UM Professor of the Department of History receives French Knighthood Honor

Prof. Tang Kaijian, Professor of the Department of History, was awarded the "Chevalier de l’Ordre des Palmes Academiques" (Knighthood in the Order of Academic in Palms) from the Ministry of Education of France, the prestigious award was conferred in recognition of his contributions to research in French history and culture. The conferment ceremony was officiated by Mr. Jean-Raphael Peytregnet, Consulate General of France, held at the Consulate General of France at Guangzhou on 23 April 2009. Prof. Hao Yufan, Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, and Prof. Wei Chuxiong, Coordinator of the History Programme, attended the ceremony.

The Order of Knighthood is the highest level of Order of Academic Palms conferred upon academics. The award was first introduced by Napoleon in 1808 as an incentive by the French government to encourage eminent contribution in the promotion and research of French culture by domestic and international academics and educators. The Knighthood was first conferred to Chinese in 1866. Up until 2008, less than 30 Chinese were honored with this award.

The research that Prof. Tang Kaijian conducted regarding French Jesuits, French Missions, Paris Foreign Mission Society and Sacred Heart of Mary stands at the academic frontier in China. Hence, he has long been committed to cooperation and exchange with French sinologists. Prof. Tang Kaijian took part in the maintenance and organization of the Chinese Catholic collection owned by Ecole Normale Super Paris, and by which was proposed by the Chinese National Collection and Preservation of Cultural Relics Committee as a proposed project. He has dedicated significant effort to work closely with sinologists from well-known universities in Paris in training postgraduates in the area of Sino-Western relations. Thus, the Knighthood was an acknowledgement of Prof. Tang’s outstanding contributions to research in French history and culture.

Prof. Tang expressed that the award was an honorable sum-up of his past 60 years. This year also coincides with his first year at UM, altogether making this year an exceptional one in his career. Prof. Tang expressed sincere gratitude for the recognition and encouragement that he received from the French government for his research work. In the future, he will keep devoted himself in research with his fellow students, in topics like Paris Foreign Mission Society, French Jesuits and French Mission’s role in the history of French mission and history of cultural interaction between China and France. He also hopes to strengthen long-term collaboration and connection with the sinologists in France in the time to come.

In UM’s effort to recruit academic elites from around the world, Prof. Tang was invited by the University to join the Department of History from Jinan University in 2008, opening courses such as Reading of Classic Documents and Historical Materials, Chinese Ancient History and Cultural History of Macau. Outside his teaching and research responsibilities, Prof. Tang also takes part in an editorial role for journals published by the Centre of Macau Studies, as well as pursuing other research endeavors in major issues concerning Macau History.

Caption: Consulate General of France Jean-Raphael Peytregnet (right) conferred the Knighthood in the Order of Academic in Palms to Prof. Tang Kaijin