Bulletin Spring‧Summer 2001

published, and are still essential reading for those intereste d in Chinese economics, society and culture. F r om 1950 Prof. Fei concentrated on the study of the ethnic minorities in China, and became deputy president and professor of anthropology of the Institute of Central Nationalities in 1952. I n 1957 he re-visited the region near K a i Xiangong Village, and repeated his views that industries in the rural setting were an important complemen t to agriculture. Such views were to exercise tremendous influence in the economic development of New China, and provided a highly workable blueprint for the country's reconstruction. In 1978, when the Cultural Revolution came to an end, Prof. Fei was appointed deputy director of the Institute of Nationalities of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. I n 1979 he became the president of the Chinese Sociological Association and was appointed professor of sociology at Peking University. In 1980, Prof. Fe i became the director of the Institute of Sociology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and devoted all his time and energy to the rebuilding of Chinese sociological research. He visited the United States again in 1980 and received, at Denver ， the Malinowski Prize of the International Applied Anthropology Association. Numerous honours have been bestowed on him, including the Huxley Memorial Medal of the Royal Anthropological Association of Great Britain and Ireland, the Encyclopaedia Britannica Prize of the United States, the Asian Cultural Prize o f Fukuoka, Japan, the Henry Fok Prize, and the special honour of the National Foundation for the Social Sciences. He holds an honorary degree of Doctor of Letters from the University of Hong Ko n g and an honorary degree of Doctor of Social Science from the University of East Asia, Macau, and is a Fellow of the London School of Economics and Political Science. His contribution to sociology and anthropology is universally recognized, and the accolades he has received during his long academic career speak well for the great esteem in which he is held in the world of higher learning. Prof. Fei has a lifelong dedication to the well-being of the people. His colourful and fruitful academic career spanned over 60 years, during which he produced research covering a broad range of subjects. Since his pioneer work on the people of Flower Basket Yao, he has spared no effort in promoting industries, in villages and small towns. His research took him from farming communities to small towns, from small towns to medium sized cities, and from that on to economic entities centred in large cities. On anothe r plane he specializes in the study of ethnic minorities and champions ethnic minorities i n a unified country, a striking characteristic of the Chinese nation. A practical person who never loses sight of the whole, he advocates co-existence and co- prosperity among different races and different nations and, on such a premise, delineates an optimistic picture of Universal Harmony for the world in the 21 st century. A t the age of 17’ Prof. Fei made a promise to himself that he would record anything worth being written down for as long as he would live, and that for the benefit of those who would come after him. Now Prof. Fei has celebrated his 90th birthday, and he has indeed lived up to his early promise o f committing his knowledge and experience to writing. Over the years he has travelled far and wide, and his writings are commensurate with his peregrinations. There is much in his large corpus of works that is inspired by his travels. It can also be said of Prof. Fei's literary and scholastic output that, whether it is a light-hearted piece written as his mood directs him, or a learned work in which some exalted theories are propounded, there is always flair, style, and wit. 55th C o n g r e g a t i o n 47