OPINION> Commentary
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OPINION> Commentary
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Lecture showed shoe hurler behind the times
By Chung-yue Chang (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-02-16 07:34 On Feb 2, Premier Wen Jiabao delivered the 2008-09 Rede Lecture at Cambridge University. The prestigious Rede Lecture dates to the 16th century. Illustrious past lecturers include Archibald MacLeish, the American poet who won three Pulitzer Prizes, James Clerk Maxwell, the 19th century Scottish mathematician-physicist who gave us the indispensable electromagnetic theory, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and Sir Fred Hoyle, the famed Cambridge astronomer who coined the phrase "Big Bang" to help track the origin of the universe. Like those before his, Premier Wen's lecture, "See China in the Light of Her Development", touched on basic issues of global significance: the history of development in China, the challenges ahead and the present financial crisis. It was also about the nature of Chinese culture, past and present, as the requisite context in which current development, challenges and crises are understood and answered. As if to ensure the cultural significance of his lecture is fittingly underscored and understood, Premier Wen presented a gift of 200,000 electronic books from China to Cambridge University Library. Since China's electronic publication collection is one of the most comprehensive in the world, the Cambridge holding of Chinese books (first acquired in 1632) suddenly catapulted to some 300,000 titles, among the largest outside of China. The intellectual and practical import of Premier Wen's lecture is weighty, characteristic of all Rede lectures. Premier Wen wants the British and the world audience to know that China is "both old and young, , [having withstood] numerous vicissitudes but never gave up, , [and] values her traditions while opening her arms to the outside world." Thanks to the international media's penchant for the simplistic and the sensational, the world must know by now that Premier Wen's lecture was unceremoniously interrupted by a newly embraced international ritual of "shoe-throwing". In this case the discourteous interruption came from a single member of the audience, one Martin Jahnke, a German national, who is otherwise a promising graduate researcher at Cambridge. Cambridge Vice-Chancellor Professor Alison Richard, who chaired the lecture, regretted that Jahnke "failed to show the respect that is customary at Cambridge. This university is a place for considered argument and debate, not for shoe-throwing."
Professor Richard's regret is all the more painful for everyone, in light of the fact that, earlier, on his way to the podium, Premier Wen, apparently moved by Cambridge University's august 800-year-old tradition, bowed to the Vice-Chancellor and then to the faculty in the audience as an impromptu gesture of respect, not, as he later explained, from a Head of State, but from a reverential student to his respected teachers. Confucius would have done the same. Premier Wen not only lectured on Chinese culture and development at Cambridge, but also bodily exemplified the essence of his lecture to the whole world. Ironically, the disrespectful act of Martin Jahnke actually helped to highlight Premier Wen's fundamental message to the world: There is a dire need for the world to know China properly even as China is learning from the world. China must and can turn the Martin Jahnkes of the world into friends through exchanges of all kinds to promote mutual respect and understanding. What specifically does the world need to know about China? Premier Wen gave a few suggestions. First, "China is no longer the closed and backward society it was 100 years ago, or the poor and ossified society of 30 years ago." Second, after unremitting struggles China finally found, as suitable to her national conditions, "the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics". "Following this path," China's "ancient civilization has been rejuvenated." Third, the new path and the ancient tradition both affirm the Chinese political ideal that "people are the masters of the country," according to which China's current and future political, legal, and economic reforms are understood and implemented. Fourth, according to Premier Wen, China is traditionally "a peace-loving country committed to building a harmonious world". This position is deeply rooted in Chinese culture, as demonstrated by the character for military, Wu, graphically joining "stop" to "dagger-axe", and the character for peace, He, graphically joining "grain" to "mouth". Intellectual history tells us that Confucius became the patron saint of the 18th century Enlightenment due largely to the intellectual enthusiasm of Voltaire and Leibniz for Chinese culture. We do not know if history will repeat itself. We do know, however, that the world and China are now talking and solving problems together, especially about the present global financial crisis. We just need to know each other better with mutual respect and understanding. When we do, the Martin Jahnkes of the world will become friends of China. The author teaches Western and Chinese philosophy at Montclair State University, Upper Montclair, New Jersey, US (China Daily 02/16/2009 page4) |
