Chinese Delegates In Social Sciences Will Visit Harvard

Ten high-level delegates from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences are scheduled to visit Harvard on Monday for two days of information exchanges with Harvard officials in the areas of government, religion and education.

The delegation, the first China has sent to the United States in the social sciences, will meet in individual sessions with faculty from a broad range of fields.

The Chinese visit is part of a month-long trip to study social sciences in the United States. Other stops include Yale, Stanford, Chicago, New York and Washington.

"The Chinese want to tap all of the knowledge they can," Patrick G. Maddox, coordinator for the visit and director of external affairs for the Council on East Asian Studies, said yesterday.

"They have realized social sciences are part of the needs of a society and economy which seeks to modernize quickly," Maddox added.

"The social sciences in China are not the same as they are here. Whole categories are left out," Roy M. Hofheinz, professor of Government and director of the Fairbank Center for East Asian Research, said yesterday.

Hofheinz said the Chinese are especially interested in learning about business management here. "The Chinese are self-admittedly backward in the field of management and think of the U.S., perhaps incorrectly, as a great success," he added.

The leader of the delegation is Huan Xiang, vice president of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a diplomat and journalist who disappeared from public view during the Cultural Revolution. The group includes leading Chinese anthropologist Fei Xiaotong.

"I'm very pleased. I'm anxious to see what the Chinese are after." Victor H. Mair, professor of Chinese Religion and Literature, who will be meeting with a delegate, said yesterday. "It's a fine turn of events and I hope they will be reciprocated," he added.