Personal Statement

  Applied Program: Sinology / Chinese Philosophy

In my undergraduate program, I specialized in English for International

Trade, a specialty which is extremely popular in the present-day China

as China becomes increasingly integrated into the international trade

with its accession into the WTO. If I had continued to make efforts in

this field, I could have been assured of an economically advantageous

life. It is highly probable that I could turn into a very wealthy

person. However, for my graduate program, I made a decision that could

prove utterly incomprehensible to the majority of my practical-minded

compatriots—I switched to sinology. This is a specialty forbidding to

most people for its tediousness in academic research and for its

sureness of leading its researchers into financial plight. My choice

for this specialty is by no means motivated by sudden whims, nor by any

exterior considerations, but out of a love for its own sake. Many of my

former classmates and friends vowed that I would feel remorse for this

“incomprehensible” decision. By now, three years have passed. Far

from being remorseful, I have grown increasingly committed to this

discipline under its enchantment. More than that, I am willing to

pursue sinology as my lifelong career not merely out of academic

interest, but for the ideal of promoting the academic discipline about

this ancient Oriental country.

With my graduate education, I have developed a comprehensive and

systematic understanding of Chinese culture in general and Chinese

philosophy in particular, allowing me to experience the erudition

behind sinology. As an important component of the history of human

thought, much of the Chinese ancient philosophical wisdom is still to

be unraveled by modern scholarship. Many important courses in my Master

’s program, such as the Four Books of Chinese Classics, and The Book

of Changes (I-Ching), have always held me in great fascination for

their profound philosophical truth. Despite its speculative nature,

Chinese philosophy is closely aligned with the real world and the real

life, imparting to people who are interest in it the proper knowledge

of coping with life and inspiring people to be optimistic and

benevolent. In particular, Chinese ancient sages have taught me how to

seek what is worthwhile and eternal and to be indifferent to the

secular and the materialistic. Those inspirations have endowed me with

the determination to immerse myself in learning and academic research.

Nevertheless, a nationalistic perspective in dealing with sinology is

dangerous. It is necessary that Chinese scholars in sinology interact

and exchange with their overseas counterparts. It is important for

Chinese scholars to understand sinology within the larger framework of

world philosophy, to put it into an international context, and to

examine its new role in contributing to human civilization under new

historical circumstances. Those are the major problems that Chinese

philosophy faces. Just as a Chinese axiom says “It is impossible to

know how the Lushan Mountain actually looks because the beholder

himself is in the mountain itself (meaning “a proper understanding of

an issue is often gained from a distance)”, it is inadequate to study

them simply from a Chinese perspective. Therefore, I have decided to go

abroad to study sinology from a different perspective on one hand and

to examine how Chinese philosophy can interact with, enrich and be

enriched by other philosophies in the world.

An academic exchange two years ago left me with an indelible

impression. My supervisor and I provided receptions to a group of

teachers and students of sinology from XX University, Germany. During

this 3-month exchange program, my responsibility was to help them look

up research materials in the library. My discussions with them enabled

me to realize some of the essential differences between Chinese

philosophy and Western philosophy. I was especially impressed by the

Western philosophy’s strict emphasis on rigorous logic in carrying out

philosophical speculations. If some of the Western research

methodologies can be introduced into sinology, sinology research is

bound to be much more fruitful. This reinforced my determination to

seek further studies abroad. It is true that China has its relative

advantages in sinology research such as the abundance of materials. But

this stage of my academic development, the paramount problem is to

search for new methodologies and perspectives, and most importantly,

the international experiences. The United States, with its absolutely

liberal academic thoughts and concepts and research atmosphere,

naturally comes on top of my priorities in selecting my target

university.

Four years ago, I had the idea of seeking an overseas education and for

this purpose I have been making serious preparations. Even though I was

not very fond of the specialty (English for International Trade) I

studied in my undergraduate program, I still managed to achieve

scholastic excellence in my coursework. I am particularly indebted to

my philosophy teacher who initiated me into the field of sinology with

his in-depth analysis of the critical conditions of sinology and its

necessity for new methodologies. Therefore, when I started my formal

trainings in this field as a graduate student, my diligent devotion to

it naturally guaranteed my excellence in academic performance. I

achieved A’s in most of the courses and my performance in the

specialty-related courses is especially outstanding. My genuine love

for this subject has ensured my absolute diligence.

As one of the top-ranking universities in liberal arts and humanities,

XX University of China has provided me with the first-rate research

conditions and rigorous academic trainings. I have developed relatively

strong research abilities and my extensive reading in both Chinese and

Western philosophy has laid a solid foundation for me to undertake

fruitful researches across different philosophical traditions. Most

importantly, I have learned to be skeptical and discriminating in

evaluating different schools of thought and not to follow blindly the

established viewpoints. I believe that I have mastered some basic

research methodologies and my special talent in writing has enabled me

to win many first-class and second-class prizes in various writing

contests. Over the past two years since the completion of my Master’s

program, I have been working as vice editor-in-chief at XX Publishing

House where I have edited an 80-volume serial collection Biographies

Chinese Philosophical Thinkers Ancient and Modern. Now we are preparing

to edit its twin collection Biographies of World Philosophical Thinkers

Ancient and Modern.

The University of XXX enjoys an unparalleled academic reputation in the

world, with strong faculty, research facilities, large amounts of

research material and a lively and liberal academic climate. All those

factors will definitely contribute to the academic success of any

ambitious student. An education at such a university will make it

possible for me to ascend onto higher levels of scholarship by endowing

me with wholly novel perspectives and other academic input. My ultimate

objective is to bring about a creative fusion between the Eastern and

Western philosophical traditions that may lead to some unique research

findings.

Essentially, the philosophical legacies left to us by both Chinese and

Western thinkers are the spiritual powers that have sustained the

survival and the existence of the humans as individuals, as races and

as countries. Compared with those noble minds, I feel rather

insignificant. But at least I should create some meaning for my

existence and I see my existence meaningful only in being able to add

up to the understanding of the noble thoughts of those great minds. As

an ordinary person, I will undertake this mission with determination

and commitment.