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It is essential for China and the United States to have "two-way street" so that they can communicate closely, understand each other and learn from each other, said Hunter Rawlings, President of Cornell University, in a recent interview with Xinhua before his visit to China on Monday.
He said the main thing is both sides communicate very closely with each other, citing frequent visits by presidents of prestigious Chinese universities such as Peking University and Tsinghua University to Cornell, and the reciprocal tour by Cornell top administrators.
He noted that these trips have helped maintain a close relationship. "This is the best thing we can do to have joint programs, to visit each other's campus, to teach each other's students and have faculty exchanges and workshops," he said.
The president said that the US-China relations are so strong and so intermeshed that the two countries now have increasingly important partnership and very strong ties in the economic, social, academic and educational spheres in addition to political relations.
On his forthcoming China visit, Rawlings said he was very excited because Cornell is going to sign a number of important agreements.
"This will be a grand occasion because it will create a two-way street with Peking University so that students can study there and learn not only Chinese language, but also China's politics, culture and history, so that when they come back to the United States, they will be able to represent China's point of view much better," Rawlings said.
The new four-year undergraduate program, suggested and funded by Michael Zak, a Cornell alumni, aims to promote better understanding of China. To ensure language proficiency, students are asked to receive very intensive training in the Chinese language, besides taking courses in Chinese history, literature and culture.
The students will also study for one semester in Washington D.C. to have internship in government institutions, and spend another semester at Peking University to make certain that they have mastered the language and gained ground experience in China.
The president noted that Cornell has a long history of association with China, and its best known graduate in the first half of the 20th century is probably Hu Shi, a great figure in Chinese culture who helped make literary language open to all Chinese people.
"To me, he is a representative of what we are trying to accomplish, namely, to have a very close intellectual association with China," Rawlings said.
In the 21st century both sides have the similar opportunity which Hu Shi took advantage of last century to create a two-way street, he added. "I think this two-way street is very important for China and the United States so that we can learn from you and you can learn from us."
During his China visit, Rawlings will also attend the Beijing Forum, a scholarly economic and cultural summit that draws more than 300 scholars from around the globe.
Rawlings is expected to deliver his keynote address, with emphasis on research universities, the important role they play in internationalization and in creating strong relationship between countries, especially between China and the United States.
On the relations between science and technology on one hand, and humanities on the other, Rawlings said if a university becomes so obsessed with science and technology, then it loses a crucial aspect of culture, which matters very much in today' world.
"Look at the world today, what is causing so much difficulties is not technology, but culture and religion, things that people feel very deeply. If we don't study culture, religion and literature, understand them, and communicate with each other, we'll have problems, which technology does not solve or even address," he said.
Rawlings served an eight-year term as president before he left the post in 2003, but he took over presidency on an interim basis following the unexpected resignation of his successor Jeffery Lehman in June this year. Rawlings stressed that the Cornell's close partnership with China is a long-term policy regardless of any changes in the university's top administration.
He expressed the hope that Cornell would have other graduates who would have big impacts on China just like what Hu Shi did to Chinese culture during the first half of the 20th century.
(Xinhua News Agency November 14, 2005)
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