Focus on Harvard in China
Harvard, located in Boston, Massachusetts, is one of the world’s top 5 universities. Set up in year 1636, 140 years older than modern America, it now has a history of 377 years. It is the oldest university in America, and is also one of the famous Ivy League.
The library of Harvard has over 15 million books, which ranks the 5th in the world’ following Library of Congress, the British Library, French National Library, and New York Public Library. Also, it receives the biggest financial donation after NGOs. The amount of money it received till year 2008 has reached 37.800 million dollars.
Harvard now has 11 graduate schools and 2 undergraduate schools. Also, it has several summer school programs. It now has 18,000 students registered for getting a degree, 12400 of whom are graduates, and 13,000 students not for degrees. The number of its staff has exceeded 14,000, and the number of professors and teachers is more than 2,000. It is influential not only in America, but also in China. Its scale is large, and has powerful assets, so it is nicknamed ‘the Harvard Empire’.
Harvard has a friendly relationship with MIT. This relationship can date back to year 1900, when there was chances that these two schools merge. There are now many conferences and programs between these two schools. Undergraduates and graduates can register at the other school without paying extra fees, and take courses to get credits.
Up to now, there are 8 American Presidents, 40 Nobel Prize winners and 30 Pulitzer Award winners who graduate from Harvard. Besides, Harvard also gives the world a great number of world class scholars, literates, and ideologists, like Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Henry James, Jerome Seymour Bruner, and William James. The former State Secretary, Henry Kissinger, was also a graduate of Harvard. Also, there are famous stars that were once studying in Harvard. Jeremy Lin, the ABC boy who ignited NBA with his Linsanity, obtained his bachelor’s degree in Economics in Harvard. Natalia Portman, the famous actress who won the Oscars with great performance in the movie Black Swan, was also a student of Harvard. Mark Zuckerburg, the one who made facebook, was studying in Harvard’s psychology major.
Back to China’s modern history, Zhao Yuanren(赵元任), who got his bachelor’s degree from Cornell, went to Harvard and got his degree in phonetics. Lin Yutang(林语堂), who wrote the masterpiece Moment in Peking , got his master’s degree in literature in Harvard. Liang Shiqiu(梁实秋), China’s first authority in translating the works of the great poet and dramatist, Shakespeare, obtained his master’s degree in theoretical literature in Harvard.
Harvard welcomes students from China, and several China’s first class universities have had exchange programs with Harvard. Peking University(北京大学) had exchange programs with Harvard in fall of 2011 and 2012. Sun Yat-sen University(中山大学) has summer exchange programs with Harvard. Peking Union Medical College Hospita(北京协和医院) also sends some of its outstanding students to Harvard for better studying opportunities.
In Harvard, there are many ABC students or immigrant students, and they come together to establish Harvard CSSA, that is, Chinese Students and Scholars Association. There are also programs that these organizations hold to introduce Chinese top students the culture of Harvard. HPACE is one of the programs. Every year, there are 30 to 40 Chinese university students who have the opportunity to visit Harvard, and go to Harvard’s classes to listen to the world’s top scholars. Of course, the competition between applicants is fierce.
Edited by Amy Wang from Daxue Consultant China
Credit Photo: Baidu
