American Receives Ph.D for History of Chinese Ethnic GroupsAn American from Pennsylvania State Jeff Book recently has been granted doctor's degree for history of Chinese ethnic groups by the Yunnan University. He is believed to be the first American who ever has such a title, a university source said.His dissertation in Chinese "On the Dualism of the Healthy Philosophy of the Yi People in Chuxiong" is regarded by a committee of advisors as having both academic and practical values. Graduated from the State University of Pennsylvania, Book went to China in the late 1980s, first as a teacher of English, then a student majoring in the history of Chinese ethnic minorities at Yunnan University. After getting his master's degree, Book decided to continue his studies of ethnic minorities and became a doctoral student of Lin Chaomin, a famous professor in the history of Chinese ethnic minorities three years ago. In the past decade, Book has introduced some works of famous Chinese writers like Bing Xin, Wang Zengqi and Tie Ning to the west. There are 25 ethnic groups in Yunnan. At Yunnan University some 30 Ph.D students and nearly 100 masters students have completed dissertations and theses on China's ethnic groups. |
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