Research Universities Networking - A New Golden Bridge (新金門橋) of the 21st Century?

Research Universities Networking
A New Golden Bridge (新金門橋) of the 21st Century?
Presidential Forum on Global Research Universities
Organized by Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)
September 8, 2008, Seoul, Korea

Da Hsuan Feng馮達旋
Senior Executive Vice President
National Cheng Kung University成功大學

Dr. Nam P. Suh, President of KAIST, Professor Yong-Taek Im of KAIST and main organizer of this Forum, Distinguished colleagues from United States, Europe, Asia Pacific, Southeast Asia, Australia and South Asia, I am here today representing my boss, Academician Michael Lai, President of National Cheng Kung University, who if not because he had to participate in the biannual “Two Shores (Mainland and Taiwan) Presidents Forum” in Xiamen (Amoy,) China, he would definitely wanted to be here in person.

Since time is limited, I will make sure that I first say what my bottom line is in case time runs out. They are

• Universities are one of the last defense lines for human understanding and tolerance.

• The world is faced with grave and dangerous issues, hatred between humans, global warming, shortage of energy, proliferation of weapons of mass destructions, and so on which render the survival of the globe in the 21st century questionable.

• Universities students constitute only a very small percentage of the world’s population (~6 billion.) Many of them will be leaders in the 21st century in their respective professions and countries and will have to deal with the potentially catastrophic issues facing the world. Hence they have special and heavy responsibilities on their shoulders to try to ensure that the world will be a better place for all human beings because of them.

• In the above scenario, universities educators must ensure that our students will receive an education which will prepare and assist them through this new demand as world citizens and leaders. In this respect, the concept of operating a global university is certainly one such important step. Indeed, cognizant of the importance of knowledge well beyond science and technology, should and must constitute a fundamental component of education so that university students of today can become global citizens and be an integral part of our world.

• Last but not least, while our students should and will receive outstanding and information-rich information from their education, we as administrators should and must not forget the intangibles part of their education. Indeed, often how these students behave or succeed in life may depend more on the intangibles than the formal in-class or in-laboratories education.

So what should we do as educators? I would say that all the topics discussed in this Forum so far, roaming professorships, dual degrees programs, sharing facilities and expertise and joint research must be part of the landscape of today’s universities. However, in my humble opinion, they are incomplete if we do not take into account of the “intangibles,” namely how to create for our students a sense of being an integral part of the world and shoulder the responsibilities thrusts upon them as individuals who have the privilege of receiving an outstanding education. To me, this is equally, if not more important. As educators, we must be relentless in search of programs and projects that can enhance the intangibles.

To this end, allow me to give you an example. I do this only in the sense of what the Chinese would refer to as拋磚引玉or “throw a brick to draw a jade.” I hope that through this example, I can illustrate the following:

1. Opportunities are abound for us to create a universities’ landscape where students can learn, directly or indirectly, how important, exciting and beautiful our world is.
2. It is important that students of today have a profound understanding of history, because only through history will we know why we are here and where we will be. If university is a place for students to learn how to dream, and hopefully dream big, than it must be a place where the importance of history cannot be underestimated!

As the famous author Pearl S. Buck once said, “If you want to understand today, you have to search yesterday.”

The example I am about to talk about is intermixed with remark historical importance, cultural heritage and modern intellectual and economic developments. It is the story of a little island called Quemoy (金門or in today’s spelling Kinmen.) This little island is about 90 square miles in area, approximately half of Singapore, and at the nearest point, is barely four miles from Xiamen (廈門or Amoy) where my boss President Lai is at the moment attending his conference. The following is an aerial view of the region. The roundish island is Xiamen (Amoy) and the ameba looking island is Quemoy.

My story began approximately a millennium ago (don’t worry, I will finish on time!), where one of the greatest Chinese Confucianists throughout China’s long history, Zhu Xi (儒學大師朱熹) who lived between 1130 AD to 1200 AD, became a Government Official (主簿) of Tong An county (同安縣,) a county which is at the southern end of Fujian Province (福建省). At that time, Quemoy and Amoy were both part of Tong An county. With the presence of such a powerful intellectual maestro, it was not surprising that Tong An county became an intellectual epic center of the study of Confucianism. Deep intellectual efforts radiated out from the county.

