhelp the school to achieve its goal of a“Green Campus.” Following PresidentZhou’s remarks, the CEO of SchneiderElectric addressed the gathering andexplained that Schneider is undergoingan important transformation, and thatthe evolving company hopes to share itsmanagement skills and its energy savingstrategies with the major universities inChina, and to continue with its traditionof designing innovative and practicalways to reduce energy consumption. Afterthese comments, the CEO of SchneiderElectric and the Dean of the Collegeof Engineering signed the agreement toestablish the China University Center ofEnergy Management at Peking University.An official plaque was then unveiled tocommemorate the founding of the Center,and Mr. Hou Shuangting, a long-timesupporter of the College of Engineeringand a renowned calligrapher, offered hiswork to celebrate the occasion.Over the next three to five years,Peking University and the SchneiderElectric Company plan to make this collaborativeCenter the most influentialhub for research in energy-systems designand management in China. This collaborationwill also help Peking Universitymove towards its goal of establishing a“Green Campus.” Other universities inChina will be encouraged to participatein the Center and to share their energysaving strategies and conservation experiences.The Mung Bean Dreamers:“Paint” the World Green!can tell what I’m gonnaachieve.” When a vision“Nobodyin a dream turns into a planof action, and when this plan of actionis accompanied by the determination tosucceed, the world of sleep moves a littlecloser to the world of wakefulness. Thisdesire to realize a dream is what has inspiredthe members of a group of enthusiasticstudents from Peking University todevote themselves to a common cause:the Mung Bean Camp and the desire to“paint” the world green.The dream that is shared by this groupof Peking University students actuallycame from an unfortunate incident thathappened to just one of them. Duringthe summer vacation three years ago, NaChunlei, who was then a sophomore atPeking University and a part-time volunteerfor the Environmental EducationBase for Chinese University Students,decided to go for a swim in a river in hishometown. Shortly after the swim, hesuffered from a serious case of dermalhypersensitivity, and this shocking experiencemade him realize the urgency ofthe need for environmental protectionand renewal in China. He swore to himself:“I will do something to make a difference!”According to Na Chunlei, environmentalprotection is not merely an idea,it is an enterprise. When Na set out onhis environmental rescue mission threeyears ago, he kept in mind that the recoveryof the degraded environment was notgoing to be a limited one time commitment.His interest in the preservation ofthe environment was further stimulatedby the 2009 Shi Suilan & Shi Ke VentureCreation Competition, a contest that wasexactly what he had wanted to observe.According to Na, most of the social enterpriseson the Chinese mainland thatare in the environmental protectionsector suffer from a lack of expertise inmoney transfers and market forces, andas a consequence environment protectionis reduced to merely a part of theirbusiness. It is Na’s opinion that theseventures need to engage the help of themost potentially powerful force in environmentalprotection in China, and thatis the Chinese university students. Theseyoung people have the creative ideas, theambition, the energy, and the steadfastdedication to the environmental cause,but they lack the opportunity to maketheir dreams come true.Mung Bean Camp is therefore a productof ambition and opportunity. NaChunlei and his friends are determinedto create a public welfare enterprise thatmakes money solely for the purpose ofinforming the public of the urgent needfor environmental protection.In the era of Web 2.0, the Internet possessesa tremendous potential to create anetwork of young people studying at thenation’s universities who are committedJoint ExcavationProject betweenPKU and KenyaIn an archaeological research programsponsored by Peking University, ateam of archaeologists from the PKUSchool of Archaeology and Museologyand from the Kenya National Museumundertook archaeological excavationsat sites just outside the town of Malindion the Indian Ocean coast of Kenya.Preparations for the excavation started inlate July, 2010, and the whole excavationprocess lasted for about two months.This leg of the China-Kenya joint excavationproject focused on the Malindidistrict, and the three main excavationsites for this project included the site ofthe old Mumbrui village, the site of theold Khatibu Mosque, and the old townof Malindi. History records that duringthe Ming dynasty, Zheng He visited theport city of Malindi. The main purposeof this joint archaeological researchproject is to bring to light new informationon this intercontinental connectionbetween Africa and China, and perhapsto gain new insights into the relationshipbetween the Kenyans and the Chinese.The scale of this project is considered tobe the largest undertaken in the Malindidistrict, and it has already produced sev-eral important findings. It is certain thatthis China-Kenya excavation project willprove to be a valuable step in broadeningour understanding of the history ofthe Malindi district, and hopefully of thedistant relationship between the Kenyanand the Chinese people.24 Peking University Newsletter AUTUMN 2010 | Issue 13 25

