A UK-based independent worldwide fellowship
全球中国学术院中方创院院长、复旦大学张乐天教授率团访问英国
2024年11月中旬，全球中国学术院协助复旦大学张乐天教授一行完成为期九天的英国学术访问。行前，张教授希望学术院在其既定的两项学术安排之外，进一步拓展交流内容并完善整体访问行程。学术院随后参与协调与对接，协助将原有访问计划扩展为涵盖伦敦、牛津、兰卡斯特与爱丁堡等地的系列学术交流与机构访问活动，以系统加强了中英高校在社会科学、数字人文与社会生活资料研究领域的合作联系。
张乐天教授为全球中国学术院中方创院院长、复旦大学教授，其创办的中国当代社会生活资料馆及全球当代社会生活资料共享联盟均隶属于复旦大学图书馆体系。本次随行的两位同事分别为：复旦大学人文社科数据研究所副所长、上海市科研领域大数据实验室副主任殷沈琴研究馆员，以及复旦大学数字人文社科研究所副教授、当代生活资料馆与全球当代社会生活资料共享联盟秘书处负责人王顺箐博士。
11月14日，张乐天教授应邀参加了全球中国学术院前荣誉院长、著名社会学家马丁·阿尔布劳 Martin Albrow教授在伦敦 Hatchards 书店举行的新书发布会。阿尔布劳教授的新著 Integrity: The Rise of a Distinctive Western Idea and Its Destiny 由 Polity 出版社出版，从历史与社会学角度系统梳理了“诚信（integrity）”这一西方文明核心价值的演变及其在当代公共生活中的危机与意义。发布会汇聚了学者、出版人及学术界友人，围绕全球公共伦理与社会信任展开深入交流。
根据既定安排，张乐天教授一行于11月15–16日参加在伦敦大学学院 UCL 举行的第八届中英人文高等教育联盟年会 UK–China Humanities Alliance Annual Conference: Worlds and World Views，并于11月19–20日前往牛津开展学术交流活动。
在学术院的协调下，访问团还参访了牛津大学中国研究中心图书馆，并在馆长苏诺Mamtimyn Sunuodula 博士的安排下，参观了博德利图书馆数字图书馆Digital Library at Bodleian Library及数字协作摄影中心Digital Collaborative Photography Centre。此外，学术院亦协助安排了与兰卡斯特大学语料库社会科学研究中心及爱丁堡大学商学院的交流活动。
11月18日，张乐天教授一行到访全球中国学术院，与学术院团队进行正式交流。访问团参观了环球世纪出版社出版的中英文图书与期刊，并与学术院院长常向群教授及执行经理刘大全先生举行座谈。
在交流中，张乐天教授与王顺箐博士重点介绍了“全球当代社会生活资料共享联盟”的发展历程与运行机制。该联盟由复旦大学于2016年提出倡议，并于2018年正式成立，秘书处设在复旦大学图书馆，现已汇聚来自东亚、北美等地区的34家高校图书馆与研究机构，致力于跨载体、跨学科的社会生活资料共享与国际合作。联盟长期支持国际学术会议与研究项目，在家庭研究、叙事历史、社会生活资料方法论等领域形成持续影响。
交流结束后，双方互赠出版物。适逢年末，张乐天教授一行还为学术院“院士之家”带来印制在丝绸上的春联，上联是：诗书在心宅门厚，下联是：勤劳持家殷富安，寓意学术传承和健康发展，成为此次访问的温暖一刻。
左图为会议期间的茶歇场景，学者们在短暂休息中继续交流观点与想法；右图为访问期间的中式聚餐，围桌共食不仅延续了白天的学术讨论，也通过饮食与日常生活的分享，加深了彼此的理解与情感联结，使学术交流自然融入更具人文温度的互动之中。
按照学术院传统，来访学者通常会参加“徒步对话”活动。本次访问期间，张乐天教授一行参加了学术院组织的第六条徒步路线，前往Brocket Hall 徒步。这里位于英国赫特福德郡，是一处具有重要政治与历史象征意义的庄园建筑，曾分别为两位英国首相墨尔本Melbourne和帕默斯顿Palmerston的故居。19世纪中叶，帕默斯顿作为英国外交政策的核心决策者之一，在第一次鸦片战争前后主导了对华强硬路线，其政策不仅深刻影响了中国近代史，也塑造了西方世界对中国的长期政治与文化想象。鸦片战争由此成为一个改变中国命运、并重塑全球秩序的重要历史节点。
庄园坐落于利河（River Lea）河畔，古典建筑、园林与水系共同构成英国政治史与景观文化交织的空间。今日的 Brocket Hall 已成为国际会议与高等教育交流的重要场所，在历史沉淀之上承载新的公共功能。全球中国学术院长期将此地作为学术访问与徒步交流的节点之一，使历史现场成为反思全球秩序、制度变迁与文明互动的对话空间。
在此次访问的最后阶段，学者们沿着 Brocket Hall 庄园河畔徒步前行，在行走与交谈中延续白天的学术讨论。途中，大家乘坐小型轮渡横渡河面，在短短数分钟内共同经历了从日落到夜幕降临的自然转变。光线的消逝、空间的转换与谈话的延续交织在一起，使学术交流暂时脱离会议室与讲台，转化为一种身体化、情境化的共同经验。
这一时刻具有特殊的象征意义：在一个曾深度卷入近代世界权力结构、并影响中国历史命运的空间中，来自不同学术传统的研究者以平等姿态并肩而行，在缓慢的步行与开放的对话中，重新讨论社会、记忆、资料与时间。学术交流因此获得了另一种节奏与深度，也为中英之间正在展开的学术合作赋予了更具转文化意味的实践维度——知识不再只是被讨论的对象，而是在共同经验中被重新生产与连接。
GCA Formal Chinese President Professor ZHANG Letian Leads Academic Visit to the UK
In mid-November 2024, the Global China Academy (GCA) supported a nine-day academic visit to the United Kingdom by Professor Zhang Letian, founding Chinese President of GCA and Professor at Fudan University, together with his colleagues. Prior to the visit, Professor Zhang contacted GCA to request assistance in expanding the scope of his existing academic engagements and in enriching the overall itinerary. GCA subsequently participated in coordination and liaison work, helping to extend the original plan into a series of academic exchanges and institutional visits across London, Oxford, Lancaster, and Edinburgh, systematically strengthening collaboration between Chinese and UK universities in the fields of social sciences, digital humanities, and social life archives research.
