The literary era since 1979

The first stop of the lecture tour is the University of Northern Iowa.

It can be considered a home field, not only because it is in Iowa, but also because the University of Iowa and the University of Northern Iowa have a lot of academic cooperation, although there are some differences in majors.

The University of Iowa focuses on science, engineering, medicine, and law, while the University of Northern Iowa focuses on education, business, and other majors.

Of course, in terms of humanities and social sciences, the two universities are completely inferior to many universities in the United States.

This is why the University of Iowa strongly advocated dialects once Guns, Viruses, and Steel was published.

As soon as they got off the plane, Nie Hualing and Paul Angell were full of enthusiasm. They took Bai Ruoxue, Gong Xing and others to the hotel that had been arranged by the school. After resting for two days, Fang Yan went to the University of Northern Iowa accompanied by Sean Michael, the dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences.

As soon as I arrived at the school gate, I was warmly welcomed by all the teachers and students of the College of Arts and Sciences.

Among the crowd, Gong Xing could easily see the faces of Chinese international students.

The 80s saw a peak in the number of Chinese students studying abroad in Europe and the United States.

The cheers and applause that came one after another once again refreshed Gong Xing, Fang Yan, Li Zhi and others' understanding of dialects.

"You don't have to be too surprised."

Bai Ruoxue seemed to be accustomed to it. "Teacher Fang's fame in American universities is very rare among Chinese scholars nowadays."

Gong Wei said with emotion: "No wonder he said that it was an honor for Yenching University to be a visiting professor. It turns out that what he said was true."

"Teacher Fang is indeed qualified to be a visiting professor at the University of Iowa and the University of Northern Iowa." Bai Ruoxue said, "As long as he is willing."

Unlike their "flattered" attitude, Fangyan did not feel uncomfortable at all with such courtesy.

After all, whether in the last life or in this life, "Guns, Germs, and Steel" can be regarded as a work of human history!
The anthropology and history of the University of Iowa and the University of Northern Iowa are already weak, which is equivalent to a second-rate martial arts sect. How can they not be excited to receive martial arts instruction from a first-rate master like Wang Chongyang?

Therefore, before the formal lecture, the University of Northern Iowa arranged an academic exchange meeting.

It was held in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Northern Iowa, where the professors held a "Swordsman Contest on Mount Huashan" behind closed doors.

Fang Yan entrusted Li Zhi and Nie Hualing to take care of Gong Xian, Fang Yan and others. He brought Bai Ruoxue, who acted as an "interpreter", and walked into the conference room with a smile under the leadership of Sean Michael. Everyone inside had been waiting for him and applauded politely.

Before the meeting, Sean Michael introduced the dialects one by one:

"This is Professor John Fernald, head of the Department of Humanities, History and Science at the University of Northern Iowa."

"This one is from the College of Arts and Sciences..."

"This is Professor Robert James Waller. He is the dean of the business school. He is very interested in history and came here specifically to audit the lecture."

"Hello everyone, I am very happy to be invited by the University of Northern Iowa to come here to communicate with my fellow historians."

Fangyan was very surprised that he had the same name as the author of "The Bridges of Madison County".

But before he could think about it, John Fernald said, "After reading Guns, Germs, and Steel, I found that you did not stop at one nation, one country, or one time period, but studied history and civilization as macroscopic objects."

"Yes, the basic unit for studying humanity and the future is civilization!"

Fang Yan said: "Based on the origin, growth, decline, and disintegration of each civilization, we can understand some common laws of different civilizations. There are such summary laws in Guns, Germs, and Steel."

John Fernald said, "So, how do you divide civilizations?"

“The division of civilizations is a complex issue that deserves further study.”

Sean Michael didn't expect that the University of Northern Iowa would make such a big move right from the start, making it clear that they wanted to test the quality of the dialect.

"Yes, some scholars have divided civilizations into more than 30 types, while others simply divide them into two types, Eastern civilization and Western civilization. Some, like Toynbee, have divided the world's civilizations from ancient times to the present into 21 types, but his classification method is too complicated."

John Fernald said: "There is still a lot of controversy in the academic community. Fang, what do you think?"

Fangyan said decisively: "I think the current world civilizations can be divided into eight types."