Campusbicycle routes called “Iron Horses’Lines” that are reserved exclusivelyfor cyclers. All along this network ofpaths are rest areas that offer the bikeriders accommodation and services,such as the loan and repair of bicycles,food and dry-good provisions, andtraveling-route maps and recommendations.For many young people inTaiwan, encircling the island by bike isconsidered to be a rite of passage anda way of demonstrating one’s maturity.In covering a distance of nearly onethousand kilometers by bike, the individualis not only treated first-hand tothe incredibly beautiful scenery of thecountryside, but is forced to become astronger person, both physically andmentally.The members of the “Surprising”cycling team from Peking Universityare the first student and faculty groupfrom mainland China to completethe route and encircle the islandof Taiwan. The various media fromboth mainland China and Taiwanpaid close attention to this event andtreated it as an occasion of great significance.All of the riders from PekingUniversity came from a student societycalled the Cycling Association ofPeking University (CAPU) which wasfounded on the 25 th of October 1995,becoming one of the earliest studentorganizations established at PekingUniversity. Since CAPU’s inception, ithas held regular cycling expeditionsall around mainland China, and it hasentered participants in important cyclingcompetitions in which they havebeen very successful. Through its activtothe environment, and who want toturn their ideas into actions. The priorityin building up the website of Mung BeanCamp, then, was to make environmentalprotection a fashionable lifestyle ratherthan a set of empty slogans. With its eyecatchingpage design, the Mung BeanCamp website emphasizes the need forcommunication that leads to action. Itprovides a virtual platform for dialoguebetween different participants and organizationsso that the various parts ofthe environmental protection sector—government agencies, public and privateenterprises, NGOs and volunteers—canbe connected through ties with the SNS.In addition, frequently organizedactivities at Mung Bean Camp serve asan impetus to the conversion of thevirtual world into reality. The monthlyofficial projects and the routine courseslaunched to meet the zeal of volunteershave turned out to be far from enough.So, in order to meet the growing demand,Mung Bean Camp has launchedvarious newly designed activities andprojects, and they have all been warmlyreceived.As time goes by, Mung Bean Campis growing and expanding slowly butsteadily. Thus far, its projects have includedproviding assistance to improvethe schooling of migrant workers’ childrenand waste recycling campaigns.Mung Bean Camp pays special attentionto the details, such as the maintenance ofnewly-built school buildings in remoteareas. Na Chunlei comments: “Today ouractivities are diverse and detail-oriented.”In Mung Bean Camp, no one wastespaper. Everyone is encouraged to use theInternet to communicate, which perhapsexplains one of their aims—to alter theirown behavior at the outset, and thus setan example for others. Regarding theattitude towards conservation at MungBean Camp, Na Chunlei observes that“environmental protection is not merelya slogan. We observe it in our daily livesas well.”If we had one, our motto might be—ifwe can change ourselves, we can changethe world.Tour de Taiwan:Encircle and EmbraceAfter nine hot summer days and832 grueling kilometers, it isclear that the Tour de Taiwanis not simply about riding bicycles.On the 22 nd of July, 2010, a team ofstudents from Peking University anda number of Taiwanese universitiesaccomplished a two-wheel tour encirclingthe island of Taiwan. The namethe team chose was “Surprising” becausethe pronunciation (jing qi) inChinese is a pun that means “wonderfulriding.”Aimed at promoting cycling eventsand improving communications betweenmainland China and the islandof Taiwan, the cycle tour was launchedby the Tertiary Institutions of ExecutiveYuan of Taiwan. Fifteen studentsand four teachers from Peking Universityaccepted the invitation to participatein the tour, and they teamed upwith four students from different universitiesin Taiwan. On the 13 th of July,2010, the group departed from Taipeion the first leg of their journey. Thestarting half of the circuit consistedof Taoyuan, Taiwan-Taichung, Tainanalong the western arteries. After reachingKenting, at the