Interview with Australian sinologist Macklin: Willing to build a bridge for Australians and Chinese people to get to know and get to know each other through blind dates in Gu Shihong, China
Sydney, August 9th, China News Agency (Xinhua) - Interview with Australian sinologist Macklin: Willing to build a bridge for the people of Australia and China to get to know and get to know each other
China News Agency reporter Gu Shihong
Born in Sydney, Marklin has been deeply influenced by family culture since childhood and has a great love for European music, but he knows very little about China. Until 1958, he was awarded a scholarship and had the opportunity to study Chinese language and culture in Canberra. From then on, he fell in love with ancient Chinese landscape painting, literature, and poetry.
In 1962, he was sent to the University of Cambridge in the UK to study ancient Chinese history. "What impressed me the most was the Tang Dynasty, so I translated some of the contents of" Old Book of Tang "and" New Book of Tang "into English and introduced them to Western readers." He recalled, "When I was in the UK, I had a very rare opportunity to teach in Beijing. From 1964 to 1966, my wife Alice and I taught English as foreign experts at the Beijing Foreign Studies Institute. Our eldest son was born at Beijing Friendship Hospital. Since then, I have been to China more than 70 times and have also taught at schools such as Renmin University of China and China University of Mining and Technology."
When asked about his impression of China, Marklin told reporters that China has undergone significant changes over the past half century, including in politics, economy, society, culture, and other aspects. What impressed him deeply was his first visit to China in the 1960s. "In the 1960s, China was very backward and there were many impoverished people, especially in the countryside where conditions were very difficult," he sighed. "But now China is very different. The living standards of the people have generally improved, everyone has mobile phones, transportation is very convenient, and high-speed railways are widely spread throughout China, and people's living standards have improved a lot."
When it comes to his research on China, Marklin said that he enjoys Chinese history, especially Tang Dynasty and modern history, and is also very interested in Chinese opera, especially Peking Opera. He said, "When I was teaching in China, I collected many records of traditional Chinese opera and books about it. After returning to Australia from China in 1966, I studied traditional Chinese opera, and my doctoral thesis analyzed the development of Chinese opera and Beijing opera." To this end, he wrote and published five books, including "Modern Chinese Drama" and "A Brief History of Chinese Drama.".
He has also made remarkable achievements in his research on ethnic minorities in China, publishing works such as "Chinese Ethnic Minorities", "Chinese Ethnic Minority Culture", and "Ethnic Minorities in Modern China" in English. He said that Chinese ethnic minorities, including their performing arts, such as Tibetan opera and Uyghur Twelve Mukam, are precious parts of Chinese culture. "I feel that most people in the West are not very familiar with the concept of ethnicity, so they cannot appreciate the unity of the Chinese nation. Many Western journalists and scholars have unfair attitudes and biases towards Chinese ethnic minorities," Maklin admitted.
In order to change the prejudice of Westerners towards China, Marklin published books such as "I See China", "The Changing China", and "Chinese Minorities and Globalization", discussing his experiences and gains in China, demonstrating why he loves China and appreciates Chinese culture. He was also awarded the "Special Contribution Award for Chinese Books" by the Chinese government in 2015.
"Because I am an Australian, of course, I am very concerned about the relationship between Australia and China. I have also written some books and articles about the relationship between Australia and China, including the blue book" Australia Development Report ". He said," When I used to teach in China, my biggest dream was to establish diplomatic relations between Australia and China, and more Chinese students and scholars would study and teach in Australian schools. My dream began to come true in 1972, and since then, the relationship between our two countries has basically been getting better. In Australia, the largest number of international students comes from China. However, in the past two to three years, Australia China relations have experienced setbacks, and I really hope that Australia China relations can become closer. "A mutually beneficial and friendly path
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