뉴스레터

Twenty years ago, a young man quit his job as a school teacher after three years and left China to study in Korea. And with help and expectations from his teachers and friends, he completed the Ph. D program of Korean history at Korea University. After four years of hard work, living away from his parents and friends at home, he became the first Chinese student in Korea to receiver a Doctor of Literature degree, which led to his appointment as a professor of history at the prestigious Fudan University in China. And this young man, now having lived half his life, is me.

The question I was most frequently asked during my study in Korea was about "why I chose to study Korean history." As a matter of fact, I didn't have any particular major but learned both Chinese history and world history in college. Specifically, I studied the general history of China and the general history of the world for two years because my school was a college of education. At that time, I was interested in world history more than Chinese history, and decided to study the modern history of Asia and Africa at the Graduate School of East China Normal University in Shanghai upon graduation. My supervisor for the master's program was an expert in African history, but I had no knowledge or insight into the subject. It was a time when the Sino-Korean relations had made some progress, and my supervisor was commissioned to carry out the project to renovate and preserve the old Korean Provisional Government Building in Shanghai. And he assigned me the task of investigating and studying the history of the Korean Provisional Government that was necessary before the project. This is how I was first exposed to Korean history. While performing the assigned task of investigating and studying the history of the Korean Provisional Government, I wrote a thesis entitled "The Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea in Shanghai" and earned my master's degree. After graduation, I became a school teacher and continued to study Korean history. I was leading a normal life as a teacher until someone encouraged and helped me to advance my studies in Korea. That someone was the historian Kim Jun-yeop I had met in Shanghai in September 1993.

During my study in the Department of Korean History at Korea University, I was blessed with help and support from many teachers and fellow students. Professors at the Association for Korean Modern and Contemporary History were also very generous in lending their support to me. In addition, the Korea Rotary Scholarship and Culture Foundation and the Hanyang Club provided me with scholarship unprecedentedly for four full years. With their help, I completed my study successfully. Upon return to China, I began teaching Korean history and the history of Sino-Korea relations in the Department of History at Fudan University and have continue to do related studies. Naturally, I've had chances to attend academic conferences held in Korea once in a while. When I did, I always remembered to meet and have a drink with my 'brothers.' The Koreans sitting next to us wondered when my brothers had come to Korea. But the brothers I'm talking about here are not my real brothers but those professors who kept me company over a drink during my study in Korea. They would gather together almost monthly for a drink to help me feel less lonely in my life away from home. I was actually not much of a drinker until I came to Korea. By the time I returned to China, however, I had become quite a drinker.

In addition to the short-term stays in Korea for conferences, I've also had opportunities to do research in Korea on fellowship from a number of foundations.

This has allowed me to stay connected to old friends of mine in Korea. I am back in Korea for research as a visiting scholar to the Northeast Asian History Foundation, and I see it as the extension of my connection with Korea. I believe that this connection will continue for students under my supervision as well as throughout my lifetime.