In Memory of Prof. Emory Elliott
2009-10-05

Zhou Fang,
Foreign Languages Colleges,
Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang City,
Jiangxi Province, 330022
China

I first met Prof. Emory and his wife Georgia in Guilin in the fall of 2006. Before I went to the three planned lectures he was going to give within one day, I expected nothing more than just lectures given by a world-known international scholar that my school could not often have I was quite aware that it was a privilege, so I focused the best I could. In the first lecture, my almost 100% percent attention on the lecture caught his attention. In the second speech, he would have communication with me via eye contact. In the third lecture, he would even pause for a couple of seconds for me to finish my notes. Later on I understand that he is the kind of teacher who uses his heart to deliver knowledge and while he is lecturing, he is at the same time listening to the students. He has the instinct of a great teacher. When it came to the Q&A part, I raised my hand and ask him questions. He would give me his opinions on related questions with friendliness. When all the lectures were over, I summoned up my courage to ask him and his wife if they could take a picture with me. They accepted my request pleasantly. What surprised me was, when I thanked him, he looked right into my eyes, with a encouraging tone, "You are a very smart student. Very smart." I couldn't believe my ears: a compliment like this from a world-famous scholar to a student who didn't study in a key university? I certainly knew that you should not define yourself because of where you are from. But in a culture that kind of goes against the idea, it is easy to have doubts about oneself. My eyes must have wide-opened. He smiled, "You will have a bright future. Keep working hard." It was very encouraging. I walked Prof. Elliott and his wife Georgia to their door and we talked a little bit more on the way. When we shook hands and said goodbye, he said, "It's good to meet you. Keep in touch." Then I left, thinking, "It is very nice of him to say that I am smart. But, I didn't see myself as that smart. How could he tell that I was a smart student just through three 3-hour long lectures? I had always been working hard from college to graduate school, but none of the schools I went to were key schools. A lot of people don't think that you are excellent unless you go to key schools. Maybe he was just being polite. But since I said ‘yes', I'd better keep my promise. I wrote him an email a few days later to say thank you. To my excitement, he still remembered me well and wrote back. There was a sentence in his email that put on a strong finishing touch on my belief that you should not define yourself because of where you are from. He wrote, "When I made a point of telling you that you are very smart and could be a very successful scholar, I knew that I was right. You are the only student in China to whom I made such a comment. I gave eleven lectures during my trip there, and you are the student who stood out for me."

Since then, we've had kept in touch via emails. I was always amazed that how fast he responded to emails despite his busy schedule. He gave me a lot of encouragement and academic advice, for which I will always be grateful and words are pale to express my gratitude.

This March he came to Shanghai and I went up there to meet him. Thanks to the help of Prof. Jin Hengshan who works for EastChina Normal University, I was able to attend his lectures again and have dinner with him and other leaders from that school. And I also joined him into a one-day tour around Shanghai arranged by Prof. Yu Jianghua in Shanghai Foreign Studies University. On these occasions, we got the chance to talk about many things, including that he would like to have me as his Ph. D. student. To me, it is an enormous encouragement After all, I had only published one journal up till then. But he had faith in me! His words would be engraved in the pages of my heart and give me the strength and courage to go through hardships in the future.

In 2006 when Prof. Tao Jie invited him to Guilin, her reason was "every time you come to China, you come to work. You should do some visiting too." However, even in Guilin, he gave 3 lectures in one day, a total of 9 hours. There is an old Chinese saying describing teachers who devotes their lifetime to the 3-inch classroom platform, "a spring silkworm may not stop spinning silk until death; a candle's tears dry up only when it has sacrificed its own life."

Emory Elliott's lifetime devotion illustrates the saying well.