Thammasat University students interested in China studies, education, sociology, history, economics, and related subjects may find it useful to participate in a free 9 November Zoom book launch and book talk on The Chinese Idea of a University: Phoenix Reborn.
The event, on Wednesday, 9 November at 4:45pm Bangkok time, is organized by the University Libraries, The University of Hong Kong (HKU).
The TU Library collection includes several books on different aspects of Chinese universities and higher education.
The speaker will be Professor Yang Rui, Dean of the Faculty of Education, HKU. As the event announcement states,
Blending Chinese and Western ideas of a university and based on rich empirical data collected from premier universities in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore, Professor Yang will share his insightful and inspiring reflections on higher education development in Chinese societies.
The moderator will be Emeritus Professor Law Wing-Wah of the Faculty of Education, HKU.
According to the HKU website,
Professor Yang Rui is Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Education at the University of Hong Kong. With over three decades of academic career in China, Australia and Hong Kong, he has an impressive track record on research at the interface of Chinese and Western traditions in education. He has established his reputation among scholars in English and Chinese national languages in the fields of comparative and international education and Chinese higher education. Bridging the theoretical thrust of comparative education and the applied nature of international education, his research interests include education policy sociology, comparative and cross-cultural studies in education, international higher education, educational development in Chinese societies, and international politics in educational research. His international reputation is evidenced by his extensive list of publications, research projects, invited keynote lectures in international and regional conferences, leadership in professional associations and membership on editorial boards of scholarly journals.
His books include Governance Reforms in Higher Education: A Study of China (2014), Third Delight: Internationalization of Higher Education in China (2002), A Study of the Macro Background of Higher Education Development in China (in Chinese, 1995) and On Contemporary Educational Reforms (in Chinese, 1994).
Professor Law Wing-Wah is a retired professor of the Faculty of Education, the University of Hong Kong. His research contributes to understanding the interplay between globalisation and localisation in education and development in various areas, including educational policy, higher education, citizenship and citizenship education, educational and curriculum reforms. His work serves as a bridge for the exchange and development of educational research between China and the rest of the world. His recent book on higher education is Politics, Managerialism, and University Governance: Lessons from Hong Kong under China’s Rule since 1997, published by Springer in 2019.
The publisher’s website explains,
Hong Kong University Press:
The Chinese Idea of a University: Phoenix Reborn
Rui Yang
A breakthrough analysis of the structure and role of Chinese universities that bridges the divisions between Sino and Western systems.
While many analyses of Chinese university systems focus on the difference between Sino and Western educational structures, The Chinese Idea of a University takes a new path by putting these two constructions of higher education in conversation. Citing the practices of four differing Chinese regions, professor and administrator Rui Yang opposes the existence of an impassable chasm between Chinese and Western ideas of a university and argues that it is possible to combine Chinese and Western ideas of higher education. This is the first book in English to systematically introduce, explain and theorize the Chinese tradition of higher education while drawing on empirical evidence of contemporary university development collected from Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore. Yang acutely recalls historic events that have shaped Chinese university structures, and he contextualizes the enormous impact Western academic models and institutions have had from the development of modern Chinese universities up to today.
The subtitle of Professor Yang’s book refers to a phoenix, an immortal bird associated with Greek mythology with parallels in other cultures that regenerates. Associated with the sun, a phoenix achieves new life by rising from the ashes of its predecessor. Some legends say it dies in flames, while others claim that it dies and is born again.
In Chinese mythology, a fenghuang, sometimes misleadingly called the Chinese phoenix, is an immortal bird whose rare appearance is said to be an omen foretelling harmony at the ascent to the throne of a new emperor. Like the qilin, a unicorn-like creature, the fenghuang is often considered to signify both male and female elements, a yin-yang harmony; its name is a combination of the words feng, representing the male aspect, and huang the female.
The fenghuang is commonly shown attacking snakes with its talons and its wings spread. Some writers claim that fenghuang are composed of the beak of a rooster, the face of a swallow, the forehead of a fowl, the neck of a snake, the breast of a goose, the back of a tortoise, the hindquarters of a stag and the tail of a fish. More recently, it is often described as a composite of many birds including the head of a golden pheasant, the body of a mandarin duck, the tail of a peacock, the legs of a crane, the mouth of a parrot, and the wings of a swallow.
The fenghuang’s body symbolizes the celestial bodies: the head is the sky, the eyes are the sun, the back is the moon, the wings are the wind, the feet are the earth, and the tail is the planets. The fenghuang is said to have originated in the sun. Its body contains the five fundamental colors: black, white, red, yellow, and green. It sometimes carries scrolls or a box with sacred books. It is believed that the bird only appears in areas or places that are blessed with utmost peace and prosperity or happiness.
Chinese tradition cites it as living atop the Kunlun Mountains in northern China.
The earliest known ancient phoenix design dates back to about 7000–8000 years ago and was discovered in Hongjiang, Hunan Province, at the Gaomiao Archeological Site. The earliest known form of dragon-phoenix design dates back to the Yangshao culture, around 7000 years ago, and was found at an archeological site near Xi’an in Shaanxi Province.
(All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)