Nicholas Platt, U.S. diplomat and President Emeritus of the Asia Society, can't remember how many times he has been to China. He thinks it's got to be more than 60 times.

Platt accompanied then U.S. President Richard Nixon on his historic visit to Beijing in 1972 and witnessed the normalization of China-U.S. relations as a diplomat for over 30 years. He has also assumed important positions with several China-U.S. cultural exchange organizations. His memoir China Boys: How U.S. Relations With the PRC Began and Grew offers an insider's view of the U.S. opening up to China and the ensuing pioneering days of China-U.S. relations.

"I think it's very important that people learn about the Chinese language, culture and history," Platt said at the Eighth World Forum on China Studies held in Shanghai on September 10-11.

The forum brought together over 300 experts and scholars from 35 countries and international organizations. Participants held discussions on a wide range of topics including the Belt and Road Initiative, overseas China studies and mutual learning and exchanges between Chinese and foreign civilizations.

Established in 2004, the forum is a biennial event jointly hosted by the State Council Information Office and the Shanghai Municipal Government. It aims to provide a platform for China studies experts to communicate with each other and review the latest trends in China studies to help develop an academic community with international influence.

Platt, who has participated in the forum five times, was presented the Award for Outstanding Contributions to China Studies in recognition of his special contribution to China-U.S. relations and his long-term attention to China. The other three recipients of the award were Hamashita Takeshi, research department head of Japan's largest Asian studies library Toyo Bunko; Kristofer Schipper, a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences; and Tu Weiming, Dean of the Institute for Advanced Humanistic Studies at Peking University and Professor Emeritus and Senior Fellow at the Asia Center at Harvard University.

China studies craze

Looking back on history, culture often thrives as a result of the improvement of a country's national strength. Overseas China studies have developed fast since reform and opening up began in 1978, Liang Yi, a professor with Beijing Union University, said.

"When I first began to study sinology, there were few people doing any research," Schipper, who is regarded as one of the three greatest sinologists in Europe, said. Back then, Europeans thought of sinology as a gentlemen's club, entertainment for the few. "Now almost the whole world is learning Chinese. This is not only good for China but also for the world," the 85-year-old commented.

He also said that overseas China studies have made great progress in the past decades, while an increasing number of people are studying Taoism and Yi-ology, the study of the ancient classic Yi Jing, or Book of Changes.

China studies include both traditional sinology and studies of contemporary China. As a rapidly expanding economy, it's natural for China to attract widespread international attention as the scope and depth of China studies expand.

"When my generation of sinologists started studying China in the 1960s, we studied historical records of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River," Hamashita said. He came to China for the first time at the beginning of the 1980s to learn about local industries in China's coastal areas. Since then, he has been studying China's coastal areas, relations between China and other parts of Asia and China's globalization, and realized along the way that because of China's development and reform, the world is also undergoing historic transformation.

Tu said China studies are no longer restricted to East Asia studies but are playing an important role in globalization and are helpful for China's own development.

Platt recounted that China studies are now a huge field in the U.S. "People are not stopping the study of China. More and more people are learning the Chinese language all the time. I still wish there were more and that the pace was faster. China is here. You can't deny it. You'd better learn about it. "

Global benefits

This year, the forum was themed China and the World: Progressing Together Over 70 Years, in reference to the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. The forum reviewed the role of the Communist Party of China (CPC) as it continues to lead the Chinese people toward prosperity and national renewal.

Scholars offered their own interpretations of China's development and its contribution to the world at the forum and agreed that China's reforms have benefited the rest of the world.

Platt recalled that Lujiazui, where the forum was held, used to be a village, whereas today, the dynamic area is packed with skyscrapers and has become a microcosm of Shanghai's and indeed China's modernization.

"It all comes down to the fact that we have blazed a path of socialism with Chinese characteristics that suits the times," Zhang Daogen, President of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences (SASS), commented.

China has broken the pattern that socialism can only adopt a planned economy and not a market economy, and that only pure public ownership can be accepted rather than allowing various kinds of ownership to exist, he said. "Such a path was not forced upon us but was forged through Chinese people's audacious trials under the leadership of the CPC," Zhang said.

Fan Gang, a professor of economics at Peking University, added, "China's comparative advantages at the beginning of reform and opening up, such as cheap and abundant labor, laid a foundation for its development. However, over the past 20 years, knowledge has played a more important role," he said.

"Understanding China's past reforms and the basis for China's success is important for future reforms. Understanding the path traveled, the circumstances under which historical decisions were made and what their effects were on the course of China's economy will inform decision makers on where to go next," said Bert Hofman, Director of the East Asian Institute of the National University of Singapore.

"China's experiences will benefit other countries as well, as more of them see China as an example to emulate, a model of development that could mean moving from rags to riches within a generation," Hofman added.

As China pushes forward China-Africa cooperation and the Belt and Road Initiative, more countries will be able to share China's growth dividends, he said.

Pan Shiwei, former secretary of the SASS Party Committee, said the center of the global system is showing signs of shifting from Western countries to non-Western countries and China will be the first non-Western country to realize modernization under socialism. As it works toward national renewal, China's path, experience, wisdom and solution will have a far-reaching influence.

Copyedited by Rebeca Toledo

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