Professor Zhang Letian is the founding Chinese President of the Global China Academy and a professor at Fudan University. The Contemporary Chinese Social Life Archive and the Global Alliance for Contemporary Social Life Archives, which he founded, are both housed within the Fudan University Library system. Accompanying him on this visit were two colleagues: Ms Yin Shenqin, Associate Director of the Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences Data at Fudan University and Deputy Director of the Shanghai Big Data Laboratory for Scientific Research; and Dr Wang Shunjing, Associate Professor at the Institute of Digital Humanities and Social Sciences, and Secretary-General of both the Contemporary Social Life Archive and the Global Alliance.
On 14 November, Professor Zhang attended the book launch of Integrity: The Rise of a Distinctive Western Idea and Its Destiny by renowned sociologist Professor Martin Albrow, former Honorary President of GCA, held at Hatchards Bookshop in London. Published by Polity Press, the book offers a historical and sociological examination of “integrity” as a core value of Western civilization, tracing its evolution from antiquity to the present and addressing its contemporary crisis in public life. The launch brought together scholars, publishers, and friends for a rich exchange on global ethics and social trust.
According to the planned schedule, Professor Zhang and his delegation attended the 8th UK–China Humanities Alliance for Higher Education Annual Conference (Worlds and World Views) at University College London (UCL) on 15–16 November, followed by academic exchanges in Oxford on 19–20 November.
With GCA’s coordination, the delegation also visited the Library of the Oxford China Centre, and, with arrangements made by its director Dr Mamtimyn Sunuodula, toured the Digital Library at the Bodleian Library and the Digital Collaborative Photography Centre. In addition, GCA facilitated academic exchanges with the Centre for Corpus-Based Social Science at Lancaster University and the Business School of the University of Edinburgh.
On 18 November, Professor Zhang and his colleagues visited the Global China Academy for formal exchange with the GCA team. The delegation toured the books and journals published by Global Century Press and held discussions with Professor Xiangqun Chang, President of GCA, and Mr Liu Daquan, Executive Manager of GCA.
