SYSU WORLDNOVEMBER | ISSUE 1

SYSU TURNS 90SYSU Turns Ninety - History ReviewThe 90th Anniversary Celebrations Start at SYSUCancer-killing Virus Discovered by SYSU Scientists

SYSU President Led Delegation to America SYSU Alumni Association Established in Japan SYSU Sees Large Leap in new Rankings Table

CONTENT

Thank you for your interest in SYSU World, the official English language newsletter of Sun Yat-sen University. As the fresh fall air begins to blow across campus, there is an air of excitement as we prepare to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the founding of the university. In this issue of the newsletter, you will find a suite of pieces relating to this momentous occasion. You can find an overview of the history of the university from its founding by Dr. Sun Yat-sen, photos which will give you a look at new renovations on campus, and an overview of anniversary-related events to be held in the coming weeks. Also included in this issue are articles relating to cutting edge new cancer research being done at the Zhongshan School of Medicine. As we look toward the school ’s anniversary, we appreciate your interest in the university and we hope you can be a part of this exciting time at the university as a current or future member of the Sun Yat-sen University community.

EDITOR'S NOTE

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CONTENTSYSU History

SYSU Recent Looks

Anniversary

Academic Research

News in Brief

Media Focus

2

4

7

8

5

10 Event Forecast

9

• SYSU Turns 90

• The 90th Anniversary Celebrations Start at SYSU

• Cancer-killing Virus Discovered by SYSU Scientists

• SYSU Sees Large Leap in new Rankings Table• SYSU President Leads Delegation to America• SYSU Alumni Association Established in Japan

• 5 German siblings, 4 studying in Sun Yat-sen University

• Experts Forum

SYSU HISTORY

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Depending on the day, or perhaps on your frame of mine, the scene outside Sun Yat-sen University’s main gate resembles either an elaborately choreographed group dance routine or a heart-burn-inducing entropic free-for-all. Pulsing waves of motorbikes vie for street space with cavalcades of city buses and idling packs of Guangzhou’s omnipresent mint-green colored taxis, dashing pedestrians clutch bowls of freshly fried tofu or skewered wedges of lush tropical fruits as they race across the street, — the streets outside the university gate are perpetually awash in the sounds, sights, and smells of a restless city propelled forward by commerce and opportunity. But if you were to turn back the clock forty years, a much different scene would greet you. Pan Xiaoluo, a long-time SYSU professor and one-time SYSU student himself remembers a much different set of sights and sounds ringing the university campus: wide-open rice paddies, farmers pulling oxen to and from work, and a single city bus line that would trundle along the narrow road from the main gate toward Guangzhou.

This contrast illustrates the dramatic changes that have swept across the country, the city, and the campus since the university was founded ninety years ago. Dr.Sun Yat-sen himself, then actively involved in the fractious politics that characterized the period after the fall of China’s dynastic imperial system, founded the school as National Guangdong University and personally inscribed i ts motto. He founded the school to provide a comprehensive higher education system in Guangzhou (then known in the West as “Canton”), his home city. Even in the year of its founding, the university was already witness to history. The first ever National Congress of the Kuomintang (Nationalist) Party of China was held in a tower on central Guangzhou’s Wenming Road, a building which only months later became the centerpiece of the new university’s campus and is still featured in the university’s logo to this day. When Sun passed away the next year, the name of the institution was changed to Sun Yat-sen University in honor of its late founder.

SYSU TURNS 90

SYSU HISTORY

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However, the story of today’s university doesn’t necessarily start in 1924. Two institutions which are components of the modern-day SYSU can trace their roots back even further. Lingnan University was established in 1888 by Christian missionaries as Canton Christian College. The university has a tumultuous history, relocating to Macau, Hong Kong, and northern Guangdong Province at different times to escape Qing imperial and later Japanese imperial persecution. After the end of the war, the university was finally able to settle permanently back in Guangzhou and in 1953 was incorporated into Sun Yat-sen University as a constituent college. Today the university continues to thrive, hosting one of the top programs in China for economics, management, and finance.

