Nine students from the Central University of Nationalities in Beijing were awarded scholarships last week by the Wu Wenzao Foundation for Culture and Anthropology at a commemoration ceremony. The event was held at the Great Hall of the People in honor of the 100th anniversary of Wu's birth.

Wu (1901-85) was a distinguished anthropologist and sociologist in China who introduced anthropological methodology from Britain in the 1930s and then laid the foundation for China's anthropology research.

Most of China's prominent anthropologists are Wu's students, such as Fei Xiaotong and Lin Yaohua.

Fei, the president of the Sociology Institute of Peking University, addressed the meeting and encouraged young scholars at home to make more efforts to lift domestic academic research to the highest level as soon as possible.

He Qun, who is pursuing a doctorate at the university's School of Sociology and Anthropology, won the top scholarship, whose submitted thesis is "Study on Regionalism and Minority's Development - through a Close Look at the Oroqen Minority."

"To communicate with international sociologists and anthropologists, we must reach a parallel level in academia," He said. "So, the prize will encourage our young researchers to work harder than ever."

Studies in anthropology and sociology were already very active in China in the 1940s, when there were lots of prestigious scholars such as Wu Wenzao and Liang Shuming.

(China Daily December 25, 2001)