In this post, Dr Cui Yan of the Department of China and Inner Asia, shares her thoughts on Lao She, one of the first teachers of Chinese outside of China, and his legacy at SOAS… Lao She, a Beijing native and a Chinese language master, came to SOS (SOAS) to teach Mandarin in 1924 and worked here for five years. During his life, Lao She made great contributions to the
Exactly 178 years ago, in 1837, the University of London established the UK’s first-ever professorship for Chinese, heralding the founding of Chinese Studies in this country. The Chair of Chinese is linked to a collection of Chinese books donated to the University in 1834 by the missionary Robert Morrison. The “Morrison collection” lay at the basis of what is now one of Europe’s largest collections of Chinese books, held at the