University Communications Jin Professorship Honors Emory/China Connection Emory author and English professor Xuefei Jin, a native of China, will be honored with a professorship named after Young J. Allen, the first Methodist missionary to China who remained there until his death in 1907. Jin, who writes under the name Ha Jin, will be recognized as Emory College's first Young J. Allen Professor of English and Creative Writing at his April 12 reading at Oxford College. The event will be at 7:30 p.m. in Allen Memorial Church, also named after the missionary. Allen graduated from Emory in 1858 when the campus was located at what is now Oxford College of Emory University in Oxford, Ga. "This named professorship both honors the accomplishments of Ha Jin, and celebrates the deep intellectual connection between Emory and China," says Steven Sanderson, dean of Emory College. "The newsletter Allen published was considered the source for progressive thought in China in the late 1800s and early 1900s." Sanderson purposely chose Oxford as the place to announce the honor because it acknowledges the significance of the original campus in the university's history. Following an introduction by Sanderson, Oxford College Dean Dana Greene will speak about Allen, then Jin will give a reading from his National Book Award-winning novel, "Waiting." Jin also is a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award for fiction for the book. "I am honored that Dean Sanderson has chosen to recognize Xuefei Jin with a professorship named after one of Emory's most illustrious graduates, and to do so at Oxford, the site of the original Emory campus," says Greene. "This event affirms the joint history and partnership of Oxford and Emory colleges." Young John Allen left the United States in 1859 as a missionary in Shanghai, China, but in 1860 he was forced to work also as a teacher, editor and businessman when the American Civil War caused the loss of contact with the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in America. He later worked as a translator, became superintendent of the mission (1881-1886), was president of the Anglo-Chinese University in Shanghai (1885-1895; later Soochow University), helped found the McTyeire Home and School for Girls with Laura Askew Haygood (1892), and promoted missions in Japan and Korea. He authored or translated about 250 works, including "Women Of All Lands," and edited the monthly newsletter "Review Of The Times" (1868-1907). Return to Archived Arts and Humanities Releases |
| ||||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
Copyright © Emory University
Atlanta, GA 30322
For more information contact: TheWeb@emory.edu
Last Update - January 2, 2000