Bulletin No. 1, 2015

18   Chinese University Bulletin No. 1, 2015 In addition to the reading group, Professor Chow organizes ‘salons’ irregularly, inviting speakers from outside the University to give talks to and exchange views with members of Lidian. Besides reading activities, the members watch movies, play football, go hiking, and travel together. Professor Chow says, ‘The reading group is not for reading only, it’s also an intellectual community whose members constantly support each other.’ According to Professor Chow, a successful reading group must fulfil three criteria: first, you must find good books to read. Second, discussions must be full and in-depth. Third, it must last for an extended period. Members of our reading group don’t come to read for some practical purposes, such as writing dissertations. They join it because they enjoy this reading life.’ Chris Li , a PhD candidate at the Central European University, regards Lidian as an academically enlightening experience, ‘Not only because all the essays we read are very important pieces, but also because the reading group emphasizes free but serious discussion. There is no correct view or stance. Participants can express their views freely. If you disagree with someone’s opinion, you can criticize and discuss it. In fact Professor Chow is a regular target of criticism from other members (I was one of the major critics of him, ha ha). I joined the reading group when I was a freshman. I thought that such frank, friendly and serious discussion was a normal feature of the academic community. Later I learned that this is not the case and began to realize how lucky we are to have this reading group.’ Leo Kwok , a PhD student in political philosophy at the University of Toronto, had his first serious encounter with political theories at Lidian. ‘I benefited much from it during my undergraduate years and it paved the path for me to pursue postgraduate studies. My first presentation in the reading group was about Frank Knight’s ‘The Ethics of Competition’. Before I went to Canada to work on my master’s degree, I gave a presentation on Bernard Williams’s ‘From Freedom to Liberty’. Before I started my PhD, I made a presentation on Carl Schmitt’s The Concept of the Political . To prepare for each presentation, I had to read an academic essay up to a hundred pages in great detail. And during every discussion session, I was surprised by the insights provided by other members, which I failed to get when I read that essay.’ In addition to the Lidian Reading Group, Professor Chow organizes an evening reading session called ‘Reading Original Texts’ for every course taught by him. ‘Reading Original Texts’ is an optional activity, but usually more than half of his students would join it. Chow says, ‘It’s because they benefit a lot from it. Reading is not something that you automatically know how to do well by simply picking up a book. You need immersion in the subject and a lot of explanation and textual analysis before you can grasp the essence.’