On April 11, 2015, Susumu Satomi, president of Tohoku University, along with Toshiya Ueki, vice-president of Tohoku University, Wagatsuma, director of the Department of International Exchanges and Hirohisa Miyamoto, chief of the Department of International Exchanges visited Peking University (PKU) while attending the Association of East Asian Research Universities (AEARU). They were received by Lin Jianhua, president of Peking University, Li Yansong, vice president of PKU and Xia Hongwei, director of the Office of International Relations, Peking University. Both sides engaged in a friendly discussion at the Yingjie Overseas Exchange Center and renewed the exchange agreement between the two universities.
President Lin first extended a warm welcome to the Tohoku University delegation. Both sides reminisced about Lu Xun, a distinguished alumnus of Tohoku University (formerly Sendai Medical Academy). President Satomi made a special mention that a bronze statue of Lu Xun, a Lu Xun Memorial, and the classroom where Lu Xun once attended classes still remained in the campus of Tohoku University, adding that Tohoku University was proud of Lu Xun.
Tohoku University has set up a Lu Xun Memorial Prize for Chinese international students, and each year four excellent Chinese international students who posses great learning abilities will receive this award. Furthermore, the Lu Xun prize is designed to reward Chinese students who contribute to cultural and educational exchanges between China and Japan. Today, more and more young Chinese students study in Tohoku University, and they making up around a quarter of the international student body. Since 1999, the student exchange programs between PKU and Tohoku University have increased and academic communication has become more frequent.
Tohoku University is located in Sendai, both a conventional and modern city with a humid climate. “Sendai is a natural and beautiful city with pleasant scenery, especially in spring, and so is Tohoku University,” said Li Yansong, vice president of PKU.
President Satomi mentioned that Japan and China were both earthquake-prone countries and that cooperative research should be reinforced in this field for the betterment of both sides. Also, he said that he looked forward to strengthening contacts with Chinese universities through the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (ARPU). He hoped it would be followed by more events to facilitate academic exchanges in the future. Vice-president Li Yansong especially praised the engineering program of Tohoku University, and he extended a cordial welcome to engineering students of Tohoku University to study at PKU. Li also welcomed more Japanese students to attend summer school and summer camp at PKU.
Then, both sides renewed the exchange agreement between the two universities and exchanged gifts.
Written by: Wei Li