Stretching back even further into the modern university’s history brings us to 1866, the year Bo Ji Medical School was founded in Guangzhou. Bo Ji was the first institution of Western medicine in all of China, and

counted Dr. Sun Yat-sen himself among its early students. After going through a series of name and locational changes, the institution developed into the independent Sun Yat-sen University of Medical Sciences, which gained national prominence as a leading research and treatment center. In 2001, the school was reconstituted as the constituent medical school of Sun Yat-sen University.

Despite the myriad of changes in name, location, and constitution, there is a single, unifying thread that connects today’s institution to the school founded ninety years ago by Dr. Sun: a spirit of progress, optimism, and scholarship that has proven its resilience time and time again. From the pastoral scenes of yesteryear to the commercial frenzy of today, the entire university community treasures the storied history of SYSU and together looks forward to discovering what the next ninety years hold for this remarkable institution.

Source: http://zssom.sysu.edu.cn/eng/History/Index.aspx

SYSU RECENT LOOKS

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Here are four views o f S Y S U ’ s m a i n campus on a recent sunny day. Pictured here are the newly r e n o v a t e d m a i n campus gate, the central statue of Dr. Sun Ya t -sen , the university motto and logo display in front of historic Swasey Hall, and the Xing P a v i l l i o n o n t h e central lawn.

ANNIVERSARY NEWS

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The 90th Anniversary Celebrations Start at SYSU

As the 90th anniversary day draws near, the university has started the celebration preparations and organized a set of events to begin in late October.

Two recent events marked the beginning of the anniversary celebration. On the morning of October 16, the opening ceremony of the former residence of late professor Chen Xintao was held on SYSU’s south campus. The ceremony was chaired by vice president Li Mengfeng, who in his opening speech commented on Prof. Chen Xintao’s contribution to medical advancements in China and his academic and spiritual influences on medical education

a t h o m e a n d a b r o a d . M a n y guests were invited to attend the opening ceremony, including family members of Prof. Chen Xintao, guests from other organizations, professors as well as student representatives.

In the evening of October 18th, an anniversary celebration party was held in K.K.Leung Hall of South Campus. University faculty, staff and students from different schools and departments joined the party and delighted the audience with a set of wonderful performances to celebrate the anniversary.

Source: www.sysu.edu.cn ISYSU wechat

The Opening Ceremony of the Former Residence of Prof. Chen Xintao Anniversary Celebration Performances

ANNIVERSARY AGENDA

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No. Date Speakers Campus Location1 Nov 5th Jean-Marie Lehn South campus Swasey Hall2 Nov 5th Prof. Yu Keping South campus Swasey Hall3 Nov 10th Michael Levitt East campus Swasey Hall

4 Nov 11th Roger D Kornberg North Campus Lecture Hall, Floor 15, Technology Building

5 Nov 12th Prof. Samuel Chao Chung Ting South Campus Swasey Hall

6 Nov 12th Prof. Tu Weiming South Campus The 3rd Lecture Hall7 Nov 25th Prof. Shing-Tung Yau South Campus Swasey Hall

Academic ‘Expert Forums’ at SYSU

Alumni EventsNo. Events Date Campus Location

1 Movie Exhibition of Director Li Ying (Alumni) Nov 7th South Campus Department of Chinese Language and

Literature

2Concert by School of Environmental Science and Engineering Alumni Chorus

Nov 7th East Campus Hall in School of Communication and Design

3 1979’ Alumni Carnival & 2008’ Alumni Carnival Nov 8th North Campus Guanghua School of Stomatology

4 Alumni Carnival Nov 8th Zhuhai Campus Yat-sen Road / Rongyuan Square / Liyuan Square

5 Alumni Carnival Nov 8th North Campus Stadium

6 Alumni Carnival — Ceremony for Alumni Couples Nov 8th South Campus in front of Swasey Hall

7 Alumni Carnival — Campus Parade Nov 8th South Campus inside the Campus

8 Alumni Concert Nov 8th South Campus Yin Fong Hall Square9 Alumni Carnival Nov 9th East Campus inside the Campus

10 International Cultural Performance Program Nov 9th South Campus Ted Sioeng Student Activity Center

11 Alumni Concert Nov 9th North Campus Alumni Grand Hall12 Alumni Concert Nov 10th Zhuhai Campus Sports Playground13 Alumni Concert Nov 11th East Campus Gymnasium14 Symphony Concert Nov 12th South Campus Yin Fong Hall Square15 Music Show from IUPUI Band Nov 13th South Campus K.K.Leung Hall16 Music Show from IUPUI Band Nov 14th North Campus Alumni Grand Hall17 Symphony Concert Nov 15th East Campus Gymnasium18 Music Show from IUPUI Band Nov 15th Zhuhai Campus Sports Playground19 Music Show from IUPUI Band Nov 16th East Campus Gymnasium20 Symphony Concert Nov 22nd North Campus Alumni Grand Hall21 Symphony Concert Nov 29th Zhuhai Campus Sports Playground

