I was majored in Chinese in college, but chose to study French as my second language after taking Madam Jin Siyan’s “l(fā)a Poésie symboliste française donné (French Symbolist Poetry)” at the Peking University. I still remember how, in a whole year’s time, we spiritually befriended some of the greatest masters of French poetry: Nerval, Baudelaire, Verlaine, Rimbaud, and Valery… I remember at Madam Jin’s “l(fā)ast lesson,” after she said: “now it is time to say good-bye! Vive la Muse ! ” Many of us cried, and the guys cried the hardest. Madam Jin now is still teaching in
Humans are humans because we have the power of spirit, which is carried by culture and civilization. Each and every language and culture have their unique charm, and each and every civilization has its unique value. As President Xi Jinping said: “we should safeguard the diversity of civilizations and make more efforts in communicating with and learning from each other, instead of trying to isolate, exclude, or even replace civilizations that are different from our own. History has repeatedly proved that any move that aims to resolve differences among civilizations with force is doomed to fail and wreck havoc on civilizations.”
It is a sacred mission of media workers to facilitate the dialogue and exchanges among different civilizations. In 2006, I, at the invitation the then United Nations Secretary General, Mr. Kofi Annan, participated in the drafting and discussion of the Alliance of Civilizations Final Report in
I take great pride from working as a messenger between different civilizations and making my due contribution to cultural exchanges and diversity of civilizations. “Different civilizations and cultures are all equally great in their own ways. The culture and civilization of each and every country and nation, be it strong or weak, big or small, should be acknowledged and respected. ” As a Chinese, I hold my own language and culture dearly, and also have deep respect for the cultures of other countries of the world.