Month: October 2008

Categories
Events

CRCLLE's Official Opening

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Ponderasa F is warm and crowded this rainy Thursday night. Although I received the invitation many times for the opening, I didn’t know much about the Centre. Hanban made a commitment of half million?! Sister Xu, way to go!Chinese Consul General, Shugen Liang, commented on the lovely rain in Vancouver, and it would be appreicated if spreaded to China. Dr. Farrar, UBC Provost, and Dr. Tierney, Dean, Faculty of Education joked about the big movement from Australia to BC, for Mr. Liang just arrived from Melbourne. Madame Xu Lin’s name was mentioned many times. Dr. Tierney told the large audience that China related programs have grown from a few to almost 30 in Education, covering all provinces in China. Dr. Patricia Duff also mentioned a few programs in details.

Some people from Asian Studies and Libraries were there. Prof. Swatek got excited when she heard about my recent adventure in Beida. The Peking Opera personal notes and manuscripts of the major actors I have seen in the rare collection made her jealous. “I really need to read them before I die!”, she said. Hope I can find time to write down my experience in China soon.

Categories
Libraries in China

Peking U, Superstar & CNPITC

Wake-up call worked loudly at 6 am on October 16th. It’s a bright and warm day. Our visit started in the new building of Peking U Library. 肖珑老师的笑腼仿佛窗外的徐徐微风。她提纲挈领地介绍了全馆的发展历程，并带领我们来到古籍阅览室。乃文先生的京腔和对古籍善本的激情感染了我们。伴随着他的介绍是一阵阵的惊叹！程家的戏谱又为北大增添一宝，但愿我们的教授也能受益。 I am suprised that they have the money to continue to purchase rare materials and they have the space to keep all the card catalogues. What I really like is that they are investing more on document delivery and ILL, the service fee sounds reasonable.在超星，大家齐赞读秀，并像实现商量好了似的起劲bargain，as a team first and then in smaller groups。史超和朱平摆出海外的市场实在微不足道的架势，告诉大家“好商量”。

I didn’t have enough time to ask whether we could buy direct from the bookstore in Vancouver owned by CNPITC. The company has made transition online. Hope we can place orders online soon.

Categories
Experience

Thinking about the students from CHIN 105 in Beijing

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I enjoyed talking to the non-heritage class right before I took this trip. Their eyes in blue, green and brown colors all showed sympathy when I told them that I would take the trip on Thanksgiving to Beijing. “I could use Peking duck to replace turkey” I joked with the class, and that started a bit debate about whether the Peking duck in Vancouver is real.When I saw the real Peking duck in Beijing, I was thinking about the lovely class, and told my peers how popular Chinese classes are at UBC. What a surprise! A thank-you card is sitting in my mailbox first day when I returned to work, from CHIN 105! The students wrote in Chinese: “意思极了！”“你是个好老师！”“你很漂亮！” Feel like still flying in the clouds…

Categories
Experience

Good to be back!

I am jetlaged and feel like in a dream. Time to make the note of my trip. Arrived in Beijing on the 13th, on Thanksgiving back in Canada. I had to rush here for the International Conference on the Development of Subject Librarianship.

When I went to the registration desk from the airport directly, I didn’t even know how to answer their questions and I didn’t have enough RMB to pay for the conference. A beautiful young lady walked by and recognized me, “Jing Liu, from UBC?!”I knew I met her before but her name didn’t come back to me fast enough. Gayle from HKU, we met in Shanghai years ago. Then Deng Shi came to the registration and gave me a bear hug. Good to be back, where people know your name!

My presentation went smoothly, although I spent some extra time, which I don’t usually do, but I do like to be fare to all audience, so I spoke in both languages. No time for Q and A. As soon as I stepped out, a few people followed and called me “Teacher Liu”. We were connected by the Sino-American Librarians Training Program in Wuhan. I felt flattered being remembered by these Chinese librarians. I didn’t expect any classmates, so I was really shocked and happy to see Jianyuan, who became an AUL at the Union U. in Beijing. See how happy I was reunited with my school friend!

Our delegation started to work this evening at Da Zhai Men. Presentations on new e-resources were provided at dinner time: Dragoninfo 龙语瀚堂，中文在线, 国学宝典， 周文业老师的古典小说据说也很好。

Categories
What others are saying

Why has China grown so fast for so long?

Dr. Khalid Malik has been appointed as UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in China since August 2003. He came to UBC meeting with China specialists and delivered a well-attended lecture. As one of the department head mentioned, every department at UBC has some projects related to China going on.

China has made greatest sustained economic expansion in human history by not following the policies that others made. Dr. Malik thinks that China has strong institutions gradually changing to meet the reform needs. He mentioned about social capital and strong cohesion thanks to historic equality. Sadly, China has become the most unequal society in the world.

Categories
What others are saying

Prof. Lee on Africa's Chinese Enclaves

Ching Kwan Lee’s talk at Departmetn of Sociology drew a big audience. It was about her fieldwork in Zambia and Tanzania on two Chinese investment projects. What impressed me the most was that she emphasized on the class struggles against casualization instead of tensions between races. Some interesting points she made: Chinese managers abandoned socialism and they are fully convinced that they know how to develop a poor country. China’s uniqueness is not because what it does but the attention it has received.

Categories
Reference Questions

Disserations from Taiwan

I have got this request again after a few failed requests I sent to Taiwan last summer. Prof. Joyce Chen mentioned the tricky copyright issue. Wondering if that is the reason.

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