In the next couple of weeks, there will be an even wider range of celebration events coming up at SYSU. The following is the detailed arrangement for the series of SYSU Academic Forums as well as a selection of alumni events.

ACADEMIC RESEARCH

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Cancer-killing Virus Discovered by SYSU Scientists

SYSU scientists have e x t r a c t e d a v i r u s k n o w n a s M 1 t h a t could kill cancer cells without harming normal cells, giving hope for f u tu re research and development of cancer therapies. A research t e a m l e d b y Y a n Guangmei (pictured), a professor f rom the Sun Yat-sen University Schoo l o f Med ic ine , found the virus, which is endemic to a certain kind of mosquito in the tropical Hainan Province. I t i s hoped t ha t t he

virus can ki l l or curb the growth of cancer cells without adversely affecting healthy tissue.

Dr. Yan is one of SYSU’s m o s t d i s t i n g u i s h e d s c h o l a r s . A f t e r completing his PhD at the Sun Yat-sen University of Medical Sciences, he received an international fellowship allowing him to travel to America to undertake postdoctoral work at the Nat ional Institute of Mental Health. H e w o r k e d i n b o t h academia and the private sec to r in the Un i ted States before returning to Guangzhou to take up a professorship of pharmacology a t h is alma matter, SYSU’s med ica l schoo l . He is also appointed as a v ice president of the u n i v e r s i t y. H e h a s r e c e i v e d a m y r i a d o f n a t i o n a l g r a n t s and awards and has p u b l i s h e d o v e r 1 6 0

a c a d e m i c p a p e r s . Additionally, Dr. Yan has obtained eight patents as the lead author.

T h i s m o s t r e c e n t discovery was published in the October edition of the Proceedings of the Nat ional Academy of Sciences of the United S t a t e s o f A m e r i c a . Animal tests found that the M1 virus worked well on cancer cells of the liver, bladder, colon and rectum. Prof. Yan’s group has app l i ed ex v i vo experiments to primary human tumor surgical s a m p l e s t o f u r t h e r validate the effectiveness and specif ici ty of the above oncolytic virus. Researchers are hopeful that the findings can have profound signif icance in the development of new targeted anti-cancer drugs for personalized therapy.

source: www.sysu.edu.cn

The 2014 edition of the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) university ranking tables has recently been published, with SYSU seeing another large leap in global rankings. Just four years ago, the university was outside of the QS top 500. Now, QS places the university at 321 overall, good for 8th among mainland Chinese universities and an improvement of 63 places over the 2013 rankings. QS ranks over 3000 higher education institutions based on six criteria: academic peer review, faculty student ratio, citations per faculty, recruiter review, and international orientation.

SYSU President Led Delegation to America

S u n Ya t - s e n U n i v e r s i t y p r e s i d e n t D r. X u Ningsheng recently led a delegation of academics, administrators, and off ic ials on a tr ip to the United States. President Xu accompanied Zhu Xiaodan, Governor of the People’s Government of Guangdong Province, to high level meetings at Stanford University. The Stanford delegation included university President John Hennessey, as well as two recent Nobel Prize winners in Chemistry and one recent Nobel winner in Medicine. The two groups of representatives discussed furthering collaboration, especially R&D collaborations in the fields which are important to the development in Guangdong, and the construction of an innovative mechanism for integrating industry, university, and research.

SYSU Sees Large Leap in new Rankings Table

SYSU Alumni Association Established in JapanSun Yat-sen University has announced the establishment of a nation-wide Alumni Association in Japan. The Japanese association joins a network of over 150 existing SYSU alumni organizations across China and around the world. A press release announcing the establishment notes that Japan is one of China’s most important neighbors, sharing cultural ties dating back millennia. The release also notes that Dr.Sun Yat-sen himself had a strong relationship with Japan and Japanese revolutionaries, using the country as a safe haven while being persecuted by Qing dynasty authorities. The Japanese chapter is headquartered in Tokyo (pictured).