"8 kinds!?"

Everyone, including Robert James Waller, was interested and asked him to continue.

"I divide it into seven independent civilizations and one satellite civilization that is subordinate to these independent civilizations."

What Fangyan quoted is Samuel Huntington's "civilization classification" in "The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order".

However, Samuel Huntington divided civilizations into eight types, namely Chinese civilization, Japanese civilization, Indian civilization, Islamic civilization, Western civilization, Orthodox civilization, Latin American civilization, and African civilization. Although Toynbee's classification is more reasonable, it is still not perfect.

For example, Japanese civilization should be a satellite civilization of Chinese civilization.

"Western civilization, Latin American civilization, and Eastern Orthodox civilization should all have the same origin, right?"

John Fernard frowned.

Fangyan shook his head and said, "No, no, although Latin American civilization is the product of the combination of Western civilization and Latin indigenous civilization, since Latin America gained independence, it has developed characteristics that are different from Western civilization in all aspects. Take magical realism literature for example..."

Gong Xing, Li Zhi and others blinked their eyes. Although they did not understand, they were greatly shocked.

Especially when I see the foreign professors in the room listening attentively, I feel an indescribable sense of pride in my heart. It feels so good!
"Fang, why do you emphasize that it is 'ancient Indian' civilization when you refer to 'Indian civilization', but don't say 'China' when you mention 'Chinese civilization'?" John Fernald asked, "Shouldn't 'China' be a concept of a country?"

"It's understandable that you would think so, John."

Fang Yan laughed and said, "Many people often get confused on the question of 'Is Huaxia a country or a civilization?'"

The professors from the University of Northern Iowa were very interested and kept asking questions.

"I believe that China is not just a country, but a civilization that has existed in the form of a country for 5,000 years."

Fang Yan said: "It is precisely because of this that China's history, traditions, and culture have been able to continue and thrive. Moreover, for a long period of time, neighboring Asian countries, such as Japan, South Korea, and Annan, have been deeply influenced by the civilization of the suzerain country."

Sean Michael suddenly realized, "So, you attribute Japanese civilization to satellite civilization?"

Fangyan originally wanted to use the great and virtuous Empire of Britain as an example. After all, the relationship between Britain and the United States, as father and son, has been going on for a long time.

"Don't you think Japan is a very vivid specimen of 'satellite civilization'?"

"Why do you say that?"

"Because it perfectly illustrates the characteristics of a 'satellite civilization', from being subordinate to the Eastern sovereign to being a follower of the West."

Fang Yan said: "The final result is that it is neither east nor west, neither east nor west, neither east nor west. Rather than diversity, it is better to say hybridity." Bai Ruoxue opened her mouth, "Teacher Fang?"

Fangyu said seriously: "Translate it as it is!"

As soon as these words were spoken, there was an uproar, but most of the people present did not feel angry. After all, in today's American society, everyone is calling for the elimination of "Japanese goods", and even Japanese cars such as "Toyota" and "Honda" are all smashed.

Even "Transformers" was born in such a background. In the first films, all cars that appeared were American cars.

"Hybridity is not something I said. It was the 'hybrid culture' proposed by the late famous Japanese critic, Kato Shuichi, in the 20s." Fangyan grinned, "So, Japanese civilization itself is a 'hybrid' civilization."

"So that's it!"

After hearing this, the history professors and lecturers present thought carefully and found that this civilization classification method based on dialects really summarized all civilizations in the world. "This is really a very creative academic point of view." Sean Michael nodded in approval.

John Fernald said, "Fang, I think you can write another book on this division of civilizations!"

Fang Yan smiled faintly, "That's exactly what I was thinking, but before that, I still need to collect some information."

"If you are interested in publishing it, we at the University of Northern Iowa Press would be happy to help!"

John Fernald's eyes immediately flashed with greed.

"Let's wait until Fang's book is finished before discussing publishing it."

Sean Michael pretended to cough.

Dialect is what the University of Iowa loves. Even though the University of Northern Iowa is a sister school, you can’t take away their love!
Because of their dialects, the University of Iowa and the University of Northern Iowa almost ended up in a love triangle where brothers were competing for each other's love.

