Origin
Regardless of the admissions season or non-enrollment season, there are always scattered students contacting us about master's degree and doctoral applications, postdoctoral fellows, and visiting scholars. Generally speaking, candidates first choose a school and major, and then consider a tutor. Candidates sign up in accordance with the school's admission brochure and regulations, and choose tutors. Even so, for adults whose worldview is basically fixed, it is better to understand and choose a mentor whose knowledge and personality are more suitable for them than to blindly meet a mentor who is not very suitable; and vice versa.
When it comes to mutual understanding and choice between teachers and students, the information and power between teachers and students are not symmetrical. Relatively speaking, teachers’ channels are more limited and their status is more passive. Increasing understanding can only be expected and passed on to the students. This "Mohongxuan Reading Club Appointment" specially written may provide some foresight on ways to guide cooperation, such as running on the streets at night and tying lights between your arms to avoid accidental collisions with walkers.
1. The reading club is mainly composed of master students, doctoral students, postdoctoral fellows, and visiting scholars from Mo Hongxuan on a voluntary basis.
2. The reading club is an interest community with literature and academics as its main subjects. It aims to strengthen the connection with classmates and academics, and exchange reading and writing experiences. All proposal reports, mid-term reports, pre-defenses, defenses, single papers, and daily reading teaching and research experiences can be submitted for exchange and discussion in written or oral ways. Students in the group actively care and read the materials when conditions permit, respond in a timely manner, make criticisms and suggestions, ponder and discuss, listen to their friends' voices, and improve together.
3. The reading club is planned to be held regularly every month, usually starting from 20:30-21:00 on the last Friday of each month, and will be used as a weekend gathering. Current students on campus can participate on site, while students outside of campus or who have graduated are welcome to participate online. The time can also be adjusted if necessary. There will be one adjournment each time during the winter and summer vacations.
4. Members should know that if there is no scholarship, there will be no criticism; if there is no criticism, there will be no scholarship. The keynote of the book club is to discover problems, point out problems, criticize and make suggestions. Members should understand this and gradually develop an open, confident and self-satisfied attitude that is willing to listen to criticism and follow or reject what is good.
5. The book club will have one host, one online host and one secretary. When there are offline reading activities, the instructor also serves as the host; the online host is responsible for booking online meeting rooms and hosting online discussions; the secretary is responsible for recording and organizing the reading meeting records. The online host is volunteered by students with three years of reading club experience; the secretary is volunteered by students with one year of experience in participating in meetings. There is one round every year, starting at the end of September, and they can be re-elected. The recording of the book club will be recorded and organized by the secretary, reviewed by the spokesperson, and finalized, and then saved or published on the "FD New Academic Circle" official account. The secretary is also responsible for managing other affairs of the reading club. If there is any financial incident, the accounts will be disclosed in the group in a timely manner.
6. In addition to regular reading groups, you can also ask and respond to questions in the group. Topics include academics, reading, writing, life, and friendship with classmates. When communicating within the group, care should be taken to avoid sensitive issues such as politics, country, organization, ethnic group, gender, etc., to avoid accidental injury to people.
7. Apart from the reading club and group communication, the teacher does not have any more "guidance". If you want to understand a teacher’s academic direction and teaching style, you can read his writings critically and selectively attend courses hosted by him. It is recommended to take an elective or participate in a chat class on "Theories and Methods of Academic Research" hosted by him.
8. Members should know that learning means self-study, and academics means self-study. Always put yourself first, self-study first, and know that all words from teachers, classmates, and others are just suggestions from a specific perspective. Even if they are well-intentioned, they may not be correct, and they may not be suitable for you. You should listen or not based on your own understanding, and you should never blindly follow them.
9. Members should adhere to self-motivation, voluntariness, responsibility, respect for others, be kind and law-abiding as their code of conduct. Be selfish, love yourself and love others; don’t do to others what others don’t want you to do to them; don’t do to me what you don’t want to do to me; have a beginning and an end, what comes and goes, be humble and open-minded, and giving will be rewarded.
