A speech at the Signing Ceremony of the Agreement on

Book Donation between Greece and Sun Yat-sen University Library

Cheng Huanwen

Professor and University Librarian

Sun Yat-sen University

  Main Lobby in SYSU Library, November 3, 2011

Your Excellency Vice Premier of Greece, Mr. Theodoros Pangalos,

Your Excellency President of Sun Yat-sen University, Prof. Xu Ningsheng,

Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen:

    Welcome to the Signing Ceremony of the Agreement on Book Donation Between Greece and Sun-Yat sen University Library.

    First of all, on behalf of SYSU Library, I would like to express my sincere appreciation to all the guests and friends for attending this ceremony to witness the friendship of cultural and academic communication between China and Greece.

    Greece, one of the four origins of Western Civilization, is an ancient country with a long history and glorious cultures. It has made great attainment in many fields such as music, mathematics, philosophy, literature, architecture and carving, which has great influences in world history. In the middle 19^th century, China opened its door to the world, and with western learning spreading to the East, ancient Greek civilization and history began to spread extensively in China. The ancient Greek myth "Homeric Hymns", which represents the origin of western literature drew great attention in China’s academia; stories like “The wolf in Sheep’s clothing” and “The Fox and grapes” in  Aesop's Fables are popular all over China; Ancient Greek tragedies and comedies, specially Prometheus Bound ---the story that Prometheus brought light and warmth is often quoted by Chinese scholars; the three Greek Virtues---- Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, their philosophy and quotations have been regarded as classics by Chinese academia; the Olympic Games which takes origin in Greece is also well-known all over China.

   Sun Yat-sen University, a famous institute of Higher Education in China, has been attaching great importance to teaching and research of western cultures for 87 years and has widespread influences in China. Since the new century, it has been stepping towards the internationalization and has set up some courses related to Greek history, culture, philosophy and language. Specially, Prof. Lin Ying and Professor Thierry Meynard (Mei Qianli) from the Department of History, and Prof. Gan Yang, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, they have contributed much to teaching and research of Greek history and culture.

    Sun Yat-sen University Library is one of China's most famous research libraries, with a total area of more than 110,000 square meters and a collection of nearly 6 million paper items. It has established long–term exchanges and cooperation with almost 200 overseas academic institutions, such as the U.S. Library of Congress, the Japanese National Diet Library, and Harvard University Library, etc. Service for teaching and research is the sacred mission of Sun Yat-sen University Library. In recent years, faculty members and students at Sun Yat-sen University deeply felt that the shortage of Greek original literature cannot meet the needs of teaching and research, and the voice of increasing collections of Greek literature rise one after another. In March of this year, after presenting an academic lecture at the Department of History, together with Professor Lin Ying, Mrs. Ioanna Charikleia Giannakarou, the spouse of Consul General of Greece in Guangzhou, accompanied the Consul General Mr. Constantin Cakioussis to visit Sun Yat-sen University Library. During that visit, we made clear the intention of further promoting a bilateral exchanges and cooperation in culture and academy through donation of Greek books. Subsequently, during his vacation back to Greece, the Consul General Mr. Constantin Cakioussis completed relevant preparatory works about donating Greek books to Sun Yat-sen University Library. The first set of books donated to Sun Yat-sen University Library by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Greece, the National Library of Greece and the Consulate General of Greece in Guangzhou which represent the Greek State, is a total of 252 volumes in 222 titles, including subjects of history, language, literature, tourism, architecture, philosophy and so on. These Greek books not only provide an important way for the cultural and academic exchanges between China and Greece, but also open a window of wisdom for faculty members and students at Sun Yat-sen University to learn and study Greek history and cultures. Sun Yat-sen University Library will preserve these books well, and make them available to users.

    The philosophy of freedom and peace implied in Greek national flag, anthem and national flower is coincident with the spirit of truth and academic freedom pursued by Sun Yat-sen University. These common basic values are beneficial for promoting mutual developments of Greek collections in Sun Yat-sen University Library, thus contribute to the cultural and academic exchanges between China and Greece.

    Books are the ladders of human's progress, and they are also ships of knowledge, carefully passing on knowledge from generation to generation. I sincerely hope that, through donation of books, we can establish China’s best collection of Greek literature in Sun Yat-sen University Library, so that we can jointly set sail the ship of knowledge for Chinese scholars.

    In closing, I would like to express my sincere respect and appreciation to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Greece, the National Library of Greece, the Consulate General of Greece in Guangzhou, the Consul General Mr.Constantin Cakioussis, and all those who have made contributions to this book donation.

    Thank you very much.