Sun Hua, director of the China Edgar Snow Research Center at Peking University: People are the best carrier for exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations

The ninth article of the guest speech of the "19th Snow Symposium" was from Sun Hua, director of the China Edgar Snow Research Center of Peking University, "Man is the Best Carrier of Civilization Exchange and Mutual Learning".

People are the best carrier of civilizational exchanges and mutual learning

Distinguished leaders, guests, teachers and students, hello everyone.

On behalf of the organizer, the China Edgar Snow Research Center of Peking University, I would like to thank you for your efforts in hosting the 19th Snow Symposium. President Xi Jinping pointed out: People are the best carrier of exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations. Deepening people-to-people exchanges and mutual learning is an important way to eliminate estrangement and misunderstanding and promote people-to-people understanding. In the practice of people-to-people exchanges, the China Edgar Snow Research Center of Peking University systematically studies and introduces Snow and other international friends, pays attention to strengthening people-to-people exchanges among young people, and continues valuable spiritual traditions.

Since its establishment at Peking University in 1993, the China Edgar Snow Research Center has systematically studied and introduced the activities of Snow and other international friends, collected their writings, manuscripts, pictures, and various documents and materials, compiled relevant writings and biographies, and carried out friendly exchanges and academic exchanges with relevant institutions, groups, and people in the United States and other countries. The biennial Snow International Symposium has expanded from the memory of Mr. Snow to education, medical care, corporate cooperation and other fields, on the basis of which Chinese and foreign young students carry out free exchanges and dialogues through exchange activities between disciplines, youth forums and essay competitions. The "Famous Journalists Special Topic" course opened at Peking University invited the second or third generation of more than 10 international friends such as Ma Haide and Yang Zhaohanchun to hold a series of lectures to introduce the contributions made by these famous international friends to China. The "Helen Snow Translation Prize" competition has been held for 9 years and has attracted thousands of university students. The Southern Utah Symphony Orchestra from Helen Snow's hometown and the Yuanpei College of Peking University jointly presented a wonderful performance with Chinese and Western musical characteristics, and the large-scale modern dance drama "Helen's Dream", which was jointly choreographed, composed and performed by China and the United States, also toured China and the United States.

Under the guidance of the spirit of International Friends such as Snow, the international exchange activities of the China Edgar Snow Research Center have been extended to the United Kingdom. In 2015, the China Edgar Snow Research Centre and the British-Chinese Understanding Association held the first "Understanding China" essay contest at Needham's alma mater, Odo Secondary School, and by 2021, the fifth session has been held, and more than 100 British secondary school students from more than a dozen British schools have told their understanding of China through thesis competition. In September 2016, the China Edgar Snow Research Center and the British-Chinese Understanding Association joined hands with Beijing Publishing Group to hold the "Reading Beijing" book fair at the British Library in London, which vividly reflects the historical stories of the Chinese and British peoples in supporting each other and sharing solidarity, and more than 500 Chinese classic books were donated to the newly established Chinese-English Bilingual School in London, so that more British children can read Beijing and understand China. At present, 9,000 historical pictures of China-UK people-to-people exchanges and 200 kinds of journals and literature materials are being established to establish databases and websites, and a series of Chinese and foreign people-to-people exchange research projects will be launched on this basis.

On this special day, we would also like to pay tribute to the two seniors. On August 21 this year, China Daily devoted two full-page pages to the story of Professor Diamond and Snow, the founder of the Snow Memorial Foundation in the United States. Snow opened the door to China for Diamond. Diamond has been to China more than 40 times, leading thousands of people from all walks of life in the United States to China, and he has also brought many delegations from all walks of life in China to the United States to promote exchanges between the two countries in various fields such as medical culture and commerce. Diamond writes in the book: This is a story about the generations between China and the United States. The best annotation of this story is Snow's will: he wants to sprinkle half of his ashes in Beijing, where he "should like part of me to stay there after death as it always did during life."; at the same time, he wants the other half to be sprinkled near the Hudson River, because "America fostered and." nourished me.” ）。 Snow's most important advice to Diamond was: "You have to be in China to understand it." ("You can only understand it if you are in China.") ）

Therefore, I am here once again to invite friends from the United States, I hope that you can come to China for exchanges as soon as possible, and we also hope to go to the United States as soon as possible to reunite with old friends in Kansas City. Once again, thank you to all your friends for their efforts in the 19th Snow Symposium!

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Editor: Xinhui Liu