southernmost tipof the island, the cyclers returned viaan eastern route that passed by famousplaces, such as Taitung, Hualienand Ilan. Together, they completedthe loop of the island of Taiwan andreturned to their starting point in Taipeion the 21 st of July, 2010, after ninedays and eight hundred and thirty-twokilometers.During their journey, the teamof cyclists was warmly welcomed byteachers and students from the universitiesthey passed along the way, includingthe Ta Hwa Institute of Technology,MINGDAO University, FarEast University, Tajen University andthe National Taitung University. Afterarriving at National Changhua Universityof Education and the NationalIlan University, the riders were takenon a tour of the campus facilities thatincluded the universities’ stadiums, anopportunity that gave the mainlandvisitors a better understanding of theTaiwanese college environment andthe unique culture of the universities.One of the team members namedHuang Sheng, a graduate studentin the School of Physics at PekingUniversity, shared his unforgettablememories of the tour: “I experiencedso much during our nine-day ride.We were all impressed by the fantasticromance of Kenting and thebeautiful scenery along the easterncoast of the island of Taiwan. It wastruly awesome! In addition, we weredeeply moved by the warm-heartedlocal residents, especially those alongthe Number.9 Road that crosses theplain between the Central Mountainsand the Coastal Range. These generouspeople welcomed us en route andbrought us fresh fruits and vegetablesto eat along the way.”Huang went on to strike a morepersonal note: “I think the most importantthing is that the Taiwanesestudents and faculty became our dearfriends, and these friendships will undoubtedlylast a lifetime. In parting,we invited our new friends to visit usin Beijing.” On the day the team completedthe trip and returned to Taipei,they were treated to a victory celebrationduring which they were huggedwarmly by their hosts and sprayedwith champagne. No one wanted tosay goodbye. The wonderful memoryof their nine days of camaraderie onthe dusty roads of Taiwan will neverfade away.Cycling is one of the most popularsports in Taiwan and it plays an importantrole in the Taiwanese people’sleisure time. Many cities and countiesin Taiwan have established specialities, the Cycling Association of PekingUniversity has over the years providedthe students of Peking University withan excellent social organization thathas allowed them to combine theirstudies with comradeship, and a regimenof healthy physical exercise. Thedaily training of CAPU’s members,and their common commitment tothe sport of cycling, are factors thatguarantee a repetition at some pointin the future of the successful summerof 2010 Tour de Taiwan.26 Peking University Newsletter AUTUMN 2010 | Issue 13 27

ColumnA Latte at TokyoShortly after I began the secondsemester of my exchange year atWaseda University in Tokyo, Iwas sitting in my eleven-square-meterdormitory room in front of my deskthat was cluttered with training notesin a mixture of Japanese, English andChinese. On these pages were theJapanese words for the various parts ofcoffee-makers, the different types andqualities of coffee beans, the namesof special cups and pitchers, and theywere all as alien to me as their Englishor Chinese counterparts—andlearning them seemed a million timesmore difficult than the materials thatI had covered in the past eighteenmonths in my Japanese classes. Still,driven by curiosity, excitement andthe potential of an attractive futureincome, I knew I had to conquer thesemonstrous katakanas.My tuition and dormitory fees werefully covered by my university scholarship,but living as an exchange studentin one of the world’s most costlycities was an expensive proposition,so I decided to embark on the greatjourney of “shukatsu”—the life of ajob-hunter. It turned out to be muchmore of an arduous undertakingthan I had originally expected since Inaively believed that a proficiency inEnglish and Chinese would ensure meat the very least a good tutoring job inTokyo.I learned from the job hunting experiencesof my Chinese friends thatthe apparent abundance of part-timejobs in Tokyo that were supposed todent’s living expenses for an entiremonth, or even purchase a mediumendlaptop. The common view thatprevails in China is that only themost financially desperate studentswould trade precious study time forcheap paying jobs, and that the effortexpended in part-time work willdetrimentally affect a student’s grades.In Japan, however, part-time employmentis simply regarded as a matterof managing one’s time and ensuringthat one’s work schedule does notconflict with one’s class times.Therefore, after arranging my classtimetable so that I would be free bytwo o’clock in the afternoon, I quicklydrafted a resume and sent it off to adozen of potential employers. To myfollow in the wake of its speedy postfinancial-crisisrevival