Ambassador visits, bearing gifts from China

Penn acted as a representative of Chinese-American relations on Friday when Chinese Ambassador Li Zhaoxing presented the University with the 101 volumes of the Chinese Cultural Encyclopedia in honor of Van Pelt Library's 250th anniversary. The presentation ceremony was held at Van Pelt, where the ambassador, representing Chinese President Jiang Zemin and accompanied by Minister Counselor for Education Qian Yicheng, spoke before a handful of librarians and library senior staff members. While honoring the library was the primary purpose of the occasion, the presentation of the encyclopedias are also intended to demonstrate the friendly relationship between China and the University. Several members of the Chinese press, including Xinhua News Agency and China Central Television, attended the event. The Chinese government was pleased with the networks' attendance -- in fact, they arranged the formal ceremony so that the press would be there. Chinese representatives informed library officials only three days prior to the presentation that they wanted a formal ceremony and final arrangements for the event were solidified only the day before the ambassador's arrival. While the ceremony lasted only about 30 minutes, representatives of both the University and China's government took the opportunity to highlight the strong rapport between Penn and China. Deputy Provost Peter Conn attended the ceremony to accept the gift on behalf of University President Judith Rodin. Conn informed the Chinese delegation that 469 Chinese students are currently enrolled at Penn. "These students embody a long history of interconnection between this University and China," Conn said. "We are exceptionally grateful for this stellar contribution to our library." During his brief speech, the ambassador praised Penn for being singled out by Jiang as recipient of the gift. "This shows that [Penn] is outstanding in the country and the world," Li said. "Penn has done a lot to train young men and women from China. Young people are not only the future of our countries but also the future of contact between our two countries." Jiang visited the University three years ago amidst minor protests from students and faculty members. The Encyclopedia, which contains 40 million Chinese characters, took 200 Chinese professors eight years to complete. The volumes cover 5,000 years of Chinese history and include subjects of Chinese culture including literature, history, philosophy and economics. The set will be housed in the East Asian collection of the library. The Chinese section of the library, which began as a single box of books left by the Chinese government after the 1926 U.S. Sesquicentennial Exposition, now contains over 100,000 books.