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Celebrate Confucius Day at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa

September 28, 2007: This day will be officially designated by the State of Hawaii as Confucius Day

[Report in the World Journal]  ---    [Newspaper page in PDF]   [Newspaper article in PDF]
[Report in the Singtao USA (In Chinese)] [Biography of John DeFrancis]

Program Agenda:     

3:00 PM:
Introductions and reading of the Resolution by the Hawai‘i State House of Representatives Declaring September 28, 2007, to be ‘Confucius Day’ in the State of Hawai‘i.
3:15 PM:
Introduction to UH’s Study Abroad program in Hainan, China, by Sarita Rai, Director, UH Study Abroad Program; followed by a taijiquan exhibition, Chinese poetry reading, Chinese songs performance & recitation of quotations from the Confucian Analects by UH student participants from the Hainan program.
3:45 PM
Presentation of Confucius Institute “Distinguished Teacher in Chinese Studies Award” to UH-Mänoa Emeritus Professor John DeFrancis.
4:15 PM
World premiere of the documentary film “Living Chinese Philosophy,” followed by discussion led by Professor Roger T. Ames.
5:45 Reception in the courtyard; book signing by John DeFrancis and Roger Ames; performance by the UH Chinese Music Ensemble.

John DeFrancis's Biography       [Back to the top]

John DeFrancis was born on August 3, 1911. After graduating from Yale University in Spring 1933 with a degree in Economics, John traveled to Beijing to study Chinese to make himself more marketable for his projected future career in business. While there, however, he came to despise the behavior of American business people towards the Chinese and Chinese culture— his fellow Americans did not display the level of interest in and thirst for understanding of China that John himself possessed. So he decided to return to the U.S. and turn himself into an academic focusing on China.

But first, John rode across the Gobi Desert on camel-back, and returned by raft down the Yellow River. He kept meticulous notes of his journey, which later formed the basis of a travelogue published in 993 titled In the footsteps of Genghis Khan. His travel itch eased, John earned a Ph.D. in Chinese linguistics from Columbia University, in 1948.

In the six decades since then, John has published about 20 pounds (by weight) of books and articles about China, primarily focusing on language, language policy, writing systems, and writing reform. He is the author of a widely-used twelve-volume set of Chinese language textbooks that trained a generation of China specialists. Among his influential works are The Chinese Language: Fact and Fantasy and Visible Speech: The Diverse Oneness of Writing Systems. He was editor-in-chief for a ground-breaking series of single-sort, alphabetically-ordered Chinese-English dictionaries (called “The ABC Chinese-English Dictionaries”), which have set a new standard in Chinese lexicography.

John has taught about China for four decades, and held the following positions (shown in reverse chronological order): ‘66–’76, Prof of Chinese, UH; ‘62–’66, Research Prof of Chinese, Seton Hall; ‘56–’6, Assoc Prof of Mathematics, Quinnpiac College (he’d been hounded out of Chinese by McCarthyism); ‘49–’54, Visiting Assoc Prof of Chinese, Georgetown; ‘47– ‘54, Asst Prof, Johns Hopkins; and ‘43–’45, Instructor, Yale; ‘40–’43.

John’s passion is to make written Chinese more accessible to all who use it, in particular the Chinese themselves, perhaps through a system of digraphia, i.e., dual writing systems, one character-based, the other romanization-based.

He continues to work full days on his latest writing projects, and will, like his predecessor, the famous first Chinese teacher, Confucius, take as much time as necessary to speak with anyone interested in learning.

John’s colleagues at the University of Hawai‘i and around the world are honored and continue to be inspired by his presence, his personality, his dedication, his intellect, and the simplicity of his life, and many are pleased to join with us here to present him with this inaugural Confucius Institute “Distinguished Teacher Award.”

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