was in realityinsufficient to satisfy the domesticlabor supply. And although therewere always a dozen Ramen noodleshops along the Waseda streets offeringsome “arubaito,” our slight proficiencyin Japanese would never makeus competitive with the hundreds oflocal students who were looking forpart-time jobs,.In Japan, holding down a parttimejob is regarded as an essentialpart of university life, and it is evenconsidered to be an important featureon one’s resume. Unlike China, wherepart-time wages barely meet the lowestpay standard, in Japan the incomefrom a part-time job can cover a stusurprise,my timing was perfect and Ilanded a contract with a newly builtcafe in central Tokyo.My pre-job training was a painfulexperience. I could barely understandKoji-san, the instructor sent by thecompany to train the new employees,and all the other people hiredto run the café were native Japanese,but thankfully, mostly my age. So, Imade a clumsy attempt to introducemyself to my future colleagues. Overthe following three days, I constantlyscribbled notes to myself in my notebook,and then spent whole nightsmemorizing the formulas for shorthot vanilla lattes, large ice soy mochas,grand extra-hot honey milk teas, andthe various condiments for the differenttypes of hotdogs. When I was thefirst employee to come up with theright formula for an ice cappuccino,I had no trouble understanding Kojisanand the Manager, Takanori’s instructions.Once the café opened and we beganto serve the customers, the dayspassed quickly. My shift began at fourin the afternoon and ran until theshop closed at eight. My facility withJapanese keigo (the respectful formof speech) was extremely limited, soat the outset I was too shy to work asthe cashier. Instead, I hovered aroundthe espresso maker secretly harboringthe dream that I would make mycontribution by becoming the store’sbest drink maker. For the first while,I was a silent employee who talkedonly when foreign customers droppedin from the nearby embassies. Soon,however, I was compelled to take myturn at the cashier’s till counting outyen and recommending the season’sspecials to faces that glanced curiouslyat my nameplate: Amaimono-wa ikagadeshoka?“What about some sweets?”I asked. Onomimono? “Drinks?” Andreceived the reply: “I just orderedthem!” There were other times whenI confused customers’ enquiries, suchas when I mistook a person’s questionabout plugs with whether or not thestore allowed smoking, but each timeI was rescued by the kind store manager,Takanori-san, or by one of theother employees.During each shift, the workers wereallowed to make themselves a “breakdrink,” but only a small one. This wasboth the best and the worst time duringmy shift because my self-madesmall latte was always the subject ofPeking University students posing for a group photo at the graduation party of PKU-Waseda DoubleDegree Exchange Program. Second row from bottom, third from right, is the author.28 Peking University Newsletter AUTUMN 2010 | Issue 13 29

ColumnThe author (right) with a colleague (middle) and the manager (left) at the coffee shopthe manager’s playful criticisms before Iwas able to consume it. Behind the counterwas a bulletin board on which waslisted the coffee making skills of eachemployee, and so I always tried to finishmy “break drink” quickly so that I couldtake some time to practice mixing theprecise beverage recipes.The manager was very particular abouta million details in the operation of thestore: the tissues had to be handed out tothe customers with the store logo facingthem; an espresso had to be made in lessthan fifteen seconds; white cloths wereto wipe cups and spoons, pink cloths fortables, and green cloths for the floors.So, working at a coffee shop was not aseasy a job as I had originally expected it tobe. The store closed at eight, and the hourpreceding closing time was for the employeesto start cleaning tables, washing cups,and emptying machines. When the lastcustomer finally left the store, the next twohours were devoted to wiping down countersand tables and chairs, mopping thefloor, cleaning the windows and grindingcoffee beans for the next day. Many peoplesimply assume that it is the store manager’sresponsibility to be thorough about safetyand shop sanitation, but in fact it was thecollective instinct of all of the employeesto keep the shop tidy and clean. The samewas true of the employee’s courtesy in theirtreatment of the customers. My feeling wasthat this type of behavior came naturallyto the workers rather than being mandatedby the company, and I found that it wasfar easier to be hospitable to the customersthan to be unpleasant. This kind ofself-motivated hospitality can be foundonly rarely here in China’s service industry.When I retuned to China and finallymanaged to re-accustom myself to yellingand shouting at the waiters in some of therestaurants I frequent in Beijing, I cameto the realization that the problem withcourteous