On September 19, 2019, the thematic lecture of “The Great Trend That Shapes the World in 21st Century” was held at the hall 110 of CFL. The lecture was made by Professor David Gosset, expert of global affairs and international relationship and hosted by professor Yan Guodong, the dean of CFL of NKU, the head of the National and Regional Research Center of Nankai University. Over one hundred students and teachers from CFL and other colleges attended the lecture. The lecture was held by the National and Regional Research Center of Nankai University.
From the very beginning, Professor Gosset described the complexity of current global situation briefly, leading the students to consider the reason behind. After that, he gave, based his own understanding, a sketch of elements influencing the global tendency from 4 perspective: demographical change, technological development, power diffusion and geopolitical change.
First, when talking about the demographical change, professor Gosset compared the current world population with that in the era of Confucius and Plato, used specific data to illustrate several issues faced by human being, such as the ongoing increase of world population, poverty and climate change, and stated that the sustainable development would lead to a promising future. As for analyzing the aspect of technological change, professor Gosset discussed the profound transform and reform that human society is going through from 3 layers: cyberspace, artificial intelligence, and quantum physics. Trying to give more detailed information about power diffusion, professor Gosset emphasized, with the illustration of daily example, that the information in nowadays society is power and social media plays a more and more important role. Finally, professor Gosset related the industrialization of Western world with China’s modernization, pointing out that difference between each other and calling for every country to enhance the cooperation and communication with other countries, within the background of a shared future of mankind. Mr. Gosset’s speech was logical, reasonable, provoking and humorous, embracing dozens of rounds of applauses.
In the end of the lecture, the audience proactively raised questions in terms of China, France, Europe and the world. Professor Gosset gave answers one by one and praised that the students of CFL are equipped with fluent English and French, and profound vision of liberal art and humanity. At last, professor Gosset state that the great rejuvenation of Chinese nation will contribute to the growth of the whole world and he hoped that the good cooperative relationship between China and Europe kept enduring, promoting the development of the world together. The lecture was ended in ardent applause.
After the lecture, dean Yan Guodong had a cordial talk with Mr. Gosset in order to facilitate the friendly cooperation between each other. Associate professor Hao Yunzhi, the deputy head of the National and Regional Research Center of Nankai University and the head of English department, professor Hu Cuie, the head of English Translation department, Liu Jiping, the head of French department, associate professor Yang Lin, who is in charge of Italian major attended the meeting.