In 1687, the same year which Sir Isaac Newton wrote his epic scientific treatise Principia, Quemoy established a Wu Jiang “College” (浯江書院) as an institution to study the Confucian philosophy of Zhu. This legacy lasted to today.

Living between 1624 to 1662, the famous General Cheng Cheng-Kung (鄭成功,) the remaining Ming Dynasty general who wanted very much to reverse the control of the mainland who recently became the Qing Dynasty, had his forces based in the many islands of Southern Fujian. The islands included both Amoy and Quemoy.

Eventually Cheng’s forces were able to defeat the Dutch colonizers, who at the time were occupying Taiwan. The place where Cheng established his base on Taiwan was what is today’s city of Tainan, the city where the university I am associated with, National Cheng Kung University is located. Interestingly, the name of this university, “Cheng Kung” is named after Cheng Cheng-Kung!

In 19th century, because of economic hardships, vast number of sons of Fujian Province, many from Quemoy, made the arduous trips to southeast Asia. Although they themselves lived hard lives in southeast Asia, many of their descendants became the pillars of the regions, economically and intellectually. Despite the fact that they themselves did not have much education, their love of education for their children and for southeast Asia in general were palpable. Also for some the lack of education did not prevent them from becoming some of the richest individuals the world have ever seen. The two that came to mind were Tan Kah-Kee (陳家庚) who gave up all his wealth in the 1930’s to create what is today Xiamen (Amoy) University, which as I have mentioned earlier, is where my boss is meeting with his counterparts in the Mainland. Another is Tan Lark-Sye (陳六使,) who founded Nanyang University in 1956. Interestingly, although these “overseas Chinese” may have lived a thousand miles away, their linkage, emotionally, to their ancestral homeland remains palpable and strong!

In 1949, although President Chiang Kai-Sheik retreated to Taiwan, two islands, Quemoy and Matsu, remain in the control of the Republic of China. The fact that Quemoy is so close geographically to the Mainland, it is not surprising that it became one of the flashpoints of the cold war. Indeed, exactly half a century ago, on August 23 of 1958, China unleashed one of the most intense bombing campaigns of Quemoy. On that day, over 40,000 shells landed on this small island. Because of the date, the campaign is now known as “bombing of 823” (823炮戰.)

The island of Quemoy also received another global attention. On the third presidential debate between Richard Nixon and John Kennedy in 1961, the ONLY issue that was debated by the two candidates was on Quemoy and Matsu!

In fact, a Harvard historian, Professor Michael Szonyi wrote a remarkable book about this aspect of the cold war in a book entitled “Cold War Island, Quemoy on the Front Line.” I strongly urge those interested to read this remarkable book!

A truly remarkable reality of today, some 50 years after 823, Quemoy remains in the jurisdiction of the Republic of China. More important, the interactions between the residents of Quemoy and those from Amoy are increasing more and more.

So what are the implications of this fact?

First, in the 21st century where peace and tranquility appears to be all around in Asia-Pacific, and the fact that Quemoy and Amoy are so close geographically, renewed interactions between the people of the two islands is inevitable. In fact, such interactions will only intensify with time.

Second, even more remarkable is that if the Republic of China did not hold on to the jurisdiction of Quemoy, the interactions between the people of Taiwan (the main lsland) and southeast Asia would be weak at best, if at all. As I mentioned earlier, many of the southeast Asian Chinese are the sons of southern Fujian with deep cultural linkages to their ancestral homeland. One of the homelands is Quemoy. Indeed, growing up in Singapore, I learned first hand the importance of Quemoy Association (金門會館) and Amoy Association (廈門會館.). These “Associations” function as the hearts and souls of the linkages between southeast Asia Chinese with their ancestral homelands. It should be mentioned that there are no such “Associations” with Tainan, or Tapei as prefixes. Hence, Quemoy can play a role that no other places in the Republic of China can play, as far as southeast Asia Chinese are concerned! Except for a few, this is as far as I could tell, not a recognized fact in Taiwan or the Mainland!