service lies, perhaps, not only inthe management, but also in the culturalexpectations of the people.I was very grateful to have such a wonderfulchance to acquaint myself withthe ordinary Japanese people—insofar asanyone is ordinary. Despite their employmentin entry-level jobs in the serviceindustry, I found that each person in thecoffee shop was unique in some specialway. I remember that Kasumi-san’s cellphone was a bright orange color and hada tiny airplane model firmly attachedto it. She later confessed to me thather dream was eventually to work as aflight attendant. I remember Yuko-san, asecond-year graduate student in the FineArts. We drew the first poster to advertiseProfile:Shen Danxi, an English major fromthe School of Foreign Languages atPeking University, completed her thirdyear of studies abroad at Waseda Universityin Japan on an exchange program.Upon returning to China, sheshared with us her unforgettable jobhunting and employment experiencesas a foreign student in Japan.the store before its grand opening. I rememberthat Kenji and Hatoya selectedChinese as their second foreign languageat university, and I remember Miwa-sanwho cooked perfect Malaysian food andwent to onsen (spring) every month withher husband.I remember all of those special peoplewho hosted a farewell dinner for me aftermy final shift. It was my first venture intoa Japanese bar (isakaya), and the firsttime for me to get as drunk as an ordinaryJapanese college student would at aFriday night’s weekly nomikai (drinkingparty). And I think I remember staggeringall the way home after getting off thelast midnight train.During the farewell drinking party,Yuri-san, the girl who played cello in herschool band, gave me a delicate hairpinas a gift. Before I could put it away in mypurse, the whole bar grew dark as a waitresscarried a beautifully decorated caketo our table. After she placed it in frontof me, everyone cried out: Otsukaresamadesu“Thank you for your hard work!”With tears welling up in my eyes, all Icould do was smile and say “Thank you!”But these were only some of the occasionswhen I felt overwhelmed and enrichedby the open affection of my Japanesehosts, occasions that totally gainsaythe popular stereotype of our Japanesepeers as stiff rule-bound sycophants. Iwent to Waseda University in Japan toexperience the blending of internationalcultures, but in spending time workingin a little cafe in downtown Tokyo, I wasable to come in touch with the souls ofthe most fresh, the most lively, and themost genuine Japanese young people.Professor Li Dazhao:The Founder of China’s Marxismjustice on my shoulders/ Write great works with my“Bearhand.” These two lines ofverse could well describe the short life ofLi Dazhao, an erudite and beloved professorat Peking University, and one ofthe most influential intellectual figures inthe history of the Chinese Revolution.Born on the 6 th of October, 1888, intoa peasant family living in Laoting in Hebeiprovince, Li lost his parents early onand was raised by his grandfather. Havingexperienced firsthand the atrocitiescommitted against the Chinese peopleby the rulers of the Qing Dynasty withthe help of foreign imperialist powers,he was convinced that China had to undergoa fundamental program of reformbefore it could achieve full nationalindependence and real freedom for itspeople. Li was a committed nationalistand he was determined to save the countryand the Chinese people by overturningthe Old Chinese order and bringingabout the birth of a New China. From1907 to 1913, he studied at the BeiyangSpecial School of Law and Politics, andafter graduation went abroad to studypolitical economy at Waseda Universityin Tokyo. While pursuing his studies inThe statue of Professor Li Dazhao on the Peking University campusJapan, Li was exposed to many of thecurrent political ideologies of the time,including the ideals of western democracy,Kropotkin’s communist anarchism,and the principles of Marxism.In 1915, the President of the Republicof China, Yuan Shikai, capitulated to allbut the most repressive of the JapaneseTwenty-One Demands that would effectivelyturn China into a Japanese protectorate.As a patriot, Li was outraged, andhe actively participated in the Chinesestudents’ protests against the Japaneseauthority, finally drafting an open telegramurging the Chinese people to riseup in resistance. His political activism ledto his expulsion from Waseda Universityin 1918, and soon afterwards he returnedto China, making his way to the intellectualand political capital of Beijing.In 1918, Li accepted the post of HeadLibrarian and Professor of History, Economicsand Political Science at PekingUniversity. During his tenure, ProfessorLi brought volumes of books on westernpolitics, philosophy and current ideasinto the library, and he actively promotedthe translation of the newest academicarticles, particularly those on Marxisttheory, from their original languages intoChinese. His