Beat Schneider, Professor Emeritus of the University of the Arts Bern, Switzerland, Visited Our College for Academic Exchange
On the morning of April 17, 2024, Beat Schneider, Professor Emeritus of the Bern University of the Arts in Switzerland, left-wing activist, and former member of the Swiss Federal Assembly, visited our Institute for exchange once again after a six-month interval. Professor Schneider has conducted in-depth research on Chinese historical culture and the history of the People's Republic of China. His most influential representative work, China's Long March [1] toward Modernization: A Non-Eurocentric Perspective, published in December 2022, has already seen multiple editions in Europe.
Xin Xiangyang, Secretary of the Party Committee and President of the Institute of Marxism Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), and Vice President Lin Jianhua, among other scholars, engaged in deep, candid, and productive discussions on a series of issues of interest to Professor Schneider. These included the universality of Marxism, the laws and trends governing human history and the development of the era, the so-called "middle-income trap," [2] as well as the periodization of China's socialist construction since the founding of the People's Republic and the historical positioning [3] of the New Era.
Professor Schneider stated that the scholars' explanations and analyses provided him with a three-dimensional, multi-dimensional, and deeper understanding of Sinicized and modernized Marxism and Chinese-path modernization. Upon returning to Europe, he expressed his intention to more proactively and firmly introduce the developmental achievements of socialism with Chinese characteristics, particularly those of the New Era, to Marxists and communist parties in German-speaking countries. Secretary and President Xin Xiangyang expressed gratitude for the relevant work and contributions made by Professor Schneider and voiced his hope for further strengthening academic exchange and contact between the two parties in the future.
This exchange activity was presided over by Vice President Lin Jianhua. Researchers Zhang Jianyun, Hou Weimin, Liu Xukuan, and Associate Researcher Li Kaixuan participated in the exchange.
(Contributed by Li Kaixuan)