NEWS IN BRIEF

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MEDIA FOCUS

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Christian Rommeswinkel was enrolled at School of Chinese as a Second Language, SYSU.

He became the fourth child of his family to study at SYSU.

At the age of eight and a half he became a Formula race car driver.

This extremely handsome boy has been modelled for many websites and magazines as a part-time job.

Five German siblings,Four studying in SYSU

"My eldest sister improved a lot while studying in SYSU". To Christian Rommeswinkel, he always knew that he and SYSU would cross paths. His eldest sister, Renee Rommeswinkel graduated two years ago from SYSU. Mariel Rommeswinkel, his second eldest sister and his youngest sister, Adrianna Rommeswinkel are also attending classes at SYSU. Only his third eldest sister, Rachel Rommeswinkel chose to study at Xiamen University. Christian chose to study at SYSU because of his eldest sister. "My sister studied at SYSU, from the time she was enrolled and until she graduated, I saw a very big change in my sister; her personality developed a lot," Christian said.

Mandarin so fluent that he can "argue" with his sisters.Christian started to attend primary school in Dongguan where he came into contact with friends who only spoke Mandarin. But at home, he would use English to communicate with his parents. Christian said, "At home, my sisters and I would argue in Mandarin, because my parents don't understand Mandarin."

Siblings are very competitive.Christian likes the atmosphere of his family because all his siblings are competitive and always want to win. "After my eldest sister graduated, she found a very

good job working for an international shoe company in Shenzhen. The children in our family secretly compare themselves with each other, which led to being even more mesmerized by all aspects of SYSU.”

At the age of eight he started driving Formula race cars, even though he couldn’t reach the pedals.Christian has over ten years of experience in the driver’s seat of a Formula race car. At the age of three and a half, his dad bought a go-kart track in Thailand for the family to support this hobby.

Christian’s love for speed has always entranced him. When he was eight, he started driving Formula and has competed in many competitions, becoming "the youngest formula driver in history".

Because of Christian’s love for racing, he often went to the Zhuhai International Circuit (ZIC) to race. In 2009, Christian attended an international competition in Beijing and his performance impressed the organizers a lot. Christian said he will continue to drive race cars in the future, however, because of some financial challenges now he is unable to race Formula cars.

Source: Guangzhou Daily, 2014-09-02 Page A15 Written by: Xu JingTranslated by: Mariel Danielle RommeswinkelEdited by: Wang Dongmei

SYSU World

Publisher: Office for Overseas Promotion, SYSUConsultants: Ling Wenhua, Wu XiaoyanEditors: Ian J. Heuer, Wu JiawenDesigners: Long Peiyu, Chen Jiayu

Topic: Justice of Politics

Speaker: Prof. Yu Keping, Deputy Chief of the Central Compilation and Translation Bereau, Professor of Politics in Peking University

Time: 15:00-17:00, Wed, Nov 5th, 2014

Venue: Swasey Hall, South Campus, SYSU

Topic: Confucianism in the 21st Century

Speaker: Prof. Tu Weiming, Harvard-Yenching Professor of Chinese History and Philosophy and of Confucian Studies, Director of the Institute for Advanced Humanistic Studies at Peking University

Time: 15:00-17:00, Wed, Nov 12th, 2014

Venue: The 3rd Lecture Hall, South Campus, SYSU

Topic: Mathematics and Humanity

Speaker: Prof. Shing-Tung Yau, Mathematician, Winner of the 1982 Fields Medal, Member of the US National Academy of Sciences

Time: 9:30-11:30, Tuesday, Nov 25th, 2014

Venue: Swasey Hall, South Campus, SYSU

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Office for Overseas Promotion, SYSU

Room 114, Zhongshan Building,Sun Yat-sen University,135 X ingang West Rd, Guangzhou 510275, ChinaTel: +86 (20) 8411 1565Fax: +86 (20) 8403 6860Email: heuer@mail.sysu.edu.cn wjiawen@mail.sysu.edu.cnWebsite: http://www.sysu.edu.cn/2012/en/

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