On October 16th, when the 100th anniversary of the founding of Nankai University and the 100th anniversary of the establishment of foreign language disciplines was celebrated, Yan Guodong, President of the CFL, announced a blockbuster message: Centennial Oral History of Nankai Foreign Languages Discipline (Volume 1) was released.
To celebrate the two 100th anniversary, leaders from the Department of the Party and Administration of the CFL put the celebration activities on the top of their agenda. A working group for specific subjects was set up to carry out the project of exploring and studying the verbally spoken history of centennial Nankai. It took about 5 months to record and compile the verbal speeches by over ten former professors and leaders. The project will be a treasure for the centennial Nankai and the foreign language disciplines, carrying forward the spirit of the predecessors and opening up a new chapter.
The CFL is born with Nankai University, with Nine Languages and Ten Subjects flourishing
In April 2019, the Working Group for Specific Subjects was set up where Professor Yan Guodong led the full- and part-time counsellors to work on the project. They spent about 2 month, through May 14th to June 28th, reviewing 10 retired professors including Xiao Futang, a researcher and former party secretary, Professor Liu Shicong, the first president of the CFL and a “senior translator” in China, professor Chang Yaoxin, a famous expert in British and American literature, Professor Gu Hengdong, winner of the Russian Pushkin Memorial Medal and “Chen Zi’ang National Poetry Translator Award”, Professor Zhang Zhiting, a expert in French Semiotics and the winner of “French Purple Palm Knight Medal”, Professor Jiang Huashang from the Department of English, Professor Liu Guimin and Professor Chu Benzhong from the Department of Japanese, Professor Zhang Guizhen and Professor Chen Zongxian from the Department of German. The interview ends up in a 1000-minutes video covering the development of the foreign languages discipline, discipline construction, the faculty, some past episodes in the classroom and the founding of the Arabic in 2019. Now the College of Foreign Languages hosts 9 departments and 10 languages.
Professor Liu Shicong said: Nankai University has gone through the hard journey of 100 years and ushered in the 100th anniversary. However, the school motto has inspired generations of teachers and students of our College to carry forward the tradition of patriotic struggle and fulfill the tasks with steadiness in the discipline development and education.
From July 2019, the Group began to compile and edit the transcripts from the recordings, ending up in a book Centennial Oral History of Nankai Foreign Languages Discipline with more than 1000,000 words before the celebration on October 17th. Besides, the interview videos of ten senior professors were edited by the Group and the Press Center of the CFL and launched one at a time on the new column “He and Nankai” of the official account NK CFL. This column starts with the article Xiao Futang: Nankai University under My Pen and ends with Liu Shicong: Involvement in the development of Foreign Languages Discipline. Having these articles shared in 34 WeChat groups composing of freshmen and alumni, the students and teachers of Nankai University will be more united and cohesive as they are more familiar with the school history.
At the very day of October 16th, when the two 100th Anniversaries were held at the CFL and the book was released, President Yan Guodong said: At the turn of the new centenary, what should be taken into consideration is to make plans and policies for the next centenary by learning experiences from the past. A review of our history, achievements and lessons contributes to consolidating what we have had in discipline strengths, cultural heritage and spiritual world. And when each one stays true to our mission. It is possible for us to take confident and steady steps towards the future. The idea stuck me three years ago that Centennial Oral History of Nankai Foreign Languages Discipline is to be written based on the narration of some scholars who have witnessed the discipline development for its practical value to the anniversary and the spiritual wealth to the generations of students. Now The first volume is announced to be officially released.”
It is reported that the first batch of interviewees are well-known retired professors or leaders. Afterwards, the oral history working group will continue to interview teachers and some outstanding alumni of the College so that a comprehensive study is done with more narration perspectives and diversified materials involved. As such, the project is more of document value and instructive significance.
