HKIER

Abstract

This is a personal narrative of encounters with Chinese people and experiences of the culture over a fifty-year period, from 1967 to 2017. The timing parallels closely the 50-year period and anniversary being celebrated by the Education Journal of the Hong Kong Institute of Educational Research at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. The author lived in Hong Kong from 1967 to 1978, as a young Canadian teacher employed by Heep Yunn, an Anglican girls’ school. She then returned to a very different Hong Kong in 1997 to lead the Hong Kong Institute of Education in its upgrading to university level and status. In between she experienced China’s opening up as a teacher at Fudan University in Shanghai from 1980 to 1982, and a more isolated China during the difficult period from 1989 to 1991 when she served as Cultural Attaché in the Canadian Embassy in Beijing. Through these experiences of dramatic change came an ever deeper engagement with Chinese culture, which has kept her active in teaching and research about Chinese education over a period of 50 years and given her a vision of what it can bring to a global world. She thus focuses on the stories of individuals whose strength of spirit enabled them to deal with integrity, courage and grace through times of extreme pressure and geopolitical conflict.

Keywords:Chinese culture; encounters; geopolitics; dialogue; resilience

摘要

這是一篇自1967至2017年、橫跨半個世紀、與中國人民和文化體驗有緣相遇的個人敘事，時間上恰巧和香港中文大學《教育學報》的50周年誌慶吻合。作者於1967至1978年間以一名年輕加拿大教師僑居香港，在聖公會的協恩中學任教。1997年，她回到一個完全不同的香港，領導向大學資格升級的香港教育學院。在此期間，她曾為上海復旦大學的教師，體會中國的改革開放（1980–1982年）；以及加拿大北京大使館文化參贊，感受一個相對孤立、處於困難時期的中國（1989–1991年）。跟感悟這些劇烈變化相伴的，是更深地緣遇中國文化，使她在此50年中積極投身關於中國教育的教學和研究，並給予她展望中國教育貢獻於世界的視野。因此，作者聚焦於一些個人故事──他們的精神力量所賦予的正直、勇氣和榮光，以面對極端壓力和地緣政治衝突的時代。

關鍵詞：中國文化；緣遇；地緣政治；對話；忍耐