China's Ministry of Education donates 500 Chinese cultural and language texts/educational materials of mixed genres to University at Buffalo Libraries

Project narrative

On July 28, 2004 China's Ministry of Education, then headed by University at Buffalo alumnus Zhou Ji, Ph.D. '85, M.S. '82 donated 500 Chinese texts to the University at Buffalo Libraries. The donation included a number of CD-ROM dictionaries, encyclopedias and pronunciation guides; Chinese language textbooks and teachers' manuals, and texts about Tibet and other regions of China. There also are books on rhyme schemes, business and economics, and the spiritual prospect of a multilingual environment, as well as one titled "How to Make Chinese Dumplings" and another titled "How to Make Auspicious Chinese Knots." The collection includes memoirs and biographies, books about China's musical instruments, silk industry, museums, gardens and tourism industry; dictionaries pertinent to specific academic and business fields; English translations of Chinese literature, and prose and poetry by a number of contemporary Chinese writers. 30 to 40 of the texts were exhibited in the poetry/rare books room during the visit and were permanently housed in the East Asian collection of the Lockwood Memorial Library at the University at Buffalo North Campus The donation was presented by Ambassador Liu Biwei, consul general of the People's Republic of China, alongside a delegation from his New York City office which included Liu's wife, Consul Fang Chun; Ai Fanglin, education counselor; Qiao Fenghe, consul; Liu Qiang, education consul; Hu Yi, vice consul and interpreter; Wang Wenhua, vice consul, and staff member Wang Chengxiang. The delegation met with Stephen C. Dunnett, UB vice provost for international education, and Thomas Burkman, director of the UB Asian Studies Program. On July 27, 2004 the delegation was escorted on tours of UB, attended a dinner hosted by Dunnett, visited Niagara Falls and attended a private dinner with Chinese scholars. This donation comes as a part of a larger scheme of cooperation through the exchange agreement started under Dunnet in 1980 which allowed for partner institutions of UB to be opened in China for the "mutual benefit of both countries". During a 2006 visit to Beijing and Dalian, University at Buffalo President met with and honored Zhou Ji furthering the linkage of this agreement framework to the larger cooperative nature between UB and the Chinese Ministry of Education. University at Buffalo became a known Confucius institute on April 9, 2010 and received subsequent donations of educational materials from the Hanban but this donation has no documented link to same.