Source: School of Sociology and Anthropology
Written by: Prof. Peng Zhang
Edited by: Wang Dongmei

During March 15th and 18th, 2016, the School of Sociology and Anthropology and School of Life Sciences at Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU) signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Martin Hall with the Kyoto University Museum. Prof. Naoko Iwasaki (the president of the Kyoto University Museum), Prof. Yingqiang Zhang (the dean of the School of Sociology and Anthropology at SYSU), and Prof. Yan Zhang, (the deputy dean of the School of Life Sciences at SYSU) exchanged the memorandums representing the three parties involved. Other attendees of the meeting included Associate Professor Masaharu Motokawa, Associate Professor Yumiko Murakami, researcher Hiroko Hashimoto from the Kyoto University Museum, Prof. Wensheng Shu from the School of Life Sciences at SYSU, Prof. Hong Pang and Prof. Pengfei Fan from the Biology Museum at SYSU, Prof. Zhiyang Liu and Prof. Peng Zhang from the School of Sociology and Anthropology at SYSU.

Prof. Yingqiang Zhang gave a welcome speech to Prof. Naoko Iwasaki and her group on behalf of the School of Sociology and Anthropology at SYSU. He introduced the recent progress in the development of the School and the Anthropology Museum. He hoped that, from this cooperation, the international influence of the Anthropology Department and the exchange between museums at both sides could be further enhanced. On behalf of the School of Life Sciences at SYSU, Prof. Yan Zhang and Prof. Wensheng Shu welcomed Prof. Naoko Iwasaki and her group, and introduced the international cooperation of the School and Biology Museum. They looked forward to a tighter connection with the world’s top universities, such as Kyoto University. Prof. Naoko Iwasaki expressed her gratitude to the SYSU friends for their hospitality. She proposed to enhance the networking between university museums, to invite the SYSU faculties as guest professors in the Kyoto University, and make substantial progress. She added that the Japanese Sumitomo Corporation had set up a fund for SYSU students to study at Kyoto University for a one-year exchange since 2014.


On March 16th, Prof. Huanwen Cheng, president of the SYSU Museum and assistant president of SYSU, invited Prof. Naoko Iwasaki to visit SYSU Library. Prof Cheng introduced the library and construction plan of SYSU Museum. He looked forward to future cooperation with the Kyoto University Museum. Prof. Naoko Iwasaki thanked Prof. Cheng and the library for the invitation. She introduced the establishment of the Kyoto University Museum, which is the first university museum in Japan, and expressed her willingness to provide suggestions to the museum construction, also, to enhance the cooperation between the two.

After the meeting, the two universities co-organized a symposium on China-Japan university museum researches, entitled “Rebirth of University Museums under Globalization Background”. Museum is a spiritual homeland to a university, as it condenses both tangible and intangible culture of a university, like history, culture, technology, and etc.. The lecture introduced the collecting, storing, exhibiting, researching aspects of a university museum, and discussed the difficulties of and the solutions to the rebirth of university museums in a globalized era. Prof. Naoko Iwasaki, Prof. Masaharu Motokawa, Prof. Yumiko Murakami, Dr. Hiroko Hashimoto, Prof. Hong Pang, Prof. Pengfei Fan, and Prof. Ningli Li gave talks and more than 150 attendees joined the symposium.

Kyoto University is a top university in the world. Nine Nobel Prize winners, one Darwin–Wallace Medal winner in Japan, and two Japanese Prime Ministers came from this University. The Kyoto University Museum, established in 1907, is the first university museum in Japan. It covers 4 major research areas, namely, culture history, nature history, technology history, and public education. The museum is very supportive in the cross-disciplinary study between social science and nature science, and to make contribution to the development of university museums in the world. This time, our SYSU has signed a MOU with the Kyoto University Museum, documenting the agreements on three aspects, namely, co-supervision of post-doctors and young researchers, co-organization of academic meetings, and joint research programs. The signing of this MoU is essential to the enhancement of bilateral cooperation, as well as to the reputation of SYSU around the world.