The summer vacation at Columbia University has begun for more than a month, but there are still many people in the school. When Zhang Zhong and the others arrived, a banner welcoming them was hung at the door of the school. Under the banner, in addition to the faculty and staff who came to greet them, there were
Many students from our school.
Zhang Zhong followed Yang Fengxia out of the car and suddenly heard a burst of cheers from the school gate.
Yang Fengxia tilted her head slightly and smiled, "The cheers are directed at you."
She was right. The cheers of these students were indeed directed at Zhang Zhong. Not only were there cheers, there were also many students on both sides holding small banners that read: Welcome pz.
In response to the students' cheers, Zhang Zhong just nodded slightly. After all, he was coming out with the visiting group, so of course he couldn't show off himself too much.
Columbia University President Rudinger's hair color is somewhat similar to Gosling's, but the difference is that Rudinger's hair color has a little yellowish color.
Ruedinger was educated in law. In addition to his role at Columbia University, he is also a lawyer.
He smiled and shook hands with Yang Fengxia and Zhang Zhong, the chief and deputy heads of the Writers' Association delegation, and then waved to other members of the Writers' Association delegation and said with a smile, "Welcome to Columbia University. Please follow me into the school first."
Clean, neat, like a spring breeze.
This was Zhang Zhong’s main impression when he first met Ludinger.
Columbia University covers an area of more than 1,000 acres, which is not too small. However, compared with other top ten schools in the United States, the area of their school is a bit small.
Of course, the main reason is that the school is located in a place like Manhattan where land is at a premium and there is no way to expand.
It was also because of this that they moved from the more prosperous 49th Street to their current location in Morningside Heights.
As soon as you enter the school, the first thing you see is Columbia University's landmark building, the Rowe Memorial Library, which is built in memory of Seth Rowe, an important president of Columbia University.
Ruedinger, who was walking in front, smiled and introduced, "The Baroque-style building in front of us is the Roche Memorial Library, but now it is not mainly used as a library. My office and conference hall are there.
in."
Zhang Zhong smiled and asked, "Why?"
"Because when the Roche Library was built, there was insufficient consideration for load-bearing and it could not carry too many things," Ludinger said.
"What a pity."
It is indeed a pity that such a beautiful building can only be seen here but cannot be put into actual use. It is really a waste.
Many school libraries like to be placed right at the entrance. Of course, this is normal. After all, books themselves represent knowledge. The first thing you see when you enter the school is knowledge, which directly points to the meaning of running a school.
In addition to this less practical library, Columbia University also has more than twenty other libraries.
Before coming here, Yang Fengxia said that she would mainly go to the East Asia Library today, because there are many Chinese books in the East Asia Library, including local chronicles, chronology, genealogy, Ming and Qing thread-bound novels, banned books, manuscripts, etc., in addition to Chinese books.
Outside of libraries, libraries have the richest collection of these things.
Columbia University has a close relationship with China. The school's Department of Chinese Studies was donated by a descendant of a Chinese laborer. The school also established a "Ding Long Chair Professor of Chinese Studies" for this descendant of a Chinese laborer. It is still the highest honor of the East Asian Department of Columbia University.
So far, only four professors have received this title.
During the Qing Dynasty, some domestic ministers made generous donations to Columbia University. The Empress Dowager Cixi also donated a set of "Collection of Ancient and Modern Books" to the school, which is still hidden in the East Asia Reading Library.
In fact, the biggest difference between Columbia University and other American schools is that their school has walls.
In China, schools have walls, which is a normal thing.
But in the United States, few universities set up walls, so Columbia's walls are relatively rare.
Yang Fengxia looked at the school wall and smiled and said, "Principal Ludinger, do you know that many people in China think that the wall is linked to whether the school atmosphere is free or not?"
Hearing Yang Fengxia's words, Ludinger was stunned for a moment, "Really? I have never heard of this, and I have never thought about this issue. In the United States, it is indeed rare to set up walls in schools, but this has nothing to do with whether the atmosphere is free.
It doesn’t matter, the walls at Columbia are just to make the school more compact and safer. So, there should be very few Chinese universities with walls?”
It is easy to understand why Rudinger thinks this way. Since many people in China think that the freedom of school atmosphere is related to walls, then universities should not set up walls.
But what surprised him was that Yang Fengxia smiled and said, "On the contrary, most universities in China have walls."
Zhang Zhong heard the conversation between the two and found it very interesting. A few years ago, there was a wave of "American fever" in the country. It seemed that as long as something from the United States was good, it was definitely good, but something from China was definitely not.
OK.
For example, when it comes to whether universities should set up walls, many people compare them with these universities in the United States, so a saying gradually formed, linking whether the school atmosphere is free with whether there are walls.
Maybe the Chinese people who have these thoughts don't know that Americans themselves have never had such thoughts.
There were dozens of people from the Writers' Association delegation following behind, but they were well arranged. Every three or four people would be accompanied by a faculty member from Columbia University to communicate with them.
In order to receive the delegation from the Chinese Writers' Association, Ludinger invited many students and teachers from the Chinese Department of Studies to come over so that the exchanges between the two parties could go more smoothly.
Although there were no books in the Roche Memorial Library, Ruedinger took them in anyway.
There is also a visitor information center in the library, which distributed some school-related information to everyone in the delegation.
It is worth mentioning that the library also displays some ancient Chinese cultural relics. There are not many exhibits, mostly ceramics.
Ludinger must have done his homework in advance. He deliberately stood in front of these ceramics for a while and introduced the history and significance of these things to them.
After coming out of Roche Library, they went straight to Butler Library, which was not far away.
After visiting several libraries, half the morning has passed.
Ruedinger arranged for the Writers Association delegation to have a meal in the school cafeteria, and after taking a short break, they would continue to visit the school.
This first day will basically be spent visiting the entire Columbia University.