course, entitled “A MaterialistConception of History,” was groundedin Marxist philosophy, and this new approachallowed him to interpret Chinesehistory from a totally new perspectivethat combined Marxism with classicalChinese philosophy. For many of his students,this was their first exposure to Chinesehistory viewed through the prism ofMarxist thought.The triumph of the October Revolutionin Russia in 1917 greatly inspiredLi, and he published a number of essayswhich analyzed the Socialist Revolution.In addition, he produced a thoroughstudy of Marxism and Leninism which hepublished in New Youth and The WeeklyCritic, two major newspapers of the NewCulture Movement that were committedto the spread of science, democracy andChinese literature. His major works: “AComparison between the French and theRussian Revolutions,” “The Victory ofthe Common People,” “The Victory ofBolshevism,” and “My View of Marxism”had a profound influence on other Chineseintellectuals of the day, especiallyyoung thinkers like Mao Zedong andZhou Enlai, both of whom later rose tobecome leaders of the People’s Republicof China.As a popular and influential professorat Peking University, Li not only introducedMarxism into China, but alsoadapted Marx and Lenin’s theories to thereality of China’s unique political andeconomic landscape. At that time, Chinawas deeply troubled by the sporadicviolence and turmoil that came from theinternal strife among warlords who colludedwith foreign imperialist powers toexpand and secure their political controlin China. Unlike many intellectuals ofhis generation who were cynical aboutChina’s prospects, Li was optimisticabout the country’s future, believing thatthe Chinese people would rise to thetimes and build a new and independentChina. He initiated anti-warlord activitiesamong the students and the workers,and started anti-imperialist movementswith the help of his students and otheracademics. He also recognized the es-30 Peking University Newsletter AUTUMN 2010 | Issue 13 31

ColumnGivingNew Youth was first published on September 15 th ,1915. It played an important role during the MayFourth Movement, advocating Science, Democracy,and New Literature.sential role that the peasantry would playin China’s revolution, and the importanceof raising a revolutionary army. In orderto coordinate these activities, Li turned thePeking University Library into a gatheringplace for students to recruit fellow activistsand to organize political protests.In 1919, China’s humiliating diplomaticfailure at the Paris Peace Conferencefollowing the close of World War I led LiDazhao and his fellow organizer, ChenDuxiu, to plan and stage the so called MayFourth Movement. The remarkable successof this Movement, and the fact that his studentactivists were increasing exponentiallyin number and influence, inspired ProfessorLi to think about the potential of Marxismas a transforming ideology and to considerthe formation of a Communist Partyin China. Professor Li started this workin 1920 with the founding of the MarxistResearch Society at Peking University, andthen with the establishment of the PekingSocialist Youth Corps in the same year.After meeting with the Soviet controlledCommunist International or Comintern,Li co-founded the Communist Party ofChina (CPC) with Chen Duxiu in July of1921. The first meeting of the CPC washeld in Shanghai, and Li was subsequentlygiven responsibility for the Party’s activitiesin northern China, coordinating the railwayworkers’ struggles and recruiting newmembers for the fledgling CPC.In order to fight against the northernwarlords’ military regimes, Li endeavoredto form a United Front with Sun Yat-Sen’s Kuomintang Party (KMT). Underthe direction of the Soviet Cominternand the CPC, he expedited the first collaborationbetween the CPC and KMT,and was elected to the KMT’s Central ExecutiveCommittee in 1924.The alliance between the CommunistParty of China and the Kuomintang was,however, both tenuous and controversial,and the relationship ended abruptly in1927 when the railway strike organized bythe CPC was crushed by the KMT. After thecollapse of the United Front, Li was luckyto escape death during a protest against theencroachment of foreign imperialist powersinto China. But on the 6 th of April ofthe same year, he was captured in a raid onthe Soviet Embassy in Beijing by the forcesof the northern warlord, Zhang Zuolin,and along with nineteen of his compatriots,he was executed on April 28, 1927, atthe age of 38.AEON ScholarshipFund Signed at PKUAn official signing ceremony involvingrepresentatives from PekingUniversity and the AEON ScholarshipFund was held on the 7 th of September,2010. Among the honored guestswere AEON (Asia) Vice President, HaradaAkihiko, and Peking University’s EducationFoundation Secretary General, Ms.Deng Ya. According to the agreement, ascholarship of 5,000 RMB will be awardedfrom the AEON Scholarship Fund tofifty outstanding students