(PS: Kato Shuichi, "Hybrid Culture: A Tiny Hope for Japan")
………………

The entire academic exchange conference lasted three and a half hours.

At the beginning, the explanations were mainly done in dialect, but later on, the history professors asked various questions and answered them in dialect.

Fortunately, most of the questions were about "Guns, Viruses, and Steel", and a small number of them continued the idea of ​​the clash of civilizations just mentioned.

“Civilization is the ultimate tribe of mankind. The conflict between civilizations is a group conflict on a global scale, which generally takes two forms.”

“Fault-zone conflicts between neighboring civilizations or between different civilizational groups within a country at the regional or micro level.”

“And at the global or macro level, the core conflicts between the major nations of different civilizations…”

Faced with all the unique insights put forward, John Fernald, Sean Michael and others only felt that they were extremely novel and astonished.

"Fang, I've heard many people deconstruct the bipolar structure from the perspective of ideology, class, land power and sea power, the camps of democracy and freedom, and even the Slavic and Anglo-Saxon peoples..."

John Fernald couldn't help but sigh: "But this is the first time I've heard it analyzed in terms of civilization."

"Yes, from the religious struggles within Christianity to the continued branch struggles between Eastern and Western Rome, these views are very novel."

Sean Michael raved.

Fang Yan smiled and said, "This is just my personal opinion. You can just listen to it casually."

“No, no, no, these insights are very worthy of discussion and research!”

John Fernald sincerely admired it, and the professors at the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Northern Iowa were also convinced.

There are even history teachers who plan to recommend "Guns, Viruses, and Steel" to their students, and after reading the books, they will select one of the articles and write a review as a class assignment. Some are also planning to put Fangyan's works on the recommended reading list for freshmen in their school.

"That's great! I hope your students will like it!"

Fangyan complained in his heart that if a student failed the course because of this, he should be held responsible and not bear the grudge against himself.

Just as he was signing the book that the teaching assistant handed over, Robert James Waller came over and said with some regret:
"I really hope that we will have the opportunity to sit together again and talk about human history and world civilization like we did today."

"Of course there is a chance."

Fang Yan looked at Bai Ruoxue: "But the premise is that we have such an outstanding translator to help us at that time."

"She did a great job translating," Robert James Waller praised her politely.

"She's going to UC Berkeley to study business."

Not only Bai Ruoxue, Fang Yan also introduced Li Zhi.

"Really!"

Robert James Waller said that if he wants to pursue a master's or doctoral degree in the future, he can consider the University of Northern Iowa.

Li Zhi was very excited when she heard this. Regardless of whether what he said was sincere or not, just getting a letter of recommendation from the Dean of the University of Northern Iowa's College of Business would be of great help in her future postgraduate and doctoral studies.

Bai Ruoxue's tone was full of gratitude, "Teacher Fang, thank you!"

"It's just a small favor, don't take it to heart."

Fang Yan said, "Thank you for your hard work in this afternoon's lecture."

In the morning there are academic exchange meetings, and in the afternoon there are lectures for all students in the College of Arts and Sciences.

The scene was so grand that Li Zhi, who was interpreting for the first time, couldn't help but feel nervous.

Fortunately, with the assistance of Bai Ruoxue, everything went very smoothly, except for the occasional minor mistakes during the question-and-answer session.

But the merits cannot be overstated. Most of the Chinese students were quite supportive and applauded most actively and vigorously.

This is also the reason why we chose the University of Northern Iowa as our first stop. We can try it out first and practice our dialect speaking and adaptability. After we become proficient in it, we can move to a bigger stage, just like a drama troupe going from community plays to theaters.

Whether it's Fangyan or Bai Ruoxue and Li Zhi, they have all made visible progress.

After all, the final destination is Columbia University, which is at least ranked in the top 15 in the world.

Here, Benjamin Graham, the founder of modern securities analysis and value investment theory, was born.

It has had a profound influence on people like Warren Buffett, Mario Gabriel, John Neff, Mike Preece and John Pogue. Coincidentally, this year marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of Security Analysis, and Columbia University intends to hold a commemorative lecture in these days.

As luck would have it, it coincided with the lecture event of "Guns, Viruses, and Steel". (End of this chapter)