During the meeting, Professor Zhang and Dr Wang Shunjing introduced the development and operational framework of the Global Alliance for Contemporary Social Life Archives. Initiated by Fudan University in 2016 and formally established in 2018, the Alliance is headquartered at the Fudan University Library and now brings together 34 university libraries and research institutions from East Asia and North America. It is dedicated to cross-media, interdisciplinary sharing of social life materials and international research collaboration. The Alliance has continuously supported international conferences and research projects, particularly in the areas of family studies, narrative history, and methodologies of social life archives.
At the conclusion of the exchange, the two institutions exchanged publications. As the visit took place near the end of the year, Professor Zhang’s delegation also brought silk-printed Spring Festival couplets as a gift to the GCA Fellows’ House. The couplets—symbolising scholarly continuity, diligence, and institutional well-being—became a warm and memorable moment of the visit.
The photo on the left shows a tea break during the academic meetings, where participants continued their conversations in a relaxed setting. The photo on the right captures a Chinese meal shared during the visit, where dining together extended the day’s discussions and strengthened mutual understanding through everyday social interaction, adding a human and cultural dimension to the academic exchange.
In keeping with GCA tradition, visiting scholars are invited to join a “walking dialogue”. During this visit, Professor Zhang and his colleagues participated in the sixth walking route, leading to Brocket Hall. Located in Hertfordshire, Brocket Hall is a historic estate of strong political symbolism, having once been the residence of two British Prime Ministers: Lord Melbourne and Lord Palmerston. In the mid-19th century, Palmerston played a key role in shaping Britain’s hardline China policy before and after the First Opium War—a conflict that profoundly altered China’s historical trajectory and reshaped the global order, while also influencing long-term Western political and cultural perceptions of China.
Situated along the River Lea, Brocket Hall combines classical architecture, landscape design, and waterways, forming a space where British political history and cultural landscape intersect. Today, the estate serves as a venue for international conferences and academic exchanges, carrying new public functions atop its historical foundations. GCA has long used this site as a node for academic visits and walking dialogues, transforming historical space into a platform for reflecting on global order, institutional change, and civilizational interaction.
In the final stage of the visit, scholars walked along the riverbank at Brocket Hall, continuing the day’s academic conversations through movement and dialogue. During a brief ferry crossing, the group collectively experienced the transition from sunset to nightfall. The fading light, shifting space, and uninterrupted conversation intertwined, allowing academic exchange to momentarily leave the conference room and become a situated, embodied, and shared experience.
This moment carried deep symbolic meaning: in a space once deeply entangled in the formation of global inequality and China’s modern historical fate, researchers from different academic traditions walked side by side as equals. Through slow movement and open conversation, they revisited questions of society, memory, archives, and time. Academic exchange thus gained a different rhythm and depth, endowing contemporary Sino–British collaboration with a transcultural dimension—where knowledge was not merely discussed, but re-produced and re-connected through shared experience.
GCA Founding and Past Honorary President Professor Martin Albrow Launches New Book Integrity
On 14 November 2014, Professor Martin Albrow, Founding and Past Honorary President of the Global China Academy (GCA), launched his new book Integrity: The Rise of a Distinctive Western Idea and Its Destiny at Hatchards, London. Published by Polity, the book offers a profound historical and sociological exploration of integrity as a defining value of Western civilization and its relevance in contemporary public life.
In the book, Albrow traces the idea of integrity from its origins in ancient Greece and Rome—where it signified unity through values and adherence to external standards—through Christianity, the Renaissance, and into the modern era. He argues that today’s public life is marked by a troubling paradox: while integrity is widely demanded, political leaders can often succeed without embodying it, creating what he terms a new “politics of the integrity vacuum.”
Albrow concludes that although integrity emerged as a distinctive Western concept, it has become a shared global concern. He calls for a renewal of integrity through dialogue with non-Western wisdom, emphasizing the need to rebuild honesty, trust, and reliability in public and social life. The launch event at Hatchards brought together scholars, publishers, and friends to celebrate a work that speaks directly to some of the most pressing ethical and political challenges of our time.
