By Mitchell Chan, Deputy Director of Public Relations
Last Thursday saw a visit from Penn alumnus Dr. Shen Lyu-shun (AM ’79, PhD ‘81), current Republic of China Representative to the United States. Representative Shen, who came with his wife from Washington, D.C., spoke for an audience of nearly 150 Penn students, faculty, and members of the Philadelphia community. The visit came exactly one week before the upcoming Chinese New Year.
One of Taiwan’s most respected and longest-serving diplomats, Shen Lyu-shun completed his undergraduate education at the prestigious National Chung Hsing University in Taiwan before receiving a master’s degree and doctorate in international relations from Penn. In his presentation, Shen repeatedly credited Penn for teaching him to think about issues, especially those relating to his homeland, from many different angles (in his own words, “[he] had seen the trees, but Penn allowed [him] to see the forest”). For example, he recalled one of his professors asking him why Chiang Kai-shek had lost Mainland China; no Taiwanese academic would ever ask that question so explicitly.
Shen’s diplomatic career has taken him to posts around the world, including Belgium, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the Taiwanese missions in Kansas City and Washington. He was appointed to his current position by Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou and assumed the post on April 1, 2014. Shen has a long history of working closely with the United States government (especially the U.S. Congress) to accomplish Taiwan’s diplomatic goals. He has dedicated much of his career to working around the disadvantages posed by Taiwan’s lack of formal diplomatic ties in most of the world.
His diplomatic stature and responsibilities grew over the years in tandem with the rise of Taiwan. Despite its relatively small size and population, the island country (or province, depending on who you ask) exerts disproportionately strong influence in world politics and trade. Shen notes, for example, that Taiwan is one of the largest buyers of American grain imports, referring to his time at the Taiwanese mission in Kansas City, where he oversaw Taiwanese purchases of Midwestern wheat for use in Asian flour mills. He also discussed at length Taiwan’s growing importance to the economy of the People’s Republic of China, which has recently granted Taiwanese shippers unprecedented access to dozens to Mainland Chinese coastal and river ports. He describes the current direction of China-Taiwan relations as one of integration, with the two entities becoming increasingly economically dependent on one another despite standing political tension between them.
As one listens to him speak, it doesn’t take long to understand why this man has had such success as a diplomat and international negotiator. His affable, warm personality evokes images of a Chinese gentleman telling stories to his grandchildren. He refers, for example, to his audience as “my dear friends.” While not boastful, he is proud of his many years of diplomatic service to Taiwan. However, as he made clear when addressing a particularly contentious question targeting Anthony Cruz’s opening introductions, he is equally proud of his Chinese ethnicity and cultural heritage. In his view, the people of Taiwan and the citizens of the People’s Republic of China share a common history and are inexorably tied to each other.
After the event’s conclusion, dozens waited to speak to or snap photographs with the representative before he left. View some images taken by Deputy Director of Public Relations Melissa Tustin-Gore here.
This insightful speaker event was followed by the weekly Polybian symposium, this time discussing the state of American higher education. Between the fact that the discussion involved college students talking about college and the general atmosphere of the room at that particular time, it really did not take long for tensions to run high.
Much of the debate centered on reasons why the American college mentality exists the way it currently does. Some Polybians questioned why there is so much emphasis on the idea that going to a good college gets you a good job. Some talked about acquaintances for whom college would have been a waste of four years. Others talked about family and personal values that painted college as the all but default life step after prom and graduation. Naturally, the conversation was personal for many (or at least, for those sitting in the Polybian House who happened to be college students). Somebody recounted memories of friends melting into nervous breakdowns over a single rough midterm that was droplet in the grand scheme of life. Somebody else indignantly wondered why anybody would want to go to college just for a successful career and rewarding future.
Of course, for the Polybians, who in general tend to be in better control of their lives than most eighteen/nineteen/twenty-year-olds, a dose of “get out of the Penn bubble” was in order. In a perfectly valid argument, several people pointed out that not everybody has the intellectual inclination to read volume after volume of Aristotle, Nietzsche, and Francis Fukuyama, nor does everyone have the luxury to. Students at Penn and other top-tier universities spend most of their lives insulated in an educational bubble where dreams of becoming a financier, banker, lawyer, doctor, engineer, consultant, journalist, or academic range from desirable to expected. But outside of the world of Ivy League schools lies a wealth of career opportunities and futures besides those things. Granted, not everyone places “plumber” at the top of their career lists, but it is important to remember that for some people, the right career doesn’t require a college education. Is there a place for them in higher education? Depends on who you ask.
So there we have it, folks—two exciting, unforgettable GPA events in one evening. Politics never rests, and neither do we.
