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Home > Learning English > Bilingual News

PKU should stress books, not billionaires
北大不出大師出富翁喜從何來

Peking University has created 79 billionaires for the past eleven years from 1999 to 2010. [File photo]
1999-2010這11年間，北京大學出產了79個億萬富翁。

Peking University, widely considered the top academic institution in China, has also proven to be a wealth factory, turning out some of the country's richest businesspeople. According to media reports, 79 of the school's alumni from 1999 to 2010 have gone on to become billionaires, the most of any academic institution in the country. PKU President Zhou Qifeng has expressed great pride at this distinction. I don't share the feeling.	作為公認的中國最高學府，北京大學用事實證明，它還是一個財富工廠，國內很多超級大富翁都是從這里走出去的。據媒體報道，1999-2010年間，共有79個北大學子轉身變成億萬富翁，產量居全國高校第一。校長周其鳳感到很自豪也很光榮，我卻怎么也高興不起來。
Established in 1898 as the Imperial University of Peking during a period of reform, the school was created as a replacement for the Guozijian, the top institute of learning in ancient China for more than a thousand years. In 1895, Emperor Guangxu issued an imperial edict making the construction of universities one of ten national priorities. At that time, Chinese scholars and reformers saw education as a way to produce the political and academic talent needed to carry the country forward. "The root of reform lies in education," Chinese scholar Liang Qichao wrote. "Talent comes from establishing schools."	北京大學的前身是創辦于1898年的京師大學堂，用以取代一千多年來中國古代的最高學府——國子監。1895年，光緒皇帝在一份“詔書”中列出了要做的“十大實事”，其中就有“立學堂”。那個時候，中國的學者和改革家們都認為，通過教育才能培養政治名流和學術人才，從而帶動國家進步。梁啟超這樣寫道：“變法之本，在育人才，人才亡興，在開學校”。
Instead of producing wealth, scholars of the day envisioned the university educating patriotic graduates to carry out their duty of improving China. As another scholar, Li Duanfen, put it: "Once schools are established, there will be enough talent for our country's administration and restoration."	在那個年代，學者們都期待著大學能培養出愛國之才、肩負起興國之重任，而不是產出了多少富翁。另一位學者李端棻說道：一旦“立學堂”，“十年以后賢俊盈廷，不可勝用。”
Peking University, then, was an academic and political institution from its inception, not an incubator for the country's next generation of business moguls. In ancient China, businessmen occupied the lowest of social classes, and business was limited by the emperors of China for several thousand years. Today, that perspective has changed, but the importance of business should not be overstated. Should we feel proud when our top universities' goal is to produce rich businesspeople?	從辦學開始，北大一直到那個時候都還是一個有著政治氛圍的學術機構，而不是為國家培養下一代商業大亨的溫床。在中國古代，商人的社會地位最低，中國幾千年執政者也都是“抑商”的。如今，觀點是變了，但是重商的思想也不應太過分。如果高等學府教育的目的是培養富翁，我們還會引以自豪嗎？