Third, the dialect spoken by many in Taiwan, sometime called Tai-Yu 台語 or Taiwan language is essentially the same as the dialect spoken in southern Fujian province, sometime called Min-Nan-Yu 閩南語. It is also essentially the same as the dialect spoken by a large fraction of Chinese in southeast Asia, sometime called Hokkian! Hence, in culture, Taiwan, Min-Nan (or southern Fujian) and Southeast Asia have connections with one another. All this implies that at some deep level, there is profound cultural affinity between people in Taiwan, southern Fujian and Southeast Asia. And quite remarkable is accident of history that the intersection of these vast three regions is Quemoy.

Fourth, there is a great deal of discussion about the development of Quemoy and Amoy as one of the important “living circle” (生活圈) of the 21st century. In fact, there is already much discussion about the possibility of building a bridge between Quemoy and Amoy. Quite by accident, Quemoy also, literally, means “Golden Gate.” When I told my good friend Howard Chen, a successful lawyer in San Francisco, he immediately responded by saying that

“In the early part of the 20th century, there was another Golden Gate bridge built, which became a symbol of the emergence of North America economic and intellectual prowess. Would it not be tantalizing to think that the 21st century “Golden Gate Bridge” between Quemoy and Amoy could symbolize the economic and intellectual prowess of Asia Pacific?”

Fifth, at the moment, Quemoy only has 50,000 inhabitants. With robust development, it is not inconceivable that in the near future, say a decade, the population could grow to a million, or more. That means that at the minimum,

&#61548 accommodations for 950,000 have not been constructed yet;
&#61548 roads for 950,000 have not been paved yet;
&#61548 infrastructures (water and electric supply and sewage system) for 950,000 have not been built yet
&#61548 modern health care systems for 950,000 have not been introduced yet.

If 950,000 people gushed into Quemoy without preplanning, then there is no doubt that a millennium of profound cultural relics will be destroyed. And that will be a tragedy of the highest order. To prevent that from happening, careful and meticulous city, urban, and regional planning must be carried out as soon as possible. To do so, one must deploy the best and the newest scientific and technological skill-sets, GIS for regional planning, GPS, modern health system, modern sewage treatment, green island, and so on and so forth. Expertise who could do this would generally be from universities.

Sixth, and now we come back to my original point. The entire region of southern Fujian, for a millennium since the days of Zhu Xhi, is the epic center of Confucian studies. As one of the two research intensive comprehensive universities of Taiwan which bears the name of Cheng Cheng-Kung, it is our duty and responsibility to build on this truly remarkable legacy. One of the great modern day Confucian maestro, Professor Weimin Tu, former director of Yenching-Harvard Institute of will in fact be the keynote speakers of the forthcoming Quemoy Summit Meeting to be held on Quemoy on September 29, 2008. This summit is co-sponsored by National Cheng Kung University, National Kinmen (Quemoy) Institute of Technology and Tunghai University, and led by its three presidents, Michael Lai (賴明詔,) Ching-Chen Lee (李金振) and Haydn Chen (程海東,) respectively, with support from the president of Xiamen (Amoy) University, Professor Cong-Shi Zhu (朱崇实.) The aim of the summit is to outline and develop sa roadmap for the intellectual and economic development of Quemoy in the midst of one of the great transformations of the 21st century.

In summary, I believe that the aforementioned project has the following possibilities:

1. It will develop one of the great human thoughts, Confucianism, by examining its impact worldwide in the 21st century;

2. It will give all students in Asia Pacific who inherit traditional Confucianism to understand it and be proud of it and through it, understand the world better.

3. It will bring southern Fujian, Taiwan a much closer tie to southeast Asia. Such closeness has never been seen before!

4. It will greatly enhance the intellectual collaborations for the region.

As I said, I am merely presenting this as one of the thousands of possibilities which research universities can consider. To bring this program to fruition, it needs to connect many seemingly “unconnectable dots.” I believe that as administrators, it is both our solemn responsibilities to seek such opportunities. This in a small (or maybe large) way will make the world a better place!

In this Forum, the participants have discussed many critical issues of rendering research universities better by collaborating and sharing. May I also urge the participants, who are all leaders of many of the world’s leading research universities, not to ignore the “intangibles.”

My fellow distinguished colleagues, there is an old Chinese saying which is 人去茶涼, or “after the guests leave, the tea gets cold!” The stake, I am afraid, is far too high for us to let the tea to cool off!

Da Hsuan Feng
Senior Executive Vice President
National Cheng Kung University
Tainan, Taiwan