10. Members’ internal and external exchanges and dialogues should abide by the dialogue guidelines of “clear the issue, don’t ignore it; present facts and reason; follow the laws and have good intentions; transcend positions and stay away from motives; tolerate dissent, and do not deal with the issue but the person”. This is called the “Nine Laws of Dialogue in the New Academic Circle”.
11. Regardless of whether members graduate from school, they should focus on reading, writing, exploration, contribution and life, enjoy teaching and research, communication and contribution, life and ordinary happiness, and strive not to be disturbed by external objects. Published publications, project gains and losses, title size, position promotion and demotion are all related to the importance of fame and wealth, and have nothing to do with knowledge and virtue.
12. Current students should use schools, libraries, laboratories, classrooms, sports fields and other places as their study fields, and should also participate in social practice and social exchanges appropriately.
13. The friendship between gentlemen is as light as water, as clear as water, and as mellow as water. Being diligent in learning and doing good is a precious gift and reward to classmates, teachers, school and society. Don't give gifts unless they are urgently needed in the other person's life. During school holidays, long trips away from school, the Spring Festival, changes in life and work, academic and career gains and losses, opportunities for new students to join the club, and when classmates release information about their studies and life, it is polite to bubble up and greet and respond in a timely manner to let everyone know their whereabouts so as not to worry.
14. All members (teachers and students) of this book club have equal status, and all rights including body, personality, will, property, politics and law shall not be infringed. If you feel that you have been violated by a member of the class, you should clearly express your views and demands to the other party and resolve it bilaterally; if the two parties are not properly resolved, you can file a lawsuit with the classmate association in the group, and the online moderator will preside over all students to discuss and resolve the matter; if the classmate union cannot properly resolve the matter, you can file a lawsuit and obey the law; if you feel that the legal decision is not fair, you can use the Internet and other media to express your opinions on the decision. If you are violated by someone outside the meeting, you can talk and seek support in the meeting. If necessary, the online host will provide assistance.
15. All students and scholars who want to join this book club should carefully read and understand this contract. If you do not accept and agree with it, please do not join. If you regret it after joining, you can withdraw from the membership at any time.
16. This contract was drafted by the initiator and has been read by some students who have joined the association.
Supplementary in April 2023
About the author
Mo Luohan, whose real name is Luo Shuhua, whose family name is Mo Hongxuan, and whose signature is Modu Luohan, is a professor at Fudan University and the main writer of the "FD New Academic World" public account. Main teaching and research directions: Dream of Red Mansions, famous works and civilization, academic research theories and methods, Chinese traditional culture. His books include "Two Phoenixes Protecting the Pearl: The Structure and Narration of the Dream of Red Mansions", "A Close Reading of the Red Mansions", "Mainstreams of Chinese Fiction", "The Study of Chinese Narrative", "History of Chinese Prose", "Chinese Writing Tutorial", etc. In the field of "Dream of Red Mansions", the theories of "Two Phoenixes Protecting Pearls" and "Chai Dai competing for marriage" were proposed. In the field of culture, "Don't do to others what others don't want you to do to them; don't do to me what you don't want to do to me" is the golden rule of Chinese culture.
Message description
The FD New Academic Circle advocates and follows the dialogue guidelines of "discussing issues without sidestepping; presenting facts and being reasonable; following laws and regulations with good intentions; transcending positions and staying far away from motives; tolerating dissent and not focusing on the individual." This is called the "Nine Laws of Dialogue in the New Academic Circle". All messages and comments will be posted without distinction between positions and opinions, with the exception of rumors and lies that are clearly inconsistent with facts and laws, and remarks that call for violence, hatred and personal insults. If your messages and comments are not among the "exceptions" and are not released, it is not because of this account, but because they are controlled by the WeChat public account platform, or the comment limit for this article has been reached. We would like to inform everyone, thank you for your support and participation.
Machine-translated from the Chinese original 魔红轩读书会小约 (published 2023-05-06). WeChat original ↗