University Buys Harvard Textbooks

China’s Fudan University in Shanghai has purchased 6,357 different textbooks from Harvard, ranging from all subjects and departments, and spending more than $200,000 over the past two years.

In a phone interview yesterday, Zeng F. Qin, Director of Fudan University Library, described conceiving of the idea with colleague Shen H. Wang to acquire Harvard textbooks in 2002. The first purchase of 5,620 books used in Harvard undergraduate classes was made in 2003. This year, Qin said there was an additional purchase of 737 books from the law and medical schools.

Fudan University made the purchases with the help of Harvard’s Yenching Library. Speaking in Mandarin, Qin described wanting to help Fudan establish good relations and gain insight into what he described as the best educational institution—Harvard.

Ying Shao, an Applied Mathematics major at Fudan University, described four large sections in the main library with one of the four sections containing foreign books, and half of the foreign books from Harvard. Shao said instructors recommend that students use the books for research and that many students made copies to take back to their dorms, though usually only the best students took the initiative or possessed the language abilities to read them.

Qun Hao, a foreign books librarian at Fudan, said many professors have already started to use them to teach in class. According to Hao, many students say the books have been a boon for the university, especially the law school books, with cases and contents that are fresh and original. When asked if Fudan had purchased books from other world-renowned universities, Hao said in Mandarin, “Perhaps 200-300 from MIT, but basically just Harvard.” The librarians said they view the acquisitions as a way to “liao jie qing kuang,” or “understand the circumstances.”

In a 2005 study, Shanghai Jiao Tong University released a list of the top 500 universities in the world. As was the case in 2004, Harvard ranked first in the world, with a full score of 100, compared to the 73.6 of Cambridge University, ranked second.

According to Harvard students who have studied or lived in China, the country holds Harvard University in unusually high esteem.

“They hold Harvard as their religious faith,” said Zhongyuan “Julian” Han ’07, who was born and raised in Shanghai. Han noted that Fudan is a good school with a strong emphasis on education, and is ranked among the top three universities in mainland China, along with Beijing’s Beida and Qinghua Universities. But he said Fudan was “not yet at the level of Harvard. I think it’s probably at the level of Yale in the U.S.”

Megan E. Camm ’07, who participated in the Harvard-China Summer Exchange 2005 and visited Fudan during her stay, described wonderful treatment in Shanghai as she and other members of the program were given tours and special lectures by industry leaders.

“We got the sense that they were really trying to develop a dialogue with Harvard and they thought it was important to open up more communication and exchange between Chinese students and American students, particularly those at Harvard,” she said.

James R. Henry ’06, also a member of the Summer Exchange, said, “I definitely felt that Harvard University is well respected in the eyes of Fudan University, and I think that goes both ways.”