The Launch of Values Symposia was held at GDUFS

On December 8th 2016, the Launch of Values Symposia and the Symposium One named Chinese and British Perspectives on Values was held in the Lecture Hall, No.6 Academic Building at GDUFS.With a joyful Chinese melody running around the hall, Moderator LIANG Xuehong, the Dean and Party Branch Secretary of the Institute for International Education, extended a warm welcome to all participants, including Chinese and international students first, and then introduced the leaders and speakers. Leaders were Deputy Secretary of the University CPC Community, Professor SHI Youqi; Director of the Publicity Department of the University CPC Community, Professor HU Wentao, and Secretary of University League Committee, SU Yi. Two speakers were Professor YU Xiande and Assistant Professor of the School of Interpreting and Translation Studies, Stephen J. Rake.

SHI Youqi delivered a speech

Next, the address by Professor SHI Youqi was presented. He emphasized that inheriting culture innovation and promoting culture development is the mission of universities. As an international well-known university, GDUFS has its mission to connect China and Western world and to promote exchanges around the world. He said that it is a delight to see that Chinese students and foreign students gather together at GDUFS and learn from each other.At the end of the speech, he announced the launch of Values Symposia and wished it a great success, after which, all the leaders, two speakers and representatives of students took group pictures to memorize this vital moment.

Group photo

After finishing the first session,Session Two“Symposium One: Chinese and British Perspectives on Values” started. Speaking first, Professor YU Xiande focused his speech on patriotism and practical reason. His speech was divided into four parts, each of which analyzed features of Chinese perspectives on values well.

Professor YU Xiande was giving the speech

First of all, he believed that embracing a long history, China has formed its own unique perspectives of values. Chinese civilization is famous for its multi-nationality nature which equips us with inclusivity and openness. This also keeps us energetic and avoids us becoming rigid.

The second part was prominent social preference.Chinese people in pursuit of values have always given prominence to a sense of belongings and we value the social function of each individual. He raised GUAN Yu, who devoted his whole life to the unity of his country and happiness of people, as an example, to clarify that contributions to society are important criteria that are used to measure the individuals’ contribution. What’s more, he said that Chinese people also pursue orders and rules and explained how and why.

After this, he talked about practical reason.When it comes to Chinese perspectives of values, we are worthy being respected, pursued and valued, all of which would be showed in our practice and highlight our personalities. Conversely, they will guide our practice. The perspectives of values emphasize practical and social function and they actually originate from our daily experience.

At last, he drew a comparison between Chinese perspectives on values and western perspectives on values in terms of self-fulfillment. Chinese ones stress the importance of collectivism, cooperation and coordination while western ones attach importance to independence and competition.

Shortly afterwards, Assistant Professor Stephen Rake from the School of Interpreting and Translation Studies elaborated on British perspectives on values.

Assistant Professor Stephen Rake was giving a speech

He pointed out that appreciation for core values of the respective nations is the key to this progress. To further explain, he viewed the 12 core socialist values as a starting point for the formation of common ground between countries. However, the subsequent challenges can be rather considerable.

The first barrier of which Professor Rake mentioned is the semantic challenge. Based on two entirely different cultural backgrounds along with political systems, the two countries’ interpretations of a particular value can differ markedly despite our share of the same values. Accordingly, there is also a striking contrast in prioritization of values between Britain and China. For instance: while China has a 50/50 split between rights and citizenship behavior in its core values, the majority of Britain key values are rights focused, because individual rights have always been more highly valued than citizenship behavior. To sum up, he concluded the status quo as the coexistence of substantial common ground and considerable differences. And he said that cultural sensitivity can overcome these difficulties, thus promoting bi-lateral stability. We should respect the right of each nation to interpret a particular value according to its own culture and traditions.

Q&A session

A Student was raising her question

During the Q&A session, both Chinese and foreign students showed great enthusiasm in Chinese and British perspectives on values, and Professor YU and Professor Stephen also went deeper into the issues raised. Thanks to the joint effort of speakers from both sides and the support of students, the first session of the symposium came to a successful conclusion.