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August 9, 2005

After numerous efforts put forth by TL, some of our classmates of Wuhan University ’79 class in Shanghai would meet for dinner in the evening. Because everyone was busy nowadays, scheduling such a meeting was not a minor undertaking. Thanks to her persistence and perseverance, tonight’s event was made possible.

TL and I decided to go to a bar on HengShan Road to have a drink and some snacks in the afternoon before meeting the group for dinner. She moved from Wuhan two years ago to follow her husband’s promotion. Both of them worked in Shanghai University of Communications (JiaoDa). He was in the law school and she worked in Offices of Student Affairs and Academic Affairs while finishing up her Ph.D. in Computer Science. Right now the university is in process of moving to a new campus. She was rather busy with arranging moves for various labs. While drinking tea, she had to answer a couple of calls.

We talked about many things. One of the usual topics was of course concerned with my single-hood. We discussed another classmate’s theory of separating love and marriage. We did not seem to be able to agree with him completely. She helped me sort out my thoughts and promised to help. We also talked about other classmates and news about them. We wonder why while we were classmates in the university we rarely spoken to each other, but now we seemed to have endless topics. Were we getting old enough to a point when we were fond of looking back to the past? J

I preferred this type of setting for communication to a dinning table with many people. In such an environment it is easy for people to open up and have meaningful discussions. When there are lots of people sitting around a big dinning table conversations would remain mostly superficial.

Around 6pm, we arrived in the restaurant. TXF and ZL (with his lovely daughter) were already there. I saw TXF two years during our reunion but had not seen ZL since the graduation. TXF and ZL worked in TongJi and Fudan Universities, respectively. With TL being in JiaoDa, we joked that we had an important insider in each of the three most prestigious universities in Shanghai.

DLP showed up a little later. Again I had not seen her since the graduation. During the four years in the university, we perhaps did not spoke a word to each other. I only remembered that she was from Shanghai. Both she and TL looked not that much different from twenty some years ago. They must have known how to take care of themselves. TXF did not look much different either except for having gained some weight on his waist. The major difference for ZL was the amount of hair he now had. TXF, being the highest ranked “official,” ordered food and drinks for us and later footed the bill. We all had a great time talking about our and other classmates’ past, present and future. One of the interesting points ZL brought up was that we were reaching such an age that we should know how to slow down and enjoy lives. A few recent premature deaths of some young elite professors due to overwhelming amount of work were the catalyst for such thinking. Another point was that universities in China no longer hired permanent professors. They had to sign contracts every five years. The new hires were not part of university personnel but belonged to a third party human resource management firm. This created numerous pressures for professors to produce quick results. Such pressures forced their research to be short term oriented. No one would commit to doing fundamental research due to the fact that they are long term in nature. To me this reform seems an over kill for it won’t not help China in the long run. To catch up with world class universities, China needs to have a long term view and plan. This calls for not only courage but also patience and perseverance.

A lighter topic: I’ve got two helpers in both TXF and DLP. Guess what they are going to help me for?

posted by Unknown @ 6:21 AM