Last Thursday saw a visit from Penn alumnus Dr. Shen Lyu-shun (AM ’79, PhD ‘81), current Republic of China Representative to the United States. Representative Shen, who came with his wife from Washington, D.C., spoke for an audience of nearly 150 Penn students, faculty, and members of the Philadelphia community. The visit came exactly one week before the upcoming Chinese New Year.
One of Taiwan’s most respected and longest-serving diplomats, Shen Lyu-shun completed his undergraduate education at the prestigious National Chung Hsing University in Taiwan before receiving a master’s degree and doctorate in international relations from Penn. In his presentation, Shen repeatedly credited Penn for teaching him to think about issues, especially those relating to his homeland, from many different angles (in his own words, “[he] had seen the trees, but Penn allowed [him] to see the forest”). For example, he recalled one of his professors asking him why Chiang Kai-shek had lost Mainland China; no Taiwanese academic would ever ask that question so explicitly.
Shen’s diplomatic career has taken him to posts around the world, including Belgium, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the Taiwanese missions in Kansas City and Washington. He was appointed to his current position by Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou and assumed the post on April 1, 2014. Shen has a long history of working closely with the United States government (especially the U.S. Congress) to accomplish Taiwan’s diplomatic goals. He has dedicated much of his career to working around the disadvantages posed by Taiwan’s lack of formal diplomatic ties in most of the world.
His diplomatic stature and responsibilities grew over the years in tandem with the rise of Taiwan. Despite its relatively small size and population, the island country (or province, depending on who you ask) exerts disproportionately strong influence in world politics and trade. Shen notes, for example, that Taiwan is one of the largest buyers of American grain imports, referring to his time at the Taiwanese mission in Kansas City, where he oversaw Taiwanese purchases of Midwestern wheat for use in Asian flour mills. He also discussed at length Taiwan’s growing importance to the economy of the People’s Republic of China, which has recently granted Taiwanese shippers unprecedented access to dozens to Mainland Chinese coastal and river ports. He describes the current direction of China-Taiwan relations as one of integration, with the two entities becoming increasingly economically dependent on one another despite standing political tension between them.
As one listens to him speak, it doesn’t take long to understand why this man has had such success as a diplomat and international negotiator. His affable, warm personality evokes images of a Chinese gentleman telling stories to his grandchildren. He refers, for example, to his audience as “my dear friends.” While not boastful, he is proud of his many years of diplomatic service to Taiwan. However, as he made clear when addressing a particularly contentious question targeting Anthony Cruz’s opening introductions, he is equally proud of his Chinese ethnicity and cultural heritage. In his view, the people of Taiwan and the citizens of the People’s Republic of China share a common history and are inexorably tied to each other.
After the event’s conclusion, dozens waited to speak to or snap photographs with the representative before he left. View some images taken by Deputy Director of Public Relations Melissa Tustin-Gore here.
This insightful speaker event was followed by the weekly Polybian symposium, this time discussing the state of American higher education. Between the fact that the discussion involved college students talking about college and the general atmosphere of the room at that particular time, it really did not take long for tensions to run high.
Much of the debate centered on reasons why the American college mentality exists the way it currently does. Some Polybians questioned why there is so much emphasis on the idea that going to a good college gets you a good job. Some talked about acquaintances for whom college would have been a waste of four years. Others talked about family and personal values that painted college as the all but default life step after prom and graduation. Naturally, the conversation was personal for many (or at least, for those sitting in the Polybian House who happened to be college students). Somebody recounted memories of friends melting into nervous breakdowns over a single rough midterm that was droplet in the grand scheme of life. Somebody else indignantly wondered why anybody would want to go to college just for a successful career and rewarding future.
Of course, for the Polybians, who in general tend to be in better control of their lives than most eighteen/nineteen/twenty-year-olds, a dose of “get out of the Penn bubble” was in order. In a perfectly valid argument, several people pointed out that not everybody has the intellectual inclination to read volume after volume of Aristotle, Nietzsche, and Francis Fukuyama, nor does everyone have the luxury to. Students at Penn and other top-tier universities spend most of their lives insulated in an educational bubble where dreams of becoming a financier, banker, lawyer, doctor, engineer, consultant, journalist, or academic range from desirable to expected. But outside of the world of Ivy League schools lies a wealth of career opportunities and futures besides those things. Granted, not everyone places “plumber” at the top of their career lists, but it is important to remember that for some people, the right career doesn’t require a college education. Is there a place for them in higher education? Depends on who you ask.
So there we have it, folks—two exciting, unforgettable GPA events in one evening. Politics never rests, and neither do we.