per year.In her address to the assembly, Ms.Deng expressed her sincere thanks toAEON for its generous support, andpointed out that these AEON scholarshipswould not only provide PKU stu-dents with a greater motivation to learnand to conduct scholarly research, butwould also increase the friendly relationsbetween China and Japan.Following Ms. Deng’s remarks, theMinister from the Office of Students Affairsat Peking University, Mr. Ma HuaX-iang, provided an outline of the applicationguidelines that are in place to ensurethat an open and just process is followedin selecting the very best students to receivethe scholarships.At the end of the ceremony, the AEONVice President, Mr. Harada Akihiko, announcedthat AEON was delighted tohave the opportunity to establish a scholarshipprogram at Peking University, andthat his company looked forward to a cooperativerelationship with the universityin the future.The Green PineCare FundLi Wei, an alumnus of Peking University,represented the Green PineCare Fund of Shenzhen Provincein signing an agreement with PekingUniversity’s Education Foundation to donateten million RMB to the GuanghuaSchool of Management (GSM), PekingUniversity.Out of the total donation, 70% will becommitted to research, student trainingand academic exchanges for GSM, whilethe remaining 30% will be used to establishthe “GSM at PKU and the Green PineInternational Exchange Study Loans.”These loans will be made available tostudents from the Guanghua School ofManagement, especially those in need offinancial assistance, who wish to travelabroad on exchange programs to studyat foreign universities. The purpose ofthis loan program is to allow more stu-dents from GSM to experience differentcultures and to broaden their global outlook,and in this way to prepare China’sfuture leaders to shoulder domestic andinternational social responsibilities.The Green Pine Care Fund is the firstcharitable trust organization establishedby the venture capital industry in China.Its founding members and major supportersare Peking University alumni whoare committed to the long-term developmentof the university and its academicprograms. In making its contributions toPeking University, the Green Pine Carefoundation adheres to the motto “EncourageSelf-improvement, Exhibit TrueLove,” and strives to promote self-esteem,self-confidence and self-improvement inthe students it assists with the loans.The He Shanheng Library Room DedicationOn the 12 th of September, 2010, theChairman of the S. H. Ho Foundation,Dr Tzu Leung HO, andthe President of the Chinese Universityof Hong Kong (CUHK), Joseph J.Y. Sung,presided over an official ceremony dedicatingthe He Shanheng Library Room tothe S. H. Ho Foundation in honor of itsgenerous donation to the Yuanpei Collegeof Peking University.The Dean of Yuanpei College, ProfessorXu Chongren, delivered a welcomingspeech in which he expressed the sinceregratitude of the university to the S. H. HoFoundation, and his confidence that thenewly designated He Shanheng LibraryRoom would be a valuable resource forthe students of both CUHK and PKU.The S. H. Ho Foundation was establishedin 1970 by the former Chairmanof the Board of the Hang Seng Bank,and over the decades it has supportedthe revival of Chinese culture and highereducation since 1949 when People’s Republicof China was founded.How to GivePeking UniversityEducation FoundationTel: 86-10-62767821fax: 86-10-62755998Email: pkuef@pku.edu.cnWebsite: www.pkuef.org32 Peking University Newsletter AUTUMN 2010 | Issue 13 33

Edgar Snow’s TombOn the Peking University campus alongside the famousWeiming Lake there is a tomb which reads “IN MEMORYOF EDGAR SNOW, AN AMERICAN FRIEND OF THE CHINESEPEOPLE.” Edgar Snow (1905-1972), a dedicated Americanjournalist known for his masterpiece Red Star over China,had a life-long tie with China and with Peking University.Born in Kansas City in 1905, Edgar Snow worked as aforeign journalist in China from 1928 to 1942. During thistime, he personally witnessed and documented in printthe tremendous changes in China and the widespreadmisery and suffering of the Chinese people. In the1930s, Snow was hired as a part-time lecturer by theJournalism Department of Yenching University, whichofficially merged with Peking University in 1952. Duringhis days teaching at the university, he made significantcontributions to the student movements, and forgedclose friendships with a number of his young pupilswho were later to become important Communist partymembers. From this spot alongside Weiming Lake,Edgar Snow was to begin his arduous journey to theheadquarters of the beleaguered Communist party in1936. During the four months that he was embeddedwith the Chinese Red Army, he wrote the classic RedStar over China, a first hand, objective account ofthe Chinese Communist Party, the Red Army, and thelives of the intrepid leaders of the Chinese people.Copyright © 2010 Peking University. All rights reserved.