Looking into the Chinese 'Mirror'
- By Sabine Weber
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E-mail China Today, September 21, 2017
Interests in Asian Culture
Since childhood, Labisch revealed, he had been quite the bookworm. He must have been around eight, when a special book fell into his hands, Die Welträthsel by Ernst Haeckel, written in 1899. This monumental 500 page tome introduced Darwin's theory of evolution into fictional literature. And its descriptions of the former Dutch colonies in the Southeast Asia awakened an insatiable wanderlust for Asia in the young Labisch.
Many years later, this childhood dream found fulfillment through the adventurous spirit of a fellow student, a young Indonesian. The two young physicians were particularly interested in the question of how the epidemic of malaria was contained in the Dutch colonies at a time when people only knew about bacteria, but antibiotics had not yet been discovered.
To study this matter in the field, Labisch and his friend decided to travel from one Indonesian island to another. It was at that time that Labisch fell deeply in love with this Southeast Asian nation and its people. "Indonesia is the most diverse country on earth. Its 12,500 islands with their vast number of languages, cultures, culinary diversity, and religions are unparalleled on this planet. The people are warm and welcoming," Labisch said.
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On December 5, 2016, Labisch was announced as professor honoris causa by Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU). Peng Long, principal of the BFSU, presents the award to him. |
Only some time later would Labisch gain another opportunity to personally interact with another Asian culture. One day, as Labisch was working as a professor of medical history at the Heinrich-Heine-University in Dusseldorf, some postdoctoral researchers from Japan knocked on his office door. They explained to Labisch that they had especially traveled from Japan to attend his lectures in Germany. Only later did Labisch discover that not only were his books widely read in Japan, but that they were actually broadly discussed.
"These young men knew my books by heart," Labisch recalled. "I really had no idea about the success of my works in Japan. I just always did and still do what I felt an interest in. I deal with problems that lead me to new knowledge and raise new questions, in short: I always did what I felt like doing."
Labisch said: "My approach to connect classical historical science, sociology, and medical science with each other and to follow up with the question – what leads human society and civilization to pursue the desire of wishing to be healthy and what this desire meant for medical science and physicians? – was completely new."
"There were no established methods, no standard books which I could have had referred to. So I tried to answer my questions with established methods from social sciences and the humanities and hoped for answers that would further my knowledge. However, I had never imagined that my work would inspire this kind of reaction on the other side of the world!"
This unexpected visit was the starting point for a long-lasting exchange between the German scholar and Japan, as well as Japanese scientists, which would not only lead to several new academic publications, but also to a special honor for the German professor. He received the "Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Rays," the highest honor Japan confers upon foreign civilians, which is presented by the Tenno himself or by one of his overseas consular representatives.
However, it would be several more years till Labisch's first visit to China. Labisch expressed regret at not being able to visit earlier. But at this time, he was still lacking any kind of personal contact with Chinese locals – and venturing around like a simple tourist simply had no appeal to him at all.
Eventually this "personal contact" walked into his office in the form of three dedicated young men. At that time, Labisch held the position of the rector of Heinrich-Heine-University Dusseldorf.
These three driven men were the head of the University International Office Dr. Werner Stüber, the director of the University Language Center, Dr. Peter Hachenberg (who taught German for five years at BFSU in the 1980s) and Dr. Li Xuetao, who at that time had just finished his doctorate at the University of Bonn (and who currently functions as professor and head of the Institute for Global History at BFSU).
The three scholars presented the idea to establish a Confucius Institute in Dusseldorf, which, at that time in 2004, was a novel concept in the academic landscape. To realize this plan, they needed the help of the University of Dusseldorf.
Rector Labisch was immediately taken by the idea and promised his full support. In December 2006, the Confucius Institute officially opened its doors with Labisch serving as chairman of the sponsoring association, and also as a member of the Council of Hanban (the Office of the Chinese Language Council International), which functions as the central headquarters of all Confucius Institutes worldwide in Beijing.
In his new role as an active member of the Hanban Council from 2007 till 2009, Labisch worked at the institutional level as well as played an important supervisory role at the global level. Even to this day, as one of the few honorary members of the council, he still actively participates in many projects of Hanban.
"However, this was only the formal, the professional part of my connection to China. I was also personally deeply interested in Chinese society and culture. China is the only civilization in human history which developed over a period of at least 2,500 years in the same geographical area and to this day still thrives there and, as can be clearly witnessed, flourishes."
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