On November 29th, 2008 Nobel Prize in Literature winner Jean Marie Gustave Le Clézio and 2010 Nobel Prize in Economics winner Christopher A. Pissarides lectured at the Luojia Forum in honor of Wuhan University’s 120th anniversary.
Clézio lectured on the development of literature in his speech entitled Books: Exploration Ship. Starting from ancient Egyptian and Sumerian civilization, he elaborated on the great influence of books and particularly the printing press to human civilization. He explained that the smooth communication in modern times was largely attributable to the capacity to print books. He also discussed how civilization is preserved in books, enabling later generations to discover the wisdom of their ancestors.
Clézio Later emphasized that 120th anniversary is not only a festival for Wuhan University, but also one for civilization, as universities are where books and knowledge are passed on “a university with a long history embodies human civilization.”
In the question and answer session following his lecture, a student asked Clézio about the culture differences in China, France and South America. Clézio argued that the whole world is pursuing the virtue of harmony put forward by Confucius thousands of years ago, different approach towards the same target.
Professor Pissarides’s lecture, entitled Employment Trends and Urbanization, focused on employment trends, urbanization and unemployment through a macro-economic lens.
Professor Pissarides’s made the lecture very relevant for his audience by presenting graphical data of employment trends in Wuhan and Hubei. Extrapolating from the data, he explained that a good investment to protect against unemployment was mastering a skill.
In his question and answer session, Professor Pissarides replied to various questions about economic problems in the world and China’s economy, before he discussed with Xie Danyang, the dean of School of Economics and Management, economist training in China and abroad.
President Li Xiaohong and Executive President Feng Youmei were with students in the lectures. President Li thanked the speakers and conferred the Luojia Forum official certificates on Clézio and Pissarides.
Jean Marie Gustave Le Clézio, born in 1940, is a leading figure in French Literature. His representative works include The Interrogation, Desert, Wandering Star, Onitsha, etc. In 2008, he was awarded Nobel Prize in literature for “his integration of multiculture, humanity and risky spirit in his work and his poetic adventure and sensual ecstasy”.
Christopher A. Pissarides is a Cypriot/British economist. He is the School Professor at the London School of Economics. His research focuses on several topics of macroeconomics, notably labor, economic growth, and economic policy. In 2010, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in economics, jointly with Peter A. Diamond and Dale Mortensen, for his contributions to the theory of search frictions and macroeconomics.
